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- britcitchris's review
Have a picture of Blackpool Pleasure Beach?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of hayley.
| Value for Money | 7.8/10  |
|---|---|
| Reviewer Rating | 8.8/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.3/10  |
By britcitchris
on 5th Sep 2006
| Date of visit (month/year) | 31.08.06 |
|---|---|
| Ages suited for | All ages |
| Other info / Tips? | Look out for ride vouchers in the papers. |
| Value for money | 10/10 |
| Overall value | 10/10 |
 britcitchris's recommendation | |
Plenty of rides for all ages
Big queues sometimes.
Blackpool T.R 31.08.06
During our hectic hols, the family and I visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach for the day. I had reserved our discounted Ride and Show wristbands before we left for our hols. £15 each was the price and as the Mrs didn't want to ride anything, she decided to use her wristband to get into the show, Eclipse, later in the day. After parking near the rear of the pleasure beach, we joined a lengthy queue to collect our wristbands. A security guard motioned us around the corner where another wristband collection booth was located. Only one girl serving though, so we still waited some time before we were in possession of our bands (the lengthy wait caused by the computer system taking a long time to show our booking.)
We headed off to our first ride: Bling. This was our first ride on Bling and let me tell you, it's a very impressive beast to watch whilst waiting. Think Samurai but then imagine a 120 ft arm that swings the same style arms of people around and you have Bling. The height of it offers the rider great views and the harness is nice and comfortable. Equally impressive is the lighting on the ride itself; very state of the art. The ride time itself is decent too and halfway through, the arm lifts up the riders to it's maximum height rotating them slowly, giving them a slow, panoramic view of the pleasure beach. A top ride with plenty of airtime and laughter.
After Bling we moved on to Wild Mouse. After a 20 min wait, we were on and spent the next couple of minutes being terrified out of our wits. Despite the numerous rides on this over my many, many visits to the mighty Blackpool, I was still terrified, especially as I had the car to myself. (Having all that room only encouraged me more that I could fall out!) A classic wooden thriller that is as scary as it is fun.
We made our way to the Grand National, eager to see the new cars and their seat belts. Another 20 min wait and the flash new trains pulled into the station. The colour and paint finish was very eye catching. I found the seat belt a little fiddly but the new lap restraint was comforting without being too oppressive. The ride itself was simply class all the way (as usual) but I did miss the jarring body thuds from the airtime that the old lap restraint allowed. Nevertheless, Grand National is a fast, thrilling and unique woodie and a great ride.
A walk over to Ice Blast followed and this was the kids first time on it. Unfortunately the queue attendant broke us up and I rode the ride after them. They enjoyed it and I loved it as usual. I always get tingling in my feet from anticipation just before the launch and today was no exception. Next thing you know you are kissing the sky and then dropping down. A pure thriller and no mistake.
Lunch was next on the itinerary. The kids and I met up with the Mrs and the adorable Ben and we headed over to the Beach Restaurant next to the Globe theatre. I have eaten there before a few times and have always been impressed with the variety and quality. There always seems to me, an almost home cooked feel to the hot food there. We all enjoyed our dinner but I did have one grumble; the till receipt displays your full credit card number and expiry. Not good.
By now the Mrs had found out that Eclipse was not on that day and she was pretty disappointed. We decided to all take a tour of the park on the Monorail. However, we were not allowed the buggy onboard nor were we permitted to carry Ben in our arms. The operator explained that this was a safety precaution in case of an evacuation. I couldn't complain, safety has to be the paramount concern at a theme park. Also, many years ago I was on the Monorail when guess what, it broke down and we all had to evacuate! I could clearly see from that experience that doing this whilst carrying a baby could be pretty dangerous.
After the Monorail blowout, the kids wanted to go on the Pit Stop. Now this ride is quite possibly my very earliest memory of Blackpool Pleasure Beach. I must have been seven years old at the time. I remember seeing these cars being driven around outside into the park and being blown away by the fact you could pay to experience this. I so desperately wanted to drive the car but of course, my dad had to. The cars were petrol then and the cars were a lot more responsive to the pedal. 29 years later and the cars are modern, electric ones. They are no longer like TVR's but modern Aston Martins instead. The pedal control is poor and worse yet, if you get within several feet of the car in front, the power cuts out. The worse bit though is near the end of the track, where your photo is taken by an authentic looking speed camera. An interesting touch but it's made a laughing stock as the ride stops your car to wait for the cars ahead to have their photo taken. When you finally get going again, your photo is taken whilst you are crawling by at an incredible 3 or 4 miles per hour! The kids drove their own cars and quite liked the ride. This ride had the second longest queue of our day; over 45 minutes.
Time to get wet. The Valhalla queue was enormous so I decided I should pay homage to the Log Flume, now called Drench Falls. This log ride is roughly 30 yrs old and I remember a man, standing on a platform at the end of the main drop, taking your photo. Pictures of famous celebs on the ride used to be displayed around. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed this again. I have not ridden this for a few years but nothing has changed. The flow rate between drops is still remarkably quick and you get splashed a lot when bumping into the turns. The ride offers great views of the hills of the Big One but we only got splashed a bit on the main drop. I obviously hadn't been working on my beer gut enough, recently! Well, my feet got soaked but that was it! Also, what with the rain coming down, the effect was some what neutralized! A classic ride that I will miss terribly.
The Big Dipper was next. Excellent paint job on the cars and again, a bit of a fiddly seat belt. There were two trains running so the queue was only five minutes. It was a classic ride, full of rattles and jumps and a great sense of speed, especially on it's classic camel humps. A Blackpool signature ride.
We moved back over towards the rear of the park and rode Avalanche. The queue looked worse than it actually was and we ended up only waiting ten minutes. A great ride, full of super smooth, high speed turns.
We had a second spin on Bling and all really enjoyed it, especially rolling upside down at such a height.
Time to do the Roller Coaster and this was one of my highlights of the day. The seat belt in no way impaired the ride and it was every bit as classic as I've always found it. Again, The Big One makes for dramatic scenery, especially as you thunder through it's framework and I always love the banking drop past the beer garden of the pub next to the South entrance. (It's also great to sip a beer in the beer garden and watch the Roller Coaster thunder past ;-)
It was now time to meet the Mrs and Ben for a quick bite of tea and a cuppa, then it was off to The Big One. It was raining quite a bit by now and the queue ended up being our longest of the day; one hour approx as only one train was running. The twilight, ride lighting and the rain made a perfect ride. On the lift hill up, I looked down over the side and watch the lit up rain, fall down to earth. It was a fantastic sight. The sensation of thundering down the huuuge drop with the rain crashing against you was a completely exhilarating one and the whole experience was worth waiting every minute for. Rough? Yes it was but I've ridden a lot worse (Colossus anyone?) Some people may bash the Big One but for me, it's still a fantastic ride.
The kids and the Mrs decided to ride Steeplechase, while I looked after Ben. They had fun on the ride but some loading confusion spoilt it a bit. My step daughter decided she wanted a final ride on Wild Mouse before going home and my step son had had enough for the day. I took her on and the queue was so short (it was nearly closing time) that we walked around and went straight on again. Still terrifying and fun in equal measures!
And that was our day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The half price entrance fee (from the web site) was excellent value and I feel at full price, I would have been satisfied. I did notice that the Pleasure Beach is definitely missing some theming though. A bit more colour in between the rides and a lick of paint on the older rides (like Big Dipper for instance) would certainly, not go a miss. Overall, a top day out that lots of showers could not spoil.
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Clair
on 5th Sep 2006
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on 26th Sep 2006