Watch as 200ft cylinder lifted into place on Pleasure Beach Resort's re-imagined ride

A 200ft cylinder, the heart of the revamped ride, was successfully craned into position on Monday after traveling over 1,000 miles across Europe to reach the resort.

This marks a crucial step in the project, with the cylinder playing a key role in transforming the ride experience.

The cylinder is made of five individual sections which each weigh 1.9 tons.

Once connected, the entire cylinder’s weight is equal to a large African elephant, a military tank, a cruise ship’s anchor or Big Ben’s bell.

It has a pressure of 105 PSI, which means that each square inch inside the cylinder is experiencing a force of 105 pounds.

Karl Murphy, director of engineering, said: “The higher the pressure, the greater the build-up of kinetic energy.

“By increasing the PSI we’ve increased the force, and therefore the acceleration of speed is greater, meaning riders will feel a huge difference and shoot to the sky with more power than ever before.

“This new cylinder is what’s going to create those stomach dropping moments and feelings of weightlessness that guests are going to love.”

The milestone moment is the latest stage in the extensive project, which has been taking place during Pleasure Beach’s closed season, lasting from December until February.

The ride has already been given a striking aesthetic makeover, with a bold new colour scheme of blue and red, refreshed branding and a space exploration theme.

The majority of the work has been carried out by the resort’s talented in-house team of engineers, painters and project managers.

An engineer from S&S, the ride's manufacturer, also travelled from the United States to oversee the cylinder’s installation.

While an official opening date is still to be confirmed, Launch Pad is expected to debut early in the 2025 season.