Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[Rick]

I know a few in Merlin are really keen to push the model to most guests using online booking but there is some reluctance to move away from the voucher culture.

Which is why I think we will see a transition to vouchers that require redemption online with a fixed visit date.

 

[shakey]

The problem with reducing the gate price at this stage is that they need to incentivise people to book online. If the rack rate was £27 you have very little room to move in terms of discounting, with either the 3 for 2 scheme or advance purchases.

But they are not incentivising people to book online, or at least not enough.

The question is how many of those people who currently plan to book in advance would simply not come if the gate price was £27 and how many extra punters would they get turning up on the day who otherwise wouldn't have come? We simply don't know unless they try it.

Gate prices are up 20% this year. That's a lot considering that numerically there are no extra rides on the park and a lot of people are unaware of Icon.




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[Dave]

Which is why I think we will see a transition to vouchers that require redemption online with a fixed visit date.

Some of the new vouchers can be redeemed online already.

 

[Ash84]

The pub analogy is not helpful. A pub is entirely PPP (Pay Per Pint), therefore you open when customers are wanting to come in and pay for their pints. That is the complete opposite of how the park is working to define their operating model whereby they seek to define an operating day based on their budget with advanced purchase commitment and a minimum per cap spend.

If you want to follow that analogy a little further you'd end up at Bottomless Brunch and the parallels between how the economics of those operate vs the Pleasure Beach aren't massively different!

I don't disagree (and didn't the 47 other times we have debated this) that there are some people who want PPR - but I think the volume is vastly exaggerated and the impact is nowhere near as large as suggested for the following reasons:

• This way of operating is not 'new' - people are understanding how the park operates now vs then and adapt their plans to suit. It's nearly two decades since the wristband landed - people have largely adjusted. PPR is a thing of the past in almost all 10 coaster parks, the model just doesn't work.
• We live in an age where people can understand how the park operates, their options for visiting and the associated costs well in advance. It's not like when we first visited as kids and the closing time was only known as you passed under Ark.
• I don't buy that people who do turn up to find the park is closing soon never return - they'll come back another day and buy a wristband - the park doesn't lose out.

The problem with reducing the gate price at this stage is that they need to incentivise people to book online. If the rack rate was £27 you have very little room to move in terms of discounting, with either the 3 for 2 scheme or advance purchases.

Sorry to keep banging the same drum, but I am not wanting the park to go back to PPR, I simply want them to make the option more user friendly (and affordable) that way is may be of some benefit to the user and park alike. As it stands it's very under used and the park must see little reward from it.

Also, in the previous 47 times we have been over this, people could have argued that the lack of investment contributes to the attendance at the park. That is no longer a valid argument, so something is causing people to be elsewhere.

 

[Dave]

It pains me to say it but I genuinely think Blackpool’s problem is marketing. For all their faults (and they have ohh so many) Merlin are run by a marketing director who could sell anything to anyone.

There is also a little geography issue, now Blackpool is not a holiday destination BPB need day visitors and for day visits the park is a little limited to the north west and north east of the country (plus north wales).

 

[shakey]

There is also a little geography issue, now Blackpool is not a holiday destination BPB need day visitors and for day visits the park is a little limited to the north west and north east of the country (plus north wales).

Blackpool had 18 million visitors in 2016. (Can't find 2017 figures). Even if only 10% of those visit the pleasure beach you would have visitor figures not far off Alton Towers numbers.

So what's the reason they don't visit ?




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[rob666]

Because Blackpool has a reputation for being a bit of a dump resort for the northern working class families and stag and hen parties.
The Beach has managed to up its image overall, but to improve Blackpools image isn't as easy.
Seen the Icon advert on tv a few times now.

 

[John]

Whether or not the park feel that the current pricing structure is the best option available to them, they're surely concerned by how quiet the park is at the moment. Pretty much all reports I've seen since Icon opened have suggested the park has never been more than moderately busy, today I didn't see the Icon queue ever get as long as to reach the gates (with 2 train operation all day). OK the weather was rubbish all morning and early afternoon which may have put a lot of people off, but a check of ridetimes at Towers today suggests multiple rides with hour+ waits.

 

[Ash84]

Dump or no dump, if it's getting anywhere near 18 million visitors a year it' doing something right. The question remains, why are so few heading into BPB?

 

[Rick]

Dump or no dump, if it's getting anywhere near 18 million visitors a year it' doing something right. The question remains, why are so few heading into BPB?

It's worth pointing out that the 18 million number is disputed and represents total visits, not visitors. I think the overall town figure is important as a whole, but it's not a case of '18 million people are coming to Blackpool and are potential visitors to the park' - not least because:

• Some of the double count in whatever the true number is will have visited the park once and visited other things in the resort during other visits
• Blackpool has other destination events and attractions that occupy the total time and budget for someone who is visiting - the air show, shows, festivals, shops, not to mention the Tower & associated Merlin attractions, the illuminations and even an away game at Bloomfield etc*
• The breakdown between day visitors and staying visitors is crucial
• The demographics deem not everyone would want to visit an amusement park

* I understand this is in part the argument for PPR - but I still don't think the numbers work.

The number is interesting but not clear cut.

 

[speedy]

I honestly think more people will come as more and more ride Icon and spread word. It's a great coaster and (unlike other coasters at Pleasure Beach) very re-rideable.

The wristbands are really cheap, and good transport connections so the only reason I think why people aren't coming is (as mentioned before) lack of advertising and bad reputation. Icon should change that, they just need to ramp up the marketing!

I did see a few ads on my phone for Icon, though it's the general public they need to target, not me!

 

[Ash84]

It's worth pointing out that the 18 million number is disputed and represents total visits, not visitors. I think the overall town figure is important as a whole, but it's not a case of '18 million people are coming to Blackpool and are potential visitors to the park' - not least because:

• Some of the double count in whatever the true number is will have visited the park once and visited other things in the resort during other visits
• Blackpool has other destination events and attractions that occupy the total time and budget for someone who is visiting - the air show, shows, festivals, shops, not to mention the Tower & associated Merlin attractions, the illuminations and even an away game at Bloomfield etc*
• The breakdown between day visitors and staying visitors is crucial
• The demographics deem not everyone would want to visit an amusement park

* I understand this is in part the argument for PPR - but I still don't think the numbers work.

The number is interesting but not clear cut.

Exactly. These other attractions bring people to Blackpool. Now I don' know about anyone else, but the entire day spent at the tower/wax works and sea life sounds like hell to me. Sure, part of the day, but by 3pm I think I'd have had my fill and in a resort with a world famous amusement park in and a brand new coaster I'd look to get a few rides in before home.

My options are:

A) pay the on the gate price for a wristband and be thrown out with a couple of hours (and find the Streak shut for the final hour)

B) pay £6 to use the PPR system and be fleeced in the process.

C) take ny customer to the pier when I can enjoy less quality rides at a fair price.

Now have you ever wondered why we walk out of BPB and see the pier still busy?

 

[Rick]

@Ash84 you missed a few options.

D) faff about in Coral Island for an hour, get fish and chips and then make your way home, returning another day to experience the park at its fullest, after your next pay day booking a wristband well in advance, scoring a wristband for what will work out as less than a pound a ride.

E) stay over in town or stay over at the Pleasure Beach and visit the park the following day(s).

The park are trying to position themselves as a full day experience, this notion of the park being somewhere that you nip in to to kill a few hours is gone. I think you over estimate how much a family with young kids wants to do in one day.

 

[Ash84]

The problem is this is the public, not you or I.

D) is not any good for the spur of the moment thing, how many people who would have walked in, gone on a few rides (but didn't) are actually that bothered? Bothered enough to head home and re-book? I don't think so. Wristbands for the family on a revised? They only wanted to do the new ride as part of the day out and maybe have a family competition on the Nash, they had no intention of spending the day on park.

Twice the petrol, twice the fish and chips....nah we will pass.

People want to do Blackpool in a day, not BPB in a day. And it's ultimately BPB that is getting missed as a result.

Option E is not much good for families who have come for a day out with no overnight bag and have work / school the next day.

I am very clued up on how much time families want to spend in BPB. I have a 10 year old in tow

 

[Dave]

There are good points on both sides of the argument and I certainly think a £15 after 2pm ticket should exist at the very least.

 

[rob666]

Another big slice of the eighteen million visitors is the grey crowd...including me, but I'm not exactly typical.
A very large number of visitors are over sixty, retired or not working, visiting off peak, weekdays, who spend their time on the prom, shops and arcades, all around the tower, and spending little or nothing over a three or four hour visit, before going home to pick up the grandchildren from school.
Those visitors now are Blackpools number one crowd, the basic bread and butter, and they just don't do the Beach any more.
Said for years, get em in with a coffee and cake voucher with every six quid ticket.
Then they would start bringing the pre school grandkids with them.
Bring in the over sixties afternoon tea club.

 

[Mikw]

I've not been in years, but have been to Blackpool a number of times. I've walked up and down the promenade, but haven't gone into BPB ever since they charged to get in,

In the old days i'd pop in for a couple of hours or so and have a couple of rides. Now to get full value i'd have to stay all day, not great because i'm on a tight budget and it takes four hours to get there.

I'd love to go there for a few hours and have a few rides on icon, but can't under the current structure

 

[Ash84]

As Rob suggests, what about the older end? They love nothing than a trip down memory lane and I bet most were in BPB in their youth (my grandparents were) and they never went in once it was a chargeable park. Now before that it wasn't uncommon for them to go in, have a drink and a few rides.

I also think there are more people in Mikw''s position than BPB realise.

 

[Rick]

@Ash84 we're back on the infinite loop I'm afraid. Again, the 'few rides on the off chance' is difficult to make work against the backdrop of your core model which is to secure an advance purchase of a wristband.

Once more, I think the number of people that are 'turned away' or opt not to purchase is small. Time is solving that problem. Would some people come if the option was available? Sure... but there is a cost associated with providing that service to them and there is a cost to the Pleasure Beach if they spend £10 each on ride tickets instead of returning later in the year to purchase a wristband.

You work for a large supermarket chain, right? There are a many markets that the company chases but sometimes it's just not worth the hassle and detracts from your core operation. Whether it be your non-food online service or your transatlantic operations - sometimes you sack them off and chase what makes money. That's what the park is doing.

There are good points on both sides of the argument and I certainly think a £15 after 2pm ticket should exist at the very least.

Again, difficult to make work - particularly given that this option disincentivises any secondary spending. They have tried it multiple times and removed it once again, perhaps because there was a volume shift between the full day and the half day tickets. People love a bargain... they hunt them down so you need to ensure that they are advantageous to all parties and consumed in the correct quantities (unless intended to be widespread, like the Merlin ones).

 

[rob666]

Yup, the Friday night cheap wristbands killed off the daytime full price one at Southport Pleasureland...allegedly.
The ride staff there amused themselves by playing hide and seek during the day when it was quiet.
I know, because they used to send me round on my own on Traumatiser , and I had to spot them when I got round again.
The good old days.