EXCITED families have been enjoying unrivalled views across Southend after Adventure Island opened its new, fearsome £1million drop tower ride.

Vertigo, the new ride sitting in the centre of the seafront theme park, received rave reviews from customers over the weekend after the first riders took to the skies on Saturday.

The huge 38-metre drop tower provides panoramic views of the city as theme-park goers are taken on a slow rise to the top before it sends them plummeting back to the ground.

The ride has been installed in rapid time after it was delivered to Adventure Island earlier this month.

Its opening comes just days after the beloved Helter Skelter – which had been at the park for 40 years – was dismantled by bosses which has been sold to an operator specialising in vintage rides.

The Helter Skelter was one of the few rides that dates back to the parks time as Peter Pan’s playground.

Philip Miller MBE, owner of Adventure Island, said it was a successful weekend for the new ride.

He said: “We had terrific feedback from our customers. Vertigo rode full all weekend.

“It is a lovely family ride with mums and dads accompanying their kids. It has a certain amount of stomach churn but nothing terrifying like Axis.”

Vertigo was constructed and tested in Italy, with Stockvale managing director Marc Miller travelling to test it out in March, before it was transferred to Southend.

The new ride is now the largest at Adventure Island, standing even taller than the 36-metre City Wheel which opened in December 2022.

Donna Roff visited Adventure Island with her two children Phoebe, 14, and Erin, 11, on the opening day of Vertigo specifically to test out the new ride.

She said: “It was the reason we went on Saturday, and it was the first ride my children excitedly went on.

“They both enjoyed it.

“They did say they wished it went a bit faster, as they felt Skydrop (a ride at Adventure Island) is more of a thrill.

“But they both really enjoyed it and liked that it went so high. It will certainly be a ride they go on regularly.”

Resident Michael Chapman added: “Me and my boy went on it on Sunday. It was proper windy at the top.

“I was surprised. The best drop tower I have ever been on, and I have been on more than eight already.”