For the last few years I had been thinking about having a day out to Blackpool Pleasure Beach but due to the cost I never got round to it. As soon as I heard about the renovation and introduction of Nickelodeon Land I knew I just had to take my daughter so we planned a day with my brother and his girlfriend so we could really make the most of it.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach is situated at the very south of Blackpool, just a little further down than the Sandcastle Water Park. You can even see the Big One (the large rollercoaster) from the motorway on the way into Blackpool at the opposite end to Blackpool Tower!
As we were planning the trip in advance I decided to use some of my Tesco Clubcard vouchers in exchange for a wristband is this worked out at £9.50 in vouchers for a £35 wristband. My brother purchased his wristbands online as this meant they were at a discounted price of ten pounds off and an offer that was on at the time meant they could buy two bands and get one free which meant my daughters wristband was free! As we had done the bookings online it meant we had to go into reception to collect the bands and this meant queuing for around ten minutes. When you enter the Pleasure Beach you now have to walk through quite a secure area and hand over your keys, phone and bags so they can be checked as you walk through a security gate which detects metal. This is just like airport security! Parking at the pleasure beach is extremely expensive so I parked on the Travelodge car park which is literally two minutes away and this cost £7.50 for the full days parking. There are other places you can park, there is parking all down the sea front but again this is more expensive than the Travelodge option but this does get full quite quickly due to the slightly cheaper price.

When we entered the Pleasure Beach we were a little confused as to where to go as it was many many years since we had been. Just inside the entrance there was a large area with water fountains in which the children (and adults if they so wish) can play. As it was such a hot day my brother decided he wanted a play in there so he and my daughter went in for a minute or so and ended up very wet! We had a walk around and then soon came across Nickelodeon Land and I was just amazed at the transformation from the old Beaver Creek area. You are just hit with bursts of colour and you immediately notice the large bright orange roller coaster standing out from the other rides. I have to say that I am not really a fan of Spongebob Squarepants but even I was surprised at how much I was drawn into it! We stood at the top of the slope for a few minutes just taking in all the rides and in the distance we could see Dora meeting and greeting the children.
The rides
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There are twelve rides in Nickelodeon Land, and my daughter was just dying to get on each and every one of them. Even though the weather was very hot the Pleasure Beach was quiet due to the fact we had gone during term time and as my daughter was still in nursery at the time it didn't matter if she missed one session.

Diego's Rainforest Rescue was the first ride we went on as there was no queue at all. The ride is a ring of hot air balloons and you sit in the basket - there are four seats to each balloon. In the centre of the balloon you will see a rubber ring which you can turn to make the balloon spin around, much like the teacup rides at fairgrounds. This ride is great fun but I have to admit I came off it feeling quite sick from all the spinning my daughter did!
Next we went on to Fairy World Taxi Spin which my daughter decided she wanted to go on with my brother as she thought it was funny being called fairy and making my brother who is a 6ft 4" man (and really felt quite embarrassed going on that ride!) go on! Each carriage is a taxi cab and on the dashboard there is a button which controls the cab going up and down. From the top when you release the button you come down with a bit of a bump and a huge tummy tickle!!

The next ride we went on looked amazing and we all four went on - Spongebobs Splash Bash! This ride has jellyfish for carriages and as the ride begins you sink into water and are floating around in circles. Attached to the carriages are water guns which you have to manually turn a lever to make the gun spray. It is basically a huge water fight and everyone just sprays eachother and even at the sides of the ride there are water guns so people watching can spray also. It is safe to say we were absolutely drenched when we came off this ride but it was the most fun I think I have ever had at a theme park! We all came off in fits of laughter and couldn't wait to get on it again!
The Backyardigans Pirate Treasure is a pirate ship with a difference, the boat goes round like a roundabout but goes very very fast and there is no way my stomach could handle that but my daughter went on it alone and absolutely adored every second of it, even when it went backwards!

The Blue Flyer is a small roller coaster which is fab for younger children and there is a larger one called the Nickelodeon Streak but unfortunately my daughter was just a little too short to go on that one even though she was begging to.
Other rides include Avatar Airbender which is aimed at older children and adults, Rugrats Lost River which is basically a log flume, The Krusty Krab which is a smaller version of the Ice Blast ride (previously known as Playstation), Dora's World Voyage which is a very slow ride through different lands in a hot air balloon, Bikini Bus Tour which is a bus that goes round in circles and quite high so they can see the whole area and finally Wonder Pets Big Circus Bounce which is similar to the Fairy Cabs but unfortunately was closed when we were there.

Along with the rides there is a large hook a duck style game in the centre of the area where the prizes are all Spongebobs of different sizes. It is priced at £4 which does seem a little excessive but there is a prize every time and the children get two picks to add up the points to win a prize. There is a snack shack just next to the Splash Bash ride which sells snacks such as popcorn, candyfloss, hot dogs and such like. The gift shop is large and just packed with Spongebob and Dora The Explorer souvenirs.
If you wish to have a sit down meal there is a restaurant onsite called the Big Pizza Kitchen in which you have an all you can eat buffet. This is a really nice place to eat and the standard of pizza and salad is quite good, I would definitely eat there again. Next to the Big Pizza Kitchen there is a meet and greet area where the characters all come out one by one and there is the option for the children to have their photographs taken by the official photographer but also they allow you to take your own so you don't have to fork out extra money for their official pictures. Along with the meet and greet there is a show the characters put on which is great fun to watch and it was brilliant seeing my daughter dancing along to the music.

My overall opinion of Nickelodeon Land is an extremely positive one. I think it is a fantastic place for both children and adults alike and visually it is very pleasing with the bright colours. I have been twice during the summer holidays this year and on both occasions the queue time was very limited which is surprising as it is still relatively new and people were eager to make the most of the area. The longest queue we encountered was for the log flume but that is my daughters favourite ride so we had to queue up but even then it was for ten minutes at the most.
I loved seeing my daughter meeting the characters, when she met Diego he loved her bunches and held each one up for the photograph which was fab and now my daughter always says they are her Diego bunches when she has her hair up. I also like how at the end of the day the characters are stood at the exit so again there are photo opportunities. I was concerned about how my daughter would react with the characters initially as she was very scared last time we went to a theme park but as we are going to Disneyland next year I want her to feel comfortable meeting the large characters.

With the wristbands we had the option of using all of the rides which was great so we did go around the rest of the park and went on some of the other rides but we made sure we went back to Nickelodeon Land and had another go on the Splash Bash! By far the best ride in the Pleasure Beach in our opinion!
The one downside I have to Nickelodeon land (which does extend to the whole Pleasure Beach) is the system they have for going on the rides. At each gate when entering a ride there is a scanning system in which you have to flash the barcode on your wristband (by the end of the day we ended up feeling like we were on sale at Asda!!!) This was quite hard for my daughter to do by herself as the scanners are quite high and it was hard to twist her arm round correctly to scan the barcode. On some of the rides the staff were helpful but on others the staff were quite rude and impatient when she struggled and that was very unfair of them in my opinion!

All in all I think Nickelodeon Land is a fantastic day out and although the prices are quite expensive I do think it was worth it as we had a really good day.

Thank you for reading my review.