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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

Very busy on Sunday but the queue constantly moving in seat pull restraint on quick check and off . Like nemisis but not wickerman

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themeparkfan said:
I see wickerman has been running well today eh dave?

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Never said it was, made it quite clear there is enough crap going on at Towers to moan about. Just get frustrated when folk feel the need to lie to make a point when there is plenty to be going on with without doing so. It’s hardly taxing the mind to find genuine issues at Alton Towers, give it a shot.

themeparkfan said:
I'm just saying that icon eats the queue. Wickerman well errrrr. .... doesn't.

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When it operates it gets 1000 an hour which isn’t a whole lot less. Problem Blackpool has is there is no one in the park for it to get a queue which is a shame.

themeparkfan said:
Does that include the guys standing by the queue entrance? Last time I went on wickerman there was; 1 guy at the entrance, 1 guy batching into show waiting area, 2 guys in baggage hold, I girl sending me into the show, 1 girl batching us onto the gate number, 2 people loading the trains and the ride operator. That's a total of 9 people and it still takes over an hour to get on it with the stoppages.

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You are naming folk who have no impact on the throughput, we all know Merlin design rides with a stupid number of service points considering how much they then like to cut operating budget. But the only guys you have listed that are comparable to the standard you set are the station hosts and operator.

The preshow and baggage hosts etc don’t exist on Icon because it doesn’t have those features.

Would like to see a 15,000+ crowd at Blackpool and see how Icon handles that. It’s a Mack so it should be fine but it will be a real shame if the tech doesn’t ever get tested regularly like that.
 
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themeparkfan said:
Well I'm at towers tomorrow to compare my experience to Blackpool last week. Looking at customer service and operations.

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I hope you get a good day. I've done both this year and BPB was a lot quieter, whether it could deal with Alton's levels of crowd is an unknown.

I've had some great days at Alton this year, but some not great ones. If you get a day when all the big rides are in the groove then you'll be ok. If you get one when a couple of them are having a bad day then it can be very frustrating. One things for sure, the coasters at Alton are a bit smoother, Icon excepted
 
Neither park are, in reality, in direct competition. However they are both vastly different.

I've much preferred my 2 visits to Blackpool this season for the obvious reasons that I've been able to enjoy a variety of different rides with a reasonable queue length. It hasn't been possible to do everything in one day, but then neither should it be as a park should offer you enough to feel you've had an excellent day, but just that little bit that says "next time we'll do 2 days!" at park closing. That's just business sense, something clearly lost on Merlin.

Alton on the other hand has been abysmal this season in almost every conceivable way when it comes to operations. Whilst Blackpool feels like a moving feast, for better or worse - Towers looks and operates like a park in serious decline. Even if you forgive the awful operations, the opening times have been appauling.

That all said, BPB seem to have struck the balance, Towers clearly haven't. But this only looks jarring when you consider the fact that Towers and its few remaining attractions are built to carry large capacity crowds whereas BPB simply could never handle the crowds Towers gets on a peak day,.

Imagine 15000 guests descending onto Blackpool and ICON and the Big One going down at the same time (something which happened on my visit). Absolute chaos would ensue.
 
Managed 6 rides on Icon today, I think in future I'm only going to ride it after 2pm:D

The first couple of rides (2nd back, and front) were just... Boring? I wasn't expecting much from the launch having ridden Blue Fire, but still couldn't help but feel let down. There were a few decent airtime moments but nothing special.

Then came back around 2pm and hopped on the back row and it was absolutely fantastic. Getting dragged over the first hill provides some of the strongest airtime I've ever experienced. What follows is a smooth, comfortable experience with a few more strong airtime moments.

I'm actually quite baffled by how significantly better the ride is later in the day.

2nd best UK coaster after Nemesis for me. But genuinely wouldn't even have it top 5 after the first couple of rides.
 
Rob said:
Or just enjoy both parks for what they are instead of it always having to be a competition?

:)
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Well closing the park at 5:30 and having hardly any rides open at 10 apart from spinball, oblivion and smiler it's not a competition, it's a joke

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themeparkfan said:
Well closing the park at 5:30 and having hardly any rides open at 10 apart from spinball, oblivion and smiler it's not a competition, it's a joke

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I think you have made your point, no one particularly disagrees with you except when you over exaggerate and you are at risk of an aneurism if you don’t calm your blood pressure.

Personally think Blackpool are keeping queues down because there isn’t really many people in the park rather than good management but there is no doubt at the moment you get a better day at pleasure beach than you do in any Merlin park.
 
I am told the park was rammed with school kids today, there were so many coaches that they were lined up down Watson Road, Bond Street and there was no car parking available in the North car park because it was full of coaches.

Plus, to help the kids get separated from their cash, the park has repeated the practice of setting up temporary shops in tents outside Alice and Steeplechase.
 
Rick said:
I am told the park was rammed with school kids today, there were so many coaches that they were lined up down Watson Road, Bond Street and there was no car parking available in the North car park because it was full of coaches.
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Here we go again. Back roads gridlocked by coaches, queueing out the door in BK, screaming queue jumping brats everywhere. And a boatload of cash for BPB, which is good for the park of course, especially with people complaining that the park is TOO quiet.

I don't generally go a lot between now and September. For anyone who does, is it true that the school holidays can actually be quieter than the late June - mid July trip school season ? Especially late Aug when the Scots have gone back to work/school ?

Must admit I was surprised last time at how many coaches were on Bond St waiting to turn right into the North car park.
 
^The summer holidays (especially weekdays) can be much quieter than school trip days!

I regularly get 20+ rides during a summer holidays day.
 
Yup, if you get a few hot days after rainy weeks it can get rammed, but with this summer it will be healthy busy most days, not packed.
And the way icon is chewing them up...
Park hours go up to 7pm for the summer next week, so I might start going for the last couple of hours.
Side road parking gets easier then.
 
themeparkfan said:
7 o clock opening eh? If only towers did that. Lucky if they are open till 5

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Orange, 5. Teal, 6. No luck required dear.
 
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