The new ride has taken three years of planning and construction during a challenging period for the UK theme park industry, so the launch event was a real celebration of what has been achieved in that time.

Gordon Gibb, General Manager and Co-Owner, told us that the extra time has allowed the park to really perfect the experience, adding all the finishing touches that sometimes don't come to fruition in the race to get a new ride ready to open. 

"Sik is a showstopper. We hope that the theme is entirely original and different in merging street fashion with a roller coaster, which to my knowledge has never been done before." 

The name of the new £18m roller coaster was inspired by the local clothing company SikSilk, and founders Barry Gill, Sam Kaye and David Johnston were all in attendance. Sik is a play on the word 'sick' being slang for good, as well as being linked to the name of the fashion brand.

Gordon was joined by other key representatives from Flamingo Land including Phil Pritchard, Theme Park Executive and Project Manager, Ross Snipp, a Company Executive, and Gordon's mother Maureen who had travelled all the way from Bournemouth for the event.

To launch this superb new coaster, Flamingo Land brought in top DJ Lily Rivers to play a set at the entrance to the ride, treated invited guests to exclusive access and staged a Sik Party with live entertainment throughout the afternoon.

Approaching from the park's entrance area, guests pass under an eye-catching sign and via a walkway that drops beneath the track in two places. This provides a chance to get up close to the train as it flies past, and a viewing area at the base of the imposing cobra roll is perfectly situated for spectators.

The landscaping around the ride includes a lake with a central water feature, large expanses of gravel and some planting. It's definitely styled rather than themed. Where the design excels, is in the attention to detail. A large hoop structure emblazoned with a Flamingo Land logo has been placed at the far end of the ride's signature heartline rolls, creating an unmissable photo opportunity.

The entrance to the ride is located in the Flamingo 1 section of the park, on the other side of the adjacent launched roller coaster Velocity, passing a new Sik Games stall and through the Sik Shop. It's quite unusual to have a ride shop as both the entrance and exit to a ride, but this works well. The shop is well stocked with SikSilk clothing and a small selection of Sik branded merchandise. It even includes a barbers, if you fancy a quick trim while you're there!

The queue has separate lanes for single riders and those with access needs, but all of them lead under the lift hill towards the ride's 25-metre vertical loop, another aspect of the overall design that has been very well conceived.

Modern and functional from the outside, and sporting a contemporary union flag design, the ride station has a club and festival vibe inside. The pumping dance music, colourful flags and dynamic lighting all create a brilliant atmosphere.

We somehow found ourselves in the front row of the first train to be dispatched during the event, and after being safely secured in our seats, we and 22 other riders began to ascend the 108ft (33m) lift hill. With a cable lift system, it reached the top in no time at all.

Of course comparisons to Colossus at Thorpe Park will be made, but it's not the same ride, nor does it offer the same experience.

The train design is superior to the old Intamin design, with comfortable lap bars instead of over the head restraints, a vastly improved seating position and far more leg room. It's also significantly smoother than the original ride type, especially at the front of the train. There's currently only one train, but the park has plans to acquire another. It can accommodate 24 riders and features a pre-distressed grey union flag design.

Each of the 10 inversions are present; a vertical loop, a cobra roll, two corkscrews and five heartline rolls. It reaches a top speed of 54 mph (87 kph) and propels riders along an 875-metre track during the 48-second ride experience. The first drop has been significantly re-profiled with the track curving down steeply into a low to the ground banked turn before the first inversion.

Sik features some great effects during the ride, including a dense mist in the cobra roll pit and upon entering the station at the end, and a series of timed water fountains that shoot up from the lake around the final banked curve.

The rider reactions to Sik throughout the launch day were fantastic, with huge smiles, laughter and the sound of excited conversations filling the station every time the train returned. People were absolutely loving it!

It's the first new thrill ride to open at Flamingo Land since the 151ft (45m) vertical swing ride Pterodactyl in 2014, and the first new roller coaster to open at the resort since Hero in 2013.

A happy coincidence about the ride, is that it features a double corkscrew in almost the exact same position as the double corkscrew on the park's previous roller coaster Corkscrew, which operated at the park from 1990 to 2011.

It is a Multi Inversion Coaster by Intamin and was originally destined for the Hopi Hari theme park in Brazil. It is the second generation of the original model (which operates at Thorpe Park as Colossus) and elsewhere in Europe this new version operates at Cinecittà World as Altair.

Considering that the ride was actually manufactured over 10 years ago, and has been sat in storage in Brazil and then Malaysia before being shipped to the UK and finally built here, it's remarkable that it looks and feels completely new, as though it's just arrived fresh from the factory.

Sik is easily the new number one roller coaster at Flamingo Land.

The ride is part of the Flamingo 1 area of the park, a rather generic looking area home to many other attractions such as the motorcycle themed launch coaster Velocity, flying coaster Hero, Disk'O ride Navigator and racing car ride Flamingo 1.

Described as urban-style, it's in stark contrast to the adventure aesthetic of much of the park, including The Lost Kingdom which uses African inspired designs to create a feeling of being on safari and a vast savanna-like setting with lions, cheetah, giraffe, zebra, rhino and hippos. Other areas of the park include Dino-Stone Park with its prehistoric dinosaur-themed rides, delightful Muddy Duck Farm and the seaside themed Splosh!

With a colour palette of black and grey, it's an odd choice for a theme park that has wildlife at its core, surrounded by rolling hills, woodland and farmland. But this was a deliberate choice by the park.

Sik facts:

• Length: 2870ft / 875m
• Height: 108ft / 33m
• Speed: 54mph / 87kph
• G-Force: 3G
• Drop: 100ft / 30m
• Manufacturer: Intamin
• Minimum Rider Height: 1.4m

Find out more!

Flamingo Land opened in 1959, it has been owned and operated by the Gibb family since 1978. It is the UK’s only combined theme park, zoo and holiday resort in one, all set in over 375 acres of North Yorkshire parkland. 

The name massively under-represents what the resort actually has to offer. Yes, there are flamingos, but that's a tiny part of the offering and not what most people that have visited would associate with it.

Some of the best rides at the park include Kumali, Velocity, Mumbo Jumbo, Cliff Hanger, Pterodactyl and the Lost River Ride.

Find out more and book your visit at flamingoland.co.uk