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Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Icon 3 years on

Icon; overrated or underappreciated?

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With regard to the topic of the thread, I admit I’m surprised at how many on here don’t seem to particularly rate Icon, given that this site does often seem to have a greater love of all things Mack than most sites... not that that’s a bad thing, just an observation!
 
There's only so far you can take your love of all things before it can't be stretched anymore, blind fanboyism aside. I do have a soft spot for woodies but I wouldn't rave about something such as Blue Flyer because you cant stretch it that far to proclaim it as amazing
 
Lots of new photos I haven't seen before of the Beach on their website...had to shed a tear over the stunning young ladies hanging on for their lives on the Reel.
125 years season.
Peter Pans Parlour and Pudges Peculiar Passage???
The mind boggles...
 
Matt N said:
With regard to the topic of the thread, I admit I’m surprised at how many on here don’t seem to particularly rate Icon, given that this site does often seem to have a greater love of all things Mack than most sites... not that that’s a bad thing, just an observation!
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I've said this before, I really WANT to like Icon, but it just lacks so much in every possible way that it could for me. I feel it's still top 3 at Beach because I'm not a fan of many of the coasters there to be fair, but if it was at Towers for me it'd absolutely be at the bottom of the pile for me. So really, as much as I don't like it, I guess what I'm concluding is that it was a good fit for Blackpool, whereas it might've not've been had it been installed elsewhere.
 
I think the fact of it's name being Icon shows it is even over rated by the park, because an icon it most certainly is not or has never been.

The Big One is far more of an icon than the actual rollercoaster Icon.
 
Danscott22 said:
..So really, as much as I don't like it, I guess what I'm concluding is that it was a good fit for Blackpool, whereas it might've not've been had it been installed elsewhere.
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I think if towers had built Icon instead of Wickerman, gave it their usual "you are about to die" theming, added in a few flashing lights and maybe a couple of dark tunnels. Then finally did a massive glossy marketing campaign, I suspect the ride would have been a big success and well received.

Lets face it - they even managed to convince people that Smiler is a good coaster ;)
 
DistortAMG said:
I think the fact of it's name being Icon shows it is even over rated by the park, because an icon it most certainly is not or has never been.
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Thats one of the weird things about PB at the moment, you can totally imagine Amanda in the meeting "I want a new icon for the park... call it Icon"
And the odd showbiz glamour aesthetic for a launch coaster
 
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I love Icon, and it got me visiting the park again after many years away - mind you, i only knew it existed becaused i watched some Theme Park Vlogs. So i guess many casual people didn't even know it existed.

It's in my top three UK coasters. Smiler, Nemesis and Icon, with a fluctuating order.

I don't dig Revolution as many as some on here, it's a lot of stairs to climb, and i always bang my knees on it, but i'll so it once if i'm at the park - Icon gets done multiple times as it is enjoyable.

Having said that. Nemisis and The Smiler get ridden 5 or 6 times each visit if it's quiet enough.
 
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Matt N said:
Fun is subjective, to be fair; that’s why this thread has divided opinion so much. As much as Icon is my number 2 coaster, I wouldn’t mind if someone hated it and put it as their least favourite coaster of all time, in fact I’d welcome the opinion with open arms. Admittedly, I might ask them why they have that opinion, but I’d still accept that opinion.
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Yes it is. I find Nash fun, but some people would rather haver their gonads lowered slowly into a pit of burning sulphur than ride it @shakey and I totally understand how some people would find it terrifying. I do, but still love it.

Icon is an ok ride, my opinion echoes that of many others though; Decent-ish ride, kind of wasted opportunity in that it could have been taller, faster, etc, and stood out more from outside of the park. I used to think that the boring grey paint job sucks, but maybe it would have been even more stupid to paint it lime green or bright orange, as the ride then wouldn't live up to its exciting looks. The dull grey sums up the ride really.

I enjoy it up to that part that slams you into your seat then flips you sideways, above the exit building. It's then rather boring to the end. In stark contrast to the outgoing Wild Mouse, which was fun to the last turn. I'd have liked some more bunnyhop hills and less twists & turns. The interactions are nice, and unlike some people I like the near ground level Steeplechase S-bends. I do miss laughing at crap drivers on the Go Karts though.

It is a fairly comfy and smooth ride, but that depends on if they insist on an 'extra click' as I have been pinned a few times and endured a painful ride, and it does rattle a bit towards the back. I don't know much about coaster prices, but from speaking to those who do, I understand they could have got a good coaster for less than a quarter of what Icon cost, so it does seem somewhat a waste of money.

I guess a park like BPB will always be caught between the heritage aspect of the rides and wanting to invest in more modern rides. So if Icon wasn't there, people would complain that they hadn't invested in a new coaster for years, well it is there and people complain that it's boring and was too expensive. They can't win, and all it proves is that you can't please everyone.

I agree that on busier days there is more of a bottleneck moving about without the Tom Sawyer bridge, also I think it's a real shame that riders don't have the option of exiting via the Big Dipper end to head to North Park, and more importantly Madame Crevettes Oyster Bar. Being forced up that silly staircase really sucks. I guess this just a marketing ploy, making you walk past the photo desk and come out opposite the gift shop, I suppose you can't criticise them for that as other parks would do the same and try to rake in as much coin as they can.

I don't mind a few Icon rides spread out through the day if it's quiet, but it's not something I could go on repeatedly and can't get too excited about it.
 
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Sorry if this seems like a bit of a random question, but it’s Icon-related, so I thought this might be a good place.

I’ve always thought that Copperhead Strike at Carowinds looked very similar to Icon, as far as Mack launch coasters go. Both are around 80-90ft tall, both have a top speed of around 50mph, both have similar twisty layouts and both are double-launched. It almost looks as though Carowinds were inspired by Icon when they built Copperhead.

I know that a few on this forum have been on both Icon and Copperhead, so I’d be intrigued to know; how does Icon compare to Copperhead, and do you think Icon would have benefitted had it been more akin to Copperhead, or vice versa?
 
Whilst enthusiasts may not be massively keen on Icon, as I always point out, enthusiast opinions often don’t reflect the opinions of the public.

Part of the reason that Icon isn’t popular with the ride fans is because, as already mentioned, it didn’t live up the the hype. But, as has also been discussed, it was barely marketed so for the public this isn’t an issue.

It always seems to attract respectable queues despite being BPB’s best capacity ride. And most of the reactions I’ve heard from the public on my visits (not exactly a scientific way to judge but still) have been pretty positive.

It’s certainly not the most thrilling coaster I’ve ever ridden, far from it, but I’d easily rate it ahead of the likes of Revolution, Avalanche and Streak. A blanket statement that it’s boring, together with the implication that everyone else feels the same, does seem rather unfair.
 
I think the disappointment is mainly because there was an assumption it was going to be a world class thrill seekers coaster.

It turned out to be a very good fun family thrill coaster.

The real issue is whether it was worth £16m.
IMO I would say it wasn't.

Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk
 
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Enter Valhalla said:
A blanket statement that it’s boring, together with the implication that everyone else feels the same, does seem rather unfair.
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Not sure anyone has put out a ‘blanket statement’ of Icon being boring. I certainly haven’t implied that everyone feels the same, I just said that I’m not the only one who finds much of the second half of the ride somewhat poor, which clearly proved itself to be true!

I agree that the GP opinion on Icon is generally positive from what I have seen & heard, but as @shakey has said, it’s just not as good as it could have been and I believe they could have spent a quarter of that money and got an excellent coaster. I’m far from an expert on coaster costs, but I’ve read numerous times on here that Icon cost a colossal amount of money compared to other new coasters

Oh and my initial comment where I did use Icon and ‘boring’ in the same sentence was in response to the member who said he found every ride apart from Icon to be ‘uncomfortable as all hell’, I was just meaning that it would be a bit poor one day if many of the historic rides were gone, and all that was left was a load of smooth as silk, generic rides.
 
Icon is a weird one. IMO the top hat offers by far the best airtime moment on offer in the UK*

* Only on the back row fat seats, post 3pm, after it's warmed up, with the right wind direction, after some rain :rolleyes:

Overall though it's just a 'good' coaster.
 
The experience on Icon varies wildly depending on what day and what time you ride. Sometimes I get off fairly underwhelmed, and other times it’s my number 2 coaster. Not a ride you can fully judge by one ride, or even multiple rides on a single day in my opinion.
 
Different strokes for different folks as they say.

Personally I don't find Icon boring in the slightest. For me its comfortably the best coaster on the park (by a long long way actually) and in my top 5 in the UK.

The Big One for me is the far more boring ride. Okay the lift hill and first drop is mightily impressive but after that it's dreadful. There's no airtime. Had they built it like Magnum it would be a different story all together. It's a terribly poor designed ride. Why do I want to ride a hyper coaster that offers literally no air time whatsoever? What's the point of that?
And it's still as rough as bag of spanners too.
 
Interesting because, in the same way as Icon, the Big One is generally disliked by enthusiasts but is very popular with the public, despite Big One and Icon being very different types of rides. But who cares, it’s the public that matter. Enthusiasts make up probably less than 1% of the park’s total visitors across the season. So if we’re talking about if Icon is a decent coaster, I’d say that based on the positive reception it receives from the majority of the park’s visitors, it’s been very successful.

I do take the point though that it may not have been worth £16 million, particularly when we consider that the entire budget for Tornado Springs was £12 million and Storm Chaser is pretty much unanimously agreed to be an excellent coaster.

But then again, in the years leading up to 2017, virtually all BPB fans were saying that a new thrill coaster was what the park needed as opposed to a family one.
 
The public like the coaster, I haven't met anyone who didn't enjoy the ride, but it failed to pull in fresh punters, so it hasn't been very successful for the park, at all.
It is a family thrill coaster, and hits that target well, but the geeks don't like it because it is neither fast, or forceful.
The front seat, as well as the back, gives a good kick of airtime.
As an old man's retirement coaster, it does have a lovely slow meander round the park at the end of the day, like I do...just saves me having to do it on my feet.
 
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