Pleasure Beach Blackpool , formerly "Blackpool Pleasure Beach", is a family owned amusement park in Blackpool, England. It is currently the most visited tourist attraction within the UK. The park is now closed but re-opens for the 2009 season on Saturday 14th February for Fun Weekends.History
The park was founded in 1896 by Alderman William George Bean, who said his intent was to create "an American Style Amusement Park, the fundamental principle of which is to make adults feel like children again and to inspire gaiety of a primarily innocent character."
The park was then managed by Bean's son-in-law, Leonard Thompson, until the 1970s and then by his son, William Geoffrey Thompson, until his death in 2004. It is now managed by his daughter, Amanda Thompson, who is also the Managing Director of Stageworks Worldwide Productions who produce the shows at the park.
The current park
Pleasure Beach, Blackpool is currently situated along the South Shore area of Blackpool, adjacent to the prom and opposite the South Pier along Ocean Boulevard and above Watson road.. The main entrance is to the left of the initial park and 78 meters from the Pleasure Beach Casino. The main car park is to the left side of the White Tower restaurant, behind Valhalla and to the right of the Grand National. The additional coach park is to the back of the park adjacent to the Pepsi Max Big One and in front of the Ice Blast.
The park is currently home to over 125 rides and attractions, including 12 roller coasters, of which 5 are wooden- Grand National, Big Dipper, Rollercoaster, Wild Mouse and Zipper Dipper . Over the years numerous records have been broken with regards to the roller coasters and rides within the park. When it opened in 1994, Pepsi Max Big One was the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster of any park in the world. It was also substantially one of the longest, measuring 5497' foot long. Currently, the ride holds the crown as the tallest in Europe, measuring 235 foot above sea level. Pleasure Beach is also the only park in the world to operate a traditional wooden Wild Mouse coaster. The ride was built by the late staff in the park, post war and is still in complete working order. It was also the first park in Europe to introduce a fully inverting steel coaster, Irn-Bru Revolution and the first to install a S&S Shot 'n' Drop tower Tango Ice Blast (formerly Playstation: The Ride!) The park went on to launch the worlds largest and most expensive water ride Valhalla and in 2004 opened 'Bling' a Zierer Star Shape spin ride of which only two are operated in the world. The latest record is taken by Infusion which is the world's first suspended inverted coaster entirely over water.
In 1997 the Pleasure Beach featured in a 6 part BBC documentary, which followed the day to day running of the park. It was mainly focused on the rides and the park managers, Jim Rowland and Keith Allen. The film crews also spoke to Geoffrey Thompson, the late managing director and his eldest daughter, Amanda Thomspon who was the director and producer of the Hot Ice show (and current managing director). The park managers had many problems during the time of filming such as the break down of rides (most famously an accident involving the Avalanche ride where a young boy sustained minor injuries after a malfunction in the breaks caused him to obtain bruised ribs), a bomb scare during one of their busiest days of the year, the opening of Ice Blast (then known as Playstation: the ride!), a wedding on the Pepsi Max Big One and celebrations for the busiest day in the history of the company, where the park made an estimate of over £500,000 in a single day. The documentary provided a lot of positive publicity for the company and park but aired for only one series.
The year 2000 saw the parks biggest investment to date of £15 million when Pleasure Beach, Blackpool opened, Valhalla. Valhalla, the world’s biggest dark ride was officially opened on 14th June 2000 by Jonathan Ross. 2002 saw the arrival of the sensational new £1million white knuckle ride Spin Doctor with riders spinning 360 degrees through the air to heights of 120 feet at speeds of over 60 mph. Spin Doctor was officially opened by PR guru Max Clifford on August 7 2002 but was closed in 2006 to make way for Infusion.
In 2002 the park announced it was investing in a super-luxurious 'boutique' hotel for the 2003 season. The hotel, which was to be tweaked and marked for huge investment to give the park a more 'modernized' gloss was given the green light and opened in the Spring of the following year as 'The Big Blue Hotel, Blackpool Pleasure Beach.' It is currently the highest ranked hotel in the North West and is situated diagonally to the Pepsi Max Big One towards the back of the park.
2004 was a memorable year for Pleasure Beach and saw the arrival of yet another brand new white knuckle ride- the £2million Bling, which lifts riders a whopping 100 feet above the ground and spins them through the air on giant glittering gondolas in three different directions at speeds of over 60mph as the ride pulls 2.5gs. Bling was officially opened on June 1st by Jonathan Wilkes and received a positively warm reception from both critics and the public alike as ratings for the park soared and guest numbers increased to nearly 6 million. Amanda Thompson became Managing Director following the death of her father Geoffrey, while her brother Nicholas became Deputy Managing Director. 2004 also saw the passing of Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Chairman Mrs LD Thompson OBE JP at the age of 101.
In 2007, £8million was invested in the worlds first roller coaster suspended entirely over water. 'Infusion' is described as an 'exhilarating infusion of the elements to amaze and astound the senses' and was officially launched by DJ and television personality Vernon Kay. There is a monument of Kay's hand print at the entrance of the ride. The ride has received great publicity and a great reception from the public via its own official website www.rideinfusion.co.uk . Infusion is situated right of the Tom Sawyer bridge on the former Log Flume site with the crest of the lift hill ascending over the queue line. The first drop descends over a walkway which houses both the Infusion shop and Pleasure Beach kiosks, offering splendid views of the ride for spectators.
2008 seen the addition of an attractive new £1.5million 12 hole adventure golf course. The course is to the left of the main entrance near the White Tower Restaurant. The 'Wild Mouse' was also re-painted and maintained.
2009 will see the opening of a brand new million pound water feature and the reconstruction of the Pepsi Max Big One pre-mid-course-breaks arch. This is to improve on the named section of the ride as guests had previously complained that the 'vibrating' of the trains was too rough.
Awards and Achievements
In September 2007, the Pleasure Beach was judged joint fifth best amusement park in the world (with Disneyland in California, United States) in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards – the self-proclaimed Oscars of the amusement industry. Pleasure Beach was the only British park to feature in any category. Pleasure Beach was also the highest ranked European park in the awards. Also, Pleasure Beach was voted second best seaside park in the world. It is currently voted as the 'UK's number one tourist attraction' by the British Tourist Board after numbers soar to nearly 6 million visitors a year, with this record un-beaten by any other tourist spot or amusement/theme park in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. The Grand National roller coaster made the universal list of Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters at number 28 and the Pepsi Max Big One was in the Top 50 Steel section at 44 and came in at 9 in the Top Ten Coasters poll shown on Sky Travel.
Current Owners
Pleasure Beach is currently run and operated by the famous Thompson family. Amanda Thompson is currently the managing director. Her brother Nick Thompson is deputy managing director and their sister Fiona Thompson designs the structure and buildings within the park. Their mother, Barbara Thompson, is the president of club pleasure beach.
Visitor numbers
In 2007, Pleasure Beach was ranked as 14th most popular theme park in the world with 5.5 million visitors. It was the only UK amusement park to make it onto the 'Top 25 Parks in the World' list.
Admission
Unlimited Ride Wristbands
Most commonly used is the 'Unlimited Ride Wristband' option, whereby wristbands with a printed barcode on are sold at costs between £15-£35 depending on the time of year and promotional season. This code must be scanned by a computer which unlocks the turnstile at each ride platform. The design technique means that riders are unable to access the ride unless having first scanned their specially printed 'day-code.' Each day a new code is printed on the wristband, meaning wristbands from previous days are now invalid. A warning section is printed on each wristband, telling guests that removing the wristband or peeling t
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