RustyShackleford
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach
- Thread starter RustyShackleford
- Start date
RustyShackleford
Member
So the little lad wanted to return to Blackpool.
I made an error a while back and after our visit the BPB I promised a return when the schools wouldn't be on. I then on a school training day booked somewhere to stay and managed to pick the one day that month that the pleasure beach was closed.! However we went on that occiasion to the Sandcastle and he loved it. So much so he has been hinting very much for a return.
Despite it being bank holiday week I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. We copped a cheap room at the Grand Hotel and also some cheap train tickets. We went up and after a walk along the front we went to our pre-booked session at the Sandcastle. Now last year we went and went for the earliest time on the Monday morning thinking we'd get some time in a vacant centre which worked quite well. This time we went for the opposite and went for the last session of the day thinking that folks would thin out during the time. This worked less well but little lad had a good time. One thing which worked quite well was the effective splitting of the queues, you had a longer wait for your hoop / ring than you actually had at the ride entrance. It may all be in the mind but this made you think you were moving more quickly to the excitement than you actually are.
Then the following morning the big trip. To the pleasure beach. Now I'd got the entrance tickets "free". Well, they were purchased using my tesco clubcard vouchers which you can double up the value.
Now having saved there I was confronted with the choice regarding speedy passes. Now I really hate the idea, it goes against everything I stand for. But last year having queued for over an hour for a ride only to have to disappear from the queue to allow little lad to go to the loo I was prepared to use the money saved on the tickets and go big and got the VIP pass for us both.
And I have to say it was a decision that really worked for us.
Avalanche wasn;t on the speedy pass and this is one of my favourite UK rides so we went here first and were first in the queue. The park supposedly opens at 10, but the gates opened a little before this. We had dumped our bag in the lockers which were inside the park boundary but outside the entrance and so we were unencumbered for the day. The ride ops turned up at 10 and there was the extensive testing of the ride before it opened. In fact despite the opening time being listed at 10 don't expect to be on any movig queues before 1030.
After a great trip on Avalanche we went on the Steeplechase, which was one ride that little lad liked last time. This was the ride which had the biggest issues with regards to speedy pass. This option wasn't open when we went, presumably as the queue didn't warrant it. But when we were queueing it opened and we then saw a fair few get access to the ride whilst we didn't. Hey ho.
But the system for Steeplechase on speedy pass is frankly flawed. For those that don't know, this is a ride where there is one queue which then splits into three as three horses "race" around the track. But the speedy pass only feeds horse one, so any chance of a group racing together is removed. But this isn't the main issue. It means that the queue for this first horse for regualr customers is much, much slower than the other two. When we went back to do this ride again it was quicker not to use speedy pass and when we went again towards the end of the day we were told that speedy pass was not being used on this ride for the remains of the day. Grrrrr...
So after this we did the following rides....
Big Dipper - I wish I'd worn a neck brace before going on - needed one after! Great for history though.
Grand National - I did this once but the little lad loved it and did a further 4 trips himself.
Flying machines - Harmless
Derby Racer - Surprisingly good fun, particularly enjoyed the organ playing ABBA!
Wallace and Gromit thrill-o-matic - good fun.
Nickleodeon Streak - Nice enough
Impossible - Not a ride, but little lad loves this.
Big One - We did this twice. Little Lad was nervous but he loved it and he wanted to repeat.
ICON - again we did this twice - What a blast! So much fun. Highly recommended.
InFusion - bleargh. Sorry, but no. It may have been our seat position and if you are front row it may be different but this was not fun.
I may have forgotten something, but little lad had 19 rides / attractions. I coudl have had the same but ducked out of his reapeated Grand National Trips. Apart from the steeplechase debacle (And the first icon trip) the VIP speedy pass meant we didn't have to queue for longer than 10 minutes.
We didn't get to do Valhalla, I ignored my own ruling about getting on the rides you want to do when you can and left it until later in the day. When we visited they had closed the ride and although we were assured it would be open before the close - even attracting long queues although it was closed - it didn't reopen. Which was disappointing but couldn't fail to take the shine off what was a brilliant day. Yes, the speedy passes were expensive, but I can't see a visit on such a busy day without taking advantage of them (And clubcard offers).
I made an error a while back and after our visit the BPB I promised a return when the schools wouldn't be on. I then on a school training day booked somewhere to stay and managed to pick the one day that month that the pleasure beach was closed.! However we went on that occiasion to the Sandcastle and he loved it. So much so he has been hinting very much for a return.
Despite it being bank holiday week I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. We copped a cheap room at the Grand Hotel and also some cheap train tickets. We went up and after a walk along the front we went to our pre-booked session at the Sandcastle. Now last year we went and went for the earliest time on the Monday morning thinking we'd get some time in a vacant centre which worked quite well. This time we went for the opposite and went for the last session of the day thinking that folks would thin out during the time. This worked less well but little lad had a good time. One thing which worked quite well was the effective splitting of the queues, you had a longer wait for your hoop / ring than you actually had at the ride entrance. It may all be in the mind but this made you think you were moving more quickly to the excitement than you actually are.
Then the following morning the big trip. To the pleasure beach. Now I'd got the entrance tickets "free". Well, they were purchased using my tesco clubcard vouchers which you can double up the value.
Now having saved there I was confronted with the choice regarding speedy passes. Now I really hate the idea, it goes against everything I stand for. But last year having queued for over an hour for a ride only to have to disappear from the queue to allow little lad to go to the loo I was prepared to use the money saved on the tickets and go big and got the VIP pass for us both.
And I have to say it was a decision that really worked for us.
Avalanche wasn;t on the speedy pass and this is one of my favourite UK rides so we went here first and were first in the queue. The park supposedly opens at 10, but the gates opened a little before this. We had dumped our bag in the lockers which were inside the park boundary but outside the entrance and so we were unencumbered for the day. The ride ops turned up at 10 and there was the extensive testing of the ride before it opened. In fact despite the opening time being listed at 10 don't expect to be on any movig queues before 1030.
After a great trip on Avalanche we went on the Steeplechase, which was one ride that little lad liked last time. This was the ride which had the biggest issues with regards to speedy pass. This option wasn't open when we went, presumably as the queue didn't warrant it. But when we were queueing it opened and we then saw a fair few get access to the ride whilst we didn't. Hey ho.
But the system for Steeplechase on speedy pass is frankly flawed. For those that don't know, this is a ride where there is one queue which then splits into three as three horses "race" around the track. But the speedy pass only feeds horse one, so any chance of a group racing together is removed. But this isn't the main issue. It means that the queue for this first horse for regualr customers is much, much slower than the other two. When we went back to do this ride again it was quicker not to use speedy pass and when we went again towards the end of the day we were told that speedy pass was not being used on this ride for the remains of the day. Grrrrr...
So after this we did the following rides....
Big Dipper - I wish I'd worn a neck brace before going on - needed one after! Great for history though.
Grand National - I did this once but the little lad loved it and did a further 4 trips himself.
Flying machines - Harmless
Derby Racer - Surprisingly good fun, particularly enjoyed the organ playing ABBA!
Wallace and Gromit thrill-o-matic - good fun.
Nickleodeon Streak - Nice enough
Impossible - Not a ride, but little lad loves this.
Big One - We did this twice. Little Lad was nervous but he loved it and he wanted to repeat.
ICON - again we did this twice - What a blast! So much fun. Highly recommended.
InFusion - bleargh. Sorry, but no. It may have been our seat position and if you are front row it may be different but this was not fun.
I may have forgotten something, but little lad had 19 rides / attractions. I coudl have had the same but ducked out of his reapeated Grand National Trips. Apart from the steeplechase debacle (And the first icon trip) the VIP speedy pass meant we didn't have to queue for longer than 10 minutes.
We didn't get to do Valhalla, I ignored my own ruling about getting on the rides you want to do when you can and left it until later in the day. When we visited they had closed the ride and although we were assured it would be open before the close - even attracting long queues although it was closed - it didn't reopen. Which was disappointing but couldn't fail to take the shine off what was a brilliant day. Yes, the speedy passes were expensive, but I can't see a visit on such a busy day without taking advantage of them (And clubcard offers).