Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[Benzin]

What if the choice had been build something new (like Icon) or refurbish an existing attraction which is likely to "not be as good under modern standards"...

If modernising old wooden coasters results in tripe like at Bakken then I don't want it...

 

[Spin-Ride-Lover]

I have said it before and I will say it again, PB tried to keep it going but No Insurance company would touch it after an incident last season

Apparantly PB spent half a million on it last season, not just the new mag brakes but also new evac walkways and wood replacement.

God thats a hard to look at

 

[speedy]

Sounds bit silly for them to sink that much money into something then pull it out its been there for fifty years I don't believe one day it was okay and the next it had to be demolished.

There's no reason for a refurbished ride to be tame, modern coasters are still thrilling. I think they handled this in the worst way they possibly could.

 

[IanSR]

Surely the park is insured as a whole for public liability, not each individual ride? That would be like a window cleaner needing two sets of insurance, one for when he uses a ladder, and one when he doesn't.

 

[ringo]

Can never understand the speed at which the removal took place. It was as if the boss said get it down instantly and that way there was no chance of anyone being able to change their mind.

Wasn’t there a rumour that Nick Thompson was against the removal?

 

[RoyJess]

I have said it before and I will say it again, PB tried to keep it going but No Insurance company would touch it after an incident last season

Yet insurance companies will quiet happily insure car drivers, I'm sure that there were more accidents on our road each day than what the mouse coaster ever had in it's life time

Surely the park is insured as a whole for public liability, not each individual ride? That would be like a window cleaner needing two sets of insurance, one for when he uses a ladder, and one when he doesn't.

Probably when it came to renewing the public liability insurance, the insurers either said that the mouse won't be included in the public liability insurance or that if it was, it was going to cost an extra few million £££££ to renew if it remained on the policy.

 

[Rick]

Prediction time:

2019: Nothing
2020: New Nickelodeon ride
2021: Major new flat ride (also the park's 125th anniversary)
2022: Nothing
2023: Spruce up of existing ride somewhere (not a new one)
2024: Nothing
2025: Major coaster on Bowl-A-Drome area.

I think there will be some fairly heavy remediation work to do on the Big One in that timeframe or not long after. Depending on what they do, that might be quite marketable.

Surely the park is insured as a whole for public liability, not each individual ride? That would be like a window cleaner needing two sets of insurance, one for when he uses a ladder, and one when he doesn't.

There will be a single policy, but that policy could face refusal at renewal if the underwriter deemed a specific ride to create a high risk.

My car insurance policy states it is invalid under the following circumstance - "any loss, damage, death or injury arising as a result of your car being used on the
Nurburgring Nordschleife, or for racing formally or informally against another motorist", for example.

 

[shakey]

I have said it before and I will say it again, PB tried to keep it going but No Insurance company would touch it after an incident last season.

Rubbish!

Where is your info coming from? Just a guess? Or are you basing this on rumour and gossip from someone else that is just guessing aswell?

Just been on Nash today. Worst ride I have ever had on it. Back will be sore for several days after that. Not to mention the cricked neck I got half way round. And others on the ride were also far from happy when they got off.

If they can insure Nash then they could have insured the mouse without any seatbelts fitted at all !!

Nash is far more likely to cause a bad injury than the mouse ever did. And has done so in the past.

Sorry but the "couldn't be insured" theory is just utter nonsense.



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[Rick]

@shakey That might be true - I don't know, but - the Nash is what it is and will damage you because of what it is. The Mouse could obliterate you because of the decisions you made as a rider, which I guess is where the difference is.

 

[speedy]

Are you referring to the clearances being too small? If so, that's only issue if the riders stand up, and there's plenty rides where riders could hurt/kill themselves if they break the rules.

Otherwise I don't see how the mouse would hurt you any more than Grand National

 

[shakey]

@shakey That might be true - I don't know, but - the Nash is what it is and will damage you because of what it is. The Mouse could obliterate you because of the decisions you made as a rider, which I guess is where the difference is.

Being obliterated is exactly how I would describe my ride on the Nash today !!

Never happened to me on the mouse. Ever.





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[Rick]

Being obliterated is exactly how I would describe my ride on the Nash today !!

Indeed, was awful on Friday.

Never happened to me on the mouse. Ever.

Quite. But you never unbuckled your seatbelt and stood up on the lift. Try doing that on the Nash.

 

[speedy]

Quite. But you never unbuckled your seatbelt and stood up on the lift. Try doing that on the Nash.

A boy unbuckled his belt and fell out of the Space Invader, that ride continued to operate for eight years. I understand your point but Wild Mouse is far from the only coaster where that could happen.

 

[shakey]

Quite. But you never unbuckled your seatbelt and stood up on the lift. Try doing that on the Nash.

If that was the problem then just fit better and more modern restraints. Job done. Maybe a few thousand quid. Small price to pay to save the ride.

Actually i think rob666 stands up on Nash all the time !!

A boy unbuckled his belt and fell out of the Space Invader, that ride continued to operate for eight years.

It is still operating. At breen leisure park.





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[Rick]

A boy unbuckled his belt and fell out of the Space Invader, that ride continued to operate for eight years. I understand your point but Wild Mouse is far from the only coaster where that could happen.

You illustrate my point exactly. After the Space Invader accident in 2000 the ride remained closed until 2001, when it reopened with a strict 18+ policy until each of the four seater cars were converted to two seater cars with over the shoulder restraints (retrofitted from the Revolution).

Then, with the Kumbak transformation in 2004, the ride received modern hydraulic lap restraints.

 

[John]

The most simple improvement would be a seat belt that required a key to release (or at least very difficult to release by hand without said key). It would have added a second or two to unloading and therefore not affected throughput at all.

Largely academic now, you'd never be able to get a ride like Mouse through the modern pre-use inspections.

 

[MakoMania]

I never have any problems at all with the Nash other than bumpiness here and there, it's only painful for people with bad backs in my experience, sorry all y'old fogies

The theory that the Mouse met its fate due to insurance difficulties is not at all nonsense, a ride is not insured based on how painful it is

Still unsure why lap bars could not have been added to the mouse, sure PB did everything they could to save it though given they spent hundreds of thousands on it a few months before it closed.

 

[speedy]

In that case they should have modified the restraints on mouse to make it safe. It's not much to ask for such a historically important ride.

 

[Rick]

The most simple improvement would be a seat belt that required a key to release (or at least very difficult to release by hand without said key). It would have added a second or two to unloading and therefore not affected throughput at all.

Largely academic now, you'd never be able to get a ride like Mouse through the modern pre-use inspections.

Maybe, maybe not. The difficulty with a seatbelt is that it works well as a secondary device - but less so as a primary (or standalone) - particularly when one seatbelt is restraining multiple guests.

It is still operating. At breen leisure park.

Indeed, but Brean operates it as it was when it left the Pleasure Beach with those modern enhancements. The Pleasure Beach didn't remove it on safety grounds, they removed it for the phase 2 of Nick Land that ultimately didn't happen and presumably to generate some revenue along the way.

It would be very difficult to retrofit restraints like that to a wooden Wild Mouse coaster, hence why the ride was special - because it was one of so few, but there is a reason for that. Interesting how the park gets so much crap for removing it and seemingly no credit for keeping it going when rides far tamer than it were scrapped without a second thought.

Happy to respond again @speedy for more goal post shifting. It's done, finished. Stuff happens.

 

[Dipper_Dave]

@shakey That might be true - I don't know, but - the Nash is what it is and will damage you because of what it is. The Mouse could obliterate you because of the decisions you made as a rider, which I guess is where the difference is.

Just curious as to what these ‘decisions’ could have been. The Mouse was a hair-raising experience, but to me a perfectly safe one OR someone would have had a serious injury or worse on it a long time ago. What decision could you make whilst riding the Mouse that would have killed you? The only decisions I made on it were the decision to grin like a goon all the way round and to shuffle my knees into the middle of the rodent in readiness for the 90 degree corners.

I’ve probably said this before, but some of the restraints or lack thereof, on BPB rides are baffling to say the least. Alice in Wonderland requires the rider (yes, even adults) to have a seatbelt on, to sit in a car shaped like a Cheshire Cat that saunters along the track at walking pace. Yet Flying Machines has no restraint whatsoever, whilst moving considerably faster and higher than Alice. I guess they are relying on gravitational forces and common sense (like you can rely on that from the GP at theme parks) to stop someone from leaning out, standing up, etc.

Wallace & Gromit has a lap bar yet River Caves has the added potential danger of water, and finishes with a drop (albeit a small one) and has no restraint. Valhalla has pretty huge drops to not have restraints. Steeplechase has a seatbelt, and if what we understand about the alleged Mouse incident is true, that someone knocked the seatbelt, then the same could happen on Steeplechase. Yet that can still get that insured even though a belt could potentially be knocked and a rider fall off the horse at speed.

We can go round in circles talking about Wild Mouse, but I agree with @shakey that I find it hard to believe they couldn’t get it insured. In today’s climate, not having restraints on a ride like Flying Machines is quite a risk, surely, yet the insurers seem happy for the rockets to fly around at that height and speed. But if someone fell out then there would be hell to pay.

Also, on clearances, I didn’t spot this til @rob666 pointed it out, because it’s not the sort of thing you’d do anyway, but it’s possible on Ghost Train to reach out and touch the track of the drop. I guess they’ll continue to insure it until someone’s fingers are sliced off though