I was in a group of about 50 members of Club Pleasure Beach and we got to ride Traumatizer (now relocated to Blackpool as Infusion) and the Cyclone wooden roller coaster (which was later demolished).

Also included in the tour was a Q&A session with one of the parks directors and a look into the workshops located behind the cyclone and finally a tour of the ghost train with the lights on.

These are the pictures taken at this event.

Scary looking head

This stunt jumps up when the cars go past.

Im not sure what this is, it looks like an old rag.

Behind one of the stunts.

From the front end.

Opening coffin, a dark ride default stunt 

An open coffin.

Walking into the ride.

Generally walking around.

Activated as the car goes past, it drops down.

Workshops located behind the Cyclone.

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.

I have memories of the old space invader been a very bumpy ride with some extreme brakes in the dark. As part of this tour we were left to look around the attraction with senior management for about 30 minutes.

It was ideal for most of the group and we just walked around taking photographs and looking at some of the very odd looking space theming most of which you miss whizzing past at 30-40mph.

Some of the 80′s style space 1999 theming.

Some of these spacemen inside the ride are hardly seen when you go past in the cars, they look tacky and believe me they are but that just adds to the attraction in my opinion. I don’t think any of us ride space invader 2 for the fantastic effects.

Some more of the props.

Hanging in the middle of the attraction is a satellite.

This is one odd looking alien.

and a close up of its face.

Some track shots, the ride is 1490ft in length and has a height of 59ft.

This is a pretty good effect when your on the ride in the dark.

Passing through some more space themed artwork.

Mid ride operators console, this isnt manned during normal operational hours.

One of the trains, Pleasure beach staff compared the cost to a Porsche boxster..gulp!!!

Finally the run back into the station. Brakes in the center of the track.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach for arranging this tour and to Keith and his staff at Pleasure Beach Blackpool.

Collection of other behind the scenes tours Behind the scenes.

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

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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

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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

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.

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.

The offical news came through yesterday that the land which was the former Pleasureland site has been handed over to Sefton council for redevelopment. As it was my closest park and probably one I visited most as a child ive decided to dig out some pictures from the last season so anyone that hadnt visited for some time can see the park in full swing.

Before we get to the pictures, lets just have a quick look back at the events since closure.

Ive took quite alot of pictures of pleasureland since the closure, most have been published on other sites and a couple made it to First drop issue 76 the publication of the European Coaster club, some have made their way as far as the states and will be used in a ACE (american coaster enthusiasts) newsletter thats coming up shortly.

If you look back 7 months or so to the 5th September 2006 when the park offically closed the only headlines we have seen since have been bad ones. They started with the protests as soon as the park closed a couple of protestors climbed up the cyclone to protest about the closure, I even took the trip to Southport to take a look, by the time I had arrived the rain had started and they had climbed down, it did make local radio and TV news though.

The same protestors then came back even stronger when it was revealed the cyclone was getting cut up by chainsaws, they tried to play on the fact that the cyclone had a group of protected newts under its structure, sadly nothing came of this and the subsequent attempt at making the structure listed.

Following on from this a couple of urban explorers from 28dayslater.co.uk evaded security on a number of occasions to get pictures from such places as the traumatizer lift hill and the ghost train, I dont agree with breaking into theme parks but the pictures were stunning. If you havent seen them i suggest you take a look.

Traumatizer was moved to Blackpool and will shortly open as infusion, the track has been painted blue and it does look nice in its new position been dwarfed by the giant pepsi max big one, right next to the big dipper.

The Cyclone demolition saddened quite a few enthusiasts me included, the pictures of the track bent, twisted and cut up quickly spread over the internet and finally the ride was flattened by bull dozers and giant nibblers.

Some of the rides have moved on since, chaos up to Lightwater Valley, the galleon to M&D’s in Scotland and the space shot to Loudon Castle.

The fun house closed its doors for the final time last weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to a party organised by Club Pleasure Beach, the event was fantastic fun with 50 enthusiasts and some staff in attendance. More of this to follow at a later point, i have a load of interior pictures ill publish shortly.

Ok then onto 2006 and the final year of Pleasureland.

The Cyclone.

who could forget the bent lift hill

The Galleon.

The Space shot.

ready for loading.

A piece of theming around the kids car ride.

Kids car ride.

The Carousel.

The interior of the caterpillar ride.

The Chewits Log Flume.

Log flume showing the skyride station.

My daughter the only one mad enough on a cold day.

Kiddie coaster.

Traumatizer.

Skyride and views of the park in general.

Anyone reading from the NSPCC, she wanted to go on it

And finally.

to read more about the history of pleasureland, i strongly recommend reading pleasureland memories by Stephen Copnall.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch via email paul@ridemad.com or through the contact form im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete ride mad gallery with over 4,000 additional park photographs visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.