TPoseOnTantrum
Giga Poster
Valhalla media day moved to enable improvements | RideRater
riderater.co.uk
Seems like they took a hint.
Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach to be refurbished for 2023
- Thread starter Matt N
- Start date
riderater.co.uk
Coastercal
Roller Poster
It’s been confirmed the full re opening will be may 10th.
UKCoasterFan
Mega Poster
Not opening today till 3pm on a 5pm closing day. 
Marsden10002
Roller Poster
Quite poor its not opening all the time tbh
Scott88
Hyper Poster
There's a huge difference between how it was in mid April compared to how it was last week for media day. It's obviously a lot better now, but there is still reliability issues because even on the media day we had two different rides on it.
Clearly there's cost saving going on with it not opening for full days, I do get the reasoning for that because we all know it's not cheap to run but it does leave it open to this question; why didn't they remove it and build a new attraction?
Clearly there's cost saving going on with it not opening for full days, I do get the reasoning for that because we all know it's not cheap to run but it does leave it open to this question; why didn't they remove it and build a new attraction?
Marsden10002
Roller Poster
Marsden10002
Roller Poster
It's an odd one tbh and I don't understand why it's not running 100% perfect after being closed for so long. The original didn't take that long to build.
I'll guess the works a lot less than a total rebuild cost which is probably why they went down the refurbishment route but if they can't afford to keep a "star" attraction open then why keep it?
I'll guess the works a lot less than a total rebuild cost which is probably why they went down the refurbishment route but if they can't afford to keep a "star" attraction open then why keep it?
otwidalepda
Roller Poster
How would you plan for that though? You would need it running in case someone pays the upcharge with no guarantee anyone will pay. You are sort of in the same boat with that one.
spicy
Giga Poster
I guess you would have to sell the tickets in advance, kind of like how Disney charge for individual lightning lane from 7am. Stop all ticket sales once it is sold out or if you haven't sold enough to cover costs that day it doesn't open..
Only open it for a few hours a day and give each guest their time slots to ride.
Only open it for a few hours a day and give each guest their time slots to ride.
emoo
Hyper Poster
For a ride over 10 years old to suddenly add an upcharge? The Irish sea is only a few steps away if you want to be wet and cold. And if there's no guarantee it will open thats off putting. Lightning lanes or virtual queues are commonly for attractions with an ongoing peak demand.
People still complain about the charge to enter and the Enso price is a scary guideline to what they could charge. Its already cheaper for many to go somewhere else.
How's about don't loose as much £ on hot ice? That doesn't shut down to save cash on low days.
People still complain about the charge to enter and the Enso price is a scary guideline to what they could charge. Its already cheaper for many to go somewhere else.
How's about don't loose as much £ on hot ice? That doesn't shut down to save cash on low days.
UKCoasterFan
Mega Poster
I don't know what made me think Enso was gone after just 1 season. Maybe it was a rumour I heard or I dreamt it.
VIP Enso: £25.
My favourite thing about Enso: They charge 15£ for a single ride, and just keep the seat empty if no one buys ít. With basicly a whole car missing, Icon still managed to get a 15 minute queue on an otherwise walk-on day last year.
Once they decided that no one would purchase 15£ for 1 (ONE) ride, they switched the trains and Icon was down to 1-2 trains wait.
I talked to a hotel owner after that visit, and she also told me that many people would like to try Enso, but are not willing to pay 15£ for it.
I get why the upcharge is so big, I can imagine that the new car was not cheap and BPB have to recoup the costs in some way, but 15-25£ per person might just have overshot it.
Back to topic: I'd rather have Valhalla only for a few hours available during a quite day, but fully operational, than having a half experience for 8 hours. The only thing I'm really mourning after is the ice room. Knowing nothing about Valhalla on my rides in 2019, it just blew me away that we were actually going through an ice cold chamber (without snow, though).
Once they decided that no one would purchase 15£ for 1 (ONE) ride, they switched the trains and Icon was down to 1-2 trains wait.
I talked to a hotel owner after that visit, and she also told me that many people would like to try Enso, but are not willing to pay 15£ for it.
I get why the upcharge is so big, I can imagine that the new car was not cheap and BPB have to recoup the costs in some way, but 15-25£ per person might just have overshot it.
Back to topic: I'd rather have Valhalla only for a few hours available during a quite day, but fully operational, than having a half experience for 8 hours. The only thing I'm really mourning after is the ice room. Knowing nothing about Valhalla on my rides in 2019, it just blew me away that we were actually going through an ice cold chamber (without snow, though).
Matt N
CF Legend
My apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I was just watching this really interesting video from Your Experience Guide assessing whether the Valhalla revamp has been a success or a failure:
With this in mind, I thought that now the 2023 season is over at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and "new Valhalla" has bedded in a little more, I'd be keen to know what people's thoughts are on this. So, do you feel that the Valhalla revamp has been a success or a failure overall? How has it turned out relative to your expectations? In hindsight, do you feel that it was the right decision to take?
Now I should clarify that I haven't personally ridden new Valhalla, so take my views with a large pinch of salt. My last (and only) ride on Valhalla was in August 2019.
However, based on what I've heard about new Valhalla, I'm not sure I'd declare the revamp a resounding success myself. From reviews, it doesn't sound like an awful lot has changed with it compared to before the revamp. Based on what others describe, it sounds to me like many of Valhalla's commonly cited problems still persist. The ride is still unreliable, the ride is still wildly inconsistent in terms of the functioning of effects, the ride still has numerous boat-related problems (most notably with drainage and having many inches of stagnant water sat at the bottom of the boat), and the ride is still obscenely wet (although this may not be a problem for everybody, admittedly).
I concede that COVID, Brexit and such may have had an effect on what they were able to deliver. Had the pandemic and other events not happened, we may have had a very different result come out of the Valhalla revamp. I fully accept that COVID may have drained more of the budget, timeframe and such than Blackpool had originally planned for.
With that being said, it does seem like they've spent a lot of money on the ride for not much material improvement. The refurbishment supposedly cost £4m, which is no insignificant sum, and based on reviews, it sounds as though they haven't really rectified many problems or made many tangible improvements with that money. If the refurbishment was always intended as more of a technical improvement than a proper "reimagining", then that's fair enough in terms of not making too many significant thematic changes, but it doesn't seem like the ride's technical woes have been solved either. As I said above, people's anecdotes suggest that the ride is still rather unreliable and the various boat-related issues still persist, which are things you'd hope may have been solved in a technical refurbishment.
With all of this in mind, I'm afraid to say that I do think that the Valhalla refurbishment has turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment overall. I'm not sure whether I'd necessarily say it was "the wrong decision to take", as Valhalla is undeniably popular, but I do feel that the project has been a bit of a failure in terms of solving the ride's commonly cited problems, such as ensuring greater consistency with the effects, ensuring greater reliability and preventing boat-related issues such as the huge amount of water held at the bottom.
Do you guys agree with me? Or do you think I'm being way too harsh, and that the refurbishment has been a huge success?
With this in mind, I thought that now the 2023 season is over at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and "new Valhalla" has bedded in a little more, I'd be keen to know what people's thoughts are on this. So, do you feel that the Valhalla revamp has been a success or a failure overall? How has it turned out relative to your expectations? In hindsight, do you feel that it was the right decision to take?
Now I should clarify that I haven't personally ridden new Valhalla, so take my views with a large pinch of salt. My last (and only) ride on Valhalla was in August 2019.
However, based on what I've heard about new Valhalla, I'm not sure I'd declare the revamp a resounding success myself. From reviews, it doesn't sound like an awful lot has changed with it compared to before the revamp. Based on what others describe, it sounds to me like many of Valhalla's commonly cited problems still persist. The ride is still unreliable, the ride is still wildly inconsistent in terms of the functioning of effects, the ride still has numerous boat-related problems (most notably with drainage and having many inches of stagnant water sat at the bottom of the boat), and the ride is still obscenely wet (although this may not be a problem for everybody, admittedly).
I concede that COVID, Brexit and such may have had an effect on what they were able to deliver. Had the pandemic and other events not happened, we may have had a very different result come out of the Valhalla revamp. I fully accept that COVID may have drained more of the budget, timeframe and such than Blackpool had originally planned for.
With that being said, it does seem like they've spent a lot of money on the ride for not much material improvement. The refurbishment supposedly cost £4m, which is no insignificant sum, and based on reviews, it sounds as though they haven't really rectified many problems or made many tangible improvements with that money. If the refurbishment was always intended as more of a technical improvement than a proper "reimagining", then that's fair enough in terms of not making too many significant thematic changes, but it doesn't seem like the ride's technical woes have been solved either. As I said above, people's anecdotes suggest that the ride is still rather unreliable and the various boat-related issues still persist, which are things you'd hope may have been solved in a technical refurbishment.
With all of this in mind, I'm afraid to say that I do think that the Valhalla refurbishment has turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment overall. I'm not sure whether I'd necessarily say it was "the wrong decision to take", as Valhalla is undeniably popular, but I do feel that the project has been a bit of a failure in terms of solving the ride's commonly cited problems, such as ensuring greater consistency with the effects, ensuring greater reliability and preventing boat-related issues such as the huge amount of water held at the bottom.
Do you guys agree with me? Or do you think I'm being way too harsh, and that the refurbishment has been a huge success?