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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

PeteA said:
Re parking prices, from April 2019 the Big Blue Hotel will no longer have free parking !!!
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This is poor. It’s not a cheap hotel anyway. Though this can still be frustrating, I can understand parking charges more at budget hotels, some of the which don’t even have their own proper car park, but charging you to park in an already pricey hotel is taking the mickey.

Sorry just realised I double posted
 
While the Wild Mouse Mourners are free to not hand over their cash to the park, I'm not sure too many non-enthusiast folks are boycotting BPB all of a sudden due to the ride's removal. I think it's almost exclusively a fan issue. However, that doesn't mean that the broader public are hearing about Icon. It's completely anecdotal evidence on my part, but the number of friends who have asked for my opinion on Wicker Man, versus those who have mentioned Icon, is miniscule, and I originally hail from an almost equidistant spot between both parks.
 
Dave said:
I would have agreed with the safety concern impact if Towers wasn’t having a good season. All indications from AT is guest numbers are up considerably. Why would perceived safety impact BPB if it isn’t having such an extreme effect at AT?

Your other points are all pretty spot on.
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Yeah that's a fair point, however I would suggest that the majority of Alton's visitors are MAP or Season Pass holders, whereas at BPB I'd guess that a very small percentage of guests on a daily basis are season pass holders - so whilst Alton is essentially "artifically busy" due to the Merlin brand, BPB isn't.

That said, BPB would benefit from adopting a business model which suits their location and style of park rather than trying to run an amusement park as a theme park, IMO.
 
Coaster said:
Yeah that's a fair point, however I would suggest that the majority of Alton's visitors are MAP or Season Pass holders, whereas at BPB I'd guess that a very small percentage of guests on a daily basis are season pass holders - so whilst Alton is essentially "artifically busy" due to the Merlin brand, BPB isn't.
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There's some truth in this, but I'm not sure the 'majority' of Alton's guests are pass holders. They still rely hugely on day trade. Besides, those 'artificial' guests are still spending to some degree.
 
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It’s disappointing that they continue this one train practice. If visitor numbers are low, it seems sensible to give the guests you do have the best experience. Repeat business and all that. They might even bring some friends back with them.

Also agree with others about advertising. Not seen a single thing, except for Facebook. The Facebook ads are frequent and not once have contained any reference to Icon. Surely this is really basic stuff? Why drop £16m on a new ride and then use a 20 year old S&S Tower or 30 year old Arrow in your marketing?
 
PeteA said:
I purchased a season pass last year and simply because of the Mouse's demolition I havent been to the park this year and havent even got my season pass processed. I have no enthusiasm or desire to go to the park at the moment. So yes, because of what happened to the mouse, they havent received any of my additional money this year, which would include food and merchandise while in the park, plus a couple of Big Blue Hotel stays.

Re parking prices, from April 2019 the Big Blue Hotel will no longer have free parking !!!
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So you bought a BPB season pass purely to go on Wild Mouse? You could get roughly the same experience by buying a shopping trolley and getting people to push you into brick walls at 30mph
 
Log Flume's Dennis said:
So you bought a BPB season pass purely to go on Wild Mouse? You could get roughly the same experience by buying a shopping trolley and getting people to push you into brick walls at 30mph
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I’m sure a lot of coaster / theme parks fans have that ONE ride that really makes a park for them above all others. For myself, and from what I can gather, @Coaster @shakey @PeteA @rob666 and perhaps others, Wild Mouse was ‘that’ ride. The ride we looked forward to above all others and that thrilled like no other. Sadly, somebody decided that it was not worth keeping it for said 5 people and hence it is no more. Needless to say though it’s not just us, as the ride’s ‘dismantling’ (BPB’s own words) has upset coaster fans worldwide, and I’ll wager, a lot of the general public who actually did enjoy the ride.

Your idea is a good one though, with a bit more thought, this could indeed be made into a ride. Of course you wouldn’t actually hit the brick wall, you’d have a 90 degree last second turn away from it. You’d have to factor in some crazy drops too. I have a Tesco round the corner. I’ll get 4 trolleys and give them all names. It won’t pass any H&S inspections because everyone who rides it does so at their own risk! Anyone want to help me build a prototype?
 
A shame, 1 train with a 30 minute queue on the new coaster is extremely poor at a time when they should be aiming to give everyone a good service - if this is an issue with the trains then that is concerning in itself.

This is exactly my point regarding their customer service, repeat custom and word-of-mouth is important.
 
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If the queues are pushing half an hour then that’s rather poor not having 2 trains on. They should be doing all they can to get people on the ride. Surely wheels don’t need changing already? It’s only been open a few weeks
 
When I got there it was closed, I got on soon after reopening in ten minutes, but by the time I got off it was half an hour queue.
Suffered that once,then did the other rides.
On one, it takes about ten minutes from the station doors.
Was back to ten minutes by the time I was going.
Quite an afternoon, most entertaining.
Only recognised about half a dozen punters today!
 
A 30 minute wait for a brand new ride doesn't seem that bad to me? I guess I only visit theme parks typically during peak periods so that appears incredibly short to me. :p

In terms of advertising, I would have thought there would have been some nationwide advertising for this (even if just for a short period). Maybe they are holding back the advertising until the summer holidays when all the schools are off. Given it's location, I don't think that's such a bad idea, if advertising heavily in the summer holidays is planned of course. If not, it seems odd to invest so much to not even bother making people aware of the ride.
 
That was roughly as long as the queue has ever been since it opened though, if it was running on two the queue would have been two minutes.
The ride staff looked bored...but were still quick on the job.
 
My wife and I have recently seen the Icon advert a few times on the TV here in Norfolk over the last couple of weeks (channel 4 or E4 I think it was)
 
James said:
A 30 minute wait for a brand new ride doesn't seem that bad to me? I guess I only visit theme parks typically during peak periods so that appears incredibly short to me. :p

In terms of advertising, I would have thought there would have been some nationwide advertising for this (even if just for a short period). Maybe they are holding back the advertising until the summer holidays when all the schools are off. Given it's location, I don't think that's such a bad idea, if advertising heavily in the summer holidays is planned of course. If not, it seems odd to invest so much to not even bother making people aware of the ride.
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Personally I've got no problem queueing even an hour or so for a good coaster *if* it a fast moving queue.

If a coasters on one train and the queue is longer than half an hour there's no way I'm waiting.

This is where Europa Park absolutely nails it. Fast dispatching and maximum possible trains!
 
Finally got a back row today. First attempt today (and my second attempt overall) was thwarted by a larger person elsewhere on the train. Still prefer the front row though.
 
...and the fact that there was a person on the train bigger than dippy did surprise me. We had checked the other gates for a king of lard, but sadly it was a sneaky lard queen that stole our seats.
Stunning day gentlemen, shame you didn't win a lovely souvenir shakey!
 
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