Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[shakey]

As for other seaside parks, I agree that they operate differently to BPB but they are completely different types of parks. BPB is by far the largest and most well known and they want to maintain a good reputation.

Rightly or wrongly, seaside amusement parks have a reputation for being tacky, dated and more funfair-esque than theme parks. BPB is in the sort of awkward stage between being an amusement and theme park, but certainly in recent years they’ve leant far more towards the theme park model and I think that this is the right direction for them to be taking.

Whilst I agree with Ash that a lot of people turn up at BPB and then don’t go in, you have to think long term. Yes, I’m the short term, they lose money from those people. But in the long term, the entrance fee keeps trouble makers away, makes the park feel a lot safer and gives it a more pleasant reputation.

This links to my previous point about why BPB are different to other seaside parks. They not only work to keep the trouble makers away by having the entrance fee and security checks, they also care a lot more about the aesthetics of the park which, again, has seen BPB move away from the old tacky seaside funfair image of precious years. So long term, I’d say that the decision to distance themselves from other smaller and less successful seaside parks is a wise business move.

I don’t think that the figures about visitor numbers to the town which you got from the Gazette are entirely accurate anyway. It’s been well documented that the U.K. seaside is struggling and, whilst some of the other seaside parks struggle under the old free entry model, BPB have re-invented themselves to remain relevant in the 21st century.

Irrespective of the parks size, it lends itself more to the amusement park model because of its location.

Not sure what is tacky about an amusement park model but pleasure beach is in what is widely regarded as the UK's tackiest seaside town so why not play to your strengths !!

Looks like we may have to agree to disagree on what the best business model is for the park. What I think we can all agree on is we want the park to succeed, so let's hope they make a success of their current way of doing things, and if they don't succeed then lets hope they are prepared to try something different before they lose money once too often.


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[rob666]

You can (or could) just buy an entry and big one, or entry and Icon ticket for less than a wristband.
Saw my first ticket user on Icon this year, last week, and I go roughly weekly.
I think tickets will go in the next few seasons.

Now, what if they decided to scrap wristbands and season passes, and went back to pay per ride and free entry.
Would cost me a flipping fortune!

 

[MattyH]

You'd just sit at the bar all day

 

[shakey]

You'd just sit at the bar all day

It's his round !!!

 

[rob666]

You'd just sit at the bar all day

You sound like my wife.

 

[Coaster]

As for other seaside parks, I agree that they operate differently to BPB but they are completely different types of parks. BPB is by far the largest and most well known and they want to maintain a good reputation.

Rightly or wrongly, seaside amusement parks have a reputation for being tacky, dated and more funfair-esque than theme parks. BPB is in the sort of awkward stage between being an amusement and theme park, but certainly in recent years they’ve leant far more towards the theme park model and I think that this is the right direction for them to be taking.

Whilst I agree with Ash that a lot of people turn up at BPB and then don’t go in, you have to think long term. Yes, I’m the short term, they lose money from those people. But in the long term, the entrance fee keeps trouble makers away, makes the park feel a lot safer and gives it a more pleasant reputation.

This links to my previous point about why BPB are different to other seaside parks. They not only work to keep the trouble makers away by having the entrance fee and security checks, they also care a lot more about the aesthetics of the park which, again, has seen BPB move away from the old tacky seaside funfair image of precious years. So long term, I’d say that the decision to distance themselves from other smaller and less successful seaside parks is a wise business move.

I'd actually argue that the aesthetics at Pleasure Beach are the worst they've ever been now. They've decided to take the theme park model yet they have a complete lack of maintenance for most of their themed features.

In the last few years we've seen the River Caves exterior theming ripped out and replaced with (now rotten) wooden planks, the waterfall broken and the entire facade looks like it belongs in a park that was abandoned 20 years ago. Ghost Train has now had exterior theming removed, Valhalla is a disgrace and the amount of broken effects in the dark rides on average is a joke.

Elsewhere FY4 is the most horrendous looking area I've ever seen inside a park, yet a few years ago it looked mostly fine. They say they're a theme park but the first impression you get is the back of a warehouse, a dirty wall and a wooden fence.

Then you have the wooden coasters, 10 years ago they looked much better than they do now.

Across the park so many of the smaller/fun features and historical references have been removed, these all made PB different and captured people's imagination. It just feels like the entire park has been "cleansed" of anything fun now, it's so dull.

So much colour has gone from the place and it feels like it has no atmosphere anymore, that's before I even get onto how much lighting is broken on the rare occasions when they open late enough to use it.

 

[Ash84]

With regards to the ticket system, people do use it, and BPB would see it used a lot more by making it more user friendly. No matter how many enthusiast's shake their heads saying wristbands all the way, Blackpool attracts plenty for who the PB makes up a small part of a day or weekend away. Those people have no interest in wristbands but would be happy to spend let's say £5-6 for a ride on the Big One.

What they won't do however is pay a tenner each to get in then pay ludicrous prices from then on.

No one turns up at Towers to ride Oblivion and them leave, however people do go to BPB to ride the Big One then leave. That's why the system still exists.

Last weekend was the nearest I have been to reliving the weekend's away with my parents, and both Emma and Luke loved it. We usually do BPB or an entire day then do whatever else for the second day or the other way round. However with the park being open till late we arrived in the afternoon, went up town and spend a few hours doing other things, had a meal out and some drinks and arrived at BPB at 9pm. I have never seen Luke look so happy to be in BPB usually it's more a case of 'oh God not here again' but he loved it. We went back in the next day too.

Now I liken it to the old school way because we used to arrive, buy a pile of tickets and pop in and out ands we wanted over the week or weekend, again it was great. Of course as pass holders you can come and nd go as you please but being able to do it with the park open late made it all so much more relaxed, as I said we all agree it was our best visit in years. I personally can't wait to go back and that's something I haven't said for a very long time.

BPB have great difficulty seeing beyond the end of their own noises. It's like the 'research' they conducted in which there customers said they were happy with the hours of business. It's not going to drive the business to be better unless you question those who aren't going in and ask them why they aren't in. Those who are on the mailing list are of course going to be happy or else they wouldn't have bought the wristband in the first place.

 

[Benjsh]

What are the rumours for 2020 addition guys? Anything decent? I do feel the park needs another good flat ride.

 

[rob666]

The last I heard...absolutely nothing.
For a year or two.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

With regards to the ticket system, people do use it, and BPB would see it used a lot more by making it more user friendly. No matter how many enthusiast's shake their heads saying wristbands all the way, Blackpool attracts plenty for who the PB makes up a small part of a day or weekend away. Those people have no interest in wristbands but would be happy to spend let's say £5-6 for a ride on the Big One.

What they won't do however is pay a tenner each to get in then pay ludicrous prices from then on.

No one turns up at Towers to ride Oblivion and them leave, however people do go to BPB to ride the Big One then leave. That's why the system still exists.

Last weekend was the nearest I have been to reliving the weekend's away with my parents, and both Emma and Luke loved it. We usually do BPB or an entire day then do whatever else for the second day or the other way round. However with the park being open till late we arrived in the afternoon, went up town and spend a few hours doing other things, had a meal out and some drinks and arrived at BPB at 9pm. I have never seen Luke look so happy to be in BPB usually it's more a case of 'oh God not here again' but he loved it. We went back in the next day too.

Now I liken it to the old school way because we used to arrive, buy a pile of tickets and pop in and out ands we wanted over the week or weekend, again it was great. Of course as pass holders you can come and nd go as you please but being able to do it with the park open late made it all so much more relaxed, as I said we all agree it was our best visit in years. I personally can't wait to go back and that's something I haven't said for a very long time.

BPB have great difficulty seeing beyond the end of their own noises. It's like the 'research' they conducted in which there customers said they were happy with the hours of business. It's not going to drive the business to be better unless you question those who aren't going in and ask them why they aren't in. Those who are on the mailing list are of course going to be happy or else they wouldn't have bought the wristband in the first place.

I can see what you’re saying, up to a point.

The traditional seaside model worked well in the 80s and 90s but times have changed.

I know you’re probably going to say that I keep going on about how times have changed, but it really does count for a lot.

UK seaside towns are no longer the booming places that they once were. Less holiday makers because of cheap foreign travel. Less day trippers because of all the things keeping people at home- Netflix, Just Eat etc. People go out less and stay in their homes more. Causal visits to seaside towns as well as planned holiday/ weekend visits have decreased especially amongst the younger generation. Just take a walk along the prom and look at the demographic of people in the hotels- nearly all old people who wouldn’t have any interest in visiting BPB. They have had no choice but to change their business model to attract people from outside of the town to spend a day specifically at the park. No longer can they rely on people who are already in the town “popping in”

This is why we have seen the relative demise of U.K. seaside parks who still rely on their old ways of doing business. We all want BPB to succeed and not go the way of Southport Pleasureland, Frontierland, Dreamland Margate, Barry Island, Ocean Beach Rhyl etc.

It’s no coincidence that all those parks (and others) suffered the way that they did. They were victims of the demise of the U.K. seaside. We want BPB to be a success and stand up to the competition of the 21st century. Simply turning back the clock and going back to the business model of the mid 90s is not the way to do that. We now live in different times.

 

[rob666]

Nearly all old people...who have visited the Beach throughout their lives...you patronising young pup!
People who have visited as kids in the fifties and sixties, then as courting couples in the sixties and seventies, then with their kids in the seventies and eighties, then babysitting their grandchildren on term time weekdays in the new millennium.
Lots of them.
I talk to them all the time, at work and on the prom.
They resent spending a tenner to get in, because they didn't have to for fifty years.
The Beach loses a fortune from such punters, the coffee and cake brigade now stay up north shore.
Blackpool gets between ten and twenty thousand of them a day in mid season, but some are proud of the fact that they do not spend a single penny in the town.
Because it is a family firm, headed from the top by a strong personality, it has, and probably always will, have some funny ideas as to how to run the place...I know best...like it or lump it.
They miss loads of business by not mopping up the full market.

 

[Ash84]

I can see what you’re saying, up to a point.

The traditional seaside model worked well in the 80s and 90s but times have changed.

I know you’re probably going to say that I keep going on about how times have changed, but it really does count for a lot.

UK seaside towns are no longer the booming places that they once were. Less holiday makers because of cheap foreign travel. Less day trippers because of all the things keeping people at home- Netflix, Just Eat etc. People go out less and stay in their homes more. Causal visits to seaside towns as well as planned holiday/ weekend visits have decreased especially amongst the younger generation. Just take a walk along the prom and look at the demographic of people in the hotels- nearly all old people who wouldn’t have any interest in visiting BPB. They have had no choice but to change their business model to attract people from outside of the town to spend a day specifically at the park. No longer can they rely on people who are already in the town “popping in”

This is why we have seen the relative demise of U.K. seaside parks who still rely on their old ways of doing business. We all want BPB to succeed and not go the way of Southport Pleasureland, Frontierland, Dreamland Margate, Barry Island, Ocean Beach Rhyl etc.

It’s no coincidence that all those parks (and others) suffered the way that they did. They were victims of the demise of the U.K. seaside. We want BPB to be a success and stand up to the competition of the 21st century. Simply turning back the clock and going back to the business model of the mid 90s is not the way to do that. We now live in different times.

Times have changed, and while the demand for PPR may have dropped, it's still there, so wouldn't it make sense to capture those customers?

As Rob says, plenty of people would spend but now don't, my parents being two such people. I know my mum would love to do Icon but won't pay £15 for the privilege and certainly won't get my dad to pay a tenner just to watch. Now if you could get him in he'd do the Steeplechase if Emma, Luke and I went on he'd also be up for like Flyers and other such rides and would definitely join us for drinks and cakes, but as things stand they just don't go in.

Who's loosing out?

 

[Matt N]

Would you guys support the present system more if the fees for entry and individual rides were reduced and the park operated a hybrid model of sorts? What I mean is; would you support the current system more if the entry fee was £2 and a ride on Icon and the Big One was £5, with the other rides being £3 each, for example?

 

[Ash84]

What I think should happen is in an ideal world it should be free entry with the option of a wristband or pay per ride, with prices along the lines of what you suggest.

I'd even say £6 for Icon/Big One/Valhalla with the other coasters being £3 along with Airbender/Sky force and Iceblast.

Don't be drawn in to this nonsense that free entry was evil and everyone got knifed, molested and gang raped, it's grossly blown out of proportion by those in favour of keeping the entry fee.

Failing that the system you suggest sounds reasonable so long as the £2 entry be given back in the form of vouchers for money off F&B

 

[rob666]

If you give free admission the scum and pickpockets would flood back in days.
Vouchers for f&b to the value of entry, cheap ticket prices, later opening and closing.
Pensioner, and parent and toddler specials, grab a granny disco round the fountains, and electric scooter meets outside the Grand Prix.
Reopen south gate, make east gate Arena (Ice Show) only at all times.
Ban all under 18s apart from Saturdays.
Nirvana.

 

[shakey]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that they scrap the wristband system and go back to pay per ride only. Just follow the example of other seaside parks and offer the best of both worlds.

So as an example...

Online booking wristband £25 up to night before.
Gate Price wristband £30.
Entry fee £6 but refunded with ride tokens.
Ride costs set to reasonable prices - eg £8 icon. £7 big one. £5 dipper. £4 streak. £2.50 Kids ride etc...etc

I also think opening at 12pm and closing 8/9pm would be a much better option. Especially on fri/sat/sun and during school hols.

We are visiting tomorrow and it's a struggle to get in for 10am when you are 2+ hours away.








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[Matt N]

The only evidence I have about what park atmosphere was like during the free entry era is from my mum, who visited the park in the late 1990s. Back then, she did not like the park and its atmosphere. So much so that when I finally convinced my family to go to BPB last year, I was the only one in my family with any desire to go there; I think my parents were genuinely quite nervous about going there after my mum's reports from her visit during the free entry era. When we went there, however, my mum said she liked the park far more than she'd remembered, and the rest of my family were pleasantly surprised at how much of a nice atmosphere the park had. So based on the evidence I have, I'd say that the entry fee has improved Park atmosphere and made it more family-friendly. I suppose I can't really judge what atmosphere was like pre-entry fee, as I wasn't born, but I'm just going off what evidence I have.

 

[rob666]

It could be very intimidating when absolutely packed, and I was banned from going as a young teenager when Blackpool had home matches...it was a tradition that the away team fans would go to the Beach after the match for a few coasters and a minor brawl.
Glasgow Wakes (right now you lovely people) could be fun as well at 3.30 on any afternoon...when the pubs kicked everyone out!
It would only calm down around six...when the pubs reopened.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

It could be very intimidating when absolutely packed, and I was banned from going as a young teenager when Blackpool had home matches...it was a tradition that the away team fans would go to the Beach after the match for a few coasters and a minor brawl.

And you guys want to go back to free entry based on that?

I’m sorry but this makes no sense. Note the irony that all the traditional BPB fans on this forum insist that the park lose custom from the entry charge, yet you’ve now said that you were banned from visiting by your parents.

And you can’t have been the only one. Is what you’ve described really the type of BPB you want to go back to? Yes ok they may make less money from casual walk ups these days but free entry results in what you’ve described and gives the park a reputation of being a rough and unpleasant place.

Reputation is everything in business. The park feels a lot safer now. Rightly or wrongly, most free entry seaside parks have a reputation of being rough places where local yobs hang out especially after dark.

Look at the old BPB documentary of the mid-90s. There was someone threatened with a knife for his chain, unlicensed yo-yo sellers wandering around the park, shoplifting and costumer characters being physically attacked. And that was only in the six week period that the programme was filmed. Imagine what other things went on that we don’t know about.

You really want to go back to BPB being that sort of place on the basis of “oh but they lose money from a few people not popping in to do a ride on the big one”?

I’m sorry to be blunt but I really do think too many BPB fans remember the 90s in too much of a rose tinted manner. Of course the nostalgia is there and I appreciate that, but the park are now trying to stay afloat in an increasingly tough market.

I really don’t see how “do what they used to do” is a sensible business idea for them. I mean, surely there was a reason why they changed in the first place no? If business was booming at the turn of the century (as people seem to be claiming) then why did they change it? And why on Earth after making such changes would they want to go back? It’s been long enough now that changes have been in place for them to see the positive effects of such changes.

 

[Ash84]

And you guys want to go back to free entry based on that?

I’m sorry but this makes no sense. Note the irony that all the traditional BPB fans on this forum insist that the park lose custom from the entry charge, yet you’ve now said that you were banned from visiting by your parents.

And you can’t have been the only one. Is what you’ve described really the type of BPB you want to go back to? Yes ok they may make less money from casual walk ups these days but free entry results in what you’ve described and gives the park a reputation of being a rough and unpleasant place.

Reputation is everything in business. The park feels a lot safer now. Rightly or wrongly, most free entry seaside parks have a reputation of being rough places where local yobs hang out especially after dark.

Look at the old BPB documentary of the mid-90s. There was someone threatened with a knife for his chain, unlicensed yo-yo sellers wandering around the park, shoplifting and costumer characters being physically attacked. And that was only in the six week period that the programme was filmed. Imagine what other things went on that we don’t know about.

You really want to go back to BPB being that sort of place on the basis of “oh but they lose money from a few people not popping in to do a ride on the big one”?

I’m sorry to be blunt but I really do think too many BPB fans remember the 90s in too much of a rose tinted manner. Of course the nostalgia is there and I appreciate that, but the park are now trying to stay afloat in an increasingly tough market.

I really don’t see how “do what they used to do” is a sensible business idea for them. I mean, surely there was a reason why they changed in the first place no? If business was booming at the turn of the century (as people seem to be claiming) then why did they change it? And why on Earth after making such changes would they want to go back? It’s been long enough now that changes have been in place for them to see the positive effects of such changes.

I am not sure what posts you are reading but I can't recall anywhere, Rob saying he wanted free entry back. That would be me.