Mack Rides

Raging through Hyperspace Mountain

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Disneyland Resort Paris is celebrating its 30th birthday and continues to be at its very consistent best. While the resort has been undergoing some changes lately and can look to the future with high expectations, changes in the main park are few and far between.

Apart from the ever-changing entertainment line-up, just three attractions have been upgraded to a new level since my last visit eight years ago – yet there have been no real novelties. All these new attractions are to be found in the Discoveryland theme area.

Star Tours: L‘Aventure Continue

The large-scale simulator Star Tours: L’Aventure Continue made the start in 2017. The fast-paced space journey in the Star Wars universe now shines with a variety of films, a generally very sharp image and great 3D effects. At the same time, C-3PO now welcomes us as the unwilling captain of our space flight.

Mickey’s Philharmagic

After Captain EO was sent into his well-deserved retirement at the end of 2015, the Discovery Theatre was only used irregularly; in addition to previews of new films, it also showed the Pixar Short Film Festival known from the Epcot theme park. In 2018, Mickey Mouse moved into the theatre and has been presenting Mickey’s Philharmagic there ever since, although he himself hardly appears in the story. In fact, Donald Duck accompanies us in a slightly clumsy manner on a musical journey through the worlds of numerous Disney classics. 

Interestingly, Mickey’s Philarmagic is by no means new. The film itself originated in 2003, but due to the quality of the animation and the possibility of keeping it up-to-date with new sequences, it seems timeless compared to the two previous films Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! and Captain EO, which is a very welcome change.

Hyperspace Mountain

Hyperspace Mountain is the third incarnation of Dutch Space Flight, but instead of being shot into the Jules Vernean future on the Columbiad, the Baltimore Gun Club has been focusing on a trip back in time to a galaxy far, far away as of 2017. In the process, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain shines with new trains and new video projections, while the old scenery has mostly disappeared from the ride.

The ride itself is still an extremely intense journey, which is now much more pleasant thanks to the soft waistcoats of the new trains. After the jump through hyperspace, the music in particular is reminiscent of Star Wars, while you occasionally speed past video projections that are a little too dark. At the same time, the media integration during the second inversion of the ride is extremely successful, staging the very surprising moment of the ride perfectly and putting a big grin on your face, while the grand finale with the destruction of the star destroyer is nowhere near as memorable as the eponymous supernova from Space Mountain Mission 2.

As a temporary solution or event overlay, as in other Disneyland parks around the world, Hyperspace Mountain is an exceedingly coherent overall package. As a permanent installation, Hyperspace Mountain lacks a bit of thematic richness; too much of the focus is on Baltimore Gun Club and its Columbiad. Apart from the music and the video projections, hardly anything is reminiscent of Star Wars.

Pictures Disneyland Park

Closing words

I was surprised to find that Disneyland Park had the far lower waiting times over my entire visit than the Walt Disney Studios Park right next door. It seems as if the novelties of the last few years are pointing in a clear direction. The solid overall concept continues to be convincing all along the line, but one or two new additions would also do the main park good.

 

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Disneyland Park

An Icon of the Pleasure Beach

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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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Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Big Amusements in a strange Holiday Destination

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The holiday resort of Ingoldmells is mainly characterised by its numerous holiday parks; after all, the first Butlin’s Resort in the country has been located here since 1936. In order to expand the resort’s offerings, the Fantasy Island amusement park was built in the 1990s, including a large indoor area with an arcade and a bowling alley. Since 2016, the park belongs to the Mellors Group, England’s largest fairground operator.   

Rhombus Rocket

The Rhombus Rocket powered coaster was the theme park’s first roller coaster. As was often the case at the time, the roller coaster was paired with a log flume to place two of its main attractions in the smallest possible space. The interaction with the log flume is still the ride’s greatest charm today. The otherwise very family-friendly ride by WGH Transportation convinces with its long helices and the big dip just before the station entrance. As is often the case on a good powered coaster, you ride the layout several times.  

Volcano, Sea Storm and Magic

The Rhombus Rocket roller coaster is surrounded by some wonderfully designed rides. In addition to a typical English Twister, the Sea Storm ride and the classic Magic formerly owned by German showman Ludewigt, the Space Shot Volcano by S&S, which shoots out of an artificial volcano, is particularly impressive.

Pyramid Attractions

The indoor area of the Pyramid is the big flagship of Fantasy Island theme park. Around the Mystical Dragon Mountain, which houses a really fast dinghy slide, there are numerous really nice attractions here. The cute oldschool themed ride Seaquarium and the brand new interactive dark ride Harrington Flint’s Island Adventure’s stand out positively. But a ride on the monorail Toucan Tours or the flying theatre The Guardian should not be missed. In addition, the Pyramid features the Jellikins Coaster, a roller coaster for very young park guests, which is a rather uncomfortable experience for most adults due to its enclosed cars. 

Millennium

Until a few years ago, the entrance to the Millennium roller coaster was located directly in front of the pyramid. Nowadays, the waiting area is inside the pyramid, which on the one hand offers a clearly immersive experience, but on the other hand comes with the circumstance that you now call a largely unused station your own. Due to the lack of separation between entry and exit, one is held back in a small area until the last passenger of the roller coaster has passed it. Only then is the ascent into the station via the exit of the roller coaster. 

After entering the station, the train is quickly dispatched and sent on its way. Having reached a height of 46m, we immediately descend the first drop to the left. After we have smoothly passed the first valley, we immediately go through an unusually high loop – for an MK-1200. After a long straight, we skilfully change our direction in a sidewinder, but not without completing an oversized Bavarian curve above Ingoldmells Market – Europe’s largest weekly market. After a short climb, we plunge down once more and immediately into the ride’s second loop. The rest of the way around the pyramid is a little more relaxed as we glide over several hills before we move on to the grand finale. In a helix we are pressed into the seat for one last time before we reach the braking section of the ride and our ride soon comes to an end.

Millennium is one of the greatest roller coasters by Vekoma. Although the layout is not quite as imaginative as more modern rides from the manufacturer, the huge MK-1200 can convince with its pressure-rich elements and its fantastic ride characteristics. This ride is simply smooth. 

Family Roller Coaster and Wild River Rapids

On the other side of the pyramid, the big roller coaster Odyssey is joined by the small family roller coaster Family Roller Coaster and the water ride Wild River Rapids. The Spinning Raft from Reverchon is hit or miss, because the ride can very well get you soaked, but the likelihood of that is low. 

Odyssey

Originally opened as Jubilee Odyssey for Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee, the ride is the tallest inverted coaster in the world to date at just under 51m. However, the ride, which was built directly on the North Sea, was rarely operated by the previous owner of the amusement park due to the high wind load, which gave the ride a questionable image. With the change of operator, the Odyssey also picked up speed again.

After leaving the 50m-high lift hill behind, the ride goes very steeply back down to the ground. With a lot of pressure we pass the first valley, whereupon a huge loop awaits us. Immediately afterwards, we shoot up a huge Cobra Roll, which turns us upside down two more times. In a very unusual way, we change our direction of travel once again in a huge turn. As if that wasn’t enough, a sidewinder follows immediately. We then circle the exit of the Cobra Roll in a large helix. Far from the ground we glide through a dip before we are turned upside down one last time in a corkscrew. With plenty of speed left, we reach the braking section of the ride and soon the station of the roller coaster.

Odyssey is a really strange roller coaster. The size of the ride speaks for itself, and the unorthodox layout is somehow appealing, but the rough ride characteristics don’t really make it fun to ride. 

Pictures Fantasy Island

Conclusion Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island is a thoroughly nice amusement park in a more than strange place. The large selection of rides and the very high quality are surprising and leave a very positive overall impression. Especially the attractions inside the pyramid stand out positively due to their immersive design. The rides outside the pyramid, on the other hand, are more classic and convince with their unique layouts. 

 

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Fantasy Island