Ride Profile
We came, we saw, Icon-quered!
Blue skies, sunshine, and the opening of the UK’s first double launch coaster; Park World’s trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach was a smashing start to the summer season. ICON is the result of five years of planning and a £16.25m investment by the Thompson family, and Hannah Hart was lucky enough to catch up with the powerhouse pair who created an icon
T
wo days before ICON opened to the public on May 25, and two years after the project was announced, members of the press gathered in Blackpool Pleasure
Beach’s Globe Theatre for the big reveal the of the UK’s newest thrill coaster. A distinguished panel of speakers for the industry had gathered, and outside the walls came the cheers and screams from ride-goers already getting stuck into the 42-acre park. Needless to say, there was a definite air of excitement - just what Blackpool Pleasure Beach had been banking on.
From humble beginnings… ICON’s concept is the end result of a mixture of seemingly disparate elements. Inspiration was drawn from all sorts of sources; scouting tours across the continent, industry trends, and even from the esoteric - dreams, for instance. Nick Thompson, deputy managing director, describes
this process to Park World as the “growth of a mighty oak from a seed”, recounting trips from park to park that he embarked on, looking to boil down a checklist of elements, thrills, and ride components into must-haves for a ride that had to be show-stopping. The goal was to bring something back to Blackpool that would revitalise the Pleasure Beach’s reputation as an adrenaline hotspot. A low-to-the-ground coaster with an abundance of air
time and a double launch UK exclusive was decided on. “We also wanted tight interactions between the other rides to push the safety envelope as much as possible - our
42 JULY 2018
limited space had to become a feature rather than a flaw.” Nick says. “We sent these elements to the designers, then, and the designs were whittled down to three, which went on to the manufacturer.” Amanda Thompson, OBE, managing director of
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, sourced her inspiration from closer to home; a dream that ultimately turned out to be a little prophetic. “The birth of the ride started around a single cherry blossom in the wind,” she says, “where the ground split and shards of steel rose through the cracks.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
