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Blackpool Pleasure Beach


Dan_Rush

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Pleasure Beach does have a Halloween event, sadly it's for 1 day only this year.

 

Coaster, I'd love to visit Japan with you just to see your reaction when it starts lightly raining and all rides close for the rest of the day, that's a proper reason to get pissed off! Though I won't deny that's a little naughty of the park.

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What could a park in such a situation offer AP holders as compensation? 

 

In extreme cases the park(s) have to consider the safety of customers... A storm coming right in off the Irish Sea would not bode well for the park, and I doubt they would've taken the decision to close early lightly either...

 

Without knowing the full details of what was and wasn't open at 5/6 it's hard to judge whether the decision was merited...

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19 hours ago, Coaster said:

So despite the fact that numerous rides have been closed today (most due to weather), the park has closed an hour earlier than advertised - the rides closed at 6pm however it was advertised as "earliest ride close 7pm" on the website.

 

Terrible customer service!

 

 

From the Pleasure Beach website..

 

6.1. The issue of a ticket or wristband shall not guarantee, nor does Pleasure Beach warrant:

The availability and/or quantity of any particular ride(s), show(s), device(s) or attraction(s) upon any visit to Pleasure Beach,
That access shall be given to any particular ride(s), show(s), device(s) or attraction(s),
Exemption from height or other restrictions that may apply from time to time,
The opening and closing time of Pleasure Beach, which may vary from time to time at the sole discretion of Pleasure Beach.

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Unfortunately there's not much a theme park can do when bad weather compromises the safe operation of rides, and even if they did stay open until the original time, what more could the park offer if the poor weather persevered. 

 

The best things parks can do on these sort of days are return/revalidated tickets. I know it won't satisfy everyone, but will st least compensate for the majority.

 

I guess the websites should also also be kept upto date with accurate information too. 

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The following rides were closed either all day or by 5/6pm (that I can remember); The Big One, Avalanche, Steeplechase, Ice Blast, Flying Machines (and Wild Mouse but not weather related).  A chunk of the rides closed, but still well over 30 rides operating.

 

I'd suggest that the storm didn't get any worse after 6pm, in fact the rain was lighter by the end of the day.

 

I just think it's poor to not offer the service advertised on the website and at the park, rides being affected by weather I can totally understand, closing an hour early on the other hand I don't consider as good customer service; and whether the park covers themselves through T&C's or not doesn't change the reflection it has of the park's customer service IMO.

 

In addition the fact that the most loyal customers (season pass holders) do not get anything in return when our day is cut short, despite paying out for travel and accomodation to visit the park.

 

Did Thorpe or Towers close early due to weather, out of interest?

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8 hours ago, Coaster said:

 

Did Thorpe or Towers close early due to weather, out of interest?

No - but i know Thorpe had a number of rides closing / reopening throughout the day due to the high winds, not sure on towers.

 

I know its not an excuse but haven't Blackpool been doing this closing earlier than advertised business for a quite a while now? 

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8 hours ago, Coaster said:

The following rides were closed either all day or by 5/6pm (that I can remember); The Big One, Avalanche, Steeplechase, Ice Blast, Flying Machines (and Wild Mouse but not weather related).  A chunk of the rides closed, but still well over 30 rides operating.

 

I'd suggest that the storm didn't get any worse after 6pm, in fact the rain was lighter by the end of the day.

 

I just think it's poor to not offer the service advertised on the website and at the park, rides being affected by weather I can totally understand, closing an hour early on the other hand I don't consider as good customer service; and whether the park covers themselves through T&C's or not doesn't change the reflection it has of the park's customer service IMO.

 

In addition the fact that the most loyal customers (season pass holders) do not get nothing in return when our day is cut short, despite paying out for travel and accomodation to visit the park.

 

Did Thorpe or Towers close early due to weather, out of interest?

It does depend on what the weather conditions were like all day, and how many people were there.

 

If it's been raining all day, there's been strong winds all day, and the number of people who actually turned up in the first place is probably less than normal.  I expect that come 5:30ish (say), most will have done everything they wanted to do and it was more a case of re-rides, but being out in the conditions all day, some will want to retreat home / inside to warm up / dry off / whatever.  Which would leave numbers dwindling further.  If that was the case, then I'm sure the people who did remain would be understanding of the hour loss at the end of the day.  It's all about that context.

 

It's easy to say that a park shouldn't close early, etc, but these things aren't black and white.  When a large storm has battered the park and visitors for the majority of the day, few people are really going to want to stay in the early evening when things are getting colder, darker and gloomier.  Sure, maybe there were loads of people still willing and wanting to stay, maybe Blackpool made the wrong call.  But without any first-hand accounts, I guess we don't really know..

 

Thorpe and Towers rarely close early due to weather (though I'm sure it has happened in the past, with Thorpe at least).  But remember that neither of those parks are right by the coast, and are comparatively much further away from the location of a large storm...

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8 hours ago, Coaster said:

The following rides were closed either all day or by 5/6pm (that I can remember); The Big One, Avalanche, Steeplechase, Ice Blast, Flying Machines (and Wild Mouse but not weather related).  A chunk of the rides closed, but still well over 30 rides operating.

 

I'd suggest that the storm didn't get any worse after 6pm, in fact the rain was lighter by the end of the day.

 

I just think it's poor to not offer the service advertised on the website and at the park, rides being affected by weather I can totally understand, closing an hour early on the other hand I don't consider as good customer service; and whether the park covers themselves through T&C's or not doesn't change the reflection it has of the park's customer service IMO.

 

In addition the fact that the most loyal customers (season pass holders) do not get nothing in return when our day is cut short, despite paying out for travel and accomodation to visit the park.

 

Did Thorpe or Towers close early due to weather, out of interest?

The most loyal customers (season pass holders) should know that some things are out of the parks control and these things are done for good reason and not just to annoy people.

 

I take it you were there so I'd like a few more first hand account before being outraged. What were the queues like for the 30 rides that were open at 5:45pm, was there lots of people still purchasing food and drink, merchandise. Did they literally chuck you out of the park, did you receive any notice that the park would be shutting earlier then planned? If you did, were the staff all smug about it, providing you with the bad customer service that you've said twice now.

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10 hours ago, Mark9 said:

The most loyal customers (season pass holders) should know that some things are out of the parks control and these things are done for good reason and not just to annoy people.

 

I take it you were there so I'd like a few more first hand account before being outraged. What were the queues like for the 30 rides that were open at 5:45pm, was there lots of people still purchasing food and drink, merchandise. Did they literally chuck you out of the park, did you receive any notice that the park would be shutting earlier then planned? If you did, were the staff all smug about it, providing you with the bad customer service that you've said twice now.

The queues were medium-to-short, but not dead.  Catering wouldn't generally be busy an hour and fifteen minutes before park close, however I didn't really pay much attention.  We didn't go in the shops after midday on Saturday so no idea if people were buying merchandise.

 

Regarding the notice, we came off Ghost Train at 6pm, went to go back on and found the queue closed; no announcement was made, though the sign had been changed to 6pm it must have been done last-minute as they were displaying 7pm for most of the day.

 

The staff were fine, however in my opinion customer service is about the overall guest experience as well as how pleasant the staff members are.

 

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Construction update from Icon including TRACK!

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Last Icon photo update of the year from me, the next time I'm at BPB will be February and the ride will hopefully be almost fully constructed! :yahoo:

 

More track has arrived;

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Station platform has gone in;

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Not too sure what to expect from the exterior of the station, but I hope it's themed to match the ride's logo;

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Roll on 2018! :D 

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