Skyforce

Come in Squadron Leader

For such a historical and ride intensive park, Pleasure Beach Blackpool, does lack on one main front: modern rides. The Big One is over 21 years old, Valhalla is over 15 years old and at the complete otherside of the spectrum the Flying Machines are over 111 years old! 

Recent years have seen more modern rides installed but these have mainly been rethemes. Wallace and Gromit is just a rethemed Gold Mine and whilst Nickelodeon Land did feature new rides, the two star attractions of this childrens area (the Nickelodeon Streak and Blue Flyer) are simply the Roller Coaster and Zipper Dipper updated. 

The irony is, the more modern rides have been taken away fairly quickly, Spin Doctor and Bling only lasted a couple of seasons, both of which, like Skyforce, were spinning rides.

Skyforce is located at the southern end of the amusement park, if you remember where Bling was located its there, if not its just the other side of the Big One's lift hill, not too far away from the Steeplechase and the Pleasure Beach Express train station. Despite being overshadowed by the Big One, it still does grab your attention with an airfield style control tower and a mock red arrow airplane on the ground and a smaller one on the top of the ride itself.
With themed red arrow seats the ride looks the part, and fits in well with the airfield style themeing the park have chosen but this is in contrast to the grey supports of the ride. It's not garish, just rather dull and plain (its not too similar to the Revolution's colour).

The selling point of Skyforce is that you control have intense (or not) you want the ride to be, you have the opportunity to flip the seats 360 degrees if you wish to. In some ways, this feels like some of the rides of old, where you could choose how you wanted to ride, so despite being modern, it feels at home at the Pleasure Beach.  

After joining the queue, you are now in virtually a giant cattle pen. Thankfully there is a smaller version for the quieter days which bypasses this altogether, but with only a maximum of 12 riders per go, it is likely you'll be in the larger queue and because of its location, the only thing you'll really see is Skyforce. The Big One you won't really see because you are too close, its only when the Big One is in the distance will you really notice the trains travelling. My advice, head to Skyforce either at the start or end of the day, they are definatly the quietest times for it at the moment.

After negotiating the rather slow moving queue, you enter the control tower building. In a move that is like from recent attractions at rival parks, there is a photo opportunity for a pilots license in the obligatory shop at the end, however, unlike some parks (at the moment anyway) this is completely your decision and if you don't want your photo taken, then you can choose not to. It certainly feels like a refreshing change and helps if you wish to re-ride later in the day.

Once further in this building, a video plays out tell you how to control the "aircraft". The key is to rock your body to the right, and lower your right wing down and your left wing up, and then when it moves and you feel like you lose your momentum, do the opposite. Gradually you repeat this, building up the momentum and when you start spinning, leave the wings in that position, unless you want to stop in which case you let go

Loading of the ride is as efficient as it will be, as soon as one set of riders is on the ride, another 12 will be held in the waiting bay, asked to put bags, loose articles etc into the storage area so you'll be ready to go. Infact, a lot more flat rides could learn from this type of loading, it works well! When you look at the riders on it, one thing immediately becomes apparant. Not a lot of people are spinning.

Once the previous batch of riders are cleared its time for you to choose your red arrow plane. Once you've seated and pulled down the restraint, you can start to get a feel for the controllable wings, by holding what feels a bit like a joystick. The wings felt studier to me than what I was expecting but they are easy to move.

After the safety checks have taken place, the ride gradually starts rising up and after around 10 seconds, the brakes have released and you are able to start rocking your body. On all my goes on it, I always started rocking to the right (but there is no reason why you couldn't rock to the left), and when I felt the momentum start to lose, I rocked to the left and did the same with the wings at the same time. The queueline video makes it sound a little bit more complicated than it actually is, it is a lot more natural than what you initially think. The thing to be aware of, is make sure the two wings are at the most furthest points they'll go on the up and the down, as this will help you get spinning sooner.

After 6 or so goes, after building the momentum you'll be at the virtually nearly there stage of the inversion. This is where you have to be careful in what you do, if you move the wings back too soon or too late, you'll kill the momentum, there is a definite sweet spot to move them. Dependent on the windy conditions on the Fylde Coast, it can go with your favour or not, and if it is in your favour, you'll be spinning in no time at all and quite rapidly at that.

The spinning on the ride is pure mayhem but in a fun way when you get it right. Every second or so, you feel like you're back upside down. It's not in a forceful way like an Air Race is, but slightly a floaty way but still enough of a force to let you feel like you are inverting. The restraints can be slightly uncomfortable when you get this manic spin going but in no way do you feel sick. It is quite disorientating though, seeing that section of the Pleasure Beach constantly turning.

After what feels like a while (about a minute in reality) the ride starts to slow down and the brakes kick in, so if you did manage to get it spinning you'll come to a gradual but quick halt. When you get back on terra firma, it might take you a couple of seconds to readjust to your world not spinning but this quickly passes.

Note the words "if you did manage to get it spinning", there is a definite knack to the ride and not everyone can master it. On my three goes on it on one day, I managed to invert it manicly on all of them, but I did attempt to make it more difficult to get a more overall view of the ride, the verdict of this version of the ride? It's not very good. Whether that is because of the long queue, whether I know how good the ride can be or simply that the ride was only ever intended to rotate you I don't know. It feels a bit like a waveswinger but with slightly more control, knowing that you can flip it makes it more exciting, but knowing that you can't flip it, makes it all the more enfuriating! There are next to no G Forces on this version of the ride, so if you have queued 45 to 60 mins for it, it will be very disappointing and feel like not riding it again.

This is the main problem with Skyforce, in essence it is two different rides, and it ultimately depends whether you have the knack or not. Those that do, will find it a fun ride and probably will invert more times than any other ride on the British Isles, despite not necessarily catching the world alight. Those that don't, will find it rather a dull ride and a waste of time, but your own peserverence may make you try again when its a bit quieter.

The Good:
- Good themeing of the seats
- Efficient loading
- When it inverts well, it is manic!
- It is easier with the wind in your favour
- Decent ride length
- None mandatory taking of photos in the queue
- Sense of pride if you get it to rotate
- No two rides exactly the same

The Bad: 
- Only 12 riders per go
- Slow moving queues
- Awful cattle pen style queue
- Quite dull if you cannot get it to invert
- The wind can be hinderence
- There is a definite knack to the rotation

The Verdict:
  
3.5/5