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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

Matt N said:
Out of interest, what was your top ride before? Great to hear that you liked it; certainly encouraging for August!
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Wickerman held the top spot for a few weeks and before that it was the swarm/ the smiler. :DAll three coasters are very different but amazing experiences!
 
Towerslover said:
Wickerman held the top spot for a few weeks and before that it was the swarm/ the smiler. :DAll three coasters are very different but amazing experiences!
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Wicker Man's fantastic, isn't it? Your review gives me high hopes for August, when I can ride it myself! My first ever Mack thrill coaster!
 
Towerslover said:
Wickerman held the top spot for a few weeks and before that it was the swarm/ the smiler. :DAll three coasters are very different but amazing experiences!
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That just sounds like you change your number 1 every time the UK open a big coaster. Hahahaha.

Nemmy is still the best for me in the UK. I'm guna be riding Icon on Friday and I'm not expecting it to beat Nemmy but it should definitely run it close.
 
rob666 said:
I would say the queue is about half an hour from the gates.
The main issue with loading is without doubt blubber.
Issues roughly on every third train.
I saw back seat swapping a great deal...including my own treasured back seat!
The main other operational issue has been puke I think.
Great evening, fireworks were good, though the park was quiet by eight.
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Blubber? What’s the deal with the seat swapping ? Weight distribution?
 
AstroDan said:
It always amuses me when everyone lauds the latest ride as their #1. Pretty standard, happens every time.

I am sure Icon is great, but give it 5-10 years and see what people say then.

:)
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Except when Rita, Wicker Man, The Swarm, SAW and pretty much every other UK coaster for the last 10 years opened, very few were praising it as highly as Icon.

You cannot simply dismiss praise as "opening hype", attractions get terrible reviews upon opening as well, just look at Th13teen, Submarine Quest and DBGT to name a few.
 
MakoMania said:
Except when Rita, Wicker Man, The Swarm, SAW and pretty much every other UK coaster for the last 10 years opened, very few were praising it as highly as Icon.

You cannot simply dismiss praise as "opening hype", attractions get terrible reviews upon opening as well, just look at Th13teen, Submarine Quest and DBGT to name a few.
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I didn't dismiss it at all. It might well be the best ride in the country. I don't know. Maverick and Helix are multi launch coasters in my top 20. Maybe Icon will be too. Let's see.

:)
 
monkeyboy said:
Blubber? What’s the deal with the seat swapping ? Weight distribution?
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I've not ridden it yet, but I'm guessing it's due to people not fitting in the regular seats and having to move to row 8. I've never noticed that being a problem on either Helix or Blue Fire though, I'm not sure if they're more accommodating on regular seats or are just batched better.
 
AstroDan said:
I didn't dismiss it at all. It might well be the best ride in the country. I don't know. Maverick and Helix are multi launch coasters in my top 20. Maybe Icon will be too. Let's see.

:)
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I haven't ridden Maverick or Helix but I don't think Icon is quite that good :)

It's my number two, but my coaster count is not huge. I think it's the best I have ridden in Europe, however I am yet to visit Sweden.

EDIT: Just an open question to everyone, can people see them adding a front row queue in the near future? It's just that it's annoying when people who are queueing sensibly and orderly for the front row without causing obstruction are told that they can't and they have to fill other rows.
 
MakoMania said:
Just an open question to everyone, can people see them adding a front row queue in the near future? It's just that it's annoying when people who are queueing sensibly and orderly for the front row without causing obstruction are told that they can't and they have to fill other rows.
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I doubt they’ll have a front row queue. I agree though that a small number of people at the very front waiting for the front row seats, as long as they’re not getting in anybody’s way, should I’m theory be able to wait for said seats should they choose to. But the problem with that is, where would you draw the line? Presuming 2 people are already at the front row gates ready to board, I guess the ride ops would only really want another couple of pairs of riders behind them waiting for the front row. But then it’s not like you’d have a potential crush scenario on their hands on a busy day, as the scanner staff manage the number of riders entering the station anyway.

I noticed a lot of announcements telling people to move down and fill up all the space. This could be to stop people waiting for the back row or more likely just because they presume the GP aren’t sensible enough to notice that they should be doing that anyway.
 
Saw a few people get moved to the back row yesterday and one big lad even not even fit onto the ride then. Saw him on Big One early on and the restraint was by his knee caps.

You could pretty much walk straight down to an empty row two with people waiting for the front row and the general public not really knowing what was going on.

Did hear the ride ops threaten not to send a train out until all gates had been filled.
 
They got funny with us the other day due to waiting for Front row. I think it's not a problem as long as all other rows are filled. They seem to let 2 trains worth of people through to the air gates at a time, a bit like Thirteen. It only becomes an issue, I would imagine, if there is an empty row and the front row queue is 3 trains or more.
 
Front row queueing stops people filling rows two, three and four.If the sheep queued in a single line for the front it wouldn't be an issue, but they wait in pairs, blocking the other gates.
If they allowed it to carry on unchecked, throughput would fall badly, as every train would go round with all the middle seats empty, and just the front and back rows used.
Please fill all the gates, never heard that one before have we?
 
Icon is not the best ride in the country... 3rd best at most...

It's about the 3rd best Mack Mega as well, though past Helix and Blue Fire it gets rather close in terms of what is better, mostly because they're all pretty enjoyable...

There's always some people who say the latest thing to open is the best thing ever, regardless of the country... Icon will bed in and become a firm favourite though; some of the ejector on it is pretty fab, but it does suffer from a tad bit of meandering (much like Taron does)...
 
As someone who has religiously said the woodies at BPB are not just the best rides on park, but also the best rides in the UK (certainly the Nash has always been my favourite) I can't stand accused of following the 'newest = best' trend. Other than Nemesis nothing much as Towers impresses me, while Saw and Swarm don't really deliver either in my humble opinion. However, after plenty of rerides on Saturday, a couple at dusk, I can say Icon is my favourite steel coaster in the UK, challenged only by Mako, Dragon Khan and Shambhala elsewhere.

I am also considering putting it above the others at BPB, it was absolutely amazing, it' so different from a 9am ride, where it was good but not fantastic.

In other news, the misters are working again, the mirrors have been removed on the side of the trench where it runs around the former Go Kart track, and the ride has apparantly claimed it's first injury!
 
AstroDan said:
It always amuses me when everyone lauds the latest ride as their #1. Pretty standard, happens every time.

I am sure Icon is great, but give it 5-10 years and see what people say then.

:)
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It’s a bit like the music charts. Sometimes there is a number one that stay there for weeks, other times it changes week by week.

PJ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Oh? Any further details on this injury?
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Word on the street is that a female was taken off the ride and placed in a neck brace.

Strangely, some hours later I saw a female sat in BPK with a staff member wearing a neck brace. I can only assume either the initial climb into the first hill jolted her neck forward, or at some point on the second section it threw her about a bit too much.
 
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