Coaster Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 1 hour ago, Timber Creek said: It needs to be remembered that Blackpool Pleasure Beach aren't a large organisation and don't have swathes of financial fat like Disney or Universal. Although hopefully the dark days of when the park was deeply into the red and closing things left right and centre are over, the park's financial growth was still down this year. There's still some way to go before the park is to shine a healthy financial green once again. It must be rememebered the park are building a major coaster next year and for a park like Blackpool it will be a lot of money and won't be cheap for sure. If there was the choice to install this major addition or restore most of Valhalla's effects, I'd certainly choose the later. Who knows, if Icon is (hopefully) a success and brings the park lots of money, they will get sufficient budget to retain running Valhalla's effects. It can't be easy for them to upkeep such a massive dark water ride. The park can't be all neglected though if they've done things like reprinting Revolution (agsin) and other things. Every Park unfortunately will have some areas rundown/not look their best. Even parks like Efteling and Phantasialand dare I say! Looking at it from this perspective, of course I'd much rather see a new coaster, especially one on the scale of Icon which is a huge investment for a family owned park - it's just a shame other areas (such as Valhalla) have had to be sacrificed as a result. Bringing the discussion away from Valhalla, it has been confirmed that the minimum height restriction for Icon will be 130cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 You've triggered me now man! As a man who probably likes Valhalla even more than you do but also as a man grounded in reality when it comes to the industry I'm going to try to be unbiased. Is Valhalla in it's current state anywhere near as bad as you're making out? No. Valhalla by it's very nature is very hit and miss with effects per visit so here's what I took away from my end of season trip. The Good. All the exterior stuff was running, including one of the flame throwers glitching out and going off every 10 seconds all day. The on ride audio was all working and deafening in places. First scene fire goblets were both on and scorching, plus the newly refurbished wolf thing looks amazing. Shouty Odin bloke on the lift was turned on for the first time in a while. Faux fire (steam room) was the best I've seen it ages. The crashing through the wall before the turn table was akin to a car crash! Scene at the top of the second lift looked stunning and all effects up there were running. All the fire effects at the end were working and were insane. The Bad. Audio was off for shouty lift bloke. Trommels on the lift weren't working but they hardly ever do. The black out curtain missing so you could see outside during the backwards drop. The ice room being the warm room, first time I've ever seen this so it didn't bother me, was exciting. The mist you drop through wasn't working which is lame. Water Vortex was off, I'd put that one down to being switched off for weather reasons but yes was a shame, that thing is awful but fantastic. Hammers weren't drenching like I've known them to in the past, once again I've got a feeling this is intentional. Water on fire effect as well as the ring of fire effect were both down but they are so rare to see working. So it was a pretty standard showing in my eyes, few things down and a few things to get excited about. The thing is though, Valhalla is such a fantastic experience even with X amount of things not working as originally planned it is still an awesome experience and easily one of the best dark rides out there. Yes I agree with you, if Pleasure Beach kept Valhalla at the state it was in when it opened, then this awe inspiring ride would be be untouchable, I completely agree with you there. However as has been said already, in order to do that a constant and very expensive maintenance schedule would have to be implemented and as Pleasure Beach aren't Disney/Universal and even more so because of their historic money issues it just isn't possible. I think it's completely unfair to say the money isn't being spent elsewhere either, because the rest of the park looks great at the moment and I don't want to think about the madness that's happening next year because I'll just get excited. If Valhalla has upset you that badly, please go ride Tomb Blaster, that thing deserves to be torn down/burnt down right this second! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 14 hours ago, Timber Creek said: It needs to be remembered that Blackpool Pleasure Beach aren't a large organisation and don't have swathes of financial fat like Disney or Universal. This is a comment we need to retire. Clever investments are made all over the theme park industry and the thought that only Universal and Disney can maintain a ride like Valhalla is silly. The fact remains that Valhalla was an ambitious project for a park like the Pleasure Beach and that level of commitment was never going to be maintained. Blackpool, at its very heart is an amusement park with lots of rides dashed all over the place. Those pictures that Coaster posted really demonstrate that Valhalla was probably a wrong fit IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: Valhalla by it's very nature is very hit and miss with effects per visit so here's what I took away from my end of season trip. True. As I mentioned, the issue isn't that there are effects down, it's that presentation of the overall scenes is poor and the effects are taking longer to be fixed. 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: Shouty Odin bloke on the lift was turned on for the first time in a while. The projection itself has been working on almost every ride I've had on Valhalla this season, however the audio has been inaudible for at least two seasons and the projection itself looks terrible with wires hanging down! 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: The on ride audio was all working and deafening in places. Thunder audio? Two-headed dog audio back on its sensor rather than looped? 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: Audio was off for shouty lift bloke. Trommels on the lift weren't working but they hardly ever do. The trommels stopped working part-way through 2016 (to my memory), and haven't worked since. 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: All the fire effects at the end were working and were insane. When you say they were all "working" does that mean they've fixed the 'boom' on the final explosion? It has been broken all year and hadn't been fixed on Vampire Beach weekend, my last visit to the park in 2017. 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: The black out curtain missing so you could see outside during the backwards drop. Yeah, they've removed the doors from the backwards drop, entrance into the ice room and exit of the final fire room. Shame as it lets light leak into the scenes, and I suspect has prevented the ice from freezing properly as the cold air can escape rather than being contained. 16 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: The thing is though, Valhalla is such a fantastic experience even with X amount of things not working as originally planned it is still an awesome experience and easily one of the best dark rides out there. Yes I agree with you, if Pleasure Beach kept Valhalla at the state it was in when it opened, then this awe inspiring ride would be be untouchable, I completely agree with you there. However as has been said already, in order to do that a constant and very expensive maintenance schedule would have to be implemented and as Pleasure Beach aren't Disney/Universal and even more so because of their historic money issues it just isn't possible. I think it's completely unfair to say the money isn't being spent elsewhere either, because the rest of the park looks great at the moment and I don't want to think about the madness that's happening next year because I'll just get excited. If Valhalla has upset you that badly, please go ride Tomb Blaster, that thing deserves to be torn down/burnt down right this second! I have defended Valhalla over the years because I understand it's never going to be 100%, with it being such a complex attraction - but it just feels that there is no pride taken in it at all at the moment, from the higher budget fixes to small things such as repainting parts of the ride station which is just being left. I understand BPB are short of cash at the moment, and the fact they're opening a huge new coaster next year is fantastic - Valhalla (and the dark rides) only make up one element of the overall park and are one of my only gripes with the place at present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 Has the water vortex even been on this decade? Wonder what you could do with some modern technology additions to it... Bit of projection mapping and some modernised updates to the SFX systems to make them more reliable and generally better would do wonders to it... Valhalla has always been a strange fit for Blackpool, exacerbated by the ridiculous levels of wetness that you'd actually be dryer after mincing in the Irish Sea in comparison... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 In more positive news, BPB have applied for planning permission to demolish the disused Star Pub in January 2018 to make way for a new 120 room hotel. Image from Everything Blackpool on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingBlackpool/ Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted November 19, 2017 Report Share Posted November 19, 2017 I got punched in the face by the door on entry to the ice room (was sitting front right), explain that one Coaster, don't get me wrong was amazingly funny but I'd like to know what's gone wrong there! I haven't seen the trommels working since 2013, so damn, you've been lucky with them! The Odin (angry shouting man) projection is probably the most annoying effect in recent years, as unless I'm seriously underestimating the complexity of it, is surely an easy effect to put right, plus it massively enhances the experience. Can't be sure if the big explosion was booming or not, I'd like to say yes but please don't quote me on that. As I said yesterday, even with these defects Valhalla is still seriously fantastic but I can see where you're coming from for sure. As for the hotel news, fantastic! Hopefully drive the insane prices of Blue Big (the only hotel I'll do in Blackpool) down. I assume some of the other crap disused buildings to the left of the pub are coming down too? Even with that I really can't picture how it's all going to fit in, car park and all but I'm sure they will once again surprise me. Christ Pleasure Beach are on a roll at the minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 On 19/11/2017 at 9:19 PM, Mega-Lite said: I got punched in the face by the door on entry to the ice room (was sitting front right), explain that one Coaster, don't get me wrong was amazingly funny but I'd like to know what's gone wrong there! I haven't seen the trommels working since 2013, so damn, you've been lucky with them! The Odin (angry shouting man) projection is probably the most annoying effect in recent years, as unless I'm seriously underestimating the complexity of it, is surely an easy effect to put right, plus it massively enhances the experience. Most likely a sensor issue with the door, I know they removed most of the shields from the boats (supposedly they were trip hazards()) which has caused havoc with some of the sensors and I guess may be the reason for several of the doors seperating the scenes having been completely removed. The trommels were working at various points up until mid-2016, however were often in near-total darkness - you could only see them moving if you looked out for them! I agree regarding the Odin effect, it was a theatrical masterpiece when it worked properly. On 19/11/2017 at 9:19 PM, Mega-Lite said: As for the hotel news, fantastic! Hopefully drive the insane prices of Blue Big (the only hotel I'll do in Blackpool) down. I assume some of the other crap disused buildings to the left of the pub are coming down too? Even with that I really can't picture how it's all going to fit in, car park and all but I'm sure they will once again surprise me. Christ Pleasure Beach are on a roll at the minute! They definitely are, I think the future is very bright for BPB and we can expect a lot of exciting things over the coming years. Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted November 28, 2017 Report Share Posted November 28, 2017 Photo update from BPB today... just wow. https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/ After seeing how it looks in the area and with the other rides as a backdrop, I've warmed to the colour scheme - I think it looks very sleek and modern, and works very well with the other coasters as a backdrop. Bring on 2018! Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted November 28, 2017 Report Share Posted November 28, 2017 It begins! Looking great already! Such a shame Infusion has to spoil the picture though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted November 29, 2017 Report Share Posted November 29, 2017 Colours? well it has to contrast with other rides and furniture, and this is Blackpool, all things intertwine. Looking forward to giving this a proper test if it opens in time for my visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlesberg Posted November 29, 2017 Report Share Posted November 29, 2017 21 hours ago, Mega-Lite said: Such a shame Infusion has to spoil the picture though! Honestly I think having Infusion, Icon and The Big One together is an effective use of colours as it forms red, white and blue (subtle patriotism maybe). Could symbolise that Britain for once are getting something worth while and that they are proud of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted November 29, 2017 Report Share Posted November 29, 2017 They might have only just begun but it's already looking beautifully impressive especially with all those other coasters behind. Great to see the UK finally receive a Mack Mega. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 29, 2017 Report Share Posted November 29, 2017 I'm not wholly sold on the colour at the moment; it just looks a bit...dirty? Hopefully I'll warm to it when more track is up / I see it in person.. Still doesn't seem real we're getting a Mack double launch coaster in the UK... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planenut Posted November 29, 2017 Report Share Posted November 29, 2017 4 hours ago, Terry Terry said: Honestly I think having Infusion, Icon and The Big One together is an effective use of colours as it forms red, white and blue (subtle patriotism maybe). Could symbolise that Britain for once are getting something worth while and that they are proud of it. Do you mean that Wallace and Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic ride didn't do it for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted November 30, 2017 Report Share Posted November 30, 2017 It's not the colour that's bothering me with Infus**t it's the fact the park has an incredible variety of unique custom layout coasters, then just an SLC shoved onto some concrete where the flume used to be! I for one am really digging the Icon colour scheme, that silver is sexy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted December 5, 2017 Report Share Posted December 5, 2017 Icon photo update from BPB; More photos here; https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/ Have to say it's looking great - almost surreal to see such a brand new looking coaster next to a 94 year old wooden coaster, and the high-five interaction looks superb! Only thing I'm unsure on is the station, Pleasure Beach have a tradition of building unusual or iconic ride stations, but this literally looks like a box at the moment - I'll reserve full judgement until it's finished though. Mega-Lite and Marhelorpe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted December 5, 2017 Report Share Posted December 5, 2017 I won't deny that station leaves a lot to be desired at current, but it's Amanda, I'm almost certain there's a plan for it! As for the rest, I'm going to have to repeat myself and say to those who haven't experienced a Mack Mega that you don't know what you're getting yourself into! Future's bright lads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted December 5, 2017 Report Share Posted December 5, 2017 I'm sure you don't have to repeat yourself. I've never been on a Mack Mega but I can't describe how excited I am to be able to ride one next year and amazed that it will be in the UK! I thought I would have to wait until I could get over to Europa Park to ride one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted December 6, 2017 Report Share Posted December 6, 2017 From Theme Park Adrenaline Facebook... Just a wee bit close. Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted December 6, 2017 Report Share Posted December 6, 2017 Wow, this coaster looks absolutely insane. In a good way. Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted December 6, 2017 Report Share Posted December 6, 2017 Well that's the first picture that's got me remotely excited... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzzellio Posted December 6, 2017 Report Share Posted December 6, 2017 Wow! One coaster altering another! With a head chopper like that I think I would genuinely fear for my life!Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted December 7, 2017 Report Share Posted December 7, 2017 As a man who can't follow the released plans to save his life, I didn't know that was going to be a thing! +1.0 exciting rating. +0.5 intensity. Getting more excited every time I see this beast, I'm going to be a wreck by opening day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted December 11, 2017 Report Share Posted December 11, 2017 Pleasure Beach have posted some fantastic pictures of the immelman through various stages of construction, it looks amazing! https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/ Mega-Lite, Mattgwise and JoshuaA 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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