Pleasure Beach, Blackpool

Location	Blackpool, England
Website	BlackpoolPleasureBeach.co.uk
Opened	1896
Operating season	March-November
Area	42 acres
Rides	57 total 10 roller coasters 3 water rides
Slogan	Britain's Biggest Tourist Attraction

Pleasure Beach, Blackpool (formerly "Blackpool Pleasure Beach") is an amusement park in the town of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. Rollercoasters At Blackpool Pleasure Beach Picture taken by myself, George Styles July 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Amusement park is the more generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a fairly large group of people. ... Blackpool is a seaside town in north-western England. ... Lancashire is a county and duchy palatine in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi   - Water (%) Population...

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." 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

The park was then managed by Bean's brother inlaw Leonard Thompson until the 1970s and then by Leonard's son Mr. William Geoffrey Thompson until his death in 2004. It is now managed by his daughter Amanda Thompson.

The original Ghost Train was opened in 1930, before being replaced by the ride currently in use today.

The Current Park

Each autumn, Blackpool presents the Illuminations, an electric light show along the seaside. The displays vary from simple patterns to representations of fairy tales and illuminated models.

The park is being upgraded, along with the rest of Blackpool, in an attempt to make it an international tourist destination. The park recently opened its on-site hotel, known as the Big Blue Hotel which was recently extended.

Visitor Numbers

Pleasure Beach, Blackpool attracts about 7 million visitors a year.

Tickets

Entrance to the park is free. Rides are paid for individually using tokens which are on sale throughout the park. Alternatively, wristbands are available which allow unlimited rides. The price of a wristband varies between £29 at peak times and £15 on Super Saver Weekends.

A separate section of the park, Beaver Creek offers a separate wristband for younger guests.

Rides

A large Pleasure Beach sign just outside the park, at night.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1976 KB) Summary Photograph by Alex Buirds. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1976 KB) Summary Photograph by Alex Buirds. ...

Roller Coasters

• Avalanche - A bobsled roller coaster
• Big Dipper - A traditional wooden roller coaster
• Grand National - A wooden racing roller coaster
• Irn Bru Revolution - An Arrow Dynamics shuttle roller coaster
• Morgan's Circus Clown Coaster
• Pepsi Max Big One - An Arrow Dynamics hyper-coaster with a highest point 235 feet above sea level.
• Rollercoaster - A traditional wooden roller coaster, notable for operating with minimal restraints
• Space Invader 2 - An indoor roller coaster
• Steeplechase - A three-tracked steel roller coaster based on the original at Steeplechase Park at Coney Island
• Wild Mouse - A wooden Wild Mouse roller coaster
• Zipper Dipper - A small wooden roller coaster

Bobsleigh is a winter sport in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked purpose-built iced tracks in a gravity-powered, steerable sled. ... A large wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster or woodie is most often classified as a roller coaster with laminated steel running rails overlayed upon a wooden track. ... The Grand National, a wooden coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in the UK, is one of only three surviving Moebius Loop racing/duelling rollercoasters in the world, and the only one in Europe. ... A racing roller coaster consists of two coasters that travel along parallel tracks to simulate a race between the trains. ... The Irn Bru Revolution is an Arrow Shuttle roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. ... Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster design company based in Clearfield, Utah. ... Pepsi Max Big One is one of Britains largest roller coasters located at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. ... Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster design company based in Clearfield, Utah. ... The Dueling Dragons, the worlds only Dueling Steel-Inverted roller coaster located at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida. ... Steeplechase Park was an amusement park at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City from 1897 to 1964. ... Image of Coney Island, located in the middle left of the picture, taken by NASA. The peninsula to the right is Rockaway, Queens. ... The Wild Mouse, a Wild Mouse roller coaster in operation at Luna Park Sydney A Wild Mouse roller coaster (or Mad Mouse) is a type of roller coaster characterized by small cars, which seat four people or fewer and ride on top of the track, taking tight turns at fairly...

Thrill Rides

• Bling
• Spin Doctor
• Ice Blast - A S&S Power Space Shot
• Valhalla - A partially indoor flume dark ride

S&S Power is company known for its pneumatically powered rides. ... Space Shot is a type of amusement ride manufactured by S&S Power. ...

Family Rides

• Alice's Wonderland

• Beaver Creek Log Flume
• Black Hole
• Convoy Ride
• Derby Racer
• Dodgems (bumper cars)
• Ellie's Caterpillar
• Flying Machines
• Gallopers (carousel)
• Go Karts
• Ghost Train
• Gold Mine
• Griffin's Magic Dragons
• Helicopters
• Impossible
• Lunar Carousel
• Magic Mountain
• Mini Dodgems
• Mini Scooters
• Monorail
• Motor Boat Ride
• Noah's Ark - A walk through funhouse attraction
• Pirate Ride
• Pleasure Beach Express - A miniature railroad
• River Caves
• Superbowl
• Swamp Buggies
• Tetley Teacup Ride
• Thor's Turnpike
• Trauma Towers
• Veteran Carousel

Bumper car at a small town fair Bumper car is the generic name for a type of flat ride consisting of several small electric cars that draw their power from an overhead grid, which is turned off by the operator at the end of a session. ... The KL Monorail in Kuala Lumpur, a colourful straddle-beam monorail Gyroscopically Balanced Monorail (1907) by Brennan and Scherl A monorail is a transit system running on a single-rail guideway. ... This article is about the album Fun House. For the game show of the same name, see Fun House (game show). ... Model railroading (US) or Railway modelling (UK) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modeled at a reduced scale. ...

Other attractions

• Alpine Golf
• Chinese Puzzle Maze

Former Rides

• Big Apple - Removed 2004 [1]
• Cyclone - Removed 1987
• Log Flume - Operated from 1967 to September 3, 2006^[1]
• Scenic Railway - Removed 1933
• Tokaydo Express - Removed 1997
• Velvet Coaster - Removed 1932. Components of this ride were re-used in the construction of the Rollercoaster
• Vikingar - A shoot the chutes water ride - Closed in 2003 and later demolished
• Virginia Reel - Removed 1982
• Space Tower - Removed in 1993 to BPB's sister park Frontierland Morcambe (now closed) - Ride still stands but does not operate.
• Fun House - Destroyed by fire in November 1991
• Tom Sawyer Raft Ride - Removed early 1990s due to construction of the Pepsi Max Big One

There are literally dozens of rides (maybe even hundreds) that have come and gone from the Pleasure Beach over it's colourful history - particulary in its early days. September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pepsi Max is a low-calorie, sugar-free cola sweetened with aspartame , marketed by PepsiCo as an alternative to regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi / Pepsi Light. ...

Shows

• Hot Ice
• Eclipse
• Mystique
• The Bradley Beaver Show

Food and Drink

Pleasure Beach North End

• Thor's Plaice (With Loki's Bar above it) - Next to Valhalla
• Bourbon Street bar/restaurant - Left side of Ghost Train
• Rib Shack - Right hand side of right ramp, under 4D cinema

Pleasure Beach South End

• Burger King - At South entrance, next to gates, facing sweet shop.
• King Cotton bar - Next door to Space Invader 2
• The Italian Job cafe - Next to Big Dipper
• Big Dipper Dogs

There are various other candyfloss, donut, drinks, and seafood stalls Burger King, Seoul, South Korea Burger King Corporation is a large international chain of fast food restaurants, predominantly selling burgers, french fries, soft drinks, desserts, and various sandwiches. ...

Opening Times

The park's opening hours depend completely on the weather, visitor numbers and the time of year.

The park is generally closed outside of the tourist season due to the reduced number of visitors. A notable exception is made for Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha when many Muslim families from across North West England visit the park. Eid ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر), often abbreviated as simply Eid, sometimes spelled Eid al-Fitr in the Roman alphabet, is an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. ... Eid ul-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى) occurs on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijja. ... London Central Mosque in London off Regents Park Jamia Masjid, example of a typical small mosque in East Ham // History Islam is generally thought of as being a recent arrival in the United Kingdom, but there has been contact for many centuries. ... North West England is one of the regions of England. ...

Trivia

• The Pleasure Beach’s Ghost Train has received alleged sightings of real ghosts, many reporting that a man called “Mr Cloggs” (or "Cloggy" to give him his proper, preferred title; he was named Cloggy because he was seen wearing clogs), a former employee of the ride, haunts it and that his footsteps can be heard. This lead to Most Haunted conducting a paranormal investigation there, in which psychic Derek Acorah claimed that there were three ghosts residing inside the ride. When Yvette Fielding and an ex member of the crew, Marcelle, were walking through the ghost train they apparently heard "Cloggy's" footsteps which seemed to be following them. Yvette claims after that footstep incident, a hand also touched the top of her head. Most Haunted also investigated the alleged ghostly sightings of some mischievous children in the gift shop.

• Pleasure Beach, Blackpool can played as part of the computer game Roller Coaster Tycoon when the Loopy Landscapes expansion pack is installed.

• The park was the subject of a somewhat unflattering six-part BBC documentary in 1998.

• The park had the first log flume ride outside of America when it was built in 1967 [2].

• The Log Flume ended its long life on September 3, 2006. Ironically, this was also its 40th Birthday.

• Blackpool Pleasure Beach is now officially called 'Pleasure Beach, Blackpool' however the Blackpool Pleasure Beach name is still existence in various places around the park.

• The park has had three sister parks over the years:
  • Frontierland, Morecambe, UK (Now Closed)
  • Pleasureland, Southport, UK (Currently Closed)
  • Magic Harbor, Myrtle Beach, USA (Now Closed)

Most Haunted is a British television programme based on investigating purported paranormal activity that is shown on the satellite and cable channels LIVINGtv, LIVINGtv2 and Ftn, primarily for the UK market. ... Derek Acorah is the stage name of Derek Johnson (born January 27, 1950). ... Yvette Fielding (born 23 September 1968) is one of the most popular British television presenter in recent times. ... In this screenshot of Rollercoaster Tycoon, a car ride is visible along with parts of a log flume water ride and an inverted roller coaster. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest public broadcasting corporation in the world. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... A log flume ride A log flume is a horizontal structure that has a cavity for flowing water to carry lumber and logs and generally spans a long distance. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Frontierland entrance signage in June 2005 Frontierland Western Theme Park was a Theme park in Morecambe, Lancashire, England which operated from c1909 to 1999[1], it was situated at Marine Road West. ... Morecambe is a resort town in the Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. ... Pleasureland Pleasureland is a theme park located in Southport, United Kingdom that has been operating since 1912. ... For other uses, see Southport (disambiguation). ... Myrtle Beach is a city located in Horry County, South Carolina. ...

External links

• Blackpool Pleasure Beach
• Unofficial Pleasure Beach Community Forums

References

1. ^ "Final splash for Blackpool ride", BBC, September 4, 2006.