Terminator

When Terminator arrived ahead of the 1994 season, Pleasure Beach’s thrill ride line up was bought bang up to date. At the time, it was the most technologically advanced ride to operate at the park and at a cost of £1 million, one of the most expensive too. The ride entertained riders and spectators alike for ten seasons, from 1994 until 2003.

Terminator in 1997. Its name and artwork was inspired by the movie franchise.

Terminator is a variation of the Top Spin ride, which was invented by Huss and premiered at Oktoberfest in 1990. Top Spin rides consist of a long gondola, typically holding two rows of seats with shoulder restraints, supported by a pair of vertical arms with counterweights for balance. The arms are rotated in sync by motors and the gondola rotates under its own weight at the end of the arms, although a brake can hold it in any orientation it may find itself. This means the gondola can both gyrate as the arms rotate and tumble while doing so, if the brake is applied and released at just the right time. Riders can also be hung upside down, if the brake is held on as the arms rotate. These rides are available as trailer-mounted models and permanent installations, and they are sometimes paired with a backflash or water fountains.

Italian manufacturer Soriani & Moser, known today as Moser Rides, developed the concept further by allowing each of the arms the ability to move independently. This was achieved by a hinge on the left arm, which means the gondola can be tipped side to side whilst the arms rotate in different directions. They marketed these rides as Super Loop on Top, of which Terminator is an example.

Terminator in 1998. The DC motors and gearboxes can be seen either side of the arm’s vertical support. The gondola pivoted at the end of the arms, although a brake could hold it in any position it found itself, so the gondola could invert or tumble whilst gyrating. Credit: Stuart Moss.

Unlike Top Spin rides, Soriani & Moser’s variation allowed the arms to rotate independently and in different directions. The meant the gondola could be tipped, and even inverted asymmetrically. Credit: Stuart Moss.

Riders on the way to being turned upside down. They are secured by a two piece restraint, which has both a lap bar and over-shoulder component. The gondola seats 30 - 16 in the back row and 14 in the front row. Credit: Stuart Moss.

The trailer-mounted ride arrived at Pleasure Beach from Soriani & Moser’s Italian factory ahead of the 1994 season. The ride cycle was computer controlled, and the computer would operate the motors and apply the gondola brake as required to hold it upside down or cause it to tumble as required during the ride cycle. Although the computer could be overridden, and the ride fully manually operated, it rarely was during its time at Pleasure Beach. The ride was one of two new thrill rides for 1994, the other being a Huss Flipper, and both proved popular with visitors and drew attention from the local media. 

The video of the ride below was filmed by Barry Baza Matthews in 2000.

Unfortunately, Terminator’s first season did not go without a hitch. The ride required two people to operate, one acting as operator and one as attendant. The attendant would assist riders getting on and off the 30 seat gondola and making the necessary safety checks, and the operator would remain in the control box to operate the ride. The attendant would have the keys during the time the ride was loading and unloading and only when the ride was ready to go would they hand the keys to the operator, so the ride could run. One day in July 1994, the attendant, having completed loading and safety checks and handing the keys to the operator, was called back to the gondola by a rider. The operator, keys now in the control panel, started the ride unaware. The attendant, who at this point was standing at the end of the gondola, was thrown from the ride as it started, breaking their hip in the fall. Naturally, the operating procedure was changed to prevent a recurrence, but the story would be repeated at staff inductions for many years, to serve as reminder of the importance of diligence. 

Fortunately, the ride operated without further incident. It was originally sited in the centre of the park (next to the Caterpillar ride, as the first image shows), although its location and orientated was changed slightly for the 1998 season (as the other images show). It was then moved to the south end of the park for the 2001 season, where it stayed until the end of the 2003 season. 

The ride is now located at Jawa Timur Park 1, in Batu, East Java in Indonesia, where it is called Flying Tornado. Soriani & Moser built at least one other ride called Terminator and decorated it in a similar way. It was owned by M & D Taylor from 1993 until 1999, during which it operated at their amusement park in Scotland and toured Britain’s fairs, including Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle, Loughborough and Ilkeston. It then went to Wales’s Tir Prince Fun Park for 2000-2007 seasons. It is now in storage. Top Spin rides also operated at Alton Towers (Ripsaw, 1997-2015) and Chessington World of Adventures (Rameses Revenge, 1995-2019), among others. For now, some can be found at amusement parks across the world, while others tour European fairs. However, there are no rides of this type left in operation in the U.K. and many worldwide were withdrawn around the same time, as the rides neared 20-25 years of age. 

London Fun Bus

London Fun Bus, also known as the Flying Bus, arrived at Pleasure Beach in May 2014 and was set up south of the Dodgems. It was built by Italian company Sartori in 2000 and  could carry up to 24 children against the striking backflash, which features several London landmarks and icons.

The ride’s time at Pleasure Beach was short-lived and it was removed in September the same year. Free Fall arrived in its place the following year. The ride is currently for sale by Savvas Konstantinos Dakanalis, although there are numerous similar rides by Sartori, SBF-Visa and others.

London Fun Bus at Pleasure Beach in May 2014. Credit: Pleasure & Leisure Corporation Ltd.

Rock-o-Plane

Following on from last week’s post about UFO, this week’s post features another short-lived ride of the early 1980s - Rock-o-Plane.

Rock-o-Plane at Pleasure Beach in June 1982. 
Reproduced with permission of the University of Sheffield.

At first glance the ride looks like a big wheel. The ride experience is rather more intense though, as the enclosed caged cars, which can each seat two people, are free to spin. Each car has a brake in the form of a hand wheel, which controls how freely the car moves, so riders can control the intensity of the ride for themselves. If the brake is applied and released at particular points, the car will tumble upside down on it’s way round.

The ride was invented by Lee Eyerley in 1947. His company, Eyerley Aircraft Company, based in Salem, Oregon, USA, manufactured the first rides. Eyerley set up the company in 1930 intent on manufacturing flight simulators, although their first model, later named Orientator, proved so popular as a pay-per-ride amusement attraction that the company shifted its focus to amusement rides. It built rides until 1985. 

Rock-o-Planes were first imported to the UK during the 1980s and the ride at Pleasure Beach was one example. It only operated at Pleasure Beach for two seasons, in 1982 and 1983, before it was sold to UK showman Swales Bibby. It is still in the UK with showman Gavin Oates, although it is currently in storage. Other British examples were modified to replace each of the caged gondolas with a pair of forward-facing seats, for a really different ride experience. Many still travel fairs and carnivals in the USA.

UFO

UFO was an unusual ride, built by Spanish manufacturer Robles Bouso, that operated at Pleasure Beach for only two seasons in 1982 and 1983. It was located south of the Scenic Railway.

The ride concept developed from the Enterprise, which itself was developed during the 1970s. Eight gondolas, each seating two people, one in front of the other, were arranged in a ring which spun, pinning riders into their seats by centrifugal force, as the cars swung outward on pivots. Enterprise rides use a hydraulic arm to lift the ring of spinning cars nearly vertical. UFO went a step further and the ring of cars was mounted on an arc of track and driven from one side to the other and back again.

UFO ride at Pleasure Beach. This photograph was taken on 15 August 1983.
Reproduced by permission of the University of Sheffield.

After it’s time at Pleasure Beach and a season at Hayling Island the following year, the ride toured Britain’s fairs, firstly with Freddie Rose, then with the Rose Brothers. Unfortunately, the ride was not a success. It had a large footprint for the ride it offered, and was heavy to move and expensive to maintain. It was scrapped during the early nineties. The video below shows one in operation, although it's not clear if any survive today.