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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2025 Discussion

b2311e said:
Yesterday (Sunday) was one of the busiest non-school trip days in years. I would be surprised if the park wasn't at capacity. Absolutely heaving. They still had Nickland rides running after 18:30, presumably hadn't cleared the queues!
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The park heaving, is this because the park is genuinely full of punters ? Or does it also have to do with the current abysmal throughput on some of the rides . e.g dipper on one train. Nash on one set. Valhalla only opening for half a day with not many boats, the awful slow batching on launch pad, etc...
 
shakey said:
The park heaving, is this because the park is genuinely full of punters ? Or does it also have to do with the current abysmal throughput on some of the rides . e.g dipper on one train. Nash on one set. Valhalla only opening for half a day with not many boats, the awful slow batching on launch pad, etc...
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It was genuinely very busy, but the operations did no favours.
Big One's queue was around 1hr 45 - 2 hours, it was stretching back to the HB stall under Rev at one point. I was unable to distinguish where the dipper's queue actually was, because Infusion's queue spilled out past it. Valhalla's queue at park close was allegedly 3 hours. Throughput on that is diabolical, observe the queue and come back an hour later and the same people won't have moved much.

Icon has been getting a lot worse for throughput in recent weeks. It's not even speedy pass slowing it down, its like everyone is in slow motion. Seeing the second train coming in before the restraints are down is laughable. It makes no difference when it's on three trains, as it stacks so badly now.

I know I say it a lot, but for the most part, these rides have all previously been operated much more efficiently. It can be done, but nobody seems to want to do it? Go back 15, 20 years and the amount of people in the park would've been the same, but I bet you could get on double the amount of rides in a day.

Edit: Forgot to mention the Nash. Think this might be the slowest dispatched coaster anywhere. Everything about it is slow, the train's movement, the amount of the gates sit open, the amount of waiting time after the restraints are checked before dispatch, and the amount of time it sits empty on the offload before moving down. Cycle time must be getting on for 10 mins
 
And forgot to mention speedypass!
The speedypass queues were around 30 minutes, so the main queues were not moving for ten minutes at a time (allegedly).

Go back half a century, despite a heaving bank holiday park...never a queue for a woodie of more than ten minutes...for a decade or so.
My personal experience for all my teenage years.
POP entry is such a success for the poor punter.
But you know, progress.
 
b2311e said:
Edit: Forgot to mention the Nash. Think this might be the slowest dispatched coaster anywhere. Everything about it is slow, the train's movement, the amount of the gates sit open, the amount of waiting time after the restraints are checked before dispatch, and the amount of time it sits empty on the offload before moving down. Cycle time must be getting on for 10 mins
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When I visited a couple of weeks back one of the ride ops was checking each restraint at least 4 times and going back checking ones he’d already checked. Now I don’t know if this was just being thorough or a case of ocd. But it didn’t help dispatch times at all.
 
b2311e said:
Big One's queue was around 1hr 45 - 2 hours, it was stretching back to the HB stall under Rev at one point. I was unable to distinguish where the dipper's queue actually was, because Infusion's queue spilled out past it.
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Was big one on two trains ?
 
shakey said:
Was big one on two trains ?
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Yes, and in fairness it was being dispatched as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the speedy queue was right out by steeple. It was staffed by the photo shop, to keep the exit somewhat clear. Eventually they started outright telling people to just join the main queue as its quicker
 
b2311e said:
Yes, and in fairness it was being dispatched as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the speedy queue was right out by steeple. It was staffed by the photo shop, to keep the exit somewhat clear. Eventually they started outright telling people to just join the main queue as its quicker
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Perhaps they should change the branding to "Speedy" pass.

It does feel like they need to limit sales though, if the queues are that big then people who pay for it are peed off, and people who haven't paid for it and are waiting 10 mins for the general queue to get a look in are fuming too.
 
rob666 said:
But they won't on these mega busy days as they literally pay for the staff over the rest of the year, when every school weekday open, they lose masses of money,
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Short term gains vs long term losses though. Yes allowing unlimited speedy pass sales might get them a short term bump in finances but it likely means the people burnt by it not being very speedy won't buy again.

Guess it's another example of PBs "there'll always be different mugs next year" attitude.
 
Fuct said:
...Guess it's another example of PBs "there'll always be different mugs next year" attitude.
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You saved me typing mate!
Every high tide in summer drags in a fresh set of grockles.
Kids call the shots, and they want to go back to ride that one scary ride they couldn't face last year.
Everyone knows the fireworks/Bank holidays in the sun will be heaving, and every year a few thousand say never again, to be replaced by fresh mugs the next time.
Blackpool is a standalone strange fish on the coast...a place of northern ritual...it has done so much better this summer due to one thing alone...Sun.
Blackpool has been busy every day pretty much since June.

Just think, they might even have enough money to finally do up the River Caves.

Ride the Lights tonight.
But not for this old, er, person with a sore ankle.
 
There isn't a never ending supply of punters and if you annoy enough of them it will only end one way.

Theres a reason that Poultons is probably the only major uk park to consistently turn a profit. And its two words ... "Customer Experience". Poultons isn't cheap to get in but people want to come back because they have a great experience. And not only that, word gets around that its a great day out so they are in a win win situation.

Pleasure beach is cheaper now than its ever been if you use the offers. But the experience is terrible.
 
...or bearable if you only go off peak, wet termtime weekdays a speciality.
I imagine a large number of yesterday's big crowd had mopped up the four for 99 that became four for fifty with the employer offer.
And shakey...you've been a grumbling tyke about the place for about a decade now mate...but that pass always gets renewed in the end!
 
rob666 said:
I imagine a large number of yesterday's big crowd had mopped up the four for 99 that became four for fifty with the employer offer.
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Yep,.probably. But it doesn't matter how cheap the price is if the product you get is not enjoyable. And judging by the length of the queues, I suspect a lot of people had a pretty poor day out.

rob666 said:
And shakey...you've been a grumbling tyke about the place for about a decade now mate...but that pass always gets renewed in the end!
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Thats, true. Think ive had a season ticket since 2016, and unfortunately the product being offered has been getting worse year on year. And at the same time my visits have gone down year on year.

These days i go to enjoy a day out with friends and always have a good time despite the parks best efforts to stop me. The enjoyment is almost entirely due to the company.

I have been 3 times this year. It will probably be 4 by the end of the year. Luckily this years season pass was less than £100.

I will see what the price is next year but if the price goes up considerably then I probably won't renew.
 
Any idea how much Cétautomatix at Parc Asterix would cost to build - absolutely perfect ride for Pleasure Beach Resort - albeit I would say at the expense of removing Avalanche and using that plot IMO given its near Nickland and has a 1 Metre height restriction. 4 cars at once so 16 riders at a time and 600-700 riders per hour throughput seems great.
  • Manufacturer: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides
  • Type: Spinning Coaster
  • Height: 46 feet (14 meters)
  • Top Speed: 28 mph
  • Unique Quality: Europe's first family-friendly spinning coaster
Track length is 1,378ft too.

Off-Ride and On-Ride POV in 4k below.

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcbq2G8Colg


Thoughts? Would love a themed area around it like this - IP or original, maybe integrate some new dining options there too and relocate the other dining options to centre of the park as a hub.
 
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shakey said:
The park heaving, is this because the park is genuinely full of punters ? Or does it also have to do with the current abysmal throughput on some of the rides . e.g dipper on one train. Nash on one set. Valhalla only opening for half a day with not many boats, the awful slow batching on launch pad, etc...
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Can confirm I attended on Sunday myself, the park was the busiest I have seen in a very long time outside of school trips. One person I spoke to on Rev at the end of the day said 11,000 on park.

Huge queues but still managed PMBO x2, Icon x2, Avalanche (Speedy One), Revolution, The Grand National, Wallace & Gromit (nothing new).

Fair few disgruntled punters moaning about how little they've ridden all day in queues by late afternoon. Avoided anything on one train ops aside from Rev as I knew to do it very late in the day and finish on big one which was very short queue by 6.25pm for that second ride.

I normally avoid the busy days but I went with a friend and they wanted to go on that day.
 
11000 really isn't that many people for a park with as many rides as BPB (and yes I know they have far fewer than they used to, that's beside the point). The fact that it clearly struggles to cope with such numbers is a huge issue for the park - to get the sort of guest numbers they need to make a success of things they're unable to offer even a mediocre experience.
 
Just had an email, season pass renewal for 2026 is £125. Which is less than I paid for my first season pass I bought in 2009.

Nice 130 logo as well, so there's more money to spend on another magnet.
 
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