Coaster

What more did you expect from a merlin owned park? Seriously though, the prices are similar to that across the park already, it's not like it's a new thing.

A few plastic figurines don't cut it for me, but I will reserve judgement until the area is open.

It looks okay, but I wouldn't say it fits in with the rest of the area. At Stealth you have a proper shaped green sign (the baggage hold one etc...), here it's just stuck on a grey shed.

It's appalling that Thorpe don't have anywhere on the website saying that it's closed. Thanks for the update

I see what you mean now - yes extending an extra hour due to crowds is good but not at the expense of park operations. Blackpool seem to manage both and they are a family owned park, come on Merlin!

Nope, as I know of other UK parks that have extended these holidays despite having good operations.

Yeah they aren't very good. They riled me up a few weeks ago by removing the second train about an hour before park close. What's the point?

Not really sure, it does strike me as odd to be honest.

That's good as long as they are prepared to move queues. If they aren't then they don't deserve the custom.

Good for Legoland and Chessie - what the hell is wrong with Towers?!

I'd imagine that Alton Towers paid them to have Smiler prizes up there. Out of interest, was Shockwave operating two trains with a queue like that?

How come? There are tons of mirror mazes in parks without any form of line on the floor.

This is surprising (but good) to hear!

The only time it would need a good throughput is at Halloween as it rarely had a queue otherwise.

The world has gone mad! Is it really worth ruining the attraction just in case there's a fire? Personally I'd hope there were procedures in place to stop such an event happening! On the subject of a powercut - send some staff in with torches!

That airgate rule is ridiculous. You only have to visit any UK park outside of Merlin entertainments to see how health and safety conscious they are.

I'd like to see other parks introduce a policy like this to be honest.

I disagree, I thought it fitted in with Inferno well. It most certainly doesn't fit into a kids area based on the fact that it's an extreme thrill ride!

Stealth seems to have been cut off from Amity Cove now, which is stupid. It was the area of the park that worked best IMO.

Why do they have the line on the floor? It completely ruins the point of it being a mirror maze.

Crap. They've replaced well themed buildings that had small touches to generic painted colour ones. I hate this investment.

Hmm, this sounds like more family attractions to me. (That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like to see them focus on thrillseekers now).

That's great as it was dire!

Is this where "The Restaurant" was before?

Blackpool Pleasure Beach was in fantastic form all week. Having a season pass proved to be a good move as I was in and out of the park all week. Also, I'm hoping to return later in the year. It's still my favourite park by a mile, nothing else in the UK even comes close! The blend of old and new rides and coasters works really well, and I much prefer the old woodies (aside from Valhalla and The Big One). Wild Mouse was on good form (aside from an annoying trim brake), and the others were good most of the time. Grand National was running really well towards the end of the day, but lacked some of it's intent in the morning. I still prefer it to Megafobia, as when it's running well it's an absolute demon of a coaster! Big Dipper and the Nickelodeon Streak were also much enjoyed. Valhalla wasn't at it's absolute best but it's still my favourite ride, and is leagues ahead of any other ride in my opinion. Me and my brother also did a "no poncho" challenge towards the end of one of the days, which resulted in much hilarity! Operations in the park had improved hugely on last year's effort. The Big One had incredible dispatch times on two trains - one had been sent before the other one had even reached the final tunnel/brake run. This is fantastic and much better than any operations you see in other UK parks - especially considering that a lot of the time there was no queue and they were still shifting the trains at this speed. The only day it was on one train was when it was too windy for it to run two, and even then they added a second train once the wind had died down. Avalanche was also on two trains every day, with similarly fantastic dispatch times. Big Dipper was on two trains when it was necessary, and again the train was being sent way before the other one got back. This caused long queues to be shifted in less than 10 minutes. Grand National was on four trains on Saturday 12th April as the park was really busy, but the stupid Kumbak system in the station doesn't allow them to dispatch the trains until the other two are back in the station Aesthetically the park is the best I've ever seen it, despite having so many old attractions it has a clean, fresh image and is genuinely a 'pleasure' to be in! The appearance of the park (well, and the park itself) puts a lot of other parks to shame. Now, onto the ridecounts! Saturday 5th April: The Big One x5 Valhalla x2 Wild Mouse x2 Wallace and Gromit x2 Ghost Train x2 Grand National x1 Big Dipper x1 Avalanche x1 Revoluton x1 Steeplechase x1 Ice Blast x1 Avatar Airbender x1 TOTAL: 20 Sunday 6th April: Wild Mouse x7 Grand National x6 The Big One x5 Valhalla x2 Wallace and Gromit x2 Nickelodeon Streak x1 Big Dipper x1 Steeplechase x1 Infusion x1 Blue Flyer x1 River Caves x1 Ghost Train x1 Alice in Wonderland x1 TOTAL: 30 Monday 7th April: The morning was spent in the Sandcastle Waterpark which is realy good, but it's only worth it if you get there before it opens as the first 30 minutes is usually really quiet. It's a bit pricey, but it does have a lot of really good waterslides and the customer service is fantastic. Slide - Count: Sidewinder x8 Aztec Falls x3 Master Blaster x2 Montazooma x2 Duelling Dragons x2 Treetops Water Chutes x2 Thunder Falls x1 TOTAL: 20 The afternoon was spent in the Pleasure Beach. They closed an hour early because the park was absolutely dead and the weather was vile, but they did give anyone who had paid for a wristband (literally about 20 people...) a free "rainy day return." Ridecount: Valhalla x4 (No amount of rain or wind will put me off going on this! :twisted: ) Grand National x4 Steeplechase x2 The Big One x1 (They managed to open it despite the wind being crazy!) Big Dipper x1 Nickelodeon Streak x1 Revolution x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 River Caves x1 Ghost Train x1 Spongebob's Splash Bash x1 Grand Prix x1 Impossible x1 TOTAL: 20 We took a break from Blackpool on Tuesday to visit Hawes and the dales in Yorkshire. (Pictures at bottom of TR) Wednesday 9th April: Big Dipper x4 The Big One x3 Wild Mouse x3 Grand National x3 Wallace and Gromit x3 Valhalla x2 Avalanche x1 Revolution x1 Steeplechase x1 Flying Machines x1 TOTAL: 22 Thursday 10th April: We only spent the morning at BPB as we went to Blackpool Tower in the afternoon. The Big One x7 Wild Mouse x1 Grand National x1 Big Dipper x1 Revolution x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 River Caves x1 TOTAL: 13 Friday 11th April: The Big One x8 Valhalla x5 (Twice without any form of waterproof!) Wild Mouse x3 Grand National x2 Nickelodeon Streak x2 Avalanche x2 Infusion x2 Revolution x1 Wallace and Gromit x1 River Caves x1 Rugrats Lost River x1 Dodgems x1 TOTAL: 29 Saturday 12th April: The park was busy today, and the wind was high meaning that it was causing the PMBO trouble. We did however manage one ride on it due to being there at the right time. The atmosphere at the park is amazing when it's busy. The park was open until 8pm but we had to leave at 5pm to get home. Valhalla x5 Big Dipper x3 Grand National x2 Wallace and Gromit x2 The Big One x1 Wild Mouse x1 Derby Racer x1 TOTAL: 15 OVERALL RIDE COUNT: The Big One x30 Valhalla x22 Grand National x19 Wild Mouse x17 Wallace and Gromit's Thrill O' Matic x12 Big Dipper x11 Revolution x5 Steeplechase x5 Nickelodeon Streak x4 Avalanche x4 River Caves x4 Ghost Train x4 Infusion x3 Ice Blast x1 Avatar Airbender x1 Blue Flyer x1 Spongebob's Splash Bash x1 Grand Prix x1 Alice x1 Flying Machines x1 Derby Racer x1 Rugrats Lost River x1 Dodgems x1 Impossible x1 OVERALL TOTAL: 149 (Or if you count Sandcastle then 169) Pictures! Enter Valhalla! Wet is an understatement! Let's go somewhere where there's cheese! Revolution looks much nicer since it had it's paint job; Possibly the most intense coaster on the planet! The world's original Ghost Train; We had a break from Blackpool on Tuesday to visit Yorkshire; Hardraw Force Finally, a shot of the park from the top of Blackpool Tower; Thanks for reading/looking, comments are welcome!