Blackpool Pleasure Beach

[RobF]

http://www.jmcomputers.f2s.com/lawnswood/ we quite like this one it’s literally on the doorstep to the park ?

[TPGG]

Thanks so much! There's four of us btw - how much should we be looking to spend?

 

Any Air BnBs recommended? 

[Coaster]

I'm not so sure on BPB's choice of image to advertise their Vampire Beach 2018 event;

 

https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/whats-on/vampire-pleasure-beach/

 

[Mattgwise]

That is unbelievable to be honest! Shocking! 

[Matt 236]

That webpage

[Benin]

Enough salt on here to season all the chippies on the promenade...

[JoshC.]

Damnit Benin, stop making so many good posts that I have to keep liking...

[Coaster]

So much for Icon having themed audio, the queueline, exit stairs and brake run audio is all broken today and most was off yesterday too.  Mist also off today, was intermittent yesterday.

 

Valhalla closed all weekend (AGAIN!), Big One closed all day today... oh, and the Wild Mouse is closed all weekend.

 

Park very busy yesterday yet still only a 7pm close despite all the issues.

 

So much for improvements to operations once Icon opens, it's got worse.

[Marc]

Sometimes things are not in the parks control - would you rather they closed Icon till they could fix the PA system / Mist? ? 

 

 

[JoshC.]

34 minutes ago, Coaster said:

Valhalla closed all weekend (AGAIN!), Big One closed all day today... oh, and the Wild Mouse is closed all weekend.

Oh FFS...

 

So is Wicked Witches Haunt at Thorpe. So is Corkscrew at Towers. So is Prof Burl's Bubbleworks at Chessington. 

 

It's been removed. It no longer exists. Get over it.

[Coaster]

1 hour ago, ChiapasC. said:

Oh FFS...

 

So is Wicked Witches Haunt at Thorpe. So is Corkscrew at Towers. So is Prof Burl's Bubbleworks at Chessington. 

 

It's been removed. It no longer exists. Get over it.

Did you actually read that seriously...  ?

 

Also easy for you to say considering (as far as I'm aware) you never rode it.

 

I mean, the mist was on yesterday for some of the time, so it seems to be more a case of switching it on.  Also the audio being off is just not good enough, Wicker Man manages to keep its queue audio working.

[Marc]

1 hour ago, Coaster said:

Did you actually read that seriously...  ?

 

Also easy for you to say considering (as far as I'm aware) you never rode it.

 

I mean, the mist was on yesterday for some of the time, so it seems to be more a case of switching it on.  Also the audio being off is just not good enough, Wicker Man manages to keep its queue audio working.

To be fair it’s possible for something to be working yesterday and broken today - same for mist and audio. 

[Coaster]

47 minutes ago, Marc said:

To be fair it’s possible for something to be working yesterday and broken today - same for mist and audio. 

Yeah, however it's so typical of PB to install all these extras and then not bother with them after a few months.

 

A shame as the soundtrack is stunning when it plays.

[Benin]

Propose that every further mention of a ride that's closed forever being shut for someone's visit should result in automatic £5 donation to the Benin fund (or an actual charity)...

[TPGG]

I'm off to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Friday  How's best to buy tickets for 4 people?

[Matt 236]

1 hour ago, TPGG said:

I'm off to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Friday  How's best to buy tickets for 4 people?

Unless you have Tesco club card points, online is the best way from the park’s main site as you save quite a bit of money from the ‘on the day price’.

 

The Mouse is definitely dead and not coming back! Mandy invested in mouse traps of course! Nothing was closed on my last visit.

[pluk]

1 hour ago, TPGG said:

I'm off to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Friday  How's best to buy tickets for 4 people?

 

A lot of corporate deals out there too, if one of your party has access to perkz or one of the similar sites there can be really good prices.

[Flipper]

On 9/30/2018 at 3:58 PM, Coaster said:

A shame as the soundtrack is stunning when it plays.

Debatable. Am I still the only person on this forum who does not rate Icon at all? I have no problem with anyone who does I just feel like I’m missing something that everyone else sees?

 

And I still can’t help the feeling that it’s all well-and-good praising them for Icon, but the park is still a bit of a shamble. The whole of FY4 now it’s been chopped to bits looks ridiculous and repulsive, especially when it’s your main route to a brand new ride. Operations are always hit and miss. Valhalla never seems to work, and Christ it went under a refurb a few years back to simplify its effects, yet they still don’t work. National’s operations have gone to pot. Ice Blast still skips the word ‘Playstation’ I mean come on Blackpool, it would take maybe an hour to re-record some new audio for it

 

And then you say about effects not working, audio not working; cool. But look at the other attractions, such as Revolution (with broken audio) or the arcades that are falling to pieces. The whole of the standards of parks in the UK bar a few independents has gone down the pan, and for me, Blackpool is one of the dossiest.

[Coaster]

1 hour ago, Flipper said:

Debatable. Am I still the only person on this forum who does not rate Icon at all? I have no problem with anyone who does I just feel like I’m missing something that everyone else sees?

 

And I still can’t help the feeling that it’s all well-and-good praising them for Icon, but the park is still a bit of a shamble. The whole of FY4 now it’s been chopped to bits looks ridiculous and repulsive, especially when it’s your main route to a brand new ride. Operations are always hit and miss. Valhalla never seems to work, and Christ it went under a refurb a few years back to simplify its effects, yet they still don’t work. National’s operations have gone to pot. Ice Blast still skips the word ‘Playstation’ I mean come on Blackpool, it would take maybe an hour to re-record some new audio for it

 

And then you say about effects not working, audio not working; cool. But look at the other attractions, such as Revolution (with broken audio) or the arcades that are falling to pieces. The whole of the standards of parks in the UK bar a few independents has gone down the pan, and for me, Blackpool is one of the dossiest.

I'll defend the music, the choir is stunning and I absolutely love the chords used, unique "Icon" melody and the fact there are different tracks for the plaza, queueline/entrance, ambient queue track (in the second half of the queueline), dramatic station music and the exit/brake run loop.  A shame PB can't or won't maintain it, though.

 

I find Icon a fantastic coaster but it isn't anywhere near my favourite at BPB, I much prefer The Big One, Grand National, Dipper and of course Wild Mouse was better IMO (sorry @ChiapasC. ?).  Icon seems to run much faster/more forceful on some days than others, and for me relies on the whole experience (audio, mist, lighting) rather than just the coaster itself... which is where the issues arise.  It's still an engineering masterpiece to fit such a compact ride in that space, and purposefully interact with other rides too.

 

Fully agree about FY4, it looks a complete mess and is nothing but a poor reminder of what used to be there.  I do think that area is getting redeveloped though, and we may see Big changes over the next few years.

 

Valhalla, can't argue with that, it's always broken (down 3 times over the summer for over a week each time, and now another extended period of closure) and the thematic elements/effects are nothing compared to the world class experience it used to be.

 

I refuse to moan about National's operations anymore, purely because it's probably hanging by a thread at BPB and I don't want to give them any more reason to remove it.  It isn't quite so bad now they've stopped loading Speedy Pass in the seats before the trains arrive in the air gates (yes... that did happen)!

 

Again, agreed about the broken audio parkwide, PB radio barely plays anywhere anymore as the speakers are all broken/disconnected/switched off, many of the rides are missing their audio SFX (River Caves queue, Revolution, safety announcements on various rides are sometimes off!) and standards of thematic maintenance park-wide are poor.  With that said, I still find it shocking that Icon is already in such a state when it's their brand new multi-million pound roller coaster, you'd think they would take some pride in their new investment but they don't care.

[WWTPRadio]

1 minute ago, Coaster said:

I'll defend the music, the choir is stunning and I absolutely love the chords used, unique "Icon" melody and the fact there are different tracks for the plaza, queueline/entrance, ambient queue track (in the second half of the queueline), dramatic station music and the exit/brake run loop.  A shame PB can't or won't maintain it, though.

 

I find Icon a fantastic coaster but it isn't anywhere near my favourite at BPB, I much prefer The Big One, Grand National, Dipper and of course Wild Mouse was better IMO (sorry @ChiapasC. ?).  Icon seems to run much faster/more forceful on some days than others, and for me relies on the whole experience (audio, mist, lighting) rather than just the coaster itself... where is where the issues arise.  It's still an engineering masterpiece to fit such a compact ride in that space, and purposefully interact with other rides too.

 

Fully agree about FY4, it looks a complete mess and is nothing but a poor reminder of what used to be there.  I do think that area is getting redeveloped though, and we may see changes over the next few years.

 

Valhalla, can't argue with that, it's always broken (down 3 times over the summer for over a week each time, and now another extended period of closure) and the thematic elements/effects are nothing compared to the world class experience it used to be.

 

I refuse to moan about National's operations anymore, purely because it's probably hanging by a thread at BPB and I don't want to give them any more reason to remove it.  It isn't quite so bad now they've stopped loading Speedy Pass in the seats before the trains arrive in the air gates (yes... that did happen)!

 

Again, agreed about the broken audio parkwide, PB radio barely plays anywhere anymore as the speakers are all broken/disconnected/switched off, many of the rides are missing their audio SFX (River Caves queue, Revolution, safety announcements on various rides are sometimes off!) and standards of thematic maintenance park-wide are poor.  With that said, I still find it shocking that Icon is already in such a state when it's their brand new multi-million pound roller coaster, you'd think they would take some pride in their new investment but they don't care.

I’ve had some discussions with Amanda about the park wide audio as frankly it’s a bit of a disgrace. Sadly it’s not a priority, despite it being a pet peeve of hers.

[Lewis.]

Had another trip to BPB on Saturday. I've never found Grand National rough and wondered what everyone was moaning about but there was a definite jolt of spinal doom at the bottom of the first drop that took me by surprise ? Apart from that I thought it was actually running quite well, she was flying around the track! 

 

I also did Icon front row this time. Much better IMO! I thought I was content with the back row but it just felt a lot more intense. Most of the staff seemed to be giving us a choice of row with the disabled pass which was unusual and obviously went unquestioned. Merlin could learn a lot from BPB about how to treat Disabled guests. Even if the park is an absolute bitch to navigate. I intend to send an email to them to let them know they're doing great ? 

 

 

[Coaster]

Pleasure Beach's marketing on top form again... ?

 

[Martin Doyle]

So I noticed this has been flying around on social media. I don’t take this seriously for a minute (it just has hoax written all over it from where I’m sitting) and highly doubt it will ever happen, however I really don’t know how to feel on the matter. On one hand, RMC make some absolutely phenomenal coasters (Steel Vengeance as far as I go is easily the best coaster in the world) but on the other side of the coin Grand National is a piece of heritage and still a coaster the public genuinely enjoy. Most coasters that undergo the conversion are coasters that are universally hated but that’s not the case with grand national. I would love an RMC in this country more than anything, but I would rather see one freshly built instead of at the expense of heritage.

 

Again I don’t take that “plan” seriously for a second but just talking hypothetical plus raising the question as to what people would feel if this actually became a possibility. Plus Grand National is also a listed structure so I’m pretty sure that puts an end to that possibility as well as the fact I’ve also seen somewhere that the foundations are not suitable for that sort of work to be done on Grand National.

[JoshC.]

As you say, it's a listed structure, so it will never happen.

 

This was a hoax by someone on Twitter and hasn't even been thought of by the park, Lett alone any plans being dreamed up.

[Coaster]

Leave National alone.