Blackpool Pleasure Beach ??? ECC Visit - 20th Oct 2018

[mkingy]

Blackpool Pleasure Beach ??? ECC Visit
October 20th 2018

Photo Album: https://imgur.com/a/i6C0rUT

Introduction

Me and Gouldy travelled up north to Blackpool to attend the first leg of the European Coaster Club White Knuckle Weekend which began at Blackpool. The main draw to the park on this occasion was Blackpool???s new rollercoaster, a Mack double launch Icon.

Trip Report

ICON

The day started off with ERS on Icon and Steeplechase before they opened to the public which was meant to begin at 9 AM, however in true ECC style we didn???t arrive at Icon until roughly 9:15 where we entered through the ride entrance down towards the station.
This ride should not be judged by a first thing in the morning run, as it does require warming up to reach what is actually a really fun ride. Blackpool have invested in 3 trains for this, and were getting some good dispatches which meant I never queued for over 15 minutes even when the ride was open to the public.

The first launch is laughably pathetic, and perhaps shows that Mack really needs to roll into the launch as it does with the second. There???s no initial pull that you get with Gerstaluer or Intamin launches, the train accelerates at a pace that could be described as pedestrian.
This leads into the first half of the ride which actually rides a lot better than the POV videos show, whilst outside of the first airtime hill (which is a highlight of the ride) there isn???t much force then ride has some nice flow and the interaction with steeplechase and the big one help the ride. The final elements into the second launch are a little too short lived to provide much thrill.

The second half starts out with the most iconic element towering over the station, a bizzarely shaped immelman that in the front provides some consistent floater and the back seats provide a brief moment of ejector airtime. The next sequence of elements provide easily the best part of the ride, a forceful helix, some quick transitions leading into an off axis hill which doesn???t quite throw you out of your seat like you would be expecting. The finale feels forced as the overbank over Big Dipper is slow and forceless, and ends the ride as it started, laughably pathetic.

Overall however I think this is a winner for Blackpool, it is a good addition and it is an enjoyable ride which should stand the test of time given how other Mack???s have ages. It???s no Helix but then it???s far better than Star Trek at Movieland, a middling Mack coaster perhaps.

Other Rides
We followed up this with Steeplechase, some nice nostalgia on a classic. Nothing to really note here, fun if a little uncomfortable and I won my race (yay)
The big one was next up, and predictably was useless past the first drop which was decent, albeit slightly rougher than I remember. You kind of have to ride it as it???s such an imposing ride, but I wouldn???t be rushing back for a second ride that day. Also, they opened the ride with ballast on half the train, leading to a rather large queue which wasn???t helped when they then had to stop the dispatches to unload the batches...

We followed this up with a ride on Big Dipper and Grand National which were both great fun. Big Dipper seemed to be running a little slower than normal, although this perhaps helped with the roughness! Grand National appeared to be having dispatch problems which may have closed the ride completely towards the middle of the day - I think we actually sat in the ride waiting for dispatch longer than we were travelling around the track.

At this point Gouldy had to leave to watch Wolves lose a football match so I rounded off the morning with Skyforce (not really windy enough and I definitely prefer the Sky Rollers over the Sky Flys) and 3 more rides on ICON. After some confusion over whether we had tables or not for Lunch (which had already been paid for) which resulted in eating outside (never advisable in England), being excreted on by a passing bird I headed home via KFC as revenge after a decent morning at Blackpool!

Rating / Ranking

New Entries:

Icon
Better than: Star Trek @ Moviepark Germany
Worse than: Blue Fire @ Europa Park
#1 Ride at Blackpool

Favourite 5 of 172
1. Helix @ Liseberg
2. Taron @ Phantasialand
3. Nemesis @ Alton Towers
4. Troy @ Toverland
5. Expedition Geforce @ Holiday Park

[Coasterkidmwm]

This park is one of my bucket list parks. The ride selection is kinda out there. Thanks for the TR.

???KFC as revenge???
Nice pic with icon and big one!

[mkingy]

Thanks guys.

Yeah I considered trying to take multiple photos and stitch them together but I didn't have a tripod so. Was nice to get the two main ones so well framed however!