Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion

[danlouislucy]

Saturday was such a farcical mess but yesterday was like visiting a different park, I genuinely think they didn't get enough hours of testing for Big One hence why it was testing yesterday most of the day, could be completely wrong of course but, failure to prepare properly, time and time again

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[John_P]

Anyone have any ideas why they've got midweek closures in July?! (We were discussing this on Discord last night and everyone was baffled).

School trips, parks doing people a favour there by not letting them book those days as the park will be heaving.

I think last year they did open bookings to anyone nearer the time for one or two of the dates.

 

[TroySmith1]

I just watched the grand opening and Amanda’s speech, it’s like watching a car crash comedy show. The way she has to tell everyone it’s her Theme park and it’s the “best one” in the uk…honestly deluded? She makes you not want to route for a park. Unlike Merlin they do look after enthusiasts in a sense of announcing ride closures/last rides before removed.

The branding is just all over the place now especially when you look at the merch, to be honest It Just looks so grim there, I just couldn’t justify the costs to travel down to have such a underwhelming day out. As much as some of the dark rides are ok at best, there just isn’t enough immersion, themed lands or the sense of “escaping reality” for me personally. It appears majority of the landscaping inside the park looks more towards the style of a city centre style, which is odd as the outside facade and entrance is very old school style?

I can see the ghost train and Alice has been cleaned up slightly but the rest of the park feels neglected at this stage, also why does the park struggle so much with its audio? These are just the basics here, more important areas need to be addressed before painting the likes of the ghost train blue? It just doesn’t seem to be managed very well currently. It’s quite apparent the park has no direction, their investment strategy and advertising/rebranding is all just utterly bizarre!

I wish them all the best but I’m sorry Amanda hasn’t got a clue and will run the place into the ground.

 

[shakey]

20 years ago it wouldn't have mattered if they messed up on opening day, other than to leave a few people a bit annoyed. But opening day is now arguably the most important day of the year for them. They know the place will be full of vloggers and enthusiasts who will be posting their experiences on YouTube and social media. It's a chance to get a lot of free publicity, but yet again they have scored a massive own goal and got a whole lot of the wrong sort of publicity.

This is not just annoying the people who turned up on the day, it is also putting off thousands of potential punters who will see the vlogs and feedback, and just decide to go elsewhere.

They really are making the most basic errors and never learn from their mistakes.

And as for the MD, I am sorry to say that she seems to be completely off her tits !!

This line says it all "Re the play station or as you all call it the ice blast." !!

If the MD of the park doesn't even know what her own rides are called then there really is no hope. (and Ice Blast has been called that for about 20 years !!)

She claims that "The Ice Blast" (as we all call it) will open again this year but from the footage I have seen, she either has no clue what is going on or is just lying.

I am not getting excited about a new shiny coaster replacing the Turnpike (or as we all call it The Grand Prix). It would be fantastic if that did happen, but at this point I am not particularly hopeful.

If anything needs replacing , it is probably the MD !!

 

[jibbsie]

20 years ago it wouldn't have mattered if they messed up on opening day, other than to leave a few people a bit annoyed. But opening day is now arguably the most important day of the year for them. They know the place will be full of vloggers and enthusiasts who will be posting their experiences on YouTube and social media. It's a chance to get a lot of free publicity, but yet again they have scored a massive own goal and got a whole lot of the wrong sort of publicity.

This is not just annoying the people who turned up on the day, it is also putting off thousands of potential punters who will see the vlogs and feedback, and just decide to go elsewhere.

They really are making the most basic errors and never learn from their mistakes.

And as for the MD, I am sorry to say that she seems to be completely off her tits !!

This line says it all "Re the play station or as you all call it the ice blast." !!

If the MD of the park doesn't even know what her own rides are called then there really is no hope. (and Ice Blast has been called that for about 20 years !!)

She claims that "The Ice Blast" (as we all call it) will open again this year but from the footage I have seen, she either has no clue what is going on or is just lying.

I am not getting excited about a new shiny coaster replacing the Turnpike (or as we all call it The Grand Prix). It would be fantastic if that did happen, but at this point I am not particularly hopeful.

If anything needs replacing , it is probably the MD !!

you are quite right, the whole community is watching the first day, I was planning on making my first visit this year to experience some of the older rides and get some of the herratige, but I have definatly been having second thoughts for quite a few reasons like reliability but also if your most famous ride (the big one) isn't oppening due to "planned maintanence" only anounced the morning then what is stopping planned maintanence not being announced on the day I go.

 

[Bowser]

you are quite right, the whole community is watching the first day, I was planning on making my first visit this year to experience some of the older rides and get some of the herratige, but I have definatly been having second thoughts for quite a few reasons like reliability but also if your most famous ride (the big one) isn't oppening due to "planned maintanence" only anounced the morning then what is stopping planned maintanence not being announced on the day I go.

I do get the impression many parks believe (rightly) that most people don’t give it as much thought and just assume all rides will be working or curse their bad luck if they’re not when they visit.

Equally in the social media age that’s increasingly not the case and as you say, particularly so on a day like Saturday. Going viral because people are having a bad time is disastrous.

 

[pjanvil]

Is anyone else sad about replacing the Grand Prix and another ride closure, even if it is for a replacement ride when there are so many unused spaces that Havant been replaced already. Wild Mouse/Trauma Towers site, Space Invaders for starters should be replaced before ripping out more rides?

 

[Katy]

Is anyone else sad about replacing the Grand Prix and another ride closure, even if it is for a replacement ride when there are so many unused spaces that Havant been replaced already. Wild Mouse/Trauma Towers site, Space Invaders for starters should be replaced before ripping out more rides?

Depends what the replacement ride is I suppose. If they're going to stick a massive coaster weaving around Avalanche on the Grand Prix site then I'd be fine with that, over something small going on the Wild Mouse site. I would, however, like them to do something in all these locations eventually.

 

[Fuct]

Is anyone else sad about replacing the Grand Prix and another ride closure, even if it is for a replacement ride when there are so many unused spaces that Havant been replaced already. Wild Mouse/Trauma Towers site, Space Invaders for starters should be replaced before ripping out more rides?

Screams cost cutting to me, rather than 'building for the future' or whatever. With the best will in the world I can't see anything going on the Grand Prix site for a long while.

 

[IDB]

I’m peeved off with them and haven’t even visited yet!

I’ve had to contact them recently over a couple of issues. One minor with regards to merchandise and the other an issue when trying to register our two season passes.

Neither email sent has received a reply from the park.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m going to use my pass to visit at least a couple of the partner parks this year, I don’t think I would have bothered renewing.

 

[b2311e]

A few observations I don't think were covered with all the drama.

Impossible is still closed, and they've got a metal sign outside it saying so. I'd imagine that might imply it's closed for a while. It's not on the planned maintenance page.

PB Radio is now live again after a few years absence. Perhaps the budget may stretch to getting the speakers working for it at some point, but you can hear it near the booth.

Ghost Train has had some new scenes added, and the exterior is now blue.
The..I don't know what to call it? Creature that knocks? in the station has been unceremoniously removed. May only be temporary as the wiring is still there. Looks very empty

The arcade at the park entrance appears to be empty although they've tried to cover the windows

T-Cafe by W&G shop has been stripped out

PB Express is currently missing a few coaches. They're using Carol Jean to pull it, which is unusual. The Geoffrey Thompson loco is back in the bay platform, after disappearing for the latter half of last season. It's either been well polished or painted. Much of the greenery trackside has been tided

Absolutely nothing visibly improved in River Caves despite the surprise early closure last year. There is now an animatronic snake at the end though which is missing its skin, which looks hilarious

And the biggest, most important change of all - The gate that was added by Icon's turnstile last year has now been painted.

 

[Katy]

The arcade at the park entrance appears to be empty although they've tried to cover the windows

They have filled the Bowladrome with arcade machines which presumably came out of the entrance arcade. I find this a downgrade, as the tables and chairs that were scattered in the empty half of Bowladrome made a great place to eat from the outdoor stalls (FY4, Infusion) when it was raining

 

[b2311e]

They have filled the Bowladrome with arcade machines which presumably came out of the entrance arcade. I find this a downgrade, as the tables and chairs that were scattered in the empty half of Bowladrome made a great place to eat from the outdoor stalls (FY4, Infusion) when it was raining

Ah I had wondered why it looked a bit more alive!

There's not many places to dodge the rain these days is there? Monorail used to be a good one for that

W&G had a queue quite substantially out the door in the heavy rain on Saturday, I can only assume someone forgot it's got about 10 miles of cattle pen inside

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Depends what the replacement ride is I suppose. If they're going to stick a massive coaster weaving around Avalanche on the Grand Prix site then I'd be fine with that, over something small going on the Wild Mouse site. I would, however, like them to do something in all these locations eventually.

It would be nice to get a big new coaster at Pleasure Beach but I can’t see it happening any time soon. In the 30 years since The Big One opened in 1994 the only new coasters added to the park have been Infusion in 2007 (taken from the then sister park Southport Pleasureland) and Icon in 2018. So given that there was a 13 year gap between PMBO and Infusion, and then a 11 year gap until Icon I don’t think we’d be due a new coaster anytime soon unfortunately.

But the big problem is though that the park have fallen in to a pattern of removing rides and leaving others not operating for periods (to save on costs) without really adding anything. The park added a decent amount of family rides in 2011 with the opening of Nickelodeon Land but since then the only additions have been Skyforce in 2015 and Icon in 2018. Compared to other parks in the UK that’s a dreadful record of investment. Pleasure Beach are in danger of getting left behind sadly. We are going to see some great new coasters soon at Thorpe Park, Drayton Manor, and over in Ireland at Emerald Park. Paulton’s Park added two new lands in the past eight years, Chessington added a new coaster last year, and even LLW are getting one as well. Pleasure Beach desperately need something to refresh their ride lineup and generate interest in the park but I’ve got a sad feeling that there just isn’t the money for another significant coaster even if there was the both the space and the inclination from the owner for one.

 

[KolonelKlink]

Things at BPP can be nearly summed up with this image from TPW’s latest vlog - a new sign on the theme of seeing is believing where “believing” is misspelt:

 

[Excalibur]

I don’t know if this is logical or not and know one really knows how much financial struggles the park are actually in apart from the selves.. BUT

Because of the good relationship with Mack could they not come up with some kind of deal of a new ride paid of X amount of years? Rarther than the usual route and partially some delayed payments or payment deferrals? Not sure if that’s a thing but we all know how close Mandy and Mack are.

 

[ScottishChris]

I don’t know if this is logical or not and know one really knows how much financial struggles the park are actually in apart from the selves.. BUT

Because of the good relationship with Mack could they not come up with some kind of deal of a new ride paid of X amount of years? Rarther than the usual route and partially some delayed payments or payment deferrals? Not sure if that’s a thing but we all know how close Mandy and Mack are.

The Group that the Pleasure Beach is part of is not struggling financially. Heck, the park isn't actually struggling financially of you have a proper look at the reports - it really could be/ should be doing substantially better though.

Almost all new attractions at PB are funded through borrowing - this isn't actually an unusual thing for major Capex in business and actually makes a huge amount of sense when it comes to the financials and it means that the risk can be secured against specific collateral. So ultimately they do pay it up over X years.

In terms with Mandy's "good relationship with Mack" - I get the feeling that this 'special relationship' is very much in Mandy's head rather than an actual thing. Not saying that there isn't a 'relationship', just that it isn't as close as Amanda thinks.

 

[Sharko]

I’d love for the pleasure beach to repair their relationship with vekoma. We need a modern vekoma in this country. I would personally be looking at the FLY model.

 

[rob666]

Probably cost more than the whole park is worth, so unless you have the cash in your back pocket...no hope!

 

[Steve74]

The Group that the Pleasure Beach is part of is not struggling financially. Heck, the park isn't actually struggling financially of you have a proper look at the reports - it really could be/ should be doing substantially better though.

Almost all new attractions at PB are funded through borrowing - this isn't actually an unusual thing for major Capex in business and actually makes a huge amount of sense when it comes to the financials and it means that the risk can be secured against specific collateral. So ultimately they do pay it up over X years.

In terms with Mandy's "good relationship with Mack" - I get the feeling that this 'special relationship' is very much in Mandy's head rather than an actual thing. Not saying that there isn't a 'relationship', just that it isn't as close as Amanda thinks.

Am I remembering correctly that they borrowed money/granted money from the local council for financing Icon?