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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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Enter Valhalla said:
I agree. You would think that old habits would die hard. Clearly not at Pleasure Beach though. Grand National is now in its tenth season running the new braking system, just think how much money they'd be losing at busy periods if that was still pay per ride. Also when you look at how little queue space there is for each ride (PMBO being the exception) and think about how high capacities used to be, it's clear that in the 90s BPB never got queues of anything more than about 15 mins cause the rides swallowed the crowds. This is literally the stark opposite of what we see at the park now. I really do t see why when capacities are so low anyway that they feel the need to reduce them further by only adding second trains when they absolutely have to. I know that Thorpe park get criticism for this but if say that Pleasure Beach are actually a lot worse.
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I disagree with that, in terms of running rides at the maximum throughputs they can achieve, BPB are generally much better than Thorpe, it's just a shame that the maximum throughput of BPB's coasters is much lower than it used to be.
 
I'd argue they can both be as bad as each other. I've had days at each park where they can easily outdo each other in terms of operations, but Thorpe have less excuses and that's where Thorpe are in the wrong. Considering they class themselves as a 'resort' and a premium day out, operations should strive to be top notch all year round, not just the £60 peak days.
 
Jamie said:
I disagree with that, in terms of running rides at the maximum throughputs they can achieve, BPB are generally much better than Thorpe, it's just a shame that the maximum throughput of BPB's coasters is much lower than it used to be.
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I'm sorry but I really don't think that's the case. During weekends and school holidays Thorpe park always seem to have two trains running. I've been to BPB on very few days where I've seen everything running at capacity, even modern day capacity which is considerably less than it used to be. Although there are exceptions pretty much every peak day when I have visited Thorpe two trains have been on everything. Blackpool have low capacity even with all trains on the track yet they still frequently reduce capacity in school holidays, weekends and special events such as the midnight close when most coasters were on one train.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I'm sorry but I really don't think that's the case. During weekends and school holidays Thorpe park always seem to have two trains running. I've been to BPB on very few days where I've seen everything running at capacity, even modern day capacity which is considerably less than it used to be. Although there are exceptions pretty much every peak day when I have visited Thorpe two trains have been on everything. Blackpool have low capacity even with all trains on the track yet they still frequently reduce capacity in school holidays, weekends and special events such as the midnight close when most coasters were on one train.
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You must have been lucky with Thorpe then, I have been there on countless busy days when lots of coasters have been on one train, sometimes they go up to two later but not always. An example is October 2014 at Fright Nights, where I queued for an hour and a bit on Inferno to find that it was running one train, bear in mind this was on a Friday at about 7pm and the park was packed!
Whereas I was at BPB every day in October half term 2014 and capacity was pretty much spot on (by modern day standards) every day, whilst I was reading reports of Thorpe having five rides closed and some of the others on one train - and the same applies for the first week of the Easter holidays in the same year, when BPB was busy capacity was good.
 
But capacity is low at BPB anyway so they really should be making more effort to use two trains or more when they can. I'm sure you have been there on the last two midnight closes and seen the fiasco at PMBO and Infusion. It's for that reason that I've vowed to never visit on a midnight close again which is a shame really.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
But capacity is low at BPB anyway so they really should be making more effort to use two trains or more when they can. I'm sure you have been there on the last two midnight closes and seen the fiasco at PMBO and Infusion. It's for that reason that I've vowed to never visit on a midnight close again which is a shame really.
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I've heard that both midnight closes saw PMBO on one train due to wind, and I believe that they were already stripping down one of Infusions trains given that they don't have very long to complete their annual maintenance. Not that it makes it excusable, as they should expect it to be busy and therefore delay the work until after the park has closed for the winter. As for PMBO, it's a bad situation but they can't really do anything about it sadly.
 
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I get the arguments about wind but BPB just don't help themselves. Like you've said the throughputs for the major coasters are low even when at full (modern day) capacity so why do they frequently run coasters on one train during weekends? And Nickelodeon Streak. What on earth is going on there? Add that to the debacle of Speedy Pass and this results in a very inefficient service. I'm sad to say it but the only reason I visit the park at weekends is because I know it'll be so quiet that the slow moving queues still won't be too long. In other words I rely on the park's poor attendance for me to still have a good time when I visit despite operations being much worse than in the past. I really don't like the fact that this is the case.
 
BPB just need to get someone to sit and think about things, and sort this op mess out, most things aren't rocket science.
 
Poisson said:
BPB just need to get someone to sit and think about things, and sort this op mess out, most things aren't rocket science.
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It's not a case of having a "sit and think about things", most of their poor operations are linked to hardware problems, and that takes money that the park doesn't have to fix. :)

Incredibly, according to PBE, a new train has appeared in the Nash station - same model as the other ones. Not really sure why they'd buy another, but it is a good omen for them trying to get the ride on four train operations more often.
 
Maroon. A strange choice, I thought they would have got yellow but any extra train (as long as it is the same as the old ones) is a good thing
 
Update on the opening of Sky Force from Screamscape:
Screamscape said:
(3/19/15) I'm told that the new Sky Force ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is expected to open on May 25th, as the RAF Red Arrows are also scheduled to perform a fly over the park on that same day.
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:)
 
You missed the second bit Rob!

Screamscape said:
2016 - New Attraction - Rumor - (3/19/15) Screamscape sources tell us that BPB may be looking into adding some kind of 4D cinema or new simulator style ride into a couple of sites in the park... either possibly on the upper level of the old Space Invader building, or inside the old Black Hole dome.
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Nothing mind-blowing but good to see them adding new rides every year, and using space in the park that's currently redundant. Didn't know this but apparently the Black Hole was a waltzer in the dark near the Dipper. :)
 
It's actually amazing when you think how many rides at BPB have been closed down and replaced with NOTHING. Things now are better than they were 5 years ago but it's still a real kick in the teeth for guests to walk past so many empty areas once occupied by rides.
 
Rob said:
Update on the opening of Sky Force from Screamscape:


:)
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I would expect a 'soft' opening before that. I would guess that this will be an 'official' opening which BPB like to do some time after things enter operation.
 
Years ago I'm sure the Black Hole tent was turned into a 4D Cinema...

I remember riding it as well... Waltzers in the dark <3
 
Yeah it was a Waltzer in the dark, then a 4D cinema which only lasted for one or two seasons, then a magic/puppet show, and now nothing apart from occasionally.
 
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