Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Adventure Island have re-opened, signalling the start of the 2022 UK theme park season.
It is the first time the calendar has begun on a February weekend for two years, following last year’s COVID-19 hiatus.
Pleasure Beach managing director Amanda Thompson greeted crowds waiting to enter the Lancashire amusement park for the first time since December.
Updated versions of the Icon and Valhalla rides will be open later in the season. Several other major rides were closed due to maintenance activity.
The Icon modifications – dubbed Enso – will see spinning seats fitted to the rear of the rollercoaster. It will have an additional charge when it opens in the spring.
Adventure Island launched its new flat ride Screature at the end of its extended season last December.
When the rest of the UK’s major theme parks open by mid-March, it will be first time in three years they have been able to do so due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Flamingo Land is expected to open a major new rollercoaster – dubbed Inversion – by the summer.