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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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It seems that BPB are unwilling to try anything that has even the smallest risk associated with it, and are stagnating as a result of their own stubbornness.

Even Thorpe did late opening over the summer this year!

Surely the reduced gate figures this year, the year a £16m coaster opened, should be a wake up call that they are clearly doing something wrong.
 
If an inland park which has very little in terms of walk in trade can make it pay, then there is reason to believe money can be made from it.

If other seaside parks who have a fraction of the number of rides and what they do have is of relatively poor quality can make it pay there is more reason to believe money can be made from it.

Seeing said Pleasure Beach on the occasions they have tried it packed out suggests further that money is there to be made from it.

I get the impression, especially now I have seen word from Amanda that even she wishes it was open late more often that those who actually run the park are the ones stopping it, not the owners, and the only reason I can see for that is lazyness.
 
I watched that 90's BPB documentary on YouTube a few weeks ago and wow ... I had no idea it was so popular. The place looked absolutely rammed on every episode with a real lively atmosphere.

Sure there was the odd drunken scuffle and yobbo behaviour but overall it looked great.

Even more impressive was the operations team and how hard they worked to run all coasters at full capacity at all times.

I feel for you regular locals on here, it must be painful seeing it so dead nowadays.
 
skyscraper said:
Yes but how many of those visitors actually paid to go on the rides? ;)
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Paying to go on rides or not, while they were in their, it is highly likely they would have paid to do SOMETHING regardless of it be the Big One, Littler Dipper, a coffee and a cake or a few quid in the arcades.

By keeping these people out they are spending NOTHING.

Now 3 million 'few quids' add up.

Even if a few people did come in without spending, we're they with a family member who was spending?

Question: Where are they now?
Answer: The Pier.
 
Do we really believe that if the current model wasn’t the best in today’s market, Pleasure Beach would just he readily and flagrantly chucking millions away? And all just to spite us enthusiasts?

If it was that easy to make so much money with that model, they’d be doing it.
 
venny said:
Do we really believe that if the current model wasn’t the best in today’s market, Pleasure Beach would just he readily and flagrantly chucking millions away? And all just to spite us enthusiasts?

If it was that easy to make so much money with that model, they’d be doing it.
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To spite enthusiasts, no. Because they are too lazy to actually work at the level (and hours) that are required, yes.

The management who makes these kinds of decisions have far better things to do on a night than work beyond 8pm.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Before they added the entry fee it was the most visited place in the uk like in 2007 it had 5.5 million visitors.
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They were actually equal to Universal Studios Florida in the mid-2000s, which is crazy to think! What does anyone think Blackpool get now in terms of visitor figures, if we were to guess?
 
Matt N said:
They were actually equal to Universal Studios Florida in the mid-2000s, which is crazy to think! What does anyone think Blackpool get now in terms of visitor figures, if we were to guess?
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Their figures, at least back then, were always ‘massaged’. If they were to be believed, then Big One was still the world’s tallest coaster in the 2000s.

Ash84 said:
To spite enthusiasts, no. Because they are too lazy to actually work at the level (and hours) that are required, yes.

The management who makes these kinds of decisions have far better things to do on a night than work beyond 8pm.
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Sorry Ash, I’m not buying that. Yes, it’s a popular narrative and there’s undoubtedly some substance to the general gist of what you’re saying. However, you only have to look at the park’s performance to show how these alleged years of making “loadsa money” is not bourne out.

People will never agree because they want to ride Big One at midnight, but the park themselves have shown time and again through surveys and tests on the ground that later openings, for whatever reason, just don’t have the popularity that they used to.
 
venny said:
Their figures, at least back then, were always ‘massaged’. If they were to be believed, then Big One was still the world’s tallest coaster in the 2000s.
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Thanks for the clarification @venny! I must admit, I never knew Blackpool still called it the world's tallest coaster in the 2000s, even though Fujiyama usurped it in 1996! They must have just forgotten to change the announcement for a while; by the time I went in August 2018, they were referring to it as "one of Europe's tallest", which is technically true.

However, I have noticed that BPB quotes different statistics to RCDB; they say that the Big One is 235ft tall and reaches 85mph, whereas RCDB states that it is 213ft tall and reaches 74mph. Who is right, and why are the statistics different?
 
Matt N said:
Thanks for the clarification @venny
However, I have noticed that BPB quotes different statistics to RCDB; they say that the Big One is 235ft tall and reaches 85mph, whereas RCDB states that it is 213ft tall and reaches 74mph. Who is right, and why are the statistics different?
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213ft off the ground, 235ft above sea level. Certainly not 85mph on the best of days. That would be what you call "clutching at straws/marketing on the park's behalf.
 
Ah right. Thanks guys; that would seem to imply that RCDB are right!

To be fair to BPB, though, I can see why they claim 235ft, as you are basically looking over the sea when you plunge down the first drop! Might I add, on a random note, that despite the fact I wasn't a huge fan of Big One on the whole, the first drop was fantastic, and my favourite individual moment of the coaster!
 
There would certainly be some changes to records if everyone measured their height from sea level. As I say, BPB have always been creative in their statistics. You could get away with it a lot easier in the days before Google.

Gotta admit though, I did love the brazen marketing of the 90s. There’s a great pamphlet printed which compared visitor numbers around the world to Pleasure Beach and puts it about 5th in the world’s most visited places!
 
venny said:
Their figures, at least back then, were always ‘massaged’. If they were to be believed, then Big One was still the world’s tallest coaster in the 2000s.



Sorry Ash, I’m not buying that. Yes, it’s a popular narrative and there’s undoubtedly some substance to the general gist of what you’re saying. However, you only have to look at the park’s performance to show how these alleged years of making “loadsa money” is not bourne out.

People will never agree because they want to ride Big One at midnight, but the park themselves have shown time and again through surveys and tests on the ground that later openings, for whatever reason, just don’t have the popularity that they used to.
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BPB''s 'research' isn't worth the paper the results are printed on. They only ever ask people who are already customers, so are satisfied with the service provided.

I'd be interested to see them ask people walking past the park why they aren't going in rather than emailing those already on the mailing list.
 
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