Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[Skyscraper]

As good as a dive coaster would be at BPB, as others have said it's out of their price range. They have the space though, but it would have to be the six-across trains.

 

[Dipper_Dave]

Ooh, I'd love a BPB dive coaster if it were like SheiKra! Oblivion is a good ride, but SheiKra is immense; still one of my top 5 coasters even 3 years after riding it!

I did SheiKra this Summer. Immense indeed. Agree with @ScottishChris BPB will always find room for a new ride somehow if they want to. North end is pretty sparse anyway, but get rid of Ice Blast & Valhalla and put a coaster round there. Could even intersect the PMBO turnaround.

I thought SheiKra was brill from start to finish. Especially from front row with that pause over the massive drop. The Immelmann & second vertical drop through the building ruins were awesome too. And watching people get soaked in the splashdown of course. I was lucky enough to get it virtually walk on. Well, front row was a 1-2 train wait and rest of the train was walk on. Had to do 3 in a row, rude not to.

 

[Rick]

There is absolutely no chance Pleasure Beach have the space nor money for anything from B&M's catalogue, never mind even a baby dive machine for that matter.

As good as a dive coaster would be at BPB, as others have said it's out of their price range. They have the space though, but it would have to be the six-across trains.

Why? Because they just bought Icon, or just generally?

If Icon did cost £16m, that buys you a fair chunk of Dive Machine. Baron, Krake, Oblivion TBH etc.

(I don't think they would build one, though).

 

[Dar]

Why do they need to remove Valhalla to fit one in? A launch down from the back of Vikingar towards PlayStation (edit to add: remove PlayStation, of course, it's a shadow of its former glory and in the way of progress damnit), some farting about round superbowl, over impossible to the car park behind FY4 for some tight twisty bits, a second launch that somehow interacts with entrance, gatekeeper-style, into some brakes behind the globe and back to the station! Could even use Vikingar's old station spot

Could be a neat little Mack extreme spinner!

 

[D4n]

I find the fascination with Dive Machines very confusing. Having ridden four (including Shiekra) I have found them all to be fairly average coasters. They take up an awful lot of space too, Pleasure Beach will no doubt be looking for something with a much smaller footprint when they do eventually build something new.

 

[ChristmasPud]

I agree the dive machines Ive done have been very dull coasters. They are big, expensive and seemingly pointless, do they just get built because they are a B&M these days?

Oblivion remains the best one only for the effect of dropping straight into the dark underground, not the coaster experience itself. Efteling's Baron was beautifully themed and exciting but the tunnel effect nowhere near as good as Oblivion.

After sorting the park out, Pleasure Beach needs something fresh, new and massively fun I think. Icon should have been that, but it's kind of underwhelming. I really hope they can pick the ball up and dont fall deeper into problems

 

[ScottishChris]

I find the fascination with Dive Machines very confusing. Having ridden four (including Shiekra) I have found them all to be fairly average coasters. They take up an awful lot of space too, Pleasure Beach will no doubt be looking for something with a much smaller footprint when they do eventually build something new.

I agree. I've ridden a few - my favourite being Oblivion. They are one trick ponies.

I wand a good hyper at BPB - I think it is the ride that would have the greatest payback. That or a BIG Intamin Accelerator. BPB needs statement rides - such as the biggest, fastest etc. They also have the benefit of being the only UK park that ever seems likely to build high.

I would rather they go down the route of keeping the Big Ones lift hill and re-profiling/ re-working the track with a company like B&M or Mack. The Big One is showing its age (although it has been running well recently) and I think it is a matter of time before it will be unrideable.

In terms of a new coaster - I'd love to see a wild mouse conceived by a company like Gerstauer (sp) - as an up to date take on the old wild mouse. AKA an insane piece of rollercoaster design!

 

[Skyscraper]

Given the success of Icon and the relationship between the Thompson and Mack families, I could see a Mack spinner at the park. However, they've just got a launch coster with inversions (that has the same seating and restraints as the extreme spinners) and another UK park have got a family spinner. Would the park build something that's similar to an existing new UK attraction?

 

[Matt N]

When do you guys predict we might get BPB's next roller coaster? Are we thinking within the next 5 years or so, or are we thinking a longer period of time?

After Icon's apparent lack of success, I would personally expect a time frame of around 5-10 years to pass before the park builds a new coaster. I definitely don't think we'll see a 24 year gap like we did between Big One and Icon or even the 13 year gap we saw between Big One and Infusion, but I'm not currently predicting a mega new coaster to spring up in 2021 either. I definitely think the rumour of a new flat ride in 2020 or 2021 sounds like a plausible one, so maybe a new coaster could come in 2023 or 2024?

Having said that, they could very well surprise us, and I must admit that I'm rather intrigued to see what Hexpress is in 2020 (the thing that Amanda Thompson was alluding to in her last tweet)!

 

[ScottishChris]

After Icon's apparent lack of success, QUOTE]
Where did you get that from?

Since Icon's introduction visits have remained steady even though this year's weather has been challenging and tourism to Blackpool has been iratic. Merch has been through the roof (how many Icon hoodies do you see??!?). And I have noticed way more international visitors. I would say it has been a success

 

[Matt N]

The reason I say that Icon hasn't been overly successful is because last year, a fairly reliable source for BPB info posted on here that Icon needed to increase visitor numbers by 100,000 in 2018 to be financially viable, but 2018 numbers were actually down by 200,000 on 2017. Many BPB regulars have also echoed that the park was quieter in 2018 than in 2017 and have heard staff members saying similar things regarding Icon's impact on attendance being worse than expected.

Admittedly, I don't think Icon deserved to be unsuccessful, because I love it to bits, but from reading around the internet and visiting the parks, Wicker Man seemed to be considerably more successful for Alton Towers than Icon was for Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

 

[ScottishChris]

The reason I say that Icon hasn't been overly successful is because last year, a fairly reliable source for BPB info posted on here that Icon needed to increase visitor numbers by 100,000 in 2018 to be financially viable, but 2018 numbers were actually down by 200,000 on 2017. Many BPB regulars have also echoed that the park was quieter in 2018 than in 2017 and have heard staff members saying similar things regarding Icon's impact on attendance being worse than expected.

Admittedly, I don't think Icon deserved to be unsuccessful, because I love it to bits, but from reading around the internet and visiting the parks, Wicker Man seemed to be considerably more successful for Alton Towers than Icon was for Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

No, Wickerman is not considerably more successful - and I would gamble almost anything on that. Wickerman seems more successful because of its 50+ min wait times. That is down to poor operations.
Towers has been more successful because the needed to come back from a much worse position following the Smiler incident.

Towers have managed a surge in numbers due to:
- pushing the 'resort' idea. Towers IS your summer holiday.
- Emphasis on the kids offering
- And Wickerman.

Solely adding a coaster to a park like BPB would be unlikely to add 100k in visitors. It would need to be much more wide ranging than that. I would be shocked if anyone at BPB thought Icon alone would add 100k in visitors per year - particularly with Blackpool's climate.

Also, it will never be about visitors - it will be judged on spend. Looking at Icon's shop - that looks positive

 

[D4n]

No, Wickerman is not considerably more successful - and I would gamble almost anything on that. Wickerman seems more successful because of its 50+ min wait times. That is down to poor operations.

Well that's definitely untrue. Operations on Wicker Man have been consistently excellent (almost invariably a three train service) and the throughput is good.

By contrast it is now very rare that Icon runs all trains and I've seen it on one / two despite having fairly sizeable queues (a recurring theme at Blackpool). They turn what should be a throughout machine into something really quite tedious to wait for.

I'm all for having a dig at Merlin but to compare operations unfavourably to Blackpool is ludicrous.

 

[RicketyCricket]

Also Wicker Man was actually advertised. I didn't see a single advertisement for Icon in it's opening year, but Wicker was all over TV and social media.

A huge percentage of the general public probably have no idea Icon even exists.

 

[ScottishChris]

Well that's definitely untrue. Operations on Wicker Man have been consistently excellent (almost invariably a three train service) and the throughput is good.

By contrast it is now very rare that Icon runs two trains and I've seen it on one / two despite having fairly sizeable queues (a recurring theme at Blackpool). They turn what should be a throughout machine into something really quite tedious to wait for.

I'm all for having a dig at Merlin but to compare operations unfavourably to Blackpool is ludicrous.

I disagree completely. Loading times on Wickerman can be painfully slow. Last time I was there trains were hitting the lift every 4 mins or so. And given that it is a short ride - that is poor. Icon is dispatching every 3 mins today on a 2 train service with a crew that know they are out of a job tomorrow.

I have only seen Icon on a 1 train service at a weekend/ holiday once - and it was pelting down. I also go to BPB way too much.

I love towers, but I love BPB just as much. Two unique parks!

 

[ScottishChris]

I also think Wickerman is a general 'wow, look it's a new coaster and different'. Icon is more of an enthusiasts coaster - trying to be good on a technical level... With no real gimicks.

 

[rob666]

At least some of Icons staff have not only been kept on, but have winter work on the park.
Icon opened over an hour late today, but at least it ran on 2 trains.
It only runs on one on very quiet days.
Tales went round before Icon opened that the park owner was expecting park attendance to increase massively with the new ride...it didn't.
When Icon was being built, we had a good, long warm, dry summer...we haven't since.
Blackpool is far more weather dependant than Alton.
Attendance last year was not much, if any, better than the year before.
This year has been no better than last year.
For a very large scale investment, the park has not had a result, at all.
It is difficult to compare to the new Towers coaster, because they came out with the silly priced season pass at the same time, but I would say that Towers have had a massive success with their new ride, but Blackpool haven't with theirs.
Lovely last trip today, even got a sneaky queuejump on the Big One...management took pity on me, crying at the closed gates of Icon.

 

[ScottishChris]

I too had a great visit to PB today. All rides were running well with short-ish queues. I don't know what is happening to me but recently I have been having quite a soft spot for Big One - it's been running pretty well of late, but some of the track is in desperate need of work!

Icon was sweet today too. The second launch seemed to have more punch than normal. And I came of Nash with fewer bruises than normal! There is something special about BPB - it is so different from Towers, but in a positive way. We are lucky to have such a veriety of parks.

 

[Doublethink]

Any idea how this year's attendance compares to last year's?

 

[Mikw]

I disagree completely. Loading times on Wickerman can be painfully slow. Last time I was there trains were hitting the lift every 4 mins or so. And given that it is a short ride - that is poor. Icon is dispatching every 3 mins today on a 2 train service with a crew that know they are out of a job tomorrow.

I have only seen Icon on a 1 train service at a weekend/ holiday once - and it was pelting down. I also go to BPB way too much.

I love towers, but I love BPB just as much. Two unique parks!

I really can't agree with this at all. Wickerman is usually brilliantly operated these days.

I love Icon, made the long trip twice to ride it this year, one train service both times with a 20 minute wait time. That IS poor operations in my book.