Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort’s new £8.7m gyro swing ride, Aviktas opened for the first time today (May 21) – the Daily Star’s resident thrillseeker, Kelly Williams went to try it out
I wasn’t entirely sure why I agreed to it. Standing at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort, craning my neck up at Aviktas for the first time, it didn’t look like a ride, it looked like a challenge that I was already regretting.
The structure towered above everything else – it even seemed to shadow the iconic Big One. A giant steel pendulum slicing into the sky.
And maybe it was just me, but knowing it was brand new – as in, only just opened – made it feel that bit more intense. Like I wasn’t just a rider… more like a very willing crash test dummy.
“138 feet,” someone behind me declared. That number sat heavily in my stomach. By the time I was strapped in, there was no backing out.
The harness came down over my shoulders with a reassuring clunk. My feet dangled. Nothing beneath me. Just air.
I glanced sideways. Big mistake. Forty of us, arranged in a circular pendulum, all pretending to be braver than we felt. I couldn’t shake the thought that this thing had only just come to life, like we were part of its first proper outing.
Then the music kicked in, that cinematic, pulse-building soundtrack, and the ride began to move.
At first, it was almost gentle. A slow sway. Back and forth. Like the ride was testing us.
I remember thinking, this isn’t so bad… maybe it’s all hype. Then it swung us higher…and higher.
The moment it tipped past vertical for the first time, everything changed.
My stomach dropped so fast. The horizon disappeared, replaced by sky and then suddenly, the Blackpool coastline exploded into view beneath me.
We weren’t just swinging, we were flying, my brain felt like it was upside down in my head.
At the peak, time did something strange. It stretched. Hung there with me. For a split second, I was weightless, completely untethered from the world, before gravity snapped back in and hurled us the other way.
I screamed. Properly screamed. Not the polite, theme-park kind, the kind you don’t realise is coming out of you until it already has.
And in the back of my mind, that thought again: this thing is brand new.
Each swing went higher than the last. At one point, we hit what must have been that full 120-degree angle. And for a heartbeat I had the absurd thought, this is what it must feel like to be launched out of the world.
Then we dropped again. By the time it slowed, my hands were aching from gripping the restraints. My face hurt from laughing and screaming at the same time. And my legs, still dangling, didn’t quite feel like they belonged to me anymore.
As the ride eased back down to the ground, there was this strange moment of silence among us. Like we’d all just been through something together we hadn’t quite processed yet.
Then the chatter started. “Did you see the view?”
“I thought I was going to pass out.” “I’m going again.”
I laughed, stepping off on slightly unsteady feet, and looked back up at Aviktas now sitting calmly again, as if it hadn’t just tried to rip my soul out minutes earlier.
But would I do it again? Most definitely.
Aviktas facts
* Aviktas swings to a height of 138 feet and reaches angles of 120 degrees – this is the equivalent of 6 double decker buses on top of each other.
* It reaches top speeds of 60mph with riders experiencing up to four Gs – the same amount as a rocket during takeoff.
* The ride’s restraints have been designed to offer a feelings of freedom and weightlessness when swinging through the air.
* Aviktas is manufactured by Intamin and can hold 40 riders at a time, the largest capacity of any Pleasure Beach ride.
* At £8.72M, it represents Pleasure Beach’s biggest singular investment since 2018, when the park opened it most recent roller-coaster ICON.
* Aviktas is officially the UK’s tallest gyroswing – a ride that combines a rotating gondola with a massive swinging pendulum. It surpasses the previous record holder, Maelstrom at Drayton Manor, which stands at almost half its height.
* Approximately 80 members of staff worked to develop the ride and its area during the construction phase.
* 1050 M2 of structural steel was used for the rides platform and station, which is the equivalent of four tennis courts.
* Construction began 14 months ago, following the demolition of the Bowl-a-Drome which previously occupied the site. The ride achieved its first swing in March of this year.
* Each leg of the ride’s structure weighs 16 tonnes, the same as approximately 3 elephants.