We started October off in the best way and that was at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Although as a pregnant lady, I can’t do an enormous ordeal of rides just being in the park amongst the atmosphere is quite honestly enough.
Crowd Levels & Getting In:
Arriving on the plaza just 5 minutes prior to the official opening it was evident how quiet the park was going to be with around a max of 50/60 people also waiting to enter. Heading through security and into the park really could not have been any easier. The crowd levels stayed low the whole day with no ride reaching anything over 10 minutes.
Opening Times & Ride Availability:
During our visit, the opening times were 10 am to 5 pm which was fair given the low crowd levels and quite honestly the park could have easily closed at 4 pm and got away with it. Ride availability was spot on with a maximum of two rides being down all day and Infusion being down for a short while.
The Rides:
It seemed due to the off-peak crowd levels ENSO didn’t begin operation until 2 p.m. which again was completely plausible. However, almost all rides opened bang on their advertised times as they don’t all open with the park but half an hour to an hour later. It’s the first time in a long while we’ve seen Big One open bang on half 10. We did the gentle dark rides. I must admit River Caves looked in a much finer condition than my last blog about it except for the first scene to the right but I feel that’s due to the prep for Journey to Hell. However, it was our first visit where Wallace & Gromit actually had a handful of broken props and screens which says a lot given it’s 10 years old we’ve visited so much and this was our first trip to see it this way. Alice was really fun to get back on as it’s our first time this season if I’m honest it was fine inside just the typical Alice and smelt incredible for the record!
Food:
I could not resist heading off to Loki’s to eat. Their whole chicken, chips and gravy truly are one of those foods you least expect at an Amusement / Theme Park that is a genius move in my opinion. You never feel like crap after eating it and it is consistently beautifully scrumptious. The fact it costs £15 with a Season Pass discount to feed two people you could even perhaps get a child fed as well with this is great. For me, this is the best food of the season across all the theme / amusement parks we have visited and the pricing could not be any better than it is. Massive hats off to the catering team at Pleasure Beach for allowing it to be inexpensive for guests to have the full experience of visiting these places.
Journey To Hell Preparations:
It was fun to spot the preparations for Journey to Hell particularly given it was the 1st day of October. Admittedly, I did feel a little salty about the fact I’ll be missing out this year. However, from the little amount of prep we saw it does look fab. I really like the fact this event is now free-flow rather than guided as that’s something which just never worked previously in my opinion. The use of space is also amazing and to check out what’s on offer for this year’s Journey to Hell check out my Halloween debrief blog HERE.
Overall:
I can’t do much at Pleasure Beach at the moment but that truly does not affect our visits at all. Being amongst the atmosphere of this park is truly something special. The fact there’s a respectable handful of rides I can still fully embrace really does help too. In all honesty, Blackpool Pleasure Beach are quite inclusive and that’s what I adore. The park is looking really well and the operations seemed incredible from an off-ride point of view. It’s also one of my favourite places to grab a bite to eat without feeling a pinch with regard to money or feeling really groggy afterwards is everything.
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What’s your favourite ride at Pleasure Beach? I’d love to hear all about it!
