Things we wish we knew before visiting Blackpool Pleasure Beach opening weekend

A few weeks ago we visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach for the park’s opening weekend. It was our first time. We’d been wanting to go for a few years and never made it, but finally this year we lost our Blackpool Pleasure Beach opening weekend virginity. Going into the weekend we really didn’t know what to expect. We had heard really good things about it but were wondering how they would actually go. When we arrived it was quite overwhelming due to the huge number of enthusiasts there was, but the whole weekend really lived up to the hype. It was great to meet so many new people, speak to other enthusiasts and see lots of friends.

For those who don’t really know much about BPB opening weekend (like us before we went) most people visit The Velvet Coaster (a Wetherspoons) for dinner and drinks on the Friday night, which is where most of the mingling happens. Then everybody visits the park on the Saturday and are straight back to spoons once the park shuts. Most also visit the Pleasure Beach on the Sunday - but some opt out of the second day on park. We decided to be on park for both days and chose to stay in the Travelodge right next to the Pleasure Beach for the whole weekend.

We had a really great time, but there are a few things we wish we had known before we went. There’s not much information out there that we’ve come across that provides tips for visiting BPB on opening weekend, so we wanted to gather our thoughts here and hopefully help out some of you BPB opening weekend virgins!

Get there early

We planned on arriving in Blackpool on the Friday night at around 5pm to give us enough time to check into our hotel and head over to spoons. But of course the traffic on the M6 was against us, so we arrived at about 7:30pm. Next year we’ll be leaving earlier in the day to make sure we get there before 5pm - mainly because the large number of enthusiasts that visit spoons means the tables in there fill up pretty quickly. It’s a good idea to get there early to secure a table for the evening.

The 1st Floor

The Velvet Coaster is a huge spoons - probably the biggest I’ve ever been in before. It’s got a large ground floor with a bar area and a restaurant area, as well as a 1st floor with more restaurant seating and a second bar. There’s also a 2nd floor with an outside area which was of course closed because it was way too cold and windy to be standing outside! The key thing you need to know is that all the enthusiasts were on the 1st floor - so that’s where you want to be if you want to do some mixing and mingling. It was quite a tight squeeze to fit everyone up there and apparently every year more people show up. But it had a great atmosphere because of the number of people - it almost felt like someone had hired out a function room for the night!

Parking troubles

One thing to think about is where you’re going to park if you’re driving to Blackpool. The travelodge we stayed in had 16 parking spaces - obviously not enough for one each! So when we arrived we were on the look out for a car park for the weekend. There were some streets which appeared to have free parking (no permits) but we didn’t feel safe leaving the car parked on the road for two days. The car parks near BPB and our hotel seemed fine and cheap enough at £14 for the weekend, but all the machines only accepted coins. Who has £14 in coins? A bit further away from the park we found some council car parks with contactless payment - thank goodness. But if you want to park nearer BPB we would recommend brining a lots of coins with you!

Rainy day policy

We bought our park tickets online months before opening weekend so we could have them delivered in the post to avoid queueing to get them before the park opens. It seemed like a smart plan. But something we didn’t think about was BPB’s rainy day policy. If it rains for more than 3 consecutive hours while you’re at the park you can go back the next day for free (or any Sunday in that season for half price). Storm Dennis provided us with more than enough rain on the Saturday to meet these requirements, so we could have got our Sunday tickets free if we had waited and not bought them before we got there. You can buy park tickets for the discounted online price until the night before you want to visit, so it might be wise to wait until closer to the time and if the weather forecast isn’t looking great then don’t order the ticket for the second day - you might get it free!

One or two days on park?

To get the most out of our weekend we chose to be on park for both Saturday and Sunday. Blackpool is a long way from where we live so we wanted to make the most of our time there while we could. Having said that, we did find that the second day on park was a bit slower for us personally because we had already ridden everything we wanted to get on. Next year we might consider skipping the second day if the first day is a good one. I think BPB is a park that we are less interested in now we have been there quite a few times recently. The weekend for us was more about meeting other enthusiasts and seeing friends, so for that reason we could have done without the second day on park. We got to socialise much more at spoons during the evenings than at BPB itself, which is why next year we are thinking of staying Friday and Saturday night in Blackpool but not necessarily visiting the park on the second day. Lots of others went home on Sunday morning too so there were less people around at the BPB generally.

Be prepared

Blackpool opening weekend was one of the weirdest and best theme park ‘events’ we’ve attended. I don’t think we were prepared for the number of enthusiasts that would be there, the number of new people we would meet and the atmosphere of the whole weekend - not to mention the weather conditions! It was quite overwhelming at times but it was also amazing to see so many enthusiasts together in one place. If you go with an open mind you’ll have a great time and meet loads of new people.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to get together with other enthusiasts, BPB opening weekend is the perfect place for you. We honestly weren’t really expecting it to live up to the hype, but it actually did. It was a great weekend and we loved meeting new people and seeing friends. We’d highly recommend you try and get out there for opening weekend next year - if not for the park, for spoons!

- Zoe