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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon - 2018 Mack Double Launch Coaster

I think it looks great from videos! The first half isn't the most inspired, but the second half looks excellent.

I don't think it'll unseat Nemesis for me, but time will tell. :)
 
I think Icon looks fantastic, really can't wait to experience it on the 25th May.

In terms of how the ride is presented, I only really have one major gripe which is the station. With a Japanese-garden theme there were so many possibilities for a really intricate and ornate station, but at present it just looks like a tin shed with some cladding bolted on - and really doesn't do the fantastic sleek style of the track and trains justice.

Of course, if the station looks different in a month's time I'll happily eat humble pie!
 
Brad97 said:
I think it looks great from videos! The first half isn't the most inspired, but the second half looks excellent.

I don't think it'll unseat Nemesis for me, but time will tell. :)
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Yeah I'm not feeling the ICON hype as the best UK coaster either.

If it was a game of top trumps and the 5 categories were: Speed, Inversions, Intensity, Station / theming quality and throughput.......I'm struggling to make a case for ICON in any of those except speed and that's only by a measly 2 mph.

It's definitely going to be a brilliant coaster but I just can't see how it beats Nemmy.
 
MakoMania said:
It'll easily beat Nemmy for those who prefer lap bars, smooth transitions and airtime. I'm one of those people and Nemmy is nowhere near the top coaster in the country for me.

It's like with food, not everyone likes the same thing. Icon is looking like my kinda ride :p
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I was just thinking that I haven't actually ridden a coaster like Icon before. The closest thing to it I have ridden would be Cheetah Hunt, which I liked but wouldn't say I loved. That also doesn't have lap bars though.

So who knows, Icon may be exactly my type of ride and I don't even know it!
 
MakoMania said:
It'll easily beat Nemmy for those who prefer lap bars, smooth transitions and airtime. I'm one of those people and Nemmy is nowhere near the top coaster in the country for me.

It's like with food, not everyone likes the same thing. Icon is looking like my kinda ride :p
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I appreciate it's down to individual tastes and I too love a lap bar and air time machine but "nowhere near the best" is a rather funny comment. It's a work or art that coaster. 24 years on and it's still ranked so highly by the vast majority of people.
 
Alastair said:
Referring to Grand National earlier today...



:wink:
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Steel is different to wood, when you get bumpiness on steel coasters it's generally jagged and uncomfortable which can be made worse by OTSRs (looking at you Colossus).

I probably explained that really badly, but you might get what I mean :p

If Grand National didn't have cushioned seats it would be horrible, but it does so it's fine :)

By the way, I'm not totally bashing Nemesis. It's still a great coaster and certainly has the intensity factor! The fact that it is still loved by so many more than 2 decades on is proof of this.
 
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I personally reckon Icon will be at least in my top 10 when I ride it. If it's good, I reckon it'll beat The Swarm as my new favourite UK coaster. If it's really good, I reckon it could topple Mako as my number 1 coaster overall. A ride doesn't have to be the most intense of rides for me to like it, as my like of Mako proves.
 
Brad97 said:
I was just thinking that I haven't actually ridden a coaster like Icon before. The closest thing to it I have ridden would be Cheetah Hunt, which I liked but wouldn't say I loved. That also doesn't have lap bars though.

So who knows, Icon may be exactly my type of ride and I don't even know it!
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I really didn't rate Cheetah Hunt as it was so uncomfortable due to those awful OTSR's. Its a great layout but with lap bars it would go from a 5/10 to 9/10 IMO.

I'm not expecting Taron, but Icon should be at least as good as Blue Fire which is fine by me. Especially if they could replicate that incredible final inversion.
 
Benjsh said:
Yeah I'm not feeling the ICON hype as the best UK coaster either.

If it was a game of top trumps and the 5 categories were: Speed, Inversions, Intensity, Station / theming quality and throughput.......I'm struggling to make a case for ICON in any of those except speed and that's only by a measly 2 mph.

It's definitely going to be a brilliant coaster but I just can't see how it beats Nemmy.
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I don't think you can rate a ride like a game of top trumps. Using those 5 categories on the sadly demolished wild mouse and you would have got something like this...

(Marks out of 10)
Speed: 2
Inversions: 0
Intensity: 10
Station/Theming: 0
Throughput: 0

But it was still the best coaster in the country :)

I also think there is something to be said for the visibility/views you get from a coaster, which is pretty much zero on nemesis unless you are on the front row. It's one ride aspect that most PB coasters do very well at due to the majority of them snaking through the park and around other rides.
 
Think I'm gonna head to the park on the 29th/30th May and give icon a go. 25th will be far too busy

Sent from my Ektra using Tapatalk
 
I think Icon has the potential to be a very popular coaster for a very long time, maybe even as popular as the big one in the long term.

From a purely personal view point I doubt I will ever find a coaster to beat wild mouse but there is no doubt that Icon will appeal to the mass market which is exactly what a coaster needs to do to bring money into the park.

Let's hope they can start to recover that £16.5m then maybe we can look forward to another custom built coaster in a few years time.
 
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shakey said:
Well seeing as I rode wild mouse 100's of times I don't think it's a problem.

Back on topic, I think Icon has the potential to be a very popular coaster for a very long time, maybe even as popular as the big one in the long term. From a purely personal view point I doubt I will ever find a coaster to beat wild mouse but there is no doubt that Icon will appeal to the mass market which is exactly what a coaster needs to do to bring money into the park. Let's hope they can start to recover that £16.5m then maybe we can look forward to another custom built coaster in a few years time.
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Wild Mouse?

I was talking about these people who are making very bold statement's about Icon being better than X Y or Z
 
Ash84 said:
Wild Mouse?

I was talking about these people who are making very bold statement's about Icon being better than X Y or Z
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Sorry Ash, it was straight after my post referring to the Wild Mouse so I thought that is what you meant.

I definite case of "The Wrong End Of The Stick"

Edited my previous post now :)
 
Nemesis is a formidable opponent.

I can't see anything topping it for me, but will reserve judgement until I have ridden Blackpools new coaster.

It looks great, but against Nemmie - good luck Icon... I think you'll need it.
 
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