Mike said:
My main gripe with Blackpool is how corporate it's all becoming. What were once barbecues giving off a fantastic smell are now grey buildings selling **** griddled burgers which smell foul; more security walking around than bloody Thorpe Park; rides opening 90 minutes+ after the park opens; the smiley yellow-faced logo almost completely disappeared... Maybe I'm just being overly-nostalgic, but I much preferred the park back when it was all open to the public.
No, you're not just being overly nostalgic. When I first visited the park back in 2007, it didn't feel particularly polished, but it definitely had a unique charm and character to it. Now, the place does seem a bit bland, like it's lost its edge somehow. I'm not quite sure how to describe it.
If you're with the right people and in the right frame of mind then it's amazing, and I still think it's one of the best parks for a Live, but I'm not sure the park itself has a lot to hold my interest any more.
On the plus side, with the exception of the grouchy bastards assigning seating on Big Dipper, most of the Pleasure Beach staff seemed surprisingly friendly this time around. Flamingo Land take note!
Ian said:
The music! Same six songs on repeat all day long.
It was fun to mock, but it was definitely getting annoying by the end of the day, and I'm sure under different circumstances it would induce Mouse Rage. There's no excuse for being that stingy with the playlist.
Dubaidave said:
I quite liked Wallace and Grommit. But it has completely ruined the bet bit of the river cave going through the restaurant. I'm fact the whole restaurant seems to have been removed! I always use to go there to see the river caves running through and the gold mine thundering overhead. It was one of the most magical places in the pleasure beach.
I quite liked Wallace and Gromit as well. There's no real coherence to the ride, but I like the nods to various great moments in the TV shows. It had a certain charm to it. I'm not sure how much re-ride value it'll have, and if the animatronics start breaking down then it'll be a real shame. I also don't think you can appreciate the ride unless you've seen the TV shows and movie. Perhaps if they had tried to create an actual short story, the ride might have made sense to a broader audience. I suppose the vast majority of visitors know the shows and characters well enough that it doesn't really matter to the park.
The river caves are worse off now that the open section is gone though. I'm not sure whether there's any way they could have enclosed Wallace and Gromit without ruining the section in the restaurant (and for Wallace and Gromit to work, the open section where Goldmine passed through the river caves definitely had to go), but just creating a straight, claustrophobic tunnel with a star cloth draped over the top and then calling it a day just isn't good enough.
Mike said:
Most of the rides running the best I've ever had them...
I though Big Dipper was on poor form, but most of the other rides were amazing. I've never known The Big One run so fast before, which unfortunately also meant that I'd never known it be so painful before. If you want to know what it's like to be anally raped by a roller coaster, ride The Big One mid afternoon on a boiling hot day. Or don't. It's not a pleasant experience.