Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ride To Happiness
“And remember kids, if we can get this all the way up to the top we can get Amanda from Lancashire that lovely new gondola she wrote in asking for”.
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion
- Thread starter Quantum
- Start date
“And remember kids, if we can get this all the way up to the top we can get Amanda from Lancashire that lovely new gondola she wrote in asking for”.
Putting the scaffolding up purely so Amanda can watch the forums and socials to see enthusiasts get excited - could be
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As long as I can eat my lunch on it....
“And remember kids, if we can get this all the way up to the top we can get Amanda from Lancashire that lovely new gondola she wrote in asking for”.
(one for the old people!) I can imagine a gondola that tilts you forwards (similar to Falcon's Fury at Busch Gardens)
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
That's what I have always done, yes! And it's been nice and straight forward each time.
WickerWonder18
TS Member
Pleasure beach update after visiting today.
Can confirm Nash/Grand national is indeed back open!
River caves still shut as expected but hell nights advertising above it, suggesting they were planning to use it for the event?
Still a massive faff with the whole e-ticket thing and having to scan it at every ride. WHY!?! And rides opening at 10:30. Frustrating.
However good day on the whole, plenty of re-rides and soaking ride on Valhalla to end the day lol.
Can confirm Nash/Grand national is indeed back open!
River caves still shut as expected but hell nights advertising above it, suggesting they were planning to use it for the event?
Still a massive faff with the whole e-ticket thing and having to scan it at every ride. WHY!?! And rides opening at 10:30. Frustrating.
However good day on the whole, plenty of re-rides and soaking ride on Valhalla to end the day lol.
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
I think it was half term last week in much of Lancashire.
Half term this week on the best side of the Pennines.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
So both sets are on HT. Was absolutely not busy enough like it should be.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
One point to note is that the park may be shooting for a Paultons Park-style strategy of making more money with less people in the park.
Seeing a quiet park may be concerning on the face of it, but spend per capita is also important to consider. Since the abolition of the walk around entry fee, this will be far higher, as everyone in the park has paid a minimum of whatever the entry fee is. People might nostalgically look back to the 90s when the park was rammed, but half the people in there were just walking around and spending precisely zero money.
With the park now being entirely pay-one-price, I don’t think it’s quite as simple as “quiet park = financially struggling”. The abolition of the walk around pass and resultant uplift in spend per capita could be outweighing the loss in guest figures and meaning that the park is matching or bettering its previous financial performances. The accounts from previous years after the park have made changes to their entry structure (2009 with the introduction of the entry fee and 2022, as the first “normal” year of no walk around pass) have shown no cliff-edge drop in profits with the introduction of said measures. My suspicion based on this is that the spend per capita increase has balanced out the loss in guest figures to some degree.
Seeing a quiet park may be concerning on the face of it, but spend per capita is also important to consider. Since the abolition of the walk around entry fee, this will be far higher, as everyone in the park has paid a minimum of whatever the entry fee is. People might nostalgically look back to the 90s when the park was rammed, but half the people in there were just walking around and spending precisely zero money.
With the park now being entirely pay-one-price, I don’t think it’s quite as simple as “quiet park = financially struggling”. The abolition of the walk around pass and resultant uplift in spend per capita could be outweighing the loss in guest figures and meaning that the park is matching or bettering its previous financial performances. The accounts from previous years after the park have made changes to their entry structure (2009 with the introduction of the entry fee and 2022, as the first “normal” year of no walk around pass) have shown no cliff-edge drop in profits with the introduction of said measures. My suspicion based on this is that the spend per capita increase has balanced out the loss in guest figures to some degree.
It's kind of a 50/50 split, mine were off last week but I know some are off this week.
If you are looking to visit a park why would you pick PB when thier ticket prices are high and they haven't had a new ride for years plus those rides you do like such as Ice Blast, the Dodgems and River Caves are all closed?
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
I'm not saying the park should be rammed, but when you consider the fact Nash is on reduced capacity, Icon on reduced capacity, Dipper closed, Ice Blast closed, River Caves closed and the only things to actually get any proper queue were things with woeful capacity (Alice, Streak, Ghost Train, Avalanche) it doesn't paint a good picture for the place. Spending can be higher per guest, but when there is so few guests considering it is HT overlap weekend, it is concerning.
It was the non riders that spent the most in the bars and shops...while the young ones were riding, the old ones were eating and buying in the shops.
Attendance is through the floor.
The park is right down on it's arse.
Sixty years of visiting, this is the shittiest.
Attendance is through the floor.
The park is right down on it's arse.
Sixty years of visiting, this is the shittiest.
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Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
Interesting perspective as I went with my mum, who is a MAP holder but not exactly an enthusiast. Her comments included how forlorn bits of the park look which wasn't helped with Dipper closed, making the area from the big fountain to Icon dead. Also picked up on the ridiculous hours of the carousel, plus the dodgems playing music with no ride vehicle present.
PMBO being late open with nothing being said didn't go down well with the queue, plus the wheel checks concerned a few people. That, and how horrendous the track work is.
PMBO being late open with nothing being said didn't go down well with the queue, plus the wheel checks concerned a few people. That, and how horrendous the track work is.
IDB
TS Member
It made my first hour at the park yesterday more productive with most other rides having little to no queues with everyone else waiting for the Big One to open. By the afternoon it pretty much had no queue.
Despite Icon having a queue to the gates all day the quietest place in the park was the Icon station platform due to the scanning faff.
venny
TS Member
I can only concur with the conclusion on crowds, they were thin on the ground yesterday. Thats not to say Blackpool itself was quiet, quite the opposite in fact. Wandering on Central Pier at 8pm it was absolutely packed with queues of 50+ people airing for all the major rides. At that time the whole promenade was packed with all attractions lit up, all that is except for Pleasure Beach which sat in total darkness barring some flickers from Journey to Hell.
I know it’s an old trope now, but the Beach really are foregoing some considerable revenue on these busy autumn evenings. In years past these would be some of the busiest nights of the year for the park.
I know it’s an old trope now, but the Beach really are foregoing some considerable revenue on these busy autumn evenings. In years past these would be some of the busiest nights of the year for the park.