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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

Dipper_Dave said:
Yes there is. I do, and I don’t think I’m the only one.
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And I'm saying I don't believe you. 😉

Now I'm not saying people can't rate woodies over steel coasters. That's definitely not true. I prefer some woodies over some pretty popular steel coasters myself.

What I'm saying is nobody can possibly enjoy Nashy because it's brutally rough and any enjoyment has long since been taken away.

Wicker man for example is ten times the coaster Nashy is for me purely because it's not incredibly uncomfortable to ride.
 
Benjsh said:
Grand National needs an exorcism not investment. No amount of money they throw at it will make it that much better now as It's 100 years old. It's beyond saving.

I understand the historical importance and attachment it has with many folk but if everyone is truly honest with themselves it might be the most uncomfortable rollercoaster in existence in the UK right now. The Ultimate was a fierce competitor but with that now gone then it's in a class of it's own I'm afraid.

Doesn't feel particularly safe being bashed into the side of the car and on the harnesses either. My legs were in bits after my last ride on it.

Burn it down to the ground I say. It's an absolute monstrosity.



I have no great admiration for Rita. Wouldn't be sad to see it go at all.

However the fact Nashy is your favourite coaster in the UK made me laugh. Are you like Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable and unable to feel pain? It's an absolute disaster of a ride. Truly horrid. Nothing about it is good. It's like being pushed down a steep hill onto a cobbled road in a shopping trolley. In fact I'd prefer the latter I think.

I think that's sentiment talking rather than your actual true opinion. There's no way you ride Icon and Nashy in same visit and prefer the woodie.
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Putting across your opinion as if it's fact, and as if everyone else has to think exactly the same as you, is an unhealthy trait.
 
Coaster said:
Putting across your opinion as if it's fact, and as if everyone else has to think exactly the same as you, is an unhealthy trait.
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Not what I'm saying though. Everyone likes different types of rides. That's obvious.

Nobody can possibly enjoy it though in it's current state. We all know how it feels to ride it. It's truly horrid and everyone on this forum knows it is too. It's sentiment talking.
 
Benjsh said:
Not what I'm saying though. Everyone likes different types of rides. That's obvious.

Nobody can possibly enjoy it though in it's current state. We all know how it feels to ride it. It's truly horrid and everyone on this forum knows it is too. It's sentiment talking.
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You are on a hiding here in this discussion mate.
Prefer the National far more than any ride on the Beach.
Long time idiot rider here...
Loosen that restraint a notch so you can raise your bum over the bumps.
Some of my favourite recent experiences in life have been racing friends, family and strangers on the beast.
Old gits group comes to mind.
Nothing like beating a naughty yorkshireman.
Hanging out the side over the last half dozen dips, trying to slap the people on the other train, or looking back at the "losers" behind you while giving rude hand signals over the last dips.
But then again I would pick the Nash, I'm the one with the burnt out winning post in my yard.
 
Several of us enjoyed Nash enough to ride it more than once on the TS meet last year when it was running (relatively) well, though I'll concede it's nowhere near the ride it was 10-20 years ago
 
Benjsh said:
Not what I'm saying though
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That is literally what you have been saying.


Benjsh said:
What I'm saying is nobody can possibly enjoy Nashy because it's brutally rough and any enjoyment has long since been taken away.
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It can be uncomfortably rough at times, however it can absolutely fly at times too. For me proper wooden coasters should be different every time you ride it - wood moves, expands and contracts and that is the fun of the ride. Even when Nash 'bites' I come off having enjoyed the ride, but thinking once was enough. When it runs well that ride experience is like nothing else in the country - crazy and intense. There is plenty of enjoyment in the ride.

People go on about how wonderful Wickerman is as a woodie. As much as I respect their opinions, for me it is the most pointless, basic ride experience going. There is nothing unique about it.

Benjsh said:
Nobody can possibly enjoy it though in it's current state. We all know how it feels to ride it. It's truly horrid and everyone on this forum knows it is too. It's sentiment talking.
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A very quick search of the internet shows a very polarised view of Nash. Plenty of people hate it, but I'd say an equal number love it. Lots of people travel quite great distances to ride it too.

Please have a think and stop posting your opinions as fact.
 
Benjsh said:
Not what I'm saying though. Everyone likes different types of rides. That's obvious.

Nobody can possibly enjoy it though in its current state. We all know how it feels to ride it. It's truly horrid and everyone on this forum knows it is too. It's sentiment talking.
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Even though I agree with you on Grand National, plenty of people still like it and it would be remiss to dismiss their opinions. As rough as I personally find it, I can see why people would like it, particularly if they have a higher roughness tolerance than me. It has a good layout, with lots of airtime and a reasonably fast pace. Other folks may well be getting smoother rides on it than me, also. And as I said before, I have also not ridden it since 2019, which was before it got retracked.

For some, the roughness may even add something to it. I know my mum and dad, for example, both loved Grand National due to the novelty of it being old and the roughness adding a sense of “danger” and “insanity” (that’s certainly what my dad said, anyway). My dad also loves The Big One for very similar reasons, as well as for the first drop over the sea; I’ve never confirmed it with him, but I get the impression that he prefers The Big One to both the B&M Hypers we’ve ridden (Mako and Silver Star) because “it has a sense of danger”.

Everyone has different opinions on these things, and that’s fine by me!
 
Benjsh said:
Not what I'm saying though. Everyone likes different types of rides. That's obvious.

Nobody can possibly enjoy it though in it's current state. We all know how it feels to ride it. It's truly horrid and everyone on this forum knows it is too. It's sentiment talking.
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You don't enjoy it. I'm guessing you've spoken to others who don't enjoy it.

That doesn't, and will never, equate to "nobody can possibly enjoy it".

I have zero sentiment attached to this ride, or indeed this park. I LOVED Grand National on my last visit. I loved feeling the car twist underneath me, I loved feeling like I really had to hold on and brace myself to survive the ordeal, I loved seeing my niece get thrown about so much she couldn't stop laughing for 5 minutes afterwards.

You don't like it, and you think many other people probably don't. That's as far as you can take your opinion man.
 
As much as I love the park I cannot defend Nash, yes it has a few fans but the vast majority of punters do not find the ride enjoyable, its more of a right of passage!!

When you have to come up with bizarre ways to sit on the ride to make it comfortable or have to sit on a non wheel seat for it to be bearable then there is clearly something wrong.

It is indeed rideable on a non wheel seat , as most enthusiasts will tell you to do, but why should you have to do that ? And Nash only has 3 non wheel seats per train.

It does leave a good question though. Could they get some trains that are reasonably comfortable on all seats? It seems that they just need a bit of give in the seats which is why the non wheel seats are fine but the wheel seats are awful. Could they not just design a train that has a certain a amount of give, or suspension in all seats ?





Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
 
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shakey said:
It does leave a good question though. Could they get some trains that are reasonably comfortable on all seats? It seems that they just need a bit of give in the seats which is why the non wheel seats are fine but the wheel seats are awful. Could they not just design a train that has a certain a amount of give, or suspension in all seats ?
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I love Nash and will fight to the end of the earth to defend her name. I do agree that it needs work.
1. The station needs work.
1.1 The use of gravity and brakes to line up with parking sensors is just daft and is inconsistent and takes ages. Stick drive wheels in the station to speed things up and be more accurate.
1.2 Get rid of the load/ unload stations Load and unload where unload is at the moment. Widen the cattle pens (we aren't all as thin as we were 90 years ago). Unload to the opposite side of the station (I know it would need some work)
2. Block Segments: redesign the system to have a station, lift and a pre-station block segments. This would increase 2 train ops.
3. Nash does need track work. I would love to see Gravity Group re-work the running track on the entire track, simply to placate the softies that think Nash is "too rough" for their delicate wee bottoms and necks. It cost Oakwood £2m for Megafobia, so Nash would likely be £3 - 4m
4. Trains. I would like to see new, more comfortable trains. The issue is that the weight of the trains is key to the operation of the ride - hence the reason they have the PTC sets on there. I'd rather see something like the Gerstlauer 6 seat trains - if they were possible

With everything I would love to see - the one thing I wouldn't want touched is the layout.
 
shakey said:
As much as I love the park I cannot defend Nash, yes it has a few fans but the vast majority of punters do not find the ride enjoyable, its more of a right of passage!!

When you have to come up with bizarre ways to sit on the ride to make it comfortable or have to sit on a non wheel seat for it to be bearable then there is clearly something wrong.

It is indeed rideable on a non wheel seat , as most enthusiasts will tell you to do, but why should you have to do that ? And Nash only had 3 non wheel seats per train.

It does leave a good question though. Could they get some trains that are reasonably comfortable on all seats? It seems that they just need a bit of give in the seats which is why the non wheel seats are fine but the wheel seats are awful. Could they not just design a train that has a certain a amount of give, or suspension in all seats ?





Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
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I was awaiting your response shakey!
Please take all the above with a pinch of salt, our shakey is a soft tyke.
The old trains and seats, back in the day of no restraints whatsover, were far more comfortable.
Elf and safety gone mad, eh.

And Chris, some of us are as slim as they were ninety years ago.
I was a fat kid.
 
rob666 said:
Prefer the National far more than any ride on the Beach.
Long time idiot rider here...
Loosen that restraint a notch so you can raise your bum over the bumps.
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Exactly what I was going to say. If you ride it into the airtime by pushing yourself up into the restraint it rides fine. Try it, preferably with your hands in the air.
 
IDB said:
Exactly what I was going to say. If you ride it into the airtime by pushing yourself up into the restraint it rides fine. Try it, preferably with your hands in the air.
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But that's the problem, you shouldn't have to ride it in a certain way or on a certain seat for it to be comfortable.

It's an accident waiting to happen and the park must be worried about it because they have put the height restriction up twice in two years.

I honestly can't see it operating as it is for many more years. Whether that means new trains or a complete retrack or an RMC or SBNO or a fire, something will be done to it in the next 5 years or so.

They demolished the wrong woodie in my opinion.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Ryan said:
You don't enjoy it. I'm guessing you've spoken to others who don't enjoy it.

That doesn't, and will never, equate to "nobody can possibly enjoy it".

I have zero sentiment attached to this ride, or indeed this park. I LOVED Grand National on my last visit. I loved feeling the car twist underneath me, I loved feeling like I really had to hold on and brace myself to survive the ordeal, I loved seeing my niece get thrown about so much she couldn't stop laughing for 5 minutes afterwards.

You don't like it, and you think many other people probably don't. That's as far as you can take your opinion man.
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What's to like about it? You can't even just describe it as rough these days. It's way past being rough.

Again another who isn't getting what I'm trying to say. I used to like this ride a lot. For a time it was one of my favourite rides at the park easily. There's nothing left to enjoy unless you have some weird pain fetish.

The point I'm making is people who still claim to like it are purely doing so out of sentiment only because of the history of the attraction. Nobody is coming off and thinking it rides well because it just doesn't.
 
My first time even riding Grand National was in 2021. I’ve been an enthusiast since Rita opened in 2005

0 nostalgia, 0 sentiment, the ride ranges from uncomfortable to fine to enjoyable. It really depends on the day. And the GP *expect* woodies to be rough

I don’t think we need pages and pages of discussion to say that an 89 year old wooden coaster may not be to everyone’s enjoyment

There’s a lot more interesting things to discuss. What will happen to Ice Blast, what will they do with defunct areas, will they go for the height record again?
 
IDB said:
Exactly what I was going to say. If you ride it into the airtime by pushing yourself up into the restraint it rides fine. Try it, preferably with your hands in the air.
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I have stopped doing the stood up crucifix on the first drop, too old.
Used to be good in the days of no restraints, just float right out of your seat.
 
Big one is operating half a train today. Icon is on one train, inexplicably.

The arcade at the entrance is having significant work done, there's fencing and scaffolding around it, and looks like the shutters have been removed on the park facing side. Not clear if refitting or possibly ripping it down? (Might be getting ahead of myself there)
 
What's worse than one train ops?
Half a train ops!

Back to the National.
The old restraint system was better than the current one.
The station loading/unloading back in the old days was quicker and better.
The old trains were better than the current ones.
Blackpool progress.

Regarding the Grand Prix, or Turnpike, as you damn peasant thoosies who cause trouble may know it...
If a certain lady gets the chance, new ice arena/dark ride combination.
The arena has had pest and smell problems for decades.
You heard it here first.
 
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