06/06/2007

INFUSION GETS THE OFFICIAL O-KAY! TV and Radio star Vernon Kay swapped his gameshow marathon for a rollercoaster marathon as he officially launched Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s brand new ride Infusion. Bolton born Vernon returned to the North West to host the explosive opening event, which featured fabulous fireworks, ice sculptures, stilt walkers, wading violinists and even a mermaid! Commenting on the ride launch, Vernon said: ‘It’s great to be back in the North West. I have been to the Pleasure Beach many times and it’s great to be asked to officially open the new Infusion ride. The first drop was awesome and a real adrenalin rush, so much so that I went on 4 times! I’m sure that Infusion will be a great success and attract millions of visitors this summer.’ Amanda Thompson, MD of Pleasure Beach, comments: “Vernon is such a friendly, fun and lively character so he was the perfect celebrity to launch such a fun and exciting new attraction. Infusion is a great addition to Pleasure Beach and was deserving of such a high profile and lavish opening ceremony. It was definitely a day to remember. I hope many people will flock to Pleasure Beach to enjoy the ride“ Infusion is the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience. A heart-stopping, curved cascading waterfall, five incredible loops and rolls and an intense 4.5G’s takes riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. The ride cost £8m to construct and signifies Pleasure Beach’s continued investment in Blackpool. PLEASURE BEACH OPENS EARLY Pleasure Beach opens early..... Pleasure Beach will open at 11.30am on Wednesday 6th June to allow visitors to come and share the excitement of the official opening of Infusion. TV and radio star Vernon Kay will officially open Infusion, the world's first suspended looping coaster over water. Come and share the excitement INFUSION GETS THE OFFICIAL O-KAY! TV and Radio star Vernon Kay will swap his gameshow marathon for a rollercoaster marathon as he officially launches Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s brand new ride Infusion on Wednesday 6th June. Bolton born Vernon will return to the North West to host the explosive opening event, which will feature fabulous fireworks, ice sculptures, stilt walkers, wading violinists and even a mermaid! The extravaganza commences at 11.30am and Pleasure Beach will open its gates to the public early, to allow visitors to come and share the excitement. Having visited Pleasure Beach many times before and as a huge fan, Vernon was thrilled to be asked to open Infusion and can’t wait to test the ride out for himself. Amanda Thompson, MD of Pleasure Beach, comments, “Vernon is such a friendly, fun and lively character so he’s the perfect celebrity to launch such a fun and exciting new attraction. Infusion is a great addition to Pleasure Beach and is deserving of such a high profile and lavish opening ceremony. We’re all looking forward to welcoming Vernon for what promises to be a day to remember.“ Infusion is the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience. A heart-stopping, curved cascading waterfall, five incredible loops and rolls and an intense 4.5G’s takes riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. The ride cost £8m to construct and signifies Pleasure Beach’s continued investment in Blackpool. INFUSION OPENS! Infusion the world’s first suspended looping coaster completely over water, opens to the general public. Book online now! PLEASURE BEACH OWNERS AMANDA AND NICK THOMPSON ENJOY THEIR FIRST RIDE ON INFUSION Pleasure Beach owners Amanda and Nick Thompson, enjoy their first ride on Infusion! The world’s first suspended looping coaster (SLC) completely over water. Infusion is the tallest, fastest SLC in the UK, and represents an £8 million investment for Pleasure Beach. Infusion opens to the general public on Wednesday 2nd May. INFUSION GOES WORLD WIDE Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s fantastic new rollercoaster, Infusion, has become the first of the 110 year old amusement park’s rides EVER to have it’s own dedicated website. www.rideinfusion.com features ride information and fun facts, the latest news, blogs from the construction, offers and downloads plus video footage of the ride in action and the construction. The fully interactive site also allows customers to leave comments and rate the ride once they’ve tried it out. The £8 million investment has been surrounded by a blaze of publicity since park bosses first announced it was coming last year. The website, which supplements Pleasure Beach’s own award-winning website www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com follows a national press launch in London and precedes a £1million television advertising campaign. Commenting on the new site, Pleasure Beach Managing Director Amanda Thompson said: ‘Pleasure Beach has embraced the explosion of online communications and we have recently worked with a variety of agency’s to make www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com a visually stunning and accessible website. www.rideinfusion.com is the latest pioneering initiative and will allow our visitors to interact with us and let us know what they think. They can also have fun with the exclusive downloads and enjoy video footage of the ride.’ Infusion will be the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience. A heart-stopping, curved cascading waterfall, five incredible loops and rolls and an intense 4.5G’s will take riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. The much anticipated white-knuckle wave is set to open at Britain’s top free tourist attraction in May. NATIONAL LAUNCH FOR INFUSION Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s fantastic new £8 million rollercoaster, Infusion, has been successfully launched nationwide ahead of it’s impending opening. The grand-scale launch, which took place at the Savoy Hotel in London, saw Infusion become the park’s first ride since the world-famous Pepsi Max Big One to be presented to national media in the capital. As well as being informed about the ride’s unique elements and fantastic effects, press and VIP guests were given an exclusive first look at the television commercial ahead of it’s TV premier on May 18th. Speaking at the launch, and highlighting the significance of the investment, Pleasure Beach Deputy Managing Director Nick Thompson commented: ‘With all the hype recently about Blackpool, with many reports writing off the resort, I am sure many sceptics are wondering why my family are investing a cool £8 million in a new coaster? Our family has invested in the Blackpool since Pleasure Beach first opened in 1896 and we have every faith in our town. ‘Pleasure Beach is constantly changing as we have to keep up the latest in technology and maintain our history and heritage where possible. ‘We continue to be the most visited tourist attraction in the UK and welcome almost 6 million visitors every year – so we must be doing something right! And I am sure with the arrival of Infusion we see a lot more visitors this year.’ Infusion will be the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience. A heart-stopping, curved cascading waterfall, five incredible loops and rolls and an intense 4.5G’s will take riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. The much anticipated white-knuckle wave is set to open at Britain’s top free tourist attraction in May. PLEASURE BEACH INVESTMENT SHOWS FAITH IN RESORT Pleasure Beach, Blackpool has proved it has faith in the future of the resort with £8 million of investment in a fantastic new thrill ride for 2007. The investment was well underway before the Casino Advisory Panel’s recommendations for a location for the country’s first Super Casino were made public, highlighting Pleasure Beach’s continuing support for and belief in Blackpool. Infusion will be the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience. The much anticipated white-knuckle wave is set to open at Britain’s top free tourist attraction in May. Speaking to press at the London launch of Infusion, Pleasure Beach Deputy Managing Director Nick Thompson commented: ‘With all the hype recently about Blackpool, with many reports writing off the resort, I am sure many sceptics are wondering why my family are investing a cool £8 million in a new coaster? Our family has invested in the Blackpool since Pleasure Beach first opened in 1896 and we have every faith in our town. ‘Pleasure Beach is constantly changing as we have to keep up the latest in technology and maintain our history and heritage where possible. ‘We continue to be the most visited tourist attraction in the UK and welcome almost 6 million visitors every year – so we must be doing something right! And I am sure with the arrival of Infusion we see a lot more visitors this year.’ Pleasure Beach Director & Company Secretary David Cam, former Chairman of Industry board BALPPA (British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers & Attractions,) said: ‘Blackpool was the ‘People’s Choice’ for the Super Casino. Since the Independent Panel recommended the casino go to Manchester, public outcry and rebel peers have ensured the decision is by no means rubber stamped, with the House of Lords historically throwing the recommendations out. ‘Blackpool is still very much in the running and Pleasure Beach will continue to support the town’s bid, but at our historic amusement park, the show will go on as it always has! We’ve survived two World Wars and we’ll survive this. A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY Construction workers at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool have unearthed an antique earring, believed to have belonged to late actress and entertainer Marlene Dietrich. Workmen discovered the earring deep in the bed of the old Log Flume lake, whilst digging the foundations for Pleasure Beach’s new thrill ride Infusion. Tales of Marlene’s visit have been passed down through generations at the family run theme park and descendants of Leonard Thompson, who was Managing Director of Pleasure Beach during Marlene’s visit, recalled a letter sent to Leonard regarding a lost earring. With the 80mph Pepsi Max Big One and the Big Dipper both running past the site, visitors have lost many weird and wonderful possessions over the years. Many of these were assumed lost forever, until now… The list of treasures and unusual artefacts includes: · 3 Sets of false teeth · 35 Keys · 2 Cameras · 8 Mobile telephones · 1 flip flop · 13 Pairs of glasses and sunglasses · Numerous coins (many of them foreign) · A Bedraggled wig · A Bra · And even a Glass Eye! INFUSION… An exhilarating infusion of the elements, soars to amazing heights and takes riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. Five incredible loops and rolls, a looming lake glitters below, a deliciously wicked double line twist and awesome water effects all in one cool suspended looping coaster. INFUSION Get ready to immerse your senses as Pleasure Beach, Blackpool introduces Infusion, the brand new white-knuckle wave. Dare to leave behind dry land and duck and dive around a spectacular starburst fountain, dodge spurting wet jets and dart through a heart-stopping, curved cascading waterfall as it gushes breathtaking close to riders. Suspend your disbelief as you experience five incredible loops and rolls, a deliciously wicked double line corkscrew, intense G-forces and 2,200ft of twisting, turning steel track all in one cool suspended looping coaster. An exhilarating infusion of the elements, soars to amazing heights and takes riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound, whilst hanging over a looming lagoon underneath the famous Pepsi Max Big One rollercoaster. It’s sky-high, unforgettable, fabulous fun! Pleasure Beach Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, said: “Infusion is yet another example of major investment at Pleasure Beach at a cost of £8m. I know white knuckle fans will love this new addition to the park and so will our six million visitors a year who enjoy our unique mix of cutting edge technology and traditional rides, along with spectacular shows.” INFUSE to inspire to emotionally charge to soak or be soaked in order to extract flavour INFUSION the act of infusing INFUSION – FUN FACTS · Infusion is the world’s first suspended looping coaster (SLC) completely over water · Infusion is the tallest, fastest SLC in the UK, and represents an £8 million investment for Pleasure Beach · Height - 40m (app. 120ft) Maximum speed - 85kmp/h (more than 50mph) Average speed - 22m per second · 675m (2,200ft) of twisting, turning track featuring 5 incredible loops and rolls · Ride duration 138 seconds – that’s 18.5 seconds longer than it takes to pour the perfect pint of Guinness! · Footprint - 110m x 48m, total area over 5,000m2 – equivalent to the minimum total customer area of the recently awarded super casino · Pulls a maximum G-Force of +4.5G’s – more than that experienced by an astronaut. · 2 trains each carry 16 passengers · Over 100 tonnes of steel reinforcement in ride foundations · 8 tonnes of nuts & bolts · 96 steel columns · Total steel used = 660,892 KG (or 1,453,962 lbs!) – equivalent to 7000 people. That’s 17 jumbo-jets full of passengers! · 4,400,000 litres of water will be used to fill the lake under Infusion – enough to fill 2 Olympic swimming pools Infusion News The excitement’s gaining momentum and so is Infusion as Pleasure Beach’s new ride went out for its maiden voyage on Thursday 22nd March. Infusion’s gleaming carriage left the cosy confines of the ride station and mapped out the journey which thousands of thrillseekers will enjoy this season. The test ride was part of the commissioning of Infusion, which is currently being undertaken by ride manufacturers Vekoma. The white knuckle wave is set to open this Spring.

GET READY FOR INFUSION… A brand new steel beast is growing day by day at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool. Construction is well underway on Infusion, the latest thrill ride, with the piling stage now complete. In just 5 weeks, piling specialists Stents installed more than 650 piles, with a mixture of open-ended steel and precast concrete, using a brand new Junttan PM23 rig. The piles carry combined forces of 500kN in compression, 50-250kN in tension and 35kN in lateral and will support the giant steel columns of Infusion – a suspended looping rollercoaster with five incredible loops and rolls, cascading walls of water and sky high, heart-stopping, fabulous fun! Over 100 tonnes of steel reinforcement has already gone into the groundwork, and principal contractors Easibuild are continuing with foundation works. This week Global Engineering begin steelwork installation for the ride station and control equipment and at the end of the month, Ride Constructions Services from Germany arrive on site to begin installation of the ride itself. This will involve fixing into place 2,200ft of twisting track with a weight of over 560 tonnes. Pleasure Beach Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, said: “Infusion is yet another example of major investment at Pleasure Beach at a cost of £8m. I know white knuckle fans will love this new addition to the park and so will our six million visitors a year who enjoy our unique mix of cutting edge technology and traditional rides.” Ride the new white knuckle wave at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool in Spring 2007. INFUSION A brand new steel beast is growing day by day at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool. Get ready for a totally new age experience for white knuckle thrill seekers at Britain’s favourite tourist attraction with cascading walls of water and sky high, heart-stopping, fabulous fun! Five incredible loops and rolls, a looming lake glitters below, a deliciously wicked double line twist and awesome water effects all in one cool suspended looping coaster. INFUSION… An exhilarating infusion of the elements, soars to amazing heights and takes riders through a whirlwind water experience to amaze and astound the senses. Suspend your disbelief on 2,200 ft of twisting steel track with a whole new edge. Pleasure Beach Managing Director, Amanda Thompson, said: “Infusion is yet another example of major investment at Pleasure Beach at a cost of £8m. I know white knuckle fans will love this new addition to the park and so will our six million visitors a year who enjoy our unique mix of cutting edge technology and traditional rides.” Ride the new white knuckle wave at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool in Spring 2007. Infusion News As the final piece of Infusion track is fused into place at Pleasure Beach, German workers and Pleasure Beach staff unite by tying ceremonious flags to the steel structure.