Alton Towers Resort is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, mini golf and hotel complex.
Rita, formerly known as Rita: Queen of Speed, is a launched roller coaster located in the Dark Forest section of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire Moorlands, England. Designed by Intamin, the Accelerator Coaster model opened to the public on 1 April 2005. It features an acceleration from 0 to 98.3 km/h (61.1 mph) in 2.5 seconds. The ride is loosely-themed to a drag racing concept, which partly changed when the section of the park transformed from "Ug Land" into the "Dark Forest" in 2010, when the ride TH13TEEN was added into that section. It is now themed as an abandoned drag racer that is used as the escape cart to escape the Dark Forest.
Nemesis Reborn, previously Nemesis, is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, England. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the ride was designed by Werner Stengel, from a concept by park developer John Wardley. It opened in the Forbidden Valley area of the park on 19 March 1994.
Superman: Ultimate Flight is the name of three flying roller coasters currently operating at three Six Flags amusement parks in the United States, those being Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Great America. Each of these steel coasters were designed and built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and opened in 2002 and 2003. Since 2003, Six Flags has installed Superman: Ultimate Flight in three of their parks. Themed to the popular comic book character, Superman: Ultimate Flight simulates flying by positioning its passengers parallel to the track, supported by harnesses and facing the ground through most of the ride. In the station, riders board the train sitting down. After the train is locked and checked, the trains are raised into the flying position. After the ride, the seats are lowered back into the sitting position for the next round of riders.
Oblivion is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. The prototype Dive Coaster model from Bolliger & Mabillard opened to the public on 14 March 1998 and was marketed as the "world's first vertical drop roller coaster". With a maximum speed of 68 mph (109.4 km/h), it is the fourth fastest roller coaster in the UK, behind The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Stealth at Thorpe Park, and Hyperia at Thorpe Park.
American Eagle is a wooden racing roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois. It was the first wooden roller coaster designed by Intamin of Switzerland and was built in 1981 by the contracting firm Figley-Wright at a cost of $10 million. While most of the records have since been broken, American Eagle had the longest drop and fastest speeds among wooden roller coasters when it debuted and is still recognized as a top racing coaster in the United States.
Galactica is a flying roller coaster located in the Forbidden Valley area of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire, England. It originally opened as Air on 16 March 2002 and is the first flying coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard. Guests ride in a prone position, meant to produce the feeling of flight, as the train passes close to the ground, under footpaths, and narrowly past trees and rocks. The ride was refurbished for the 2016 season and reopened as Galactica. It features an 840-metre-long (920 yd) track and reaches a maximum speed of 75 km/h.
Corkscrew was a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers theme park, near Alton in the English shire county of Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Corkscrew was manufactured for Alton Towers by Dutch company Vekoma, engineered by Werner Stengel of German Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH. The coaster was located in the Ug Land area, formerly called Talbot Centre. It was the theme park's oldest ride and considered one of the greatest factors in promoting the new theme park to the British public. It was the first double-inverting coaster in the UK and Europe, and was well received publicly in the 1980s.
Goliath is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, California. Manufactured by Giovanola of Switzerland, the hypercoaster is located in the Goliath Plaza section of the park and opened to the public on February 11, 2000. Its sub-tropical theme is characterized by ancient ruins of the Mayan civilization. The ride is nearly identical to Titan at Six Flags Over Texas, but it lacks a 540-degree upward helix prior to the mid-course brake run and features a slightly shorter track layout.
The Flash: Vertical Velocity is an inverted steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. The roller coaster is themed to the DC Comics character, The Flash. Originally named Vertical Velocity, the ride received a re-theme in 2022.
The Dive Coaster is a steel roller coaster model developed and engineered by Bolliger & Mabillard. The design features one or more near-vertical drops that are approximately 90 degrees, which provide a moment of free-falling for passengers. The experience is enhanced by unique trains that seat up to ten riders per row, spanning only two or three rows total. Unlike traditional train design, this distinguishing aspect gives all passengers virtually the same experience throughout the course of the ride. Another defining characteristic of Dive Coasters is the holding brake at the top of the lift hill that holds the train momentarily right as it enters the first drop, suspending some passengers with a view looking straight down and releasing suddenly moments later.
The Legend is a wooden roller coaster at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States. It was designed and built beginning in 1999 by the now defunct Custom Coasters International, with the help of designers Dennis McNulty and Larry Bill; it opened on May 6, 2000. The Legend is themed after Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and mimics the frightful ride Ichabod Crane took as he was chased through the woods by the Headless Horseman. The Legend has been consistently ranked among the world's top twenty-five wooden roller coasters at the Golden Ticket Awards, which are presented annually by Amusement Today magazine.
Black Hole, briefly known as Black Hole II (1988) and New Black Hole (1989), was an enclosed steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers theme park near Alton in the English shire county of Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf and designed by Werner Stengel, the Jet Star 2 model opened to public in 1983 and operated until 2005. The track layout was enclosed within a large tent to provide a dark ride experience.
Saw – The Ride is a steel roller coaster located at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, the Euro-Fighter model opened to the public on 14 March 2009 as the steepest freefall roller coaster in the world, with a drop angle of 100 degrees. It is themed to the Saw franchise, featuring an enclosed dark section and queue theming which makes numerous references to the film series as well as actual props used in the films and other Saw related media.
Thirteen is a steel roller coaster/haunted attraction/drop tower at Alton Towers in England. The ride was constructed by Intamin and opened on 20 March 2010. It is the world's first vertical freefall drop roller coaster, on which the track and train freefall approximately five metres in darkness. The ride replaced and is built on the former site of the Corkscrew, which resided at Alton Towers for 28 years between 1980 and 2008.
Verbolten is a Zierer multi-launched partially-enclosed steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia. The concept was jointly designed by the park's creative design team and by Zierer of Germany. "Verbolten" is a play on words of the German word verboten, which translates to "forbidden" in English.
The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. The Infinity Coaster model from Gerstlauer set a world record for most inversions on a roller coaster when it opened in 2013, featuring 14 inversions that include dive loops, sidewinders, corkscrews, and other inverting elements. The ride was constructed in the X-Sector area of the park and underwent an extensive advertising campaign, during which it was codenamed Secret Weapon 7 (SW7).
Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure is a family roller coaster located in CBeebies Land at Alton Towers, Staffordshire. It opened on 21 March 2015. It is located next to Spinball Whizzer, in an area which was previously part of Adventure Land. The ride is manufactured by Italian amusement ride company Zamperla and is themed around the children's television programme, The Octonauts, which is aired on CBeebies. It is a small family coaster, with a height of 6.5 metres and a 3-metre drop. It contains no inversions. The coaster replaces Beastie, which was removed in 2012.
Wicker Man is a wooden roller coaster at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, the £16-million ride opened to the public on 20 March 2018 following a three-day weather delay. It set several milestones among wooden coasters including the first to be built in the UK in 22 years and the first to incorporate fire. Initially codenamed "Secret Weapon 8", a traditional naming scheme for major upcoming projects at Alton Towers, its official name was revealed in January 2018.
HangTime is a steel roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. The Infinity Coaster was manufactured by Gerstlauer on the former site of Boomerang and Riptide. On opening, it had the steepest drop on a rollercoaster in California, at 96°. HangTime was also marketed by the park as the first Dive Coaster in California. It opened on May 18, 2018.
