Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach to be refurbished for 2023

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Valhalla media day moved to enable improvements | RideRater

riderater.co.uk

Originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday this week, a media day has now been re-scheduled to 10 May.

The park told invitees: “To enable you to experience the best representation of Valhalla, a decision has been made to re-arrange the media day.”

It is not clear if the media day will mark the point at which the Pleasure Beach considers the ride to be fully open, and technical rehearsals have ended.

Seems like they took a hint.

 

[Coastercal]

It’s been confirmed the full re opening will be may 10th.

 

[Trax]

Any reactions on the „full“ experience yet? I need to pass time while I am waiting on the Toutatis queue

The rehearsal feedback was pretty bad, and I would like to know if they really made Valhalla as bad as the rehearsal suggested.

 

[ScottLann]

I've heard that all the effects in there that weren't working in the soft opening are now fully operational.

Soundtrack is apparently too quiet still but perhaps that's not a bad thing when it's the new one

 

[Niles]

Considering how bad the preview went i was not to hopeful but the reviews ive seen today of the now open attraction sound pretty positive. It sounds like they somehow managed to turn it around, really want to see a POV soon, for now the park gave a tease.

 

[Sandman]

I'm sorry but the first 5 seconds of that music are hideous, I'll never quite get it

 

[Lofty]

That video is weird, everything from 0:14 is heavily CGI'd...

 

[UKCoasterFan]

Not opening today till 3pm on a 5pm closing day.

 

[rob666]

That opening time is typical for the seasons before the closure.
If all the effects are working, it must cost a fortune to run.

 

[Marsden10002]

Quite poor its not opening all the time tbh

 

[Scott88]

There's a huge difference between how it was in mid April compared to how it was last week for media day. It's obviously a lot better now, but there is still reliability issues because even on the media day we had two different rides on it.

Clearly there's cost saving going on with it not opening for full days, I do get the reasoning for that because we all know it's not cheap to run but it does leave it open to this question; why didn't they remove it and build a new attraction?

 

[Marsden10002]

There's a huge difference between how it was in mid April compared to how it was last week for media day. It's obviously a lot better now, but there is still reliability issues because even on the media day we had two different rides on it.

Clearly there's cost saving going on with it not opening for full days, I do get the reasoning for that because we all know it's not cheap to run but it does leave it open to this question; why didn't they remove it and build a

 

[Marsden10002]

It's an odd one tbh and I don't understand why it's not running 100% perfect after being closed for so long. The original didn't take that long to build.

I'll guess the works a lot less than a total rebuild cost which is probably why they went down the refurbishment route but if they can't afford to keep a "star" attraction open then why keep it?

 

[spicy]

If they were to introduce an up charge to cover the running costs I wonder if that would work?

If you knew you was going to get the full experience with all effects running would you pay to ride it?

Surely that’s a better option than it constantly being closed?

 

[otwidalepda]

If they were to introduce an up charge to cover the running costs I wonder if that would work?

If you knew you was going to get the full experience with all effects running would you pay to ride it?

Surely that’s a better option than it constantly being closed?

How would you plan for that though? You would need it running in case someone pays the upcharge with no guarantee anyone will pay. You are sort of in the same boat with that one.

 

[spicy]

I guess you would have to sell the tickets in advance, kind of like how Disney charge for individual lightning lane from 7am. Stop all ticket sales once it is sold out or if you haven't sold enough to cover costs that day it doesn't open..

Only open it for a few hours a day and give each guest their time slots to ride.

 

[emoo]

For a ride over 10 years old to suddenly add an upcharge? The Irish sea is only a few steps away if you want to be wet and cold. And if there's no guarantee it will open thats off putting. Lightning lanes or virtual queues are commonly for attractions with an ongoing peak demand.

People still complain about the charge to enter and the Enso price is a scary guideline to what they could charge. Its already cheaper for many to go somewhere else.

How's about don't loose as much £ on hot ice? That doesn't shut down to save cash on low days.

 

[UKCoasterFan]

For a ride over 10 years old to suddenly add an upcharge? The Irish sea is only a few steps away if you want to be wet and cold. And if there's no guarantee it will open thats off putting. Lightning lanes or virtual queues are commonly for attractions with an ongoing peak demand.

People still complain about the charge to enter and the Enso price is a scary guideline to what they could charge. Its already cheaper for many to go somewhere else.

How's about don't loose as much £ on hot ice? That doesn't shut down to save cash on low days.

I don't know what made me think Enso was gone after just 1 season. Maybe it was a rumour I heard or I dreamt it.
VIP Enso: £25.

 

[Trax]

My favourite thing about Enso: They charge 15£ for a single ride, and just keep the seat empty if no one buys ít. With basicly a whole car missing, Icon still managed to get a 15 minute queue on an otherwise walk-on day last year.
Once they decided that no one would purchase 15£ for 1 (ONE) ride, they switched the trains and Icon was down to 1-2 trains wait.

I talked to a hotel owner after that visit, and she also told me that many people would like to try Enso, but are not willing to pay 15£ for it.

I get why the upcharge is so big, I can imagine that the new car was not cheap and BPB have to recoup the costs in some way, but 15-25£ per person might just have overshot it.

Back to topic: I'd rather have Valhalla only for a few hours available during a quite day, but fully operational, than having a half experience for 8 hours. The only thing I'm really mourning after is the ice room. Knowing nothing about Valhalla on my rides in 2019, it just blew me away that we were actually going through an ice cold chamber (without snow, though).