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Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Icon | Mack Multi-Launch

Howie said:
Sooo... bit late to the party, but had a few goes on Icon today. It's really good, I liked it lots.
Considering it was a sunny Sunday in July, park was surprisingly empty so could have got loads and loads of laps in, but I had Mrs Howie in tow today, and she is a non-goon, so any notions of marathon-ing the thing were quickly put to bed. Today was Julie-time, and she wasn't gonna let me forget it. She even made me go on the River Caves and Dora the Explorer. :eek:
But still, we got 4 laps in - Julie really liked it so it was an easy sell. Over the course of the day we had a front row, a back row, and 2 middle-ish goes. Definitely prefer the front row, but the back is pretty sweet too.
It absolutely 'warms up' during the day, the afternoon rides were noticeably quicker than the morning ones. I mean... most rides do, I guess, but I can't think of any other cred where the difference between a morning and an afternoon ride is so pronounced, so obvious. Having said that, we both thought it was a great coaster from the first go.
Some have mentioned the 'rattle'. Yes, it's there, but only if you're actively listening out for it, and as the ride warms up the rattle seems to fade as the day goes by. But it's never 'rough', not by a long shot. Mrs Howie described it as "silky".
Launches are ok, top hat is fab, the Steeplechase section is fun, the highlight of the ride is undoubtedly the roll - double down - launch - immelman combo, and the second section offers a nice mix of twisty turny stuff and short but decent pops of airtime. They've even gone a wee bit RMC on our asses and thrown in a sneaky little outward banked airtime hump towards the end there, did you notice that? I mean, it's not Wildfire's crazy second hill, nothing like, but it's a fun, unexpected moment that doesn't really show up on the POV's.

Solid, solid ride, very happy to have it here in lil ol England.
As you can probably tell, I wasn't blown away by it, it's not balls-to-the-wall amazing, but it is a really, really nice coaster, it's just so.... nice.
Best coaster in the UK? For me, no. But if we're talking about, say, the top 3 coasters in the UK, Icon should definitely be in the conversation.
Well done. Blackpool :)
Click to expand...
Had my first rides yesterday too, with an equally non-goon girlfriend in tow. She even bought a book along in case I got a bit carried away with the re rides ;)

My review from another forum...

Managed 6 rides on Icon today, I think in future I'm only going to ride it after 2pm:D

The first couple of rides (2nd back, and front) were just... Boring? I wasn't expecting much from the launch having ridden Blue Fire, but still couldn't help but feel let down. There were a few decent airtime moments but nothing special.

Then came back around 2pm and hopped on the back row and it was absolutely fantastic. Getting dragged over the first hill on said back row provides some of the strongest airtime I've ever experienced. What follows is a smooth, comfortable experience with a few more strong airtime moments.

I'm actually quite baffled by how significantly better the ride is later in the day.

2nd best UK coaster after Nemesis for me. But genuinely wouldn't even have it top 5 after the first couple of rides.
 
I understand that BPB have once again taken the decision to close two hours earlier than advertised today, due to weather.
 
To be fair to them, the weather up here has been ****ing awful today. Gusts of up to 40/50mph and torrential rain showers.
 
I suppose it kind of does, by RCDB's logic, as the Immelmann looks to curve upwards before it's fully inverted, in my opinion.
 
You are never head over feet though, its like you turn off sideways far too early to call it an inversion.
 
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inversions.jpg


Yeah I'd count it as an inversion.
 
Sorry to bump the thread, but I went to Blackpool for the first time today, and I managed to get 2 rides on Icon! And what can I say; it’s an outstanding coaster!

For starters, the ride has quite a lot of airtime, and some pops that are really quite sudden, in my opinion! I found some of the ride’s pops of airtime to provide different kinds of sensations depending on where you sit. For example, I found the first hill to be more of a sustained floater moment towards the front and more of an abrupt ejector moment towards the back. For reference, I think I rode in row 6 and row 2. I personally found that the majority of the ride consisted of ejector airtime of reasonable strength; I wouldn’t say it was the strongest or most sustained airtime I’ve ever experienced, but it was still awesome, in my opinion! Three particular favourite airtime moments of mine included the first hill, the big drop just before the second launch and the little hill before the ending s-bends. The ride also has some twisty hills that provide some excellent, snappy ejector, in my opinion!

Also, the launches surprised me; the first launch in particular picked up speed far more quickly than it looked to from off-ride! It doesn’t quite have the oomph (is that a word?) of a launch like Stealth’s, for example, but I don’t think it really matters, personally, because on a ride like Icon, I personally think that it’s more about the whole ride experience and how it blends together, whereas on Stealth, the launch is the ride, if you get what I mean. I also loved the second launch, because you’re already going at a decent speed, and then you’re just hit with another huge burst of speed! It is just amazing!

Furthermore, the ride is so smooth and comfortable! I could not personally feel this “Mack rattle” that people talk about with regards to Icon; I thought it was among the smoothest coasters I’ve ever ridden! It might be that I haven’t ridden as many coasters as some, but I personally thought that Icon couldn’t be smoother! The restraints are also super comfortable, and very accommodating, in my opinion! Right up there with B&M clamshells as one of my favourite types of restraint! When we stepped off Icon, my dad commented that Icon’s restraints were up there with Mako’s for reridability, and my dad often finds some types of restraint quite painful, so that’s a win on Blackpool and Mack’s part, in my opinion!

Moreover, I found that the ride had some surprisingly intense moments! For example, some of the bends in the second half especially were quite whippy, in my opinion! Also, these turns were whippy without being jolty or painful, which was just fabulous, in my opinion! When combined with the awesome airtime and the beautifully executed inversions, it just makes for an awesome overall package, in my opinion!

So, in conclusion, Icon is a simply stunning coaster experience not to be missed! I had very high expectations for Icon, but it definitely met them and probably even exceeded them. I must point out that Icon was actually quite a different coaster to what I expected in sections; I knew the second half looked snappy, but Mack LSM coasters often seem to be given the label of being less intense than their Intamin brothers, so I wasn’t expecting an overly intense experience. However, the ride was really quite snappy, in my opinion! So much so that when Icon came into the brake run, I kind of had a less extreme version of that head spinning feeling that Smiler gives you on the brake run! Now, I bet you’ve all been wondering; has it topped Mako as my number 1 coaster? Now, I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, but... not quite. I think I preferred Mako because I found Mako to have stronger, more sustained airtime, and there was more of it on Mako, in my opinion. It’s a very close number 2, though, which is still fantastic when compared to the other 54 coasters below it in my count! And besides, airtime isn’t Icon’s main focus! In fact, I don’t think that Icon really has a specific focus; in my opinion, it more focuses on the overall coaster experience. Now before I ramble on for too long, let me wrap up this review by just saying; Icon is an absolutely outstanding coaster; a must do, in my opinion! BPB and Mack have knocked it out of the park here!
P.S. Sorry for long post. Also, I apologise if this review is badly written or if it seems like I've been taken over by new ride hype. The problem is; I genuinely was that smitten with it! I also have a report on the rest of BPB coming if you’d like to read that.
 
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