Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

[rob666]

@rob666 you do speak the truth in a number of cases, however, I think it is important to remember that PB is a seasonal job. The likes of cleaning trams and selling phones is permanent - and comes with the benefits of that.

I've helped hire a number of people who previously worked at PB, and what I got from them is that a number of people at PB seem to have the same mentality as when the park was operating in the 80's and 90's. Ultimately, they treat people as a commodity who have should do exactly what is asked of them [even when to their massive detriment] and give nothing back. The management certainly need management training.

The two staff I spoke of were on year round contracts, and were excellent (junior) man managers, but the other jobs paid more money, for far less hassle.
If any manager does not do as the owner insists, they are gone.
Whatever their qualities as a worker.
Seen it too many times.
A major problem with having mates on the staff at the Beach...you never know if they will be back next year.

 

[shakey]

So prices have changed again. Saturdays are now either £40, £39 or £38.

And look at the prices for April. How many different entry prices do they need.

In the space of a week it goes from £38 to £36.25 to £35.50 to £40 to £35.50 again, then to £35 and then back to £35.50

Who is typing these prices in ? Stevie Wonder ?

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[ScottishChris]

So prices have changed again. Saturdays are now either £40, £39 or £38.

And look at the prices for April. How many different entry prices do they need.

In the space of a week it goes from £38 to £36.25 to £35.50 to £40 to £35.50 again, then to £35 and then back to £35.50

Who is typing these prices in ? Stevie Wonder ?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

They are clearly trying to copy what Towers is doing. I don't have an issue as I have no desire to visit this season (for the first time in about 10 years). What does infuriate me the most, however, is the colour coding. The lowest prices need to be the lighter colours, with the most expensive being the darkest. And they need to avoid red! I mean, who is going to book the 11th April??

Pricing should be blue. Light blue for cheapest. Dark blue for the most expensive.

 

[rob666]

Pink, cerise, fuchsia and scarlet for me please.
Quite amusing really, we all know the park will be completely dead on weekdays until the May bank holidays now anyway...mainly season pass holders.
Says something though Chris, neither of us with a pass this year.

 

[Quantum]

Give it a season or two and PB will be all over surge pricing. What they should be doing is introducing cheaper family tickets for a family of four at a slightly cheaper price. Plus bring back the walk round pass. PB is starting to get very pricey for the average family

 

[shakey]

Give it a season or two and PB will be all over surge pricing. What they should be doing is introducing cheaper family tickets for a family of four at a slightly cheaper price. Plus bring back the walk round pass. PB is starting to get very pricey for the average family

As an owner of a single child , it always frustrated me that you needed two kids to get a family discount on most things. Very few places offer a discount for families with one child.

But yes it's over priced in my opinion.

A Saturday for a family of 4 , if you factor in parking, food and travel, is going to be in the region of £200 to £250.

It's why the piers are busy while the pleasure beach is quiet.

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[Quantum]

As an owner of a single child , it always frustrated me that you needed two kids to get a family discount on most things. Very few places offer a discount for families with one child.

But yes it's over priced in my opinion.

A Saturday for a family of 4 , if you factor in parking, food and travel, is going to be in the region of £200 to £250.

It's why the piers are busy while the pleasure beach is quiet.

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Appreciate not everyone has two kids, but something aimed at getting more families in would be welcome even if it's something like every child half price with one paying adult as a promotional deal. They need to be more creative with pricing

 

[Mark84]

If you compare these prices to the same time last there is very little difference with some days even being cheaper depending when you book. Last year for example Wednesdays were £35 until 7 days before then went to £40 and Saturdays were £39 until 7 days before and then went to £44. (They did reduce Saturdays to £34/39 from the summer though). It seems now rather than just put the price up when it gets to 7 days before it is going up gradually depending on demand. And like some have said following more of a Merlin dynamic. When compared to say flamingo land which if now £44.50 for everyday then £49.50 7 days before and £56 the day before I think prices are reasonsble. Even Pleasureland Southport now have a one price for all policy and is £25 in advance / £30 on the day. Although many say you can’t compare price to Merlin parks such as Alton towers if you judge in terms of what you get for a very similar price Pleasure beach is really good value. How many times have people visited towers and only got on 3 or 4 rides where as at pleasure beach due to the variety and close proximity of rides generally you can do at least 10 plus rides even on busier days. I think pleasure beach receives more scrutiny due to bloggers and YouTubers constantly making videos highlighting every little change they make as it sparks comments and debate and I suppose drives clicks and views. And this makes people see issue where there isn’t one. You never see anything on social media/ YouTube when anywhere else changes their prices and hence isn’t discussed as much. I think it should also be noted that pleasure beach is definitely in the minority when it comes to offering any cheaper alternative for a Junior/child. It may only be £5 less but it’s still there and makes it a much fairer alternative to a standard to 2 adult /2child family ticket. But again this isn’t offering by many. Whilst I won’t defend everything pleasure beach do or don’t do and everyone has their own opinion personally I don’t think pricing is really an issue and it is about right as it is. With regard to walk round pass this model was operated for quite a number of years and during that time not only did the park not make a profit but losses were even more than they were last year. 2019 for example saw a loss of over 2 million which is 4 times last years loss. With rising costs, and additional staff, security, maintenance and additional insurance for higher numbers it’s just not feasible anymore, hence why even more smaller parks are slowly moving away from this. People walking round soaking up the atmosphere like they used to as I see on posts does not make money but costs. For every person paying £35 they would need 7 people paying say £5 to take the same money. Which even if you achieve then you have to take off the additional costs. It’s just never going to happen

 

[Quantum]

Who said tickets should be £5? The fact is that they are not getting the numbers through the doors, doing the same thing as Merlin parks isn't working. People like to feel they are getting a good deal and the more people in the park the more that are spending money on the park. Nobody is suggesting bargain bin prices but something has to be done to get more people through the gates.

 

[Fuct]

So prices have changed again. Saturdays are now either £40, £39 or £38.

And look at the prices for April. How many different entry prices do they need.

In the space of a week it goes from £38 to £36.25 to £35.50 to £40 to £35.50 again, then to £35 and then back to £35.50

Who is typing these prices in ? Stevie Wonder ?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

It's baffling really. Feels like they're going for surge pricing for a park that's dead 90% of the time...

If you compare these prices to the same time last there is very little difference with some days even being cheaper depending when you book. Last year for example Wednesdays were £35 until 7 days before then went to £40 and Saturdays were £39 until 7 days before and then went to £44. (They did reduce Saturdays to £34/39 from the summer though). It seems now rather than just put the price up when it gets to 7 days before it is going up gradually depending on demand. And like some have said following more of a Merlin dynamic. When compared to say flamingo land which if now £44.50 for everyday then £49.50 7 days before and £56 the day before I think prices are reasonsble. Even Pleasureland Southport now have a one price for all policy and is £25 in advance / £30 on the day. Although many say you can’t compare price to Merlin parks such as Alton towers if you judge in terms of what you get for a very similar price Pleasure beach is really good value. How many times have people visited towers and only got on 3 or 4 rides where as at pleasure beach due to the variety and close proximity of rides generally you can do at least 10 plus rides even on busier days. I think pleasure beach receives more scrutiny due to bloggers and YouTubers constantly making videos highlighting every little change they make as it sparks comments and debate and I suppose drives clicks and views. And this makes people see issue where there isn’t one. You never see anything on social media/ YouTube when anywhere else changes their prices and hence isn’t discussed as much. I think it should also be noted that pleasure beach is definitely in the minority when it comes to offering any cheaper alternative for a Junior/child. It may only be £5 less but it’s still there and makes it a much fairer alternative to a standard to 2 adult /2child family ticket. But again this isn’t offering by many. Whilst I won’t defend everything pleasure beach do or don’t do and everyone has their own opinion personally I don’t think pricing is really an issue and it is about right as it is. With regard to walk round pass this model was operated for quite a number of years and during that time not only did the park not make a profit but losses were even more than they were last year. 2019 for example saw a loss of over 2 million which is 4 times last years loss. With rising costs, and additional staff, security, maintenance and additional insurance for higher numbers it’s just not feasible anymore, hence why even more smaller parks are slowly moving away from this. People walking round soaking up the atmosphere like they used to as I see on posts does not make money but costs. For every person paying £35 they would need 7 people paying say £5 to take the same money. Which even if you achieve then you have to take off the additional costs. It’s just never going to happen

Mandy, that you? In seriousness though, it's all guesswork without having the data, who knows if POP, a walkaround pass and ride tickets or some combination of the two is the way to go.

 

[rob666]

No good trying to attract families if the coatholder has to pay full price, when they didn't have to for the previous century.
Lancastrians, as well as tykes, have wallets with a memory.
Unlike shakey's, that I have never seen open.

 

[shakey]

No good trying to attract families if the coatholder has to pay full price, when they didn't have to for the previous century.
Lancastrians, as well as tykes, have wallets with a memory.
Unlike shakey's, that I have never seen open.

@rob666 Steady on lad. My wallet is open as much as every other Yorkshiremans

Went to Roundhay park in Leeds for a parkrun on Saturday. £7.70 for a slice of cake and a cup of tea. I am still recovering!!

I don't know what the answer is at pleasure beach but I can tell you with the up most conviction, the answer is not sticking your head in the sand with your fingers in your ears, going la la la la, while you continue to do the same thing year after year and constantly lose money.

It is a seaside park with a lot of walk up trade. But the owners do not , or will not recognise this. They are away with the fairies and quite frankly, couldn't run a piss up in a brewery.



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[rob666]

I was only pulling your leg shakey.
For the record...shakey gets his round in...just tries to get them in the Velvet where it is cheaper.
Don't know the answer with the Beach...if they got Merlin in, at least they would fill the place midweek with season passers.

 

[b2311e]

Not much to report from this week bar a couple of frustrating developments

- River Caves is now relegated to the bottom of the queue times part of the app, in with Ice Blast and Grand Prix. Surely not a good sign?

- Ghost train still has numerous broken effects, but bizarrely they've replaced the train horn sound effect. It now sounds a bit like a soviet-era road vehicle, so not entirely sure why they've done that? The tunnel still doesn't rotate and all the lights are off. A lot of the timing is comically bad

- W&G still very broken. New for the broken list are the rabbits that poke out the ceiling


In more positive news
- The owl in Avalanche's station now works again!


Side note: Does anyone know what's happened with Pasaje? Doesn't appear to be open anymore?

 

[shakey]

Heard from @Rick today via the magic of WhatsApp. He was on park today. Big One shut due to wind, but to make up for it they decided to run Icon on ONE train. Over an hour queue apparently.

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[Katy]

Heard from @Rick today via the magic of WhatsApp. He was on park today. Big One shut due to wind, but to make up for it they decided to run Icon on ONE train. Over an hour queue apparently.

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Icon was closed due to wind as well this morning, I left around 1pm so I guess the wind dropped enough to at least get it open. It was very windy, surprised Steeplechase was open.

 

[shakey]

Icon was closed due to wind as well this morning, I left around 1pm so I guess the wind dropped enough to at least get it open. It was very windy, surprised Steeplechase was open.

Never heard of Icon being closed for wind before so it must have been bad.


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[ScottishChris]

Icon looks like she was really struggling this morning...


From: https://twitter.com/PleasureBeachB1/status/1776915608329715966?t=Vl_V47CzupUKGyAF4agGKw&s=19

 

[George W]

Imagine the hang time if you were actually on that though.

 

[IDB]

Heard from @Rick today via the magic of WhatsApp. He was on park today. Big One shut due to wind, but to make up for it they decided to run Icon on ONE train. Over an hour queue apparently.

A good day to ride the woodies though. Surprisingly quiet and minimal to no queues. Feels like I’ve been in a car accident today though!