Oblivion (roller coaster)

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Oblivion

Location	Alton Towers
Park Section	X-Sector
Type	Steel
Status	Open
Opened	March 14, 1998
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Dive Machine
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	65 ft (19.8 m)
Drop	180 ft (54.9 m)
Length	1222 ft (372.5 m)
Max speed	68 mph (109.4 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	1:15
Max Vertical Angle	87.5 degrees
Capacity	1,900 riders per hour
Max G force	4.5
Oblivion at RCDB
Pictures of Oblivion at RCDB

Oblivion is the name of a roller coaster located at Alton Towers, England. Oblivion was the first Bolliger and Mabillard "Dive Machine" with construction starting in 1997 and opening in 1998. Oblivion was also featured in the PC game, Rollercoaster Tycoon.

The coaster has a relatively simple layout with a 180 ft drop at 87.5° degrees into a dark tunnel followed by a 180° banked turn back to the station. The cars on the coaster are of an open design and are larger than is typical, each car accommodating up to sixteen passengers in two rows of eight, with the back row being slightly raised to give the rear passengers a better view of the drop. As each car reaches the drop it is held by a brake for several seconds and passengers can see the words "Don't look down" on the ground in front of the dark tunnel to add to the atmosphere of the impending drop.

Although regarded as the worlds first vertical drop roller coaster, at its steepest Oblivion's drop in fact has an angle of 87.5° but anything between 85° and 95° is generally considered vertical in the Theme Park industry.

1 Fantasy Land
2 Secret Weapon 4
3 The Opening of Oblivion
4 External links

[edit] Fantasy Land

Oblivion is located in the X-Sector area of the park, an area that was once known as Fantasy Land. Originally its only rides were the Pirate Ship and Cine 2000. Before the theme park became established the park's entrance and car parks were located here. In 1984 The Black Hole was installed in Fantasy World, replacing the model dinosaurs, which were moved to the Log Flume site. Turbo Star and Gravitron were installed in the area in the 1980s but were later removed. Now in the X-Sector the only rides are Oblivion, Enterprise and Submission.

[edit] Secret Weapon 4

When the park opened in 1997 visitors found Fantasy Land closed off and all the rides removed. Surrounding the area were signs announcing the arrivial of a worlds first, codenamed Secret Weapon 4. Over the year Alton Towers' secrecy only fuelled speculation and hype, and the ever growing hole in the center didn't exactly stop rumours either. But it wasn't until March 1998 that Alton Towers finally revealed their brand new ride.

[edit] The Opening of Oblivion

In 1997 Oblivion finally opened accompanied by a massive publicity drive including appearances on Blue Peter, the news and cornflakes boxes. The ride was well received partly due to the unique way it uses psychological terror for what is essentially a short ride.