WTF BPB?

[AidanCKY]

Id be gutted if they removed Grand National and it would make me consider not really coming much anymore.

Unless it was a case of removing it all, keeping the lovely station and replacing the coaster with another Möbius loop coaster. Or if they did it the same way Twisted colossus was done, where you do two laps each ride.

Then the spirit of the ride and it's station could be kept and at least that would be something

 

[emoo]

The Grand Nash is my favourite wooden coaster at the park (now, post 2017) mostly because the others run like trash on my few and far between visits. I do actually like it in a special way but needs soring out. My GP friends did not care for the roughness at all and put them off other rides.

Can you RMC a listed structure? Perhaps there's a way but the smaller conversions are my least favourite ones so I'd be looking for the height to be doubled, minimum. The Grander National here we come

 

[toofpikk]

To echo what's been said above - I get the lack of love for the ride. It's old, rough, and frankly a bit crap. But it definitely has a presence in the park that has a large contribution into the overall aesthetic and character of the pleasure beach. I wouldn't mind if it were replaced with a similar type of attraction - be it a complete retrack, reprofile, RMC, but I would be a little disappointed to see it replaced for an outdoor ice rink, or another patch of astro-turf. Whatever it's replaced with, it'd be nice to see the character of Nash and maybe some of its elements retained.

To counter @Nicky Borrill 's 'BPB need to keep adding rides people actually want to ride if they want to keep up' - the park is already littered with SBNO attractions that provide plenty of plots for a range of sized potential future investments. Why get rid of another one of the heritage attractions before these are used?

 

[Will]

Good day to bury bad news was it?

But it's been bordering on unrideable for years. Unpopular opinion perhaps, but zero tears will be shed by this goon when it's finally put to sleep. Blackpool have proved that they don't give a **** about history or nostalgia, so that won't be enough to save it.

All that said, obviously it needs to be replaced by something better. The park has become a cesspool of mediocrity and Valhalla alone is not worth the trip. *cries in Wild Mouse*

 

[Nicky Borrill]

the park is already littered with SBNO attractions that provide plenty of plots for a range of sized potential future investments. Why get rid of another one of the heritage attractions before these are used?

I mean, that's a very fair question. There is a lot of empty patches of land along the spine of the park now.

I wonder if that station is in the way. Remove that and it opens up a huge space there, combined with the currently empty patches. On their own those patches aren't enough for a modern coaster, but combined with Nash's station, and possibly the land that Nash's layout stood on too, and you've suddenly got enough land for something quite special.

 

[Ollie]

I love that Blackpool is like a coaster museum, but you get to ride them!
However, the Nash rides like **** so anything to modernise it I'm in favour for. I understand it's place in history but the Pleasure Beach is also a business that seems to be struggling at the moment and they can't rest on their laurels. I'd rather have an updated version to ride than not at all.

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

If this turns out to be their intention, I am done with BPB. They have tested my patience many times since the turn of the millennium with bizarre opening times, poor operations, and some of my personal favourites being inexplicably closed, but if the National goes it shall be the last straw.

I get it's a historical ride, and it's important for all that, but for me that doesn't even need to be discussed, it's a bloody great coaster, my favourite infact (despite my name!) and it's without question the most thrilling coaster in Blackpool.

I won't deny it has it's faults, the trains and the braking system, but what happens outside the station is absolute class. The airtime on the first drops camel is first class, the following two hills offer better than either the Dipper or Streak can muster up, and the drop off canal turn and the following double are the highlight of the ride. It's pacing is perfect, it's fast, thrilling and it never ever brings me back to the station not either laughing or smiling. It doesn't fizzle out part way round (Dipper) not does it have pointless track that goes on for no real reason (Icon) everything it does has a purpose and it's by far the stand out ride at BPB.

What baffles me with BPB is how the decide what rides justify large scale investment. For example Valhalla has been in existence 25 years, it's spent over a quarter of the time undergoing maintenance after 2 costly refurbishments, yet they continue to pour money into it.

IceBlast, a clapped out shot tower thats past its best gets turned into Launch Pad, painted up and a new cylinder installed hopefully giving it a new lease of life.

Yet the National which has been the signature ride of the park from the mid 30's right up until 94 gets left to rot, and while a appreciate new trains are costly, they are nothing at the side of what has gone into other projects. I am aware it may need trackwork too to repair the damage said trains have inflicted over the last two decades, but thats not beyond BPB's capability.

If it goes, BPB will lose several thousand pounds a year from my family, which will from my point of view be a shame because I love the place.