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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: 2026 Discussion

I remember the Wine Lodge hosepipe.

The floor sloped to a grill drain by the bar.

Ten minutes supping up time, then out, or wet ankles.

Famous back in the seventies for Champagne on draught.

Very Blackpool.
 
I just don't think longest coaster anywhere is really something you can promote as a selling point.

Tallest, fastest, most inversions etc are things you can sell to people to go on your ride.
 
Bowser said:
Didn’t Lightwater Valley basically operate the entire park off the back of having the worlds longest coaster?
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That is true at one point before Steel Dragon 2000 took the record.

I think since, they've marketed it as Europe's longest which Mandy could legitimately claim for the Big One rather than dubious sea level height claims. It's 213ft not 235ft 😂
 
A newbie here and have been a fly on the wall for a month or so, so sorry if this has already been mentioned but i've got a thought and wanted to write it down somewhere haha. It is for how the pleasure beach can satisfy the people who crave the pay on the gate times haha.

Now that they use etickets and rely on the app, they all use QR codes which can be made into whatever you want and allow you to set them up in a way which will work for the intened use. For example, they could include a one time 3 ride QR code in the current Non rider ticket at £20 to sweeten the deal. Or create a new £20 ride as you pay ticket which you have to buy entry to the park and provide you with a one time 3 ride QR code but also then have a section in the app which they could purchase one time QR codes for certain rides. A bit like purchasing a one time fast pass for certain rides at alton towers. For people knowing they are going to ride all day it would make the £35 ticket price look way better and for the people who only want to spend a couple of hours there then they have spent in the park too. From seeing their eticket options currently available, i would think their ticket scanners already deny entry to a ride if the QR code is a non rider ticket or a nickelodoen ticket only.

What are other peoples thoughts on this?
 
Alfredo said:
Did they remove the rolling spike log effect on Valhalla? I can't remember ever seeing it work on the 2023 version
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No it's still there witnessed it on several rides.

The only effect I have not really seen is ring of fire find that inconsistent and tromel
 
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£20 for a non-rider ticket is taking the mick. I do not get people justifying it at all. Makes zero business sense to charge that much and lose out on secondary spend.

Even beyond that I completely disagree that charging more on the gate works for a seaside amusement park. Beyond baffling.

I've said it time and time again, the priority should always be bringing people in off the promenade in peak season as otherwise you're defeating the point of the location. So overcharging on the gate at £50 per rider ticket and £20 non-rider is disgusting.

So a family of 4, 2 parents 2 kids lets say and two grandparents would be what, £190 on the day?

They must be smoking something in this economy to justify it. Blackpool is a dump, and the only people going down the front are the ones that generally can't afford to go elsewhere with a larger family so a couple of cheap arcades and a wander around.

The park thrived on PPR for that exact reason, and I'm not starting that discussion again, but I see no fit reason why non-rider passes cannot be added for free with a valid ride ticket purchase to encourage bringing a larger family as typically found for those more casually visiting Blackpool not just for the Pleasure Beach.

Turning down additional spend considering the food and drink policy, it's not like Nanna Doris and Grandad Bill are smuggling in Jam Sandwiches and Tea flasks.

Even £5 per non-rider ticket fine. But £20 is a joke. You can get two people into national trust without membership for about £12-£24 depending on location and time of the year plus take your own food and drink in just to do the same in terms of walk around and maybe see a fountain and walk through a maze or garden, minus discounted half empty ice skating shows of course.
 
Ares said:
So a family of 4, 2 parents 2 kids lets say and two grandparents would be what, £190 on the day?
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Baby What GIF by Colossal
 
Looks like the gate price for 2026 is increasing to £60 according to website. On the other side of things March weekends are £30 in advance instead of £35 so technically now half price. Guessing the on the day increase is more about increasing income when online 2 for 1 offers and half price offers are ran rather than increasing income from on the day sales. Off peak September & October days have been reduced to £32 instead of £35 in advance.
 
Ares said:
£20 for a non-rider ticket is taking the mick. I do not get people justifying it at all. ...
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I have yet so speak to anyone at all who thinks £20 non rider entry is justified.
It should be a tenner with a few family rides thrown in.
Like it used to be!
Who are these people you talk about?

Entry fees are justified...not going through the list again so soon (!), but prostitution, pickpockets and youth gangs means a cover charge is essential in this particular park, I have had the experience of free entry crowds, not at all "fun".

And to be very clear, the Beach has never, ever, been a cheap place to visit... even during pay per ride, it was traditionally a place to visit for a couple of hours, at the most, never a place to spend a whole day, that is a modern "pay one price" invention.

The Beach used to empty your pockets fully in a couple of hours, now you spend the same, go on the same number of rides, but it takes three times as long.
Progress you see...

Do you think they would have single train operations everywhere if they were still pay per ride?
No queues over ten minutes in my youth apart from the log flume...the big new ride.
A dozen rides in a couple of hours with a ticket book costing £20...around £80 in current prices, was what we paid in the early eighties.

Theme parks are not as popular as they used to be, Beach management are stuck in the mud, on the instruction of the owner, and have not adapted to a changing market.

And I can agree that Blackpool is a dump, but the attendance there is completely optional.
 
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