Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

[Scott]

Where's Al's Helix-esque ride plan he sent to Mandy?

 

[Alastair]

Where's Al's Helix-esque ride plan he sent to Mandy?

I'll post on his behalf:

 

[AstroDan]

Bring on a new coaster.

Desperately needed.

 

[Coaster]

The wooden coasters need to be left alone, RMC can keep their hands off them!
I would very much welcome a new coaster at the park, let's hope there is something on the way.

 

[Alastair]

Again, courtesy of PBE, a picture of the aforementioned jeep. Something is most certainly happening!

 

[Graeme]

If they built a launched mack coaster with a decent layout then I might be convinced to visit the park again...

Until then, I doubt it! It's long overdue at pleasure beach as well as several coats of paint!!!

 

[djtruefitt]

If they built a launched mack coaster with a decent layout then I might be convinced to visit the park again...

Until then, I doubt it! It's long overdue at pleasure beach as well as several coats of paint!!!

To be fair the pleasure beach is a lot cleaner and better painted now than it was a few years back!

 

[Rob]

A couple of rumours from Screamscape:

According to the latest report sent in, BPB is not planning on adding any new attraction for the 2016 season at this point in time. Older plans for a 4D attraction of some kind have been put on hold. However, the park is also said to be planning to remove the Grand Prix and Go Karts in 2016, as well as the remaining monorail track over Nickelodeon Land and near Avalanche.

And if that's true it would create some nice space for the possible 2017 coaster...

According to a new rumor, BPB is planning on adding a Mack Rides Launched Coaster for 2017... if all goes well. I'm told that the layout will go along the "Watson overpass" and replace the Grand Prix station, some nearby buildings and the old Monorail station. The layout isn't entirely known, but is expected to use much of the space around the Tom Sawyer bridge, Grand Prix and Go-karts site.

Please be Mack, please be Mack!!

 

[Dar]

Removing the monorail track is going to be a fairly monster task on its own because most of the park's wiring is carried in it!

 

[Coaster]

If they plan to remove three attractions then I can completely understand them not building a new attraction next year as tearing down the Grand Prix and removing the Monorail track will be very expensive, especially as they will have to re-wire a huge section of the park!

Considering the park's healthy relationship with Mack, I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility.

 

[AliceHL91]

Saw no sign of anything at all referring to the project today while I was there

 

[Coaster]

Saw no sign of anything at all referring to the project today while I was there

There wouldn't be, it is being kept strictly under wraps at the moment, the only place the logo has been seen is on a BPB jeep which has been parked outside the park a few times.

 

[AliceHL91]

Pretty sure that's a land rover

 

[TheMan]

Dunno if the coat hanger in the back is a clue or not?

 

[Alastair]

Dunno if the coat hanger in the back is a clue or not?

Well apparently a coat hanger was what they used (genuinely) to design the hills on the Big One. So I wouldn't put it past being an important feature.

 

[TheMan]

Well apparently a coat hanger was what they used (genuinely) to design the hills on the Big One. So I wouldn't put it past being an important feature.

That'll teach me to post a sarcastic remark

 

[DiogoJ42]

Supposedly all Arrow coasters were designed that way.

 

[Coaster]

Well apparently a coat hanger was what they used (genuinely) to design the hills on the Big One. So I wouldn't put it past being an important feature.

Leave The Big One alone!

 

[Alastair]

Leave The Big One alone!

Merely airing facts some people may not have known!

 

[Funcone]

Here’s the video of Ron Toomer from Arrow Dynamics bending his wire:


From what I remember he suffered from motion sickness and didn’t like going on his rides. I think the quote is something along the lines of, ‘guess what, the guy who invented the guillotine didn’t test his own invention either’. But Beethoven continued writing music, despite gradually going death. Ron Toomer obviously loved the engineering side of ride design.

He was an amazing guy. According to Wikipedia he designed 96 roller coasters. He was one of the key figures behind Arrow at a time when they led the industry, particularly in terms of white knuckle coasters. The Big One itself is a massive feat of engineering.

I really hope Blackpool come up with something good for this. I know that’s true of any coaster, but they really can’t afford to get this wrong. But if they come up with the right kind of ride, I think it will bring in the punters. In recent years, most of the big developments at UK parks have been accommodation or themed kid’s area. I don’t believe in a ‘build it and they will come’ mentally, and Six Flags showed us that blindly building big coaster after big coaster isn’t an assured way to make money. But there is an appetite for thrill rides, and with so few being built at the moment, I recon people will be willing to travel a distance for this.