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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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tayspru said:
I feel like Ice Blast can continue to serve its purpose alongside a new tower - the solution to giving the new tower a different feel seems fairly obvious to me, having recently visited Pleasure Beach and a certain park in Tampa...



Someone get Amanda on the phone!
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Is that an official marketing piece or a fan made concept?
 
I really think a GG family woodie like the newly-opened Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom would be an excellent fit for the Pleasure Beach. Not too tall, not too fast but full of ejector airtime. :)



 
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skyscraper said:
I really think a GG family woodie like the newly-opened Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom would be an excellent fit for the Pleasure Beach. Not too tall, not to fast but full of ejector airtime. :)



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Could GCI retrack Nash? (not sure on their footer need) it is in sore need of major work. Also milenuum flyer trains on that coaster would be great with its layout
 
The reality is Nash never used to be as rough as it now is. It’s been around for 85 years and has never needed GCI, RMC or any other company for that matter to “fix” it. In fact, when they did use a company after the fire it didn’t turn out too well.

What it needs is some attention afforded to it. That means time and money which BPB are not blessed with. The in-house team could make it great again, but they don’t appear to have the resources to do so. On top of that, the general consensus seems to be that the post-fire trains are too heavy; their restraints are certainly not ideal. Replacing these will be costly, but might be key to resolving the issue long term.

Personally I hope GCI keep as far away as possible and BPB allow their engineering team the resource to resolve the issue.

Is it likely to happen? I’m in two minds, but it is a possibility.
 
Joe*, King of the Woodies, has the knowledge, skills and inner strength to put the National back to being the magnificent beast that it was.
But sadly he has short arms.
And Amanda had deep pockets fitted in his uniform.
*Name changed to protect the innocent.
Probably.
 
The problem with 'fixing' any woodie is that it isn't just about laying down new steel runners. In theory, it is a fairly simple process, but once you start removing old track, and old wood the process can become quite complicated and quite expensive. For me, it would make sense to close the coaster for a year or two and give it a complete overhaul using in-house craftsmen. In a park like BPB it would surely make sense to develop the skills in-house. This said, I don't think the time is right to do this - Nash is running OK at the moment, it would have to be closer to the edge to justify the cost IMO.

In terms of a coaster like the Kentucky Flyer - I think that this would be a poor fit for BPB. You have the Nick Streak (family woodie), and the wooden kiddie coaster already. For me any medium scale investment should be on a high capacity indoor attraction (a Duel type ride), large scale investment has to be something with an IP - a 'Europe's tallest/ fastest' or a new giga.
 
I think the in house team could do an OK job. But these are very specific skills, if the skills are not already there, they take quite a long time to develop.

I think it is quite naive of anyone to think that Blackpool's in house team could do a better job than a company that literally build and renovate wooden roller coasters for a living, day in day out, with hundreds of coasters under their belt. Just because they got a company in the past who made a mess of the job, doesn't mean every company will do the same. I could take my car to a garage who could make a mess of some repair work, that doesn't mean every garage is going to do the same.

It has been around for 85 years yes and has never had a professional company do work as someone quite rightly pointed out.
But that is the point exactly, being 85 years old it needs some major work doing to bring it back up to scratch, something which is beyond the skillset of the park team, no disrespect to the park team whatsoever, but this sort of work is not what they do day in day out.

I say, if it needs work and I think it does. Then hand it over to the professionals and let them do a proper job. The team at Blackpool may be professionals in their own fields of work, but that is not in the field of building roller coasters, that is for sure. I don't necessarily mean getting GCI in either, just a competent company. Who will do a proper job with their experience and skill sets.

The Blackpool team could do a reasonable job I am sure, but it is like getting a painter to tile my bathroom though, sure the tiles are going to be there and look reasonable , but it won't be as good as if a tiler did it.
 
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DistortAMG said:
I think the in house team could do an OK job. But these are very specific skills, if the skills are not already there, they take quite a long time to develop.

I think it is quite naive of anyone to think that Blackpool's in house team could do a better job than a company that literally build and renovate wooden roller coasters for a living, day in day out, with hundreds of coasters under their belt. Just because they got a company in the past who made a mess of the job, doesn't mean every company will do the same. I could take my car to a garage who could make a mess of some repair work, that doesn't mean every garage is going to do the same.
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I maybe didn't explain myself properly. The reason I think they should up-skill an in-house team is simply because the number of old woodies they have. As time moves on, more and more work will need done on their woodies - for me, it makes sense to have a dedicated team who can move from coaster to coaster keeping them in tip-top shape.
 
No no, I got your point loud and clear. My post was not specifically directed towards your comment, just in general. I do agree it would be good to have an in house skilled team given the amount of wood at Blackpool. My post was more aimed at what to do now, with the current situation and the immediate future. Having a skilled team is more a long term thing.
 
If they were gonna do a 1-2 year ride closure and major restoration of Nash, they could have done so with Wild Mouse still operating (though obviously Icon was their priority). Whilst I’m all for securing Nash’s long term future, closing it anytime soon would kill off the North park even more. They could always do it if and when a ride (hopefully a coaster) eventually opens across the Mouse / Trauma Towers wasteland.

I noticed this week that there is a large amount of new timber at the bottom of the small double dip, which is reassuring. It’s amazing how brutal it can be, getting pulled over onto that small double dip, especially for those not expecting it. I love it when almost everyone who has their hands raised high in the air at the top of the first drop, is clinging tightly to the bar by the time the train hits the bottom. Just pro’s like @rob666 and me who can take it
 
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RoyJess said:
Don't mess with my Nash. I love Nash as it is. A smooth woodie is just plain boring. It's not a proper wooden coaster unless you come away with a few bruises :)
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Sorry to disagree but Nash is an embarrassment and a liability to the park in its current condition, rough is an understatement.

Extremely painful, especially over the wheel seats. They removed the wrong woodie in my opinion.

The only reason it gets a queue is because of the dire throughput and even enthusiasts are starting to dislike it.

It needs completely re-renovating or replacing with a modern woodie that will appeal to the majority of people and give north park the ride it really needs.



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I personally liked the other woodies in Blackpool, but I'd say I found Nash very rough; too rough to fully enjoy. My parents loved it, however!
 
shakey said:
Sorry to disagree but Nash is an embarrassment and a liability to the park in its current condition, rough is an understatement.

Extremely painful, especially over the wheel seats. They removed the wrong woodie in my opinion.

The only reason it gets a queue is because of the dire throughput and even enthusiasts are starting to dislike it.

It needs completely re-renovating or replacing with a modern woodie that will appeal to the majority of people and give north park the ride it really needs.



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Matt N said:
I personally liked the other woodies in Blackpool, but I'd say I found Nash very rough; too rough to fully enjoy. My parents loved it, however!
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I rode all the coasters at BPB end of last season and didn't find the coasters any worse than what they were 30 years ago. Back row on the big dipper can be just as rough. And if you think that Nash was rough, then for me, the mouse was the one that really left me black and blue. Be careful for what you wish for, because once these old timers go, they will be gone for ever and will never be replaced. Even a new modern rollercoaster will never have the same charm as the good old original woodies.
 
RoyJess said:
Be careful for what you wish for, because once these old timers go, they will be gone for ever and will never be replaced. Even a new modern rollercoaster will never have the same charm as the good old original woodies.
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Precisely. Sadly but inevitably since Wild Mouse was ‘dismantled’ (the park’s words), attention has since turned to what is supposedly the next roughest coaster on the park. I say ‘supposedly’ because I personally didn’t find Wild Mouse rough. Intense yes, but I could ride it repeatedly without physical complaint whereas wimps would ride it once then declare it to be ‘dangerous’ because they couldn’t handle its craziness and intensity. My interest in BPB would nosedive massively if Nash was no longer there. And guess what? If it did shut, people would then start moaning about Big Dipper being rough and it being ‘old’ and therefore ‘dangerous’ too.

Yesterday I thought I was about to wait for the Dipper train to come back round, only to be waved on, then I realised to my horror that the only free row was the back one. It was absolute murder. Given the choice, if I want to be near the back, I’ll always take one row in, not the very back. Nash is pretty bad on all wheel seats. The worst coaster ride of my entire life was on Nash, on row 6 last season. Thoroughly unpleasant and painful. That leaves 3 rows that are rideable without punishing your body (rows 2, 5 & 8). To the newbie who doesn’t know this, there is a 66.6 recurring percent chance that they’ll get a ferociously rough ride on Nash and possibly be put off it for life. The layout is epic, new trains would go some way to sorting it, and some retracking, new timber, etc. Nothing beyond that is needed in my opinion. I have also had some of the best coaster rides ever on Nash and I really do love it. Quiet days and choice of seats makes it so much better. It really is ridiculous that the ride experience can vary so much between sitting in one row and a couple of feet behind or ahead in another
 
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