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Icon or Blue Fire?

Icon or Blue Fire?

  • Total voters
    50
Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Even though they’re quite different animals as far as Mack launch coasters go, I’ve noticed that Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Blue Fire at Europa Park often seem to be compared to one another. Maybe it’s because they’re both generally considered “lower tier” Mack launch coasters, maybe it’s because they’re both fairly accessible to UK enthusiasts (who would be reviewing Icon compared to what they’ve ridden); I don’t know, but they often seem to be compared. So my question to you today is; which one of these two do you prefer, if you’ve done both?

Personally, having done Blue Fire this week, I perhaps controversially prefer Icon, and that was quite an easy decision for me to make.

Don’t get me wrong, I thought Blue Fire was good fun. The inversions were nice, particularly the first and last ones, the launch was surprisingly forceful, and it was overall a really great, fun coaster; a solid 9/10. However, I felt it was lacking a certain spark to make it a true 10/10 ride, and I can’t quite place why. I’ll admit that I thought it lacked airtime (I only really remember one straight airtime moment on the entire ride, and even that one wasn’t overly strong), and I also thought that while the ride was overall very smooth, 1 or 2 of the transitions were slightly off (the turn up into the MCBR and the transition out of the final heartline roll both felt slightly unnatural), but I’m not sure it was any of those things individually that I felt it was missing. It was just missing a certain je ne sais quoi for me.

Icon, on the other hand, is a coaster I absolutely adore! It has loads of great airtime, the turns are really fun, it’s smooth, it has nice transitions, the inversions are nice, it’s exciting throughout… I just love it to bits, and I find it so fun and rerideable! A definite 10/10 ride for me!

But which of these two Mack Rides launch coasters do you prefer?
 
Blue Fire.

Better theming. Better throughput. A more pleasant queue line, theme and surrounding area. Better pacing. No gimmicks.

I'd take the last inversion on Blue Fire alone over a ride on Icon
 
Easily Blue Fire. Set aside it's superiority as a coherent rollercoaster (which Icon miserably fails at with its slow, meandering second half), and its operations make me prefer it. The throughput is staggering and there's no awful upcharge seating or stingy two train running in sight. And as already mentioned, the final inversion is top, top class - far better than any single moment on Icon.
 
Only been on Blue Fire (long overdue a return to the Beach) but I can guess Blue Fire is more popular because it has more going for it:
- The themeing is great
- The operations are superb
- The launch is stronger
- The elements are more memorable (Ironically Iconic you could say)
- It experiments with on-board audio and the heart rate. Even VR and Spinning (but thankfully only temporarily)
- It was the first, And if like myself you first rode it when it was new it really was a revolution. In 2009 there were so few rides that launched, looped, was glass smooth and most importantly had comfortable restraints. That sort of a first impression sticks with you.

But Icon does have more moments of air-time, and for some that will trump the other aspects. Blue Fire didn't focus on air-time because Silver Star already existed. But Blackpool wanted a more air-time driven ride.
 
Icon is a bad roller coaster, it’s layout is utterly boring. Blue fire isn’t exactly mind blowing but comparing any ride to icon is likely to see the alternative win out.
 
Alsty said:
Are we talking about the same rollercoaster?
Click to expand...
I’ll admit that it’s perhaps not the most blisteringly fast paced coaster in the world, but I’ve never found it to be sluggish like most on here seem to; it’s fast enough, in my opinion. Whenever I’ve ridden, I’ve always found that even the s-bends at the end and the last outward banked hill maintain a good degree of fun factor (the outer banked hill in particular has some surprisingly fun airtime!), and the twists and turns in the second half have some really fun forces and airtime!

Admittedly, though, all of my rides have been later in the day, when the ride is “warmed up”. I’ve always heard that that makes a big difference with Icon.
 
John said:
I am absolutely astonished that multiple people have voted for Icon. Blue Fire is by no means one of my favourite coasters but Icon just isn't in the same league
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Maybe a lot of people have ridden Icon but not Blue Fire, and can't make a realistic comparison.
I don't see it as a terrible coaster, it fits into the park fine as the only smooth steel coaster.
Family not thrill, in a limited landscape, it does well...for old people.
 
After riding Blue Fire only a couple of weeks ago I can safely say I rate it way above Icon. Without sounding like a broken record but that last inversion should be illegal, I have no idea how you remain seated it's absurd! Icon is still a fun coaster and is perfect for Blackpool Pleasure Beach (mainly it's smooth, can't say that about many rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach!)
 
Neither are 10/10 and neither are Mack's best.

But Blue Fire has better theming, a better launch, better inversions, better operations and flows better than Icon.

The last inversion on Blue Fire is better than any moment on Icon.

Anyway, Helix.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
 
Although I haven't ridden Blue Fire or Helix, I would guess that the latter would fit nicely between Icon and Blue Fire in terms of most people's rankings.
 
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