Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[Martin]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I tend to do Valhalla first, get the wet out of the way early on, then go back for re-rides later on.

Everything's so close it's easy to just go across the park going on whatever ride happens to be next to the one you've just got off.

 

[Alastair]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I tend to do Valhalla first, get the wet out of the way early on, then go back for re-rides later on.

Everything's so close it's easy to just go across the park going on whatever ride happens to be next to the one you've just got off.

No, never do that! Why would you want to walk around soaking all day? I always start with Infusion, seeing as the queues can get quite bad and you always want several rides. I generally end up leaving the Nash because of the horrendously slow throughput so you might want to make that an early stop as well. As for the rest,; definitely leave Valhalla till the end, Ice Blast is take it or leave it because it's basically an observation tower these days, the PMBO queue is always steady and fast moving so you can go on that whenever in the day and make sure you go on the Nick Streak as that is an underrated woodie and probably the current best on park IMO.

 

[BigAl]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

So you go on the abomination that is Infusion. Seven. Whole. Times?! But ignore the Grand National?

Shame on you, sir!

 

[Sam]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Ignore the Psychoaster, I don't know a single person who wants to ride Infusion more than once per day, if that. It's dire. But definitely don't miss the Nash, it's bloody marvellous, even with a low throughput.

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[Fredward]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

PMBO? Queue? Fast moving... What is this black magic...

It's a 20 minute queue half way into the station if the half wit operators decide to put it on one train operation with only the front 3 cars open...

That's roughly 144 pph....

Obviously that's not usual, but unimpressed... Especially when the ride is just bland with just a good first drop...

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[Alastair]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Ignore the Psychoaster, I don't know a single person who wants to ride Infusion more than once per day, if that. It's dire. But definitely don't miss the Nash, it's bloody marvellous, even with a low throughput.

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I didn't say ignore it, it's just painful waiting in its queue because it barely seems to move at all. The dispatch and loading procedures are probably the slowest on any rollercoaster I've ever seen, especially the manual braking and control of the car into the station. I would go on it every single time if you didn't have to wait in what looks like a relatively small queue for sometimes longer than 45 minutes.

PMBO? Queue? Fast moving... What is this black magic...

It's a 20 minute queue half way into the station if the half wit operators decide to put it on one train operation with only the front 3 cars open...

That's roughly 144 pph....

Obviously that's not usual, but unimpressed... Especially when the ride is just bland with just a good first drop...

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

It's usually on two full trains though by lunchtime - which provides a very good throughput and the queue is almost always moving because of the constant loading. The queue is generally always up to around the door to the station, and from there it is usually about 20-25 minutes on two trains. That is very good for such a popular coaster in my opinion.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Still not great throughput, should be running on 3 trains, one on lift, one boarding, one second half of ride.

Still 2 trains, must be worse then collossus as its longer... And collossus is dire...

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[John]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

PMBO on 2 full trains gets around 900/hour, which by my reckoning makes it the highest capacity coaster in the park. RCDB claims PMBO is capable of 1700, but that would be a train every 60-65 seconds which doesn't seem possible even with 3 train op - Silver Star 'only' manages one every 75s.

That said, I'd rather have it on low throughput and know it's safe than high throughput and risk another crash. Of course, it would be even better if they could make the computer and brakes reliable enough to run 3 trains safely.

Throughput at PBB is one of my main criticisms of the park. PMBO, Dipper, Avalanche, Nash, Nick Streak and Mouse all operate at lower capacity than they did 15 years ago due to either fewer trains (PMBO, Avalanche, Mouse, Streak), shorter trains (Dipper, Streak, Nash) or poor operations (Nash, Dipper, Streak). Rev and Infusion have smaller trains than their clones at other parks (not PBBs fault but it doesn't help the queues). Valhalla is incapable of running anywhere near design capacity - they have twice as many boats as can be used. Combine all that with the loss of a significant number of support attractions and you've got a park far less able to cope with large crowds than it once was.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Still not great throughput, should be running on 3 trains, one on lift, one boarding, one second half of ride.

Still 2 trains, must be worse then collossus as its longer... And collossus is dire...

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PMBO doesn't run three trains anymore for a number of reasons, I won't get locked into a debate about it but it isn't going to happen ever again and to be honest, it would be more trouble than it is worth.

The difference between PMBO and Colossus is that PMBO's trains can be dispatched as soon as train #1 has left the lift hill, where as I don't think Colossus can ever be dispatched before the other train is back. The reason the trains aren't dispatched like that anymore on PMBO is simply because people do not board the trains quick enough for that to happen anymore, a more realistic point for the trains to be sent is as they are going over ''starhill'' or coming into the MCBR.

Changing the subject, PB has a new official club, that's us over at Pleasure Beach Experience. We're in the process of rebranding to CLUB Pleasure Beach Experience, we'll be the only official site to support the park and will be running events every few months, which may be ERT sessions, behind the scenes or Q&A sessions with park management.

 

[Rupert]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I would argue the only reason to do PMBO more than once is for the view, and that Infusion is a million times better choice to reride despite seemingly being everyone's least favourite ride type. At least it does something after the first drop.

I certainly have never PMBO being operated in a way near efficient enough to reach 900pph. Big Dipper seems to have a maximum of 0.6pph, on 2 trains. It doesn't help that when the Dipper has a bit of a queue (all of the time unless its broken again), when the queue gets to the fountain area there isn't really a defined queue path (or wasn't last time I was there) so it just becomes a mess.

I had no idea about a PMBO crash - does the MCBR not work anymore?

Also, what changed so much with Valhalla that only half of its designed throughput can be achieved?

 

[John]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

PMBO has crashed on 2 occasions that I know of, I think it was running 3 trains both times. One of those crashes was due to the MCBR failing to bring the train to a complete stop. I've heard a rumour it's since been 'condemned' and is now only considered a trim brake, but I can't verify that. It still partially works at least, as it significantly slows the train down, though I've never seen it come to a complete stop there.

As far as I know, Valhalla has never operated more than 12 boats. I think they have around 25, but am unsure of the exact number or how many are serviceable. I think the turntables were an issue, but again, I don't know full details.

As for Infusion, I don't rate it at all. I rank it 6th out of all the coasters on park, behind Mouse, Nash, Rev, PMBO and Avalanche (in that order). I'll usually go on it once per trip, but only if the queue isn't more than about 15-20 minutes.

 

[Sam]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Changing the subject, PB has a new official club, that's us over at Pleasure Beach Experience. We're in the process of rebranding to CLUB Pleasure Beach Experience, we'll be the only official site to support the park and will be running events every few months, which may be ERT sessions, behind the scenes or Q&A sessions with park management.

This was already mentioned on page 8. How do you respond to the criticisms made from page 8 onwards, particularly regarding the nudity and poor spelling and grammar on the PBE Facebook page?

 

[Tom]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Changing the subject, PB has a new official club, that's us over at Pleasure Beach Experience. We're in the process of rebranding to CLUB Pleasure Beach Experience, we'll be the only official site to support the park and will be running events every few months, which may be ERT sessions, behind the scenes or Q&A sessions with park management.

This was already mentioned on page 8. How do you respond to the criticisms made from page 8 onwards, particularly regarding the nudity and poor spelling and grammar on the PBE Facebook page?

It'll be interesting to see how much the park charge for these events. It is operated by conservatives after all, so don't be surprised if this is a smokescreen for a business venture.

I'd like for Valley Mania-style engagement, but I cannot see it.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

Still not great throughput, should be running on 3 trains, one on lift, one boarding, one second half of ride.

Still 2 trains, must be worse then collossus as its longer... And collossus is dire...

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Do you always talk rubbish or is it only where PB is concerned?

PMBO doesn't run three trains anymore for a number of reasons, I won't get locked into a debate about it but it isn't going to happen ever again and to be honest, it would be more trouble than it is worth.

The difference between PMBO and Colossus is that PMBO's trains can be dispatched as soon as train #1 has left the lift hill, where as I don't think Colossus can ever be dispatched before the other train is back. The reason the trains aren't dispatched like that anymore on PMBO is simply because people do not board the trains quick enough for that to happen anymore, a more realistic point for the trains to be sent is as they are going over ''starhill'' or coming into the MCBR.

Changing the subject, PB has a new official club, that's us over at Pleasure Beach Experience. We're in the process of rebranding to CLUB Pleasure Beach Experience, we'll be the only official site to support the park and will be running events every few months, which may be ERT sessions, behind the scenes or Q&A sessions with park management.

Hi there, the names matt. Pleasent to meet you, great introduction.

There's no need to take it personally, and include personal insults in your post just because I don't like PB.

It should be on on 3 trains... That's the way its designed, hence why it used to have 3 trains... The reason why it doesn't know is irrelevant, the key word in my reply is should.

Another thing, your last paragraph has already been discussed, and can easilly be interpretted as advertising your site.. obviously its not my place to decide and apologies for back seat moderating but my interpretation of the purpose of your post was to just promote your site.



Everything said by me, is my own opinion, not that of TST.

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[John]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

It'll be interesting to see how much the park charge for these events. It is operated by conservatives after all, so don't be surprised if this is a smokescreen for a business venture.

The recent 1 hour PMBO ERT (which also included a meal at Big Pizza Kitchen and entry to Hot Ice) was £40.

 

[Tom]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

It'll be interesting to see how much the park charge for these events. It is operated by conservatives after all, so don't be surprised if this is a smokescreen for a business venture.

The recent 1 hour PMBO ERT (which also included a meal at Big Pizza Kitchen and entry to Hot Ice) was £40.

A price I suspect they would have charged for anyone requesting such an event. If you want to make an enthusiast group your official community, I think things should be offered at heavily discounted prices or even free.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I wouldn't say free as they would lose out overall... But discount would be nice..

£40 seems a little steep in my honest opinion considering TT10 was the same price.



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[Adam James]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I wouldn't say free as they would lose out overall... But discount would be nice..

£40 seems a little steep in my honest opinion considering TT10 was the same price

You have to bear in mind TT@10 didn't include any ERT. Besides, the package isn't all that different when you bear in mind it had a buffet at the Big Pizza Kitchen and a performance at the Hot Ice Show that would've cost £20 otherwise (£15 with a wristband).

 

[mark9]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

The recent 1 hour PMBO ERT (which also included a meal at Big Pizza Kitchen and entry to Hot Ice) was £40.

What a rip

 

[Tom]

Re: Pleasure Beach, Blackpool: General Discussion

I'm sure the Thompsons were laughing, it's an easy grand or two.