Little trip report from my 2 day excursion to Blackpool which today included Pleasure Beach.
Arrived yesterday (Sunday) and before trying to check-in early at the Premier Inn I had a little drive into the town to see if there was any obvious reasonably priced parking for just a couple of hours, but couldn't see any after having only a quick look around. It was obvious from those first moments however that the place in general had definitely seen better days. When some of the first people you see are ragged figures stooping down to pick up discarded ciggie butts you pretty much know how things are going to be. I'm not going to turn this into an attack on the town (I hope) as it's one of many such towns where I expect there is not much industry around and decent jobs are few and far between. I come from Dudley so I can't really preach, but I have to tell it how I find it. I did like the Icon advertising flags/banners on the main road in though, that was pretty cool. Decided to go to Lytham for a short while to kill some time which was a very pleasant place.
Anyway. Even though it was only around 11.30 a.m. I then decided to head to the Premier Inn in Blackpool and see if I could check-in very early. I couldn't (expectedly), but they did say I could leave my car there and then proceeded to give me a permit which would last until the next evening (today) which was absolutely brilliant considering how it could potentially be a bit of a ball-ache or expensive to park elsewhere. So that was sorted and I grabbed my bag and camera out of the car and decided to spend some hours on the promenade and have a little explore. The walk to the seafront was about 6-7 minutes from the Premier Inn which was absolutely fine (via an underpass with tramps still apparently soundly asleep). The weather was a bit dreary, windy and wet in the morning but I did like the bloke who was selling poncho's for a couple of quid on the street corner. I didn't need one, but I expect he probably lives on a street nearby, buys the poncho's for about 50p each, then just blasts' em out to tourists for a profit when the rain comes out to play. What I didn't like however, was the abundance of young men on the promenade trying to sell some kind of 'joke book' to tourists for £3 each, giving the line that they'd just lost their job or some presumably made up story. Their mates were also trying to sell some kind of random charity wristbands to people also. They probably spend their takings in the local pubs by the looks of 'em! I expect the police either have a hard time keeping 'em off the promenade or have just given up on trying to stop them. It's not a good look anyway.
Isn't the whole length of the promenade longer than it looks on foot?! Eventually made it to the top (bottom?) end where the Tower was. I'm scared of heights so no clue as to why I thought it was a good idea to do the lift to the top of the tower thing, but I did. The little 4d pre-show thing before the lift was nice enough, if not just a blatant advert for all of Merlin's attractions! Anyway, got in the lift and about half way up started seriously regretting my decision. Didn't really want to get out of the lift at the top, but staying in it wasn't much better either. Got out though and eventually took the obligatory pic standing on the glass floor, so I was pretty pleased with myself for that. Great views. What a wonderful bit of engineering for its time when originally constructed.
After getting the lift back down I went down the stairs to the Tower Ballroom. Wow, what a place. You feel completely removed from the rest of Blackpool in there. Only stayed to watch a couple of dances but would be a good place to have some lunch, a beer and to watch those guys dancing for a while (they were mostly/all amateur). Nice music too which sounded great.
Don't think I did anything else of any note, but eventually decided to take the 7 hour walk back to the other end of the promenade and then on to the hotel. Back at the hotel I check-in and have some food etc etc and eventually go to sleep.
Wake up way too early as my body clock is used to being up early. Kill some time. Check out at about 9.15 a.m. and leave all of my goods in the boot of the car and just grab my bag again to hit the town and Pleasure Beach for the day. Looking forward to riding icon, especially, and all of the other rides that I havn't been on before. I can only remember ever going on Valhalla and the Big One, many years ago. Decide to head to a dodgy cafe on one of Blackpools backstreets and treat myself to a bacon sandwich as it was still early and the rides wouldn't be opening until 11 a.m. The sandwich was reasonably priced and I didn't get murdered on the mean streets, so that was a good start to the day. Kill some more time in the shopping precinct and then walk ALL THE WAY down the other end of the promenade again where I finally reach the Pleasure Beach which was the whole reason for the little excursion in the first place. Walk in with my wristband at pretty much 11 a.m. and the place was very very quiet, which was great. An hour later and I'd already done a load of rides. At this point I will give a list of my thoughts on the rides I went on (didn't do the Big One as it was under maintenance, and I didn't wanna get soaked on Valhalla today):
Big Dipper - Oh my god. I take it all back about The Smiler being rough. I didn't know the meaning of the word in relation to coasters until today. Crikey O'Reilly! At the bottom of the first drop I thought I'd possibly fractured several vertebrae in my lower back. Unbelievable Jeff! Was just damage limitation for the rest of that ride, genuinely trying not to get hurt, LOL. I was sat right on the back row, don't know if that helps or not. Didn't actually do any long term damage by the looks of it though, this time. Other than that, yeah, it was probably pretty good for such an old ride. Glad I experienced it.
Avalanche - Interesting little ride. Not been on anything similar before so was a good experience. Not overly keen but not bad either. Quite good.
Steeplechase - What the hell? I would say they should just do themselves a favour and just scrap this ride, but maybe it's better than nothing being there? Maybe? Could they make it any more uncomfortable? There's a metal ball thing pressing right into the base of your back and a seat belt that strangles your midriff on the other side (and I'm not fat). I know that they don't profess that this is a great ride or anything, but yeah, it's not. Looks pretty old though so I guess you have to take that into account!
Infusion - Really enjoyed this one. Got on the front row so I'm sure that enhanced the experience a little. Relatively smooth and good fun. Thought the layout was decent and there was enough speed. Nice.
Wallace & Gromit - Boring (obviously not aimed for my demographic).
Grand National - Looks old. Is old. Rides old. Got on the front of this one after my back-breaking encounter on the back of the Dipper. Gotta be honest, this one was really rough as well! I liked the way the guys on the next track just slipped in and out of view occasionally though. Good fun apart from all the PAIN. I think I'm just getting too old and my bones are getting too rattly for all this (and I'm only 36).
Nick Streak - Actually thought this was good fun. Still a bit rough but not on the same scale as The Dipper and Grand National. I'm a fan.
Revolution - For the second time on this trip I had to overcome my fear of heights, and this time it was just to get to the station! Actually scared me a bit getting up those stairs. Was glad to get on what was a very enjoyable, yet short ride. Very good, but I'd probably have to take a point off it though as it felt like the station was going to rattle itself to bits and fall from the sky.
Skyforce - This looked like a fun little flight but shut down due to technical issues twice as I was just about to board.
ICON - This opened late but I ended up getting on the second train of the day. Decided to come to Pleasure Beach this year on account of this new ride. Gotta say that I really liked it. Enjoyed the launches and most of the layout, although it did seem to slow down a bit as it went on. I've heard it's a bit better as the day goes on. Different ride to Wicker Man but as people are comparing them as new rides this year, I'd have to sit on the fence. I think they're both really good fun new rides for both parks. Would have loved to get a couple of re-rides on this but it broke down as I was just about to get a 2nd go and looked like it may be down for the rest of the day. I was lucky to get on it today really.
I pretty much think that's all of the rides I did today. Not sure if there was actually anything else worth trying? Left just after 2pm as I'd done the ones I really wanted to and wanted to avoid traffic if poss on my way home. Will be back for more though next year as overall, even with my jibes at the place being a bit run down, it was good to experience a mix of the old and new rides. I also liked the way that it wasn't a 2 mile walk to the next ride, so you could get absolutely loads in on a quiet day. Decent couple of days really. This was my last view of ICON
Edit - Sorry Rob and Dave, was just rushing around today trying to get on as much as possible in a short time before rushing off home so couldn't come and see you. Maybe next time!
