Situated on the North Eastern English coast, Blackpool Pleasure Beach lies at the heart of the popular seaside resort and hosts a mixture of historical and modern rollercoasters and other rides.
Situated on the North Eastern English coast, Blackpool Pleasure Beach lies at the heart of the popular seaside resort and hosts a mixture of historical and modern rollercoasters and other rides.
| Opened | 1896 |
|---|---|
| Season | February to November |
| Owner | The Thompson family |
| Attendance | 5,500,000 (TEA 2007) |
| Website | www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com |
| Nearby | South Pier, Blackpool (0 miles) Gulliver's World (32 miles) Lightwater Valley (66 miles) Alton Towers (73 miles) Gulliver's Kingdom (77 miles) |
A view over the Pleasure Beach featuring Revolution, Avalanche and The Big One
Blackpool Pleasure Beach has been a feature beside the beach at Blackpool since it was founded in 1896 by William George Bean, whose daughter Lillian took over the park after his death. Lillian married businessman Leonard Thompson, and the park has been owned and run by several generations of the Thompson family ever since.
The Pleasure Beach has an impressive selection of rides, including a number of wooden and steel rollercoasters.
The oldest surviving ride is Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machines, which have been operating at the park since 1904. Other classics include wooden rollercoasters like Big Dipper (1923) and Rollercoaster (1933), now renamed Nickelodeon Streak. Grand National, a racing woodie, opened in 1935.
Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machines
More recent additions include Revolution, Europe's first full loop steel rollercoaster opened in 1979; The Big One, which was the tallest rollercoaster in the world when it opened in 1994; and Valhalla, an immense indoor water ride that was added at the turn of the Millennium.
Although the park covers a large area of the sea front, the large number of rides it contains means everything feels a bit squashed in. It has a definite amusement park vibe, with many of the rides featuring minimal or no theming. It has a certain charm about it, but it isn't helped by the seediness of surrounding Blackpool.
Fans have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Pleasure Beach: welcome additions such as 2018's Icon rollercoaster have been contrasted with controversial decisions, such as the demolition without warning of the classic wooden Wild Mouse rollercoaster.
Shot tower
Massive Viking themed dark boat ride
Aerial flying ride
Old fashioned wooden rollercoaster
Wallace and Gromit themed dark ride
Classic boat ride past scenes from around the world
Motor racing car ride
Miniature train ride
Children's wooden rollercoaster
Dark ride through scenes from Alice in Wonderland
Optical illusions and a haunted swing
Pleasure Beach entrance gate
Park entrance, with the now disused Noah's Ark ride on the roof
Dancing fountains
Revolution and the Avalache lift hill
Infusion and the Big One
Park Map
The Big One towers in the background over Big Dipper's lift hill
Blackpool has plenty of food options
Due to limited space, rides are built around, below and on top of each other
Blackpool's Ghost Train is the first ghost train in the world
Big One runs beside the seafront, with the Pleasure Beach's own Boulevard Hotel in the foreground
An old log flume boat turned into a planter
The Millennium Sun Dial
The Wall of Names
The Flying Machines fly over Noah's Ark
Laughing Man
Five rollercoaster tracks in one photo: Big One, Infusion, Big Dipper, Avalanche and Revolution
The Pleasure Beach seen from the top of Blackpool Tower
A giant Geoffrey Thompson
Old Monorail cars
Bradley Beaver
The Casino Building
Big One track at the back of the park
Grand National's Valentines hill
Blackpool Pleasure Beach sits at the Southern end of Blackpool's Golden Mile
Crowds flow through the Pleasure Beach gates on a sunny late summer day
Back in the days of the Monorail and Space Invader 2
River Caves
Spin Doctor and Bling
An old Cableway support can still be seen in 2005
Flowerbed
The Casino Building lit up at night
ECC ACM 2013: Behind the Scenes at Blackpool Pleasure Beach