Blackpool Pleasure Beach Photo TR.

[Ed]

Ok so today I headed off to Blackpool to meet up with Kat, Patrick, Big John, Big John's sister, Big John's sister's friend and Big John's sisters other friends step daughter. (I gave up trying to give that correct grammar)

 

It would've been simpler to name them, but shamefully my memory is crap.

 

 

So here's the Blackpool Tower. Because we have no imagination here in the UK we stole the design of the Eiffel Tower. Genius!

 

 

I was half tempted to burn this games stall. But then I noticed the awesome ride behind it.

 

The Wild Mouse was running flipping fast today, out of my seat on every hill and slamming round the tight hairpins. I even touched the track above the lift hill! It made my heart thingy happy.

 

After being scared by the speed of the wild mouse we ventured into the haunted house "Trauma Towers". Now Blackpool have re-done alot of the scenes and added a couple of different ones. I actually was quite scared going round it, and Big John crept up on my a few times and screamed in my ear, which made me scream, which made Kat scream who was holding onto my hand.

 

I wasn't holding onto her for support... And the highlight of the House, The Tagada ride at the end. WHICH WAS RUNNING. I haven't been able to get on it in about 5 years and finally I got a chance to re-ride it. And it was scary, bouncing out of your seat whilst spinning round with no restraints is slightly crazy!

 

 

We were already hot by this time, around 12pm, so we decided to take a trip on Maxims Flying Machines, which are no longer sponsered by Ryan King Air...

 

 

Ice Blast was there too! I had to take my flip flops off and the tarmac was as hot as hell. Me & Kat struck a pose for the on-ride photo. Which I actually bought shock horror. It was a very funny photo and when I get it back off Kat this weekend i'll post it up!

 

 

This beast of a ride was absolutely flying round the track. Back Row! And coming over some of the bunny hops I was actually glad the lapbar had come down slightly during the ride!

 

Because Blackpool can suck sometimes they closed it halfway through the afternoon.... Losers.

 

 

He really looks like someone. I can't put my finger on it though! Oh yeh we went on the River Caves. It was a laugh, and quite cool with all the mist they pump into it.

 

 

Fan like an Egyptian!

 

 

This guy was so hot he stripped down to his undies!

 

After the River Caves we headed over to Big Dipper where me and Kat were treated to a front row ride I was slightly displeased as previous rides in the front didn't give any airtime and gave a bad impression of the ride in my mind.. However... It was insane! Going up and over every hill I was slamming into the lapbar! It shocked me how much a ride can change. I really enjoyed it today, it was quite rough however... Going round by the turn around near to Steeplechase and the Big One was harrowing.

 

 

There was hardly for the Big One, it was virtually inside the station all day, and they were running two trains until later that evening so it went fast! I've never done the front row so the first time we go on i'm determinded to get it. But this prick infront of us is all like, no you go there because we went all want to be on a train together.

 

This guy had a group of about 20 people I think? And I was like.... Ermm... No? But we relinquished to a second row seat in the front car eventually. I left the station shouting profanaties at him. I know it was probably rude but on a day like that i'm not gonna be told to do something by a complete twat.

 

Oh and the Pleasure Beach really needs to look at who they hire for ride-ops. One of them in the Big One station jumped onto the train as it was pulling into the station to get to the other end of the platform quicker. Bit dangerous?

 

 

Second time around and I GOT FRONT ROW. And it's totally worth it. Quite a bit of airtime going over the hills and especially pulling into the MCBR.

 

 

Big John's sisters other friends step daughter had obviously never seen a seatbelt before.

 

 

Obey the yellow line or be eaten by The Big One's ride ops! (I Didn't know i'd taken this photo, I think it was an accident!)

 

 

Hi Elissa! So I rode the Yellow side for the first time ever I think today. The brakes weren't working that well, and I ended up going round a corner on the inside, so it was dead tight, being thrown out of my seat my right foot being pulled from the foot thing on the other side, and for once the seatbelt actually proved useful.

 

I feared for my life at certain points on that ride.

 

 

2 Coaster Shot!

 

Avalanche was insane aswell. I think the rides at Blackpool just live off heat and sun! It pounded round the corners and threw me forwards on the onride photo.

 

 

Everyone together now, Awwww. Mini Vertical Loop!

 

 

Everyone together now, Hi Derek!

 

 

Insert your own Beaver Joke here

 

We went here to do 2 things, ride the childrens log flume because it actually gets you quite wet when you fill a boat with adults, and ride the Zipper Dipper. Because i've never done it.

 

After the childrens land we headed off to Rollercoaster, where the seatbelt mysteriously came apart on the lift hill. I don't know how it happened! Honest..

 

And then we dragged ourselves onto the Gold Mine ride. It was quite cool in places but I was feeling very tired at this point so spent most of the ride trying to fall asleep.

 

 

Valhalla had the longest queue of the day, not suprisingly. The ride was running really well with alot of the effects running again..

 

From just looking into the inch deep puddle in the boats you Know you're going to get wet... Infact we all got drenched soaking head to toe after going through various waterfalls that didn't turn off in time and the general soaking you get on the drops.

 

For a ride that cost £26 Million it's worth every penny. The fire effects are outstanding and they had the tunnel of water working. That was one of the things which just poured water over me.

 

After this Big John, Big John's sister, Big John's sister's friend and Big John's sisters other friends step daughter had to go as Big John was working at 9pm! This was at about 6pm I reckon.

 

After we had the general goodbye nice to see you again/meet you, me Kat and Patrick headed over to the South Pier for a Crazy Mouse Credit!

 

It was really scary, the brakes weren't that effective on this either and we span so fast! Plus the whole ride is literally a matter of feet from the Ocean! They have some amazing rides on the South Pier.

 

A Bungee Ball, a Scad Tower, a Skycoaster and a Bungee Jump! Unfortunately these 4 insane rides come with a hefty fee, £30 or something. If you go on the rides with more people the cost comes down a bit. Next time i'm there i'd certainly stump up the £10 with 2 other people to ride the Skycoaster.

 

 

Nice view from the pier over towards the Pleasure Beach.

 

 

These seagulls were busy planning world domination.

 

Anywho then it was time for Kat and Patrick to head off home as Kat's home station literally closes its doors and you can't get out of it, and Patrick lives way away. So they had to make sure they didnt get stranded anywhere.

 

Now because trains to Manchester are frequent enough I headed back to the Pleasure Beach for some more rides!

 

 

It was about 7pm I reckon by this time, so people had started to filter out of the park and boy was I happy! No queue.

 

So I went for the Back Row.... BIG mistake. The ride absolutely shattered my back at the bottom of each drop. As I said earlier it was actually enjoyable today, normally I think the Big Dipper is slightly crap but it was speeding along today!

 

After this I went on the Steeplechase again and chose the green track (the red one wasn't working all day) and it was a bit less violent than the yellow track. But my mind lost concentration just before one of the corners and I didn't prepare myself for it. Once again I was flung off my seat and nearly ended up on the Go Kart track!

 

 

Now there's a sight. No Queue! Well there was a slight one in the station but it wasn't more than 10 mins. They'd taken one of the trains off so the queuetime was a bit longer..

 

I headed back up to the Big Dipper because it was literally a walk-on and got into the front car in the 4th row. Still giving airtime and judging by the hairtime two girls in the front row were getting it was really going strong at the end of the day.

 

 

I've never ridden Spin Doctor as the queues are usually terrible due to the incredibly poor capacity. But seeing as there only 10 people in it I decided I simply had to get a ride. It's actually very fun and I got quite a few backflips due to a very uneven weight balance. It was me on one side and two quite heavy looking people on the other. The result was much flipage and a few front flips which scared the life out of me.

 

The sun had started to set now at about 7.45pm so I took a couple of nice shots.

 

 

In the bottom of that picture you can see the ride which is very heavily rumoured to leave the park at the end of this year. In it's place is said to be a watercoaster.

 

I was really bummed out that it wasn't open today. One it would've relieved the queues of Valhalla no end, and two it's the best Log Flume i've been on!

 

It was now about 8pm and it was almost time for me to head off. As I was walking out of the park I saw the Wild Mouse was a walk on so I ran on for a quick thrashing!

 

I reluctantly left and got one of Blackpools famous trams up to the North Pier where the station is a 5 minute walk from. And what do I see as i'm pootling along the promenade...

 

 

I really don't know how to describe my emotions when I saw the Golden Arches... I guess you could describe it in one 'word'. Ugh...

 

And that was the end of my trip! I got one last pretty photo of the sunset before I attempted to run in flip flops (note to self, it doesn't work) to the train station... I had to ask directions to it because there were absolutely no signposts. Lovely

 

Thankyou for reading!

 

 

When Kat Patrick and Big John get their photos online i'll post the up here! There were some apparant dodgy antics in Burger King where Kat thought I was trying to finger my drink of Sprite...

 

I apologise that this has quite alot of text in. I did try to take lots of photos I promise!

[knottslover77]

Nice trip report.

[WillMontu]

Anyone know if Elissa's got that McDee's credit?

 

I was able to visit BPB on the UK tour, and was able to get all the credits, including Space Invader.

Also, the park map said that the log flume was in its last season.

[niiicolaaah]

I love and hate you so much right now.

 

Love: Awesome trip report.

 

Hate: You got to go to Blackpool and I didn't.

[Hicko]

I enjoyed the style of that trip report. Photos with a paragraph or two underneath. Looks like it was a good day. I will be there in 2 weeks for a weekend.

[Divv3k]

Great TR! Out of curiosity how much does it cost to ride the Crazy Mouse?

[bgwfreak]

Nice TR. Final shot is awesome with the sunset.

[Ed]

Anyone know if Elissa's got that McDee's credit?

 

I was able to visit BPB on the UK tour, and was able to get all the credits, including Space Invader.

Also, the park map said that the log flume was in its last season.

 

I don't care for Space Invader that much. There were a couple of school parties there earlier in the day and the queue for it was out of the door. And in the 34C heat there was no way was going on it. I've already got the credit besides

 

I love and hate you so much right now.

 

Love: Awesome trip report.

 

Hate: You got to go to Blackpool and I didn't.

 

Oh you know it's all love Nicole. <3

 

Great TR! Out of curiosity how much does it cost to ride the Crazy Mouse?

 

It's £3 to ride the Crazy Mouse. I loved the fact it only cost me £15 to get into the Pleasure Beach. My rides on the Big One alone would've cost me £28!

 

Reflections on yesterday,

 

-Screaming in terror at the wall of water that poured into our boat on Valhalla

-Not going on Noah's Ark.

-Finally got all the credits at the Pleasure Beach

-All the rides were running amazingly.

-The Park is looking so much nicer than in previous years. Lots of people going round with vacuum things picking up litter, enthusiastic games people, running more than one train on most of the rides.

 

The only slightly stupid thing about the day was the Grand National. The station brakes are still messed up and they were only running 2 trains...

[SharkTums]

Mmmm Steeplechase...

[Shockwave]

I really should have come yesterday. I had a whole day off work and I chose to stay home.

[robbalvey]

This is a really KICK ASS Photo TR...and it's kind of gotten buried...so I'm bumping it...because it was awesome!!!

 

--Robb

[tinhead]

Big Clap to you for a top TR..

 

Where was that mini loop though?

[Ed]

Thanks Robb!

 

The Mini-Vertical loop is where the Eddie Stobart lorry ride is. I think it's somewhere below Avalances first turn?

 

A couple more images.

 

 

Kiddie Log Flumes rule!

 

 

Look America, no air-gates! And a 1ft wide station platform...

 

 

Kat and Big Johns sisters other friends step-daughter on Rollercoaster.

 

 

These guys were using their big red tools...

[Musical Pete]

Nash is still playing up? I was under the impression it had improved but I've not been for quite a while. Its computers like to freak out and shut the system down.. we all look forward to Roller Coaster and Big Dipper going the same way don't we!

 

Don't take Roller Coaster's platform for granted.. it might not be that way much longer. Health & safety rules, bitch! Yeah..

 

We're so lucky our society has been influenced by America - showing us the insane dangers of life and letting us know we can get compensation for suffering a scratch. Thanks!