The Pleasure Beach in Great Yarmouth is changing the way customers access the park and its rides.

Next year's season will see the attraction scrap timed sessions in favour of visitors once again gaining access to the park from open until close.

The theme park originally brought in timed sessions, in which visitors could go on as many rides as they wanted, in order to control numbers during the pandemic.

Now the owners are introducing a new access system, with three ways to enter the park.

Eastern Daily Press: The Pleasure Beach is scrapping timed sessions for the 2023 season.The Pleasure Beach is scrapping timed sessions for the 2023 season. (Image: Archant)

These include a daily wristband, starting from £20, which will give the purchaser unlimited access to the rides, and a pay-as-you-go card, costing £10, which gives access to the park and 10 ride credits.

An admission only card, which costs £5, for those not wanting to use any of the rides, has prompted some criticism.

Aaron Jones, director at the Pleasure Beach, said: "The timed sessions were great throughout Covid.

"We needed to limit numbers at the park and provide the safety which the government required of us to open up again.

"From a logisitics point of view it worked well with staffing, for breaks."

Mr Jones said that the owners had listened to feedback from customers, which suggested that the timed sessions "didn't work for everyone".

"We want to do something that works for the majority," he said, adding that the new system "offers more flexibility".

"The response has been generally positive. The vast majority of people are being really positive about the changes."

Eastern Daily Press: Brothers Aaron (right) and Jamie Jones, co-directors of Great Yarmouth's Pleasure Beach.Brothers Aaron (right) and Jamie Jones, co-directors of Great Yarmouth's Pleasure Beach. (Image: Archant)

Responding to criticism of the £5 charge for entering the park without taking any rides, Mr Jones said: "We're incurring huge costs we never had to deal with before. You only have to look at the price of energy.

"For a business our size where we have 26 rides, you can only imagine how much our energy bills have gone up, as well as the increase in minimum wage."

On November 18, the owners announced that the 33-year-old log flume is going to be replaced with a new ride.

A planning application submitted to the borough council is seeking permission to demolish the attraction.

Mr Jones said this will likely happen in January.

A replacement for the log flume has not yet been confirmed.

"Watch this space," Mr Jones said.