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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

Dave said:
Plus they have a habit of rotting any nearby theming as vaporised water is a great destroyer.
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Was surprised to see the return of the misters in the Pleasure Beach Express tunnel yesterday - I don't ride it often so not sure how frequently they're used but it's been a long time since I saw those! It occured to me how many rides used to feature them - they used to be everywhere in the WGT days! Not least...
  • Far more in River Caves, specifically in China ans Angkor scenes
  • In dinosaur area on Pleasure Beach Express
  • Chinese puzzle maze dragons and centre
  • Valhalla station and liberal use in the ride
  • Noah's Ark outdoor section
  • Space Invader entrance
  • Log Flume car wash
  • And many more I can't be bothered typing
 
The PBE misters have been on pretty much all year, after being off for a while. They also use the ones at the base of one of the dinosaurs’ mouths, although that’s more intermittent.

I don’t remember the Valhalla station misters, where abouts were they?
 
If Icon achieves 1,200 per hour on 3 trains consistently, then it would be pretty much the best operated coaster in Europe relative to its size. 1,200 would = 75 trains per hour, or one every 45-50 seconds round the track.

Blue Fire, for example, achieves around 1,200-1,300 on 3 trains (1,500-1,600 on 4) - but has 4 more seats per train than Icon. Blue Fire is also at Europa-Park, which has pretty much the best operations globally.
 
Other than the seat changing shenanigans, I’d say operations on Icon when I’ve visited have been on par with Blue Fire’s.

The seat changing and lack of platform space for depositing/collecting baggage are what hampers throughputs slightly.
 
I'm guessing there's a bit of a new ride effect going on with staff basically running around to maximise throughput, as was the case with both Smiler and Thirteen in their opening seasons.
 
If the ride is maintaining 45-50 second dispatches then it is the best operated coaster in Europe.

Well done all involved! Can't wait to see it!

:)
 
I don't remember the station interior on Valhalla having mist, but I do remember a mist effect rising from the station roof upwards, and around the top of the facade - is this what you were referring to @Rick?

The River Caves mist has been on/off intermittently this year, not as much as there used to be when it's on but still more than there has been for a while.
 
Coaster said:
I don't remember the station interior on Valhalla having mist, but I do remember a mist effect rising from the station roof upwards, and around the top of the facade - is this what you were referring to @Rick?
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It was yes, sorry to confuse - you can just about see it in the below, but it's not in 'full flow'. When the waterfall was on it would largely get pulled backward but when the waterfall was off it would create an ominous mist around Ice Blast & the flyers and would create a 'cloud' that the Cableway would pass through during the one season where they (rarely) operated simultaneously.

valhalla_003_small.jpg
valhalla_002_small.jpg


There haven't been any vast changes to the interior of the Valhalla station. Until 2003 or so there were televisions above the (now removed) glazing that showed on ride photos and the station music was different than that in the rest of the ride.
 
Thanks!

Valhalla's station used to be so impressive, I'm sure all the crows were anamatronic and moved every so often, think their eyes were lit red as well.

The back wall was much better when it was transparent perspex, as it was an amazing effect watching the waterfall land.

I first rode in 2004 so never heard the original audio, but Song of the Elders used to play much louder in there... think along the lines of the volume Icon's station audio is at the moment, it was brilliant.

A lot of the station's atmosphere was lost in the 2011/12 IMO, with the whitewash wall replacing the perspex, audio system botched, and the crows haven't moved for along time.

Then you have all theming around the station that was removed; the two longboats (now located inside the ride after the water vortex), rockwork, shields, and various other pieces of now long-gone theming. The shop used to be amazing as well, it was a great feature where you could watch the boats come out of the final explosion room. They don't even bother with shields on the boats anymore!

Recently managed to get hold of a detailed newspaper from 2000 which contains so much interesting information about Valhalla, it's jogged my memory of so many features which are long since removed.
 
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MakoMania said:
I don't know where it was originally said that Icon's max throughput was 960pph, but it was exceeding 1200pph yesterday.

I think 960pph must be refering to the max capacity on 2 trains.
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Out of interest was this a one of calculation or did you sit for a while to do it?

Even the best operated rides would struggle to consistently get 50 second dispatches with guests causing hold-ups
 
Dave said:
Out of interest was this a one of calculation or did you sit for a while to do it?

Even the best operated rides would struggle to consistently get 50 second dispatches with guests causing hold-ups
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I counted the trains for 15 minutes whilst I had lunch. It's not going to be bang on accurate but it gives a ball park idea.

Bigboy seat swappage is what hurts capacity on this ride, I think they must have had a lucky streak whilst I was watching.
 
I wish we had the data from throughput from the PPR days. I'm sure the Nash and Coaster would have wiped the floor with most of the modern day rides in Europe.

Jamie, feel free to add that pic of Valhalla at night I added into the BPB historic group a fee days ago (I'm not sure how to do it!) That showed the mist at night, it looked great
 
Ash84 said:
I wish we had the data from throughput from the PPR days. I'm sure the Nash and Coaster would have wiped the floor with most of the modern day rides in Europe.

Jamie, feel free to add that pic of Valhalla at night I added into the BPB historic group a fee days ago (I'm not sure how to do it!) That showed the mist at night, it looked great
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Pleasure beach had amazing throughputs back then, more drive to get guests on and lower Health and safety worries.
 
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