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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

Sat 5th May will be the day I reckon. Start of the first bank holiday weekend of May which is usually rammed in Blackpool unless the weather is awful.
 
Benjsh said:
Sat 5th May will be the day I reckon. Start of the first bank holiday weekend of May which is usually rammed in Blackpool unless the weather is awful.
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That is also the day that Tiger Rock opens at Chessington, so I don't know whether they'd want to compete with Chessie on that day. Maybe sometime in the weekend of 11th-13th May or 18th-20th May is a better idea. Or maybe even 27th-29th April if we're lucky.
 
Competing with a rethemed average flume ride with a Mack mega??? Not much of a competition. Hahahaha.

Chessington and Blackpool are roughly 220 miles apart and have very different audiences. I don't think it would matter one bit if they opened that day and I have thought for months that would be the day so I'm sticking to it.
 
Would love Mayday weekend, that would be two and a half weeks of weekday soft openings with the kids at school, but I still say too soon by a week or two.
Clock ticks so slowly.
 
2nd bank holiday at end of May is still 6 weeks away!!! It's been bleeding testing for ages now and also looks to have been tested at full speed now with all trains. Surely it's not going to be another 6 weeks?

I'll be astonished if it's not open that first bank holiday weekend now.
 
Interesting to see BPB staff in the station today. They’re clearly preparing to hand over to the ride team. Restraints were opening and closing, storage lockers operating and the ride team looked to be pressing the dispatch buttons or whatever they’re called.

 
I think it looks very good now it's looking faster.

I just kind of wish it was heavily themed which sadly was never going to be the case being at Blackpool. With it being so low to the ground this thing could be Taron standard if it had amazing theming.

I'm fairly disappointed with what I have seen theming wise, including the station which is so unimaginable. The coaster looks class though.
 
Benjsh said:
Competing with a rethemed average flume ride with a Mack mega??? Not much of a competition. Hahahaha.

Chessington and Blackpool are roughly 220 miles apart and have very different audiences. I don't think it would matter one bit if they opened that day and I have thought for months that would be the day so I'm sticking to it.
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You'd be surprised. Merlin's advertising budget is probably very high, probably much higher than Blackpool's. They could probably make Tiger Rock look like the best thing to come to Chessington in its history if they wanted to! Granted, I did see an advert for BPB on the TV the other day, but Icon wasn't mentioned once!

With regards to the ride, I personally think it looks fantastic, and I will be staggered if it's not at least in my top 10 when I ride it in summer. If this is good, then I reckon there could be a potential new number 1 UK coaster in this for me, beating The Swarm. Maybe even number 1 overall, beating Mako, if it turns out to be shockingly good! Also, it's worth noting that the theming probably isn't done yet. I'm really pleased with what I've seen so far, as I didn't even really expect any proper theming with this ride! Also, is it only me who reckons they could probably get away with opening it before the theming is completed?
 
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MakoMania said:
The coaster does look fabulous though, if you are like me and don't rate Nemesis, then it looks to be the best coaater in the UK for sure.
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I rate Nemesis as my number 5 coaster and I think that this looks like it could be a new top UK coaster for me! Although my current favourite UK coaster is The Swarm, not Nemesis, so...
P.S. Swarm and Nemmy are very close in my top 10. Literally, Nemesis is #5 and Swarm is #4. They're that close!
 
From what I've seen of this so far, and considering the other Macks, Taron and the rest of the UK, I'm expecting this to comfortably be in my top 5 UK coasters, top 3 I'm not sure. It'll hopefully force its way into my overall top 10 if it's really good.
 
Sounds pretty legit. There was definitely BPB staff closing restraints in the station yesterday. The landscaping is progressing apace and they’re even working on a Sunday, so they must be keen to get it open. I’d guess soft openings in a few weeks, official opening towards end of May.
 
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