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Get ready to scream. The opening date for Pleasure Beach’s mammoth new ride has been announced. When it opens, the scary-sounding Aviktas will be the largest ride of it’s kind in the UK. Aaaaaah.
Adrenaline junkies have been waiting for the arrival of Aviktas – a 138-foot-tall ride with an enormous pendulum swinging 40 riders 120 degrees back and forth – since Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach first announced it back in May 2025. Now we know it will welcome its first brave riders on Thursday May 21.
The folk at Pleasure Beach are urging locals and visitors to try the new ride, which will have outward-facing seats looking over the sea. They hope it will boost the local economy, and are encouraging people to come out and spend money in local businesses.
James Cox, director of marketing, sales and PR at Pleasure Beach, said: ‘If ever there has been a time to support local businesses and the tourism sector, it’s now.’
He added: ‘Being in business for 130 years does not happen by chance. It takes hard work, overcoming challenges, and always looking ahead. That's our promise to this town and to this sector as we enter our 130th season.’
For the first time, this summer Pleasure Beach will allow under twos to enter the park for free. Adult tickets to the beachside theme park cost £30.
The new £8.72 million gyro swing is just one of the reasons Time Out named Blackpool as one of the UK’s best places to visit in 2026. The old-school seaside resort is also home to the to the UK’s first ever circus museum, and will soon see the reopening of the grand art deco hotel The Royal Carlton. We also included Blackpool in our latest guide to Britain’s greatest seaside towns to visit in 2026.
The best places to visit in the UK in 2026.
The greatest seaside towns in Britain.
Did you see that the oldest surviving Boddingtons pub in the world will be transformed by massive sunflower artworks this summer?
Plus: The best pier in Britain has been crowned for 2026.
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