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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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^Indeed, it hasn't been running many boats this season which is dissapointing considering operations across the rest of the park have generally been very good.

I really don’t get this, hot sunny summer holiday days and they don’t have enough boats on a water ride. I went on a few weeks back, the queue was slow moving anyway, and then they announced that they were putting more boats on, which seemed to take ages especially when you’re almost at the front of the queue. It begs the question, if you’re expecting it to be hot, sunny weather and the park to be busy, how hard would it be to have 12 boats on from the START of the day?
 
It was on 9 boats just then and took about 50 mins! I was asked to 'RUN!' down the platform to the boat which was nearly a gonner! Although that's the first time I've experienced a six man boat! And what a difference it makes!
 
It was on 9 boats just then and took about 50 mins! I was asked to 'RUN!' down the platform to the boat which was nearly a gonner! Although that's the first time I've experienced a six man boat! And what a difference it makes!

I’m not one to go overboard (no pun intended) on H&S, I mean I loved Wild Mouse and hated the fact that some wimps perceived it to be unsafe, but I can’t help but think that making people dash down a wet platform to take an empty seat in a boat that’s virtually left the station is a bad idea.
 
That happened to me as well when I was a single rider (it was under 20 degrees and nobody wanted to come on with me, what a surprise. :rolleyes:)
I was about 10 people behind and they called for single riders. By the time I'd got across the platform it had left. If they're going to do that they need to organise themselves first.
 
Does Valhalla ever run 12 boats anymore, out of interest? Was only on 8 during their last late night riding event.

Then again, with the number of issues it's had recently it does feel like the ride system is tired (to put it politely).
 
Does Valhalla ever run 12 boats anymore, out of interest? Was only on 8 during their last late night riding event.

Then again, with the number of issues it's had recently it does feel like the ride system is tired (to put it politely).

I’m pretty sure when I had the wait for boats to be added, that it was going from 8 to 12. Yes, it was as I recall them placing a ‘12’ plate onto the ‘number of boats’ board.

I’ve been on it twice this season and in all honesty it was cos the kids wanted to. Otherwise I’d happily not go on it at all really. I wouldn’t mind if it was just a log flume with effects, with a splash at the bottom of each drop, but it’s the sheer volume of water NOT related to the drops that bugs me; feet drenched the second you step in the boat, soaking some days from the waterfall, soaking on bend at top of both lift hills because the boats don’t corner properly, and of cause the infamous water vortex. Change of clothes & shoes, paying for locker, drying all your soaked stuff at home, I just really can’t be arsed with the ride
 
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Random BPB-related question here; does anyone know why Blackpool claim that the Big One reaches a top speed of 85mph, despite the fact that the RCDB has the ride's top speed down as 74mph? They also claim the ride to stand at 235ft tall. To be fair to them, I can understand 235ft, as this includes the height of the land that the ride was built on above sea level, and the sea is virtually all you can see on the Big One's first drop, but the 85mph claim baffles me. Maybe it was a misconverted km/h statistic given to them by Arrow in the early design stages.

Also, I couldn't help but giggle at the announcement that made references to "Vertical Reality", despite the Big One's first drop only maxing out at a 65 degree angle. There was also a similar announcement on Infusion.

On reflection, the Big One was the closest thing to vertical that existed in 1994, so it probably was Vertical Reality back then!

Does anyone know about these statistics?
 
Random BPB-related question here; does anyone know why Blackpool claim that the Big One reaches a top speed of 85mph, despite the fact that the RCDB has the ride's top speed down as 74mph? They also claim the ride to stand at 235ft tall. To be fair to them, I can understand 235ft, as this includes the height of the land that the ride was built on above sea level, and the sea is virtually all you can see on the Big One's first drop, but the 85mph claim baffles me. Maybe it was a misconverted km/h statistic given to them by Arrow in the early design stages.

Also, I couldn't help but giggle at the announcement that made references to "Vertical Reality", despite the Big One's first drop only maxing out at a 65 degree angle. There was also a similar announcement on Infusion.

On reflection, the Big One was the closest thing to vertical that existed in 1994, so it probably was Vertical Reality back then!

Does anyone know about these statistics?
I believe "vertical reality" actually references the fact the ride is an actual piece of hardware, as opposed to a simulation; a slight at simulations which were becoming more popular back in the early 90s, I believe. Incidentally if this is the case, it's actually relevant again now with VR being used at parks. Of course, I may have been misinformed here and would appreciate some info if anyone knows more :)
 
I believe "vertical reality" actually references the fact the ride is an actual piece of hardware, as opposed to a simulation; a slight at simulations which were becoming more popular back in the early 90s, I believe. Incidentally if this is the case, it's actually relevant again now with VR being used at parks. Of course, I may have been misinformed here and would appreciate some info if anyone knows more :)
Ah right. Thanks @Coaster! In that case, that's actually quite a cool little thing that Blackpool have done!
 
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Most parks do not use annual passes as marketing tools as they significantly reduce the value of guest entry tickets.

Merlin and Six Flags are not the rule.
 
BPB usually have a lot of offers on before the start of the season but once the park is open passes are overpriced. There's no way a casual guest is going to make the 8 or so visits you need to break even against the online price, meanwhile anyone who knows a little more about BPB's pricing structure has already paid something like half the quoted price towards the end of the previous year. The sales of season passes once the park is open must be pretty much zero.

I've been tempted to get a BPB pass numerous times, but in the end I never feel I'll visit often enough to get value, even at a reduced price of £100 or so.
 
Was at the park today for a few hours, quite busy but very enjoyable. Icon on two trains with about 15 min queue, shows how quickly they can get through them with staff waiting around for another train to get back in.

Hoping prices for next years passes are out soon.

Rode all of the woodies today, couldn’t describe any as being even slightly rough! People these days are just becoming soft as s***e!
 
The sale/early bird price of annual passes seems to vary from season to season. First one I got was about £125 whereas for this season it was just £80!
 
The sale/early bird price of annual passes seems to vary from season to season. First one I got was about £125 whereas for this season it was just £80!

I have renewed at £80 in August for the last 2 seasons. The renewal offer is for a limited time though. After that it has gone to £100+ and as has been said, I can’t see many buying season passes at the likes of the £170+ online price
 
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