With my last week off work we decided to go visit Blackpool. Not been since i was small and do no remember much of it except the lights. Their is a home video i will have to unearth of the lights from back then. As a now mid 30 year old my experience is clearly going to be different.

Deciding to visit for a few days seeing the Blackpool Pleisure beach , Piers and the Blackpool lights, Tower Circus and Ballroom for Afternoon Tea.

1st day was the Pleisure Beach and first of all you have to take a selfie of yourself to attach to your e ticket. Wish you could just have a ticket with barcode then all this faff fr just a day ticket. Plus did not know but have to scan your tickets in at each attraction. This really is not needed in this age honestly. This holds up loading the rides, you pay to get in the park why need for this? it`s because you can get non rider tickets, this needs to go tbh. When i am in the park i want to just ride not pull the tickets out every time to prove i have them!

The waiting time for rides was not bad by any means, but this process definitely added time to it unnecessarily. Valhalla was only open from 2pm so limited operations, check the app for attraction opening times and closing times.

Anyway a mixture of vintage rides and thrill rides, did not really go onto the coasters but had a good time on several. Valhalla really gets you soaking wet, sitting in the front, with everyone putting on raincoats and me with no coat or mack. The Derby Racer was fun and faster than i expected. Enjoyed the Wallace and Gromit Thrillomatic. I wanted to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride too from clips i have seen, where Golden Ticket Willy Wonka plays inside?

One of the Vintage rides was down for maintenance with the Dinosaurs and animatronics

I sadly did not get to ride the Steeplechase as i got on it, then the ride somehow broke down when i was on the horse. Looked behind me and the whole ride had been evacuated. I was thinking why is it taking so long to set off? and it was 30mins before the ride closed for the day too.

Spent more time at the Pleasure Beach than i thought and got a good few attractions rode.

Part of the trip was also hunting down a Zoltar fortune telling machine and found 3 on the South Pier, Central and Coral island. This is now a must at every Seaside town we go to. Think i am up to 8

I did not eat or drink in the park so cannot comment on that, There are plenty of places to eat nearby including a Mcdonalds.

Being soaking wet from Valhalla and night time coming with the cold and wind was not the best combo. Think this contributed to me catching a cold when i came home. Was the plan to take the Tram and see the Illuminations along the promenade about 6miles? but the Tram was like a 20 minute wait and it was cold and windy. So we decided to drive in the Car and see them from the window, in both directions.

That was day one and so we returned to the Hotel and came back the next day to do the Blackpool Tower, Circus and Tower Ballroom. The 2nd day was more rainy. We were running late right up to the time our Blackpool Tower Eye Tour was supposed to be 11.30. Anyway we got there and made no difference, as it is more a less self guided. You see a 4d Movie experience show and see posters with the History of the Tower and facts. Before you wait to go up in the lift to the observation deck. Here is where you can walk over the Glass platform and walk around. There are 3 further sets of stairs you can take to get higher if you are brave. I took them and the top is 401 feet quite windy and mostly caged in on the sides for safety.

Their was not that many more people on the higher levels, than you descend and wait for the lift back down. You exit into like an arcade and shop, Their is a Fortune teller machine, who is not Zoltar who reads your palm for £1. He did not speak though, but you do get a fortune card.

We had a gap between the Tour and the Afternoon Tea at 2.15 so had a look round the town at the back and the Piers. Coming back to the Tower at level 3 entered the Ballroom for our slot. You get 90mins and it was packed with people, more than i imagined. I had a Sequinned Black shirt for the occasion, but was wearing it under a Jumper and another Shirt, so had to do a bit of a strip tease when we got in there lol.

But boy did it sparkle away in the lights, Mum also had a sequin Jacket and dad a SequinTie

Got a table right a the edge of the dancefloor. Live Wurlitzer music is playing and you can get up an dance if you want and have the moves.

Tea arrived and the selection of Tea treats. I will say for this experience the atmosphere is what you pay for and the ability to dance and hear live music. It was like being transported to a different Time era. If you are sitting at front, just a heads up, you can feel all the vibrations from the Dance floor, i swear the Cake stand was Vibrating all those heels and dance moves on the floor.

The actual selection of what you get to eat, i personally felt fell short a bit basic and not much of it. Like the portions could have been bigger especially for the Sandwiches as it was like half of a half Sandwich. I am not sure if you get top ups but did not ask.

Though it was okay Brownie, a small piece of Sponge, Lemon Tart and a Tiny Eclair, the Scones did not feel freshly made and more brought in. Their was no Forks or Butter for the Scones on the table either strangely. As a setting in a very opulent surrounding i definitely expected better.

People were just enjoying the atmosphere and live music, even managed to get the parents up to 2 dances. We did leave before our time was up just over an hour. I did enjoy the experience with the live music and atmosphere, just the food offering let it down

So we had the Circus in the evening at 7.00pm so had some time again to kill. So did some more exploring and went back to the car for a bit as it was raining out and windy. We came back to the Tower for the last time that day and went up the stairs. A long corridor of props and posters from the past and info lined the corridors. Took our seats, which you can sit almost anywhere besides the front. Their was a short wait before the show started. I wore my Polkadot Shirt for the Circus

This one had a Clown, acrobats Tumbling and lots of slapstick. This Circus also features a drop floor that turns into a pool. I visited the one at the Hippodrome Gt Yarmouth, so had some expectations. The show was entertaining, but the actual time to sink the pool was a bit anti climatic, their was a laser show on a platform in the middle of the water, which was cool. However that was it, no water acrobats or swimmer Dancers. The cast then appeared round the edge of the ring to end the show. So that was a bit disappointing, maybe their a reason they do not get in or utilize it more.

The water did look a bit murky Green from the Photo took

The circus show was about 2 hours so exited at around 9pm and drove back to the Hotel as we were leaving back home the next day. With booking the attractions in the Tower we also got a voucher for 50% off the local car park which was handy.

Overall it was a good trip, not so much the 5 hours plus in the Car back to London!

There of course are other attractions like Madame Tussauds, Aquarium and the Dungeons to see. If they are your thing plus Ripleys Believe it or not too.

Not sure if we would make another trip now we have done the things we never did before.

Whats is your favourite thing to do in Blackpool?