• 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: General Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
I wouldn't let it bother you Diogoj42. Some of the Moss Machine videos were funny (although cruel), but the Meme Park World Wide Facebook group rarely has any humour. It just seems to be people posting unpleasant things, because I guess it makes them feel better, somehow.
 
Funcone said:
I wouldn't let it bother you Diogoj42. Some of the Moss Machine videos were funny (although cruel), but the Meme Park World Wide Facebook group rarely has any humour. It just seems to be people posting unpleasant things, because I guess it makes them feel better, somehow.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say I'm "bothered", I have a thick skin (or is that just blubber?) More exasperated at people missing the point.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
..What they hell is it with people in this hobby that makes them incapable of understanding the concept of using black humour to lighten the mood in dark times...
Click to expand...

Black humour.........

Q. What happened to the worlds most historic and universally acclaimed wild mouse ride that was about to celebrate its 60th birthday?

A. It was unceremoniously demolished and thrown in a skip by Blackpool pleasure beach.

Errr. Maybe black humour isn't my strong point!


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
MakoMania said:
You saying that River Caves will not be open this season?
Click to expand...

What gave you that impression? The River Caves is expected to be open on the opening day in February.

shakey said:
I don't think there was much doubt that the decision was taken high up in September.

The park will claim different of course.
Click to expand...
ringo said:
Unfortunately backs up @rob666 report back then that the mouse was no more.

The park clearly wouldn’t spend money on the maintenance that was claimed to be happening if it was being removed. Obvious now the removal was planned last season. No doubt BPB press would of kept this quiet until the first WOW weekend.
Click to expand...

Shall we just ignore the fact that they'd started to make changes to the 'cars' ready for this year?

The decision was not made to remove the Wild Mouse before the season ended, the decision to remove the Mouse was not common knowledge with any of the Pleasure Beach staff before they finished for Christmas.

Everyone should have a read of this posted by Andy Hine MBE earlier on, it's very sensible;

Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain
3 hrs ·
WILD MOUSE

Like most of you I am very saddened at the loss of The Wild Mouse. It had operated since 1958 and was one of my favourite woodies. However it wasn’t a favourite of the general public who’s tastes and desires for thrills have changed. Hence sometimes sad and unpopular decisions have to be made by Park owners.

When a park considers the future of an existing attraction, many things have to be taken into account, and the decision isn’t just made on passion and emotion! Things like the age of the ride, maintenance demands (both time and costs), rider throughput, insurance fees and the actual popularity of it (in general – not just to enthusiasts).

This has happened dozens of times over the decades – Belle Vue Bobs, Battersea Big Dipper, Kursaal, Southend, and more recently the Scenic Railway at Dreamland in Margate which stood rotting and burnt for 8 years.

It is easy to sit at home and type abuse on Social Media, blaming this person or that person for destroying this or removing that, etc. But running a real park is not the same as playing Roller Coaster Tycoon where you can just click a button and everything is fine.

This is reality and parks are a business (albeit in the business of fun) and they have to take money and use it wisely to survive, or they end up closing (America Adventure, Camelot, etc.).

The Pleasure Beach in particular is rare in the modern theme park world, in that it has remained in the same family ownership since it opened in 1896. It would have been easy for the owners to sell out to a corporate park owner who have no passion for the industry and only answer to shareholders, but they didn’t, they have remained loyal and dedicated to keeping the Pleasure Beach in business. This has meant many changes over the years, including the removal of other ‘famous’ rides such as the Virginia Reel. But the Park continues and unlike a lot of other parks, it invests in itself – “Icon” being the current example. Can you image how the Pleasure Beach may look if a large corporate company had taken ownership. I doubt very much if the Wild Mouse would have survived as long as it did, and a few other favourites may well be long gone.

And I know there have been comments about ‘protected status’, ‘listed buildings’ etc., but this can actually be damaging to a business as the different rules and regulations this imposes can mean a park can’t even maintain a ride without special permits, which cost a fortune and take a long time to obtain.

I know from talking to the family, when the ride closed in September last year, even they did not know that it would never run again at that time. So the many comments about ‘not being able to get a last ride,’ etc., is not because the Pleasure Beach didn’t care, it is due to other factors.

So whilst I appreciate there is a lot of bad feeling and emotion about what has happened. The difficult decision was out of necessity and not with malice or dis-respect.

I think we should be celebrating the fact that we were lucky enough to have had the ride for almost 60 years and now cherish those fond memories of the rather excessive ‘shake, rattle and roll’ that it provided as with the current safety climate, it is one we will never experience again.

And let’s be grateful that the Park continues to invest in the latest thrill rides too, as we look forward to the opening of Icon.
 
Blimey it's difficult to keep up with when it's fashionable to deride "dated nostalgic crap" or instead to protect "cultural amusement heritage" on theme park forums!

The Wild Mouse had become 'dated' in comparison to the changing public demand & attraction industry around it many decades ago. But the intention to keep it at that point (and the appreciation that something can still be unique and fun years later - if it was ever fun in the first place, and so long as it's well-maintained) is what allowed it to survive for 60 years - and therefore to eventually become considered a part of heritage.

So I appreciate both sides here, that parks need to progress and not rely on nostalgia, but that the deliberately secretive way in which they have demolished a part of amusment park heritage (which was still great fun and a unique ride) has been very poorly handled. Especially when, as well pointed out by others, there are worse attractions that could have cleared space for future developments.

The more appreciation for this, rather than the corporate careless mentality of other UK parks, means the more future generations will have a more diverse offering, of the best attractions from across some hudnred years of amusement parks in the UK, regardless of 'nostalgia'.
 
Regardless of when the decision was made or the fact there aren't staff in an office... it's poor to remove quite an iconic ride on the sly with no prior announcement. It's not like that area needs to be cleared asap for a new huge development in 2018. If the decision was made say, Boxing Day, leave it until after new year, issue a statement that the ride can no longer be run, too costly to repair, exciting new development planned for area etc... maybe host a celebratory event and then demolish the ride. Don't make the decision and think 'quick lets get the bulldozers in before the geeks find out, the PR team can deal with this next week'.

They've quite clearly done it in a rush to avoid a PR s**tstorm, which clearly hasn't worked.

The enthusiasts that use this forum aren't stupid. People on here know that rides age, they become too costly to repair, older rides need to be removed to make way for new developments. The whole outrage on here isn't solely down to Wild Mouse itself being removed, it's down to the way in which Blackpool has approached this, and they have certainly approached this the wrong way.
 
Wild Mouse absolutely was a favourite of the general public, whilst there were those who called it "rough" and didn't like it, there were equally hundreds of people prepared to queue back to the fountain to experience this unique and thrilling coaster. There was nearly always a long queue, most people came off it grinning from ear to ear, it was an incredibly popular coaster and I think Pleasure Beach underestimated that with the way they have handled the closure of it.
 
I agree Jamie. I do agree with a lot of Andy Hine's post but I disagree that 'it wasn't a favourite of the general public.' As I have already said, I overheard PLENTY of conversations during 2017 of people voicing their disappointment at Mouse being shut, and they did NOT appear to be coaster nerds. I agree that the gaping hole left by Mouse' removal will be noticed by virtually everyone whether they classed themselves are coaster nerds or not

Honestly, to say that the general public didn't like Wild Mouse is unbelievable. Perhaps Andy Hine has statistics from the wristband scanners which back up this claim, as along with Jamie I have seen plenty of long queues to ride it. If it was ONLY enthusiasts who enjoyed the ride then it would be a 5 minute queue at any given time on a busy day, not a 45 minute plus queue. Yes, a number of people didn't like the ride but that doesn't mean it was unpopular. I don't like Coldplay yet they fill stadiums so are popular. A few people didnt like the Mouse but there was frequently a big queue for it, so it was popular.

On negative opinions of the GP, perhaps the most amusing and OTT thing I heard last season was someone behind me on Big Dipper, who said "This thing is dangerous, I can't believe they let children on it." Perhaps this ride should also be torn down before someone is hurt? Perhaps the dodgems should be removed because someone bruised their ribs? Perhaps someone has been offended because they got a jolt on a Steeplechase turn and that should go too? Perhaps some children got a bit scared on a dark ride and started to cry, so maybe they should all go?
 
Last edited:
Dipper_Dave said:
I agree Jamie. I do agree with a lot of Andy Hine's post but I disagree that 'it wasn't a favourite of the general public.' As I have already said, I overheard PLENTY of conversations during 2017 of people voicing their disappointment at Mouse being shut, and they did NOT appear to be coaster nerds. I agree that the gaping hole left by Mouse' removal will be noticed by virtually everyone whether they classed themselves are coaster nerds or not

Honestly, to say that the general public didn't like Wild Mouse is unbelievable. Perhaps Andy Hine has statistics from the wristband scanners which back up this claim, as along with Jamie I have seen plenty of long queues to ride it. If it was ONLY enthusiasts who enjoyed the ride then it would be a 5 minute queue at any given time on a busy day, not a 45 minute plus queue. Yes, a number of people didn't like the ride but that doesn't mean it was unpopular. I don't like Coldplay yet they fill stadiums so are popular. A few people didnt like the Mouse but there was frequently a big queue for it, so it was popular.

On negative opinions of the GP, perhaps the most amusing and OTT thing I heard last season was someone behind me on Big Dipper, who said "This thing is dangerous, I can't believe they let children on it." Perhaps this ride should also be torn down before someone is hurt? Perhaps the dodgems should be removed because someone bruised their ribs? Perhaps someone has been offended because they got a jolt on a Steeplechase turn and that should go too? Perhaps some children got a bit scared on a dark ride and started to cry, so maybe they should all go?
Click to expand...

Agreed. If it wasn’t popular I would have gotten a lot more rides on than I did this year, because the queue would have been so short. It wasn’t.
 
It's just bizarre. I don't get it. Has one of those nagging mothers seen a tiny bruise on her child and gone full on roper family on Pleasure Beach and forced them to close it? I can't see maintenance costs being a problem... and future developments at this time of the year.... really. It should of been grade 2 listed like Grand National and Big Dipper at the very least, what a nightmare
 
ScottPBE said:
...The decision was not made to remove the Wild Mouse before the season ended....
Click to expand...

Sorry Scott but I believe rob666 on this one so we will just have to agree to disagree.

The ride also took up next to no space so it wasn't really standing in the way of progress.

Could the park have done more to keep the ride open? or given the ride chance to reopen at a later date for future generations to enjoy ?

I suspect they probably could but that's all immaterial now so all we can do is hope the park come up with a worthy replacement in a few years time.





Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
I can't think of any existing ride type that would fit in Mouse's footprint and provide the same sense of terror without being utterly unpleasant.
 
It surprises me that PBE are being so on-the-side of the park with this.

We were all livid here when ATR ripped out Ripsaw without notice.

And that was a pesky flat ride that had 'only' been open 19 years.

As an enthusiast, Blackpool Pleasure Beach will be a far less compelling proposition to visit without the Mouse.

:(
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top