Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Thirteen (roller coaster)
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.
John Wardley, a ride consultant for Merlin Entertainments, spoke about the development of Thirteen in an interview shortly after the ride's opening. 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 Winja's Fear & Force at Phantasialand, Germany.
The ageing Corkscrew roller coaster was removed ahead of the new ride's development. The coaster model was decided as an Intamin family coaster, chosen for the lightweight trains to perform the vertical drop element.
The concept and theme was designed by Merlin Magic Making (MMM). The Alton Towers marketing team made an effort to keep the "world's first" element 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' request.
In a press statement that was released several months after construction started, the ride was promoted as a 'psychoaster' and was said to create a level of psychological fear.
Various phrases and slogans were used to promote the ride. In August, a banner was erected next to the construction site on 8 October reading: "Ride into the Unknown". Alton Towers released a new marketing campaign later inviting readers to "Ride the Demon of the Dark Forest" and "Surrender in March 2010". However, neither of these campaigns expressly revealed the name of the new ride. The attraction's name was officially announced as Thirteen on 11 December 2009 through a press release. The ride's main slogan was used after: "If you go down to the woods today, you'd better not go alone."
During the park's 2009 Scarefest, hooded wraiths were seen roaming around the Ug Land area in the build-up to the new ride. Warning signs were put up explaining their appearance was linked to "next year's new ride".
Hub AI
Thirteen (roller coaster) AI simulator
(@Thirteen (roller coaster)_simulator)
Thirteen (roller coaster)
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.
John Wardley, a ride consultant for Merlin Entertainments, spoke about the development of Thirteen in an interview shortly after the ride's opening. 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 Winja's Fear & Force at Phantasialand, Germany.
The ageing Corkscrew roller coaster was removed ahead of the new ride's development. The coaster model was decided as an Intamin family coaster, chosen for the lightweight trains to perform the vertical drop element.
The concept and theme was designed by Merlin Magic Making (MMM). The Alton Towers marketing team made an effort to keep the "world's first" element 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' request.
In a press statement that was released several months after construction started, the ride was promoted as a 'psychoaster' and was said to create a level of psychological fear.
Various phrases and slogans were used to promote the ride. In August, a banner was erected next to the construction site on 8 October reading: "Ride into the Unknown". Alton Towers released a new marketing campaign later inviting readers to "Ride the Demon of the Dark Forest" and "Surrender in March 2010". However, neither of these campaigns expressly revealed the name of the new ride. The attraction's name was officially announced as Thirteen on 11 December 2009 through a press release. The ride's main slogan was used after: "If you go down to the woods today, you'd better not go alone."
During the park's 2009 Scarefest, hooded wraiths were seen roaming around the Ug Land area in the build-up to the new ride. Warning signs were put up explaining their appearance was linked to "next year's new ride".