Stuntman707

They will have to offer a good refresh this year to get me interested and pay for tickets after all this Walking Dead year stuff. New audio, better atmosphere, improved mazes. If it's more of the same, I'd rather do more independant events this year especially since my annual pass has expired. I would like to try Towers Scarefest though.

I think there should be more charges to solve other problems too. £10 fine if you sit on the queue fence, £20 fine for queue jumping, £25 (+eligibility) for a RAP , 20p turnstiles for the toilets, large lockers for £5 per use etc. It will make the park much better having all these extra charges!

I give up on this. Yesterday had a terrible experience. It started taking very long to dispatch the groups. Half the headsets (that were in operation) were broken. The footage on the second train stopped and started then the train got stuck and we were left waiting for a further 10 mins or so to be reset. No one I was with really understood the story or what was going on and didn’t even find it scary. It’s just not worth riding anymore.

My first experience of Blackpool started off before I had even arrived. Driving into the seaside town, the first thing you're greeted by are miles of banners for Icon. Blackpool is first and foremost a tourism hotspot and the Pleasure Beach is very much at the centre of this town. My first impressions of the promenade are not entirely positive. The street is quite tacky; donut stalls, arcades, casinos and pink horse rides are found along length of the street. The amazing views out to sea and sandy beaches redeem it somewhat. On my first day at the Pleasure Beach, I was pleasently surprised. There was no lengthy wait to get in yet the park was thriving with guests on Saturday. This continued with relatively short queues compared to rival UK parks. What I love most about BPB and what has driven me to visit are the unique rides and layout the park has. All of the coasters are intertwined within one another in a way like no other park I've visited before. The park maintains a diverse range of attractions with something for everyone to enjoy. Paired with very strong transport links, this makes BPB a great place to visit for anyone. Presentation & Service The park has a uniquely historical charm. I will say the main ticket office is quite grand inside, the staff here are well presented in classic suits. The office and the entrance were well staffed with more than enough people to handle larger crowds. Most of the staff in the park were cheerful apart from a few which can really make or break good a day out for guests. Fountains, fountains and more fountains were everywhere in this park. in the floor, on the coasters, ride areas, paths and are an attraction within their own right with a nice little show every 30 mins. Food & Drink Many of the Bars and the new Coasters restaurant have a modern, tasteful and clean look to them which I really liked. Most of them even served champagne. There were of course the standard fast food outlets too found at any park. We ate at the Coasters restaurant on the first day and I was very pleased with the quality and the price of the menu. I thought it was excellent value and I really hope to see more of this standard of food with similar affordable pricing at the park in the future. The Rides The Pleasure Beach has a number of historical rides with by far the best one for me being River Caves. This indoor boat ride feels untouched, all the effects and scenery still look to be in working order. There are no gimmicks, just gentle background music, some narration and great atmospheric sets that the boats sail through. It's just a really nice boat ride. Grand National is by far the worst historical ride at the park. This is a duelling wooden coaster that bounces and partially derails around the corners. It's set through a beautiful workshop behind Valhalla with tufts of grass growing through the tracks. The Big Dipper and the Velvet Streak are much better wooden coasters for their age. Steeplechase is the most unique and rare coaster at BPB being the only ride of it's kind still operating in the world. It consists of three horse shaped vehicles running on vertical track rails. The track moves freely over the terrain with minimal support structures and has the ability to tilt the horse vehicles around the bends by offsetting the lower rail. Forming part of the Blackpool skyline, The Big One is the second Hypercoaster I've ever been on and the tallest in the UK at just over 200ft high. The Hill and first half of the ride are the real highlights, you can see all of Blackpool at the top! The first airtime hills as of any hypercoaster are breathtaking and unlike any other coaster experience. The lower half of the ride feels more like a shopping trolley in a carpark however with a very jerky ride. A real shame that the station is literally a warehouse. No attempt at theming was made at all and frankly I've seen better industrial units. It's still worth riding for the experience. Infusion is highly regarded amongst many as a terrible ride. The theme of the ride is simple yet so dynamic with water jets crossing streams between the twisted steel, it almost looks like an engineering water sculpture. I want to end the negative hype and say that the ride is not as rough as people say it is. It's not smooth either but I've been on worse. I would ride it again if I returned. Revolution was a strange coaster for me. The station is at the top of the ride. As there are no airgates, there's a constant safety announcement on loop along with the original yet dated claim that it will be "the most thrilling ride of your life". It's a shuttle that sends you round a loop forwards and backwards, the backwards part being more nauseous than thrilling. The best thing about Revolution is the classic Arrow loop support structure. Notably the best dark ride at BPB is Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-o-matic. Each scene is beautifully crafted to look just like the films. The voice overs, audio, lighting, everything is spot on and the ride has a decent length. It's charming, funny, northern and colourful. "I've got patent pending on that", "You'll be hearing from my solicitor about this!", "Cheeese" ?The ride cars are like giant slippers which is just fantastic. It brings back childhood memories for me too, For me it's easily the best dark ride in the UK. My gosh where do I start with Valhalla? It is an epic boat ride experience. The sets are impressive and the drops are brutally soaking wet. I started by submerging my shoes in a half filled boat. The flames were impressive, the steam was intense, the ice scene was frosty. It's really a one of a kind boat ride. A must do at BPB. The first Mack coaster at BPB; a bobsled called Avalanche twists and turns between Revolution and Icon. The station and surrounding area feel as close to Euopa Park at Blackpool as you can get. The Swiss music and chalet really have a similar atmosphere. Avalanche itself however is much better than it's Europa Park cousin. It has fast, snaking turns that pick up speed ending in two intense helix turns towards the bottom. Finally the newest Mack coaster, Icon is by far the best ride at the park. I'm still in a dilemma about where it ranks in my all time favourites as it is that good. Frankly I was overjoyed when I found out Pleasure Beach were building a Mack megacoaster in the UK. I loved Blue Fire at Europa Park and this is no exception. Mack launches are not entirely linear. The best way to describe it is like being pushed on a swing, it starts rolling and then builds up the momentum. If you expect an Intamin style launch, you will be disappointed. The airtime hills, swaying turns and punchy acceleration made it such a smooth and enjoyable ride. Riding on the front row, you get a very floaty and fun ride. On the back row, the ride is the most intense with forceful positive G's and sharp, quick pops of airtime. The momentum of the ride doesn't end until the last turn as the second launch takes you up and over probably the best designed immelman I've ever seen. The theme is minimal yet exremely well presented. The music is dramatic and catchy. The seats are open yet comfy, the OH restraints feel like lap bars and they swing down and spring up making dispatch lightning fast. The Mack bag flaps are convenient yet secure. It eats through the queue line so even waiting for the brand new ride is quick. All I can say is BPB have got something really special here. Overall, Icon is just a fantastic attraction. I think it's the best new coaster we have had in the UK this year and the one I've most been looking forward to. Conclusion Blackpool Pleasure Beach is a very well rounded, affordable park which is easy to get to with plenty of staff on hand and is home to several unique experiences in the UK. The very reasonable entry price along with the new ride Icon really gives main rival Merlin parks a run for their money this year. It also helps BPB that their operations are much better than Merlin's have been this year in general. I'd definately return just to ride Icon again but I'd stay for the charm of the undeniably british family run park.

I don’t think so... https://www.themeparkguide.biz/news-page/1471/Twirling Toadstool Abandoned Listed under TLC, the incompetent liars.

For someone who visits Thorpe twice a year, and someone who visits whenever they want, how is the Fastrack season pass anything but a rip-off? I really don’t know why Merlin don’t have Q-Bot at Thorpe & Towers? It’s a much fairer system and you can guarantee the value of the service being paid for unlike fastrack*. You can have a virtual queue with higher tiers that reduce the wait time. When the queue time is low, people can see it’s clear the higher tiers would not be value for money unless you can skip negative queue time! If you buy fastrack on the other hand and the queue ends up being short, you’ve basically paid for nothing. Equally when it’s busy, there’s no guarantee of a maximum waiting time limit whether you’re a VIP or one shot holder. TLDR - Fastrack does not offer a consistent value depending on who you are and how busy it is. That’s my main issue with it. (*Obviously this does not include unavoidable delays to operations.)

I can't believe you're saying inflated, rip-off pricing for 100% profit queue jumping tickets rather than just restricting them with low prices is a good thing. Also, how long did we wait in the Platform 15 Fastrack queue last year? It was anything but short, I was glad I did not pay for that privilege unlike some poor guests probably did. I would have been more than pissed if I had put down £400 on a pass in that queue.

That is disgusting. As if there aren't enough obnoxious VIP's now there will be even more probably from the waiting list wearing these passes like a badge of entitlement. If I was going to spend that sort of money, it would be on a trip to a better park in Europe that has fast moving queues without fastrack. Who knows, it may even start turf wars in fastrack queues between VIP's and Premium Thorpe FT's over who's more entitled to barge onto the next train first. If you go on a quiet day or a max capacity day, fastracks are worthless anyway.

Can’t help but think that Thorpe Pepperami ad is just making fun out of enthusiasts. ?

It's one thing for someone to be killed on a ride but another for the family to witness it and be trapped directly facing them. Looking at it in the least worse possible way, it is corporate manslaughter. This should be in a "Ride Negligence" topic as it's not accidental in my opinion. They knew the ride was unfit for operation and it was run with complete disregard for safety, someone was bound to be hurt there sooner or later.

Jaboody Dubs - Check out the Red Copper dubs.

Day at Chessington in emoji: ???⛩⏱⏱⏱?☹️?????‍♂️??‍♂️???

New scaffolding theming has been built around Sub Terra. Credit to Towers Street for the updates.

Of course Mack have made a brilliant family coaster here. I like how the second launch looks a bit like a hot wheels track and the train theming is great. I hope this encourages Disney to invest in bigger Mack rides. I know Walt invested in and supported Arrow which is why the majority of Disney rides are Arrow / Vekoma. Mack are having a brilliant year though, so many great new rides being completed.

Recent activity and a tent has been spotted around N:ST.

Poll to see which theme is the most popular.

I bet it will be an upcharge attraction. All Merlin ever seem to do now at Towers / Thorpe is horror and I’m getting rather bored of it tbh. I just wish they would build more fun, happy and colourful flat rides. Get a mascot. Add some fountains / fountain shows, entertainment shows & parades. There’s really nothing in the UK offering all of what you can get at parks across the channel.

After a couple of visits including Chessington, I’ve come to the conclusion that Merlin’s best own food brand are actually the chippy’s. I think they must have different fryers in them as the chips way better than the other outlets. They’re actually crisp. And the chicken there is better than the Chicken Co.

It may well be deliberate, I'm merely observing that it flaps back and fourth whereas Vamire's supports are solid.

I think Mack’s shelf flaps is the best bag system I’ve seen. It’s still a compromise. Sure it’s not as safe as a locker or bagroom but it’s easy to retrofit on the platform. Don’t need extra staff like the bagroom and not as much faff as either that or lockers. The shelves are locked when the train departs and only allow access to the same train when it’s back. In regards to turn around, a lot of it is down to the staff, how motivated, how well they work together and how many of them there are. Dragons Fury at Chessington was flying through the queues down to a 10min wait on Sunday. I think there were at least 5 staff members in there. One taking bags, two checking restraints, one counting guests and the operator.

Vampire is still the most popular attraction at Chessington for sure. Ideally a retrack without planning permission & refurb would be the best option if possible. No doubt Arrow made it a solid ride. The supports alone are huge! Compare that to Fury where parts of the track wobble. My latest ride on it was noticeably rough as if one set of wheels were worn down. It was jerking forwards and backwards. Even then, Chessington can’t afford to lose Vampire.

It’s not great that social media started posting about it if it’s got nothing to do with them. Also it’s kind of embarrassing for them that it’s actually better than anything they’ve managed to do officially. Even as far as planting references to it around the park since 2016.

A coaster has derailed at a boardwalk in Florida. The cause of it has not been mentioned yet. https://news.sky.com/story/riders-fall-10m-from-derailed-roller-coaster-in-daytona-florida-11405234

Yeah I was going to say, this riddle / teaser marketing is way better Quality than anything Thorpe has ever managed. I'd be very impressed if it is them however!

Here's the full background picture. (Right click / view page info / media tab / background image) In light writing: '27' 'BiGto' '0?' In dark writing: 'LEGACY BEGiNS' 'P15'