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Blackpool Pleasure Beach


Dan_Rush

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1 hour ago, Benin said:

Is there potential to make money full when the rest of the town pretty much opens at 8pm?

Yes!  The South Pier (opposite the PB) stays open late into the night when Blackpool is busy and does a huge trade, a lot of this is people heading down to the Pleasure Beach only to find it closed/closing in a few hours, therefore they head over to the pier instead.  I think BPB forget that they are a seaside park competing with the rest of Blackpool's attractions rather than an inland park, people don't always want to do full days there and if the park was open later and offered a reduced wristband after a certain time I'm sure it would be successful (as proved by the rare occasions where they do run such a system!)

 

This article is amusing;

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/our-region/blackpool/attractions-at-loggerheads-over-re-siting-of-ride-1-7995000

 

If BPB are worried about a travelling log flume taking away their trade then that says it all!

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Just like the Merlin parks - the people who make these decisions are much more in the know about the park and its finances than we are.

 

If opening late had a financial benefit to them they would open - clearly they've seen it don't and have changed their hours accordingly.

 

I think piers are quite different attractions to BPB - you can walk up and down a peir for free play a few games if you want to, I never visited BPB when it was "free entry" I expect later nights worked better then although at the same time I expect it caused it's own problems.

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Whenever I've been to Blackpool and they're open till 8. Come 6 they start taking trains off the big rides because it isn't busy enough to warrant all of them being used. Walking along the promenade is a different vibe and easier than spending your time in a paid entry place with really expensive rides and a general "secluded" feel in that you aren't just freely wandering Blackpool. 

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21 minutes ago, Marc said:

Just like the Merlin parks - the people who make these decisions are much more in the know about the park and its finances than we are.

 

If opening late had a financial benefit to them they would open - clearly they've seen it don't and have changed their hours accordingly.

 

I think piers are quite different attractions to BPB - you can walk up and down a peir for free play a few games if you want to, I never visited BPB when it was "free entry" I expect later nights worked better then although at the same time I expect it caused it's own problems.

When it was free entry they would regularly be open until 2am during the summer and illuminations periods - this is going back years though, I never got to experience it!


The thing is, they run five 10pm closes a year with reduced wristbands after 4pm and they are all popular, surely that shows that there is demand for late night opening?

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And the reason they removed the free entry? The park was full of drunks and homeless people (cited from conversations with local B&B owners), and of course not everyone who visited the park for free would spend money in the park...

 

When are these 10pm closures? We're using a similar argument that Thorpe is busy during Fright Nights, so it should close late during summer, but Summer Nights were empty all the time (hence their cancellation)...

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Just now, Benin said:

And the reason they removed the free entry? The park was full of drunks and homeless people (cited from conversations with local B&B owners), and of course not everyone who visited the park for free would spend money in the park...

 

When are these 10pm closures? We're using a similar argument that Thorpe is busy during Fright Nights, so it should close late during summer, but Summer Nights were empty all the time (hence their cancellation)...

Two are during summer, and some are during September/October I think.  Summer Nights is a completely different concept as the park empties first, however with BPB's 10pm closes the day wristbands are still valid, but they get a second wave of custom when the reduced price wristbands go on sale at 4pm.  I've been there on two of these and both times the park was busy, and it got even busier after 4pm.  I'm not suggesting they run an event everyday but one or two a week during summer and at least every Saturday during the illuminations would be realistic IMO.

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Despite the 7pm close, Nickelodeon Land now closes at 6pm, and yesterday Wild Mouse also closed early (closed at 5pm, reopened at 5:45pm but they were stopping people entering then queue by 6:15pm), and Valhalla also closed early - but I think that was a breakdown so that's different.

 

Given that last year it was an 8pm close with the whole park staying open, it's shocking that they're closing rides/areas even earlier than the already reduced closing time.

 

It's such a shame what has happened to the place. :(

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3 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said:

It's such a shame what has happened to the place. :(

 

I thought for the last couple of years they returned to operating at a profit for the first time in a good few years?

If that was working why the sudden appearance of struggling again?

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On 24/07/2016 at 0:51 PM, pluk said:

 

I thought for the last couple of years they returned to operating at a profit for the first time in a good few years?

If that was working why the sudden appearance of struggling again?

I'm not sure, the only thing I can think of is that maybe they're trying to save money for the new coaster, but even so, there are plenty of less popular rides they could close (Grand Prix, Eddie Stobart, junior Carousel etc.) rather than a popular family area, including one of the wooden coasters.

 

I think their gate figures have been lower so far this year, but with the poor start to the season that's no surprise really - and closing areas/rides an hour early isn't going to do much to improve this.

 

With that said, I have noticed some improvements to ride operations, and I hope that continues to get better.

 

As for construction, groundwork has started but actual coaster construction is very unlikely to be this year.

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On ‎25‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 9:51 AM, Tom said:

As I'm sure you're aware in your line of work, it costs more to run larger scale attractions such as coasters due to higher staffing and power costs.  Which may explain why they prefer to close these attractions :)

Of course it's cost saving, that much is obvious.

 

The issue is, when we booked the holiday it was advertised as an 8pm close for the WHOLE park. A few weeks ago it was changed to 7pm, which is frustrating enough in itself. To then have Nick Land (that's 12 rides including a popular family wooden coaster) reduced by another hour to 6pm, and Wild Mouse to 5pm is beyond poor.

 

It takes away the enjoyment when you have to stress about getting on everything, factoring in that you have to get on two of the coasters earlier than the park closing time (yet they both generate large queues), it's no good for thrillseekers.

 

I'd also like to mention that there is NO mention of this before you enter the park - the sign outside says 7pm close, and the staff in the ticket centre haven't told us about it (they usually inform you of any late openers/early closes or rides closed on the day). It's extremely underhand and very unprofessional the way BPB are doing this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Myself and my partner went here last Monday for a day out/adventure. Had a really great time and did film a vlog which I'll stick on YouTube shortly. I was disappointed that the Skyforce scoreboard was broken as I fully went for it with the spins and actually made myself feel really quite ill, only to find out in the gift shop that it's knackered. Still managed to get onto the Big One but it didn't open until 3PM!! Issues with High Wind, there was then a huge queue when it opened just for 2 hours... Lame.

Now for my biggest gripe. My favourite ride at BPB is Valhalla, WHICH WAS CLOSED. Ongoing maintenance, no water on whatsoever and sounds of sawing and drilling inside. This wasn't advertised at all prior to the day so I was a little disappointed. If the Big One had remained closed all day as well I probably would have visited the customer service desk to complain.

You can see the location where the new Mack entrance is going to go, I took a few snaps while I was there for the day. All in all it was a good day to be honest but the rides are a lot more brutal and rickety than I remember. I wasn't sure if it was this or Alton Towers the day after but I actually got concussion at some point over the two days and it took me 4-5 days to recover.

BTW for Pokemon GO fans like myself, good amount of Pokestops around the park and The Grand National was a fiercely contested gym. Queuing becomes fun!

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I went around a week ago after a 4 hour drive.

Skyforce was a really great flat IMO, and Vahalla was as good as always :wub:

But oh god was Infusion unbearable, due to the restraints the lift hill caused discomfort... So the main ride was just...

Also the food was utter sh*t,  It actually made me appreciate the food at the Merlin Parks..

But Wild Mouse/Grand National made the trip worth it, plus SkyForce was a great flat.

 

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Next time I'm going there I'll head to the 'Spoons outside the park for food instead [emoji38]

Did this when we went. The Velvet Coaster a tiny bit pricier than a normal spoons but a darn sight better than in park grub! Just get your hand stamped, bugger off up the road about 2 minutes walk if that and enjoy! Just don't wash the stamp off in the loos...

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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Following up on my above post...

On 8/6/2016 at 10:35 PM, cptnmingo said:

Myself and my partner went here last Monday for a day out/adventure.


I've now gotten around to editing and publishing to YouTube our vlog of the day! :) Managed to get a bit of on-ride for Grand National and Wallace and Gromit (tehe, cheese) and a good look around the park at some other stuff. If you've got 10 minutes please give it a watch and throw me some support! Watching it only brings back memories of the neck pain from SkyForce for me...! I am STILL annoyed about that scoreboard. Now to work on the Thorpe Park vlog which I enjoyed a little more than BPB if I had to be honest.
 

 

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An update of early groundwork for Project 2018, there are much better/more up to date updates on other fan-sites but these are the most recent photos I have, taken a few weeks ago;

 

Access route under Big Dipper;

28970372506_d6d5e1f170_b.jpg

 

Groundwork on the old Turtle Chase site;

29002916665_6294e325cc_b.jpg

 

Markings around the proposed area, there's quite a few of these;

29003022655_eacdc9ddde_b.jpg

 

28926691931_2bb66269f6_b.jpg

 

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The blue pegs are used in surveying. Often during a levelling task to find the height of the terrain. They can be used for marking however normally metal pegs are used for that. I assume that they are finalising measurements for Mack. 

 

Having watched a video I am pretty sure the pegs are for a levelling task.

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Surely you won't need to get your hand stamped with the wristbands?

 

@cptnmingo Did you just rip off The Tim Tracker? [emoji33]

Hehe, that's awesome you got the reference :) That was an intentional nod to Tim who has never been to BPB. I told him I'd take him and the wind can blow that mustache right off his face... Thanks for watching to the end :)

As for hand stamping, we got stamped to walk out and up to the Velvet Coaster Wetherspoons but on the way back in they didn't check our stamp, they just checked our wristbands/tickets and took our word for it? Old habits die hard maybe.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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