They are making strategic choices. The event they cancelled likely was cancelled due to lack of sales. And the rides they closed earlier this year people rarely rode themUnfortunately the current evidence would point towards a park that is really struggling to stay afloat.
I sincerely hope they can turn things around but I think they need some outside investment . That may or may not require a change of owner but they need something to happen and I am not sure a gyro swing is going to be enough, unless they make a significant change to how the park is being run.
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2025 Discussion
shakey
TS Member
They are making strategic choices.
Strategic or Desperate ?
How can you possibly know this!I strongly disagree the park has more money than you think, they paid off the loan fir the Gyro Swing quickly and it's survived this long and will continue to do so
Every last snippet of information passed down from long term reliable sources recently suggests the park is scraping along on its bottom...including entry for twelve pounds fifty, two days a week, in what used to be peak season.
What actual information do you have to suggest the park is happily solvent?
And cancelled events due to a lack of sales...clear evidence of the park failing to sell its own product...announce new events, then pull them because nobody books.
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Matty17p
TS Member
Please protect your sanity, seems needed as the sale of the can wraps have really wound you upI genuinely believe most of this nonsense has come about purely due to enthusiast YouTubers / Influencers who will pay stupid money for things that otherwise would never sell, purely to flaunt on their content and recoup costs via said content.
To sell the wrapping for the big one cans for £1500 is absolutely embarrassing in my opinion.
The park is clearly on its **** to be doing things like this, and as usual from events being cancelled and the ever changing prices, inability to check season passes using scanners which show your image on them, and the plethora of other issues just sums it up really.
Nothing other than **** poor, top down management.
Say what you like, but the park won't exist in 5 years. Especially when AVIKTAS flops due to a stupid name that half the YouTubers can't even seem to say correctly, its probably too wild for most, and no doubt they'll botch the marketing campaign and probably take the **** with ticket pricing when it opens charging more.
Would the park have brought a Gyro Swing if they were so hard done by or. Made a Garden out of the Grand Prix in or be Putting Accommodation on Ocean Boulevard. Refurbing Grand National or Refurbing Launch PadHow can you possibly know this!
Every last snippet of information passed down from long term reliable sources recently suggests the park is scraping along on its bottom...including entry for twelve pounds fifty two days a week in what used to be peak season.
What actual information do you have to suggest the park is happily solvent?
And cancelled events due to a lack of sales...clear evidence of the park failing to sell its own product...announce new events, then pull them because nobody books.
If they were financially screwed they wouldn't be doing all of the above mentioned Would they. They would leave those rides to rot
Gyro Swing - Hail mary.Would the park have brought a Gyro Swing if they were so hard done by or. Made a Garden out of the Grand Prix in or be Putting Accommodation on Ocean Boulevard. Refurbing Grand National or Refurbing Launch Pad
If they were financially screwed they wouldn't be doing all of the above mentioned Would they. They would leave those rides to rot
Grand Prix Garden - can't afford a replacement ride
Accommodation on Ocean Boulevard - Cheap conversion of existing space.
Refurbing rides - cheaper than a new offering and looks new to the GP
Would the park have brought a Gyro Swing if they were so hard done by or. Made a Garden out of the Grand Prix in or be Putting Accommodation on Ocean Boulevard. Refurbing Grand National or Refurbing Launch Pad
If they were financially screwed they wouldn't be doing all of the above mentioned Would they. They would leave those rides to rot
Lots of capital letters there but not much actual expense.
No giroswing this season...nothing new this season...again.
Fixing the National...eventually... so it can run for half a season.
Likewise, fixing playstation/ice blast/whatever...again...after another lengthy closure...and claiming a better experience...when it really isn't.
Fixing broken stuff isn't real progress, neither is closing a dozen rides without replacement.
Plastic Person
TS Member
So what do you suggest they do?
They either keep on pushing or sell out to a foreign company and get squeezed dry like many other historic British entities and wind up dead anyways.
I don't have the sympathy for BPB that I once maintained. Yes, a foreign company might squeeze them dry, but it's exactly the independent, family ownership of the park that has allowed for such stubborn, poorly considered leadership for two decades now. There have been economic challenges and shifting markets, no doubt. But in response, they have also helped dig what is beginning to resemble their own grave.
Bringing back cheap paid entry would be a real, logical, first step back to some sort of sensible business practice.
Allow the return of large numbers of non riders with money in their pockets to spend in the arcades, shops, food stall, cafes and bars.
Again.
Like they used to.
Like they promised to return to.
But mummy knows best, and we thoosies do not have the slightest idea on how to run the seaside funfair that thinks it is a theme park.
So twenty five quid to watch the fountains is fair, and so is half that for a wristband for all the rides if you know where to look.
Great practice.
Allow the return of large numbers of non riders with money in their pockets to spend in the arcades, shops, food stall, cafes and bars.
Again.
Like they used to.
Like they promised to return to.
But mummy knows best, and we thoosies do not have the slightest idea on how to run the seaside funfair that thinks it is a theme park.
So twenty five quid to watch the fountains is fair, and so is half that for a wristband for all the rides if you know where to look.
Great practice.
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venny
TS Member
The cancelling of nearly all the Friday VIBES events is absolutely textbook. Promote a half-assed event with barely any notice, charge a price which doesn’t make sense, then cancel it almost as quickly as it was announced.
You can perhaps look at it as the park trying new things, but I get the distinct feeling they really weren’t behind it in the first place. Surely to attempt to try a new event and change visitation patterns that for the last decade they’ve shifted in the other direction, you need to invest more effort than a last minute announcement of what appears to be a very poor value proposition.
You can perhaps look at it as the park trying new things, but I get the distinct feeling they really weren’t behind it in the first place. Surely to attempt to try a new event and change visitation patterns that for the last decade they’ve shifted in the other direction, you need to invest more effort than a last minute announcement of what appears to be a very poor value proposition.
Matty17p
TS Member
A Mack Stryker would be far to expensive for Pleasure Beach, EP or Mack have never disclosed how much it cost to build and I'd image the operating cost are eye watering. But it's estimated to of cost around €25–35 million crazy if true!Would a Mack Big Dipper or Mack Stryker fit Pleasure Beach well. Not sure which would fit more due to capacity reasons. Because Pleasure Beach does get busy but is more quiet more often
On the other hand a big dipper from Mack could be a good edition to the park they can be very compact and come with an alright price tag, lost gravity comes in with and estimated cost and build price of £11 million. I for one would be all for a Big Dipper from Mack I have a feeling a Big Dipper is more likely than vekoma tilt.
£3 million more and we could of had a big dipper than Aviktas lol
flyingguitar
TS Member
The park is defiantly in a bad place.
you can say their financials were worse x years ago but since then they have just made their park worse and doubled down on poor investments (such as hot ice), angering the locals removing rides, devaluating their tickets whilst jacking up the price.
POP is IMO the starting of this current problem, I am aware they had issues with crime, but there are other ways to deal with it at least in the modern time, and they still haven't mitigated this with a fair priced non riders pass.
The park was designed around PPR, with high capacity expensive rides which brought in lots of money, but with POP that expensive ride makes a much larger loss. in addition all the shops & bars make much less money from people watching the rides as less people will spend that.
PPR also makes the most sense for their target market, holidays (at least my experience) are often very impulse driven, not really that much planning and an attempt to reduce stress and thinking about things, one massive POP price will dramatically reduce the amount impulse buys compared to many smaller ticket purchases even though they may end out spending more (it is easy to say yes to a £5 ticket for wallace and gromit, then £15 for the big one, then £15 for icon but saying yes to a single £30 ticket is much harder even though it is £5 less than what you would have spent otherwise)
I am not saying that I prefer PPR (I love rides, so POP is much better for me as I spend less money) but it just makes business sense given their location, clientele and design of the park
on top of all the issues they also refuse to do some basic things for guest satisfaction, such as remove the turnstiles (the have non rider pass now, but I doubt many people use it due to its price, making the turnstiles essentially useless and anoying)
also isn't the accommodation like the only thing that makes money, so makes sense to pump money into it.
you can say their financials were worse x years ago but since then they have just made their park worse and doubled down on poor investments (such as hot ice), angering the locals removing rides, devaluating their tickets whilst jacking up the price.
POP is IMO the starting of this current problem, I am aware they had issues with crime, but there are other ways to deal with it at least in the modern time, and they still haven't mitigated this with a fair priced non riders pass.
The park was designed around PPR, with high capacity expensive rides which brought in lots of money, but with POP that expensive ride makes a much larger loss. in addition all the shops & bars make much less money from people watching the rides as less people will spend that.
PPR also makes the most sense for their target market, holidays (at least my experience) are often very impulse driven, not really that much planning and an attempt to reduce stress and thinking about things, one massive POP price will dramatically reduce the amount impulse buys compared to many smaller ticket purchases even though they may end out spending more (it is easy to say yes to a £5 ticket for wallace and gromit, then £15 for the big one, then £15 for icon but saying yes to a single £30 ticket is much harder even though it is £5 less than what you would have spent otherwise)
I am not saying that I prefer PPR (I love rides, so POP is much better for me as I spend less money) but it just makes business sense given their location, clientele and design of the park
on top of all the issues they also refuse to do some basic things for guest satisfaction, such as remove the turnstiles (the have non rider pass now, but I doubt many people use it due to its price, making the turnstiles essentially useless and anoying)
did they even put much money into the grand prix garden, literally a bit of asphalt and a wooden frame thing, probably what sub £1000 investmentGyro Swing - Hail mary.
Grand Prix Garden - can't afford a replacement ride
Accommodation on Ocean Boulevard - Cheap conversion of existing space.
Refurbing rides - cheaper than a new offering and looks new to the GP
also isn't the accommodation like the only thing that makes money, so makes sense to pump money into it.
probably a lot more for both unfortunately, don't forget BPB is literally built on sand, so any foundations have to go really deep increasing the cost quite a bitA Mack Stryker would be far to expensive for Pleasure Beach, EP or Mack have never disclosed how much it cost to build and I'd image the operating cost are eye watering. But it's estimated to of cost around €25–35 million crazy if true!
On the other hand a big dipper from Mack could be a good edition to the park they can be very compact and come with an alright price tag, lost gravity comes in with and estimated cost and build price of £11 million. I for one would be all for a Big Dipper from Mack I have a feeling a Big Dipper is more likely than vekoma tilt.
£3 million more and we could of had a big dipper than Aviktas lol
I am not sure, depends how it ends up, however I think it could be good by convincing people to get in the park, as I said on holiday it has more impulse buys than say Alton, seeing a large new ride swinging out could be a really good billboard for attracting guests to the park, however it dose depend how it is done, marketed, etc if they don't market it very well and hide it behind building (such as Icon) then it could be quite poor)Not even sure Aviktas is a worthwhile investment.
Humble professional experienced opinion here......did they even put much money into the grand prix garden, literally a bit of asphalt and a wooden frame thing, probably what sub £1000 investment...
Four staff on that job, on an occasional basis, over a period of four months.
New complex pergola...metal, not wood.
Lawn areas done from scratch, with forty tons of topsoil hand levelled, double raked, top quality lawn seed for maritime climate.
Then the minor landscaping works and paths.
If your company did that for a grand, you would have gone bust at the end of the first week.
Probably a fifty grand investment, in my humble professional and trained opinion.
Matty17p
TS Member
Speaking of holidays what you've got to remember is the holiday package boom took millions of guest away from the park and Blackpool as a whole with most of them likely to never return again like they used to or just never return at all. A package holiday will always be more appealing to people then a summer holiday to Blackpool. I mean who would turn their nose up at a £20 Ryanair flight?PPR also makes the most sense for their target market, holidays (at least my experience) are often very impulse driven, not really that much planning and an attempt to reduce stress and thinking about things, one massive POP price will dramatically reduce the amount impulse buys compared to many smaller ticket purchases even though they may end out spending more (it is easy to say yes to a £5 ticket for wallace and gromit, then £15 for the big one, then £15 for icon but saying yes to a single £30 ticket is much harder even though it is £5 less than what you would have spent otherwise)
The Beach was generally managing better in the times of paid entry...but seaside parks are at the mercy of boom and bust with the general economy.
They have turned to the council in the past when times were hard, but the council is now skinter than skint, and has fewer reserves apparently.
They have turned to the council in the past when times were hard, but the council is now skinter than skint, and has fewer reserves apparently.
flyingguitar
TS Member
You're not wrong, but Blackpool is still quite popular, not as much as it used to be, but still it attracts a lot of people, other attractions aren't struggling nearly as much.Speaking of holidays what you've got to remember is the holiday package boom took millions of guest away from the park and Blackpool as a whole with most of them likely to never return again like they used to or just never return at all. A package holiday will always be more appealing to people then a summer holiday to Blackpool. I mean who would turn their nose up at a £20 Ryanair flight?
also there was the whole Staycation trend due to covid only a few years ago, where you couldn't travel outside the UK I would have thought that could have increased their reserves quite well.
Humble professional experienced opinion here...
Four staff on that job, on an occasional basis, over a period of four months.
New complex pergola...metal, not wood.
Lawn areas done from scratch, with forty tons of topsoil hand levelled, double raked, top quality lawn seed for maritime climate.
Then the minor landscaping works and paths.
If your company did that for a grand, you would have gone bust at the end of the first week.
Probably a fifty grand investment, in my humble professional and trained opinion.
I meant just materials, I also didn't realise they did the lawn, I thought it started out as a bit of lawn and they just added the paths & wooden things, still fifty grand isn't much at all compared to a new ride