Intro
We arrived for park opening, on an overcast day with predicted rain for the afternoon. Pre-purchasing tickets, and installed app on phone, allowed us to walk straight in scanning the QR code on our app on the turnstiles at the entrance before the official ride opening time 10am, not sure when they started letting people in, but we were in at 9.50am.
With bad weather predicted later in the day, we headed to the big one first at the back of the park.
The Rides (in order we rode them)
The Big One, UK tallest coaster, we managed to get the first train out of the station for the day. Amazing views, the ride is a bit on the rough side when riding it.
ICON, which to be honest is one of the best rides in the UK. A double launch coaster, smooth as silk, managed to get a front row seat with little to no queue at that time in the morning. Amazing ride, totally worth the visit. Friends went again, I know my limits and decided to sit this one out.
Avalanche, it’s a bobsleigh rollercoaster, quirky trains, no track, it’s a bit rough, but fun all the same.
Big Dipper, a classic old wooden coaster, very rough. Some nice airtimes over the hills, but I wouldn’t be rushing for a repeat ride. :/
Infusion, A ride I totally skipped, it’s a Vekoma Suspension roller-coaster and I personally don’t like Vekoma rides due to them being “a bit” rough. Sorry, just rough. Friends reported it was indeed rough, so I was glad I skipped that.
Wallace and Gromit, A dark ride, it was nice enough and a bit of a break from the coasters.
Nickelodeon Streak, another classic wooden coaster, originally called rollercoaster. It’s good enough rollercoaster but again a bit rough.
Steeplechase – Triple racing rollercoaster on horseback, I skipped this due to lunch, friends did it. Only 2 tracks were in use. They mention it was OK, but the seats can dig into your sides.
Ghost Train – A scary dark ride, a nice break from rollercoasters but nothing “special”.
Grand National – A classic wooden rollercoaster where two trains race each other, single track on a Mobius Loop, and sadly again. Extremely rough. Not being funny it genuinely felt like this ride is trying to kill you. Only rode one side (left), will do the right station next time I visit if I have forgotten how bad / rough this ride is.
Alice in Wonderland – A dark ride, a nice break from rollercoasters.
River Caves – Another Dark ride on water, it was ok again break from the coasters.
The positives.
The park itself was in great condition considering it was towards the end of season. Facilities (e.g. toilets) were very clean and well maintained throughout the day. The food options were plentiful and reasonably priced we opted for all you can eat pizza/pasta restaurant which cost £12 each (including unlimited soft drink).
We got lucky with the weather; bad weather was predicted but didn’t arrive until early evening. I think it helped keep the crowds down, so we barely had to queue for anything and no longer than 10 mins if we did queue. Operations on the rides were great, we managed 4 coasters in the first hour of the park opening!
We also manged multiple rides throughout the day.
The not so positives
The requirement to scan your phone at every ride was tiresome. We had to scan our park tickets to get into the park (fair enough), there is no option to enter the park without park tickets, so why on earth are we having to dig our phones out just before we get onto a ride to scan the park ticket again? It just made the whole park experience more bothersome.
Something needs to be done about the rough rides.
I know they are classics, but they need something done about them. Grand national was extremely rough to the point the majority of the party didn’t want to ride it again that day, and probably will never want to ride it again. It’s a great interactive ride but the roughness is now putting people off. Retrack it; new trains, do something to improve the ride experience whilst obviously maintaining the layout and original structure as much as possible.
Same can go for… Big Dipper, Nickelodeon Streak. again, classics that are getting SO rough they are undesirable rides.
For me when a ride is so rough it distracts from the experience of dips/climbs/turns something needs to be done. It reduces people’s desire to return next year, which is loss of revenue for the park.
Summary
Blackpool pleasure beach surprised me; I was expecting a basic park experience, but it delivered an exception one. Clean Park, clean facilities, reasonable food, helped. The flaff with scanning tickets at rides needs to be removed. Only downside was the roughness of the rides in general, and that is sadly the main reason to go to a theme park. the rides. I wouldn’t be rushing back there anytime soon, unless they announce a program of retracking/refreshing the classic rides.
Top Tip
Make sure your phone is fully charged and everyone in your party has the app and their ticket on their phone.