Family Road Trip ~ North West UK ~ Part 3 Blackpool Pleasure Beach!

We’re onto our third destination of our road trip across the North West of the UK, we’ve already covered Llandudno & Liverpool, this week it’s the turn of Blackpool. Located 55 miles north of Liverpool it took us just under an hour and a half to drive to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Where to stay in Blackpool:

Most of the accommodation in Blackpool books up really fast months in advance so we didn’t get our first choice instead we stayed slightly further out in Premier Inn Preston West, 12 miles away from Blackpool Pleasure Beach. We arrived very late after staying to watch the fireworks at 10pm at the Pleasure Beach but there were no issues checking in. Our room was perfectly clean & right beside the entrance so I didn’t have far to carry a sleeping baby! Breakfast was delicious with lots of hot and cold items available to choose from, served in The Lea Gate pub/restaurant next door. We paid £92.98/€105.08 for 1 night B&B for 2 adults & 2 kids. There’s ample free parking and a playground in front of the hotel.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Tickets:

We thought we’d save time queuing by buying our tickets online in advance but unfortunately you still have to join the main queue, it took us an hour to get to the ticket desk to collect our wrist bands. We paid £112.50/€127.15 for a family of 5 ticket for my husband and 4 of our children, as I’m pregnant I didn’t go on any rides so I bought a non rider day pass for £6/€6.78  and our 2 year old was admitted free of charge.

Top Tips for Blackpool Pleasure Beach:

Parking: Rather than pay for parking we were lucky to get a free parking spot outside Bodens Cycles on Station Terrace less than 5 minutes walk from pleasure beach.

Lunch: There are a couple of budget options for lunch inside the park such as Burger King & The Big Pizza Kitchen but we decided to do our usual picnic lunch from a local Tesco which we purchased before we arrived. It costs £3/€3.39 for a sandwich, snack & a drink so we stocked up and stored it in a locker on the way into Blackpool Pleasure Beach as they do not allow picnics to be brought into the park.

·         Luck of the draw I suppose but we were a bit disappointed when we arrived as we queued for 25 minutes for the ghost train before they shut the ride as it broke down the very same thing happened when the kids queued for the Wallace & Gromit ride, thankfully both reopened later in the day.

·         We arrived late to the park at 12pm to avoid the queue at the entrance as we knew we’d be staying late with the kids for the fireworks at 10pm but there were still queues anyway so go early to get in extra rides.

·         Like all theme parks make sure to measure your children before you go so you know what rides they can go on, my 5 year old was disappointed when he wasn’t allowed onto the bumper cars as he was exactly on the height line & not over it.

·         It’s worth while looking at the website before you go and choosing what rides you really want to do so you can head straight to those first thing.

·         My 10 year old daughters LOVED the top thrill rides especially Big Dipper & Big One.

·         If you like Vimto as much as my 9 year old Seamus you’ll have to visit the Vimto shop where everything is Vimto flavoured you can even buy ice cream or fresh donuts sprinkled with Vimto sherbet and prices aren’t bad either.

·          If you’ve a Paw Patrol fan make sure to head to Nickelodeon land to see what times they have meet & greets.

·         There’s also Wallace & Gromit meet & greets beside one of my kids favourite rides the Thrill–O-Matic and a themed gift shop.

·         The one thing that really put me off visiting again was the fact that there were hen and stag parties walking around the park drinking pints. Fair enough have a drink but it should be kept to the bars in theme parks as it doesn’t make for a very welcoming family friendly environment.

·         I really thought my kids would love Nickelodeon Land especially my 5 year old but when he saw it he only wanted to go on one ride there.

·         The Chinese Puzzle was a nice little maze my 5 & 2 year olds really liked it.

·         I couldn’t get my 5 year old off the Eddie Stobart Convoy ride, it was his favourite ride of the day and he went on it 6 times while we were waiting for the older kids on the big thrill rides!

·         We had to queue longer for the Grand Prix than we did for the big thrill rides as there were lots of drunken adults in the queue for the kids ride with no kids.

·         Even though we were in the park 10 hours we only got to do 11 rides between us.

·         The fireworks at closing were fantastic.

There you have it our experience at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, as I mentioned we won’t be returning & I’d recommend anyone going to Blackpool just for the Pleasure Beach to consider one of the other fantastic theme parks in the UK instead. Next week it’s the opposite end of the scale as I’ll fill you in on one of the best theme parks we’ve ever visited. My 2 year old asks every day since when are we going back to Diggerland?!

*** Disclaimer: 

There is nothing to disclose!***