As you would expect from Legoland the attraction boasts a huge amount of things to do for kids of all ages and adults with a 4d cinema showing a couple of films (I personally recommend Bob the Builder) an interactive dark ride, factory tour showing the lego making process which the kids help along with and numerous models on display and areas to build and test your own creations. The attraction also has cafe serving hot and cold drinks and snacks and for the little ones a soft play area. Model making classes/tutorials are held during the day with kids been taught by the professionals how to build a variety of models.

The exterior of Legoland discovery Centre.

The lego Factory Tour.

The host professor brick also gets the kids to help out with the lego making process.

At the end of the process lego blocks are produced and everyone given one to take home.

Legoland discovery Centre is full of models of which some of them took months to build.

Blackpool Tower, Winter Gardens and pleasure beach.

London attractions.

Oblivion at Alton Towers.

And the towers themselves.

They are quite dark but the scenes go from day to night every few minutes.

Various other models.

There’s allot more models at Legoland Discovery Centre than I haven’t shown here as well as the build areas and testing areas for kids. I would advice booking in advance unless you have an annual pass as the centre does get very busy.

Legoland Discovery Centre also has an on site lego shop selling the full range of models from duplo to technix.

If you would like to use any pictures from this post please get in touch paul@ridemad.com. Please don’t just steal them.

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The ride manufactured by S&S boasts the world steepest first drop at a angle of 112 degrees. The ride cost varies depending on who you speak to but the average price tag seems to be around 4 million pounds.

When the questioned about the strange name of the ride its a reference to other parks falsely boasting about their latest attractions been the worlds first etc… hmm wonder who they mean .

The photographs were taken at various times of the day as you may notice from the dull skies.

We visited Flamingo Land as part of an organised tour with Club Pleasure Beach and had an exclusive ride session as well as a look behind the scenes and a chat with the staff and ride operators.

Here’s the pictures from that tour.

Ride Signage.

A view from the side showing the rides record breaking 112 degree angle first drop.

Another couple of ride shots.

4 Seat trains are used on Mumbo Jumbo.

Another train shot showing the water dummies parked on the transfer track.

A closer look at the trains.

A look underneath.

In the center the braking components and either side the chain dog (grabs the chain on the lift) and anti rollback (this causes the click, click sound when going up a lift hill)

The lift hill.

Motor.

On ride photographs.

Mumbo Jumbo structure showing evacuation platform.

General Track photographs.

If you would like to use any photographs from this set please get in touch via the contact form or paul@ridemad.com, im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of all the photographs used. Please don’t just use them without asking.

Thanks to Club Pleasure Beach and the operations staff at Flamingoland for making this trip possible.

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The fountains cost an estimated 80 thousand pounds and from what ive seen they are worth every penny and make what was a empty space a great meeting place for people and are an ideal play area for children as they run and duck under the fountains much to the annoyance of parents watching.

From what I could gather the fountains operate about every fifteen minutes to various pieces of music, each show lasts for about six and half minutes. It will be nice in the summer to sit down and have a drink and watch these. Well done Pleasure Beach.

Here’s a couple of photograph’s and a video of the display taken below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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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.

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

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This article isnt going to be a ride spoiler as such, more an in depth looking behind the scenes of one of the parks most spectacular dark rides.

Hex is a Vekoma Haunted Swing ride, it has operated at the park since 2000. Its located in the towers and well you cant really miss a big great tower.

The control room for Hex is around the back of the towers. Here’s a couple of shots of the main ride operators console.

In the shot below you can see a screen just where the operators elbow is. This controls the full attraction from start to finish the music/effects everything. Its all perfectly timed for the audience. Just behind the green wall is the final queue line to get into the ride chamber itself.

And a close up of the panel (for the guy in Canada who said it wasnt made by Vekoma.!

The rotating room.

*SPOILER*

As you have probably guessed the attraction sits inside a huge drum similar to a washing machine with a center pivot for the seats. the room rotates in huge pit and its quite difficult to get a decent picture, but heres my effort anyway.

This is a picture taken from the side of the attraction looking up, the big white steel bar is the pivot point for the seats.

This is taken from the first operators console looking back at the queue line.

A couple of similar views at different angles.

Turning around now looking at the operators console.

Ever wondered what those numbers are whilst your queuing for Hex. Basically it tells the operator how many people have passed through the entry turnstile. Hex has a capacity of 78 people every few minutes, once they hit 78 the pre show starts.

Once through the turn style this is where you wait for the rest of the customers.

Once enough people are in the queue the doors in front are open and you enter the video room.

Inside the video room.

Im not going to spoil this for anyone, if you want to see the show theres a copy on youtube.

After the show which lasts a few minutes the doors open and your led into the next room.

Again I wont spoil this for anyone who hasn’t been through Hex, so heres a few photographs.

The lighting rig in the center of the room, this is dropped to the floor during winter for maintenance.

The theming in Hex is fantastic.

After a short time you are lead through to the ride.

Seats.

And finally the fallen branch. – Don’t know what this means then take a trip through Hex next time your at Alton Towers.

Thats the end of the tour, thanks to Alton towers and Club pleasure beach for arranging this tour, we also viewed a few more attractions at Alton towers this day, to see a complete list of behind the scenes tours on ridemad click 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

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.

Rita is located in the Ugland area of the park. Here’s some stats courtesy of http://www.rcdb.com

Length 2099ft

Height 68ft 11

Max speed 61.1mph

Duration 0:25 seconds

My collection of photographs taken during the tour.

I’ll start in the maintenance area.

From the entrance to where the trains come in.

Looking back to where the above picture was taken from.

Spare wheels.

More spares, this time for the brake fins.

Recently removed wheels.

Outside the maintenance area under the ride platform are the test dummies Intamin use in the trains, these are normally filled with water when testing.

From outside the maintenance area looking up to the ride platform.

A deserted station following one of the many test launches before the attraction is open to the public.

From behind the barriers near the control box.

Another unmanned test launch.

Tests finished the staff turn up and clean the trains ready to open.

We were lucky and managed to have two rides on Rita before the park opened to the public.

Control box.

As you would expect they use a number of computers to operate Rita, here’s a couple of pictures of the main one in the control box.

And finally from the control box looking at the launch area of the ride.

The Hydraulic room.

You can just make out in the above picture, at the end of the launch area the building directly in front is the hydraulic room for Rita. All the hydraulics and cable drum are behind reinforced glass and the area is secure enough to ensure nobody is allowed in the room when a launch is taking place.

Because of the reinforced glass trying a take a picture of the hydraulics is almost impossible, heres my attempt.

Also in this building is another computer than monitors the launches etc, the engineers told me Intamin can dial into this should any problems occur. Im a bit worried it runs XP

Related Posts.

Behind the scenes of Air.

Behind the scenes of Duel including some ride history.

This is an excellent tour if you get the chance its well worth doing, im our group nobody come away disappointed. I would like to thank Wayne, James and the engineering staff at Alton Towers for a great day.

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.

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

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Knightmare, one of the most anticipated coasters between enthusiasts finally opened this month with an offical media day launch on Friday 27th July. One of my Club pleasure beach friends Chris Hughes took the day off work and spent a few hours taking photographs at Camelot.

Thanks for Chris for the use of his photographs in this article.

King Arthur offically opening the ride.

Knightmare designed by Schwarzkopf and was originally called the Bavarian Mountain railroad before been renamed to BMRX in 1997 when the ride was re-themed.

King Arthur ready to ride.

The ride is from Kobe Portopialand, Japan. Where it had some very elaborate theming, check out the pictures on the RCDB Website.

Some general shots of the media day.

Locals forming an orderley line.

Some stats from courtesy of RCDB Website.

length of 2601ft
height 86ft
max speed 43.5mph
duration 1:56
g-force 5, although this is debatable at the moment as it seems a few people say different levels.

I would like to thank Chris Hughes for the use of his photographs.

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.

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.

Ever since Southport Pleasureland closed back on Septmber 5th 2006 the fun house has stayed open honouring parties and bookings that were made when the park was in operation.

Unfortunately this all came to an end on the 31st March 2007 when the fun house held its final party.

As a member of Club Pleasure Beach I was invited to the final ever party in the fun house, it was an invite I couldnt afford to turn down having visited the park and fun house for as long as I can remember.

I dont recall many early memories of the fun house apart from the social mixer, joy wheel and the rotating barrel, I dont even think I walked around the interior completely until a few years ago, but I must have as a nosey child.

It was arranged so that the club and a number of guests including former pleasureland staff would have the fun house to ourselves between 6pm and 9pm on the Saturday evening, in total about 50 people attended the event.

Ok heres a few pictures and a quick tour of the fun house.

The Joywheel.

The Joywheel is a huge spining wheel. the idea is to sit as central as possible to avoid being span off into the soft cushioning. Obviously its alot more difficult than it looks or sounds and a skilled operator can have you off and in a heap in seconds.

My 2 kids, the older one was the final one to stay on the Joy wheel that evening. Anyone on the wheel to long is encouraged to put their hands on their heads, its not long before they are joining the rest of the riders in a heap.

Social Mixer.

This is a great ride, everyone sits around the edge of ride and then its starts to spin. Gravity soon takes over and you become stuck against the wall, a game they play is trying to get someone to touch the centre of the mixer.

Rotating Barrel.

This is great fun to watch, you get everything from kids trying to run through it to grown ups ending up in a heap on the base of it. Anyone who is tall can do a handstand in the barrel and it looks quite cool, been a 5ft 4inch shorty its something I didnt consider.

As you would expect from a fun house there are all sorts of moving floors, shaky steps, slides, bouncy castle and other stunts to make you feel uneasy on your feet.

Wobbly steps.

looking down from the top.

The view from the top of the steps.

At the top of the fun house there was some other activities and a small soft play area for the children.

Walking further around the top of the funhouse towards the slide.

The top of the slide.

Wobbly planks move back and forward.

a nice view of the joy wheel from the top of the fun house.

Back down to ground level they had a inflatable castle that made the trip over from frontierland.

I havent a clue what this is , i think you roll coins round it.

A wooden Maze, similar to whats installed in Noahs Ark at blackpool.

They also held a charity auction with various club members picking up some items and merchandise, I got a pleasureland fleece for £5.

Various ride signs and pictures from the ghost train.

Overall we had a great night with some great company, Id like to thank everyone invovled in arranging this and wish the pleasureland staff the best of luck.

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.