Sandman
Giga Poster
Hi guys, I'll keep it brief. Hadn’t been to the park since March 2017, at which point Icon was merely a muddy pit on the former Tom Sawyer bridge site with no name or brand. Since I was back up north to see the family I figured it was only fair to give the place a visit, even though I knew it’d be riddled with vloggers and the like.
Went to grab this photo from the beach but the tide was coming in so couldn't run out far enough to fit everything perfectly in frame
Didn’t quite fathom that the opening day this year coincided with the school half terms, so was fairly surprised to see the forecourt absolutely rammed upon arrival. Eh, it’s a nice day, it’ll probably be fine once the crowd disperses into the park, I remember thinking.
Headed for Nick Streak first as I know how troublesome that can be even without a crowd, meh… closed. Member of staff stood ominously at the entrance with his aviators on and a straight face, looking a bit like a **** Terminator. Bugger it, let’s try Avalanche, but the queue was already pouring out towards the laughing clown… jeez, this is something I’d never seen in prior opening weekends. Good for the park though.
Once I figured every coaster was more than likely going to be rammed, I just bit the bullet and joined Icon’s queue for the first ever time. 2 trains were running and it took us about 50ish mins to reach the station. Did think it would be quicker to be honest, since everyone has praised the operations to high heavens. We didn’t move particularly fast along the queue line - but I wasn’t annoyed since it was my first time and I was just looking forward to my first go - and the weather was lovely of course so that was another positive to take away from it.
I didn’t take too many photos but here are a few I quickly got from the queue.
My first and only ride on Icon was a front row one, obviously wanted the best possible view as I knew it was unlikely that I’d be riding again with the queue continuously expanding out of the entrance and beyond.
Firstly, the initial launch. What I will say is, yes, it’s definitely not got much of a kick as per Taron etc… but, due to the ridiculous amount of mist emanating from the first tunnel, it definitely got me gasping for air by the time we hit the crest of the hill. On the front you do get a good pop of airtime too. Icon, in my honest opinion, has much more of an initial punch than Blue Fire.
The inclined loop again, better than expected. It’s not something I’d choose to feature as part of Icon’s layout, but again I got a bit of sensation from it. Perhaps some of this is down to the fact it was my first coaster in a few months, so bound to get a bit more of a kick from it than usual. But yeah, so far pretty fun.
The steeplechase bit is also okay, still fun but it slightly peters out compared to that first section. I do think the S-bend is alright though, it does remind me of that section on Taron as you close in on the 2nd launch. As for the rest of the layout, it’s all, again, really quite fun, particularly on the front row with the unobstructed view. Some good little pops of airtime and Taron-esque banked turns etc. It’s better than Blue Fire and Star Trek, I’d say. It’s quite hard to compare it to Blue Fire in it’s entirety though because the best bits of Blue Fire (for me) are the inversions and I found the banked turns etc to be rather forgettable. With Icon I actually thought the twists and turns were all really good fun and better paced than Blue Fire.
The other couple of pics:
Can’t be bothered rambling on about the ride closures and the rest of the day which I’m sure everyone is well aware of by now, but in case you were wondering we managed to get on the following:
I’m looking forward to going back on a weekday just so I can get a few more rides on Icon. I’d love to get a chance to sit on it during a quiet week.
Went to grab this photo from the beach but the tide was coming in so couldn't run out far enough to fit everything perfectly in frame
Didn’t quite fathom that the opening day this year coincided with the school half terms, so was fairly surprised to see the forecourt absolutely rammed upon arrival. Eh, it’s a nice day, it’ll probably be fine once the crowd disperses into the park, I remember thinking.
Headed for Nick Streak first as I know how troublesome that can be even without a crowd, meh… closed. Member of staff stood ominously at the entrance with his aviators on and a straight face, looking a bit like a **** Terminator. Bugger it, let’s try Avalanche, but the queue was already pouring out towards the laughing clown… jeez, this is something I’d never seen in prior opening weekends. Good for the park though.
Once I figured every coaster was more than likely going to be rammed, I just bit the bullet and joined Icon’s queue for the first ever time. 2 trains were running and it took us about 50ish mins to reach the station. Did think it would be quicker to be honest, since everyone has praised the operations to high heavens. We didn’t move particularly fast along the queue line - but I wasn’t annoyed since it was my first time and I was just looking forward to my first go - and the weather was lovely of course so that was another positive to take away from it.
I didn’t take too many photos but here are a few I quickly got from the queue.
My first and only ride on Icon was a front row one, obviously wanted the best possible view as I knew it was unlikely that I’d be riding again with the queue continuously expanding out of the entrance and beyond.
Firstly, the initial launch. What I will say is, yes, it’s definitely not got much of a kick as per Taron etc… but, due to the ridiculous amount of mist emanating from the first tunnel, it definitely got me gasping for air by the time we hit the crest of the hill. On the front you do get a good pop of airtime too. Icon, in my honest opinion, has much more of an initial punch than Blue Fire.
The inclined loop again, better than expected. It’s not something I’d choose to feature as part of Icon’s layout, but again I got a bit of sensation from it. Perhaps some of this is down to the fact it was my first coaster in a few months, so bound to get a bit more of a kick from it than usual. But yeah, so far pretty fun.
The steeplechase bit is also okay, still fun but it slightly peters out compared to that first section. I do think the S-bend is alright though, it does remind me of that section on Taron as you close in on the 2nd launch. As for the rest of the layout, it’s all, again, really quite fun, particularly on the front row with the unobstructed view. Some good little pops of airtime and Taron-esque banked turns etc. It’s better than Blue Fire and Star Trek, I’d say. It’s quite hard to compare it to Blue Fire in it’s entirety though because the best bits of Blue Fire (for me) are the inversions and I found the banked turns etc to be rather forgettable. With Icon I actually thought the twists and turns were all really good fun and better paced than Blue Fire.
The other couple of pics:
Can’t be bothered rambling on about the ride closures and the rest of the day which I’m sure everyone is well aware of by now, but in case you were wondering we managed to get on the following:
- Icon
- Pleasure Beach Express
- River Caves
- Flying Machines
- Chinese Puzzle Maze (hardly a ride but desperate times call for desperate measures)
I’m looking forward to going back on a weekday just so I can get a few more rides on Icon. I’d love to get a chance to sit on it during a quiet week.