Bling,
Pleasure Beach Blackpool
Pleasure
Beach Blackpool has always prided itself on providing something for
everyone. If you're looking for wooden coasters, no park does more to
keep you happy. If steel coasters are your desire, the Pleasure Beach
provides a wide variety of types. Likewise, fans of dark rides are
comprehensively catered for. However, there was always one group that
was left out in the cold, namely the group to which I have always
belonged, the spin-ride fanatics. T'was a sad life for we
spin-merchants, having to watch as everyone else enjoyed themselves,
while we were cast out, forced to search the town's piers in the hope of
finding someone willing to spin us, flip us and twist us to our
satisfaction.
2002
gave us the first glimmer that the park waking up to our plight, when a
pair of Fabbri Boosters was opened in the guise of Spin Doctor. When
this proved successful, the park looked at something a bit more
adventurous for 2004, to be located on the site of the former Dodgems,
near the park's south entrance.
Talk
to any spin-fan, and you'll soon discover that the one ride revered like
no other is Mondial's Top Scan. One of the Top Scan's previously unseen
features was its star-shaped gondola, with riders sitting upon six
spoke-like arms, each holding five riders, and each free to flip and
tumble to its heart's content. So, how about taking this distinctive
gondola, and then attaching it to an arm that spins vertically, rather
than diagonally. Oh, and then let's double the size while we're at it.
This was the idea that popped into the head of somebody at Zierer, and
thus the “Star Shape” was born. News of the new ride was enough to
make spin-fans think the unthinkable - that the Top Scan's supremacy
might be nearing an end. The only possible cloud on the horizon was that
the fact that Zierer is not a firm that has much experience of building
top-flight spinners, their contribution to the art of spin being
confined to the Wave Swinger and Flying Carpet rides if the 1980s.
Always
a park willing to try something new and unusual, the Pleasure Beach
would be the proud owner of only the second Star Shape ever built (the
first having gone to a German showman). So, all was looking good. Not
only did we have the Pleasure Beach installing a brand new type of
spinner, it was a ride that looked capable of matching, and possibly
beating, the prestigious Top Scan. All we need to make things complete
was a good name. Well, I'm afraid that's where things start to go
downhill.
"Bling"
is without doubt the most diabolical name in existence. Not even the
park's own "PlayStation - The Ride" can compare, lacking the
excuse of having a sponsor to placate. For those lucky enough not to
understand the name, it is a reference to the "phenomenon" of
Ali G, the mock-gangster-rapper who will hopefully be long forgotten by
the time you read this. Given that the Pleasure Beach has a history that
stretches back to the 19th Century, you'd hope that they'd be above
getting involved in the latest short-term craze. Oh well, I suppose we
can't have everything. I'm sure we'd all prefer to concentrate on the
ride itself.
Without
doubt, the ride looks tremendous. Despite standing directly in the
shadow of The Big One's lift hill, it maintains a commanding presence,
particularly when in motion. The bold colour scheme of red and orange is
enhanced by a hypnotic array of strobe lights down the main arm. At
night, the ride looks fabulous, with flashing white lights on the rear
of the seats, and the strobes reflecting on the ride's structure to
quite dazzling effect. Approaching along the Tom Sawyer Bridge, the ride
stands majestically at the end of the walkway, despite being partially
hidden by The Big One. Whatever else you say about it, it certainly fits
in with Blackpool's tradition of embracing the big and the brash.
The
low-key entrance is buried to the left of the ride, and offers quite
spectacular views as riders pass overhead at very close quarters. A
short path takes you to the rear of the structure, where a deceptively
short zigzag leads to the turnstile and the loading platform. Throughout
the queue, you get some terrific views of the ride, and get an earful of
the powerful motors roaring menacingly as ride gathers momentum.
Loading
is not exactly a model of efficiency. Unlike Thorpe Park's Top Scan,
Samurai, where staff pre-organise riders into groups of five and assign
them a row, here it is a case of waiting until previous riders have left
the platform, then allowing 30 people through the turnstile and letting
them sort themselves out. The small platform, coupled with the fact that
you can only ever see two rows of seats at once, ensures that the whole
loading procedure is a muddled affair.
Seating
is virtually identical to the Top Scan, with deep seats, and big
comfortable overhead restraints. As with Spin Doctor, the restraints
initially lock tightly, but then ease off slightly to give a little
breathing space. The only down side to the restraints is that they are
so bulky as to stop you being able to see your co-riders, and the
retracting seatbelt used to secure the restraint is truly ferocious when
unclipped.
There
is a nice comic sub-plot to the loading procedure. As with many Pleasure
Beach rides, baskets are provided for riders to leave the belongings,
but here only one basket is provided per row, and inevitably gets piled
high with five peoples' shoes, mobile phones, and other paraphernalia.
With everyone in place, the platform is lowered, forming a V-shape that
disturbs the carefully balanced mountains of artefacts, and causes
riders' possessions to immediately cascade onto the floor. Pure
entertainment.
The
gondola slowly starts to turn, and the arm takes its first powerful
swing. It takes just a few swings before it amasses the power to perform
high-speed 360-degree loops. After a few of these powerful loops, the
gondola is stopped at full height and slowly spun backwards for a while
to take in the view (much of which is blocked by The Big One), before
performing a few loops in the other direction and finally easing to a
halt. Continuing the latest capacity-boosting trend, the gondola stops
in exactly the position it began, meaning that you are deposited right
next to the basket where you left your possessions, even if those
possessions are now scattered all over the floor.
The
ride is certainly spectacular to watch, but how are things from the
rider's perspective? Well, let me first answer the question that will be
on the lips of spin ride fans everywhere: Is this really the ride that
will prove the heir to the Top Scan's crown? Well - how do I put this
gently - absolutely definitely not. That's not to say it's a bad ride,
it just isn't going blow your mind the way a good Top Scan will, and to
be fair, it seems clear that the ride was not really designed to be the
kind of intense thriller that spin ride devotees would have hoped for.
Contrary
to what you might expect, Bling is no G-Force generator, as the gondola
spins far too slowly for that. To this end, the outside seats are not
worth fighting for, as they are on the Top Scan, and in fact the inside
seats are worth riding for the surreal visuals as other riders float
past at an array of anomalous angles. The only thing that makes the
inside seats a no-go area is the dreadful foot guard that makes life
uncomfortable for your legs.
For
thrill-seekers, Bling’s basic problem is that the turning of the main
arm is so much faster than that of the gondola. As such, it is the arm
that truly dominates proceedings. It is the mark of a truly great spin
ride that the various actions complement each other properly, whereas
here you don't really feel the effect of the turning gondola as much as
you really should. This isn't helped by the fact that the gondola only
ever turns in one direction, removing the possibility of switching
direction in mid-swing. Strangely, the rows of seats tend not to flip
very often, but when they do, they are truly manic, more so than the Top
Scan in fact, and so its a shame they can't be induced to come to life
more often.
For
those who are more cautious about spin rides, Bling should be an easy
one to handle. Although the ride is reasonably long, it does incorporate
a lengthy breather at the halfway point. If you've ever stumbled from a
Top Scan in a daze, this needn't put you off Bling, as the two are not
as similar as they look. What I will say is that Bling is much more
suited to the category of "fun ride", rather than
"extreme thrill machine" - whether you interpret that as a
good or bad thing is up to you. If you are still unsure, then it is
worth adding that Bling offers a ride that is essentially a slightly
wilder version of Spin Doctor, and so if you can handle Spin Doctor, it
is well worth making the step up to try Bling.
What
does become apparent when watching and riding Bling is that it tries to
please everyone, which in the case of spin rides, is extremely difficult
to achieve. Much of the ride is very gentle, but there is the sporadic
burst of intensity, as your row comes to life and starts swinging
wildly. Those hoping for an intense ride will be annoyed that the
remainder of the ride is so gentle, while others might find these bursts
of activity far too wild. The combination of the ride’s imposing
stature, and the park’s insistence on describing it as "A
diamond-knuckle experience", does give the impression that the ride
is a lot more intense than it actually is, and will no doubt lead to
many riders being disappointed.
More
worryingly, there is one area in which Bling will please absolutely
nobody, and that is the occasional bouts of severe roughness to which
the ride seems prone. As the main arm shakes slightly, riders' heads
ricochet from side to side, bashing the restraints as they go. This is
by no means constant, and you could easily get through the ride cycle
without it happening. If you are unlucky to be aboard when it happens,
though, you will most certainly know about it. Thankfully, the padded
restraints mean that things aren't as bad as they could be, but it is
still far from pleasant, and it is difficult to imagine such a thing on
a Huss or Mondial ride.
On
the plus side, if you compare it to other park-based spin rides (as
opposed to fairground-based), Bling measures up quite favourably.
Compared to most park-spinners, the ride length is generous, while the
flashy presentation hints at the mania of a fairground ride, and helps
to create a good atmosphere for riders and spectators alike. To watch
the ride in motion is very impressive indeed, particularly at night, and
is a very welcome addition to the Pleasure Beach skyline. One can only
imagine how powerful and imposing it would look were in not dwarfed by
The Big One.
So,
Bling is a decent ride, but really nothing more than that. The
coronation of a new king of spin rides will have to be postponed,
however, as it falls a long way short of the standards set by many Huss,
Mondial, and KMG rides. There is a distinct sense that Zierer has not
really explored the ride's real potential in the way these other
companies might have done, as there is seemingly no scope for the sort
of versatile acrobatic artistry that the better spin rides allow.
Nevertheless, Bling is certainly a fun ride, and worth queuing for,
especially as the ride’s capacity seems to be well within the park’s
needs. For spin ride devotees, however, there will be a distinct sense
of wasted potential.
JP 18 May 2004
Good points:
▪
Excellent appearance
▪
Much needed spin ride
for the park
▪ Ride length is just
right
Bad points:
▪ Not as wild as
expected
▪ Can be rough
▪ Appalling name
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