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Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Icon | Mack Multi-Launch

Is such a big difference between different times of the day a normal thing? Like I know it's often said that coasters warm up, but from mediocre to best in the country is huge!
 
elephant58 said:
Is such a big difference between different times of the day a normal thing? Like I know it's often said that coasters warm up, but from mediocre to best in the country is huge!
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It massively improved in the duration of the day, they were flying the trains out as well with them launching a train every 55 seconds or so, so they'd been running a LOT throughout the day. When I said mediocre, that was in terms of a Mack Launch Coaster and what you'd expect from one, but I was overtly harsh on it at the beginning when I first rode it because I'd pictures so much. ore in my head - at the end of the day, it was delivering exactly what I wanted from it.
 
Lofty said:
Been riding it all day, here's my thoughts:

The difference between when this is warmed up and earlier on in the day is absolutely huge. When we rode it the first time, it was around 11.30am and we were placed in the middle of the train - the ride was alright? Very mediocre with floater airtime and a pop or two of ejector for a split second. It was safe to say that I was absolutely underwhelmed by it and thought it was going to be a flop, so decided to head straight back around for a front-row ride. This was a huge improvement with some stronger and more sustainable ejector through points int he ride, but it was still absolutely underwhelming for what seemed like an eternity waiting from concept to reality.

Decided to do other bits in the park and then come back later on to ride it again (the queue was at most a 15 minute wait throughout the entire day with it having fantastic operations). This would've been around 2.30pm and we managed to grab a back row ride on it - already a huge difference. Really strong airtime throughout, laterals and strong positive - one of the best moments at the back is leaving the Immelmann when you receive really strong ejector at a funky angle before snapping up into the overbank and airtime hill with equally powerful ejector.

Just before leaving at around 4.30pm we rode it another two times - one at the back and one at the front. These were absolutely fantastic. A great ride on both areas, really enjoyed it and I'll be honest - I actually preferred these two rides to daytime rides on Helix, without question.

I suppose overall, I think it's a really good addition to the park and during afternoon operations, the coaster really stands its ground as one of the best coasters (if not, THE) in the UK for me. It offers something we just don't have yet, a coaster with airtime, strong positive G's, smooth and re-rideable. It really does, for me, fill the gap in the UK market for a solid thrill coaster and I'm more than happy that it's less than an hour from my house.
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It's a shame I didn't see you, you would have been a good interview for my Mack Rides documentary. Although I understand that people don't want to be in front of the camera and such. I rode it more today, I think I have done 11 or 12 rides or so. I love it. I know what you mean about the middle tough, it has made me put Wodan ahead of it, but still I think its a great addition.

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Thecoasterrus said:
It's a shame I didn't see you, you would have been a good interview for my Mack Rides documentary. Although I understand that people don't want to be in front of the camera and such. I rode it more today, I think I have done 11 or 12 rides or so. I love it. I know what you mean about the middle tough, it has made me put Wodan ahead of it, but still I think its a great addition.

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Being in front of a camera doesn't bother me - that's a shame!

Yeah, the middle just doesn't quite have the punch of the other Mack coasters? But the front and back definitely make up for it.
 
Lofty that sounds honestly very believable
It's something I've personally never come across, bizarre infact

"what's your favourite UK coaster"
Icon but only when it's warm, any other time its slightly above average haha
 
You're confusing 'favourite' with 'best' to be fair. Whilst other rides might be technically 'better' coasters, it doesn't mean that your favourite has to be that just because statistics say so? It's become one of my favourite UK coasters, without a single doubt - up there with The Ultimate and Nemesis.
 
My final thoughts on Icon:

I got the chance to ride today, think it was 10 rides. I loved it every bit as much as last week, although being lashed in the face with rain wasn't the best!

Front row is my personal favourite, back is excellent also, middle is still great, there really isn't a bad seat on the ride. I was surpsised how much more airtime the front row offered on the first hill compared to the row behind it (which still has quite a lot!).

I will agree that the ride gets better and better throughout the day, it was absolutely storming round in the last hour and the airtime in the second half of the ride became much more powerful.

For an opening day there was very little downtime, 10 minutes tops. The ride queue never exceeded 15 minutes and most of the day was 5 minutes. In the last hour the queue wasn't even outside the building. Obviously the rain helped but the operations were fantastic; 35 second dispatches sometimes! The queue moves very quickly and the ride was only running 2 trains, I look forward to seeing the amount of people they can shift on a 3 train operation :D

My one gripe was that I sat on the back row 4 times but only got a back row ride once due to being kicked off to allow (how shall I put this...) a larger person to be seated. I just think it's unfortunate that it has to be the back row that has this feature as it's a row that people love to try to get. (Back row whip is real throughout the ride by the way!)

Overall, you guessed it..... it is by far my favourite coaster in the UK! Is it perfect? Of course not, very few rides are, but it's bloody good and I'm not sure why some people think it is slow or boring because it is none of those things if you let it warm up. I find it fascinating how this ride seems to have divided enthusiasts straight down the middle. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, I'm a big fan though!

:)
 
MakoMania said:
My final thoughts on Icon:

I got the chance to ride today, think it was 10 rides. I loved it every bit as much as last week, although being lashed in the face with rain wasn't the best!

Front row is my personal favourite, back is excellent also, middle is still great, there really isn't a bad seat on the ride. I was surpsised how much more airtime the front row offered on the first hill compared to the row behind it (which still has quite a lot!).

I will agree that the ride gets better and better throughout the day, it was absolutely storming round in the last hour and the airtime in the second half of the ride became much more powerful.

For an opening day there was very little downtime, 10 minutes tops. The ride queue never exceeded 15 minutes and most of the day was 5 minutes. In the last hour the queue wasn't even outside the building. Obviously the rain helped but the operations were fantastic; 35 second dispatches sometimes! The queue moves very quickly and the ride was only running 2 trains, I look forward to seeing the amount of people they can shift on a 3 train operation :D

My one gripe was that I sat on the back row 4 times but only got a back row ride once due to being kicked off to allow (how shall I put this...) a larger person to be seated. I just think it's unfortunate that it has to be the back row that has this feature as it's a row that people love to try to get. (Back row whip is real throughout the ride by the way!)

Overall, you guessed it..... it is by far my favourite coaster in the UK! Is it perfect, of course not, very few rides are, but it's bloody good and I'm not sure why some people think it is slow or boring because it is none of those things if you let it warm up. I find it fascinating how this ride seems to have divided enthusiasts straight down the middle. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, I'm a big fan though!

:)
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Well as a porker I'm rather happy with the fact I'll be having nothing but back row goodness

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Lofty said:
Been riding it all day, here's my thoughts:

The difference between when this is warmed up and earlier on in the day is absolutely huge...
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I seem to recall Helix had the same issue. When I went to the Gothenburg CF live in 2014, I arrived sometime around noon after the entire group had already ridden Helix and found it "all right". Later in the day, around four I believe, most of the group went to experience the haunted house, while myself and two others decided to go ride Helix. Expectations weren't that high among the other two, who had ridden it earlier and found a re-ride slightly preferable to the upcharge and long lines of the haunted house. I only had that one ride to go off of, and was blown away. It was clear that the others felt a definite improvement as well. I had to leave shortly after for the train back to Oslo, but after the other CFers had ridden Helix in the evening, trip reports suddenly called it the best coaster in the park and then some. It seems like warming up can do a world of difference.
 
Is the difference between Helix's morning and afternoon rides less pronounced now then? Glad to hear it's hauling later in the day, slightly disappointed for the park that it was so quiet though. I know it was raining but I really hope it turns out to be the hit with the public they need it to be.
 
henryjwillis said:
Is the difference between Helix's morning and afternoon rides less pronounced now then? Glad to hear it's hauling later in the day, slightly disappointed for the park that it was so quiet though. I know it was raining but I really hope it turns out to be the hit with the public they need it to be.
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It was a school day in May, it was blatantly obvious from the beginning this was more of a soft launch before the bank holiday weekend.

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Putting the ride to one side and reflecting on my visit to the store, I believe BPB have missed an opportunity with the merch by not focusing more on the gold train design. For me, this is one of Icon's truly defining features, yet I don't recall seeing anything to buy with it on that really stood out? No mugs, t-shirts, badges, etc. I mean, one of those train model things would have been awesome!
 
henryjwillis said:
Is the difference between Helix's morning and afternoon rides less pronounced now then? Glad to hear it's hauling later in the day, slightly disappointed for the park that it was so quiet though. I know it was raining but I really hope it turns out to be the hit with the public they need it to be.
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Yes, the difference in a day/night ride on Helix is pretty astronomical. The first time I rode it was around 1.30pm (I think) and left just saying "Oh, ok?" and the people that had rode it before replied with "Just wait for tonight", so it does show how much of a difference a coaster can make after a few hours to be honest. Also, see Taron, it's exactly the same.

Most of the park's guests loved it from what I saw, they were laughing, screaming and running back around to the entrance to ride it again, it truly was great to see. What I will say is how much difference the 130cm limit gives you, so many younger guests were riding it and loving it, it was great to see some younger guests getting that adrenaline hit from a 'big' coaster, I truly believe it is going to work wonders for the park.​
 
I rode a number of times yesterday and it definitely needs time to warm up. The morning rides vs the afternoon rides are so far apart in experience. I would say that this is not an intense/thrill coaster but what it has in bucketloads is just how much fun it is. It's not a world beater but it is a superb fun ride. Everyone came back to the station smiling and laughing and that's fantastic to see. Icon also has a superb soundtrack that sounds amazing booming around in the confines of the station.

I really really hope it does well for the Pleasure Beach and i'm sure it will.
 
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