ENSO at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Is It Worth A Spin?!
ENSO – What is it, where is it located and is it worth all of the hype?
ENSO is a twisted new way to experience Blackpool Pleasure Beach‘s 2018 Mack Rides Mega Multi-Launched Roller Coaster ICON!
The park officially launched the new experience during Easter of 2022 & since doing so it’s fair to say it’s received mixed reviews across the board.
It was only fair therefore that we should take a spin for ourselves and see what all of the fuss is about (and boy were we pleasantly surprised!).
So What Is ENSO?
ENSO provides riders with the chance to experience a free spinning ride aboard the back row on one of ICON’s three ride trains.
Riders will experience a different ride every time due to the unpredictability and uncontrolled nature of the spin the seats provide.
The new addition comes as the result of MACK Rides (the ride’s manufacturer) recent launch of a brand new seating upgrade which allows parks to transform individual rows on their Mega Launch coaster (first tested on Blue Fire at Europa Park in Germany) into extreme spinning rows instead.
This means that rides such as ICON and Helix at Liseberg can now be upgraded to provide the same style of ride experience as Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City or Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland De Panne, but at a fraction of the cost and without altering the physical ride structure itself.
Following a recent agreement between the park’s CEO Amanda Thompson OBE and the Mack Family at last year’s IAAPA Expo, Blackpool Pleasure Beach struck an agreement to bring the unique new upgrade to their very own Mack Mega Multi-Launch for the 2022 season.
Is ENSO Included In The Cost Of Admission?
In short, sadly not!
There are two ways you can choose to experience ENSO, and sadly both come at an additional cost to the price of admission.
The first is standard admission which comes at an upcharge of £15.00 per ride, per time.
This places you into a virtual queue and means waiting until the countdown completes before you can board.
The second is VIP admission and this comes at an upcharge of £25.00 per ride, per time.
With the VIP option you have the chance to head straight to the ride itself without any additional wait, however you definitely pay for it that’s for sure!
In both instances you will board via ICON’s Fast Pass entrance below Big Dipper.
It’s also worth noting that ENSO only operates on ONE ride train and appears to operate during set times of the day (15:00 – 19:00 during our recent visit).
Is It Worth It?!
When it comes to answering the above question there are two sides to consider.
One – is it worth experiencing?
The answer to this is YES, absolutely! ENSO provides the chance to experience ICON from a varied range of incredibly unique new perspectives!
Going up the top hat facing down hill was certainly an experience, as was spinning whilst upside down!
The new views you will experience make it worth the ride alone, let alone the insane, unpredictable nature of the ride you will experience.
Two – Is it worth the cost?
We’re not going to sugar coat things here – ENSO is incredibly overpriced for what it is in our opinion.
With having to pay each and every time you ride a maximum cost of £10.00 would certainly make re-riding the experience much more attractive.
Regardless of this however we would highly recommend experiencing ENSO at least once before it leaves the park (and that’s if it does of course).
How Do You Book ENSO?
You can book your slot to experience ENSO on the day through the park’s online fast pass portal choosing the ENSO button the the ICON ride tab.
You can however only book during the times that ENSO is operating and as mentioned previously this is at limited times of the day.
There are also QR codes located in and around the park which you can scan to bring up the booking screen and these are located near ICON and the park’s entrance.
If in doubt however we would recommend visiting guest services near the Grand National to walk through the booking process with them.
Would We Recommend ENSO?
Absolutely! ENSO is an incredible way to up the wow factor and add that additional THRILL to your visit!
As mentioned the unpredictable nature of the experience means you will never endure the same ride twice!
That being said we completely get that it may be a little too expensive for some, and that’s definitely the case if you want to experience it as a family.
The ONE thing we would recommend however is riding ENSO by yourself as opposed to in a group of two.
Riding alone means that the seats will be one sided when it comes to weight distribution and as a result will spin far more than they would with two persons aboard.
For this reason we would recommend sitting in the left seat as opposed to the right, however maybe ask the ride attendant on the day for their recommendation prior to boarding.
Ultimately ENSO is a fantastic new addition for this year, and if you don’t believe us why not give the below vlog a watch to see our first reactions on the day!!
Thanks very much for reading.