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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Burbs said:
Are we talking about the same Blackpool Pleasure Beach?
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Admittedly, putting sandbags on the Big One isn't brilliant, but that's more down to them trying to prevent it from stalling than poor operations; other than that, the park has seemed very efficient whenever I've visited!
 
Matt N said:
When you say about BPB never truly leaving the pay-per-ride mindset, I'd be intrigued to know what you mean, as most on here seem to imply that the park was operated very efficiently during that era. To be fair, I'd personally say that the park is still operated very efficiently now from my personal experience, but the operations apparently rivalled Europa during the 1990s.

On a similar note, I'd be intrigued to know; if anyone is able to describe, what was it that actually started the park's financial troubles in the first place? Only asking because most accounts I hear seem to imply that the park was doing really well and prospering throughout the 1990s and early 2000s until everything went pear-shaped after Geoffrey Thompson died and Amanda Thompson took over, but that is a rather broad description of events; I get the impression that there might be more to it than that. It must have taken something quite major for the park to go from attracting in excess of 5 million visitors per year and being as big as, if not bigger than, the Merlin parks in terms of guest numbers and turnover to suffering from reasonably major financial problems...
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You’re correct Matt, the general view of all being rosy prior to the mid-2000s is far too simplistic. Back in those days a busy park didn’t automatically translate into revenue. Bad years were less common, but the decline of BPB’s fortunes is a perfect storm of different circumstances. Changes in both visitation habits to Blackpool and themed entertainment shifted in the 2000s. Leisure time was being spent more on shopping, eating out and (at least if you listen to PB’s take) free museums. Couple that with the resort’s declining reputation, the financial crash, the reduction in park offerings and shift in strategy. Oh and let’s not forget that old chestnut, “the weather”.

If Geoffrey had still been around, a lot if those factors would still exist. He may have dealt with them differently, but who knows if it would have been successfully.
 
venny said:
You’re correct Matt, the general view of all being rosy prior to the mid-2000s is far too simplistic. Back in those days a busy park didn’t automatically translate into revenue. Bad years were less common, but the decline of BPB’s fortunes is a perfect storm of different circumstances. Changes in both visitation habits to Blackpool and themed entertainment shifted in the 2000s. Leisure time was being spent more on shopping, eating out and (at least if you listen to PB’s take) free museums. Couple that with the resort’s declining reputation, the financial crash, the reduction in park offerings and shift in strategy. Oh and let’s not forget that old chestnut, “the weather”.

If Geoffrey had still been around, a lot if those factors would still exist. He may have dealt with them differently, but who knows if it would have been successfully.
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I can certainly see that all of this is true, and I also think that the park, along with many other theme parks, started to feel the effects of their bold spending habits in the 1990s and the early 2000s. It certainly wasn't only Blackpool who started suffering financial problems around this sort of time; many independent theme parks in the UK started to decline or even shut their doors entirely. In the wider world, Six Flags began to suffer financially in the mid-2000s, which ultimately led to them almost going under completely towards the end of the decade, and Disneyland Paris' financial woes were rampant. I even heard somewhere that Europa Park and Mack Rides were close to bankruptcy, and it was Blue Fire's success that ultimately saved them.
 
Matt N said:
most on here seem to imply that the park was operated very efficiently during that era.
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Quite simply if a ride was down they would get it open ASAP, every minute a big ride was shut they were losing money. Now, they take your money before you even walk into the park, and beyond that don’t care a lot if rides are shut and can close at 5pm as they have your money already.

You only need to watch the TV series from the 90s to see how the park managers were desperate to get punters onto The Big One
 
Matt N said:
I even heard somewhere that Europa Park and Mack Rides were close to bankruptcy, and it was Blue Fire's success that ultimately saved them.
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So close to bankruptcy that they could spend millions on a prototype coaster.
Matt N said:
I also think that the park, along with many other theme parks, started to feel the effects of their bold spending habits in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
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I think this is completely wrong. It was the lack of re-investment under new management that caused Tussauds to decline—even then they made money but attendance was dropping off. The "bold spending" in the 90s was what created massive success in the first place, from a failing bunch of parks. That spending more than paid off.

To their credit, Merlin turned the Tussauds parks around again by reinvesting (apart from Thorpe which was still on the up when Merlin got it).

Disneyland was a more complicated story and only recently became very profitable, so kind of the the opposite of the theory in your post.

The independent parks that closed around that time, presumably American Adventure & Camelot, didn't boldly invest.
 
venny said:
You’re correct Matt, the general view of all being rosy prior to the mid-2000s is far too simplistic. Back in those days a busy park didn’t automatically translate into revenue. Bad years were less common, but the decline of BPB’s fortunes is a perfect storm of different circumstances. Changes in both visitation habits to Blackpool and themed entertainment shifted in the 2000s. Leisure time was being spent more on shopping, eating out and (at least if you listen to PB’s take) free museums. Couple that with the resort’s declining reputation, the financial crash, the reduction in park offerings and shift in strategy. Oh and let’s not forget that old chestnut, “the weather”
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This is all true. However, and it feels like a slightly crass thing to get into given BPB's standing as a family business, and especially the tragedy of Geoffrey's death, but is it not true to say that his unexpected passing saw a lot of creditors emerge from some occasionally rotten woodwork? Amanda had a lot on her plate very quickly, and the change in BPB's investment structure and fortunes changed very quickly. The park went from opening one of the most expensive rides ever built, alongside a hotel, to the closure of Pleasureland (only shortly after reinvestment in the park itself) and numerous ride closures at BPB. As @Rick pointed out recently, the park still felt very dynamic in the early 00s, and suddenly it was stifled. There were other unfortunate factors of course, such as the Grand National fire, although that did admittedly lead to North Park transforming for the better.
 
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Plastic Person said:
This is all true. However, and it feels like a slightly crass thing to get into given BPB's standing as a family business, and especially the tragedy of Geoffrey's death, but is it not true to say that his unexpected passing saw a lot of creditors emerge from some occasionally rotten woodwork? Amanda had a lot on her plate very quickly, and the change in BPB's investment structure and fortunes changed very quickly, or so it felt.
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That is true, but the borrowing at that time wasn’t vastly different to the borrowing levels now (ignoring inflation). I’m not too sure how different things would have been under Geoffrey. There’s perhaps not the immediate issue of the banks calling in the loans or at least changing their terms, but outside of that, the majority of the other conditions at that time would still have prevailed.

It’s definitely an interesting situation to consider and I’ve no doubt that there would have been a different path taken. I’m not sure that path would have been as radically different as some would believe though.
 
I have some leave from work in a couple of weeks and was considering a visit for the first time in about 5 years, when I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

This thread puts me right off. Is it really consistently THAT bad for operations right now? It's a long way from Essex for a crap day out!
 
pluk said:
I have some leave from work in a couple of weeks and was considering a visit for the first time in about 5 years, when I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

This thread puts me right off. Is it really consistently THAT bad for operations right now? It's a long way from Essex for a crap day out!
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It's not consistently like that, and Icon is certainly worth riding if you haven't done it yet!
 
Saturdays in the lights are usually busy, and beyond comfortable capacity.
Weekdays at this time of year are great, though some rides tend to go down for the day for repairs or maintenance.
My last visit was walk on everything, eleven coasters in two hours, including two beers.
It is simply hit and miss, some days great, some days poor.
But then again, I would say, from repeated personal experience, it has been like that for about a decade.
 
Have been doing some more scanning, here's a nice view of the Space Tower and the Log Flume too.

The most bizarre bit of the Pleasure Beach log flume was the gentle incline (next to the 'F' on the sign) where it was the shallowest of drops, but you floated all the way down, rather than 'dropped' on the wheels. I can't think of another flume anywhere that does that.

z4U6AfF.jpg
 
It floated if you were lucky!
But I know what you mean, the only log flume with a steepish slope that wasn't a drop.
Towards the end it did tend to float, drag and roll down that slope though.
Had completely forgotten the wigwam sticks on the station roof.
 
I think of all the retired BPB rides, it's the Log Flume I miss the most. It really felt like you were going on an adventure, the way the PBMO eventually interacted with it was spectacular, and quirks like the aforementioned run-off drop really gave it character.
 
Good fun getting soaked while riding the Tom Sawyer rafts underneath the fume drops.
The log flume was a bit like the Big One is with me now...hardly ever rode it towards the end because it always had a big queue.
 
Dar said:
Did the old route of the flume get changed to accommodate the big one?
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No, The Big One had to fit around it.

@Rick one of my favourite ever BPB pics. It was also the cover shot of a circa 70s/80s near A4 size booklet ‘The Blackpool Pleasure Beach Story’ by Steve Palmer. My brother had that cover framed for me, it’s brill
 
Dipper_Dave said:
No, The Big One had to fit around it.
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Indeed, hence some of the mad Big One supports in the Infusion queue line. Now opportunities for a fountain.

Edit - note here how the Log Flume goes under a specially designed 'bridge' in the base of the Big One structure, it remains unchanged (obviously) - there's a huge gap which now seems for nothing.

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Dipper_Dave said:
@Rick one of my favourite ever BPB pics. It was also the cover shot of a circa 70s/80s near A4 size booklet ‘The Blackpool Pleasure Beach Story’ by Steve Palmer. My brother had that cover framed for me, it’s brill
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It is a great photo, haven't seen that booklet. Sounds great.
 
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