The Blackpool Resort Pass Review

Reviewed by Catherine Joyce

I sometimes wish that we didn’t live so close to Blackpool as it is such a fantastic place for a holiday or short break. Whether you are young or old and no matter what the weather throws at you there is always something exciting to do.

With two teenage boys, family holidays and days out don’t come cheap so I am always on the look- out for discount vouchers to keep costs down. With so many fantastic attractions in Blackpool even just one day out can end up being quite expensive so I was really excited to hear about the Resort Pass which gives you access to a huge range of attractions and also saves you money. There is a choice of two different Resort Passes, both are valid for seven days which should give you plenty of time to see everything whilst you are in Blackpool. The Original Pass costs £55 for adults and children and if you visit every attraction you will have saved over £35. You can use this pass for Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Nickelodeon Land (within Blackpool Pleasure Beach) and the following Merlin Entertainments attractions; The Blackpool Tower Eye & 4D Experience, The Blackpool Tower Dungeon, SEA LIFE Blackpool and Madame Tussauds Blackpool.

The Resort Pass Plus cost more at £80 however it includes all the above attractions plus Blackpool Zoo, the Sandcastle Waterpark (Including Hyperzone tickets) and the Blackpool Model Village & Garden. This pass saves over £55 per person.

If you buy your pass online at www.blackpoolresortpass.com there is also the option to add extras like Blackpool Transport passes, starting at £8.50 for 3 days. With a single adult tram journey from the Sandcastle to the Tower costing £2.20 this will soon pay for itself.

We spent three days in Blackpool and had a fun packed weekend, living nearby we have visited most of the attractions before however it was our first visit to the Dungeons and Madame Tussauds. We didn’t manage to fit in all the attractions but these are the ones we visited.

When we arrived in Blackpool we parked at the car park at the side of the Sandcastle Waterpark. It was £8 to park all day and as the world-famous Illuminations were being switched on for the first time that evening we felt £8 was very reasonable for a full days parking. The Sandcastle is the UK’s largest indoor waterpark with over 18 slides and attractions and a great place to visit, we have been many times before and my sons both love it. It is advisable to check the website (opening times vary depending on the day and time of year) and arrive as soon as it opens as the slides do get very busy and there can be quite a wait for the more popular ones. We only spent a couple of hours here as we wanted to see the other attractions but you can quite easily spend the whole day here.

There are two food outlets within the waterpark as well as a café-bar in the reception area and you can pay for food with the handy Splashcash wristband which you load up with money before you go into the waterpark which is great as you don’t need to go back to the changing rooms for money. Any unspent money is returned to you when you leave.

The changing facilities and toilets are very clean and there are family changing facilities as well as male and female changing areas.

The Dungeons are located in Blackpool Tower so we made use of our Blackpool Transport passes and caught the tram just outside the Sandcastle. We don’t normally catch the tram so it made quite a nice change and is a much better option in bad weather. I do like walking on the front and watching the sea so if we had had more time we would have walked along the sea front as it was such a lovely day.

I didn’t really know what to expect when we walked into The Dungeons, the website says it is “a dark, smelly, noisy place and will show you the scary side of Lancashire’s history” and having now experienced the Dungeon we all agreed this sentence sums it up really well.  After entering we were taken on an unforgettable journey through Lancashire’s history which was far more entertaining than the history lessons I had at school! You are taken into ten different rooms; each room has an actor, dressed in period costume who sets the scene and involves the visitors in their particular part of history. My son and I were imprisoned in a cage in Lancaster Castle’s torture chamber and other people were tried at court and involved in the mini historic scenarios. The tour took around an hour and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blackpool Zoo is just out of the town centre and I would allow a full day there, especially if you are visiting for the first time. We travelled to the zoo from home but if you are staying in Blackpool buses 15 and 16 travel regularly from the town centre and as you are able to use the Blackpool Transport pass on the bus as well as the trams it makes sense to travel by bus. Blackpool Zoo is a family-friendly destination with over 1,500 rare and exotic animals including big cats, apes, giraffes, elephants, sea lions and many more.  When we entered the zoo, we were given a timetable detailing all the feeding times, animal talks and animal displays and there is also the opportunity to book an animal experience for £10 per person. The leaflet mentioned meeting the sea lions, flying a barn owl or even feeding a giraffe and there are also other experiences on their website so there really is something for everyone. We listened to a couple of the talks and the keepers were really interesting to listen to and were happy to answer questions about the animals. The highlight of the day for us was the sea lion display, we enjoyed it so much we went back later for another show! The keeper had a wonderful rapport with the sea lions and you could tell they really enjoyed their job.

After we had been to the zoo we drove back into Blackpool and visited the Blackpool Tower Eye, luckily, we had a clear day so the views from the top were amazing and we really could see for miles. When you reach the entrance to the Blackpool Tower Eye there is an incredible 4D cinema which brings the history of The Blackpool Tower to life in front of your eyes. You then take a trip 380ft into the sky to the top of The Blackpool Tower and experience the thrilling SkyWalk, a five centimetre thick glass viewing platform, where you can look out into the Irish Sea and see the famous Blackpool Promenade below you. It is quite unnerving standing on the glass for the first time but fortunately it held everyone’s weight! A trip to Blackpool isn’t complete without a visit to one of the many amusement arcades so whilst we were in the Tower we visited their arcade and had fun playing on the 2p machines.

One of our favourite trips of the weekend was to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, unfortunately it rained all day but it certainly didn’t spoil our fun. After having our Resort passes scanned at the well manned entrance desk we were issued with wristbands that give you entry to the park and allow unlimited all-day riding on all the rides. We thought there was a good mix of rides; the bigger ones are subject to height restrictions but as my sons are 11 and 16 this didn’t affect us. I think the weather had put people off and whilst the park was reasonably busy we didn’t need to queue for long to get on the rides. We went on most of the big rides and even managed to go on the dodgems three times! My son’s favourite ride is Valhalla so we decided to save this to the end of our visit as we knew we would get soaked, which we did! My favourite ride is the Grand National, it’s a very old ride but really good fun.

There are plenty of food outlets, some are a little on the expensive side but as long as you have your hand stamped as you leave the park there is always the option of eating elsewhere and returning to the park later.

We also managed a visit to Madame Tussauds, I am not a celebrity spotter so was a little worried that I wouldn’t recognise any of the famous faces but I actually knew quite a few! Visitors are directed around the attraction, walking through a number of areas, each with its own theme. There are plenty of opportunities for photographs and it was amazing how life like the models were. There are a couple of interactive areas, my son enjoyed playing the drums and the children all seemed to be enjoying playing interactive football and golf. We enjoyed a drink in the Rovers Return and also had a wax model made of our hand which was quite a unique experience. It was interesting to find out how the models are made and we spent an enjoyable two hours in the attraction.

The Blackpool Resort passes are a great way to enjoy all the Blackpool attractions and are so easy to use. Once you have purchased your pass you just hand it in at each attraction, where they scan it and then issue you with an entrance ticket. I would really recommend adding the travel pass as it makes travelling between attractions so easy. September is a great time to visit Blackpool because as well as the normal attractions you can also see the world-famous illuminations. If you visit on a Friday in September you can watch the firework displays entered in the Blackpool World Fireworks Championships 2017. Fireworks are fired over the sea from the North Pier, creating a perfect arena at Tower Festival Headland on Blackpool promenade. The build-up starts at 7.30pm with fireworks from 8.30pm and there is no charge to watch the display.

Fantastic views can be enjoyed along the whole of Blackpool.

Rating: 5/5

For more information or to buy your passes visit www.blackpoolresortpass.com.