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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Liseberg and Tivoli both have large cities to draw attendance from. Blackpool is just a town with a large proportion of low income households, so the demographics are considerably different. I’m generalising but both visitors to Copenhagen and Gothenburg also have a higher disposable income to that of Blackpool’s visitors.

I’m sure someone more intelligent will be able to assess how this effects Pleasure Beach, but there is certainly a different demographic to other city parks.
 
You are never going to satisfy everyone, I appreciate that, I just feel that they are missing out on too higher percentage of overall custom. Keep the wristbands exactly as they are, but as has been suggested before and again just a few posts ago, tickets for rides or an option to swap that for F&B vouchers in return for none riders.

The demand for single rides (or families who don't want or can't afford) wristbands for everyone, but would be happy to buy (for example) £40 of ride tickets between 3 kid's so long as the parents get's a coffee while they wait, would IMO solve a lot of this, would create extra custom they otherwise wouldn't get, and more money for the park can only be a good think for us, as hopefully we won't have to wait 20 years for the next coaster to go in!

Also, if the PPR system was used a little more, maybe BPB would reassess ride capacity at peak times again making the overall experience for everyone a bit better.
 
I think they should just do away with pay per ride entirely. Save on buying the wristbands, save staff costs and they can get rid of the turnstiles. The only use case I can see is if someone wants to pop in for one ride, but the only coasters anyone would want to come in for one ride would be Icon and Big One and at £16 or £21 nobody is going to do that.

For some cases, like what you mentioned @Ash84 it would make a visit more expensive, but a budget of £40 isn't going to go far anyway. I reckon a family wristband deal (does that exist? If it doesn't it probably should) would leave them feeling more satisfied even if it's more expensive. A day of entertainment is better than burning through a budget in a couple hours.

Or just keep it how it is. I'm not convinced that the cost is what's keeping people away. Wristbands are already good value
 
Coaster said:
Liseberg charge the equivalent of around £4 for a go on Helix.

Icon is £15.

BPB are simply too greedy when it comes to ride tickets.

Liseberg opens until 11pm most Fridays and Saturdays, and was absolutely heaving on our visit this year with crowds flooding in until well past 10pm. Their business model is basically a refined version of PB's, which works so well whilst Pleasure Beach's continues to fail.
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venny said:
Liseberg and Tivoli both have large cities to draw attendance from. Blackpool is just a town with a large proportion of low income households, so the demographics are considerably different. I’m generalising but both visitors to Copenhagen and Gothenburg also have a higher disposable income to that of Blackpool’s visitors.

I’m sure someone more intelligent will be able to assess how this effects Pleasure Beach, but there is certainly a different demographic to other city parks.
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Ah right. Thanks for the clarification, guys!
 
As someone else suggested I think going pay one price is a good option if they are not going to make propper use of ride tickets. They would save thousands on the staffing costs alone if they did away with the scanners and would also speed up ride flow.

I am sure theres quite a lot of older family members that currently get a walk round pass so they would have to offer them something if they were to scrap it. Maybe make it half price for pensioners and under fives.

If they are going to continue with the current system then it seems insane to not make better use of ride tickets. Wristbands and ride tickets can work together and do in other seaside parks.







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Poorer park in an even poorer area that's harder to get to, and the rides are worse

Mistakenly thought this was the WW topic at first cos of the similar discussion lol, but yeah there's lots of context behind the different prices.
 
You do get the Chinese maze, and the Pleasure Beach Express with the £6 pass; both of which are more fun than you would expect - but they aren"t going to drag anybody in.
Giving you a couple of half price single ride tokens with that would be an easy win to pull in additional revenue from those who can't justify buying an all day band. The punters that do use it for one ride would likely spend the same and do two rides instead, and leave much happier.

Under twos come out better off...
"New for 2018...families with children 2 and under, can now receive 6 free Toddler Ride Tickets, as well as receiving a free Pleasure Beach Pass."

One of the other things I think would help keep people onsite is better seating for the takeaway places. The Pizza place is OK, but you don"t always want Pizza. The big domed arcade by Wallace & Gromit screams food court, with the Fish & Chips, Pie and mash, Ice cream sundaes etc. - maybe even something that isn"t fried or based around cheese.
 
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Would it be possible to have refundable pleasure beach passes? It would still stop anyone and everyone getting in that may cause trouble, reducing that but if there was a way the money was refunded (on exit?) it could be useful. No one would go out there way to just go in and cause trouble, but it would also suit people that don't want to ride. It's a bit out there as an idea though.
 
Ryan B said:
Would it be possible to have refundable pleasure beach passes? It would still stop anyone and everyone getting in that may cause trouble, reducing that but if there was a way the money was refunded (on exit?) it could be useful. No one would go out there way to just go in and cause trouble, but it would also suit people that don't want to ride. It's a bit out there as an idea though.
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People queuing on exit to retrieve a refundable deposit? I don’t think so. It has long been established that since PPR stopped, the park have little interest once they’ve got your money, hence the early closes (and of course the earlier than ‘earliest ride close’ closures). Can you imagine them wanting huge queues on exit to give money BACK to people?

That said, it would be a good deterrent to buffoons who can’t keep their phones in a pocket on rides: anyone caught waving their phone in the air on a ride doesn’t get their deposit back, ha ha !
 
Martin said:
Poorer park in an even poorer area that's harder to get to, and the rides are worse
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It's not harder to get to if you live on the best side of the pennines !

I will do some checking but I am fairly confident that every other seaside park in the UK has free entry, lower PPR prices and later opening times than Blackpool. So either every other seaside park in the country is getting their business model wrong or BPB are !

But if BPB do ever change their current operating model then it will require good marketing and publicity to get the information out there. Unfortunately as we have seen this year with Icon their marketing ability/strategy is absolutely abysmal.
 
shakey said:
I will do some checking but I am fairly confident that every other seaside park in the UK has free entry, lower PPR prices and later opening times than Blackpool. So either every other seaside park in the country is getting their business model wrong or BPB are !
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Dreamland Margate reintroduced an entry charge this year for non-wristband holders/non-members as they were having problems with people (mostly kids) hanging around in the park and not spending. It's a nominal £5 though which is redeemable against 1 ride or a tea/coffee and cake.

PPR is £2 - £4.
 
For a start Blackpool is really easy to get to, it has its own train station! Service from London to Blackpool North, or accessible from Preston. It's easy! :)
shakey" said:
It's not harder to get to if you live on the best side of the pennines !

I will do some checking but I am fairly confident that every other seaside park in the UK has free entry, lower PPR prices and later opening times than Blackpool. So either every other seaside park in the country is getting their business model wrong or BPB are !

But if BPB do ever change their current operating model then it will require good marketing and publicity to get the information out there. Unfortunately as we have seen this year with Icon their marketing ability/strategy is absolutely abysmal.
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I see what you're saying, but I feel Blackpool is a different beast. Yes it's beside the sea but at least to me, it feels like a full "theme park" so to speak, rather than a seaside amusement park.
 
Dipper_Dave said:
People queuing on exit to retrieve a refundable deposit? I don’t think so. It has long been established that since PPR stopped, the park have little interest once they’ve got your money, hence the early closes (and of course the earlier than ‘earliest ride close’ closures). Can you imagine them wanting huge queues on exit to give money BACK to people?

That said, it would be a good deterrent to buffoons who can’t keep their phones in a pocket on rides: anyone caught waving their phone in the air on a ride doesn’t get their deposit back, ha ha !
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Not that I could ever see this being implemented but there are ways to get around queuing on exit. You could have an app/website where you could insert your wristband number after 24 hours to retrieve your deposit. Anyone ejected would forfeit their wristband/deposit. It would probably require you to activate your wristband against an order, so if you lose your wristband no one could claim your band if they found it. It could also make money on people forgetting to claim there fee back.

I hope BPB trial a low budget but slightly restricted season pass that's similar to the AT one.

Do current season ticket holders have to queue for a wristband on each visit? If not adding an option to purchase a durable wristband (or card or fob) with your photo attached would be cool.
 
Robert Jones said:
Do current season ticket holders have to queue for a wristband on each visit? If not adding an option to purchase a durable wristband (or card or fob) with your photo attached would be cool.
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Yes we do. Now there is an idea I do like. A durable wristband that should in theory last all season, as long as it doesn't fall off! But as we've already mentioned, the scanners are temperamental anyway so might not like a rubber barcode that would no doubt wear and fade as the season goes on. Good idea though.

We can supposedly get our season pass wristbands from the 'priority' info desk to the right of the main ticket centre. Only if its manned though, and then if there's a big school trip for example, good luck in saving any time at all. We can also supposedly get our season pass wristbands from the 'priority' East entrance. Only if its open though.
 
Yes I forgot how bad the scanners can be. I went through 3 wristbands on my last visit until I got a wristband that worked and got called Goldilocks for the rest of the day.

Ah that's something that could definitely improve. Even if it was just the ability to scan your season pass in lieu of a wristband. The reason that I mentioned card, is that they would probably require some photo ID to deter someone paying £6 and borrowing a wristband.
 
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