Oblivion (roller coaster)

Oblivion
Oblivion's vertical drop
Alton Towers
Coordinates	52°59′12″N 1°53′47″W / 52.98667°N 1.89639°W / 52.98667; -1.89639Coordinates: 52°59′12″N 1°53′47″W / 52.98667°N 1.89639°W / 52.98667; -1.89639
Status	Operating
Opening date	14 March 1998
Cost	£12,000,000[1]
General statistics
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	John Wardley (layout and concept) Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH (Mechanics)
Model	Dive Coaster
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	65 ft (20 m)
Drop	180 ft (55 m)
Length	1,222 ft (372 m)
Speed	68 mph (109 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	1:15
Max vertical angle	90°
Capacity	1,700 riders per hour
G-force	4.5
Height restriction	55 in (140 cm)
Trains	7 trains with 2 cars. Riders are arranged 8 across in a single row for a total of 16 riders per train.
Single rider line available
Oblivion at RCDB Pictures of Oblivion at RCDB

Oblivion is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in England. The ride opened as the world's first dive coaster on 14 March 1998, amidst a large publicity campaign. It was the second in a long line of 'Secret Weapon (SW4)' rollercoasters to have opened at Alton Towers. The ride has a height restriction of 55 inches (140 cm). With a maximum speed of 68 mph, it is the third fastest roller coaster in the UK, behind Stealth at Thorpe Park and the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.^[2][3]

History

Construction

During 1997, Fantasy World (the area of Alton Towers in which Oblivion was eventually situated) was closed off and all the old fantasy-themed rides were removed except the Black Hole.^[4] Details about Oblivion were not revealed until March 1998.^[5]

The "SW4" codename stood for "Secret Weapon 4". SW3 was Nemesis, and SW 1 and 2 were unbuilt roller coasters originally intended for the Nemesis site.^[4]

Oblivion's opening was accompanied by a massive publicity drive, including appearances on Blue Peter, The Gadget Show, news channels and cereal boxes.^[6] In 1997, before Oblivion opened, some marketing memorabilia was released, including its own brand of deodorant.^[6]

Opening

When Oblivion did open, the area was re-themed to look like a sinister government facility, unlike Fantasy World's fairground theme, and renamed X-Sector.^[6] The only surviving ride from Fantasy World, the Black Hole roller coaster, was also changed; the large tent that it was situated in was repainted to blue and silver instead of green and yellow stripes.^[7] To make the new X-Sector a major ride area, Alton Towers added two old rides from other parts of the park: Energizer and Enterprise (both from Festival Park, now Dark Forest).^[8] Both rides were repainted to fit to the new theme.^[9]

Sponsorship

On 21 April 2011 the area around Oblivion was given a slight revamp to incorporate promotion for Fanta, the ride's new sponsor. The sponsorship included posters saying '15,000 ft drop, bring it on', despite the fact that the drop is actually 180 ft (60m).^[10][11] However, these were later removed after complaints from riders.^[12]

2012 incident

On 8 May 2012, a 20-year-old man climbed over safety fences and accessed the underground ride area.^[13] He reportedly dropped into the hole from which the roller coaster track re-emerges from the underground tunnel, walked through the underground section and emerged on a ledge where the track enters the ground.^[13] Neither he nor any guests on the ride were harmed following the ride cars being held at the boarding station.^[14] He was arrested for a public order offence, and the ride returned to normal operation the following day.^[13]

2013

With the new roller coaster The Smiler opening in 2013, Oblivion is no longer the only coaster in X Sector, as it had been since Black Hole's closure in 2005.^[15] In late January/early February 2013, Alton Towers began a process of repainting Oblivion's fading grey track, which had become very worn since opening in 1998.

The repaint took over 6 weeks to complete, with some cosmetic upgrades also being made to the station building and queue line structures. The coaster is now the same dark grey colour as its neighbour The Smiler.^[16][17]

In June, Oblivion suffered downtime owing to a gearbox component failing. The ride remained closed for a few weeks while a replacement part was manufactured. The ride re-opened on 25 June.^[18]

Ride experience

While riders queue they are shown three briefing videos featuring actor Renny Krupinski as a sinister man surrounded in darkness, who explains at length the physical and psychological effects of riding on Oblivion. Although based on scientific facts, his speeches are deliberately exaggerated with hyperbole and dark humour to give riders a sense of intimidation while preparing for Oblivion. The man remains unnamed throughout the videos, although the character was originally referred to as the Lord of Darkness during production.^[11] The final preshow video features a second character whose image appears inverted and therefore glowing white, who argues with the Lord of Darkness as to whether Oblivion is really safe for riders to experience; to which he is repeatedly ignored. The Lord of Darkness maintains that the ride is safe, before the video ends with the sound of his ominous laughter.^[19]

The queue line takes riders through a large, drawn out upwards helix, repeatedly passing under, through and over various buildings of abstract architecture, before traversing metal bridges into the elevated station building. Here they are batched into rows and board their ride cars, while various technical graphics are displayed on overhead screens. As the cars dispatch, the screens play an automated video featuring the Lord of Darkness in his final appearance as he recites the following monologue:

For some things, there is no rational explanation. There is no way out. There is no happy ending to the story. Welcome to the unknown; welcome to eternal darkness; welcome...to Oblivion.^[11]

A picture of Oblivion's drop, taken from the guest observation area.

The roller coaster has a simple layout with a 150 ft drop at 89.5 degrees, and is the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster ^[20][21] The car slowly ascends 60 feet at a 45 degree angle to build tension, then levels out, slowly travelling around a curve on a unique chain system, seen only on Oblivion, as the cars approach the drop. As each car reaches the drop it is held by a holding chain for a maximum of five seconds, giving the rider a clear view of the long drop, before a brake is released allowing the car to drop into the tunnel. This is followed by a highly banked turn that climbs up and makes the train lie on its side as it goes through. Then after dropping out of the turn the train climbs over a small rise in the track to the brakes, slowing down, and then pulls around back to the station.^[19][22] The open design cars accommodate sixteen passengers in two rows of eight. The back row is slightly raised to give passengers a clear view of the drop. A pre-recorded and disembodied voice saying 'don't look down' was played just before release. In 2004, this sound effect was removed due to sound restrictions on the park and the words "Don't look down" have instead been painted on the floor of the guest observation area which is visible to riders when the train is hanging over the edge.^[23]

Reception

Source	Rating
Backseat Blackout	[24]
Coaster Kingdom	[25]
Coaster Grotto	[26]
Theme Park Insider	[27]
CoasterMadMatt	[28]

When Oblivion opened, it was very well received, partly due to a massive advertising campaign by Alton Towers ^[29] However, it never appeared in the top 25 list of the Golden Ticket Awards. In Mitch Hawker's worldwide Best Roller Coaster Poll, it peaked at number 43 in 1999, and has had a mixed performance since ^[30]

References

External links

• Oblivion at the official Alton Towers website
• Oblivion at RCDB
• Oblivion review and photos on T-Park

Alton Towers
Roller coasters	Runaway Mine Train (1992) Nemesis (1994) Oblivion (1998) Galactica (2002-2015 as Air) (2016) Spinball Whizzer (2004) Rita (2005) TH13TEEN (2010) The Smiler (2013) Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure (2015)
Other rides	The Blade as Pirate Ship (1980) Enterprise (1984) Congo River Rapids (1986) Hex – The Legend of the Towers (2000) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! (2003) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride (2006) Driving School (2006) Marauder's Mayhem (2008) Battle Galleons (2008) Twirling Toadstool (2009) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (2012) The Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - 4-D Experience (2012)
Past rides	Doom & Sons (1981–1992) Around The World In Eighty Days (1981–1993) Thunder Looper (1990–1996) The Beast (1988–1997) Nickelodeon: Outta Control (1997–1998) Boneshaker (1995–2003) The Black Hole (1984–2005) Dynamo (1993–2005) Toyland Tours (1994–2005) Corkscrew (1980–2008) Beastie (1983–2010) Submission (2001–2013) The Flume (1981-2015) Ripsaw (1997–2015)
Theme park areas	Towers Street Katanga Canyon Gloomy Wood Forbidden Valley Adventure Land X-Sector Mutiny Bay Cloud Cuckoo Land Dark Forest CBeebies Land The Towers & Gardens
See also	Alton Towers Waterpark Merlin Entertainments John Wardley History of Alton Towers The Grand Knockout Tournament