Waltzer

The Central Pier was also visited

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Home of the Big Wheel

From the outside, the Central Pier in Blackpool is clearly the most interesting of the three piers, even if it is apparently a little more quiet. Here, one finds the only big wheel in Blackpool that funnily takes the full width of the pier. A little further on, the pier becomes a little wider and classic attractions like a Helter Skelter slide, a bumper car, two Miamis, a Saltamontes, as well as one of the traditional Waltzer rides show up in all their glory.

As also the South Pier that is located in sight, the Central Pier itself is also a little more run down than it should be. The prices here cost 10p more per token than on the other pier with rides, but they seem to work better here and especially for a waltz ride, whose cars can and must be locked by a handbrake, the extra charge of 30p in total is to be borne.

But what is a little unusual is the fact that one did not have to pass through the typical amusement arcades that can be found at every pier, but could get straight to the area of the Funfair without any deviations, a thing that specially pleased the operators of the lottery stalls. The Central Pier at least has a great atmosphere and should definitely be visited on every excursion to the English seaside resort Blackpool.

 

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Central Pier

A different kind of orbiter on the Clarence Pier

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Clarence Pier

Right next to the hovercraft terminal for the crossing to the Isle of Wight in Southsea, Portsmouth is the Clarence Pier. In contrast to the piers that rise hundreds of meters into the sea, the local pier is positioned flat on the shore.

Waltzer and Twister

The attractions of the pier cover a large part of the classic English rides, so you will find a Twister and a Waltzer next to the classic English horse carousel. Where the Waltzer is unfortunately hardly worth mentioning, the Twister is quite convincing. It’s quite funny to experience at first hand what kind of movements a single motor can produce and how fast these movements can be. Alone the fact how the additional movement of the gondolas were solved deserves some attention, but unfortunately, the motion sequence is hardly variable.

Skyways

Since 1980, Clarence Pier has offered a roller coaster from S.D.C. called Skyways. This roller coaster of the type Galaxy distinguishes itself especially by its seemingly endless helices and the very narrow support structure. The bizarreities of the layout resulting from the compactness of the ride, like the transition from the 900° helix to the camelback or the end of the ride become quite funny. Like on the roller coaster Moncayo from the Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza, the cars are pushed by the staff in the station area. Due to the second car, the drops are only more abrupt in the second car, whereby the airtime in the front gets lost.

Speedy Coaster

The second roller coaster is a children’s roller coaster from D.P.V. Rides and therefore a real Pinfari roller coaster. Unfortunately the ride on the trains, known from various Wacky Worm, is rather boring, especially since the layout of the Speedy Coaster consists of only two simple ovals and the second descent is equipped with a reduction brake. Here, the comparable layout from the Funland Amusement Park with its additional helix is much better, nevertheless the kids loved the ride.

Mega Dance

In addition to a modern high ropes course and a rotor, which is not open to the public to watch the riders, the park also has a very special ride. The Mega Dance, aka Extreme Dance, aka Storm Dancer is a Fabbri Orbiter/Hard Rock. The ride is basically similar to the one of a Tivoli Orbiter, but has some peculiarities. The platform of the ride is not straight, in addition the whole setup is lifted and tilted, so that the basic motion sequence is much more than 90°. In addition, a constant rotation of the passenger carrier through the shoulder restraints is not necessary and thus quite strange hangtime is generated. Furthermore, direction changes are possible, the fast rotations however are only noticeable at floor level, because the lateral forces are perceptible.

Pictures Clarence Pier

 

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Clarence Pier

Waiting for passengers on the Brighton Pier

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Brighton Palace Pier

The Brighton Palace Pier, whose official name is Brighton Marina Palace & Pier, is the only remaining pier in the English seaside resort of Brighton. Around its entrance there are other tourist attractions like the Sealife Center Brighton or the Vekoma Ferris wheel Brighton Wheel. As also the city itself, the Brighton Pier has a certain charm, but it really takes the money out of your wallet. Most of the pier’s turnover is not generated by the rides at the end of the pier, but by the generously designed gambling halls, as also by the nice restaurants and snack bars.

In the front area of the park at the end of the pier you can admire a beautiful horse carousel and a Helter Skelter slide in Roller Coaster Tycoon style. Right next door is the ghost train Horror Hotel, which looks very nice from the outside. Other attractions in this area are a Sartori Techno Jump and a bumper car.

Turbo Coaster

On the right side of the pier the Turbo Coaster stretches towards the sky. Like the Klondike Gold Mine from Funland Amusement Park, this coaster is a Pinfari ZL42, but the differences between the two rides are much bigger than their design. If you want to ride this ride you should be very lucky, because on the one hand the ride only starts when eight people are willing to ride, on the other hand you need people who don’t turn back after three minutes in the queue.  Thereby it can take more than one hour even with a reasonably well-visited pier until enough people have found each other and in addition an employee of the pier was found who finally starts the machine. But when the system is up and running, it gets noticed and the second train load is gathered at a comparatively fast pace.

Where the Turbo Coaster looks quite nice from the front, this changes suddenly when the train leaves the lift. Barely lifted out of the seat during the first drop, the shoulder restraint hooks itself in such a stupid position, so that from now on you can do the rest of the ride firmly clinging to it. The loop was a little more intensive and less smooth than the one at the Funland Amusement Park, the rest of the course is much rougher, so that you get wiped off your shoulder restraints every now and then. While the Klondike Gold Mine is quite rideable and actually a lot of fun, the ride on Brighton Pier lacks any joy of life that could persuade you to take a second ride. Strangely enough one or two of the riders enjoyed the ride and even treated themselves to a second round.

Crazy Mouse

Fortunately, the beautifully positioned Reverchon Crazy Mouse of the same name is right next door. The ride in this mouse featured a quite nice view and was rather tame in the upper part of the ride. After the big drop was done and the rotation was finally released, the mouse started to rotate in best waltz style. Reverchon mice are always worth a ride and in this respect there is a good representative of this kind in Brighton, even if with 4 tokens of 1 pound each one of the probably most expensive of its kind.

Other rides on the pier include a Reverchon log flume called Wild River, a Fabbri Booster and a typical English Waltzer ride. The ride on the Waltzer was very nice and due to a straight section at the back of the ride you were inevitably put into a spin at the next drop.

Pictures Brighton Palace Pier

Conclusion Brighton Palace Pier

In total, the Brighton Palace Pier is a really nice pier, even though the rides are all quite expensive. In fact, one can leave one’s money in the restaurants and snack bars of the pier that is open during the whole year. Those who like gambling and arcades will also be in good hands in this seaside resort.

 

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Brighton Palace Pier