Taken from the Universal Islands of adventure website Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw falls is one of the most eloborate over the top log flume rides I have ever had the pleasure of riding, Based in the toon lagoon area of the park you cant miss this ride and the buzz of the crowds as they line up on the bridge to take photographs.

It seems we are all fascinated about watching others get a complete soaking.

oh and you do get wet, if you think you have got away with it after the drop these guns on the far side of the flume ensure you arent left out.

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw falls has operated at Universal Islands of Adventure since 1999. The final drop is 75ft and the ride can hold something like 400,000 gallons of water.

The ride duration is about 5 minutes and during this time you are immersed in the story and the themeing of the ride.

Heres the rest of the photographs taken as part of this trip.

Heres a youtube video showing the full ride.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

The Skyride was only one of a number of behind the scenes tours that we did during this day, to see the other photographs and tours check out the Behind the scenes category.

The Skyride was installed in 1987 and was manufactured by Poma well known for moving people and engineered by Sir Robert McAlpine. 

Each Gondala is capable of carrying 10 people and the system is 1048 mtrs in length.

Heres some pictures of the skyride maintenance area.

Doors leading to the main skyride station.

And finally some spare parts and exterior shots.

Some quick facts about the skyride.
Opening date : 28th March 1987
Opened by : Prince Edward.
Cost : 6 Million pounds.
Ride Height at peak : 61 Metres.
Capacity : 2,880 guests per hour.
Gondala’s : 52 in total.
With no height restrictions.

Facts from Alton Towers Almanac.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

A bit of History about the ride. The Black hole is a Schwarzkopf Jet star 2 coaster with a length of 1919ft, Height of 44’3 and a duration of 1min 50 seconds. It was originally brought to Alton Towers as the Black hole in 1983 before going through a couple of name changes, New Black Hole, Black Hole 2 and finally back to Black hole again. The ride was closed in 2006.

So finally heres a set of photographs taken in July 2007 from inside the Black Hole Tent at Alton Towers.

From outside, some of the old artwork.

Some of the original theming still hanging about

A bit dark but showing the full dome.

Track lying across the floor

Shot of the cars.

Clearly showing the supports still in place.

The ride cars.

Control systems

The loading bay, still pretty much intact.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

If you book in advance you can get park admission for as little as £7.95 a great saving on the current 2008 gate price of £16.95, based on been over 1.3m.

Lightwater Valley has some great attractions and although its not as big as other theme parks like Alton Towers its a great option for a day out if you are in that part of the country.

The pricing is based on advanced bookings which are taken from March, here is a complete list of prices taken from the website.

I try and visit Lightwater Valley at least once a season, this one will be no different.

Lightwater Valley

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

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.

As most of you who read this blog know I have 2 kids and when we visit the Pleasure Beach we are usually thinking about heading home at around 4pm, to make sure we can get them home at a reasonable hour. This weekend was the perfect time to have a look at this coaster, it was about 8:30-9:00pm and all the pictures were took without flash using what light was available and a few slow shutter speeds. I hope you like the pictures.

The main fountains in the centre of the lake.

Bottom of the first drop.

Looks really quick

Looking towards the brake section.

The first drop.

Pepsi Max Big One in the background.

Related Articles.
Behind the scenes, Infusion Blackpool

Thanks for Reading.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

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)

First some facts about Air.

Total Length : 2755ft
Height : 65ft
Top speed : 46mph
Duration : 1 minute 40 seconds.

I’ll start with the tour of the lifthill.

From the bottom of the hill looking up.

The top of the hill looking over to where the train disengages from the lift.

From the top of the lift hill looking down.

A view of Nemesis from the top of the lift hill.

A view of Air from the top of the lift hill.

Back down to earth now the tunnel that the train comes out of before climbing the hill. You can see the ride stations in the distance.

Train number 3 parked up in the second station.

One of the trains in the garage.

The final set pieces of track coming back into the station, maintenance area is on the right hand side.

The same piece of track from a different view.

And finally the control panel for Air.

Thanks to RCDB (http://www.rcdb.com) for the stats. Id also like to thank Darren and James at Alton Towers for making the day so memorable. Cheers

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

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.

The 2nd car.

The transfer track.

Inside the main station.

Ride control box.

CCTV

Final piece of track before the transfer.

The Lift Hill.

Track Photographs.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach, Keith and the management at the Pleasure beach for arranging this tour

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

May 2007 – Blackpools Noahs ark is getting the second part of a much needed paint job to the exterior. The ark is just over 85 years old and considering the Blackpool climate has survived pretty well since the hey days of 1922. The first part of this work took place at around the same time in 2006 with alot of the exterior animals, policeman and Mt Ararat been spruced up. At one point during the 2006 touch up Noah was left headless for a couple of weeks. For some reason perhaps budget the paint job was never completed. Heres a bunch of pictures taking on May 12th. As usual if you have any comments please dont hesistate to get in touch.

Noah standing proud.

Here you can clearly see the amount of scaffolding they have used.

The amount of work on the front of the Ark is quite extensive.

A close up showing the dinosaur caged in scaffolding.

A couple of shots taken from the rear of the Ark.

The Polar bear at the rear of the Ark, I was always puzzled why this didnt get painted back in 2006, for me looking up at the ark it always looked out of place with the freshly painted animals around it.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Now open, click here to see a complete behind the scenes tour

I love watching new rides take shape and infusion is no different. Ever since pleasure beach announced the closure of pleasureland and the replacement ride for the Blackpool log flume ive been heading up to Blackpool every couple of weeks to check the status at first the log flume demolition up until today when the ride is almost in service. Ive heard today from 3 different ride ops that infusion will open on Wednesday 2nd May 2007.

Apologies for the quality of the photographs, they were all taken with a mobile phone.

Theres been loads of rumours about the water effects, where they will be, how wet you get blah blah. Here’s a brief look at some of the main ones.

Firstly the bottom of the main drop to the right of the photo showing the fountains, although not very clear in the photograph theres about 8 fountains in a line jumping up and down, I suppose the not knowning if you are going to get wet or not is the fun part.

You can also see in the background a load of fountains shooting water up into the air, this is going to look fabulous when you are on the ride.

What is missed from the photographs just to the side of the station is a waterfall effect in the shape of a quarterpipe, I couldnt get close enough to take a picture of this unfortunately.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used(apart from these), to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.