• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2026 Discussion

Only run on one for the last half century.
Though there was also the kids train that ran through the south park sand dunes...rode it and remember it.
 
Always love watching locomotives go around something charming about them always wanted to know if they have a dedicated maintenace train
 
To be fair, they can't even fill one train on quiet days.
Often half sandbagged, I have sat on the front seat waiting for punters many times in the past.

It should always run two when busy, with wheels at fast/medium/slow to account for the wind as best they can.
 
All the coaster that can run 2 should it really hampers throughputs also some parts of Pleasure Beach do look run down.

I would argue Pleasure Beach looks more run down then Towers
 
Just going back to Comparing Poulton's with Blackpool (or even towers)

I get that the ride hardware is nowhere near as difficult to maintain as some of the rotting hardware at pleasure beach.

But when the vikings area fully opens , poultons will have close to 50 attractions compared to around 30 at Blackpool. And a far bigger land area to maintain.

And they generally have all their rides operating throughout the season, unlike blackpool that almost always has a few rides closed at any one time.

I have no idea what Poulton's finances are like but on the face of it they seem to be doing pretty well. Maybe its because ....

They continue to invest with new attractions almost every year.
They usually have all their rides open.
They don't have staggered ride opening/closing times.
There is no fast track (or not one anyone can afford).
They have a sensible disabled rider policy.
The car parking is free.
They maintain the entire park immaculately.
They pay great attention to detail in every area.
There are lots of reasonable food option within the park.
They pride themselves on customer service.
Ride operations are as good as they can be.
They have a transparent pricing structure (which they stick to)

Other parks should be striving to operate like that.

Anyway back on Blackpool. Nash is shut till June apparently and i am guessing it won't be open till late June. Valhalla not opening till the back end of May.
 
Last edited:
Definitely one of the weaker openings for Pleasure Beach today, Icon 60mins all day and Big One on 80mins, Dipper is on one train as usual. Not having the extra capacity of Nash and Valhalla is really limiting.

First UK park in about a year, park feels a bit naff, doesn’t know whether it wants to be whether it wants to be some posh and prestigious or that grungy charm of the North West, It just comes across as tacky and like the park is having an identity crisis.

Totally understand that rides won’t be running 100% from the get-go but when the park is still taking in the crowds as if it was, then it kills the guest experience.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Definitely one of the weaker openings for Pleasure Beach today, Icon 60mins all day and Big One on 80mins, Dipper is on one train as usual. Not having the extra capacity of Nash and Valhalla is really limiting.

First UK park in about a year, park feels a bit naff, doesn’t know whether it wants to be whether it wants to be some posh and prestigious or that grungy charm of the North West, It just comes across as tacky and like the park is having an identity crisis.

Totally understand that rides won’t be running 100% from the get-go but when the park is still taking in the crowds as if it was, then it kills the guest experience.
Click to expand...
Its frustrating although still having a good day. Like Steeplechase only has 2 horses on each side sure it can run up to 5 each side.
 
Hid said:
Its frustrating although still having a good day. Like Steeplechase only has 2 horses on each side sure it can run up to 5 each side.
Click to expand...

I think it usually operates three per lane these days (or it did last year). Think thats because the mid course block breaks no longer work. They usually set the next set of horses off when the ones in front go over the second lift hill.

Is it on 3 lanes ?
 
shakey said:
I think it usually operates three per lane these days (or it did last year). Think thats because the mid course block breaks no longer work. They usually set the next set of horses off when the ones in front go over the second lift hill.

Is it on 3 lanes ?
Click to expand...
Yes was on 3 lanes today
 
Was on three lanes when I was near it earlier.

Nice enough opening day, weather held so that was nice. Got on Big One, Icon, Wallace & Gromit, Ghost Train, Derby Racer, and PB express. But as usual with opening day its just nice wandering round the park and bumping into people you know and catching up.

Had noodles from Wok Infusion for my lunch that was very nice.

Didn't spot any new merch, but in the Kiss Me Quick Shop they did have areas put aside for 130th anniversary merch, and Aviktas merch.

Sadly Aviktas wasn't testing whilst the park was open which I thought was missing a trick when it comes to promoting the ride.
 
Enso had a 2+ hour queue throughout most of the day today, I queued 70 mins at the start of the day when the indoor part of the queue wasn't full, later on it was spilling out quite far outside and heard lots of reports of people queuing 2+ hours, I ended up just abandoning my second round that I paid for.
At least we see people are willing to pay a little extra to ride it but just not £15, definitely need to reduce the price permanently so it's not always running empty but also keep a strict cap on sales so it's not longer than the main queue.

After a while management came over and said people have to sit together and fill both seats which I'm sure helped but it still just couldn't meet the demand.
Big one running worse than ever, my ride on enso was bonkers, park was busy, ops were ****, but still a fun time and it was good catching up with everyone.
 
Alright day at Pleasure Beach overall, only really went to collect my Season Pass (which haven’t even been delivered to the park yet..) and get on some rides like Icon whilst I was there. Park clearly limited in capacity and some ride staff clearly still training so I can’t fault operations too much.

Shortly after my last post, I got on Avalanche and the batching was horrendous, one train from the main queue followed by a whole train of Speedy Pass. A fair few angry members of the public about the unfairness and one guy even gave a mouthful to the ride staff. I get Pleasure Beach staff have pressure for Speedy Pass to be 10% of the wait, but when they dedicate 50% of the ride capacity to them then that’s really taking the mick. Park ideally should just drop the targets for a certain reduction in waiting, and move towards more general ‘shorter waits’ policy. Those using the Speedy Pass genuinely looked embarrassed to be the subject of the verbal abuse because the public were so angry at the pace of the queue so clearly not a policy that really works for anyone.

Other than that, operations were good but nothing to write home about. Icon was really taking a lot of the heavy lifting today being a newer ride, so I can imagine Aviktas really being a queue soaker when it opens.

No real desire to head back so soon as a pass holder after today (first visit in nearly five years) but will probably head back after Nash, Valhalla and Aviktas open and get a different roster of attractions. However at that point I run the risk of falling into school trip season. Today has really affirmed that my main reason for the Platinum Pass was for the international parks, and the addition of Aviktas will be a nice bonus on top of that. Kind of feeling ‘bleh’ around UK theme parks as things stand currently, they feel like I’ve changed a lot more than they have in the past 5 or so years.
 
They were still running Icon, purely for Enso, after 6pm. Completely oversold those tickets, I can only imagine they forgot to cap it?

George W said:
I ended up just abandoning my second round that I paid for.
Click to expand...
Bit late now, but you can get a refund on an unclaimed Enso at Guest Services - either returning the physical ticket if you bought it in there, or if you purchased via the app, they scan your eticket.

I waited around 2 hours 20min for Big One at the end of the day. It only really started moving once it got to 5pm and the speedy/easy queue was stopped. The park was busy(ish) but nowhere near as bad as it could have been, but once again, it's like they've completely forgot how to handle a crowd.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Kind of feeling ‘bleh’ around UK theme parks as things stand currently, they feel like I’ve changed a lot more than they have in the past 5 or so years
Click to expand...

That’s how i feel too. So much more excited for our European trips this year.

It’s quite mad to think that The Big One was the worlds tallest coaster and the UK were arguably the kings of coasters in the 90s (outside the US). Inconceivable now, i feel fortunate to have lived through that era.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top