Musical Pete Posted December 13, 2005 Author Share Posted December 13, 2005 Nope, it won't be breaking any records. I think the PB realise they can't compete in that way - they don't have the whole of Blackpool to build on afterall! (a little over the top maybe, but they just don't and won't have the space of say CP; SFMM etc.) Don't have to build big and record breaking to be good. The world's biggest coasters tend to be the worst.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimonn Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 Scrap the ol' Flume ride, and you'll have plenty of space... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkie360 Posted December 17, 2005 Share Posted December 17, 2005 If the Beach won't be breaking any records in 2010, then can "breaking the boundaries .. where no ride has gone before" must mean heading out to sea .. ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[x] sammie [x] Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 went to BPB yesterday and I was pleased to see The Grand National back open after a while of being closed, the pleasure beach had decided to get rid of the spotted and checkered trains and have standard green and purple. but I have to say I honestly do not remember grand national being as rough as it was yesterday. Anybody else had the oportunity to try the new trains out? Other than that it was a great day, although the Pepsi Max Big One was shut due to the wind, Iron Bru Revolution opened for the total of three train rides and then broke down, did'nt get chance for steeplechase or avalanche and 'the rollercoaster' now has seat belts installed into the trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdanny Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Does Grand National still have buzzbars? How long has "RollerCoaster" had seatbelts? I remember that the "RollerCoaster" originally had no restraints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[x] sammie [x] Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 last year when I went to BPB rollercoaster had no restraints (the seatbelts) so I was a little gutted that they had put them in but all the same there are no lap bars just a seatbelt across your lap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Hmm, that's interesting... Has anyone else been on Nash with the new trains? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFanatic Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 All I know about them was that they were at PTC about the same time as the Kennywood Racer trains (last spring). I would imagine that BPB has had them for a while now. If they got the same treatment as Kennywood's, then they have new dividers (hollow for more room) and new seatbelts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 They are new to BPB this season, here is a picture of them: What did you mean by "rough"? Grand National has always been a bit of an "aggressive" coaster with a decent amount of airtime, sometimes pretty harsh airtime. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[x] sammie [x] Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 last time I went on the 'nash' going down the hills I admit are very aggressive but the new trains throw you about going round 'canal turn' and I somehow don't remember them being like that, but that might just be me? also the operators haven't quite got the hang of the new system just yet, getting the train inline for the next riders took them at least five attempts each time, sounding like an awful attempt at beepboxing as all that could be herd was 'shhh' from one train and the other side echoing, very entertaining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 They must have added the Rollercoaster's seatbelts pretty recently - last time I was there (early March) you still had the freedom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hicko Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 I'm sure Musical Pete will see this thread soon enough and tell us what he thinks as he seems to know pretty much everything to do with PBB Can't wait to ride it again. Seems like so long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 One of rollercoasters trains had seatbelts fitted at the beginning of the year, and they've either done the second train or switched them over. I'm really interested to see how these new Nash trains ride, hopefully the ops won't make you push the bar down all the way. When it was just the bar for two people if someone larger sat with you the airtime (very front or back) was so intense. I actually had to hold on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutterflower Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 lol i tried that last time ed, when we were there with Big Jon. One of the scariest experiences of my life... Do the ride ops on Rollercoaster check you have put them on now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 lol i tried that last time ed, when we were there with Big Jon. One of the scariest experiences of my life... Haha I did the same. I actually had to hold on, best thing was that Ian did it before and he was said to be shreiking like a girl going round. So I was extremely nervous. Plus it had been raining all day, so the cars were just flying round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 I'm gonna miss those days! I'm pretty comfortable sitting in PTCs, so these should make too much difference apart from the new restraint system. With the Rollercoaster now receiving seat belts, that leaves the Big Dipper as the least bastardized of the three tall woodies at BPB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdanny Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Dose Grand National still have the buzz bars? Why did they have to add seat belts to the RollerCoaster? The addition of seat belts probably lowered the excitement rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 ^Nope. The Nash now has individual lap bars and seat belts. New Health & Safety regulations are the reason for seatbelts on Rollercoaster. And this isn't Rollercoaster Tycoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdanny Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 So there are no more coasters without any restraints. Why did Grand National change to individual restraints. I think they are worse than Gerstauler trains. Who came up with individual restraints? Also, did Big Dipper also get individual restraints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 ^ Aren't the individual restraints on the new Grand National trains the same ones as on most of the world's other wooden coasters with PTC's? Personally I think you get more airtime with those individual ratcheting bars than you do the buzz bars. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musical Pete Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 Grand National hasn't had buzzbars since the early 1980s - the old trains just retired were built with them as supplied in 1980, but were modified not long after by the PB with 6" deeper bodywork and the lower bars - I expect these are what you meant by buzzbar as they used the same electrical system (I felt like explaining all this as "buzzbar" traditionally refers to bars such as those on Phoenix). The new cars have individual bars because PTC only build cars with those or buzzbars, and the PB won't be buying buzzbars again. I've not ridden the new trains yet (aside from sitting in a blue car in a PB workshop in October ) but they finally took public round for the first time a week ago. At present, the parking is taking a stupid time due to the cars needing to be lined up exactly for track mounted plugs to raise and push a mechanism on the front of the cars, connected to all the bars. They've messed up with this - the better option would be a long bar instead of little square plugs, so there'd be more range to park the trains meaning the computer wouldn't keep opening and closing the brakes, shunting the trains a few inches at a time to line up exact with the plugs. If this isn't drastically improved, it'll never run four trains publically again - it would be pointless as the throughput would be the same as with two! I was looking forward to the new system (even as a lover of old manual brakes) but at the moment it saddens me. Hopefully lessons will be learnt from this for the similar modification of Roller Coaster and Big Dipper! (it's coming) The new trains are infact running rougher round the turns due to their check gauge (a term I've borrowed from railways - in this case more "guide gauge") is somewhat narrower than previous. Why I'm not sure, as the track is the same old dimensions - someone must've messed up with the correct dimension! Perhaps it was a PTC issue - they did afterall do some things that the PB weren't too happy with regarding construction, but I'll leave that there. Big Dipper is as yet unmodified. There was talk of it getting belts but I'm not sure if it was actually official. Grand National has belts because PTC now don't supply cars without (if a park doesn't want them they have to remove them once out of PTC's hands, but for litigious reasons this isn't wise as the belts are a manufacturer supplied safety feature - hence the PB keeping them). Roller Coaster has finally got belts due to it needing some form of restraint to appease authorities. Be thankful it's only belts and not bars - if bars were required (and who knows, maybe this could become so) then the vintage trains will have to retire! I for one am not happy with the modern nanny-state world we now live in. For my own sanity, I won't get into a rant about it..! By the way, do Kennywood's Racer trains still have buzzbars? - yes the Grand National cars have those new dividers. There's some reports of the new bars pinning during the ride on the Nash, at the bottom of drops - the track oscillates a lot there due to the light construction. In that case, the bars probably aren't allowing airtime (i.e bum leaving seat) after the first drop! I'll see properly for myself in a week's time.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdanny Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 For some reason, i've always felt safer in buzzbars instead of individual restraints. I hope that only the seat belts stay on Roller Coaster. It would stink if they decided to add lapbars on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 Taken from Blackpool Today. http://www.blackpooltoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=62&ArticleID=1680467 Jobs look set to go as part of sweeping cuts at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Stunned workers were called to a meeting by managing director Amanda Thompson where they were told the UK's number one tourist attraction was undertaking a review to "increase efficiencies". Four hundred permanent staff - from white-collar managers to on-site workers - now face an anxious wait to find out if they will be made redundant. Worried staff contacted The Gazette claiming around 70 workers will lose their jobs, but Pleasure Beach bosses today insisted no figure had been discussed. An independent consultant has now been drafted in from Europe to look at how savings can be made. One member of staff, who asked not to be identified, said: "We were called to a meeting at 8am on Friday when Amanda Thompson told us there was going to be some restructuring. "It's not seasonal workers, but permanent ones - many of who have been loyal to the company over many years. "She (Amanda Thompson) wouldn't say if the company was in trouble financially, but they must be. "The staff are terrified for their jobs." Another employee said: "The Pleasure Beach has a lot of loyal staff and this is not a fair way to treat us. "The atmosphere is very gloomy at the moment. Nobody knows if they will have a job in a few months. It's the uncertainty that's the worst part." A spokeswoman for the Pleasure Beach said the company was enjoying a profitable summer and insisted it was not in financial difficulty. Gill Mathison, head of public relations, said: "We can confirm that Pleasure Beach Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, met with permanent members of Pleasure Beach staff to update them on proposed changes to the structure of the company. "With the help of an independent consultant, the company has been looking at ways to increase efficiencies so that Pleasure Beach can continue to be a market leader in an increasingly competitive environment. "Our staff have been kept fully informed during the review of our business and we will work with them to find the best way forward. "As a family business we operate very much as a team and together we will continue to build on our history and prepare the company for an exciting future. "Blackpool is preparing for what we hope will be a very exciting chapter in the resort's history and as a stronger, fitter Pleasure Beach, we too are looking forward to this new era." Around six million visitors flocked to the Pleasure Beach last year - making it the top UK tourist attraction ahead of nearest rivals the British Museum and the London Eye. The figures were down three per cent on 2004 when 6.2m visited the fun park. All in all, I'm not too surprised. Amanda has always hinted on making the business more efficient, but I'd be interested to know many people are permanently employed there. It seems like a large number at first, but I can't imagine that these cutbacks being because the park is losing money, but it could be making more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 An independent consultant has now been drafted in from Europe to look at how savings can be made. This sort of thing always reminds me of the interviewing with "the Bobs" scene in Office Space. "They call them efficiency experts, but what you're really doing is interviewing for your own job." Maybe if they tell the consultants they like Michael Bolton they'll get to keep their jobs. About the lay offs, all I can say is, "Welcome to the party." Maybe the British aren't used to this sort of thing, but job security went away in the US some 20 years ago. My company likes to do its annual lay offs in December to clean up the books for the next year. Merry Christmas, you're fired! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 We've had alot of layoffs with big companies like Rover going bankrupt recently. I hope she lays off the Avalance Ride-Op team. THEY SUCK. Urgh so rude!! Literally shouting at people to move down the platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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