The cheeky way Pleasure Beach Resort teased rivals Thorpe Park about their latest £8.72m ride

The Gyro Swing is a giant spinning pendulum that swings 120 degrees and reaches 138 feet at its highest point - changing the resort’s skyline.

When it’s finished in 2026, it will seat 40 riders who face outwards with their legs dangling, and will experience an exhilarating feeling of flying. It will be the biggest ride of it’s kind in the UK, almost double the size of Drayton Manor’s Maelstrom, which reaches 74ft.

While the announcement was a surprise to many, the arrival was cheekily teased 10 months ago - outside a rival theme park. In May 2024, Pleasure Beach bosses sent a digital van to rivals Thorpe Park on the day it opened its Hyperia rollercoaster, which beats the height of the Big One by a foot.

The van stated: “We’ll just have to come up with something else then, won’t we?”

It also said: “Beating the Big One’s tallest rollercoaster record by one foot? How petty. (Almost as petty as us hiring this van).

Social media lapped up the antics, with people calling it “iconic” and several people saying it was “superb”.

And the tactic ended up winning the Best Marketing Initiative at the Park Excellence Awards, held in Amsterdam in September 2024, beating Alton Towers' marketing of Nemesis Reborn, which came runner up.

A spokesman for the Pleasure Beach said: “The idea was to turn a negative into a positive and use it as a platform to showcase our brand personality, remind people we’re still an incredibly fun day out, and flip the conversation in our favour (and of course, to get people talking about Pleasure Beach on Hyperia's big day!)”

April Fools

On April 1 last year, bosses announced they were taking back the title of the UK’s tallest ride by erecting a two foot flag at the top of Big One’s lift hill.