Thirteen (roller coaster)
| Thirteen | |
|---|---|
Entrance to TH13TEEN
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| Alton Towers | |
| Park section | Dark Forest |
| Coordinates | 52°59′05″N 1°53′26″W / 52.984701°N 1.890421°WCoordinates: 52°59′05″N 1°53′26″W / 52.984701°N 1.890421°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | 20 March 2010 |
| Cost | £15,000,000 |
| Replaced | Corkscrew |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Steel |
| Manufacturer | Intamin |
| Designer | Merlin Studios |
| Model | Family Drop Coaster |
| Lift/launch system | Drive tire lift hill |
| Height | 65.6 ft (20.0 m) |
| Drop | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Length | 2,480 ft (760 m) |
| Speed | 42 mph (68 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Capacity | 1,100 riders per hour |
| G-force | 3.2 |
| Height restriction | 47.3 in (120 cm) |
 Fastrack available |
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 Single rider line available |
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Thirteen at RCDB Pictures of Thirteen at RCDB |
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Thirteen (officially stylised as TH13TEEN) is a steel roller coaster 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.
Alton Towers first revealed their plans for the ride in October 2008 when it was announced that Corkscrew would be removed. Planning permission was initially delayed due to concerns about an Iron Age hill fort in its vicinity. However, in March 2009, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council accepted planning permission for the ride (with conditions) and groundwork construction commenced about three months later. During the planning stages and construction, the ride was codenamed Secret Weapon 6.
In an interview shortly after the ride's opening, John Wardley, Ride Consultant for Merlin Entertainments, spoke about the development of Thirteen. The initial idea for the secret element originated from a previous rollercoaster plan that he designed for Alton Towers, in which a piece of track tilted back and forth during the ride. The ride, if it had been built, would have been similar to Winjas Fear and Force at Phantasialand, Germany, and therefore not a world's first ride. The plan never came to fruition, but the idea of moving track was kept and later developed into the world's first freefall dropping track element for Thirteen.
After the aging Corkscrew roller coaster was removed, a large site lay empty in what was then the Ug Land section of the park. John Wardley and others worked to create the idea for a new roller coaster that would fill this area. It would travel around the perimeter of the site and enter a dark, indoor show building for the secret element to take place. The type of coaster trains and track used for the ride was decided to be a type of Intamin family coaster for their lightweight trains, as this would reduce strain on the hydraulics that work the freefall drop.
The 'bad luck' concept and Dark Forest theme was designed by Candy Holland, Art Director for Merlin Entertainments. The Alton Towers marketing team, led by Morwenna Angove, made an effort to keep the project secret so that the surprise feature would not be revealed until the ride was opened. In 2008, concept art showing possible themes for the new ride were leaked online but only appeared briefly after they were deleted at Alton Towers' command.
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Wikipedia