Blackpool Pleasure Beach by Mack Rides in Germany. Icon is the first coaster in the UK to feature a double launch and is the largest ever single investment at the park costing £16.25 million. Pleasure Beach was founded in 1896 by Alderman William George Bean after he failed in his attempt to become an advertising man on New York's Madison Avenue. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1897 and opened two separate amusement parks; one adjacent to Euston Road in Great Yarmouth and another in Blackpool, opposite the tram terminus. The Great Yarmouth amusement park failed to generate much interest and so
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach coaster which was present at the Pleasure Beach from 1929 to 1931. In 1929 Pat Collins attended the Paris Colonial Exposition, where the largest attraction was the Scenic Railway. It had been designed by German Herr Erich Heidrich of Hamburg especially for the Exposition, and was operated by showman Hugo Hans. At the close of the Exposition, Pat Collins bought the ride and had the components shipped to England. They arrived in February 1932 and a team of German workmen began constructing the ride on the sands of the Pleasure Beach site. The ride opened to visitors in April 1932.