Season ready: Behind-the-scenes at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

National World - Broadcast Video

It looks and sounds unusually quiet at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in January, but behind the scenes is a hive of activity as the park prepares to re-open for the 2024 season in March.

Transcript

00:00 [Sound of waves]

00:10 [Music]

00:12 Blackpool is a seaside town like no other.

00:15 A vibrant coastal gem, dancing with dazzling lights and the sound of fun.

00:20 A resort that boasts many jewels in its considerable crown.

00:25 The tower, the heart of Blackpool, a majestic iron giant that presides over miles of golden sands

00:32 and the illuminations that transform the night into a canvas of light.

00:37 But that's not all. A quick tram ride up the coast will take you to a thrilling playground

00:43 where adrenaline takes centre stage.

00:46 [Music]

01:12 [Screaming]

01:19 [Music]

01:29 Founded in 1896, the world-famous Blackpool Pleasure Beach has been providing guests with thrills for 127 years.

01:38 Attracting over 5 million visitors each year, the park is home to the Big One, the UK's tallest roller coaster.

01:46 Icon is the UK's only double launch roller coaster and Valhalla has been awarded the best water ride in the world.

01:56 [Screaming]

02:02 It's steeped in history too, with the classic wooden Big Dipper celebrating its 100th birthday last year.

02:09 [Music]

02:16 But it doesn't always look and sound like this. As the park gets ready for the 2024 season,

02:23 there's an eerie quiet about the park.

02:26 [Noise of the park]

02:42 But that doesn't mean there's nothing happening.

02:45 [Noise of the park]

02:50 People probably just assume that we just close the doors at the end of November and reopen them at the beginning of March

02:56 and pick up where we left off, but I think surprisingly, what we do here, what the engineering department do here,

03:05 they work tirelessly at this time of year to actually strip the rides completely back,

03:11 replace any parts that need doing and do all the non-destructive testing

03:16 to ensure the rides are in tip-top condition for the start of the season.

03:20 They will literally remove the vehicles from the roller coaster, strip them all back,

03:26 replace any parts that need replacing, test them,

03:30 and then they'll be handed back to operations for running prior to the start of the season.

03:36 [Noise of the park]

03:46 [Noise of the park]

03:49 I'm working on the underside of train two of the Grand National.

03:54 So each train is checked thoroughly, both the underside and the topside.

04:02 We renew the brake fins, the anti-rollback dogs and the chain dogs.

04:08 All the wheels are checked for their gauge.

04:13 Over the course of the season, the wheels tend to wear down only very slightly,

04:19 but each season we check that gauge to ensure that the train sits snugly on the track.

04:25 As well as the main running wheels, we check those as well.

04:29 All the individual bearings, they're stripped down, re-greased and replaced where needed.

04:35 And then each individual nut and bolt across the underside of the train is checked.

04:41 Any fatigue markings, any cracks or potential areas of corrosion,

04:48 we check those and replace any parts that need to be replaced.

04:52 It gives a good MOT for the train and ensures that it's good for another season.

04:59 [Noise of the park]

05:03 So this is our Alice in Wonderland ride.

05:07 You'll see a couple of the things are actually off at the minute.

05:10 So everything on this ride and inside the ride is hand-painted by our team and painting model.

05:17 Really intricate and really skilful.

05:22 And this is all done in-house by us as well.

05:26 [Noise of the park]

05:35 I did carve the head for this one.

05:39 But that's just made out of horse dyer in hand carved and then fiberglassed.

05:44 He was from the ghost train. He used to usher the cars in at the entrance.

05:49 Well, they decided he's been neglected for a while and there's been a box.

05:54 You'll notice there's a box there now that does television.

05:59 They're thinking of putting him back in so he's come out of storage.

06:02 Somebody decided we needed to cut his hands off and cut his head off and revamp him a bit and give him a new look.

06:08 So we've given him a bit of a facelift.

06:11 [Noise of the park]

06:14 There's a good artist here that sort of do the paint work on.

06:17 We bring stuff in for renovation.

06:19 So when they come in, we get the artist to clean them up and paint them up.

06:24 So we've got about three artists there.

06:27 We've got some fiberglasses that do all the repairs on the rides that need doing.

06:33 We've got infusion panels that come in that have to be refiberglassed

06:38 because metal brackets have got to be redone after they've corroded.

06:42 A lot of what we do has to be from old stuff or things to regenerate it.

06:50 There's a lot of new scenes that have been done by other people that cover the grounds.

06:55 [Noise of the park]

07:00 Would it be possible to stand on here?

07:03 It's just nice to see something going out, rejuvenated for me.

07:06 We have to do all the scenes around the park as well.

07:09 We have to go back inside the Hollis & Gromit and we have to go and fix them.

07:13 Things break down, things stop working, things get damaged.

07:17 We have to go in and fix it all up and respray it.

07:20 The thing that you've got to think about is how you want the face to look or how you want to do it.

07:24 You're starting off with two-part foam which is just like a block of old stone that we can carve out.

07:33 There's quite a bit of work there to think about what you're going to do.

07:37 Once you carve it, then you've got to fiberglass it.

07:41 Fiberglassing takes quite a bit of work to get all the details in.

07:46 It's quite hard to manipulate.

07:48 A lot of the stuff boils down to fiberglass at the end of it because it needs weatherproofing.

07:52 It needs to be strong and substantial.

07:54 So a lot of it is an old format.

07:56 Fiberglass tends to be the best product to be able to put on top of.

08:00 But around the park, you'll see lots of things that have been taken off.

08:04 There's things on the ghost train that have been taken off and redone and put back up like on the ghost train roof.

08:10 The train had to be taken down because it was badly corroded.

08:14 That was done about six years ago.

08:16 And a new train went back up.

08:18 We did a whole lot. We put skeletons on the floor.

08:22 That was quite nice to do.

08:24 That was a good job for us to do.

08:26 So it's continually renewed.

08:28 So you'll look around the park. Some things look as though they've gone back up.

08:32 If you look at what the girls are doing now, some of the Alice Ride stuff that they've put back.

08:39 It's making it look really nice now.

08:41 It's just nice to see things that have been put back right.

08:45 And that's from everybody.

08:48 [Pleasure Beach Ice Arena]

08:56 Our Pleasure Beach Ice Arena is open year-round.

09:00 We provide public skating.

09:02 We have everything on our website.

09:04 Pleasurebeachicearena.com

09:07 From there, you'll be able to check out our schedule.

09:09 We have Skate UK.

09:11 We have training classes, which is great.

09:13 We have some of the best world-class ice skating coaches here.

09:16 We also have a lot of public sessions, which is really nice.

09:19 So you can rent your skates from here, and you can skate on our rink, which has been here since 1936.

09:25 Our Skate UK program is amazing.

09:27 We have a beginner program.

09:29 And this is on Saturdays and Sundays here at the ice arena.

09:32 They have an advanced program and a beginner's program.

09:35 Which is great because you'll be able to work with a whole bunch of different people.

09:38 And some of our world-class ice skaters will be able to teach you some of the basics to more advanced types of skating.

09:44 We're very, very excited for our show that's going to be happening.

09:47 It's Hot Ice.

09:49 Our show this year will be called Eternity.

09:51 And that will be starting on July 4th here at our ice arena.

09:55 The greatest thing about Hot Ice is we have skaters from all around the world.

10:01 We have skaters from Blackpool, which is great.

10:04 We also have skaters from as far as China, Canada, the Ukraine, Russia.

10:10 I mean, you name it.

10:11 We have some skaters from America as well, from Japan.

10:14 These skaters have all different levels and all different skill sets, which is amazing.

10:18 We have some pair skaters.

10:19 We have solo skaters.

10:21 A lot of the skaters have so many different varied abilities.

10:26 It's an amazing show to see.

10:28 A majority of the skaters, we've had a few of them that have been here for several years.

10:34 And we've also had a lot of newcomers, which is great.

10:36 The costumes are some of the most amazing costumes you've ever seen in your life.

10:40 I've been told about the show for many years, so to be here to witness it and to see it is just an honor.

10:46 It's quite interesting to see how it is now and when it transforms when we open and it comes alive.

10:57 So these are the boats from Valhalla, which is just to our left.

11:01 That was the former site of the Fun House.

11:05 In 2000, Valhalla was built and then last year it was reimagined with a £4 million investment.

11:13 It's won awards for the world's best dark water ride.

11:21 So one of the works they've been doing this week is actually jet washing the front.

11:26 You can see where they've got up to.

11:28 Yeah, you can see the colour, so this bit in the middle.

11:31 And then if you see the slight lip at the top there with the gap, that is the water flow where the water runs down.

11:37 [Music]

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