Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

[AstroDan]

It won't increase by 20%, that's a bit optimistic in my opinion.

I know it's difficult to make comparisons for various reasons but HP world did 30% for IOA and that was the biggest event in the past decade for the industry.

Between 10 and 20% is plausible for an investment like Icon.



Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[MakoMania]

Between 10 and 20% is plausible for an investment like Icon.



Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

I agree that 10% is plausible, I don't believe 20% is. It would be great for the park if I'm wrong though!

 

[rob666]

I think 30% increase is likely year on year, it was pretty similar with PMBO but it wasn't paid entry then.
The park will be full for opening and all weekends and school holidays, it is just a question of how long the Icon queue will be.
I bet over half the punters on park at any one time will be in the Icon queue...with half of them on speedypass, which will make the other ride queues longer as well.
Bring on back to school time in September!

 

[Spin-Ride-Lover]

The funniest thing about the fountain jokes is that I would wager there are less fountains in the park now than there were 20 years ago!

Yep! though I would argue the fountains they had back then looked much nicer and had way more charm than the ones they have now.

Ah thats more like it!

 

[Ash84]

Well if you take away Mouse's 200pph and add Icon's approx 960pph then the park has an hourly ride capacity that is up by about 760pph on last year.

OK if we are doing this let' do it right. Last year is of little relevance, lets look at 1994 the last year a new coaster of significant size was installed.

Vikingar, Cableway, Noahs Ark, Tagada, Haunted Hotel, Wild Mouse, Black Hole, AstroSwirl, Monorail, Super Bowl, Space Invader, Turtle Chase, Go Karts, Greatest Show On Earth, Swamp Buggies, Alpine Golf all gone without any form of replacement.

Grand National, Ghost Train, Infusion, Big Dipper, Avalanche, Nickelodeon Streak, Steeplechase, Big One have all either had capacity reduced significantly, or have replaced a ride that had a better hourly throughput that itself.

(That's off the top of my head)

On top of that the hours of business have been vastly reduced, 94 often saw the park open into the early hours of the morning, for this year we have a handful of 10pm closes to look forward to, in addition to this, we also have speedy pass to contend with.

I think it' very fair to say the parks hourly capacity has been shot with the brown stuff.

 

[Benzin]

Think it's a bit unfair to not consider the rides added into Nick Land there tbh... And stuff like Superbowl has had a replacement in Dodgems...

Can't just list closed rides over a 20 year period without looking at additions...

 

[Ash84]

The Dodgems directly replaced the Whip, not the Superbowl. (Which is why the Whip wasn't Included in my original post)
As for Nick Land, those addition's are almost certainly consumed by the removals from Beaver Creek so again were disregarded.

 

[MakoMania]

OK if we are doing this let' do it right. Last year is of little relevance, lets look at 1994 the last year a new coaster of significant size was installed.

Vikingar, Cableway, Noahs Ark, Tagada, Haunted Hotel, Wild Mouse, Black Hole, AstroSwirl, Monorail, Super Bowl, Space Invader, Turtle Chase, Go Karts, Greatest Show On Earth, Swamp Buggies, Alpine Golf all gone without any form of replacement.

Grand National, Ghost Train, Infusion, Big Dipper, Avalanche, Nickelodeon Streak, Steeplechase, Big One have all either had capacity reduced significantly, or have replaced a ride that had a better hourly throughput that itself.

(That's off the top of my head)

On top of that the hours of business have been vastly reduced, 94 often saw the park open into the early hours of the morning, for this year we have a handful of 10pm closes to look forward to, in addition to this, we also have speedy pass to contend with.

I think it' very fair to say the parks hourly capacity has been shot with the brown stuff.

Which is why I was comparing capacity to 2017 and not to 1994 when the town of Blackpool was in a different tourism league entirely

 

[Ash84]

Which is why I was comparing capacity to 2017 and not to 1994 when the town of Blackpool was in a different tourism league entirely

Ever wondered what caused Blackpool to be in such different league?

Its no coincidence how South Shore has become a ghost town on an evening since BPB shut up shop at 5pm. Blackpool centre is as busy as ever, the only thing that has seen a change in the last 20 years is BPB

 

[Bert2theSpark]

Ever wondered what caused Blackpool to be in such different league?

Its no coincidence how South Shore has become a ghost town on an evening since BPB shut up shop at 5pm. Blackpool centre is as busy as ever, the only thing that has seen a change in the last 20 years is BPB

Don't forget Merlin taking over Blackpool Tower!

 

[MakoMania]

Ever wondered what caused Blackpool to be in such different league?

Its no coincidence how South Shore has become a ghost town on an evening since BPB shut up shop at 5pm. Blackpool centre is as busy as ever, the only thing that has seen a change in the last 20 years is BPB

Sorry but that is rubbish if I do say so myself. The entire town has degraded so much in the last 20 years, you only have to look around the place. Thankfully Blackpool is finally beginning to see some well deserved revitalisation!

The reputation of Blackpool suffered massively, much of the town was on its knees in the mid 2000s, including BPB which was much closer to closure than many people realise.

Amanda is often criticised for her decisions to remove rides, introduce the wristband system and alter the opening times to save money and encourage a more family friendly environment, but the simple fact is that without major change there would be no BPB today, and Blackpool would be much worse off than it is currently.

 

[Matt N]

Out of interest, with the theming that Amanda is teasing, do people think that Icon will better Wicker Man from a theming point of view? I personally think no, but the theming looked good in the promo art.

 

[Danny]

Clearly not. But Pleasure Beach is an amusement park; not a theme park. It's great they'll make an effort, but it isn't at the core of the ride.

Icon will be made by a good solid ride experience.
Wicker Man will be made by a good solid theme and story experience.

 

[Tim]

OK if we are doing this let' do it right. Last year is of little relevance, lets look at 1994 the last year a new coaster of significant size was installed.

Vikingar, Cableway, Noahs Ark, Tagada, Haunted Hotel, Wild Mouse, Black Hole, AstroSwirl, Monorail, Super Bowl, Space Invader, Turtle Chase, Go Karts, Greatest Show On Earth, Swamp Buggies, Alpine Golf all gone without any form of replacement.

Grand National, Ghost Train, Infusion, Big Dipper, Avalanche, Nickelodeon Streak, Steeplechase, Big One have all either had capacity reduced significantly, or have replaced a ride that had a better hourly throughput that itself.

(That's off the top of my head)

On top of that the hours of business have been vastly reduced, 94 often saw the park open into the early hours of the morning, for this year we have a handful of 10pm closes to look forward to, in addition to this, we also have speedy pass to contend with.

I think it' very fair to say the parks hourly capacity has been shot with the brown stuff.

I agree with a lot of the points raised but you can’t start by saying let’s do it right, then completely ignore that Valhalla was added in that time. That ride alone must have considerably improved the parks cappacity.

Not that you’re wrong, the park does not have the cappacity it used to. Thankfully I think it’s still good enough that Icon won’t prove too popular for the park.

 

[Matt N]

Clearly not. But Pleasure Beach is an amusement park; not a theme park. It's great they'll make an effort, but it isn't at the core of the ride.

Icon will be made by a good solid ride experience.
Wicker Man will be made by a good solid theme and story experience.

Indeed. I've never visited BPB before, but from an outsider's perspective, it looks like an amusement park with 1 or 2 heavily themed rides. It does look cool, however, with the amount of coasters and rides that overlap one another. For example, I think Icon goes over Big One, Steeplechase, Big Dipper, Pleasure Beach Express and Skyforce. The only other park in the world that looks to come close with the amount of rides in a small space is Gröna Lund, so BPB is really rather unique in that respect.

 

[DiogoJ42]

There's more to life than theming. I'll take an amazing B&M carpark coaster over a well themed pinfari any day.

with the amount of coasters and rides that overlap one another. For example, I think Icon goes over Big One, Steeplechase, Big Dipper, Pleasure Beach Express and Skyforce.

This is exactly what makes the place so awesome.

 

[Danny]

The terms 'heavily themed' and 'Blackpool Pleasure Beach' do not compute. Much like 'PortAventura' and 'superb operations', or 'Merlin Entertainments' and 'value for money'.

 

[Matt N]

There's more to life than theming. I'll take an amazing B&M carpark coaster over a well themed pinfari any day.

I would not rate Icon any lower if it doesn't have any theming at all. None of my top 3 (Mako, Montu & SheiKra) are massively themed, they're just great rides. However, I do rate a park higher if it has theming.

 

[Ash84]

I agree with a lot of the points raised but you can’t start by saying let’s do it right, then completely ignore that Valhalla was added in that time. That ride alone must have considerably improved the parks cappacity.

Not that you’re wrong, the park does not have the cappacity it used to. Thankfully I think it’s still good enough that Icon won’t prove too popular for the park.

Indeed it did, in 2000 when it ran 25 eight seater boats.

However today it rarely goes above 8 and never above 12 it' also worth noting the boats are reduced to six seater now, so it' just one in a long line of rides who's capacity has been butchered

 

[Funcone]

Icon is reportedly only costing slightly more than Wicker Man, but it's almost double the length and features two launches. I know that headline costs can be misleading, but I can't imagine that Icon has a massive theming budget. I'd be delighted if I'm proven wrong, but it seems unlikely. I've never expected Icon to have much theming, although I did hope that the station would be interesting architecturally. I suppose a bit of rock work around the tunnel could also look good.