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ENSO; “Icon with a twist” opening at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 2022

Am I the only one that thinks it actually looks good?

Not sure why people are complaining about the tame spinning. It's going about the same rate as Time Traveller and Ride to Happiness, which I've heard are wild.

I also think it makes Icon a lot more interesting. It doesn't seem like that good a ride to begin with, so adding the spinning sensation will more than likely spice it up a bit. The layout also seems to cater towards the spinning seats, since most of it is just turns, corners, and s-bends.

Yeah, the upcharge sucks. I'd probably try it once.
 
As a completely unqualified, outside judgement - I was never impressed with Icon's layout, as it seemed to meander and lose significant pace through the second half. So the notion of a spinner adding new variety is super intriguing to me, and dare I say add some solid flare. 15 pounds I agree is a wickedly steep cost barrier - but hey, don't knock it before you try it?
 
The POV doesn't look like it gets close to RTH/Time Traveller level thrills, but I'll nevertheless be having a go when I'm at BPB next month.
 
Using my very rough calculation from POVs of all 3:
  • Ride to Happiness does 6 complete spins in 1 minute 17 seconds
  • Time Traveler does 4 complete spins in 1 minute 14 seconds
  • Enso does 3 or 4 complete spins (I wasn’t sure) in 1 minute 13 seconds
So if that’s anything to go off of, Enso will have a similar level of intensity (I’m assuming that people conflate number of spins with intensity in this instance) to Time Traveler, or perhaps slightly less intensity than Time Traveler, while RTH will remain in a league of its own.
 
Hyde said:
I was never impressed with Icon's layout, as it seemed to meander and lose significant pace
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That's exactly what it does.

Anything that can improve upon it, then I am for it. I know I annoy people with my high standards but Icon is the most disappointed I've been with a new ride in some time.
 
I think the spinning will be great, especially as you could be going through some of the best elements backwards. The only thing is that would make it better is a spin boost on the first launch like RTH but that isn’t possible. I also don’t see why people complain about Icon meandering the whole time, as it still has some great elements and its not like Taron which is much more highly regarded doesn’t have the same problem.
 
Luca B said:
It still has some great elements and its not like Taron which is much more highly regarded doesn’t have the same problem.
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I would say 'yes it does indeed' but I'm in a minority and that's a whole other kettle of fish...
 
Icon could of been so much better. The first section is decent but it's lacking pace and airtime.

Also the queue line could of been a lot better as the soundtrack is fantastic. I won't be riding Enso as £15 a ride on top of the "average" £44 entrance fee is a joke
 

Not recommending you watch the video, as given the channel, it's quite cringe. But as for Enso... Meh? It barely even spins, and seems like they spent half the ride facing forwards anyway. It's a no from me.
 
Will said:
Let's be uncharacteristically optimistic.

If it can turn the 'meh' of Icon into anything close to the insanity of Ride to Happiness, then I'll pay. Maybe just the once, but I will.

I don't like the upcharge, of course I don't, with the massive hike in wristband prices we've seen recently, but I can't deny it makes business sense.
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This new sometimes ‘positive’ Will is confusing the hell out of me 🙈😂

But yeh, I’ll pay once, it’s day light robbery, but then so is my beer, food, electricity, gas, diesel, council tax, income tax, car tax, Insurance, VAT, Phone bill, broadband bill, Netflix, Prime, and a million other things at this point…

Honestly I generally just bend over before asking a price these days… Saves time.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
This new sometimes ‘positive’ Will is confusing the hell out of me 🙈😂
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You're worried :p
It's these bloody moodswings, everything's either the best or worst thing ever, there's no sodding in-between!!

I want to find something on topic to say. Icon is a rollercoaster at Blackpool. It is built by Mack and opened in 2018.
This was an attempt at reprising 'the coaster wars', but to my surprise, after a lot of work, Wickerman is better - possibly because it doesn't try to dress itself up as a better ride.
 
Does not look that great tbh for £15. Doubt I'll go to BPB this year just due to costs. Its now £44 on the gate which is on the high side
 
Not worth £15... Barely spun, and it's certainly not even close to RTH.

It is a fun twist on Icon, and at a more reasonable price would be worth it (£3-5) But don't expect the spinning you get on a Mack extreme. A (small) bit of sideways and backwards action may be all you get.

I thought that I might want more than one go at it (and had the spare money assigned to it just in case) but honestly I was not interested in doing it again whatsoever.

Also, it doesn't seem very popular, it's kind of gutting seeing 4 seats wasted each time as train after train leave with nobody sat on the Enzo seats!!!
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Also, it doesn't seem very popular, it's kind of gutting seeing 4 seats wasted each time as train after train leave with nobody sat on the Enzo seats!!!
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Ensō still has the potential to face a capacity/logistics nightmare of sorts. Then again, there's been a consensus in this thread that "the GP wouldn't bite". I'm going to wait out the initial impact before coming to a conclusion on this one.
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
Ensō still has the potential to face a capacity/logistics nightmare of sorts. Then again, there's been a consensus in this thread that "the GP wouldn't bite". I'm going to wait out the initial impact before coming to a conclusion on this one.
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Well the park was fairly quiet. On days like this Icon is usually a 5 minute wait tops, more often walk on. It was consistently back to the steps and 15 - 20 minutes yesterday. And I didn’t notice it go down once. (That’s not to say it didn’t, but I never saw the gates closed!)

Enso meanwhile, whilst I believe it is considerably reducing main ride throughput, it shouldn’t have any capacity issues itself. This is because you book a timeslot via the app. The same way you book a one shot fast track. And they turn bookings off when a ride is not operating, and for a little while after reopening, allowing them to catch up.

Another point worth mentioning, is that the £15 option was still a fast track of sorts, we had a 4 minute wait until our slot when booking, whilst the main queue was a good 15 minutes, so we were able to make our way straight down and into the seats.

The Enso entrance is under Big Dipper the same way you enter fast track. But when you get to the station it splits into 2. The fast track goes on to join the main queue waiting area, where as Enzo uses the old fast track / RAP gate close to the back of the train.

Sadly the days of being able to marathon Icon time and time again with no waits, on mid week days, are over for now. :(

Quick note to add, on one train, when it’s not being used, Enzo is a 25% reduction in capacity. On 2 trains, (as it was yesterday) it’s a 12.5% reduction in capacity. And that doesn’t account for the extra ‘faff’ it seems to cause. (Twice we saw somebody waiting for the normal back tow have to be removed from the Enzo seats so they could be sent empty!) This is not insignificant!
 
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Nicky Borrill said:
Not worth £15... Barely spun, and it's certainly not even close to RTH.

It is a fun twist on Icon, and at a more reasonable price would be worth it (£3-5) But don't expect the spinning you get on a Mack extreme. A (small) bit of sideways and backwards action may be all you get.

I thought that I might want more than one go at it (and had the spare money assigned to it just in case) but honestly I was not interested in doing it again whatsoever.

Also, it doesn't seem very popular, it's kind of gutting seeing 4 seats wasted each time as train after train leave with nobody sat on the Enzo seats!!!
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Did you ride with both seats occupied or with just you? I heard you get a lot more spin if you ride it solo, you lose the fun shared experience element though.

If demand isn't what they were expecting hopefully they'll reduce the price.
 
sjparrington said:
Did you ride with both seats occupied or with just you? I heard you get a lot more spin if you ride it solo, you lose the fun shared experience element though.

If demand isn't what they were expecting hopefully they'll reduce the price.
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I weigh twice what the person sat next to me weighed, if that helps.

Actually, to the contrary, my partner, Cara, rode with somebody of equal weight, and they apparently got a couple of full spins (hence my use of the word ‘may!’) But she’s also ridden RTH and wasn’t impressed with Enso for the money.

But the key thing to remember is that I’m saying it’s ‘not worth the money.’ Not that it isn’t fun, or a good addition. I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anybody that a few seconds on a coaster sideways and backwards isn’t worth £15 when you can ride that same coaster forwards for free. Especially when you consider how many people moan about paying £9 to ride Olympia in a park that they entered for free!!!

If they do reduce the price, it will make it a much more worthwhile experience. My £3-5 figure is probably too low for an initial price, as it’d create capacity issues, but £15 is way too high for what it is. Perhaps somewhere in the middle with a further reduction as interest wains further.
 
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