Coaster

That sounds much better than last year's parkwide theming already, great to see that they are at least doing something. The easiest way to upload pictures to a forum is to upload them to an image host such as Photobucket, then copy the IMG code and paste it into the forum.

Glad to hear Reserve and Queue isn't returning. Only two days until the preview now!

Wow, what an amazing weekend! Friday evening saw us arrive in Blackpool and take a late night walk around the promenade and on the pier, Blackpool was heaving yet BPB closed at 5pm which was sad to see, especially considering that the pier was doing a huge trade. Saturday was spent in the park and we had a fantastic day - it started off quiet but the crowds picked up and the park was quite busy in the end, but not crammed full. Most rides were on their current-day maximum capacity but rides like the Ghost Train and Grand Prix were still holding ridiculous queues due to the awful way they are operated these days. Sunday was spent in the park again, and it was considerably quieter than the Saturday but did start picking up towards the end of the day. 5pm was too early to close IMO, no-one looked ready to leave and paths were very crowded with people leaving meaning that there were still lots of people on park. Furthermore, the promenade once again showed that demand was there for later opening. I have reviewed the rides enough in my other trip reports so I won't do so again, but there were a few stand-outs which are worth a mention. Big Dipper on the back row was insane, it has been running well all season but this weekend it was throwing me around and out of the seat brilliantly! Wild Mouse was also on top form with fantastic airtime, and the Grand National was running well (although I much preferred it before the recent TLC as it's too smooth in places now!) The Big One was also running very well, offering a great ride and insane first drop in the back row! It was a very pleasant surprise to see Grand National open considering that I was expecting it to still be closed for track replacement, and it was on four trains on Saturday (although dispatch times were terrible!) RIDECOUNTS: Saturday 3rd October: PARK OPEN: 10am - 8pm RIDES CLOSED: Crazy Daisy The Big One x4 Grand National x4 Big Dipper x4 Wild Mouse x2 Nickelodeon Streak x2 Valhalla x1 Avalanche x1 Steeplechase x1 Revolution x1 Infusion x1 Ice Blast x1 Blue Flyer x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 River Caves x1 Pleasure Beach Express x1 TOTAL: 26 Sunday 4th October: PARK OPEN: 10am - 5pm RIDES CLOSED: Crazy Daisy might have been, didn't actually notice. Valhalla x11 The Big One x6 Wild Mouse x3 Grand National x2 Skyforce x2 Big Dipper x1 Nickelodeon Streak x1 Steeplechase x1 Avalanche x1 Revolution x1 Ice Blast x1 Ghost Train x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 Blue Flyer x1 Avatar Airbender x1 Krusty Krab Order Up x1 Alice in Wonderland x1 TOTAL: 36 Highlights: - The wooden coasters were all in top form, as was The Big One. - Valhalla was in amazing form on Sunday, I haven't known it to be as good as that for years! It was great to see the dry ice ceiling misters back on again in the ice room, they haven't been working since long before the 2012 refurbishment (at least not when I've been there). Furthermore, on several rides the ring of fire was actually fully lit up on the track - it's one of the most impressive ride effects in the world when it works like that, shame it's so rare! - Great atmosphere on park both days. - Aside from the odd area, the park looks really clean and tidy. - The staff on the PMBO were once again really good at handling an E-stop and letting guests know what was happening, full credit to them for that. Lowlights: - The opening times were not good at all, 5pm closes when the promenade and pier are packed is just madness! - Lots of lighting broken around the park like the strobe/mini chaser on the top of the PMBO lifthill. - They still like to close some of the queues early, especially Skyforce and The Big One, which closed it's queue at 7:45pm on Saturday due to the time it took to reset an E-stop. This is unfortunate, but I still think it's wrong to close the queue early and there were lots of disappointed people walking up the ramp only to find the door closed. - Valhalla on Saturday was very poor, possibly the worst ride I have ever had on it. Sunday made up for it though! - Dispatch times weren't great, and Speedy Pass was causing havoc on most of the rides - such an awful system, get rid of it ASAP! - The E-stop on PMBO meant that we missed the night ride on Skyforce which we had timed perfectly! - The music loop on Sunday was about half an hour long. Photos! BPB from outside the park at night on Friday evening: (Photos taken at nearly 11pm). Get Funshine back on this sign ASAP! This is hilarious, it was quite clearly supposed to go on the other way round looking at the border! Park entrance; These photos were taken on Saturday 4th, with the night shots being taken after ride close. Big Dipper from the PBE; Blood river! BPB does look stunning at night; "Impo" (Amusingly, the sign was broken on Saturday but was working properly on Sunday when the park wasn't even open in the dark!) Thanks for reading.

That just looks horrible.

I'll be there on the preview evening (8th), Sunday 11th and possibly the Sunday after that.

No that's fair enough, he is entitled to his own opinion, just like I am.The point is that the majority of the GP like the ride, as is proven by its popularity and the fact that it still draws people to the park.

I think the layout was fairly clear as soon as the tents went up, and the fact that it seems so be split up into different sections could mean that it lasts for quite a long time IMO.

Yes but BPB were making a loss and heavily in debt, I'm sure that Alton will still be running at a profit, just less of one. To address the staggered openings, BPB have made huge improvements this year - Nick land, Derby Racer, Flying Machines and Alice open at 10am, everything else open at 10:30am apart from Valhalla and Grand National which now open at 11am. Still not perfect but much better than before. The Monorail would have cost £800,000 in rennovation costs to keep it running, money which they didn't have at the time (and still don't!) Valhalla is a weird one - today it was the best I've known it in years (in terms of effects) with several 'extra' effects I haven't seen working in years on (such as the ceiling ice misters in the ice room and fire actually on the water on the ring of fire) but yesterday I had one of the worst run-throughs ever on it. With that said, I think any UK park would struggle to maintain the effects in there, they aren't exactly small-scale. (But believe me, I did moan yesterday after queueing 40 minutes for a bad run-through, made up for it today with 11 amazing walk-on rides though!) Ice Blast has had a huge overhaul and cable replacement and now runs much better with a much more forceful launch and significant airtime at the top. As for Infusion taking a train off with half an hour left, that's a poor show and I haven't seen it happen before, are you definitely sure there wasn't a problem with it? All I saw whilst in the station of The Big One today and yesterday was happy smiling faces and great reactions from the GP, I think it's just some theme park enthusiasts who have an issue with the ride to be honest. The same applies for the older rides, the queues (and don't say they're because of throughput - Big Dipper was on two trains on Saturday and was still holding a lengthy queue, but it moved quickly) and happy reactions suggest that they are still very popular. I'm not going to defend throughputs and operations as they have gone downhill hugely, however I would still place them above the likes of Thorpe and Chessie. You clearly don't understand the issue with wind so let me explain it. The Big One runs one train in high winds (exceeding 30/40mph depending on direction) because it has one fast train and two slower trains, this is due to the wheel compounds. On windy days, the slower trains would not make it around the course, simple as that. However on days with no wind at all, the fast train (and slower trains if it's running really fast) E-stop on the final brake run because they are running too fast, which causes delays as they have to wait for the system to reset. The only way they could run two on windy days is to change the entire train's wheels overnight to have two fast ones, which I think they used to do back when it ran three trains, but that was when the park had a turnover of £500,000 per day on an illuminations Saturday so they could afford to! I do know from speaking to the staff that they quite often have to be in for 5/6am on very windy days in order to prepare the ride and train so that it can open even on one train operation, it's not as easy as you would think. On an unrelated note, there seemed to be lots of people wearing Alton Towers ponchos and clothing at BPB this weekend (and in the summer now I think of it), it's probably always been that way and I've just not noticed though!

It's more down to Blackpool's awful weather to be honest rather than the coaster, there are very few places which have winds that consistently high.With that said I still enjoy the ride on windy days, but it's much better on days like today with very low winds.

I was considering the possibility of visiting on Scarefest to be honest, but not planning as such. However I can't justify the travel with a bad ride offering so won't visit, as I think may be the case with a significant percentage of the public this year.

You would on Grand Prix, one person would add another half an hour with that throughput!

This is exactly my point, I'm not prepared to spend the money and time travelling with a poor ride availability.

Haha good, free up the queues for us!

Just to be clear, I wasn't actually planning on attending Scarefest but I don't see any reason to travel three hours for a park with three rides that I enjoy closed. As for the comments about Blackpool, all rides are open here!

I'm on park today, PMBO is flying round and offering a great ride (due to no wind). Also everything is open! Well, apart from the teacups...

I have just been informed that The Flume will be closed for the rest of the season. That completely rules out Scarefest for me this year, I am not prepared to make the effort to travel to a park with three rides closed. It's just poor, plenty of people go on The Flume at this time of year (I have queued ages for it at Scarefest before), they should be trying to get guests back not closing even more rides! Rubbish!

As I say, opinions.I really enjoy PMBO and Infusion is alright on a good day (from my point of view), and the five wooden coasters and Valhalla are some of my favourites. Also Avalanche is unique to the UK, Skyforce is good, I think Steeplechase is the last of its kind and I like all the quirky dark rides.

Sounds very good so far, and I'm liking the sound of a themed queueline!

I wasn't saying that as a statement, it was supposed to read as my opinion.Personally I rate the lineup at BPB much, much higher than any other park in the UK but I can understand the reasons behind others preferring different park's offerings.

There are lots of water effects on Rumba that have been removed fairly recently or that just don't work. There was the waterfall and leaking pipes just before you go into the tunnel, the waterfall on the side of the trough on the straight section heading towards the tunnel, water sprayers in the tunnel (not the waterfall, there used to be small sprayers which got you as you went through), three water jets just before the lifthill and I'm sure the shower actually used to work! Rumba is so dull these days, literally nothing happens.

Yeah, but number 1 and personal preference are two completely different things. I think that BPB holds a superior ride lineup, but there is no denying that Alton are leading the UK industry at the moment.

I really hope things pick up for Alton next year, but sadly one accident can be all it takes to start a downward spiral - look at Oakwood. With that said, a midweek Tuesday is likely to be quiet, but not that quiet.

Well that's just pants. I'm a Celebrity being closed highlights how successful it has been to be honest, I've said from the moment they announced it that it was a bad idea but to have the new attraction closed on this event is just rubbish. As for rides closing early, it just should not happen.

I misinterpreted it then, apologies. Still seemed a bit odd though.

Yeah I worked that out before it was even replied to, that's not what's annoyed me.