Blackpool Pleasure Beach Review

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

12 April 2015

www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com

Reviewed by Tracey Flintham

I was asked to review Blackpool Pleasure Beach and I was really looking forward to our visit. I have many fond memories of visiting here as a child and was looking forward to my children creating their own memories. The Pleasure Beach is easy to find, there are signs on the M55 and we followed the Blackpool (S) signs from the motorway and there are then brown tourist road signs to follow for the Pleasure Beach. We parked at the car park located directly at the Pleasure Beach and the charge was £10, payable by either cash or debit card payment. The information and ticket desk is easily visible, so we went to collect our wristbands from the information desk. All visitors to the Pleasure Beach must either buy a Pleasure Beach Pass or a ride wristband to gain entry to the Pleasure Beach, for visitors who don’t intend using many rides they can also buy ride tickets at £1 each and then the rides display how many tickets they need from 2 – 7 tickets. From here, we proceeded to a security check point where all bags are searched and then we passed through the turnstiles into the park.

We arrived in the park at 10.10am so headed up one of the ramps towards the Wallace and Gromit Thrill-O-Matic ride but we hadn’t realised that whilst the park opened at 10am none of the rides were operating until 10.30am. The ride promptly opened at 10.30am and as Wallace and Gromit fans we weren’t disappointed by this charming little ride which passed through scenes from the Wallace and Gromit series of films. The weather was awful, gusty winds and rain which I think must have deterred the day trippers as the whole park was really quite quiet with no queues forming at any of the rides.

Next we made our way to Nickelodeon Land. Nickelodeon Land is a very modern development on the park, it is all brightly coloured, clean and fresh looking, all the rides are themed from popular programmes shown on the Nickelodeon channel which caused much excitement amongst my girls who were very eager to explore the area. Rides included Diego’s Rainforest Rescue, Rugrats’ Lost River and Dora’s World Voyage amongst many others. My youngest child measures 92cm so was able to go on all but 2 of the rides in Nickelodeon Land. She was even able to go on the Blue Flyer roller coaster. There was a stage area where there are regular character meets with Dora the Explorer, Boots, Spongebob Squarepants, Diego, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Rugrats. We saw several characters wandering around the area as well so there was plenty of opportunity for your children to meet their favourite characters. Parents are able to take photographs as well as the official photographer although in my opinion the ride and character photographs seemed expensive as individual photographs were £10 each. You could however buy a photo pack which enabled you to purchase 4 photos for £20 which would make them a more reasonable price.

After leaving Nickelodeon Land we explored other areas of the Pleasure Beach, heading through Bradley and Bella’s Learning Garden. There were additional rides which my youngest could go on, the spinning teacups, a carousel and the Eddie Stobart convoy ride being favourites whilst my eldest went on the Avalanche ride, which amused her as there were no tracks for the ride to follow! We finished the day by going on the water rides, the Rugrats’ lost river ride in Nickelodeon Land and Valhalla near the entrance to the parks. Be warned, when they say you will get soaked on these rides, you will!!

There are lots of different catering facilities throughout the Pleasure Beach and again you won’t have to look too far for a drink or food. There are food outlets to accommodate all tastes and purses whether you want a quick take away snack or a sit down meal. There is an “all you can drink” offer for £10 and an “all you can eat” offer for the park and whilst we didn’t use either of these on this visit we would consider them on our next visit.

The park closed at 5pm but on our way out we decided to call into the Beach Amusements arcade for a little which I think is operated by the Pleasure Beach and then we got back to our car at 5.45pm. We were a little surprised that the toilets in the Pleasure Beach car park were already locked up which meant we then struggled to find toilet facilities for our 2 children before a long drive home.

Despite the weather, we had a fantastic day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It is a compact area with lots of rides so you can quickly and easily walk to any ride within the park and it is never more than a couple of minutes walk from one ride to the next meaning even the youngest visitors don’t tire too quickly. As a family attraction it is perfect and kept both my children entertained all day as the majority of rides we were able to all ride on as a family. Whatever age you are there will be plenty of rides and attractions to keep you busy and there are 19 rides throughout the park with no height restriction at all, making it excellent for families with very young children. For teenagers and adults there is a real mix of rides from the old classical wooden roller coasters to the modern new roller coasters which shows that the Pleasure Beach is updating all the time whilst retaining some of the old traditional features. We were pleasantly surprised there was little to no waiting for rides during our visit which again is perfect for families with small children as they don’t tolerate queueing for very long. I don’t know whether the weather affected visitor numbers though and whether it would be busier in nicer weather.

All the staff we encountered were very friendly and polite and the park was very clean throughout.  I often saw staff picking up litter and there are lots of litter bins throughout the park. There are good toilet facilities near the “Alice ride” although the other toilets in the park weren’t quite as obvious to find and signposting for them is not always apparent. There are also lots of traditional fairground games and there was music being played throughout the park which helped create a feel good factor within the park for the visitors.

Overall, it was an excellent day out for all of the family and you really would spend the entire day within the Pleasure Beach having a wonderful time.

Rating: 5/5 

Wristband prices: Adult £30, Child £27. These are on the gate prices, save money by booking online and get tickets from between £16 and £23.

For more information or to buy wristbands online visit www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com.