Wild Mouse at BPB Closure - R.I.P. 1958-2017

[furie]

If the initial statement made by BPB felt like it had some thought put into it and perhaps encouraged people to share their memories of the ride (rather than the "it's progress, deal with it" attitude), they probably wouldn't be recieving as many emails!

Absolutely do not disagree with this. They should have been quicker on the press release and handled it better. To defend them a little though, they're a really good amusement park business owner - not so good on the PR front. I'd rather they spent more time being good at what they're meant to be doing than throwing money and effort into something that crops up once every ten years or so.

Yes, brand and PR are important, but they're not Ford or Gucci or even Merlin (who could do with spending a little less on **** PR and shipping containers and more on looking after their amusement parks ) - they're a stolid, working amusement park business in the grim North of England. They've irked a handful of people who will still go to ride Icon this year. I see what they should have done, but I can understand why they didn't - they didn't need to - there were pies to eat, stout to drink and rides build.

 

[rob666]

Stout is out, we all drink prosecco now on the Beach.

 

[Will]

Whilst I may not agree with everything he has to say (I'm old or wise enough, nor have I had enough stout) but if it means more furie_posts, then at least some good has come of this

 

[Dar]

It bothers me that it always seems to be all or nothing in these sorts of things. Either the park only release a statement and copy/paste to all comers, or they spend an hour personally replying to everyone. I think the best answer, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. If I email them, saying I'm sad the wild mouse is gone, and all I get back is the same statement they've released, I'd feel a bit fobbed off and as though nobody there actually read my email, just saw the keyword "wild mouse", and ctrl-c, ctrl-v'ed their heart out.

However, if they spent 30 seconds "Dear Dar, I understand you're upset, we all are too, but [paraphrased press release]. Keep an out for what we've got planned!", seems a lot more personal and as if someone actually cares. They don't, but a human touch can go a long way to making people feel more comfortable.

As for the Mouse itself, I would have preferred it if they announced it was closing and then turned it into a bit of a museum for this season and then took it down a bit closer to when they're going to use it.

 

[Smithy]

If that's standard practice, it's rubbish and ineffective. A bit of the personal touch works in the long run, whereas the Ryanair way will backfire in the end. I guess I disagree with you all. There are decent organisations who do customer service well and reap the benefits in terms of loyalty and reputation. Don't have such low expectations.

If you're using Ryanair as an example of where good customer service is required to do well as a business then you've failed.

 

[sandgrown]

To some extent, I was implying that the reply I got was analogous to the old-school Ryanair mindset. Also, in the light in the change of tone of Ryanair's PR in the past couple of years due to the brand damage their previous "all publicity is good publicity" approach ultimately did, my use of it as an example has succeeded.

 

[Smithy]

You mean the "old-school mindset" that built them a market share that put all other major European carriers in their wake?

You'll notice they only "softened" their approach when the market began to saturate because they'd basically hit the peak of what they could feasibly achieve? Rather than because they were losing passengers through "bad customer service". People like to whinge and moan but they still go back. It's the case with Ryanair, it'll be the case with BPB too. I can guarantee that if 500 people have threatened to never visit the Beach again, over half will have ridden Icon by the end of the season.

Disclaimer: My dissertation focused on Ryanair and their 'branding'. I could bore you all to death talking about this.

BPB owe you nothing, certainly not a personalised reply. The increasing expectation from people in general that they're owed something, that they should be treated as special, that the customer is always right, is laughable.

 

[Robbie]

BPB owe you nothing, certainly not a personalised reply.

I won't be happy until they send me a monorail seat with the words "WE'RE SORRY" scratched into the metal. I'll settle for nothing less.

 

[Coaster]

I get that, but why do people have to post their grief on here? I mean, the last 10 pages of this topic are "I hate the pleasure beach, the never should have removed the Wild mouse". That's depressing me more than the wild mouse actually closing.

The name of the topic is Wild Mouse at BPB Closure - R.I.P 1958 - 2017. This is literally the place for people to "post their grief," if you don't like it, don't read it!

 

[JoshC.]

Has the fountain joke been made yet?

If not can we talk about fountains for 10 pages please?

 

[Sandman]

We are yet to find out how many fountains Icon contains Perhaps they'll have to run Valhalla dry from now on.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Argument posts deleted. Come on, guys, we have better things to talk about than picking on each other.

 

[TommyAlex]

I came here to read on topic posts about the Wild Mouse and ask what the f*** has happened to this thread.

And I'm all out of on topic posts to read.

 

[Coaster]

I would like to see the park make a gesture of some sort towards the Wild Mouse, maybe a display featuring a ride car as well as a few facts & pictures of the ride. I could see it fitting in quite nicely in the entrance under Noah's Ark, where they put the furnace for Vampire Beach.

Wouldn't make up for the horrendous handling of the situation, but it'd be something at least.

 

[Peet]

It would be nice but seems unlikely, they painted over the "history wall" a few years ago remember! I do wonder what happened to the cars though, I don't imagine they were binned.

 

[Sandman]

they painted over the "history wall" a few years ago remember!

I must of been asleep that year. Could you elaborate on what I've missed?

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

I must of been asleep that year. Could you elaborate on what I've missed?

As you go up the ramp near the Ice Arena the wall to your right has about 5 arch shaped bits of white plastic with naff looking coloured '!' on them.

Go back about 10 years and these arches has paintings of the park in all different stages of its development. The first showed the Flying Machines on the beach with the Helter-skelter Lighthouse next to it, moving on to the wooden coasters and later on the Log Flume, Monster, Space Tower, and Steeplechase, finishing with the Revolution, Avalanche and Big One.

Each of the stages also had a portrait of who was in charge of the park at the time.

 

[Peet]

I must of been asleep that year. Could you elaborate on what I've missed?

Here it is, I've been trying to find pictures of what it used to be like but can't. It was a real celebration of the history of the park and some of the rides of the past. It was clearly decided that the past no longer needed celebrating!

 

[Sandman]

Thanks guys, I remember now! Actually totally forgot all about that, it's a bit lame. Nothing to stop them bringing it back in one way or another in future though. Amanda seems to be frequently inspired by Andreas Andersen & Liseberg, and they are all about preservation as well as progress. I'd love to see the Funshine brand return to be honest, that would be an initial step in the right direction. It's so much more distinctive & sentimental than that awful exclamation mark logo.

 

[Lofty]

There's still the heritage on the way out of the park that's arguably got a higher footfall than the location above? I'd love them to have a similar experience to 'The Historama' at Europa Park. It would fit so well with PB.