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Blackpool Pleasure Beach | Icon | Mack Multi-Launch

mouse

Giga Poster
I love this article, lets take some time to deconstruct it.

Shocked revellers were trapped 12ft in the air on a Blackpool Pleasure Beach ride for 15 minutes.
Well you would be shocked if you were trapped 12ft in the air. And that shock would sustain itself for the whole 15 minutes.
The amusement park confirmed the ICON rollercoaster stopped earlier this afternoon with people on board, and have stopped the ride as they investigate.
Why would they need to stop the ride as they investigate I thought it had already stopped?
Greg says they were shocked and didn't know what was happening
They didn't know what was happening? Had they not figured out the ride had stopped? Or were they just looking round confused trying to understand why the scenery wasn't speeding past so quickly?
adding that those on board must have been 'daunted'
Daunted for the prospect of what? Being evacuated and having to ride Infusion instead?
He said the car stopped on a flat level "at least the height of two guys on top of each others shoulders, about 10 or 12ft high."
Thanks for that Greg. Just 10 or 12ft would've been fine, but I'm enjoying the image of two 6ft guys walking around pleasure beach on top of each others shoulders.
They were a bit shocked I think.
Well you would be.
And it was not a quick fix.
No, 15 minutes actually.
People were saying 'thank God it wasn't us'
How dramatic!
and 'it's freezing to be sat there'
Not quite as dramatic...
"I don't think anyone was injured," he added.
What a relief. I would've thought a car slowly stopping on flat track at 12ft would result in at least a few broken bones.
"The mood changed a bit for the people on the ride,"
I would imagine they would've been slightly less excited. Only a bit though.
the passengers were safely escorted from the ride by our trained staff.
The trained staff - I assume that's the two guys on top of each others shoulders.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
On a different note, I actually heard something very interesting about Icon's apparent success for Blackpool; the ride apparently needed to bring in 100,000 new guests to meet Blackpool's attendance targets, but attendance in 2018 has actually gone down by 200,000 compared to 2017, apparently. Why does everyone reckon the ride's apparent lack of success has been?
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
On a different note, I actually heard something very interesting about Icon's apparent success for Blackpool; the ride apparently needed to bring in 100,000 new guests to meet Blackpool's attendance targets, but attendance in 2018 has actually gone down by 200,000 compared to 2017, apparently. Why does everyone reckon the ride's apparent lack of success has been?
I'm only on my mobile, so won't write a long response, but that sort of stat is only worthwhile if you compare it to the rest of the country.

If every park has seen a decline in visitor numbers by 10% (for example), but BPB has seen a decline of 5%, then that's where you'll see the worth of the investment.

It's hard to look at one park in isolation, and draw those kinds of conclusions about success/failure.
 

bob_3_

Giga Poster
On a different note, I actually heard something very interesting about Icon's apparent success for Blackpool; the ride apparently needed to bring in 100,000 new guests to meet Blackpool's attendance targets, but attendance in 2018 has actually gone down by 200,000 compared to 2017, apparently. Why does everyone reckon the ride's apparent lack of success has been?

Where is this source?

I usually judge a ride's success on how many people in my office have heard or are willing to go ride, and although there was nowheree near the buzz that Smiler had when it opened, there was some real interest and alot of talk about it. Although Wickerman was generally more favoured and discussed. Not what I predicted to be honest.

I just generally don't believe when enthusiasts call something a flop or state facts about how rides have failed to bring in attendance coz it's usually based in biased speculation. Gimme some facts. Also attendance has been reduced by 200,000? How can that even be possible with the summer we've had.
 

James F

Hyper Poster
Is anyone going to Pleasure Beach on Sunday? I'm filming a documentary about Mack Rides and I'll be asking enthusiasts about their views on Icon as well as Mack Rides in general. If anyone is interested please let me know

Sent from my G3221 using Tapatalk
 

mouse

Giga Poster
I would be interested in where the 100k extra visitors target came from. Anyone know what factors informed this target? Is it linked to the spending on construction and/or marketing or something?
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
A 200'000 decrease is shocking is it not?

Even moreso in a new-ride-year?

Even me in my incessant pessimism can't' see it being that bad.
 

James F

Hyper Poster
When was this data taken? It could of been before the main summer for all we know, the season isn't over yet.

Sent from my G3221 using Tapatalk
 

Matt N

CF Legend
A 200'000 decrease is shocking is it not?

Even moreso in a new-ride-year?

Even me in my incessant pessimism can't' see it being that bad.
Thorpe had a 200,000 decrease in 2012 when Swarm was built. SeaWorld Orlando also had a 375,000 decrease the year Mako was built, although SeaWorld is admittedly quite a different ball game to Thorpe and Blackpool.
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
Unless I'm massively mistaken, I thought Alton had 2 million visitors in 2017 so a 200k drop for them would be 10%; that's a drastic number for any business and I'd imagine it's an even greater percentage for BPB.

I'm sure there are other factors and it's far, far too soon to draw any confident conclusions from this season just yet.
 
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