Blackpool's new £16m rollercoaster hailed as 'gobsmackingly awesome'

'˜Everyone can do their thing' was Amanda Thompson's rallying call to the resort on the eve of the Pleasure Beach's £16.25million ride opening to the public.
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Speaking to The Gazette at yesterday’s media launch for the ‘game changing’ rollercoaster, she’s challenging residents and workers to step up as resort ambassadors to ‘sing and shout loudly about how great a place’ the town is.

Stepping off the ride for the very first time, she hailed it as ‘gobsmackingly awesome’.

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The Pleasure Beach’s managing director, alongside her brother and deputy managing director Nick Thompson, members of the design and engineering team from Mack Rides and the Mack family, were the first to board at yesterday’s media launch.

The Icon rollercoasterThe Icon rollercoaster
The Icon rollercoaster

The new rollercoaster - hailed as the world’s most interactive ride - opens officially to the public tomorrow.

While Nick and his son Morgan were the very first people to ride Icon several weeks ago, Amanda stepped on to the UK’s first double launch rollercoaster for the first time yesterday.

And she’s called on everyone within the resort to play their part and become an ambassador for Blackpool and to sing its praises.

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At £16.25m, Icon is the Thompson family’s biggest single investment in the Pleasure Beach in more than 100 years.

The Icon rollercoasterThe Icon rollercoaster
The Icon rollercoaster

But Amanda says investment at all levels is crucial for the resort’s future.

“Everyone can do their own thing; a new bathroom at a boarding house, a new taxi cab, a new cinema,” she said, speaking to The Gazette.

“We are all ambassadors for the resort.

“It’s up to all of us, the people who live and work here, to sing and shout loudly about how great a place it is to be.”

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A glittering press conference put the Thompsons on stage, alongside Michael Mack and Thorsten Koebele, from Mack Rides ,which has designed and manufactured the ride, the Pleasure Beach’s technical director Alex Payne, and director of engineering and projects Steve Hughes, the chairman of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Andreas Anderson, and IAAPA’s European, Middle East and Asia vice president Jakob Wahl.

Speaking at the conference, Amanda admitted she’s ‘not the biggest fan of rollercoasters’, but had travelled the world with the team from Mack to create the new ride.

“It’s essential for Blackpool, becasue I’m a huge fan of Blackpool as a resort,” she said at the conference.

“Reinvesting in our town is really what we need to do all the time, but it needs to move up a notch.

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“We have reinvested everything we possibly could each year. The audiences and people are coming back in their droves.

“There’s no better placeto be than Blackpool on a sunny day; I hope you all have a fantastic time not only here at the Pleasure Beach but also in Blackpool itself.

“There’s a little bit of Blackpool in everyone.”

Icon’s grey steel structure runs in whisper-close proximity to many of the parks existing favourites: The Big One, the Big Dipper, Steeplechase and Infusion, not forgetting the Pleasure Beach Express train which trundles below the gleaming gold and silver carriages.

Amanda’s ‘styling’ of the ride comes from her ‘extraordinary dreams’ of a ‘cherry blossom tree bursting from the ground’.

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Riders during the media day were applauding, cheering and whooping as they arrived back into the Icon station, which nestles below ground level at the centre of the park like a subterranean luxury spa, with rose gold mirrors, cool air and a dramatic soundtrack all aimed at heightening the ride experience.

Reactions of riders during yesterday’s event back up the response of Nick Thompson - who, by contrast, is a huge fan of rollercoasters - to riding Icon and seeing others on it, as he hailed the whole experience of unveiling the Icon as ‘euphoric’.

“The point with a ride, you have to get the product right, no matter how good the package is surrounding it, the product has to be right,” he told The Gazette.

“It’s a euphoric ride, combining both product and packaging.

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“That makes it sound boring, reducing it to those components, but it’s definitely one of the most exciting rides I have ever been on.”

Asked where, as a coaster fan, Icon ranks on a world level, Nick places it firmly among the very best.

“I could be biased of course, and say ‘Icon’s number one’,” he said. “But without actually ranking them, it’s one of the top four rides in the world.”

He’s excited about Icon’s place in not just Blackpool’s tourism offer, but that of the whole UK saying there’s been huge global interest in the development of the ride.

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“This is fantastic for the Pleasure Beach, for Blackpool and the whole country,” Nick added.

“Investment like this in Blackpool creates a snowballing effect of more investment.

“We’re building another hotel, and four others are planned in the town.

“Huge investment is coming back and success breeds success.”

Pleasure Beach is bang on target

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Stepping under the gleaming Icon sign, you can’t help but take a deep breath of anticipation.

It’s hard to imagine there’s been this much excitement regarding a new ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach since 1994 when the Big One opened.

Yes, there’s been Nickelodeon Land, Wallace And Gromit’s Thrill-O-Matic and Sky Force, but they’re firmly aimed at the family market.

Icon is shooting out there for the thrillseekers, and the Pleasure Beach is bang on target.

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Amanda Thompson’s styling surrounding the ride only adds to the sheer beauty of the feat of engineering, which has squeezed the 1.2km track into the park’s southern area. The matt grey finish is perfectly on-trend, softened by rose gold metallic features.

Setting off from the station, which under other circumstances could double as the much more relaxing environment of a luxury spa, was almost a welcome relief.

The pounding soundtrack focuses the mind, but it does start to get to you after a time - that said, trains were setting off only part filled on the media day to allow for filming opportunities, and under normal circumstances, I believe the queues will move pretty quickly.

The acceleration and sheer force of the opening moments - as you’re plunged into a tunnel of cool dark air, an even greater contrast when the sun is blazing down, before being shot up vertically at a rate of 80km per hour - is almost heart stopping.

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The ride is as smooth as Japanese silk; never ending twists and turns flow without throwing you about and, perhaps most importantly, without sacrificing any of the thrills.

Just as you think it’s about to come to an end, back into the dark you’re sent before once more being shot up - this time with a twisting loop-the-loop for good measure.

Amanda’s right, ‘gobsmackingly awesome’ it is, and £16.25million extremely well spent.

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