This ride is defunct.
Big Apple was a junior roller coaster built by the Italian firm Pinfari. These rides are common in parks across the world, in the USA they are typically nicknamed a ‘Wacky Worm’.
The ride’s history can be traced back to the Gateshead Garden Festival of 1990, itself one of the National Garden Festivals spearheaded by Michael Heseltine in his role as Environment Secretary.
After the festival, the ride was relocated to Frontierland in Morecambe where it operated until 1999, before it appeared at the Pleasure Beach late into the 2003 season. It was located within the perimeter of the Avalanche on the former site of a high diving show.
❓Did You Know❓
A number of rides have operated at multiple parks that have been owned by the Thompson family. Rides such as Tidal Wave and Millennium Bug (Astroswirl) operated in both Blackpool and Southport. Rides including the Space Tower, Cyclone and Big Apple operated in both Blackpool and Morecambe.
Despite its brief tenure, the Big Apple represents one of the best examples of where the park has squeezed a ride into an impossibly tight space, cementing the ‘most ride intensive’ claim that the park uses in its marketing. The ride was retired at the end of the 2004 season.