Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Nickelodeon Land

I have lived in Blackpool for most of my life and spent many a happy time at Blackpool Pleasure Beach . I remember when they used to have rides before the season started at 15p many years ago when I was a child then it went up to 50p and as the rides got better so did the prices.  I fell out of love with the Pleasure Beach when they started charging an entrance fee to get in of £5 per person as well as paying for each individual ride or buying wristbands.

 However since I now have a child of my own who goes mad every time we drive past and see Dora, I thought it was time we made an effort and took him.  He is 2 and is Dora mad.  As I have got older, I have become a bit of a baby when it comes to rides and don't really go on anything which is why I begrudge paying an entrance fee, plus the fact that I think it should like Alton Towers where you pay to get in and everything is included or pay individually but not both.

Anyway we just wanted to have a nosey so decided not to buy wristbands on this occasion as we didn't know if he would actually go on anything (we went to Butlins last year and he wouldn't go on any rides).  He was very excited when we got in and watched the Ice Blast shoot up in the air. We made our way over to Nickelodeon Land (previously Beaver Creek) and I don't think he knew what to make of all the rides and everything that was going on. A couple of the rides were not open as Nickelodeon Land only opened in April. The Rugrats Lost River and Spongebob's Splash Bash were 2 that were not operating.

You can pay for rides individually rather than buy a wristband if you choose, but if you are planning on making a day of it then it would be cheaper to buy a wristband. Each ride requires so many tickets (if paying individually), tickets can be bought in the shop at £1 each and the rides required 2,3 or 4 tickets per person depending on which ride.  There is a mini stage and shows throughout the day in Nickelodeon Land and you can meet Dora and Spongebob Characters.

If like me you don't tend to go on the rides or buy a wristband, the entrance fee includes a ride on the Pleasure Beach Express Train round the park, The Chinese Puzzle maze, The South Beach show and The dancing water show.  There are rides for every age and every taste.  I am glad that the pleasure beach has kept some of the old rides such as the Revolution, Grand National  and Steeplechase to name a few.

As I think I mentioned before, it has been many years since I last went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and I remember lots of burger and over priced fast food stalls.  There are still burger and fast food stalls but one thing I did notice was there were restaurants with fairly priced meal deals, such as the Gourmet Burger meal deal which was £5.95 for adults (burger, fries and a drink) and £3.95 (approx) for kids meal. There was a pizza deal on as well which I think was all you can eat for £7.95.

There are lots of stalls selling drinks, souvenirs and food all over the park and it is very easy to get around.  As well as an amusement Park or Resort as it now calls itself, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has lots of shows too. The Hot Ice show has been going for years and is always a great show worth seeing or if you fancy yourself as the next Torvill or Dean, you can actually go ice skating as the rink is within the park.  There is also Ken Websters Hypnotist show for over 18's, When Frankie met Robbie and Circus of Horrors plus many more for which details are on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website under entertainment. Also don't forget to watch the dancing Fountains which are situated near the Haunted House.

There are loads of Hotels around the Blackpool Pleasure Beach including The Big Blue Hotel, which I believe is owned by or classed as part of the pleasure beach.  This is a four star family Hotel next door to the pleasure beach. If you want something cheaper but just as close, there is the Travelodge which is a 5 minute walk and has rooms from £19.99 (when they have offers on), but you do have to pay for parking even though it has its own car park. The Hotel has a covered car park which is £8 per 24 hours and only had 16 spaces.  There is an open car Park attached to it and I do know they charge £5 for up to 8 hours but not sure what it goes up to after that.

Don't park in the South Beach car park across the road from the Pleasure Beach unless you have to as it is very expensive. There are lots of car parks dotted around and a few at the back of the Pleasure Beach on Bond Street which will be cheaper. If you want luxury, then there is the 5* Boutique Hotel a few minutes walk called Number 1 South Beach. As well as celebrities staying there, Channel Four's Hotel Inspector visited it too. There is of course loads of Hotels and B and B's along the promenade too, for more information go to the Visit Blackpool website.

I do think that the Pleasure Beach is a great family day out (albeit very expensive) and they always have offers on especially if you book online and there is something for every age and taste. I am going to take my little one again but will wait until the kids go back to school in September as when I went last week on a Monday, it was lovely and quiet and we didn't queue for anything but I imagine its going to be a very busy summer holiday for them.  Enjoy x

Take That Progress Tour 2011 - Manchester

 I have been a Take That fan since the mind 1990's and have been to at least one show every time they have performed in their home town of Manchester since 1995 and think they always put on a fab show. I went to the Circus Tour and would have argued with anybody that that Gig could not be bettered when I heard they were going to be doing a Tour in 2011.




 The day the tickets went on sale, my hubby and I nearly divorced when it looked like I wasn't going to get tickets. I had logged onto my account with Ticketmaster at 0845 (tickets on sale at 9am) and felt confident that I was logged in and would have no problems.  How wrong I was.  At 9am as I tried to book my tickets, the website crashed (I was on my laptop and hubby tried on his computer). As I panicked, we decided that we would try and get them over the phone. Hubby tried to get onto Seatwave and a couple of other reputable companies but it was the same with all of them.  
Anyway after 2 hours of constantly trying on the phone and throwing my toys out of the pram, I finally managed to book tickets over the phone for Sunday 5th June 2011at City of Manchester Stadium, and my poor hubby wasn't even going!
   

I had heard that the Pet Shop boys were supporting and was happy as love all their songs. The day of the gig came and we were all happy, their were 8 of us in total getting a minibus to the stadium from Blackpool at £17 each which I thought was pretty reasonable. There was a fan zone at the stadium which open from 12pm lunchtime and would stay open until 6am the next morning should the demand be there.  The queues to get in were huge and I am glad we got there in plenty of time.  We had heard that they were being strict about what you could take in to the stadium but the security must have had a field day.

There was a big pile of confiscated items such as unopened boxes of chocolate, a picnic including chicken legs, bags of unopened crisps among other items including umbrellas.  Basically we were told you could take unopened bottles of water in only. When we got in, we were told that all we could stand anywhere or sit in any seats that were available as the reserved seats were in a different area.  We managed to get seats a few rows from the front in a block near the stage and had a great view.  The heavens opened so we were grateful for a seat undercover.

The Pet Shop Boys came on about 7.30 and did all their popular songs that everybody knew including 'West End Girls', 'Left to my own devices', and a few others.  They were on for about 45 minutes and got the crowd going.
Take That came on at about 8.30pm to lots of screaming and excitement with 'Greatest Day', and they didn't disappoint. They did a few songs as a foursome then went of stage and Robbie came on and opened with 'Let me entertain you' and sang other favourites such as 'Rock DJ', 'Come Undone' and 'Feel', and I fell back in love with him again. I always liked Robbie and was gutted when he left Take That and went to watch him in Leeds on his Tour a few years ago.












 He was OK and think (after reading his book) that it was a tough time for him as I was a little disappointed with his performance.
He kept waffling and seemed as though was on something but tonight, he was definitely back with a bang and the love was back.  He was the confident, cocky Robbie that everybody loves and a proper showman and when he finished his solo set with Angels, the stadium erupted.  Robbie sang a few songs on his own then Take That were back on as a five piece.

The stage had a long runway with another stage at in the middle of the stadium so that wherever you were sitting you could see.  They had a proper big show with loads of dancers and fireworks and sang songs from every decade.  Jason and Howard did a break dancing dance off and Gary a couple of songs on the piano including 'Million love songs' which is one of my personal favourites.  Robbie did 'Lulu's bit on 'Relight my Fire' and there was a couple of Robbie's solo songs thrown in such as Rudebox.

  They did about 2 1/2 hours in total including Robbie's set and I loved every second in fact I loved it so much I went again. (More about that later).  There was a huge mechanical man on stage which moved about and at one point they actually used the hands as a mini stage. As I said before, I would have argued with the Circus could not be out done but I was wrong, this was bigger and better than any Take That gig I have ever been to before. I think also that Manchester City Stadium was a great venue and a great atmosphere.

The only complaint I would have about that night was there were not many toilets in the stadium (or didn't seem to be) and I only went once and that was quite enough.  It took 40 minutes to queue for the loos which as you can imagine was a bit of a nightmare.  Also I wasn't drinking that night which is a good job really as it was £4.50 for a glass of wine so no wonder they didn't want you bringing your own food and drink into the venue.

On the Friday after the gig my friend (who had gone with her other friends the day before me) rang me to ask if I fancied going to see Take That again tomorrow (Saturday) for £11.  I asked her if she was off her head and where she was getting the tickets from but if she could definitely get them then count me in.

She had heard from another friend that some extra tickets had been released just for that weekend on Ticketmaster and Seatwave that would be 'restricted view' which is why they were £11 and I had paid nearly £60 each for my original tickets. She did manage to get the tickets and we were really excited to be going again. This time I decided to drive as there were only 4 of us and was a bit optimistic about parking as I had been pre warned not to use the Stadium car park as the roads were closed after the gig for a period of time and it would be a nightmare getting out.

After a couple of wrong turnings we were on the right road and parked about 200 yards from the stadium thinking it would be easier to get out (how wrong we were about that too).  It took us over an hour just to get away from the stadium towards the motorway due to the huge volume of traffic and on a normal journey, it would take me about an hour or so to get home from Manchester, this took well over 2 1/2 hours.

We had been advised that the restricted view tickets we had booked were actually reserved seats, so felt that we didn't need to join the huge queues to get near the front. We collected our tickets and the seats were at the side of the stage, but nearer to the back of the stage, we weren't bothered about not being able to see the main stage as we had been the previous week, but we had a good view of the runway and second stage.  The show was every bit as good as the first time we went and the added bonus of being able to see them go onto the stage from the back stage area, plus there were big screens for the bits on the main stage that we couldn't see.  On the plus side, there were no queues for the toilets but not so good for my friends who had to pay £17 for a bottle of wine.

The Progress Tour was the best ever and I wish I was going again and again and this time I really don't know how they could make another any better, but only time will tell and I really hope that the 5 of them are back for good.