Recent content by Robbie

Taking the piss now. It's like performance art or something.

Getting an e-mail with the subject "It's time - the moment you've all been waiting for..." which turns out be about the opening of this year's Hot Ice Show and not, say, any new ride or the re-opening of Grand National just about sums up all that's wrong with Blackpool Pleasure Beach lately.

Yeah, you’d imagine so…. it’s just this is Blackpool Council we’re talking about!

Seems more a case of Blackpool taking it back from Merlin, rather than being given up. I'd love to know what happened here - those attractions are in a much better state than when Merlin inherited them and I'm not really confident Blackpool Council will do as good a job running them.

A Wicked land would basically be The Wizard of Oz, which was first published 125 years ago and has never gone out of print. I think it's fair to say by now that it's quite popular.

I wonder if they could build it so the land around Hobbiton is just the local farmers fields. Not part of the theme park at all, but can seem it from certain viewpoints.

Attendance at most live events (eg theatre, concerts) has gone up since Covid so it seems theme parks are the same. People rediscovering a taste for 'real' experiences.

The issue really is not that BPB scrap old rides, but that they do so without warning. Having a 'last chance to ride...' period would be good business, as well as giving fans a chance to go on a favourite ride a final time.

Really enjoyed these rapids, even the fact they looked a bit out-of-place. One of the few rides at Legoland with a bit of an edge to it, and as such a good part of the park's all-round offer.

Pretty desperate stuff from the Pleasure Beach marketing team... https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23730133.blackpool-pleasure-beach-guests-convinced-spotted-ed-sheeran/?ref=ebln&nid=780&u=66d21947c80394c8af98e8024a2e89e1&date=190823

Some footage of Blackpool Pleasure Beach in this BBC TV report from 1954:

Not sure where to put this, but here's Sooty and Sweep riding the Big Dipper at Blackpool...

Never seen it, but about 10 years ago I did visit the park with friends who weren't as interested in rides as I am so they went to watch the Ice show as it was included in the ticket and said it was OK, though largely empty.

The reporting is hilarious, but operators really should be checking stuff like this if only to avoid the OTT negative publicity, and for basic public re-assurance among those who may be in two minds whether to go on rides.

It's been downhill since they dropped the free entry/pay-per-ride. In theory the current system should be better, but if people are paying for a full day of rides in the park they really should be opening all the rides for a full day. They could maybe get away with it in the old days as tourists...