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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

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So Pleasure Beach have updated their website to the general modern theme of the present, no longer resembling the brand they've established on the park. I do however think that it's a much better attempt than Thorpe's and vastly prefer it.

Alongside the redevelopment of the website, they appear to have accelerated The Big One to 87mph, reclaiming the UK's fastest coaster title! Astonishing!
 
Danny said:
So Pleasure Beach have updated their website to the general modern theme of the present, no longer resembling the brand they've established on the park. I do however think that it's a much better attempt than Thorpe's and vastly prefer it.

Alongside the redevelopment of the website, they appear to have accelerated The Big One to 87mph, reclaiming the UK's fastest coaster title! Astonishing!
Click to expand...

The old 235ft lie as well. I don't know why Towers don't start advertising Oblivion as 600ft tall as that's how far above sea level it is!
 
MMMM that looks pleasant on the Big One video

y2ofS8G.jpg
 
Danny said:
So Pleasure Beach have updated their website to the general modern theme of the present, no longer resembling the brand they've established on the park. I do however think that it's a much better attempt than Thorpe's and vastly prefer it.

Alongside the redevelopment of the website, they appear to have accelerated The Big One to 87mph, reclaiming the UK's fastest coaster title! Astonishing!
Click to expand...
I think it does resemble the brand in the park - clean, modern and fresh but retaining it's charm. Actually, the website lacks charm but I still think it's an improvement on the one they had before.
Alastair said:
The old 235ft lie as well. I don't know why Towers don't start advertising Oblivion as 600ft tall as that's how far above sea level it is!
Click to expand...
To be fair, Alton Towers have their fair share of lies as well. Oblivion the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster, that isn't vertical. Air the world's first flying coaster - it wasn't. Th13teen every coaster you have ever dreamed of into one/the world's scariest coaster ever! It's a good family coaster, but that's all it is.
I also believe that The Big One can reach 87 mph on a day with no wind whatsoever running the fast train, so it's not a complete lie.
 
If the train were to fall from 235ft it wouldn't be doing 87mph when it hit the ground. With an actual drop closer to 205ft and factoring in wind resistance/friction it's unlikely to be doing much over 75mph.
 
Jamie said:
Alastair said:
The old 235ft lie as well. I don't know why Towers don't start advertising Oblivion as 600ft tall as that's how far above sea level it is!
Click to expand...
To be fair, Alton Towers have their fair share of lies as well. Oblivion the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster, that isn't vertical. Air the world's first flying coaster - it wasn't. Th13teen every coaster you have ever dreamed of into one/the world's scariest coaster ever! It's a good family coaster, but that's all it is.
I also believe that The Big One can reach 87 mph on a day with no wind whatsoever running the fast train, so it's not a complete lie.
Click to expand...

Oblivion is as good as vertical, looking at it you really can't tell so that is a fair claim. Air wasn't the world's first flying coaster no. And that stuff about Thirteen is what we call marketing speak.

RCDB says that the Big Ones top speed is 74mph, assuming this is true then I would be surprised if it could ever gain 13mph; that would be a significant increase. EDIT: Thank you John for that previous post!

:)
 
As far as I I know,There is a Fast Medium and slow train and the Fast one is heavier which means sometimes it can hit 80+. One of the trains does seem slightly faster to me and I think the slow train has sand bags at the back because I have been to the park three times and each time there was some sand bags in the back half of the train.
 
nemesis1994 said:
As far as I I know,There is a Fast Medium and slow train and the Fast one is heavier which means sometimes it can hit 80+. One of the trains does seem slightly faster to me and I think the slow train has sand bags at the back because I have been to the park three times and each time there was some sand bags in the back half of the train.
Click to expand...

The train speeds are due to the wheel composites. Weight does affect the speed but it's an equal effect on all trains (hope that's the correct usage of the affect/effects there) ;)
 
There is a fast medium and slow train, but you can't defy the laws of physics! :p

As far as I know, they sand bag the back of the train if it's not busy enough to fill the train every dispatch, otherwise it'll stall because, you know, Arrow and Geoffrey Thompson.
 
John said:
If the train were to fall from 235ft it wouldn't be doing 87mph when it hit the ground. With an actual drop closer to 205ft and factoring in wind resistance/friction it's unlikely to be doing much over 75mph.
Click to expand...

Pure, hardcore geekery of the highest order.

Duckman, I think I love you.
 
Even with no wind, no friction and a vertical freefall drop the maximum possible speed is 84mph.

That is unless gravity is different in Blackpool. Perhaps thats why you so many people falling over on Friday and Saturday nights.
 
In the words of the great Morwenna Angove..... It's marketing BS.

And I'm fine with that, Blackpool is the only park taking on the Merlin Behemoth and I hope they turn their fortunes and make a success of it. Regardless of stupid facts (I still think The Big one is a terrible ride) I love BPPB and want to see it flourish.
 
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I agree with Dave about wanting Pleasure Beach to flourish, but they really don't seem to be in a position to do so. Their financial runnings aren't as desirable as we could hope for, their last investment was terribly below the standards it should have been at, and there doesn't appear a fixed future plan like there is for Towers, or Europa, or Universal [etc].

They really need to address the lack of thrill rides on the park now. Ice Blast itself won't keep the thrill seekers coming back for more, but we'd need at least ten hands to count the number of potential thrill rides that would suit Pleasure Beach both in location, cost and guest numbers. Nickelodeon Land, the general tidy up of the park thus far and the out of the blue website redevelopment [I wouldn't have minded if the previous incarnation was still being used] have been positive steps, but they need to remain consistent with them.
 
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? :p

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.
 
It deserves better, it's a fantastic park despite having some diabolically crap rides (looks at The Big One). It's main problem is it's location now Blackpool is no longer pulling in families, very few population hubs actually come within one hour of the north west unfortunately.

But I really really want it to succeed.
 
I love the place, always have, and I love The Big One too and have never been ashamed to say so!

It's my coaster geek guilty pleasure!

All the things people hate, the fact it doesn't loop, the triangle hills, they're all things to me that give in an indomitable charm. That view going over the drop at night during illuminations is by far the most spectacular sight of any coaster I've been on - though Oblivion with the Towers lit up during scarefest is definitely pretty fantastic.

I guess I remember it when it was quite new, the lazers up the side, the strobed cans, (they looked cool back that really) the moving spotlights at the bottom highlighting the track. It was pretty spectacular. I wasn't an enthusiast then, I just enjoyed what it was. And when I get the chance to get up there, I still do now.

A very special place to me for many different reasons.

The only thing that bugs the crap out of me is their no taking food on park rule. I find that a bit OTT
 
TheMan said:
That view going over the drop at night during illuminations is by far the most spectacular sight of any coaster I've been on -
Click to expand...

Now this I'll agree with. I don't hate nor loathe The Big One, but it's nothing special. However if the ride were to break down right at the peak of the lift hill during the illuminations at night and I were to be sat on the front row, I'd be in a very happy place.
 
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