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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

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Poisson said:
PMBO suffered from that drive for the records and WGT being a lunatic.

Regarding timing I don't think that matters, other Arrow hypers not ordered by idiots get rave reviews. Out of all they hypers I've done it is easily the worst, it probably goes Zadra, Hyperion, Stealth, Silver Star, PMBO
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I’ve never really thought of Zadra and Stealth as hyper coasters. Yes they go over 200ft, but are they actually what you’d think of as hyper coasters?

I’d agree that all of the coasters you’ve listed (with the possible exception of Silver Star) are superior to PMBO and there are plenty of other far superior hyper coasters out there, but PMBO in the UK is still pretty unique, so I think it definitely serves its purpose for non-enthusiast guests, and is therefore still pretty popular.
 
Apologies if already mentioned and sure it could change, but the 2023 hours on the website seem to suggest the return of 'normal' Fridays next season.
 
The opening dates seem to fizzle out mid October too.
Hard to hunt out the late openings, but 10am to 9pm is fixed for the September one.
 
I still wouldn't bank on the times being confirmed for any days. This is PB we are on about.

Regarding PMBO, it should stay, it is great for marketing and clearly liked by the public but that doesn't mean it isn't crap.
 
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Would prefer a rework of the PMBO, with a complete retrack and re profile in places, would another manufacturer put there track on the pre-existing structure with new trains with a more modern bogie setup etc.
 
One thing you can’t deny about The Big One is that it has paid quite considerable dividends for the park, perhaps more so than any of its other rides. It is still undeniably the headline attraction at BPB, and it’s arguably become one of Blackpool’s most iconic landmarks; I once heard a tourism expert describe it in a documentary as “the 20th century equivalent of Blackpool Tower”, and I don’t disagree with that at all.

Love it or hate it, it attracted considerable guest figures to the park in its opening few years and is arguably still BPB’s biggest sales hook now, which is quite a feat in this day and age given the newer rides the park (and other UK parks) have put in since.

I love Icon to bits, and I enjoy it immeasurably more than I enjoy The Big One, but I will not deny that it didn’t have anywhere near the same impact and is not nearly as iconic, no matter how hard Amanda likes to push it in marketing campaigns compared to the park’s other rides. Ironic, really, given that it’s quite literally called Icon…

No matter how many Icon banners BPB put up on the entrances to Blackpool (on my last visit to the town in 2019, practically every banner leading into the town centre was an advertisement for Icon), it will never have quite the same instant visual hook and easy marketing appeal as The Big One… The Big One is this towering ride that quite literally sells itself! Whereas you can’t even see Icon from outside the park… well, perhaps you can if you really squint, but it’s certainly a ride that blends in rather than sticks out amongst Blackpool’s skyline.
 
The Big One is iconic, no doubt about it. It's a product of its time and was a sensible choice in that time period.

A cruel irony is that WGT was inspired to build it because of Magnum, but the site and the demands of the park to make the ride visually imposing mean that everything that that's great about Magnum didn't translate into the Big One.

I'd very much like to see RMC stick their track on the support structure, but given the park's commitment to replacing the existing track, that feels unlikely.

At some point, I suspect their hand will be forced, there are a huge number of engineering challenges with the ride. It's almost certainly worth it, but the annual spend on fixes and replacements is outrageous, which I think is true of a number of the park's rides. Even if the park has a good year, the revenue spend associated with keeping that stuff running is insane.
 
I don't think they would ever really touch/change the Big One, nor should they. The visual impact is spectacular and as others have said its iconic to the area.

I got the feeling one of PB biggest usp is nostalgia, it leans on it so heavily throughout the park. Whilst it has worked successfully for them for many years the tide is turning somewhat and is probably what is causing the supposed cash flow problems. They have such a potential massive market being the only real theme park in the north of England they could and should be smashing it for returning guests locally, across the UK and abroad.

The place needs a massive cash injection and some sacrifices do need to be made by way of removing or replacing coasters and rides from yesteryear instead of keeping them for nostalgias sake.

Whilst PB does have a special charm about it, charm and nostalgia doesn't pay the bills! Punters do
 
Rick said:
The Big One is iconic, no doubt about it. It's a product of its time and was a sensible choice in that time period.

A cruel irony is that WGT was inspired to build it because of Magnum, but the site and the demands of the park to make the ride visually imposing mean that everything that that's great about Magnum didn't translate into the Big One.

I'd very much like to see RMC stick their track on the support structure, but given the park's commitment to replacing the existing track, that feels unlikely.

At some point, I suspect their hand will be forced, there are a huge number of engineering challenges with the ride. It's almost certainly worth it, but the annual spend on fixes and replacements is outrageous, which I think is true of a number of the park's rides. Even if the park has a good year, the revenue spend associated with keeping that stuff running is insane.
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Magnum has some airtime moments though. Isn't that the whole point of a hyper?

PB / Arrow designed a hyper coaster that offers very little to no airtime at all. It looks great off ride but it's always disappointed me as a rider. After the first drop it's pretty dreadful tbh.
 
Benjsh said:
Magnum has some airtime moments though. Isn't that the whole point of a hyper?

PB / Arrow designed a hyper coaster that offers very little to no airtime at all. It looks great off ride but it's always disappointed me as a rider. After the first drop it's pretty dreadful tbh.
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The problem is that I think BPB's ride density made The Big One a very difficult ride to design. I can imagine that they weren't really able to do a Magnum-style airtime bonanza due to the lack of places to put the troughs of the airtime hills along the big straight bit that runs along the promenade.

The space below The Big One appears much too crowded for the ride to have airtime hills.
 
Matt N said:
The problem is that I think BPB's ride density made The Big One a very difficult ride to design. I can imagine that they weren't really able to do a Magnum-style airtime bonanza due to the lack of places to put the troughs of the airtime hills along the big straight bit that runs along the promenade.

The space below The Big One appears much too crowded for the ride to have airtime hills.
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I'm sure that's the reason for the lack of airtime moments too. A real shame.
 
Think with Pleasure Beach anything they build must have so many issues when it comes to fitting it into the park, effectively building on top of sand.

It's a real annoyance as their the only UK park that effectively has the go ahead from the council to build whatever they want. Whilst we get other UK parks with the free land to build coasters not hampered by existing rides and they either have planning issues or a love of building half a ride.
 
Benjsh said:
Magnum has some airtime moments though. Isn't that the whole point of a hyper?

PB / Arrow designed a hyper coaster that offers very little to no airtime at all. It looks great off ride but it's always disappointed me as a rider. After the first drop it's pretty dreadful tbh.
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Did you read my post that you quoted ?
 
Rick said:
Did you read my post that you quoted ?
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Yeah. That was why I asked....why build a hyper if you can't have airtime on it.

The Big One has done well for the park financially though it can't be denied but I think on looks mostly. There's no doubt it looks magnificent on the skyline. It's certainly not a good hyper coaster to ride is it? It's pretty dull after the drop, delivers no airtime as has already been discussed and it's been very jolty ride for a large portion of its life too. I'm just not a big fan of it.

When I started to ride the B&M hypers 10 years later it went even further down in my opinion.
 
I've ridden three B&M hyper coasters; Nitro, Diamondback and Raging Bull.

I vastly prefer The Big One to any of those. It has raucousness, intensity, character and an insane first drop, whereas all of the above three coasters I found to be an absolute snooze-fest.

The Big One sits firmly in the upper half of my top 10. It's all subjective, but in my eyes, we are very lucky in what we have with it.
 
Aside from the first drop and the drop in to the tunnel towards the end, The Big One is also an absolute snooze-fest is it not? The rest of the ride does absolutely nothing.

That said it is iconic and looks amazing on the skyline. I think the park would be very reluctant to ever lose it, although as Rick points out it must cost a fortune to maintain. How sustainable is it for BPB to have so many rides that cost so much to keep going?
 
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