Blackpool with a 10 year old

[Weds]

First time poster here!

I'm taking my ten year old daughter to Blackpool in October, and I think I need help lol! I've never been to Blackpool before, and I'm australian....so please forgive my lack of knowledge.

We'll be driving down from Scotland, and staying for 2 days (3 nights). I really can't decide if I should stay at a hotel near the centre and walk everywhere (are most places within walking distance from the centre?) or if I should stay further out and drive/catch public transport (is there parking, decent bus/train service?). If anyone has any recommendations, general or specific, I'd be grateful!

Also any recommendations on what to see/do in and around Blackpool? DD really wants to go to ripleys believe it or not, which is fine, do I have to pay to get into pleasure beach to get there? Is pleasure beach worthwhile? Dd is a bit of a scaredy cat (and so am I!). So probably not into most of the rides, so I'm inclined to not bother...

Any help and suggestions you can give me are very much appreciated!!

Avoid the Derby Lodge hotel like the plague - do not believe any positive reviews I used to live next door and the owners are insane. The old man tried to knife my husband in the throat

The big blue hotel is meant to be nice and it's quite central, we've stayed at the premier inn before that's near the pleasure beach end and it was fine.

The pleasure beach has a Nickelodeon land, maybe your DD would be a bit old for it though. You have to pay for a wristband to go in, you used to go in free and buy tokens for rides but not any more.

The sand castle water park is pricey but good. We liked Blackpool Zoo too.

I haven't stayed there myself but I hear excellent things about the Big Blue hotel. It's affiliated with the Pleasure Beach and right next door- they do packages so you can get cheaper entry. There's a fair amount of rides that aren't too scary.

Hi op I've grew up going to good old blackers and I'm going in 2 weeks for the millionth billionth time

You don't need to pay for pleasure beach to get into Ripley
You do need to pay an entrance fee for pleasure beach though even if you just want to walk around it
There are some brill rides and very gentle ones I'm taking my 8mo dd and there are rides she will go on.
It's £21 if you book your tickets for pleasure beach online before you go.
I've stayed everywhere but do try and stay in the centre.
North pier is where the tower is. They have a "dungeons" franchise in their but won't be your thing if you don't like scare but they do tea dances and sometimes a tour which is very interesting
South pier is near pleasure beach. I'm staying there in a few weeks. Try the Berkswell guesthouse they have good family rooms and excellent trip adviser feedback
Trams up and down the front to take in the illuminations
Sea life is great and if you like swimming try the sandcastle. These are all centre located and walking distance from north/centre and south pier.
It's a fun place but I would recommend taking it for what it is. A bit naughty...
You'll never have seen anything like it op

Yes if your daughter likes water slides the Sandcastle would be good.

m.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/lancashire/blackpool/blackpool-beach.html?cid=GLBC_BLAYEA

The Blackpool Dungeons are brilliant. Quite scary but you get little kids of 4/5 enjoying it,. The big scary ride at the end is optional.
The Blackpool Football club hotel is quite swish and very handy for driving down the road to the big car parks.

Make sure that the hotel you stay at has parking. The last time we stayed there I had to park at an NCP car park and had to keep feeding the meter.

Don't try and drive down the front during the illuminatios as the traffic doesn't move. The best way to see them is from the tram.

I must admit that Blackpool is not my favourite seaside resort and would be quite happy to never go there again. It is what it is though and I have just had to suck it up for DD who loves the place. She loved the Blackpool Dungeon as well BTW.

Try and avoid the weekends as it gets full of hen and stag parties. And don't buy any cheap tat because it falls apart straight away.