Yes, I'm another in the Pro PBB camp. I do have a real soft-spot for the place and I think it deserves so much more than it gets (Both in terms of assets and reputation).
As I've said before there's no denying that the re-imagining of the brand with the new website and advertising style is a very welcome improvement, along with the general improvement of the park environment. As much as some of us do take the mick a bit things like the water features do go a long way to giving the park a fresher feel. I consider the park a generally nice place to be in now, compared to the state it was in a few years back. There are still the niggles here and there, such as the odd ride staff members and the dire operations they sometimes display, but on the whole the place has come along in leaps and bounds over the past years.
Unfortunately, whilst the new look does help the place create a better image it doesn't pull in the punters. I'm sure those who have visited the park would be more likely to return than they would have been in the early 2000s, but the fact is that all this investment is only really being enjoyed by a small percentage of the market who have actually visited the park recently. Those who visited in the darker days of Pleasure Beach will take some serious pull to get them back. Once they're actually in the park no doubt many of these people would be able to see first hand that the park really is trying its best to change for the better. However, they need a reason to get back there, and lets not beat about the bush in saying that a few new water features and some jet-washing isn't going to offer this.
In my eyes all the park really needs is one big thrill attraction. Something new and totally unique to the UK. By offering an experience visitors have a reason to come back. Then once inside the park not only do they have the new attraction, but a first-hand look at everything that's changed.
However, we then come back to square one; where is the funding going to come from? The park's financial situation, though steadily improving, is still far from ideal. In a dream world it'd be lovely to see some private independent group or person invest some money in the park, just enough to fund a new ride or two and get the park back on its feet. Then over time they would hopefully learn to stand on their own two feet once more.
So lets imagine the park has fallen on some money, what could we have? Well for me, like I say, I think it needs to be something new and unique to the UK. There seems two decent choices to me. Either a launched MACK Mega in the same vein as Helix at Liseberg (this is the ride who's POV managed to make it to page two of Reddit before it was even open. Some serious global exposure there!), or an Intamin Pre-Fab Woodie.
Obviously a steel coaster would be far easier to integrate into the park, given they can easily straddle other rides. I can see something starting near the Monorail station, and being set over and around the Avalanche, Learning Garden, and Swamp Buggy areas. Imagine the bridge over the water being entwined by a pair of corkscrew, with the path through the middle. Ooft!
A woodie could also have serious potential at PBB. Not only would it be the first in the new generation of wooden coasters for the UK (personally I'd say Megafobia just falls out, and is a ride built in the transitional period) but I feel it would suit Pleasure Beach perfectly. It would be a nice little example of the evolution of the woodie, with Nash and The Dipper sitting aside the advanced Intamin system capable of steep drops and tight turns. Now you could either go for something compact which packs a punch ala Balder, or if they were really ambitious they could go up like Colossos and El Toro. I'm not saying go to those heights, but certainly if they could break say 125-150ft (a woodie would probably be harder to get the sort of permission The Big One did thanks to the more imposing structure) it would be an achievement with the UKs tallest wooden rollercoaster. The Big One and The Wood One?
So yeah, all in all I really do want to see the park catapulted into a new, brighter era, but there are certainly some big hurdles to overcome. One thing which I do
not want to see happen is the park pass on to someone like Merlin. Family business is the way to go, and with the right money I'd say Pleasure Beach along with Drayton could put up a good fight together for independence against the corporate monster.
