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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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davewazere said:
DiogoJ42 said:
I didn't think any BP rides were listed? The casino building might be though.
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I know the wild mouse and Big Dipper are, not sure about the others
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This is incorrect. The Casino Building is listed. Nothing else at the Pleasure Beach is. You can check on English Heritage's database, as I just did.
 
I had a really good day at the pleasure beach yesterday. Ok must of the rides are crap and badly run, but I do love the uniqueness of most of the rides you have there that you simply dont get elsewhere in the UK.

In terms of Wallace and Gromit, I really liked the ride and thought it was a lot better than some people had said on here. The station looks really nice, as does the ride cars and shop. Each scene was also much more impressive than I thought it was, there was so much to see and so many moving bits and pieces, compared to the likes of Charlie or even Duel at Alton Towers. Everything was 3D and there was certainly no 2D objects or blank sections in each scene. However the only thing that let it down was the black corridors in between in scene. Even just playing the Wallace and Gromit theme music would improve it. What did these used to have when it was the goldmine?

The other negative was the ride photo, it is right at the very start of the ride and on a very boring section, why not add it in a scene somewhere or when the ride cars are moving a bit? Also we were sat on the back row so it did feel like we missed out on some of the things on the ride, quite often something would happen or pop out but by the time we passed the object, it was going back away, or the light had turned off.

But overall I thought it was a great ride.
 
Gold Mine was by far the better ride. Once again, a classic dark ride has been trashed by a "retheme" just because the park wanted a quick buck. I'd say that W&G is up down there with Charlie, Tomb Blaster, or Bubbleworks. A once great ride utterly ruined.
 
My one problem with Wallace & Gromit is the complete lack of narrative context. As good as the models are, they should have stuck with one of the films or made an original story. The ride would have worked better that way.
 
That's one of my 2 main issues with the ride, the other being all the long black corridors.

When it was the Gold Mine it made sense to have a load of long tunnels, and they were fairly well themed even though there wasn't really much going on. In retrospect, I think I'd rather they'd rethemed the Ghost Train and left Gold Mine untouched.
 
John said:
In retrospect, I think I'd rather they'd rethemed the Ghost Train and left Gold Mine untouched.
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The thing is, the ridership of Gold Mine had reduced enormously in its last few years - to the point of the ride not paying for itself on the wristband/ridership equation the park use. Until this became apparent, other sites were indeed being looked at for W&G.
 
I've noticed that BPB aren't doing the 12 Days of Christmas event this year despite initially advertising it to include 7pm closings (a big change from the 4pm closings of previous events), I really hope this is not a sign of further cutbacks at the park next season but am concerned that it could be :/
 
So this will be why BPB are opening on weekdays then. This may also mean that off peak days aren't as bad, I went on some seriously quiet days this season where there were more staff than guests. As long as this isn't ann excuse to close rides on off peak days (which they did on quite a few quiet days thiss year already), then I'm all for it :)
 
The £1.5m is less worrying than what it represents, the continuing and accelerating erosion of the business's value. They do need to try something new and a return to free entry, accompanied by more reasonable pay as you ride, whilst retaining unlimited wristbands may be the way to go. Fantasy and Adventure Island operate well with this approach.

Yes come and go as you please entry does bring problems with security, but the potential increase in revenue may more than offset that. I think it's something that needs at least considering, studying and possibly trialling.
 
Dan_PMBO said:
Blackpool Pleasure Beach record 1.5 million loss

http://riderater.co.uk/2014/blackpool-pleasure-beach-records-1-5m-loss/#more-3839
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Unfortunately it's a difficult one, if they put all their money into big investments which don't work out then i could be the end of the prk. I'd hate to see it go as it's actually my favourite park in the UK.

Capacity of coasters is something which URGENTLY needs improvement. It's now far more common to see coasters running one train than two (or three in the case of PMBO and Avalanche) even at the weekends. On days when it is busy enough for them to finally add the extra trains, the loading/ unloading processes are so slow thanks to the diabolical Speedy Pass system. I've always said that fastrack up ride exits doesn't work and BPB is proof that it really, really doesn't.

No matter what BBP fans say about the park in comparisson to Towers, I have seen queues of over an hour for PMBO and Infusion on a one train service and Nickelodeon Streak, despite now being more popular than even, can onlyrun on one train. This is unacceptable and, much as I hate to say it, this wouldn't ever happen at Towers.
 
They could always trial something so that on quiet days/off peak it is free entry to the theme park, hopefully to encourage people who might not visit, to visit and spend money, even if it is just on hotdog or drink. Then on busy days and weekends keep it as paid to get in.
 
The bigger issue is that's a big loss when a lot of their new development budget the last few years has been significantly funded by the local council.

There is nothing to drive people down to the south shore unless they want to ride rides anymore and that's because Pleasure Beach is closed to those who don't want to pay to get in and not ride. They have nearly 2 million fewer people entering the site since they restricted entry. If every non paying guest bought £1 worth of goods their loss would become a £500,000 profit.
 
I think that is the reason they gave, I also imagine it was to make more money, but might have backfired as less people visit and those that do spend less as they have already paid to get in.

It's a bit different to a theme park, as most theme parks you have to buy what is there (unless you take your own lunch), but pleasure beach is so near to so many cafes and takeaways, its easier to leave, get some dinner, then return later.
 
Dave said:
If every non paying guest bought £1 worth of goods their loss would become a £500,000 profit.
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Bit incorrect there, it'd have to be £1 spent on a ride for it to become a profit - if they all bought a quid of rock or something, they'd still have made a loss that year.
 
True but I doubt there is much sold at PB that makes less that a £1 profit. If everyone bought one thing the profit returns.
 
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