Coaster

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!

Barrel Roll. Airtime hill or loop?

Speed was only on one car when I was there with a long queue - absolutely appalling.

The Pasaje del Terror in Blackpool is still operating.

Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. There's fire effects everywhere, (archways of fire that you go through, big explosions, fire on the track that you put out), huge special effects and it's themed up to the eyeball. It's not at it's absolute best at the moment but it's still a very good dark ride.

It does when the trims are off

I had an absolutely fantastic day at BPB today! The best part is that I'm at the park all week!

Maybe it'll have signage put on it.

I completely forgot about that! That hasn't been played for years

And Thorpe. Possibly even Towers, although it might not fit in with the surroundings there.

Yeah there are a few Abdabs in the Vampire queueline, they are in a very sorry state though.

Wow that's amazing!

That would be good, but the height restriction the park has would stop if from being able to compete with the likes of Shambhala - not that that necessarily matters.

That part I completely agree with, it runs horribly most of the time - although it was quite good last weekend. I wouldn't say that's it's aged awfully, more that it hasn't been maintained the way that sort of ride needs to be.

I'm not sure I like him...

It's not an amazing ending, but it's better than nothing. Smiler doesn't have anything in particular (unless you count the corridor of projectors), in fact I can't really think of many UK coasters that end with a scene/prop.

I'm not disputing that as I think that a lot of Merlin's theming is rubbish, but it's not just a puppet, there's dummies, bits of traps and plans etc. What would you suggest was put there?

To be honest I'd quite like to stay in them, but they are hugely overpriced IMO. They should not be more expensive than a travelodge, considering the space you get!

Enough B&M's, I want a rattler!

I find it quite memorable, especially when the screens under the lift hill actually work! Whilst it isn't the best, by Merlin's standards it's pretty good (doesn't make it good overall haha) and it's well thought out, but could do with a bit of perfection. Whilst it isn't all high quality theming, there's a lot of it to see. Even the area at the end where you wait has the dummies and billy the puppet congratulating you - they didn't have to put anything there but it's there to look at and makes a memorable ending to the ride. It could have been better. Much better. But that doesn't mean that it's rubbish.

At least the shipping containers have a nice(ish) entrance...

I never said that it was brilliantly themed, but to suggest that they haven't made any effort to theme it is ridiculous. I am well aware that the building is a warehouse, but the lighting is used fairly well to hide that - although I do think that there should be some more dividers between scenes. No it's not got multi million pound effects in it but, at the end of the day, it is a roller-coaster so the theming just comes as a bonus really.

Unfortunately they wouldn't do that as it would mean that they'd have to do maintenance...

The problem I have is that they aren't retheming the rides, they are just painting them in bright, horrible colours and they don't fit (green/yellow painted treehouse??)

Agreed, I used to go there loads as a child but I haven't been for years now The entry price has doubled since I started going!