OK, I'm going to attempt to turn thoughts into words regarding how Icon actually rides.
In many ways, it's pretty typical Mack. It appears to absolutely crawl during testing with empty trains, but rides better than it looks once you get on ride. It's got the usual Mack mix of really fun elements and some definite dead spots, although some of those dead spots start to feel less dead as the ride gains speed during the day. By later on, you can visibly see that the trains are taking elements more quickly, and the ride starts to feel a bit less like a series of fun moments separated by filler, and more like a cohesive ride experience. The pacing isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I had so much fun riding that I can easily overlook that.
My first ride was in the front left seat, and whilst there were definitely moments of "meh" in there, there were plenty of moments where it genuinely thrilled me. When the train hit the brakes,
@Mushroom and I were both laughing and doing
Daniel Bryan "Yes" chants for a few seconds. It certainly met expectations, was probably a bit better in some places than expected, even if it fell a bit short in others. Some of that was probably the feeling of "at last, there's finally something this good within a couple of hours of home" rather than being able to objectively say that this it a top 10 ride. Along with the buzz you get from a good new ride, I also remember a distinct sense of relief that they hadn't screwed up, and that the UK hadn't somehow ended up with the first sub-standard Mack launcher. Make of that what you will.
By the end of the day, with the extra speed, even the filler elements such as the helices have enough momentum to feel more forceful, and the filler elements are over quickly enough that they're not so much filler any more as brief pauses between moments of greatness. Considerably less "meh", far more "wow".
It's certainly a hard one for me to place. I feel like I had more fun riding this than I had with some of my other highly rated coasters, yet many of the rides I've been attempting to compare it to are objectively better. I can give it a definitive thumbs up, but several days later I still have no idea how I'm supposed to rank this thing compared with other major coasters I've done. It's definitely in my top 20 somewhere though, possibly even somewhere within my top 10.
In terms of elements, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and can vary a bit depending on where you're sat. Interestingly enough, there's a big difference between the left and right seats on Icon - I found the ride to be a lot more enjoyable sat on the left hand side of the train.
Now for an element by element breakdown - skip over the bullet points below if you don't want spoilers.
- The launches are nothing to get excited about - they're typical Mack, pretty forceless, and certainly not a patch on launch systems from most rival manufacturers. If you've never ridden a Mack launcher before, don't go in expecting the punch of an Intamin launch, or you'll be disappointed.
- There's good ejector on the first hill.
- The helix after the hill is something of a dead spot.
- The dive over Steeplechase can deliver a bit of floater on the left hand side of the train, but is pretty forceless on the right.
- There's a bit of a dull meander for a few seconds through the area where the go cart track used to be.
- The barrel roll is pretty good. It feels like it's got a bit of momentum behind it - it's more Blue Fire than Helix.
- There's a couple of nice pops of airtime between the barrel roll and the second launch. The undulation in the track isn't just for show.
- The Immelman isn't much to write home about unless you're in the back rows. If you're in the back right, you can expect some floater or slight ejector coming out of the Immelman, whilst the back left seat surprised me with some strong ejector on the way back down.
- After that, the elements start to blur together. There are definitely some fun ejector hills, some turns that got forceful as the day went on. It's good stuff, even if it does feel like it's meandering a bit, particularly on the approach to the brake run, and particularly early in the day.
The front of the train is really good, but the back seats are where the ride really shone for me.
One thing we noticed whilst having lunch next to the brake run - the general public all seem to really love this ride. As trains came in, there were so many smiles, laughs, positive comments, and the occasional shocked look on somebody's face that had underestimated the ride. Blackpool seem to have created a real winner here - a solid ride that's appears to be a hit with both enthusiasts and with the casual visitors too.
