Pleasure Beach Resort in Blackpool has announced it will open its new ride Launch Pad on 7 May, after “months of hard work” to revamp the attraction from its previous incarnation as Ice Blast.

The 210 ft drop tower now achieves speeds of 80mph thanks to the addition of an enhanced pressure cylinder, giving customers “epic moments of weightlessness, a thrusting G-force, and a stomach-dropping descent.”

“The higher the pressure, the greater the build-up of kinetic energy,” said engineering director Karl Murphy. “By increasing the PSI (pound per square inch) 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.”

Launch Pad was the UK’s first tower ride when it was opened by Boyzone in 1997 as PlayStation: The Ride, before Tange replaced Sony as sponsor in 2000, and the attraction became Ice Blast.