A ride on Flotter Otto and Looping Alois

Flotter Otto and Looping Alois

On my Easter trip this year, I used the afternoon entrance to Skyline Park to try out last year’s additions.

The larger of the two new rides still uses the station of the former Bob Racing attraction, but not the area around it. This is now largely unused and still gives an idea of the layout of the former bobkart track. The track of the new family coaster Flotter Otto runs parallel to the station building. At both ends you take a turn in a helix and that’s it. As many park visitors have commented, the ride is not a worthy replacement. However, it is a very good starter coaster for young children.

The second addition is the Looping Alois flat ride. Theoretically, you can control your flight, i.e. whether you go up, down and sideways. Unfortunately, the ride at Skyline Park is operated in automatic mode, which means that every passenger inevitably rolls over against their will. This is not unpleasant, but not very nice either. Without interactivity, the ride is simply not attractive to many visitors.

Pictures Skyline Park

Conclusion Skyline Park

Overall, the park makes a worse impression than on my last visit. Although there are more attractions, the paint is peeling in other places. This is particularly noticeable on the façade and some of the figures on the Geisterschlange dark ride, which are now simply weathered. The fisherman on Sky Rafting is also more off-putting than inviting, as are many of the decorations around the park. This is a shame as the park has a lot of potential.

 


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Luna Park Melbourne



Theme Park:Luna Park Melbourne (since 1912)
Address:18 Lower Esplanade
St Kilda VIC 3182
https://www.lunapark.com.au/
Operated by:Luna Park Melbourne Pty Ltd

Scenic RailwayLuna Park Melbourne right next to the beach in St.Kilda is one of the most traditional amusement parks. Opened in 1912, the park hosts a selection of family-friendy rides, as well as the world’s oldest wooden roller coaster Scenic Railway.

 
 
 

Highlights of the Theme Park

 




Enterprise • HUSS Enterprise

 

Enterprise

A true classic

 


Pharaoh's Curse • Fabbri Kamikaze

 

Pharaoh’s Curse

A breathtaking experience

 


Scenic Railway

 

Scenic Railway

The world’s oldest roller coaster

 


 

An Icon of the Pleasure Beach

My last visit to the Pleasure Beach was in 2016, so I was very excited to finally ride the park’s newest addition, the Mack Rides roller coaster Icon. For the 2022 season, the last car of one of the trains was replaced by a car offering a spinning pair of seats, thus creating the Ensō experience – a nice feature which comes with a heavy price tag.

The ride on Icon starts rather slowly as we are approaching the launch position. Starting from a standstill, we directly approach the lift hill support structure of the Big One roller coaster whilst racing over a huge camelback hill.  After a steep curve resembling an inclided loop tilted to the left, we make our way towards the courtyard of the Steeplechase roller coaster. After diving under the old horse ride coaster, we take some quick near ground direction changes, before we finally gain a bit of altitude and cross the track. Right above the visitors, we now take a well ballanced heartline roll – something you would not expect from a Mack Rides roller coaster. After making our way below the huge camelback hill, we dive down into a tunnel which leads directly into the second launch.

After being accelerated the second time, we gain up some height in a non-inverting Immelmann turn. This element rides itself rather odd, yet if gives you some views onto the park. A very funny right-hand bend follows, which leads into a very hill and dale section of the layout. After going up and down for quite a while, we now race over a weirdly banked speed bump, leading into a sequence of very short swifts to the right and to the left, where one of them unnecessarily crosses the Big Dipper roller coaster. After that, we are done and quickly approach the station. 

Icon has a very strong first act and a weaker second one. It’s funny that the ride is actually at its best, when the constrains due to the limited space were most severe. On the rather large plot of land where the second part of the roller coaster runs, the ride is quite repetitive. Especially the end of the ride is unfortunately not quite as successful. I would have liked to see a series of straight camelbacks here that would really knock your socks off, instead we swerve continuously from the right to the left and vice versa. Icon is therefore not my favourite ride at the Blackpool Pleasure Beach, nor comes anywhere close to the first double launch coaster the Pleasure Beach is offering since 1979. Anyhow, it is still a fun ride and a nice addtion to the fantastic rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Pictures Blackpool Pleasure Beach

 


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