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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion
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Gla747concorde
TS Member
I was in the park yesterday and waited no longer than 50 seconds to get on any ride.
I find it crazy that the park shuts at 5pm when most people are working. Wouldn’t it be better to introduce a night time wristband for say £20 walk up price till 9pm and hope that people buy dinner in the park?
The 4 photos for £20 is a good deal imo.
The grand Nash has got rougher since the last time I was there
I find it crazy that the park shuts at 5pm when most people are working. Wouldn’t it be better to introduce a night time wristband for say £20 walk up price till 9pm and hope that people buy dinner in the park?
The 4 photos for £20 is a good deal imo.
The grand Nash has got rougher since the last time I was there
Doublethink
TS Member
The funspot parks in Orlando do this, would be great for the area IMHO where a lot of people only want to go for a few hours. PB seems to be a park that has a far better atmosphere in the evenings too...
shakey
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wild Mouse - Blackpool - :(
Scott at PBE had a similar idea recently, suggesting that Fridays should open later and close later, maybe 1pm till 9pm or even 2pm till 10pm
I would like to see them experiment with a special pay per ride day, where its free entry (or maybe £5 max) then rides are half the usual ticket price. If they advertise it well I think it could work.
They have to be prepared to try something different which they don't seem to want to do unfortunately.
I suspect 2020 will see further reductions in opening times unless they try a different way of doing things.
And that is exactly the problem with BPB, it’s their way or no way. They are stuck in the mindset of previous decades. If they don’t change they will get left behind and the damage already done when finally someone wakes up maybe too big to reverse.
Of course it’s a private park and up to them how they run it but if it can be more successful then why wouldn’t you want to try new things?
Gla747concorde
TS Member
It’s mad that they shut at 6pm on a Saturday.
The problem with keeping the park open late, is the noise and impact on the Big Blue and soon to open Boulevard Hotel. The noise of the Big One and Dipper thundering past might wake up little Johnnie and Susie. The Big Blue is the only part of the business making money and is propping up the Pleasure Beach, so they need to keep those guests happy, although not sure if the parking charge is helping with that.
Also, its frustrating seeing them waste so much money. Having someone stand around on some of the coasters all day scanning blinking wristbands is ridiculous, I mean how many people will actually spend £15 in tickets to ride icon. Either make it a pay one price park or get rid of the entry charge and let people buy reasonably priced tickets.
The stupid airline style ticket pack that they give people from the ticket office is a waste of time and money. Why do they do that? They dont have cash to burn.
Also, its frustrating seeing them waste so much money. Having someone stand around on some of the coasters all day scanning blinking wristbands is ridiculous, I mean how many people will actually spend £15 in tickets to ride icon. Either make it a pay one price park or get rid of the entry charge and let people buy reasonably priced tickets.
The stupid airline style ticket pack that they give people from the ticket office is a waste of time and money. Why do they do that? They dont have cash to burn.
BPB has to change if it is to survive. The park has historically had ups and downs, but anyone who says it's 'always like this' is on another planet. The installation of Icon makes the facts and figures from the last 17 years are irrelevant anyway, the last time significant investment on the scale of Icon was in was 2000 and before that 1994 and I can say quite truthfully that the June of those years didn't see closing times between 5-6pm on a weekend and minimum capacity on coasters not even generating the smallest of lines, you don't have to have a degree in tourism to see that something is wrong here, I have seen this coming, most of PBE have awoken to it, a's have people across various other platforms, it's about time BPB did.
They need to rediscover what makes the place tick, the ride hardware isn't the problem, it's how the park is operated.
Look back over the last 20 years. Frontierland brought in wristbands and priced out the PPR market, it closed.
Pleasuerland brought in an entry fee forcing people to park to enter, it closed.
Dreamland re opened, and the management went to BPB (as the biggest seaside park in the country) for advice and guidance around entry process, and it didn't get off to the best of starts. They have since ditched BPB's advice, gone with free entry and the place is looking in a much healthy position .
It's as clear as can be, I don't get why those in charge can't get it, or is it more of a case of they don't WANT to get it?
They need to rediscover what makes the place tick, the ride hardware isn't the problem, it's how the park is operated.
Look back over the last 20 years. Frontierland brought in wristbands and priced out the PPR market, it closed.
Pleasuerland brought in an entry fee forcing people to park to enter, it closed.
Dreamland re opened, and the management went to BPB (as the biggest seaside park in the country) for advice and guidance around entry process, and it didn't get off to the best of starts. They have since ditched BPB's advice, gone with free entry and the place is looking in a much healthy position .
It's as clear as can be, I don't get why those in charge can't get it, or is it more of a case of they don't WANT to get it?
Sorry Ash, the last real major investment was Valhalla.
I went on opening night with my wife after work, we stood by the locked North gates at 6pm.
The park was closed...
Early closing times started two decades ago...around the opening of Valhalla, because it was so bloody expensive to run.
Tec...The bumper boats and go carts went to facilitate Icon, they were directly in the place of the track, and they were both up charge attractions, so I personally was pleased to see them go.
I prefer Icon to the two attractions it replaced.
Back in the day, as I have already said, June had half price offers,and they still struggled to fill the park.
It has always been a quiet month.
I went on opening night with my wife after work, we stood by the locked North gates at 6pm.
The park was closed...
Early closing times started two decades ago...around the opening of Valhalla, because it was so bloody expensive to run.
Tec...The bumper boats and go carts went to facilitate Icon, they were directly in the place of the track, and they were both up charge attractions, so I personally was pleased to see them go.
I prefer Icon to the two attractions it replaced.
Back in the day, as I have already said, June had half price offers,and they still struggled to fill the park.
It has always been a quiet month.
Not only have rides been removed and not replaced in ridiculous numbers, but the capacity of what is left has been crippled meaning combined with the removals, anything above a few thousand on park makes for a miserable experience.
I can't think of any other park that has actually reduced the number of vehicles coasters can run, yet BPB have done so on 4 for reasons that are in most cases unknown.
Couple that with the unwillingness to extend to ensure punters stand any chance at getting value for money on busy days and you can see why people map have got the hump with the place.
I can't think of any other park that has actually reduced the number of vehicles coasters can run, yet BPB have done so on 4 for reasons that are in most cases unknown.
Couple that with the unwillingness to extend to ensure punters stand any chance at getting value for money on busy days and you can see why people map have got the hump with the place.
Poopoohead
TS Member
Do you get the mythical food discount at coasters with a season pass?
Rob, if my memory is correct Valhalla opened on a Wednesday. So an early close during the week in term time doesn't come as a shock.
However we have just seen a couple of reports from a weekend that i am sure didnt reflect a weekend in either 94 or 2000. Quite frankly I consider to be a major concern that reports like that exist 12 months after Icon opened.
The park need to reconsider how they market themselves to walk up trade. There is no argument in the world going to convince me that people don't visit Blackpool at a moments notice anymore, and because of the nature of such a visit, they may not arrive until mid afternoon. What inspiration is there for anyone to visit BPB any point after 3pm?
Too often we have have poor weather forecasted only for it to be proven wrong on the day, Blackpool gets busier as the day goes on and BPB continue's to plod along with 600 on park saying 'well it wasn't worth extending, no one is here' but had you remained open later a significant amount of people arriving in the afternoon would have been in. Hell had you let them in for free and offered a reasonable PPR system they may go in with the current opening hours, but BPB insist on doing nothing to attract them in.
As for rides being removed and not replaced, it's an excellent point and goes a lot further than the Swamp Buggies and Go Karts. Vikingar, Trauma Towers, Black Hole, Millennium Bug, Superbowl, Space Invader come to mind off the top of my head, all closed many years ago with nothing to replace them. In a few years time will it be the same for the Wild Mouse?
However we have just seen a couple of reports from a weekend that i am sure didnt reflect a weekend in either 94 or 2000. Quite frankly I consider to be a major concern that reports like that exist 12 months after Icon opened.
The park need to reconsider how they market themselves to walk up trade. There is no argument in the world going to convince me that people don't visit Blackpool at a moments notice anymore, and because of the nature of such a visit, they may not arrive until mid afternoon. What inspiration is there for anyone to visit BPB any point after 3pm?
Too often we have have poor weather forecasted only for it to be proven wrong on the day, Blackpool gets busier as the day goes on and BPB continue's to plod along with 600 on park saying 'well it wasn't worth extending, no one is here' but had you remained open later a significant amount of people arriving in the afternoon would have been in. Hell had you let them in for free and offered a reasonable PPR system they may go in with the current opening hours, but BPB insist on doing nothing to attract them in.
As for rides being removed and not replaced, it's an excellent point and goes a lot further than the Swamp Buggies and Go Karts. Vikingar, Trauma Towers, Black Hole, Millennium Bug, Superbowl, Space Invader come to mind off the top of my head, all closed many years ago with nothing to replace them. In a few years time will it be the same for the Wild Mouse?
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Apologies for the double post.
Rob, you appear to under estimate how much of an arse I actually am. I have a BPB guide from 2006 before me, detailing the hours of business for June that year to be:
Thur/Fri 1st/2nd: 11.30-7/8pm
Sat 3rd: 11am-9/9.30pm
Sun 4th: 11am-8/8.30pm
Mon-Fri between the 5th and 23rd were all 12-6pm
Sat/Sun 10th/11th: 10.30-9/10pm
Sat 17th and 24th: 11am-9/9.30pm
Sun 18th and 25th: 11am-8/8.30pm
Mon26th-Fri 30: 11-6/6.30pm
I'd hardly so that was a year of early closings, it was also a year of nothing being installed and the only change to the ride line up was the Log Flume being removed in September.
Rob, you appear to under estimate how much of an arse I actually am. I have a BPB guide from 2006 before me, detailing the hours of business for June that year to be:
Thur/Fri 1st/2nd: 11.30-7/8pm
Sat 3rd: 11am-9/9.30pm
Sun 4th: 11am-8/8.30pm
Mon-Fri between the 5th and 23rd were all 12-6pm
Sat/Sun 10th/11th: 10.30-9/10pm
Sat 17th and 24th: 11am-9/9.30pm
Sun 18th and 25th: 11am-8/8.30pm
Mon26th-Fri 30: 11-6/6.30pm
I'd hardly so that was a year of early closings, it was also a year of nothing being installed and the only change to the ride line up was the Log Flume being removed in September.
Ash...
Firstly, apology accepted, but don't do it again you overargumentative tyke.
Secondly, I could never underestimate how much of an arse you are, even being Satan's spawn from another planet.
Sadly, I agree with most of the points you have made, though I do get bored with you repeating the same stuff every few months.
Nobody wants early closures, they don't cater for the later/casual visitor, they can't cope with peak crowds, and management generally is "old family firm...we know best."
The point I was getting across...
It is always quiet on the Beach in June.
Always has been.
Even with half price wristbands.
Firstly, apology accepted, but don't do it again you overargumentative tyke.
Secondly, I could never underestimate how much of an arse you are, even being Satan's spawn from another planet.
Sadly, I agree with most of the points you have made, though I do get bored with you repeating the same stuff every few months.
Nobody wants early closures, they don't cater for the later/casual visitor, they can't cope with peak crowds, and management generally is "old family firm...we know best."
The point I was getting across...
It is always quiet on the Beach in June.
Always has been.
Even with half price wristbands.
Also, while I am thinking about it and while Ash brought up opening times in 2006, what has happened to the shows as well? Their season has been cut drastically.
Hot Ice in 2006 was from the 7th April to 4th November. In 2019 its 4th July to 7th September
Mystique was 5th May to 5th November. In 2019, Evolution of Magic is 28th June to 1st September.
That is even less of a reason to visit. That coupled with the fact that the park closes most of the time before the evening performances start, shows that the early closing is damaging their business.
When did the shows season start to shorten? Oh, could it be when it stopped being free entry??? lol
I (and others) cannot understand why the park opens at 10am and then has staggered opening, especially as most people dont get to the park (or Blackpool) early. Open at noon and close at 7 as a trial. Surely its worth a go !!!
Hot Ice in 2006 was from the 7th April to 4th November. In 2019 its 4th July to 7th September
Mystique was 5th May to 5th November. In 2019, Evolution of Magic is 28th June to 1st September.
That is even less of a reason to visit. That coupled with the fact that the park closes most of the time before the evening performances start, shows that the early closing is damaging their business.
When did the shows season start to shorten? Oh, could it be when it stopped being free entry??? lol
I (and others) cannot understand why the park opens at 10am and then has staggered opening, especially as most people dont get to the park (or Blackpool) early. Open at noon and close at 7 as a trial. Surely its worth a go !!!
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Shows went with the minor rides I'm afraid, part of the big cuts or we will go bust.
Only the Hot Ice show remains...I imagine it loses loads, but it is Mandy's pet project.
Stunning afternoon on the park, quite a few school groups now.
Big One on 2 for the schools, dozen coaster rides in a couple of hours.
Only the Hot Ice show remains...I imagine it loses loads, but it is Mandy's pet project.
Stunning afternoon on the park, quite a few school groups now.
Big One on 2 for the schools, dozen coaster rides in a couple of hours.
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