Blackpool Pleasure Beach is a family owned amusement park situated along the Fylde coast in Blackpool, England. It is currently the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom, exceeding more than six million visitors a year. The park is a privately funded business and is owned, managed and directed by the Thompson family. It was formerly known as Blackpool Pleasure Beach
History of Pleasure Beach
The initial park was founded in 1896 by William George Bean, the son of a Chelsea river pilot, 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." After failing to become an advertising man on New York's Madison Avenue, Bean returned to the UK in 1896 and having experienced the Coney Island funfair decided to open his own small business in Great Yarmouth, consisting of numerous small merry-go-rounds and a pedal-bike monorail called Hotchkiss's Patent Bicycle Railroad. Business in Bean's funfair was tight, and shortly afterward Bean dismantled the property and moved to Blackpool which was at the time (and remains to this day as) the busiest and most popular seaside resort in the United Kingdom. In 1903 Bean along with businessman John Outhwaite purchased 30 acres of land known as the "Watson Estate" to be rented out by various trade stalls and traditional fairground rides. After months of success, the park started to seal itself as a major attraction outside of the United States. In 1905 the name Blackpool Pleasure Beach was discovered and advertised. In 1910, pleasurebeachltd was founded by Bean and Outhwaite, and to this day remains the name of the company to which the Thompson family uses to manage the park. Outhwaire died in 1911, leaving the initial business to Bean, however the Outhwaite family still had ownership in shares of the park. Further investment started to build up the park. The Casino opened in 1913 at a cost of ￡13,352. The Whip, Virginia Reel, Noah's Ark, Big Dipper (￡25,000) and Dodgems were also opened.
In 1923 land was reclaimed from the sea front. It was at this period that the park moved to its 44 acre current location above what became Watson Road, which was built under the Pleasure Beach in 1932. The park was permanently stationed as an amusement park for Blackpool in return for advertising on the tram service revenues. In 1929 Bean died suddenly of pneumonia leaving the park to his daughter, Lillian 'Doris' Bean, who had previously married a young businessman, Leonard Thompson in 1928. Thompson was an Oxford natural sciences graduate who after Bean's death immediately took over the Pleasure Beach with his wife. The park became in full control of the Thompson family after the remaining Outhwaite family sold their share of the park. Leonard Thompson became the managing director and Lillian Dorris (who later became known as Mrs L.D Thompson, OBE respectively) became a secondary manager and director. The couple had a son named Geoffrey.
In their reign, the couple rendered the opening of the newly structured Big Dipper ride as it stands today. In 1936, Charles Paige and Joseph Emberton re-built the Big Dipper, and later Paige designed the Grand National Roller coaster. Emberton also rebuilt the Pretzel ride which would become the Ghost Train. Tragically in 1976 Leonard Thompson died unexpectedly and six months later the company secretary also died suddenly, leaving Doris Thompson commercially in charge of the whole business. Appointed chairman, she gave the role of managing director to her eldest son, Geoffrey. He had previously administered the New Era Laundries in London before returning to the Pleasure Beach as head of catering at the Casino Building. He married his wife, Barbabra, shortly afterwards and they had three children, Amanda, Nicholas and Fiona. After Leonard's death, Geoffrey and his mother steadily extended the Pleasure Beach business, opening both Pleasureland Southport and Frontierland, Morecambe (then known as Morecambe Pleasure Park) and invested into a food-and-ride trade at the Pleasure Beach. He saw the opening of the Steeplechase, Avalanche, Revolution, (now Irn-Bru Revolution) Space Invader, (now Space Invader 2) Rollercoaster, (previously the Velvet Coaster) Pepsi Max Big One, Playstation: The Ride! (now Tango Ice Blast: The Ride) and Valhalla. He also became a world wide figure in the industry and inspired many other showmen and theme park owners to expand their businesses by taking risks and building a higher quality range of roller coasters throughout Europe and the United States. His daughter Amanda showcased the park by expanding her theatrics company, 'Stageworks Worldwide Prodictions' to be situated primarily at the Pleasure Beach. Stageworks created almost all of the shows which would become a famous trademark within Pleasure Beach, including the world-famous Hot Ice dancing extravaganza which showed as a matinee and evening show in the Pleasure Beach arena until the 2009 season. Geoffrey Thompson died on 12 June 2004 immediately passing the role of Managing Director (of Pleasure Beach and Pleasureland) to his eldest daughter, Amanda. Nicholas became the Deputy Managing Director and Fiona became a fundamental architect (she has been praised over her work on both the Pepsi Max Big One's station and the Infusion station.) Nine days later, on 23 June 2004, Mrs L.D Thompson, OBE died leaving the entire business to Amanda (who is the current managing director) and Nicholas who remains as the deputy managing director.
Pleasure Beach, Blackpool is situated along the South Shore area of Blackpool along the Fylde coast, adjacent to the promenade, opposite South Pier along Ocean Boulevard and directly above Watson road. The main entrance is to the front of the initial park and approximatley 38 metres from the Pleasure Beach Casino. The ticket sales is opposite the entrance (below the Noah's Ark attraction) and is adjacent to the Globe Theatre. The main car park is to the left side of the White Tower restaurant, behind Valhalla and to the right of the Grand National station. The additional coach park is to the back of the park adjacent to the trim break section of the Pepsi Max Big One and in front of Rollercoaster. Numerous self catering kiosks are situated near to the entrance of the park. The entrance plaza is directly behind the Casino building and is themed to correspond with the Noah's Ark ride which site on top of the structure. The park is lined with tall metal gates that connect to the entrance building and the main gift shop, underneath the Noah's Ark ride. The staff entrance is towards the back of the park, behind the Grand National.
The park is currently home to over 125 rides and attractions, including twelve roller coasters, of which five are wooden - the Grand National, Big Dipper, Rollercoaster, Wild Mouse and Zipper Dipper. The newest roller coaster is Infusion which was opened in 2007. Over the years numerous records have been broken on 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 5,497 feet long. Currently, the ride holds the crown as the tallest in the UK, measuring 213ft, (235ft above sea level.) and features a drop of 205ft. The Pleasure Beach is one of the few parks left in the world to operate a traditional wooden Wild Mouse coaster. The ride was built entirely in house, post-World War II and is still in complete working order. It was also the first park in Europe to introduce a full inverting steel coaster, Irn-Bru Revolution, and the first to install a Space Shot ride, Tango Ice Blast which was manufactured by S&S Sports Of Utah. The park went on to launch Valhalla, which was designed by Sarner, a UK based theme park design company. Valhalla is sponsored by the Daily Star and remains prominently the 'biggest and most spectacular dark ride in the world.' Later the Pleasure Beach 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 looping coaster entirely over water. The park has a wide variety of modern and classic-age rides and operates a separate children-themed section called 'Beaver Creek' towards the back of the park near the entrance of the 'Space Invader 2' roller coaster. This section of the park includes numerous small attractions suitably aimed at younger children. This corresponds with the parks mascots, Bradley and Bella Beaver who roam the park on a daily basis entertaining the younger visitors.
The park has numerous food stalls, restaurants and café's including the 'Italian Job' Italian themed restaurant (situated next to the Tom Sawyer bridge, adjacent to the Big Dipper station) and the UK's largest Burger King chain restaurant, with two levels. It also owns the 'White Tower Restaurant' a tall white building near the front of the park which is used and is hired for private parties.
Hot ice and Forbidden
Hot Ice is a skating extravaganza show which was created by Stageworks Worldwide Productions, a Blackpool and West End based company owned by Amanda Thompson, the managing director of Pleasure Beach. The show has been running for many years and stars Olympic ice skaters and dancers. The show is performed in an auditorium in the Arena, a large skating rink in the centre of the park. The Arena is also open to the public when matinee performances of Hot Ice are not featured. Forbidden, shown in the Globe theatre at the entrance of the park is a variety show featuring a range of Circus Type acts,Dancers and amazing special effects. Both Hot Ice and Forbidden are currently not showing. The Globe Theater is currently used to house the 'Big One Talent Show' and the Arena is used as a public skating rink. It is unknown whether Hot Ice and/or Forbidden will return.
The Big Blue Hotel
The Big Blue Hotel is a Four star family hotel, owned by Pleasure Beach Blackpool and is situated within the outskirts of the park, near the now disused south entrance behind the Pepsi Max Big One and adjacent to Blackpool Pleasure Beach railway station. The hotel opened in Spring 2003. It is currently the highest awarded hotel in the North West of England.
Visitor Numbers
In 2007, Pleasure Beach was ranked as the 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. Visitor numbers slumped in 2008. Amanda Thompson believed the failure in numbers was due to 'poor weather conditions in Blackpool and commercial changes.' The park remains as the most popular tourist attraction in the UK on numbers alone.
Television Series
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 and Amanda Thompson, the director and producer of Stageworks Worldwide Productions (which directs, produces and choreographs the shows within the park.) The park managers had many problems during the time of filming such as the break down of rides (incluing an accident involving the Avalanche ride where a young boy sustained minor injuries after a malfunction in the brakes caused him to obtain bruised ribs), a bomb scare during one of the most profitable days of the year, the opening of Ice Blast, 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.
Criticism
The park was criticized over its decision to introduce a charge for the 2009 season by the "Stop The Charge" protest group, headed by protestor Stuart McNeil who set up pages on MySpace and Facebook as well as canvasing outside the park gates informing people of the charges. On 13 February 2009 the group presented a petition to the Pleasure Beach with a claimed 19,823 signatures of local residents and tourists, calling for the walk on charge to be scrapped.
The park has also been criticized for its picnic ban rules whereby items were removed from visitors before they entered the park by security guards. This saw families turning away at the gate. Pleasure Beach still imposes this ban and although picnic items are not removed from visitors on the gates they are not allowed into the park to be consumed. In 2008 the park announced "Saver Weekends" whereby every admission was charged at a reduced price of ￡20, with under one metre entrants being an exception. This move was negatively received by some parents who claimed it was unfair to pay the full asking price if they had not personally expected to use the rides and attractions.
Job cuts have also sparked negative speculation, whilst the cancelling of Hot Ice and the closure of the White Tower restaurant as well as other rides has caused concern.