Blackpool Pleasure Beach: General Discussion

[Rick]

You just had to add dippys mystery bogs in the corner of the last photo, you little tease.
And the strange buillding behind the paratrooper, that was the entrance and exit doors of the big bubble car museum..that had the moat I still havent been able to point out to you yet rick!
They were the big entrance "air doors" that stopped the building deflating.

Looking forward to seeing it old boy, my round.

I believe the top ride was called The Twist or something like that. The second to last I think was called Paratrooper. I'm going to say the 4th photo is Sidewinder but correct me if I'm wrong. Also what was the Astro Liner ride that is also featured up there?

Whizzing back through the maps it was called Twist, Twister, Scrambler, Egg Scramble and finally Egg Scrambler. It then went to Southport as 'Tagada' - not sure where it went after that.

My earliest memory of it is on the Big One station site but also recall it on the Monster pad and on the Go Kart/Icon site before that.

 

[TheBolt]

Rather than Icon, I would put Nickelodeon Land down as Amanda's best addition.

It is arguably a small cheat, as it was multiple changes, but it was more iconic and important to the parks appeal than Icon has been so far.

 

[Pleasure Beach Valhalla]

Here's a photo of Infusion being constructed and you can also notice by this point, Spin Doctor had been removed though the foundations are still there by this point.

Here's another shot of the same area a couple of years earlier. You can see Drench Falls, Spin Doctor and Valhalla.

And a few years back more when you can notice the construction of Valhalla is taking place just below the top right.

And here's a shot of the Space Tower in the park which I believe was SBNO at Frontierland Morecambe until June 2017 or something like that.

And Finally, this picture shows the Grand Prix, Tom Sawyer Bridge, Drench Falls and Big Dipper with a different architectural design on top of it. Also, does anyone know what that little raft is near the Drench Falls?

 

[Benjsh]

Rather than Icon, I would put Nickelodeon Land down as Amanda's best addition.

It is arguably a small cheat, as it was multiple changes, but it was more iconic and important to the parks appeal than Icon has been so far.

I don't think there's any doubt about it. Icon might be a hit with us enthusiasts but it's been a flop for the park. Its not brought the crowds in like Big One, Valhalla or even Nick land did when it first opened.

The marketing campaign was abysmal for it and it doesn't help that it can't be seen easily from outside the park.

 

[Matt N]

With regard to Icon, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; as much as I absolutely adore it, I’m not sure if Blackpool Pleasure Beach really had enough financial weight to invest in something that expensive so soon after suffering major financial problems, in hindsight. I applaud them for making such a bold investment for an independent theme park in Britain, but part of me thinks that something else may have gone down better for them.

In my opinion, something costing less money from a manufacturer like Vekoma, S&S, Premier Rides or Gerstlauer may have been a better buy for the park, and dare I say it, but I think it may potentially have been more warmly received on the whole, as well.

As much as I absolutely love Icon, and hold it up as my favourite UK coaster and #2 in the world, I definitely seem to be in a minority in really loving it; most enthusiasts seem decidedly non-plussed by the experience, and I’m not sure if the non-enthusiasts really love it, either; my parents were both pretty apathetic towards it when we rode it. Combine that with the fact that it didn’t really raise guest numbers in the way that Blackpool wanted, and I think they may potentially have had more success building something else.

If the park had built a Vekoma multi-launch coaster, for example, not too dissimilar to Abyssus at Energylandia (I did hear somewhere that Vekoma was actually in the running to build Icon, alongside Intamin and Mack), then I’d wager that it would have been more warmly received by enthusiasts (the likes of Lech Coaster get rave reviews, and people are drooling over Abyssus at the moment) and cost less money; Lech Coaster reportedly cost somewhere in the region of £4-5m, whole Icon cost just over £16m. I know that a multi-launch model would probably cost more, but I still don’t think it would be anywhere near what Icon cost. Pair this cheaper ride hardware with a more effective marketing campaign that could have pulled more people in, and I think something of this style may well have been more successful in the long run.

 

[AstroDan]

The more coasters you ride, the less impressive Icon is. For the money, it should be better - however, the main issue is the fact that like PMBO, they compromised the layout due to fitting in specific spaces.

It's perfectly "fine".

 

[Plastic Person]

Icon is fine, but BPB should not have bought it. It was a vanity project.

 

[monkeyboy]

What was the other flat ride on the spin doctor site(or near)?


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[rob666]

Nothing apart from the Tom Sawyer rafts.

 

[Rick]

Finally, this picture shows the Grand Prix, Tom Sawyer Bridge, Drench Falls and Big Dipper with a different architectural design on top of it. Also, does anyone know what that little raft is near the Drench Falls?

The Tom Sawyer raft ride. Opened in the early 70s and was removed as part of preparation for The Big One.

What was the other flat ride on the spin doctor site(or near)?

Turtle Chase was pretty near? The swamp buggies used the old Tom Sawyer station.

 

[Pleasure Beach Valhalla]

With regard to Icon, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; as much as I absolutely adore it, I’m not sure if Blackpool Pleasure Beach really had enough financial weight to invest in something that expensive so soon after suffering major financial problems, in hindsight. I applaud them for making such a bold investment for an independent theme park in Britain, but part of me thinks that something else may have gone down better for them.

In my opinion, something costing less money from a manufacturer like Vekoma, S&S, Premier Rides or Gerstlauer may have been a better buy for the park, and dare I say it, but I think it may potentially have been more warmly received on the whole, as well.

As much as I absolutely love Icon, and hold it up as my favourite UK coaster and #2 in the world, I definitely seem to be in a minority in really loving it; most enthusiasts seem decidedly non-plussed by the experience, and I’m not sure if the non-enthusiasts really love it, either; my parents were both pretty apathetic towards it when we rode it. Combine that with the fact that it didn’t really raise guest numbers in the way that Blackpool wanted, and I think they may potentially have had more success building something else.

If the park had built a Vekoma multi-launch coaster, for example, not too dissimilar to Abyssus at Energylandia (I did hear somewhere that Vekoma was actually in the running to build Icon, alongside Intamin and Mack), then I’d wager that it would have been more warmly received by enthusiasts (the likes of Lech Coaster get rave reviews, and people are drooling over Abyssus at the moment) and cost less money; Lech Coaster reportedly cost somewhere in the region of £4-5m, whole Icon cost just over £16m. I know that a multi-launch model would probably cost more, but I still don’t think it would be anywhere near what Icon cost. Pair this cheaper ride hardware with a more effective marketing campaign that could have pulled more people in, and I think something of this style may well have been more successful in the long run.

Lech Coaster apparently is Vekoma's best or one of their best rides yet and I can see why. I love Icon and it's my favourite in the UK but the marketing campaign wasn't great especially as their aim was to have Blackpool regarded as something else rather than a run-down area. It only really kept the enthusiasts coming with a few extra coming to check out Icon as well. their next coaster has to be marketed well, has to ride well, look good and not replace any of our favourite rides. Maybe a new ride on the Bowl-A-Drome site and they could move all the things inside the Bowl-A-Drome to the site formally occupied by Trauma Towers so we wouldn't have to see the back of Alice's Wonderland all the time. Then you've got a lot of space as you could also use the Wild mouse area maybe and possibly the old Black Hole area if it's up for availability.

 

[Benjsh]

They could have probably built a lech coaster type ride and got a huge flat ride like Loke for what they paid for ICON. Does make you question the choice somewhat. It's a really good coaster but for a park with a limited budget it was a huge error just due to cost alone.

I find since the initial hype has worn off a bit now its slipping down my list of UK coasters again. Probably prefer Smiler again now actually.

 

[Sam]

As much as I absolutely love Icon, and hold it up as my favourite UK coaster and #2 in the world, I definitely seem to be in a minority in really loving it; most enthusiasts seem decidedly non-plussed by the experience, and I’m not sure if the non-enthusiasts really love it, either; my parents were both pretty apathetic towards it when we rode it.

What exactly is it that you like about it so much? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[rob666]

For me personally, I view it as my retirement coaster, which says a lot.
Smooth, no jolts or real high forces to battle, but fun and very re-rideable...and very vanilla.

 

[MakoMania]

I love Icon. I totally understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea as there are no real extreme forces but for me at least I really enjoy the freedom provided by the trains & restraints, the smoothness of the experience and personally I think it offers substantially more airtime than any other UK coaster.

 

[D4n]

I think I can see how someone might love it... if they haven't ridden Helix or Blue Fire.

If they have, I think the natural comparison completely ruins the illusion that Icon is anything other than average.

 

[Matt N]

What exactly is it that you like about it so much? I'm genuinely curious.

I know my love for it is an uncommon opinion, but it just puts a huge smile on my face every time!

And I think it does that for numerous reasons; on my rides, it’s always had really good ejector airtime & really good pacing, it’s quite smooth with very comfortable seats and on the whole, I just find it immensely fun and rerideable! It’s sort of how I imagine an RMC would ride; lots of ejector airtime and fast, snappy transitions, with really good pacing and a smooth ride.

The coasters I rate highly are the ones that are intense enough to feel thrilling, but not intense enough to make me feel nauseous or exhausted after coming off, the coasters with a smooth and rerideable ride experience, the coasters that I get off and want to run straight back round again and again. Icon ticks all of these boxes for me, more so than any other coaster I’ve ridden bar Mako at SeaWorld, and that’s why it ranks in at my #2 spot.

Yes, Icon is not the most intense coaster in the world, but my rides on it have been among the most enjoyable coaster rides I’ve ever had, and I think it proves to me that a coaster does not necessarily need to be ridiculously intense for me to enjoy it. It puts a noticeably larger smile on my face than any other UK coaster does, and that’s a very important element for me to consider when I rank it.

However, I should point out a few things. I am yet to ride the coaster before 12pm, when it is allegedly at its weakest, and I also have quite limited experience of multi-launch coasters; the only other ones I’ve done are Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa and Slinky Dog Dash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. With the way you guys describe it, I feel like I’m going to have a mind-blowing moment of epic proportions when I eventually ride Helix or any other multi-launch coaster of comparable quality. There’s a chance I could get to ride Velocicoaster at IOA next year, so I’ll be intrigued to see whether that is as good as Icon.

 

[Dar]

Don't forget that you're not allowed to like it Matt, it's not on the list of enthusiast-approved coasters

 

[Matt N]

Don't forget that you're not allowed to like it Matt, it's not on the list of enthusiast-approved coasters

Aren’t I? I never knew that; I apologise! My problem is that it just makes me so happy whenever I ride it!

 

[Spookle15]

I'm so annoyed I haven't been on Icon yet.

I've only been to Blackpool once and that was a few weeks before AT Scarefest in 2017, but it was so quiet and such a good, fun day, we planned to go at the same time in 2018. But things happened, and it would have been a choice between AT and BPB, which obviously only went one way. And we were so busy last autumn as well.

So we'd planned to go to Blackpool earlier this year, before Easter half term.......that never happened either.

Definitely learning from this, make room to go for these day trips, no matter how busy you seem!

I just wondering how the W&G ride is going to be operating? One of the main reasons we went. Cracking!