Ride Photographs
Behind the Scenes – Space Invader 2, Pleasure Beach Blackpool
I was fortunate enough to attend a club pleasure beach event in May which included a behind the scenes tour of a number of attractions including Infusion and Space Invader 2.
Space Invader 2 was originally called space invader when it arrived at the park in 1984, after been refurbished by Kumbak coasters in 2004 it reopened as Space Invader 2.
Anyone that remembers the original Space invader will remember the very uncomfortable and often bumpy ride.
Blackpools Infusion at night.
I was attending a Club Pleasure Beach event last weekend and whilst waiting for ERT to ride the Pepsi Max Big One after park close I took a walk around their latest coaster Infusion. I never realised they lit it up at night and more to the point how good it looks.
Infusion was brought to Blackpool late last year after the Blackpools sister park Southport Pleasureland closed down. The attractoion was known as Traumatizer when it was based in Southport.
Infusion sits on the site of the old Log flume at Pleasure Beach.
Behind the scenes – Rita at Alton Towers.
I was fortunate enough to go on a behind the scenes tour of Alton Towers with fellow members of Club Pleasure Beach at the end of July earlier this year.
The tour consisted of a number of attractions including Duel, Hex, Air, Oblivion and the old Black hole site. One part of the tour I was looking forward to seeing was Rita the hydraulic launched coaster from Intamin which was introduced to the park in April 2005.
The tour consisted of a look round the maintenance areas, a look into the hydraulic room and the ride control room.
Duel At Alton Towers, Behind the Scenes and History
The arguement rages on over Duel vs the Haunted house and I don’t think we will ever get a group of enthusiasts to agree which was/is better. For me personally it has to be the Haunted House and one of the reasons I wrote this article
Ive split this article in two, initially ill take a look at a behind the scenes tour done during July 2007 this will be followed up with some history and photographs of the haunted house written by the Mik the editor of the Haunted one.
Behind the scenes – Air at Alton Towers
Thanks to Club Pleasure beach I had the opportunity to spend the day doing a behind the scenes tour of Alton Towers back in July. The tour consisted of trips around workshops/rides and out of bounds areas and was a real an eye opener. In our group of 16-17 enthusiasts I dont think anyone was disappointed.
Air was built for the 2002 season at a cost of 12 million pounds and was opened on 16th March. Air is a coaster designed by John Wardley and constructed by Bollinger and Mabillard (B&M)
A Closer Look at Infusion
During a recent Club Pleasure Beach event on Monday 14th May we were given the oppurtunity to take a look around Blackpools latest attraction the Vekoma SLC coaster called Infusion.
Infusion opened to the public on the 2nd May 2007 and every visit ive had to the park since has certainly brought the visitors in.
We got the chance to look at pretty much every detail of the ride from the 2nd train and underneath the platform its housed in too the loading bay and ride control panel, here are just a few of the pictures taken during this visit.
Rhyl’s Waterchute – A Final Look ?
After years of speculation it looks like the fun fair at Rhyl known as Ocean beach has closed its gates for the final time. I visited Rhyl twice in 2006 once at the start of the season and then towards the end of September when most rides had packed up, apart from the obivous 2 steel coasters the water chute was also standing.
A lapse in security allowed me to take a look around the Water chute for what may be the final time.
The water chute was originally brought to Rhyl from Kursaal Amusment park in southend in 1972.
Yorks Big Wheel
After months of thinking about this wheel and never doing anything about it, I thought it was finally time to get my act together and make the trip up to York and try it for myself.
We couldnt have asked for better weather although cold the skies were blue and there was no sign of any rain. Admission costs are £6 per adult, £4 for children with under 4′s free, you can also hire a pirvate “VIP” pod with tinted windows and a DVD sound system (some people have more money than sense), they say on busy days you could be sat in a pod with strangers but today it was busy (for a Saturday in Jan) and we sat on our own with most pods containing 2 or 3 people. Queue time approx 20 minutes. Im sure it gets mad in the summer 
Folly Farm Pembrokeshire, A look at the past.
For anyone with an interest in vintage fairground rides a trip to Folly Farm is really a must. Not only is the farm packed with Animals it also houses the UK largest indoor traditional fun fair. The rides date back to the 1920′s and have all been lovingly restored and updated at the farm to meet current health and safety requirements.
Folly Farm is located in Pembrokeshire a short journey from Tenby and about 30 minutes drive from Oakwood.This article takes a quick look at some of the stunning attractions on offer at the farm and also looks at some of the history behind certain rides. I have got some of the history from a souvenir guide written by Brian Steptoe a leading fairground historian and the author of 2 books on the subject.
All the photographs are taken by me, but unfortunately I forgot to take a tripod, hence some of the pictures may be a little dark or over exposed. one problem with old fairground rides and the vast amount of lights is they play havoc with modern digital camera sensors ok so thats my excuse.
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Sad to hear this placed closed. I worked in retail 1994 and rides part o 95 and 96. It had ...
i hat to bey a new tent of it thot it cost me £1000 to replase the tent. 
Thanks Paul for quick response. I will have a go at copying the postcard in the next few days and ...
Hi John,
Thanks for your comments, I would love to see it thanks. If possible I would like to include it ...
