ScottishChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Legend
Oooft. That's a statement. My response would be...I have no love for the vloggers....... however if you put Nemmy up against all of Blackpool's coasters combined it still comes out as the winner.
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2024 Discussion
- Thread starter Relife
- Start date
TroySmith1
TS Member
Another dig at Hyperia BPB really showing their insecurities again. Im still confused on there name change and branding? Not sure the drone footage at the end did the park any justice but looks like theyāre jumping on the bandwagon, having seen other parks being more transparent and showcasing there updates. Itās nice to see there has been a few upgrades but Iām sorry the park has a long way to go, there just simply isnāt enough for me to return anytime soon. Also Amanda delusional fan club on YouTube, is sheās posting the comments her self im very surprised?
I think the video is well presented and really should have been put out a couple of weeks back when the park opened. I think PB really need to look at Thier com's strategy as a whole as it often seems to work against them rather than being on the front foot with announcements. Hopefully they are ready for the busy Easter period
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
Didn't our @Rick buy one last year ?
I believe he is still alive but refusing to come back on to the towersstreet forums.
You "weed around one on your gardening round ?"
Remind me not to employ you as a gardener. You dirty Herbert
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Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Does the pleasure beach still hold the record for the biggest dark ride in the world?
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
Wasn't it the longest ? Maybe ? Thought I read it somewhere once. Probably on the pleasure beach website !!
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Wikipedia's article on dark rides says that Valhalla is 'the world largest indoor ride', but it cites this article which actually says "Sadly, the five-storey funhouse burned down in 1991 after being built in the 30s. One of the longest indoor dark rides in the world, Valhalla, replaced it in 2000.".
So no, complete bobbins.
Edit: Used to say that, I've just edited it so it's correct.
ScottishChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Legend
I don't think it was a dig, I felt it was more of an attempt at reasoning why PMBO is still relevant.
To be fair to the park, they have done this season/ press launch for a good number of years so I don't think they are jumping on a bandwagon with that. Where they defiantly have 'taken inspiration' is with a step up in the quality of the AV. Indeed, I believe that other parks have actually taken inspiration from PB in the past... but overtaken them.
You don't need to be sorry... I think most of us agree with you. I love Pleasure Beach - I still think [for me] it is the best park in the UK - but over the last 3-5 years they really seem to have lost any clear direction. I an hearing unsubstantiated chat about PB are about to have a substantial change in direction (being cryptic, because I have no idea how true it is) - if it is true, I would welcome it but I worry that Amanda will continue her medalling.
I hate the word 'big' when it comes to record. What does it mean? Length of track? footprint of ride? volume of water? amount of fire? volume of show building? I am sure you could find one statistic to justify "world's biggest" somewhere.
One thing I, and a lot of others, are disappointed in, is the park's refusal to engage with the upcoming figure skating competition at the Arena. In previous years we could buy discounted tickets, including a week-long pass to cover the event, and the Big Blue offered discounted rates during that week as well.
Nothing this year: no hotel discounts, no ticket deals and they're even going to charge spectators for seats closer to the ice... Add to that the usual abysmal planning (2 weeks to go and no timetable as of yet...) and they're not winning favour with the skaters (and there's hundreds of us there over the week).
I'll still visit though, I enjoy popping in once a year to see what's what, and experience something different.
Nothing this year: no hotel discounts, no ticket deals and they're even going to charge spectators for seats closer to the ice... Add to that the usual abysmal planning (2 weeks to go and no timetable as of yet...) and they're not winning favour with the skaters (and there's hundreds of us there over the week).
I'll still visit though, I enjoy popping in once a year to see what's what, and experience something different.
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
So my first trip of the season to the all new Pleasure Beach Resort for a weekend of fun and frolics, or was it tears and frustration ? Let's find out ........
First thing to point out is that I can now confirm Pleasure Beach Resort is definitely still in Blackpool despite a lack of clarity from the park on this. So anyone wanting to visit, just head up the M55 and follow the old signs to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it hasn't moved and the old signs still point you in the right direction !!
Saturday
No big one due to "High Winds 235ft Up" and this was understandable as the wind speed was 40+mph all day. Flying machines was also closed due to the wind but everything else that was advertised to be open, was. Infusion on one train which caused a long queue, but elsewhere the queues were fairly short, ranging from 0 to 20mins. W&G broke down midway through the day and didn't reopen, but I didn't see any other break downs myself.
Sunday
Big one open on one train and was about a 40minute queue in the middle of the day. Avalanche and Dipper both down to one train ops so had longer queues than the Saturday even though the park was quieter. This is frustrating as we had to wait 30 minutes for Avalanche when it would have been 10 at most on two trains. We managed to get on W&G early before that again broke down and didn't re-open as far as I could tell. Infusion was also down for part of the day, as was Sky Force.
The dark rides (that were open), were a bit patchy to say the least. I didn't go on Alice but apparently that was working well. But........
Ghost train had several broken scenes. Furnace not working, trommel tunnel not working (or even lit), no train light or noise, and the moving picture was dead (as usual). Also the new monk scene may as-well not be there because it is too dark to see anything.
W&G was in total darkness from the Rabbit Scene until The TV screen near the end. (Maybe why it was closed for most of the weekend)
And Valhalla...... No hammers, none of the mist / steam effects working apart from on the section up to the turn around, so no steam on the drops or the first lift hill. No flaming arrows or rolling log (arrows did work on Sunday). Got the full fire effects on Saturday but no fire in trough on Sunday. And the Water Vortex (or as I call it "The Power Shower"), was just tipping water into the middle of the boat on Sunday (but it did work better on Saturday). Our boat on Sunday was absolutely full of water, to the point where even putting your feet on the raised up bit's didn't make any difference. I think it's probably time the ride closed for three years for a total refurbishment !!!
Still no sign of River Caves, Dora or Impossible re-opening. They were testing Alpine Rally and Thompson Carousel so guessing they will be open at Easter.
Overall it was a fun weekend , I went with a family who had only visited pleasure beach a couple of times before , and not since 2016. They had a 2 year old so it was a shame that Dora, River Caves, Alpine Rally and Thompson Carrousel were all shut. But they said they had a really good time.
Worth mentioning to @Benjsh that this family are regular Merlin pass holders, and have no nostalgic attachment to pleasure beach, but their favourite rides were Nash and Big One, and even said that the roughness of Nash actually made it more fun and it would have been dull if it had been smooth.
One thing my friends really liked, was how easy it is to all stay together but still do the kids rides and thrill rides, as everything is close together with kids rides very close to the big thrill rides. If we had gone to towers we would have pretty much been split up for long periods of the day so it was something they were really impressed with and probably something pleasure beach should mention in their advertising.
Something I found slightly annoying was the length of time we had to wait for food, in a park that was no where near even half full. They will definitely struggle on busy days (assuming they get any busy days this year)
So that was my first visit of the year in the bag. Nice to have a quick chat with @MathewLancaster .
So my final thoughts, great two days on the park but with some inevitable frustrations , especially around the reliability of the dark rides. It seems like the park is struggling to maintain everything to a good standard.
First thing to point out is that I can now confirm Pleasure Beach Resort is definitely still in Blackpool despite a lack of clarity from the park on this. So anyone wanting to visit, just head up the M55 and follow the old signs to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it hasn't moved and the old signs still point you in the right direction !!
Saturday
No big one due to "High Winds 235ft Up" and this was understandable as the wind speed was 40+mph all day. Flying machines was also closed due to the wind but everything else that was advertised to be open, was. Infusion on one train which caused a long queue, but elsewhere the queues were fairly short, ranging from 0 to 20mins. W&G broke down midway through the day and didn't reopen, but I didn't see any other break downs myself.
Sunday
Big one open on one train and was about a 40minute queue in the middle of the day. Avalanche and Dipper both down to one train ops so had longer queues than the Saturday even though the park was quieter. This is frustrating as we had to wait 30 minutes for Avalanche when it would have been 10 at most on two trains. We managed to get on W&G early before that again broke down and didn't re-open as far as I could tell. Infusion was also down for part of the day, as was Sky Force.
The dark rides (that were open), were a bit patchy to say the least. I didn't go on Alice but apparently that was working well. But........
Ghost train had several broken scenes. Furnace not working, trommel tunnel not working (or even lit), no train light or noise, and the moving picture was dead (as usual). Also the new monk scene may as-well not be there because it is too dark to see anything.
W&G was in total darkness from the Rabbit Scene until The TV screen near the end. (Maybe why it was closed for most of the weekend)
And Valhalla...... No hammers, none of the mist / steam effects working apart from on the section up to the turn around, so no steam on the drops or the first lift hill. No flaming arrows or rolling log (arrows did work on Sunday). Got the full fire effects on Saturday but no fire in trough on Sunday. And the Water Vortex (or as I call it "The Power Shower"), was just tipping water into the middle of the boat on Sunday (but it did work better on Saturday). Our boat on Sunday was absolutely full of water, to the point where even putting your feet on the raised up bit's didn't make any difference. I think it's probably time the ride closed for three years for a total refurbishment !!!
Still no sign of River Caves, Dora or Impossible re-opening. They were testing Alpine Rally and Thompson Carousel so guessing they will be open at Easter.
Overall it was a fun weekend , I went with a family who had only visited pleasure beach a couple of times before , and not since 2016. They had a 2 year old so it was a shame that Dora, River Caves, Alpine Rally and Thompson Carrousel were all shut. But they said they had a really good time.
Worth mentioning to @Benjsh that this family are regular Merlin pass holders, and have no nostalgic attachment to pleasure beach, but their favourite rides were Nash and Big One, and even said that the roughness of Nash actually made it more fun and it would have been dull if it had been smooth.
One thing my friends really liked, was how easy it is to all stay together but still do the kids rides and thrill rides, as everything is close together with kids rides very close to the big thrill rides. If we had gone to towers we would have pretty much been split up for long periods of the day so it was something they were really impressed with and probably something pleasure beach should mention in their advertising.
Something I found slightly annoying was the length of time we had to wait for food, in a park that was no where near even half full. They will definitely struggle on busy days (assuming they get any busy days this year)
So that was my first visit of the year in the bag. Nice to have a quick chat with @MathewLancaster .
So my final thoughts, great two days on the park but with some inevitable frustrations , especially around the reliability of the dark rides. It seems like the park is struggling to maintain everything to a good standard.
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Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Touched a nerve did I?
Anyone who thinks Nash is a great coaster in its current state isn't someone I'd take much notice to to be honest. Now if they said it was a quality coaster at some point then sure there's a conversation to be had.
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
Touched a nerve did I?
Anyone who thinks Nash is a great coaster in its current state isn't someone I'd take much notice to to be honest. Now if they said it was a quality coaster at some point then sure there's a conversation to be had.
I was just pointing out what they told me. I personally think Nash is too uncomfortable to be enjoyable unless you are on a non wheel seat but they enjoyed it on both a wheel seat and a non wheel seat, so it just goes to show that different people like different things and you can't just assume your own opinion is the only one that counts. They actually weren't that impressed with Icon and only rode it once all weekend.
Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
It's all good harmless fun mate. Used to love Nashy back in the day. It's an absolute monstrosity now sadly for me and many others.
Actually watched some vlogs of the big American enthusiasts when they came over to ride it among many other UK coasters. Never laughed so hard in my life. Not a single one of them enjoyed it which I think backs up my point. Take the emotional connection away (like for Americans) and you get a fairer answer.
Coaster
TS Member
Nash is a great coaster in its current stateAnyone who thinks Nash is a great coaster in its current state isn't someone I'd take much notice to to be honest. Now if they said it was a quality coaster at some point then sure there's a conversation to be had.
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
Ok, don't want to keep going round in circles with this as I am sure the gatekeeper elves who patrol this forum will be slapping our wrists again.
The point I am trying to make is that my friends had no emotional attachment to the park or the rides but still preferred Nash and Big One over Icon.
Personally I actually agree with you to some degree regarding the Nash , in that I don't enjoy it that much , especially on a wheel seat.
But each to their own. Lots of people still really like the Nash and I have no problem with that or have any doubts that they genuinely enjoy it.
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Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Coaster
TS Member
Have a wider perspective than "everyone must think exactly the same way as I do"Have higher standards.
Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
This continues to go around in circles. I have demonstrated time and time again this isn't my mentality at all.
People who don't have an emotional attachment to the park think it's awful by and large. Just go watch the videos and reviews available.
Don't confuse me being highly sceptical of people's true opinions with me thinking my opinion is always right. I don't see how anyone can come off that ride with how brutally rough it is and honestly say it's a great coaster. Sentiment carries a lot of weight in this hobby of ours. Just look at Disney and whenever they update a classic attraction. There's always uproar.
If you rode Nashy tomorrow at a random American park you'd never visited before let's say......would you think it was as great? I'm not so sure personally. There's no emotional attachment there. This is the point I'm making.
When I lived in NYC I had a similar experience with the Coney Island Cyclone. It wasn't as rough as Nashy now is but it wasn't that spectacular either yet the locals treasure it as it's got so much history.
I really don't know how else I can make this clearer anymore.
