April 20, 20187 yr comment_257550 I think it's pretty clear they are having a dreadful year attendance wise so far this season, and that is almost certainly due to people holding out for Icon. It is bloody obvious that would be the case, but it seems mid season opening was the plan all along for some reason. Ride closures are not ideal, and just gives people more reason not to visit so I question the overall wisdom of it, but it is certainly preferable to randomly closing hours early without warning. A shame they can't half day split twice the amount of rides, which would give a similar saving but alow guests the opportunity to ride everything on any given day. As has been said, an independent family run park has to be far more careful with their spend. I bet from the moment Icon is open the park will be heaving and they finally start running the place properly again. They need to start the hype though, down south there has been nothing I've seen to promote Icon.
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257552 37 minutes ago, Stuntman707 said: It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit. #betterthannothing
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257555 Hearing how badly Blackpool have been doing at the start of the year is hardly surprising. Not only is their biggest new attraction for years not only open yet, but the weather has been poor and their PR team leaving a lot to be desired (it seems). One just needs to look at the number of times the park has shut much earlier without notice, which means a noticeable amount of visitors will probably leave with a sour taste in their mouth with no intention on returning. Icon needs fo be a success, otherwise I will be concerned as to what future the park has. These midweek closures are really bad and just show how poor things really are right now.
April 21, 20187 yr comment_257580 Other than Big Dipper I really couldn't care less... The Pleasure Beach fanboy in me wants to believe there's more logic behind closing Dipper than just "cost cutting LOL", for example Icon related stuff or possibly non essential maintenance being forced on them. If it is some form of non essential maintenance, then I'd rather they corrected that now so that it can run at it's best when all the new arrivals visit for Icon.
April 21, 20187 yr comment_257584 1 hour ago, Mega-Lite said: Other than Big Dipper I really couldn't care less... The Pleasure Beach fanboy in me wants to believe there's more logic behind closing Dipper than just "cost cutting LOL", for example Icon related stuff or possibly non essential maintenance being forced on them. If it is some form of non essential maintenance, then I'd rather they corrected that now so that it can run at it's best when all the new arrivals visit for Icon. I have since been made aware that the Big Dipper is being repainted... in grey. This could potentially explain the midweek closures on the Dipper in particular. Not too sure whether the grey is an undercoat or the final colour scheme yet.
April 21, 20187 yr comment_257587 I'm hardly Mr B&Q, but do you even need to undercoat wood? Surely you just sand it and put the fresh paint on top of that... If they really are painting it grey, then paint me intrigued...
April 21, 20187 yr comment_257588 1 hour ago, BaronC. said: 99% certain the grey is an undercoat. I hope you're right, whilst I can kind-of see why they may think it'd look good in grey (as it's next to Icon), I think it'd blend in too much and lose its own character if it did stay that colour.
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257592 The way I see it, Icon needs to be a success straight out of the gate or the Pleasure Beach is in real financial trouble. Hasn't it been making almost zero profit for years now? The lack of advertising is worrying too. Towers nailed it with Wicker Man but I haven't heard a peep from the Pleasure Beach so far on Icon. Thats concerning.
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257598 I started writing a reply but it spiraled out of control and I ended up writing it on Medium instead. I've dived into their Annual Filings to Companies House to see what their financials have looked like since 1987. https://medium.com/@simon.stirrat/blackpool-pleasure-beach-financial-health-f0f8be8a4b4f In short: Blackpool do have financial issues, a high debt level and seem to rely on new investments to produce profit. They've improved a lot over the years though, it also shows just how much Valhalla and Pleasureland Southport affected the company.
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257601 6 hours ago, Mark9 said: The way I see it, Icon needs to be a success straight out of the gate or the Pleasure Beach is in real financial trouble. Hasn't it been making almost zero profit for years now? The lack of advertising is worrying too. Towers nailed it with Wicker Man but I haven't heard a peep from the Pleasure Beach so far on Icon. Thats concerning. They have been making a profit since 2015. £400,000 in 2015 £821,000 in 2016 £1m in 2017 Sources https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/northwest/revenue-rises-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/northwest/147036-blackpool-pleasure-beach-coasts-profit
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257603 All that profit has been wiped out by Icon though... So it's success is necessary...
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257604 10 hours ago, Mark9 said: The lack of advertising is worrying too. Towers nailed it with Wicker Man but I haven't heard a peep from the Pleasure Beach so far on Icon. Thats concerning. It's interesting, because I saw a Blackpool TV ad a couple of weeks back (the first time I'd ever seen one actually..), but no mention of Icon. No mention of special offers. Literally just a bog standard 'Come visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach's advert. You'd think, even with no opening date set at the time, they'd be pushing a huge new coaster any way possible. But no.
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257607 It's very concerning, and very bizarre. They made a huge push on Icon very early on in the process (having announced it back in September 2016 and the name reveal in April last year - possibly too early on both accounts). Now it's come to the final few weeks and we should be seeing Icon plastered everywhere, but nothing's happening. I do fear for the success of Icon for that reason alone, whilst it's a huge investment it can't market itself!
April 22, 20187 yr comment_257609 It's likely that the poor attendance at the start of the year means the advertising budget had taken a hit and so they can not afford to ramp up the hype train.
April 24, 20187 yr comment_257629 Towers isn't exactly heaving "off peak" - looking at today for example, the longest queue I've seen is 20 mins (good old Galactica) with everything else being 0 mins - 15 mins. Right now on the "Family" side of rides at Towers, 19 out of 21 rides have a 0 minute queue. That's a lot of staff doing not a lot - as said above, Merlin can probably cope with that better than a one off attraction could do.
April 24, 20187 yr comment_257631 I maybe could see Pleasure Beach moving to a US/Cedar Fair style opening times. May-October Weekends only (plus bank and school holidays) with Mon-Fri openings during the height of summer only. In essence scrapping off peak days but opening all day during peak days. I think this is kind of what Thorpe are doing with their late openings during summer. It would be such a shame though, those off peak days are great for people like us but if there's less than say 5000 people on park are they even turning a profit?
April 30, 20187 yr comment_257748 If you haven’t already, go and buy the ICON soundtrack from iTunes. It’s amazing, and a bargain. I actually didn’t know about it until Amanda told me it was available. A great decision by BPB. So there’s no marketing about for ICON. Oh well; the queues will hopefully be Blackpool’s normal pleasant experiences!
May 4, 20187 yr comment_257859 The ICON shop looks stunning, a very high quality finish and I love the reference to the project name. https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/ I only hope the station looks as good as that come opening day.
May 5, 20187 yr comment_257864 The shop looks rather grand, however I find the lack of promotion from BPB disturbing. It’s like they don’t want people to know about their new ride. Recent motives from the park suggest they are still struggling (as a result of low gate numbers and ride expense). I do worry for the park’s future should Icon be a failure.
May 5, 20187 yr comment_257866 Nice shop. They've clearly seen how successful and appreciated Merlin shops are and how important they can be, so taken some inspiration from that. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the project come together.
May 5, 20187 yr comment_257867 I saw an ad on tv recently too, last time I remember seeing one was when Infusion was new I think. Strange there was no mention of Icon. People I’ve spoken to didn’t even know BlackpoolPB were building a new coaster. I absolutely expect Icon to not have any teething issues when it opens. The amount of testing they’ve done on it for months now. That and Merlin really stepped up their game with the Wickerman which is the best ride they’ve built in decades along with very cheap annual passes, BPB is really under pressure to deliver a flawless, successful ride now.
May 5, 20187 yr comment_257868 The decoration around the ride area is looking rather good now; https://www.facebook.com/TheParkUpdates/
May 5, 20187 yr comment_257871 4 hours ago, Stuntman707 said: I absolutely expect Icon to not have any teething issues when it opens. Thanks man, you've probably spited us now! That shop looks lovely, let's be real though, with Amanda in charge if it didn't look great heads would roll. What I am impressed with though is all the various products available for Icon, to echo Baron, they must have seen the wide product range Merlin offer and thought "if people will buy all that crap, let's offer it", very exciting and I've already decided I want an Icon shirt! I'm trying my best to not look at Icon updates these days because it makes me far too excited but I will confess this new batch has given me faith that the surrounding areas should look nice when it's finished, plus that station exterior now looks very passable and modern.
May 10, 20187 yr comment_257980 Just as a pre-warning to anyone visiting for Icon, it seems that car parking is rising to £15 on the 26th May; I'd recommend finding somewhere else to park, £15 is obscene!
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