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Rank the Mack Launch coasters

Geeky Pastimes

Mega Poster
1. Helix (Every element just feels perfect and it's so much more forceful than the others. Even that drop out of the station feels unique)
2. Blue Fire (A beautiful setting for it and some great smooth sweeps into near-misses and the awesome final inversion. Plus extra marks for the cheesy theming for the launch)
3. Icon (Have only been on this once but it felt very much like a family version of the design. Some nice little elements but too forceless and looks better from off-track than when you are riding it)
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
*Edited for being a knob, and missing out a pretty significant one. :confused:

1. Helix, obvs. Truly a thing of beauty. Until SteVe came along and destroyed everything else in the entire world, Helix was my overall number 1 coaster. Perfection, or very close to it.

*2. Time Traveler. How did I miss this one out, I only rode it last month? Doh..
But yeah, overall a really, really high quality attraction. Shame about the stop/start launch, and the pacing being a little off in places, but otherwise an extremely impressive coaster that can give an awesome ride, but it does depend on where you sit and it does depend on the amount of 'spinage'. Is that a word?

3. Pulsar. Well... why not? It's a coaster...technically, it's built by Mack and it's launched... kinda. And also it's bloody good. Hugely fun ride :)
Plus, I don't have many so I need to bulk up the numbers.

4. Icon. A fun ride, no doubt about it.

5. Star Trek. It was alright.
 
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DelPiero

Strata Poster
1. Helix, obvs. Truly a thing of beauty. Until SteVe came along and destroyed everything else in the entire world, Helix was my overall number 1 coaster. Perfection, or very close to it.

2. Pulsar. Well... why not? It's a coaster...technically, it's built by Mack and it's launched... kinda. And also it's bloody good. Hugely fun ride :)
Plus, I don't have many so I need to bulk up the numbers.

3. Icon. A fun ride, no doubt about it.

4. Star Trek. It was alright.
You're missing a spinning one, what a knob :confused:
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
1 - velociraptor/blue fire - all the others make me a little queasy riding, not quite sure why!, this doesn't!
2 - Helix - great layout but has a tendancy to make me a little nauseous.
3 - Icon - Fun and nice airtime
4 - star trek - only rode once.
 

b&mfanboy123

Mega Poster
Okay
1. Time Traveler - The drop right out of the station is awesome and I love how the cars spin which makes this ride really unique, but I hate the launches forceless and why do they just stop you there. Overall fun ride and the trains look amazing! - 8.5/10
2. Manta - Amazing family coaster, super fun and pulls some nice forces, best ride in the park if you ask me. - 8/10



-----------------------------------------------x Big Difference x---------------------------------------------------------------------









3. Slinky Dog Fart Coaster;) - I don't know if waiting in a 3 hr line did something, but it was boring and did nothing at all, just ride it for the credit really. -
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I've only ridden the one unfortunately:
  1. Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) - What a breathtaking ride! The whole experience just comes together to make something truly amazing, in my opinion; there's decent airtime, the launches, while not quite having the punch of a hydraulic launch, were better than I was expecting, the ride is so smooth and it even has some surprising moments of intensity, in my opinion, especially during the second half! Currently my UK number 1 and my overall number 2! A simply outstanding coaster, if you ask me; BPB and Mack knocked it out of the park with this one!
I'll hopefully be experiencing Slinky Dog Dash in April, though! It looks like an excellent family coaster, and I look forward to experiencing it! Icon and Cobra's Curse have given me high hopes that Slinky Dog will be a cracking family coaster that I'll enjoy! I have two questions, though;
  • Am I allowed to put it in this list when I ride it?
  • Will I look out of place riding it without a child?
All in all, though, Icon gives me high hopes for the rest of the Mack launchers!
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
  • Am I allowed to put it in this list when I ride it?
  • Will I look out of place riding it without a child?
Considering it's a Mack and a launch coaster, and this topic is about Mack launched coasters, yes. Also other people have already included it in some of their posts, which you might've seen. ;)

As for question No. 2, you won't be out of place. On the contrary, it's basically our natural habitat of getting creds on forgettable kiddie coasters. Shameless stuff there.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Considering it's a Mack and a launch coaster, and this topic is about Mack launched coasters, yes. Also other people have already included it in some of their posts, which you might've seen. ;)

As for question No. 2, you won't be out of place. On the contrary, it's basically our natural habitat of getting creds on forgettable kiddie coasters. Shameless stuff there.
Thanks @Sanchezmran! I personally class it as a family coaster, so I don't see myself looking it of place on it. I was just asking to make sure.

Besides, it's Disney; everyone is a kid at Disney, right?
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
I was going to save this one until I ride Icon but it doesn't look like I'll be in Blackpool until next year now so;

1 - Helix - Obviously, a cut above the rest
2 - Time Traveller - A good debut spinning launch coaster, unfortunately the ride you get depends on where you sit and who is behind you, every ride is different, from Bleh, to WOW!
3 - Blue Fire - Loved it the first few times I rode it but with experience it drops down a lot. I do have a lot of respect for the Heartline roll though, but 1 element never makes a great coaster.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
2 - Time Traveller - A good debut spinning launch coaster, unfortunately the ride you get depends on where you sit and who is behind you, every ride is different, from Bleh, to WOW!
Isn't the spinning somewhat controlled? It doesn't seem like it ever lets loose, but that's understandable considering it's sort of a new ride type and they probably didn't want anything too crazy. I think they could do a lot with it in the future though.

Time Traveler looks fun though, I always thought it looked better than Icon.
 

Ireeb

Mega Poster
Isn't the spinning somewhat controlled?
It's dampened by an eddy current brake. But not actively controlled - how it spins is still random and depending on the weight distribution and stuff like that. The eddy current brake is just there so the spinning doesn't get too crazy.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Isn't the spinning somewhat controlled? It doesn't seem like it ever lets loose, but that's understandable considering it's sort of a new ride type and they probably didn't want anything too crazy. I think they could do a lot with it in the future though.

Time Traveler looks fun though, I always thought it looked better than Icon.
@Ireeb is right, it stops it from going mental and has enough current to spin it lightly. When you have 2 very light kids behind you it spins at it's max (which isn't too fast)and it's fab, timed the inversions with being sideways which was brilliant. On other runs the spinning was minimal and most of the elements lined up backwards, which was a bit meh.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
^Am I right in thinking that the spinning is controlled, or at least started, as the train leaves the station? I noticed all the cars seemed to turn in the same direction at the same speed just as you crest the first drop, meaning the ride differs again depending on whether you start out facing forwards or backwards.
Then you've also got the front of train vs back of train issue. Despite our best efforts and several rerides, me and ^him never got anywhere near the back row and somehow ended up facing forwards every time.
That's the weird thing - the ride variation on Time Traveler is almost a blessing and a curse at the same. You get the rerideabilty (is that a word?) because no two rides are the same, but the chances of everything coming together just perfectly to give you that one killer ride are slim to none. Probably on a par with getting a front seat rollback on Top Thrill Dragster.
So yeah. One o them, innit. <shrugs>
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
^Am I right in thinking that the spinning is controlled, or at least started, as the train leaves the station? I noticed all the cars seemed to turn in the same direction at the same speed just as you crest the first drop, meaning the ride differs again depending on whether you start out facing forwards or backwards.
Then you've also got the front of train vs back of train issue. Despite our best efforts and several rerides, me and ^him never got anywhere near the back row and somehow ended up facing forwards every time.
That's the weird thing - the ride variation on Time Traveler is almost a blessing and a curse at the same. You get the rerideabilty (is that a word?) because no two rides are the same, but the chances of everything coming together just perfectly to give you that one killer ride are slim to none. Probably on a par with getting a front seat rollback on Top Thrill Dragster.
So yeah. One o them, innit. <shrugs>
Yeah it starts spinning in the station but once we got to the drop the spinning would either carry on or the weight distribution would have an effect and hang us forward, or backwards depending on the weight. Once the train started following the layout the spinning increased, and again would stop during a hang, which is amazing if the train is positioned in the right place during the zero g.
We had 3 runs, 2 were ok, and the last was brilliant, could've easily come away with a different review had we not had that 3rd ride though.
 
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