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After visiting Blackpool Pleasure Beach
numerous times last year, I was surprised by the unexpected arrival of 'Bling'
a star diamond thrill ride. It can be seen from miles around and is, if
said, stunning to look at. But the real shadow behind 'Bling' is the fact
that it lulls you into thinking it is a harmful, low-thrill family ride.
If you are thinking this in the queue line BEWARE! it is a piece of psychological
terror!
One, because it is V-E-R-Y high up, Two
because once it gets going it spins you out of control, and Three because
the immense power of the ride plunges you in a headspin! It is the first
ride in the UK I actually enjoyed being terrified on! And so I give it 5
stars for being - TERRIFYING, AWESOME, COLOURFUL, AND DEFINITELY WORTH
RIDING!!!
Joe C
Everyone knew
flat rides were needed, and our prayers were answered with 2002's spin
doctor. In my opinion it was a good ride, but we still needed more. in mid
2004 came the oddly named 'Bling'. A Zierer 'Star Shape'. A different take
on the famous top scan.
It's appearance is
fantastic, the colour scheme seems to work well and overall is very
inviting. The ride itself is a blast. Well It's fun lets just say that!
Its not a thrill ride in my opinion, its a ride when rode with your
friends its just fun. The ride itself is unique, but lacks the speed from
the swing arm. This causes the rows of six not to spin round on their own
axis very much, which is a disappointment.
Overall its a beautiful
looking ride and is a good addition to BPB flat setup. Not all we expected
from it, but a good ride!
Jake
We all know
that what Blackpool lacks is modern flat rides. There was a huge out-cry
for some decent spin rides after The Big One, and rightly so. Anything
resembling a flat ride at Blackpool was a relic of years gone by, and with
the vast improvements of recent years there was a huge choice for the
Plesh's management.
And so after years of
waiting we have received a flurry of flat rides of late. Ice Blast and
Spin Doctor were both big rides. Unfortunately, neither of them were as
good as they could have been. Bling was set to change that.
Mondial's Top Spin is arguably
the best flat ride in existence. It is fast, disorientating and produces
immense G-forces, quite rightly enthusiasts loved it. Similar to the
S&S tower rides, when a product becomes successful, other companies
try to emulate it. This is exactly the case with Zierer's Star Shape. What
Zierer have attempted is to re-hash Mondial's Top Spin by changing the
rotation angle and increasing its size. Now on paper it follows that a
larger arm would equal a more thrilling ride, rotated at the same speed as
Mondial's the arm would travel faster. Surely then this ride must produce
the most intense ride you could hope to experience.
There are two inherent
problems present, speed and angle. The speed of the star-shaped mechanism
at the end of the rotation arm is less than what you would find on a
roundabout. Furthermore the rotation of the swing arm that rotates a full
360 degrees is painfully slow. Combined together this means that riders
are left sat in rows of seats that experience close to no forces. The
immense size of the ride is purely aesthetic, much like Ice Blast one
would guess that the power to the motors must have been halved. The
promise of intense G-forces that the ride seems to portray is somewhat
hollow. Further exaggerating the problem is that due to the perpendicular
angle to the floor and hence the gravitational pull on the rows of seats,
their spinning mechanism is almost negated entirely. The lack of any force
combined with the lack of opportune angles to spin the rows on their axis
means the ride feels more like a ferris wheel than a heart-stopping,
nerve-wrecking and colossal spin ride.
Once again, the idea
behind this is great, but the execution is lacking in nearly every
department, and I haven't even started on the name yet...
Venny
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