Blackpool Pleasure Beach -Part 4
Sunday 31st September 2018
What will (most likely) be our final Blackpool trip of the season was a bit of a bonus. When we'd bought our wristbands online for our August visit, they had come with a free return in September - valid for any day, except for late night riding / fireworks on the 22nd. We just had to book the wristbands in advance.
We decided on the end of the month, and that we'd use the opportunity to return to Pastels for their amazing burgers, and to drive through the Illuminations before heading home.
Our day started like most of this year's theme park days have - making a packed lunch and donning my "uniform" of plaits, hoody and bum-bag...
We set out at 7:30am, and stopped at Sandbach for our usual wee, smoke, Maccy's cappuccino break (which was free as I've been keeping a loyalty card in my bum-bag)...
We arrived at the South Carpark at 10:20, paid £6 for 6 hours, and walked up to the park, via the Ice Arena entrance where, as usual, there was no queue.
Quick loos stops all round, and as there was a relatively short queue, we did the Alice ride first, as we hadn't ridden it yet this year - it was good fun, if a little dated...
Over to Icon for the first ride of the day - the queue was just under 20 mins, and Tom and I waited one extra train so that we could do our first front row. It was amazing - best ride of the year so far, even though the mist wasn't working, being on the front made it even better than before.
We headed straight back on for ride #2, tucking into some sandwiches from our packed lunch in the queue line. This time we went for the back row to do a comparison. It's definitely a front row ride for me, but Rich prefers the back.
We popped into the Chinese Maze for a few mins as we were walking past on the way to Nickelodeon Land. Nick Streak was next - we waited for about 15 mins and (as we usually do on smaller coasters), sat in a row each, but the operators made Tom move to sit next to me. A bit frustrating as the queue was shorter than usual, but never mind.
Tom and I did the Bumper Cars next, then we grabbed a table opposite Avalance / under Revolution and finished off our packed lunch. I grabbed a Hot Vimto (£1.50) to have with mine...
We sat and chilled for a while, then headed back to Icon for ride #3. The queue was around 25 mins by now, so still not too bad.
We looked at the Big Dipper queue and estimated it to be about 45mins, so not worth it, and none of us fancied having our heads bashed on Infusion. Tom wanted to go on Wallace & Gromit, so I went on with him, whilst Rich sat it out on the bench opposite.
A few snaps from the queue line...
We wandered down to the front end of the park next, skipping Ice Blast as again the queue was around 30 mins, and with this being our 4th visit, we weren't too bothered about doing all the rides - we were only really here for Icon!
We had a mooch in the Gift Shop then, as it was starting to spit with rain and we were nearby, we jumped into the queue for River Caves. I think everyone else in the area had the same idea, so we ended up waiting about 20 mins or so. It's a decent little dark ride, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Back to Icon for the final ride of the day, and probably the season. I was keen to go on for a 5th time, but neither of the boys were that bothered, so we said goodbye to the best ride in the UK and headed towards the exit.
Tom was a bit peckish, so queued for some donuts back down near the River Caves. Unfortunately the machine was down, so we had to go over to the one under the Flying Rockets. He had 3 for £2.75 and Rich and I resisted.
We left the park at 3:30pm, walked a little bit down the prom, and then cut up the side streets back to the car, where we rested for 10 mins before driving down to the Central carpark, paying £3.50 for 4 hours (I think).
The boys wanted to mooch in the Joke Shop, where Tom bought himself a mini catapult for £5 (after promising me he'll be sensible with it).
Then we popped into Coral Island for half an hour, playing the 2p machines and having a go on the Camel Derby.
We mooched up the North Shore and by now it was pretty blustery, so we sheltered for 5 mins in the free part of the Tower...
Tom was asking me why they hadn't updated the carpets in here, so I explained about listed buildings, and took some pics of the lovely tiling, which I'd never really stopped to notice before...
We headed up towards Winter Gardens next and had a quick mooch / loo stop. There was a dance event going on, so it was fairly busy.
It was still only 5:15pm and our Pastels reservation wasn't until 6. We were all starving, so I popped in and asked if we could be seated earlier. It was full (they only have 5 tables), but the server said yes so we sat outside for a bit...
We didn't have to wait too long and were inside and ordering by 5:30. I had the Dirty Derek, Rich went for the Jose (both £7.50 with fries). Tom had the Cheeseburger kids meal (£4.50), and we ordered 2 lots of BBQ chicken strips (£4 each) and Cokes all round.
Tom's burger and the chicken strips came out first and they apologised for the wait for mine and Rich's...
It was ok, we just had the Chicken as a starter instead of a side and ordered an extra Coke for me and Rich to share. Tom had almost finished by the time course arrived...
But they were fantastic and worth the wait. I couldn't quite put my finger on why mine wasn't quite as nice as last time, but it was still up there in the best burgers ever.
Even dragging the meal out we were all done by 6:30 and it was still light out - we all agreed that we weren't bothered about waiting around for the Illuminations and that we'd rather get back on the road. I asked for the bill and it was a bargain at £27.50. We left a £2 tip.
On the way back, we were talking about how cheap it had been, so I brought up the menu online and we worked out that we hadn't been charged for our drinks. As I had the menu up I also looked up my Dirty Derek, and realised that it had been missing the lettuce, tomato and red onion, which is why it wasn't quite as perfect is last time.
We stopped at Knutsford for Rich to get his usual Monster LH to keep him going for the drive home. We were back by 9:30pm.
Another fantastic day. Blackpool Pleasure Beach really has been a gem of a park for us this year. We love Icon - it's a superb ride and has the best operations team in the UK, and we are all very excited to see how it compares with Taron at Phantasialand when we visit in a few weeks time.