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Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Icon | Mack Multi-Launch

DelPiero

Strata Poster
^ You're not riding it right then. ;) I wouldn't even call it rough!
Towards and specifically at the back it's awful. Nearer the front it's ok though, but I avoid the back half of the train like the plague whenever I ride it now.
Ride Grand National and everything else will feel smooth as glass :)
Agreed, but only on a wheel seat, last ride I had on nash was a middle seat and it was fab with a lot less roughness.

Mack's aren't rough, but have normal coaster vibrations and the odd bump, certainly nothing like older woodies and Vekomas.
 

Tulum

Mega Poster
Wheel change?

I rode Icon on Saturday and really thought it was an added sound effect, just like the rumbling of thunder on Storm. Strange.

Icon had some downtime in the morning, we got stuck in the station. They fixed it quickly. The staff mentioned this happens often in the mornings and already knew the text for the Icon-has-technical-difficulties by heart. In the afternoon the mist was switched off in the tunnel.
 

EndlessWire

Mega Poster
I know capacity and operations are pretty good on this, but does anyone know what the queues mid-week are like, and how many trains it tends to run on weekdays?

Also, roughness alone doesn't equate to pain; roughness plus painful restraints is what does that. For me roughness can add to the character of a ride, but I don't expect Icon to have any.
 
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rob666

Hyper Poster
Midweek queues have varied, but between fifteen to twenty minutes, though the school trips are on now, so maybe longer.
Weekends, about thirty minutes, from the gates.
Usually runs on 2 trains, 3 only on very busy days.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
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 :)
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
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.
Maybe every Mack Launcher, or Taron? Like every decent non hydraulic Launcher has this issue.

I swear man, thought you weren't basic anymore then you Necro this thread and throw out more blurb than ATI :rolleyes:;)
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Nowt wrong with ATI. One of our best posters. Love that guy!
giphy.gif
 

FistedColossus

Hyper Poster
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 :)
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.
 

Coaster

Mega Poster
I understand that BPB have once again taken the decision to close two hours earlier than advertised today, due to weather.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
To be fair to them, the weather up here has been ****ing awful today. Gusts of up to 40/50mph and torrential rain showers.
 
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