Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. This year, Hyperia, the UK’s tallest, fastest and “most weightless” roller coaster, opened its doors at Thorpe Park. Manufactured by Mack Rides, the ride has taken the UK industry by storm and garnered rave reviews. But in all of the hype, it’s easy to forget that Hyperia is not the UK’s first Mack thrill coaster; we also have Icon up at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a multi-launch coaster that opened 6 years ago. That ride divides opinion somewhat, but it does have its fans (myself among them!). With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; which of the UK’s Mack thrill coasters do you prefer? Is Hyperia your winner, or is Icon more your speed?
I’m sensing that many might vote Hyperia, but I have heard a few say that they prefer Icon, so I’m interested to see what the outcome is!
As for my own opinion; as much as I love Icon and think it’s a very under-appreciated ride, I’d simply have to vote Hyperia.
Hyperia is a simply sublime coaster that’s definitely cemented itself as my UK favourite; I love a good hyper coaster, and Hyperia is a phenomenal one, in my view! The amount of weightlessness is just insane, and Hyperia delivers sensations that you simply can’t get on any other coaster in the UK in this regard! Every single element on Hyperia delivers; the first drop is absolutely demented and administers sublime sustained ejector along with some interesting laterals, the Immelmann has a great sense of speed up into it and provides impeccable sustained ejector coming out of it, the outerbank into the inversion provides phenomenal sustained sideways ejector, the zero-g stall provides some very nice hangtime, and even the two smaller elements after the trim provide some very nice ejector! You spend half the ride pinned out of the seat, and when you combine that with the wonderful sense of speed of a hyper coaster, the very comfortable trains and restraints, the generally smooth tracking, and all of the other wonderful aspects of the ride, it does come together to create something very special, in my view!
As for Icon; I must admit that I do love it! While it is not an absurdly intense g-machine, I do find it a lot of fun! It has lots of nice little pockets of airtime, it has some really fun twists and turns, it keeps a nice pace throughout and always remains exciting, I like the way the ride flows and meshes together, and I just generally find it a very smooth, fun, thrilling and rerideable coaster that always puts a smile on my face! The thing that puts it definitely below Hyperia for me, though, is that if I’m being pedantic, it lacks standout “WOW” moments, or a certain je ne sais quoi to really take the fun factor to the next level (e.g. Hagrid’s, and to a lesser extent Wicker Man). Icon has lots of very fun moments, and it stays fun throughout, but as I’ve ridden more coasters, I’ve grown to realise that it lacks impactful standout elements, or standout moments of thrill that really wow you, compared to the other coasters in my 10/10 tier; it is now my lowest ranked 10/10 coaster for that exact reason. Where a ride like Hyperia is packed full of standout moments of thrill, none of Icon’s elements really have quite that same level of impact on an individual level, and that does mark it down compared to some of the other coasters in my 10/10 tier. I admittedly haven’t ridden Icon for 5 years, however, so that could be recency bias talking to some extent.
But I’d be keen to know; do you prefer Icon or Hyperia out of the UK’s Mack thrill coasters?
I’m sensing that many might vote Hyperia, but I have heard a few say that they prefer Icon, so I’m interested to see what the outcome is!
As for my own opinion; as much as I love Icon and think it’s a very under-appreciated ride, I’d simply have to vote Hyperia.
Hyperia is a simply sublime coaster that’s definitely cemented itself as my UK favourite; I love a good hyper coaster, and Hyperia is a phenomenal one, in my view! The amount of weightlessness is just insane, and Hyperia delivers sensations that you simply can’t get on any other coaster in the UK in this regard! Every single element on Hyperia delivers; the first drop is absolutely demented and administers sublime sustained ejector along with some interesting laterals, the Immelmann has a great sense of speed up into it and provides impeccable sustained ejector coming out of it, the outerbank into the inversion provides phenomenal sustained sideways ejector, the zero-g stall provides some very nice hangtime, and even the two smaller elements after the trim provide some very nice ejector! You spend half the ride pinned out of the seat, and when you combine that with the wonderful sense of speed of a hyper coaster, the very comfortable trains and restraints, the generally smooth tracking, and all of the other wonderful aspects of the ride, it does come together to create something very special, in my view!
As for Icon; I must admit that I do love it! While it is not an absurdly intense g-machine, I do find it a lot of fun! It has lots of nice little pockets of airtime, it has some really fun twists and turns, it keeps a nice pace throughout and always remains exciting, I like the way the ride flows and meshes together, and I just generally find it a very smooth, fun, thrilling and rerideable coaster that always puts a smile on my face! The thing that puts it definitely below Hyperia for me, though, is that if I’m being pedantic, it lacks standout “WOW” moments, or a certain je ne sais quoi to really take the fun factor to the next level (e.g. Hagrid’s, and to a lesser extent Wicker Man). Icon has lots of very fun moments, and it stays fun throughout, but as I’ve ridden more coasters, I’ve grown to realise that it lacks impactful standout elements, or standout moments of thrill that really wow you, compared to the other coasters in my 10/10 tier; it is now my lowest ranked 10/10 coaster for that exact reason. Where a ride like Hyperia is packed full of standout moments of thrill, none of Icon’s elements really have quite that same level of impact on an individual level, and that does mark it down compared to some of the other coasters in my 10/10 tier. I admittedly haven’t ridden Icon for 5 years, however, so that could be recency bias talking to some extent.
But I’d be keen to know; do you prefer Icon or Hyperia out of the UK’s Mack thrill coasters?
