Idea: should Oblivion be converted to a floorless B&M Dive Machine?

Rick said:

I don't disagree with the bulk what you're saying, but Alton isn't a museum, no park is. Things need refreshing from time to time. With the age, the maintenance budget keeps growing - you have to make it worth your while.

I'm not sure it is that popular anymore, either.

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I would second that. It generates queues (then quickly deals with them mostly) when the Smiler suffers down time or is particularly busy. I waited 10 minutes at the station a few weeks ago during Ert just for 1 other person to arrive to come on with me, if not they were going to send me on with a member of the despatch team as I wasn't allowed to ride on my own.

Remember it's a public perception of the rides that we're questioning here and I don't think queue lengths are always a great indicator of how it's perceived. If you've paid for a day out at Towers, you're going to make sure you're going to ride everything anyway. It's worth remembering than even on 3 craft and 2 stations, Air used to generate pretty large queues but it still got refreshed.

Oblivion and X sector in general needs TLC, and Oblivion will cost more to maintain as it gets older. Towers would be foolish to spend increasing amounts of money on a ride diminishing in relevance. I believe this is completely different to Nemesis where the ride has an iconic status.

I know people are saying it's not popular anymore, and I know exactly what you mean, but the other day oblivion had no significant downtime(!), but consistently had a 45+ minute queue until an hour before park close. The smiler was walk on most of the day, and even galactica rarely exceeded half an hour that day. Bit off topic, but I wouldn't say it's unpopular. I just think it's never as good as the first time you ride it, it never has the same levels of tension again. Not like some drop rides like apocalypse of tower of terror (maybe even 13) that terrifies me every time.

The only addition i'd like to see is a baggage hold area. But even then, I'm not sure how you could retrofit them into the older rides. I like Oblivion the way it is though. Not really any need to change the ride.

Stuntman707 said:

The only addition i'd like to see is a baggage hold area. But even then, I'm not sure how you could retrofit them into the older rides. I like Oblivion the way it is though. Not really any need to change the ride.

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A baggage hold would be pretty difficult given the design. The queue and ride area was built for mandatory lockers, which lasted about.... 4 weeks? It wasn't very long anyway.

Six Flags absolutely smash their operations these days - there's a lot to be said in terms of forcing people to use lockers, from both a safety and speed point of view. That said, the Americans seem to be far happier to surrender their 'cell' phones for a longer period, than the Brits might be.

Look at what they done to air so I wouldn't put it past them. I don't see this having good enough marketability and the public probably wouldn't be won over by it.

I've just noticed that Baron at Efteling is only 6 person per row train instead of Oblivions 8. I think Oblivion needs something, floorless trains could be a way to go to give it a refresh because let's face it, it's not that reridable now adays. Up, down, end.

chris said:

I think Oblivion needs something, floorless trains could be a way to go to give it a refresh because let's face it, it's not that reridable now adays. Up, down, end.

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Oblivion is one rollercoater that I still have plenty of back to back re-rides when I visit

RoyJess said:

Oblivion is one rollercoater that I still have plenty of back to back re-rides when I visit

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That sounds like a lot of work, even if you skip the lower queue area!

chris said:

I've just noticed that Baron at Efteling is only 6 person per row train instead of Oblivions 8. I think Oblivion needs something, floorless trains could be a way to go to give it a refresh because let's face it, it's not that reridable now adays. Up, down, end.

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Oblivion has always been pretty hit and miss technically, probably as much now as it was back in the day. I think the homegrown B&M control system was perhaps not the best way to go.

Rick said:

That sounds like a lot of work, even if you skip the lower queue area!

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Great exercise and if I would ever skip the lower queue area....

Guys, its still probably one the most well known and talked about rides in Britain. The amount of people I overhear saying things along the lines of "That ride at Alton Towers that goes vertical into a black hole in the ground." I mean really, is there any other ride like it on the planet? There might be dive coasters that go into themed tunnels, but not 100ft underground!

It plays on the fear of the unknown, which is an instinct that will always be there, meaning there will always be people wanting to ride it! It has a groundbreaking (quite literally) USP, that is still unique to this day! One of the most impressive rides ever doesn't need messing about with!