Day 8: Blackpool pleasure beach … practically Disney?! 🤣

[Dollymixture]

Today’s journey will take us from
Glossop in the Peak District to Haven Lakeland in the Lake District, with the day spent at Blackpool pleasure beach in between.

We woke at 8am with the hopes of being ready to leave at 9.30am. I had packed up and organised everything the night before as much as I could.
We got up on time and went to breakfast at Wetherspoons, which was good with very fast service.
So I still can’t figure out how we didn’t manage to leave til 10.30am?!

Anyway, not the end of the world as there is no entry timeslot for BPB, we could turn up whenever with our e-tickets.
Koolie was going to drop us off at the entrance and go and see a friend and look after the dogs

We arrived just after midday and had to join a really long queue to get out easy pass bands for the boys so they didn’t have to stand in queues (autism). Seemed a bit silly to have to stand in a long queue for it… the queue was also for people buying regular tickets and I asked if there was a separate one for the easy pass, but no!
I think it took about half hour but eventually reached the front and we were dealt with by a lovely lady who could see the boys were really struggling with the noise and crowds and hurried the process along. She issued
Is with two guardian bands, two easy passes for the boys and an extra rider band for Lila.
She also said she would refund the two tickets for the carers that I had paid for, as we were entitled to get in free - bonus and not something I was expecting!
Really amazing, helpful service here made up for the queue

The easy access pass is a card which you give the attendant at the ride after going through a fast entrance. The attendant then writes a time on the card that you are then allowed to access another ride. It works very well because by the time you’ve actually got on the ride and ridden it, it’s time to ride the next one pretty much.
I think generally the normal queues ranged from 15/30mins for the bigger rides, which is not too bad.

The system was good but the into trouble we had was locating these special easy pass entrances - there were often no sign posts and sometimes it was in a completely different area to the ride entrance or exit!

We went on The Big One first as that was the one we were most looking forward to.
Really enjoyed it but it felt very old and rickety -
I guess that’s it’s charm!

We rode a few other of the bigger rides - a couple of them were
So bumpy and violent -
You get thrown around in your seat so much! Again I think these
are older rides.
The best ride was Icon - it was the smoothest of them all and much more enjoyable.

Lila did well today with the big rides - it’s the first time she has been tall enough for everything, and there were a couple of times she was close to bottling out, but she rode everything

This made us laugh… not quite pirates of the Caribbean!

We had a break after a few rides and Lila and Elliott played in the jumping water fountains, getting completely drenched! It kept them cool for a while.

We did a bit of arcade time to get out of the sun

The kids wanted to ride the Big One and Icon again, and then we did the few we hadn’t done already. The Grand National was fun but a real bone shaker! We also rode the Wallace and Grommet ride, which I loved!

We did the ghost train too - fun but definitely no haunted mansion ride!

We finished off with the sky scraper which Elliott, Amber and Lila rode … Lila was soooo close to bottling out, but she was really glad she did it as she loved it, and wanted to do it again.

It was almost 6pm now and park closing time, so we arranged Tor Koolie to pick us up from the promenade.
We went to a local McDonald’s
For dinner and then drove to Lakeland Haven, stopping at Tesco in Carnworth to pick up supplies for the caravan.

We arrived at Haven at 9pm … a long but fun day

[Sparksy72]

The kids are so brave, some of those rides look terrifying. What great service to the the carers tickets refunded too. A very adventurous day.

[Princess Ariel]

Some of the older rides at BPB are terrifying lol 😂 especially the Big Dipper and grand national, every time I say ‘it’s the last time’ but we always end up going on them when we next visit!

[buryboy]

Love blackpool pleasure beach .
The best things are the old rickety rides
Just a shame the wild mouse has gone - that was an absolute classic , never thought it was actually going to turn the corner.

That does sound wrong you have to queue for ages to get a pass to stop you having to queue for ages .
I would bring that up with management in a constructive way

[P&S]

Fab fun day

Some of those coasters are real bone shakers

I really do think you should contact them regarding the queue for the passes, they need a separate queue

[margyloveswdw]

Another fab day! It’s years since I’ve been on any rides at Blackpool and I remember the Grand National as particularly dodgy!

[Dollymixture]

Oh yeah I came off the Grand National feeling like I’d been beaten up! 😂 That was my last ride of the day, I couldn’t face any more after that!
The Big Dipper was pretty awful too, although the kids didn’t mind them at all… I think my bones must be more sensitive Ha!

[Mental Minnie]

Looks like the weather was great for the Pleasure Beach and you had lots of fun. Your kids are brave riding those old coasters. Personally, I am a scaredy ba. I'm sure you all dropped off fast asleep when you got back to the caravan.

[mrsdjh]

I went on the Grand National years ago and it was very shaky then! Don’t think I’d go on it now 🤣

[OB1LukeLucas]

Fabulous fun filled day.