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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2023 Discussion

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venny said:
By bitter, do you mean the bottles of Hobgoblin etc Rob? They’ve been a bit pricey for a few years, but even the Heineken has shot up over the last 18 months at the park-owned bars. Pretty much £1 more than just over a year ago. They used to be about in par with Velvet Coaster prices, alas no longer.
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Thats a bargain compared to the bottle of Doom bar I had at the Alex theatre in Birmingham this year. Though I had to remortgage the house when they said £7.10 and to make matters worst went to Wetherspoons after for a bite to eat and they were selling Doom bar for £2.19 a pint.
 
Coaster said:
Anyone remember when, as PB enthusiasts, we used to scoff at the idea of closing Hex for one year for refurbishment? Yet, here we are, with Valhalla having been closed for three years with no indication as to when it'll be reopen. Madness!
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But some of us have been scoffing for three years...
Scoffing so much we can barely fit in the seats on the Nash, eh dippy.
Swear they make those seats smaller every year.
.
I call it now, as discussed on the Beach just yesterday.
Valhalla is dead.
The dinosaur is beyond recovery, they have fixed the organs, but cannot coordinate the beating heart.
 
Good few hours on the park, the big one was running surprisingly smoothly, possibly because it was running pretty slowly over the hills.

Also I've found a very nice vegetarian/vegan place not too far from Pleasure Beach called The Cozy Jazz Cafe. Only a small menu but a really chilled out atmosphere as well. Visited 3 times over the year now and enjoyed it every time.
 
John_P said:
Good few hours on the park, the big one was running surprisingly smoothly, possibly because it was running pretty slowly over the hills.

Also I've found a very nice vegetarian/vegan place not too far from Pleasure Beach called The Cozy Jazz Cafe. Only a small menu but a really chilled out atmosphere as well. Visited 3 times over the year now and enjoyed it every time.
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Thanks for the recommendation about for a vegetarian and vegan place. My go to Pleasure Beach meal is a Beyond Burger at the Velvet Coaster but I’ll have to check out that cafe next time.
 
rob666 said:
Could I politely request a review of Arcade Club, and the quality of the pinball in the foyer!
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Visited last night, for adults the price is £16. A Friday seems the best time to go as its adults only that day with opening hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.

We arrived just before opening and with that had the place almost to ourselves for a good hour. Really good collection of arcade machines from the late 70s through to the 2000s. Some mad modern ones which I think were Japanese, had a go of a drum one.

Also had an air hockey table, those basketball net games, and an insane looking vr shooting game (should've tried it when the place was empty).

Good collection of pinball machines by the entrance, some older ones themed to Super Mario, Twilight Zone, and Guns N Roses. Plus a brand new The Mandalorian one as well.

The bar seemed reasonably priced two pints cost £8. Pizzas cost on average £6.

Think we left about 10.30pm, the place nicely full but we were never waiting for a go on anything or felt rushed not to hit continue for more credits when playing anything.

So if you like arcade games old and new and are visiting Blackpool for the pleasure Beach (or anything really) it's well worth your time.

For those who don't know its located right next to Blackpool FC.

IMG_20221014_214703.jpgIMG_20221014_214647.jpgIMG_20221014_214642.jpg
 
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John_P said:
Visited last night, for adults the price is £16. A Friday seems the best time to go as its adults only that day with opening hours of 6pm to 12 midnight.

We arrived just before opening and with that had the place almost to ourselves for a good hour. Really good collection of arcade machines from the late 70s through to the 2000s. Some mad modern ones which I think were Japanese, had a go of a drum one.

Also had an air hockey table, those basketball net games, and an insane looking vr shooting game (should've tried it when the place was empty).

Good collection of pinball machines by the entrance, some older ones themed to Super Mario, Twilight Zone, and Guns N Roses. Plus a brand new The Mandalorian one as well.

The bar seemed reasonably priced two pints cost £8. Pizzas cost on average £6.

Think we left about 10.30pm, the place nicely full but we were never waiting for a go on anything or felt rushed not to hit continue for more credits when playing anything.

So if you like arcade games old and new and are visiting Blackpool for the pleasure Beach (or anything really) it's well worth your time.

For those who don't know its located right next to Blackpool FC.

IMG_20221014_214703.jpgIMG_20221014_214647.jpgIMG_20221014_214642.jpg
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Looks good.

Love a good old arcade game and pinball machine.

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Knowing the other, very friendly sites, it should not be a problem.
There is always Velvet over breakfast in the morning.
New wizards crazy golf up by the Tower as well...with compulsory booze as part of the standard package!
 
Speaking of crazy golf the site below the Sealife centre still completely boarded up with no signs of anything going on at the moment.

Good few hours on the park this morning so far, despite the mid October rumours mentioned on here Valhalla if anything looks further from opening than ever.

Just popping out down the prom now to visit a venue that's always must visit on a trip to Blackpool, Notarannis!
 
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Double post ahoy!

Attended Journey To Hell tonight, so I've attended both the 2019 and 2021 iterations before this so interesting to see how it's evolved from the previous incarnations. Felt like I was in the minority of actually thinking the set path you took in 2021 worked well. Obviously 2019 was all over the place with the themes and acting.

Unsurprisingly with the wind today the big one never opened so that was immediately off the docket.

Arriving before 6.30pm the queue steadily built eventually a member of staff came along the queue checking tickets and handing out the individual experience tickets.

With the queues quite big behind us we thought best bet to start with the Ghost Train (I forget the event names, expect more of this). Whilst last year it felt a wasted experience this year it was excellent with numerous actors throughout the ride.

From there we thought to do Hexpress next however the ride host/actor advised of the tame nature and that we should consider that later. So we headed to Psirens of Infusion, which had a few actors around the queue then the scariest thing of all Infusion. Still it's better than T3.

From there we headed to the back of the park for Lost Souls. Have to say I'd forgotten how big a space that was. Thought this was a great maze, pretty basic design and sets but some cracking jump scares.

From there we headed back towards FY4 and into Hell Tunnels which is now the only experience to have remained through the three incarnations. Great acting throughout as your stopped at numerous points. Not to mention the length of the maze making it a really intense one. I was absolutely done by one of the actors right towards the end.

Next was the River Caves, pitch black with a lantern that does very little. They'd added a soundscape that made the ride very eerie. A small number of actors but deployed to great effect.

Next was the Freakshow one taking place in impossible. It made decent use of the space but had less of a coherent theme. The weakest of the three mazes by far.

The last new experience was Hexpress which from what we experienced I can only assume the park forgot they'd advertised it. The two actors involved were really good but even they were pretty apologetic and playing down what in the end was the Pleasure Beach Express at night with an actor providing slightly humerous commentary. Maybe if was pitched better, advertised and scripted better it could come off as a possible Jungle Cruise type attraction. (feels unlikely).

So with our ticket for the controllers we were told we could use it on another attraction so used it for another really good run through of Lost Souls.

The park also had a number of actors roaming about and interacting, those LCD face masks are really creepy.

The entertainment was a DJ and a live guitarist which added to the atmosphere round the FY4 area. I would say with the event running 7-10pm we'd got everything finished by about 9.30pm so not really the time to stop for food or drink. Not sure if we lucked out with queues but the longest queue was for the river caves.

So all in I think the £39 was just about value for money, but it's good to see the event developing each year its ran.
However I do wonder with were the 3 mazes are currently located if they could start operating them during park opening hours instead of a separately ticketed event. (or as well as)
 
So they have boarded up the hole on Valhalla at last.

Vertical planks, curving inwards.

Photos on the PBE Facebook page.

Guessing that means some sort of curved screen on the inside. Or maybe they are just boarding the ride up for permanent closure

In other news.... Markings spotted...

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