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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Amanda has never had much time for the heritage of history though, how many old style rides have kicked the bucket since her taking the reigns?

Plus the closure of Southport...
 
Martin said:
Has this talk of a Mack buyout came from anywhere or just wishful thinking again? Doubt Merlin would be allowed to buy the one remaining park that can compete with them.
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If guests really are down 200K even with Icon installed and open, then surely a Mack buyout with Nick and Amanda still on the board would be an ideal solution. However, Roland Mack has stressed in the past that he's not interested in park expansion outside of Europa Park, where it's fair to say, they have more than enough on their plate.

I think Amanda has made mistakes, but Southport's closure simply had to happen in order for the company to survive.
 
Dipper_Dave said:
I would not like to see BPB taken over by anyone. There is no guarantee that whoever was to take over wouldn't bulldoze years of heritage and history. But then, sadly there is no guarantee that the Thompsons won't do that either, as last closed season proved. Enjoy the rides whilst you can, its all we can do, who knows when you've had your last ride on a classic.
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To be fair there is a little bit of a difference and that is Pleasure Beach at least tried to keep the mouse going.

Is someone else to come over would they be willing to go to the same lengths to try and keep. Old classic ride going?
 
Spin-Ride-Lover said:
To be fair there is a little bit of a difference and that is Pleasure Beach at least tried to keep the mouse going.

Is someone else to come over would they be willing to go to the same lengths to try and keep. Old classic ride going?
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What lengths were those exactly ?

They fitted an automatic breaking system, which in the end caused more problems than it solved and probably contributed more to the rides eventual demise than actually saving it.

I am convinced that Amanda has no real priority in keeping the parks historic rides going if she feels that it's cost effective to remove them and maybe that's just business logic so who can blame her. But having said that there seems to be an increasing lack of business logic in other areas of the parks operation !!

As dipperdave said, enjoy the classics while you can. They won't last forever.
 
Dipper_Dave said:
@Coaster I understand some of your frustrations but your post about last Sat was overwhelmingly negative. Have you considered voting with your wallet and NOT renewing your season pass? Doesn't this always happen (not just BPB, Merlin parks too), people moan about an ever increasing list of annoyances at a park but still end up throwing money at them and visiting? Regarding restaurants, it only takes a couple of minutes to walk to Velvet Coaster. I've eaten there a few times, however busy it is I've never waited long for food, it has always tasted good and I've never been given dirty crockery. Whilst I agree that we SHOULD get decent service at places like BPK, if I had a bad experience I'd just go elsewhere instead. I don't have any particular loyalty to BPB when it comes to food, I do like Gourmet Burger but not on a busy day, as everything is cooked fresh and it can take a long time to get through even a short queue as they seem somewhat understaffed. That said, the lady that normally serves me is very friendly, polite and is clearly doing her best. Food great too.

I mostly go on weekdays, some of these have included school holiday / trip weeks though, which can get quite busy, it seems however, that Saturdays are becoming unbearable. I don't plan on visiting on a Sat anytime soon, though I appreciate that some of you have little to no choice. Saturdays do sound very poor, it does seem like pure laziness not putting a second train on Dipper with a big queue, and Nash taking an eternity after airgates close for staff to check belts & bars, and then yet another wait after they are checked before the ride actually starts.
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It was negative because there was nothing positive to say, it was an absolute shambles of a day in every respect. Even looking at the standard set at VB last year, this year's was far far lower.

Regarding catering, your point that I could have gone to Velvet Coaster is a bit mute on the basis that I had never had a poor experience in BPK before Saturday, so why wouldn't we go in there expecting it to be up to the same standard? The shocking standards in there were a new thing for me on this visit.
 
Pleasure Beach isn’t for sale and won’t be bought by Mack.

Catering needs to improve, this has been the case for a very long time, I’ve rarely eaten at the park this year instead opting for a nicer, cheaper and quicker alternative a few minutes away, the Velvet Coaster.

I no longer visit BPB in October due to the lack of Halloween offering, it’s a shame as I’m losing a month of visits on my season pass by taking this stance but I love the Halloween season and really like the offering put on by other parks and standalone attractions.

I’ll be renewing my BPB pass for the convenience of it above anything else, on a personal level I’d be stupid not to renew it.
 
shakey said:
What lengths were those exactly ?

They fitted an automatic breaking system, which in the end caused more problems than it solved and probably contributed more to the rides eventual demise than actually saving it.

I am convinced that Amanda has no real priority in keeping the parks historic rides going if she feels that it's cost effective to remove them and maybe that's just business logic so who can blame her. But having said that there seems to be an increasing lack of business logic in other areas of the parks operation !!

As dipperdave said, enjoy the classics while you can. They won't last forever.
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It's clear to me the fact that they tried to keep it going , had heard that the spent half 1 million quid on the thing last season on the automatic brakes/ New safety walkways and wood replacement ect.

If you are a family run company there is no way in hell they would've spent that money if they weren't at least trying to keep it going.

Nick Thompson said in a podcast interview back in 2015 we know which nostalgic rides to keep no and we are going to keep forever hopefully.

Now either he was just bullshitting everybody with that or he was genuinely.

And for me the fact that they spend that sort of money on it suggest to me he was genuine just didn't work out the way he wanted sadly.
 
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Spin-Ride-Lover said:
It's clear to me the fact that they tried to keep it going , had heard that the spent half 1 million quid on the thing last season on the automatic brakes/ New safety walkways and wood replacement ect.

If you are a family run company there is no way in hell they would've spent that money if they weren't at least trying to keep it going.

Nick Thompson said in a podcast interview back in 2015 we know which nostalgic rides to keep no and we are going to keep forever hopefully.

Now either he was just bull****ting everybody with that or he was genuinely.

And for me the fact that they spend that sort of money on it suggest to me he was genuine just didn't work out the way he wanted sadly.
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General maintenance, replacing wood, walkways and retracking all have to be done from time to time and guessing they don't come cheap. Does that count as making extra effort to save a particular ride ? and if they did throw loads of extra cash at it then why bulldoze it when they did? We will probably never know the full and true storey.

Was the correct decision made? For me the answer will probably always be no.

Nick and Amanda are very different creatures. Nick would rebuild the reel if he had half the chance and I have no doubt that if he was in charge the mouse would still be standing. But its Amanda that runs the place, probably because she has more of a business head and is not afraid to take business decisions, even if it means losing historic and/or unique attractions along the way. So expect more to go in the coming years if she either feels they are not worth the effort to save or if she just decides to throw all her toys out of the pram again.
 
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shakey said:
General maintenance, replacing wood, walkways and retracking all have to be done from time to time and guessing they don't come cheap. Does that count as making extra effort to save a particular ride ? and if they did throw loads of extra cash at it then why bulldoze it when they did?
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I've already answered that before they couldn't get it insured anymore and if they can't insure a ride they can't open it it's a simple as that but you won't accept that.

There is no way in hell that would've even spent the money on the automatic brakes if they weren't trying to keep it end off!

As for Nick and Amanda being this different creatures Nick is the vice chairman and still has rights as well you know it's not all just Amanda, Nick gets to make his own decisions as well you know.
 
speedy said:
It's important to remember this is the same family that closed an entire amusement park with several historic rides.

They don't care
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They do care when it makes money and gets enough ridership.

If you guys want to believe that they don't care about heritage at all you're entitled to that viewpoint but I'm not going to go along with that as there's just too much going against that for me to believe otherwise.
 
Spin-Ride-Lover said:
I've already answered that before they couldn't get it insured anymore.
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And I've also given my opinion on that. It's Complete and Utter Nonsense !!!


Spin-Ride-Lover said:
As for Nick and Amanda being this different creatures Nick is the vice chairman and still has rights as well you know it's not all just Amanda, Nick gets to make his own decisions as well you know.
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Yep, I am sure he has lots of opinions and suggestions, all overruled by Amanda !!
 
ScottPBE said:
The board of directors and the Thompson family make decisions collectively, it’s not planet coaster with one person calling the shots.
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I am sure they do but Amanda is still the person in charge and I bet she gets her way more often than not ( She is a woman after all :p )

On a separate note - I'm looking forward to Sunday :D

Spin-Ride-Lover said:
Exactly! It's a group of people and not just one person making all the rules.
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Well in that case, a group of people made a very bad decision !!
 
I don't think people quite comprehend the sheer level of debt that WGT left to the company and his family when he unexpectedly passed. I don't really feel comfortable discussing what's technically a private, family matter on a public forum, but then again, they're an operating company and it's preferable to the Mouse discussion! Again!!

Although the park and shows had been her life, Amanda had to act and learn fast, or the whole operation was about to fall off the Tom Sawyer Bridge. I don't agree with all her decisions (although I'm ambivalent about Pleasureland and Cyclone), but she's often characterised very vindictively on here and elsewhere. People talk fondly of the nineties, with the park raking in cash, opening until 2AM and pleasing a much wider range of punters. I was there, and in many respects, it was true. But it's a shame none of that cash seemingly ever made it back to investors at the time... As such, and coming out of a difficult period, the current regime are attempting to ensure a future for the park that those in the past had never had to imagine. It's a different world now, Mouse or no Mouse.
 
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Spin-Ride-Lover said:
They do care when it makes money and gets enough ridership.
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Of course they care when it earns them money! But secretly demolishing a historic roller coaster then selling bits of it off on eBay doesn't give me the impression that they care about us, or heritage.

Look at how Efteling or Morey's Piers or Kings Island handled their recent roller coaster closures. And closing an amusement park with zero notice and bulldozing it doesn't help their cause either.

Sorry for the cynical post. But for an amusement park with so much history, the don't seem to take care of it very well.
 
speedy said:
Of course they care when it earns them money! But secretly demolishing a historic roller coaster then selling bits of it off on eBay doesn't give me the impression that they care about us, or heritage
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They didn't give it a proper sendoff because they were worried about idiots claiming onto it or chaining themselves to it.

Even during GT's time the park have never done events descent rides off it's just never been the way they've done things.

Finally if the park didn't care about heritage rides at all why the bloody hell did they bother having A birthday celebration for the flying machines and for the Dipper!?

Something they didn't have to do but they did it anyway, himmmm.

It's obviously were never going to agree on this so I'm not saying any more on the matter.
 
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