My god, can't believe I'm writing this already but it looks like the UK season has officially begun! Last weekend hundreds of enthusiasts descended on that kitsch little seaside resort known as Blackpool for coasters, dark rides, and most importantly, a hardcore sesh in the tackiest town in the UK! And whilst the weekend didn't exactly go to plan for many of us with what I'll politely refer to as a less than ideal opening day for the Pleasure Beach, it's been a LONG time since I've come home from a theme park weekender in the UK on that much of a high. It was fucking fantastic and I'm sure anyone else who was there that weekend will agree with me - a bloody excellent way to kick off the 2019 season for sure! Here's my top take aways from the weekend.
I jokingly tweeted a few weeks before the weekend that everybody should wear name badges to the park because I am so incredibly shit at putting faces to names and worry I'm going to get names mixed up (it actually happened as well, I called Alice Amelia because I'm the worst - sorry!) That's the main reason for me that I don't boldly go up to people and say hi and introduce myself because I'm worried it won't turn out to be the person I thought it was and I'll look like a dick. But I saw a ton of people that weekend who when I tried to make eye contact with or wave at they kind of...looked the other way or ran past me. To which I initially thought OK, rude. But then when I got back I had a ton of Facebook friend requests, many of which were from the very people who had ignored speaking to me at the weekend? All very odd if you ask me...I promise I don't bite so please come and have a chat next time!
And on the other side of that, the overall vibe and friendliness of everyone from the minute we rocked up into Spoons on the Friday night was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone was just so lovely. From the horror stories of last year's drama from opening day weekend you'd swear these weren't the same people involved. Despite sitting on various tables across the pub, everybody got up and was mixing and mingling, chatting and laughing and just generally having a good time. I had conversations with people that night that I'd never met in real life before but that flowed as well as chats I've had with lifelong friends. It was just all very warm and fuzzy.
If there's one thing we can all agree on from this weekend it's that the Pleasure Beach's operations were pretty dire. But you know what? It honestly didn't even bother me. As much as riding coasters is what we all have in common and how this mad world has brought us altogether, I can honestly say hand on heart that I didn't miss riding much this weekend. I had just as much fun titting about in queuelines, generally chatting to people, having a really slow and chilled out day with people I hadn't seen in a while. Sure there were some people who might have been fairly pissed off about the situation, but at the end of the day it was just one of those things and we just rode the wave and got on with it - coasters or no!
I can give or take riding the coasters at Blackpool but if there's one thing I insist on doing when visiting it's Valhalla - whatever the weather or time of year. So of course we had to make it happen. The queue took AGES because the bloody thing kept breaking down. Then when we FINALLY got on it they didn't fill the boat correctly so it didn't take to the lift hill and we had to be evacuated, which resulted in me spanking my head full pelt into the rockwork. Thank god for my fringe, I've had a huge welt there ever since and it really bloody hurt. But faff and fuckery aside we eventually managed to ride it and my god it's just excellent isn't it? It never ceases to amaze me with just the sheer scale of the thing alone. It's obscene! I say it every time I ride it but it defies all laws of logic that it even exists, but the fact that it lives at Blackpool Pleasure Beach tips the scale of absurdity for me. We must treasure it always.
So, as we have mentioned, operations on Saturday were a little bit shit. But that's when the Pleasure Beach comes into its own because all that means is that there's more time for DARK RIDES, which let's face it are the true jewel in the Pleasure Beach's crown. From the incredibly underrated Wallace and Gromit Thrill-O-Matic with it's gloriously British vibe to the stupidly catchy theme song of Dora's World Voyage ("in China we say Ni Hao!") to the giant question mark of the sheer enigma that is the River Caves, whenever we were stuck for something to do in between break downs the dark rides saw us through. They're truly where the charisma and character of the Pleasure Beach lives and I adore that the park have continued to add to their dark ride line-up to compliment the classic rides too!
It was a fantastic first Blackpool opening weekend for me and all I can say now is, well, roll on Alton Towers I guess?!
Talk later xoxo,
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