Specific Type: SLC (689m Standard)
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach is pretty old, and it shows. It has five wooden coasters, more than any other park in the world, and all of them were built before 1960. It has a giant hyper coaster named Pepsi Max Big One, as well as a Mack bobsleigh and an Arrow Shuttle Loop, but it is far from modern. The entire park contained only one inversion. Yet, in 2007, they decided enough was enough and it was time for something loopy.
The ride’s story began at Pleasureland Southport, where it was named Traumatizer. The park opened the ride in 1999, alongside its classic woodies. However, the park closed in 2006, leaving the ride’s fate uncertain for a short time. Blackpool Pleasure Beachthen confirmed that they will relocate Traumatizer (Which had a deal with the drink company Tizer, hence the name) to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The ride is actually not that special. Well, if you’ve never heard of it, maybe. It has five inversions and the seats hang below the track in the inverted style. But it is made by the Dutch company Vekoma, who made 20 other roller coasters exactly like it, called Suspended Looping Coasters, or SLCs. Blackpool needed to spice this up a bit. Calling it the tallest of its type in the region won’t work, since it is beaten by Kumali and Jubilee Odyssey (They nonetheless still did it). So they spiced it up other ways. The ride begins traditionally-with a lift hill. It’s a strong 109 feet tall, which is considerable, though not enormous. It then takes a swooping drop to the right, with little jets almost spraying the riders on the way down. Yep; Blackpool took the ride and added water jets to create something unique. Next it takes the signature Vekoma rollover, which is a half loop, rolling back upright, before rolling upside-down again into another half loop. It ends up looking like a heart, particularly stunning with the fountains in the background. Next is an overbanked turn, with a left angle and bunches of laterals. Then it hits a sidewinder, which is a half loop followed by a half corkscrew. The sidewinder curves around itself, moving right, before heading into, not one, but two heartline rolls. The ride does not deliver quite the thrills from here, however, as it just takes a 180 degree right turn and a small hill to the break run. While a standard SLC, the ride was celebrated by the media, being claimed to be better than Nemesis at Alton Towers. It hits 4.5 positive g-forces and 50 mph, so it is certainly no pleasure drive. The ride oddly did not help the park much, and there was a downturn in guest numbers. Still, if there was a best SLC in the world, this water-logged wonder would be it. |
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