Galactica (roller coaster)

Not to be confused with Battlestar Galactica (roller coaster).

Galactica
Previously known as Air; SW5
Alton Towers
Park section Forbidden Valley
Coordinates 52°59′09″N 1°52′55″W / 52.9859°N 1.88205°W / 52.9859; -1.88205Coordinates: 52°59′09″N 1°52′55″W / 52.9859°N 1.88205°W / 52.9859; -1.88205
Status Operating
Opening date 16 March 2002 (2002-03-16)
Cost £12 million
General statistics
Type Steel – Flying – Virtual reality
Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer John Wardley
Model Flying Coaster
Track layout Custom
Lift/launch system Chain lift hill
Height 20 m (66 ft)
Length 840 m (2,760 ft)
Speed 75 km/h (47 mph)
Inversions 2
Duration 3:06
Capacity 900 riders per hour
G-force 3.5
Height restriction 140 cm (4 ft 7 in)
Trains 3 Crafts trains with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 28 riders per train.
Fastrack available
Single rider line available
Galactica at RCDB
Pictures of Galactica at RCDB

Galactica (formerly known as Air) is a flying virtual reality roller coaster located in the Forbidden Valley area of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire, England. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, Galactica is the company's first flying roller coaster. Guests ride in a prone position lying chest down and experience the feeling of flight by "flying" close to the ground, under footpaths, and narrowly past trees and rocks. The ride was marketed as "Secret Weapon 5 (SW5)", a code name the park used in reference to the ride prior to announcing its official name.

The roller coaster originally opened as Air on 16 March 2002 as the world's first flying roller coaster. Following the close of the 2015 season, the park began a refurbishment of the ride and reopened it as Galactica on 24 March 2016. It features the world's first dedicated virtual reality on a roller coaster, an 840-metre-long (2,760 ft) track and reaches a top speed of 75 km/h (47 mph).

History

Air (2002–2015)

Alton Towers conceived the concept of a flying roller coaster in 1990, twelve years before Air eventually opened.[1] Following the opening of Nemesis in 1994, a flying coaster was planned by the park to open in 1998, but was delayed due to technological limitations.[2] During its development, Alton Towers marketed the ride as Secret Weapon 5 (abbreviated to SW5),[3] following the naming pattern established for previous major park developments. The ride was designed by John Wardley, the designer of many rides at Alton Towers and other Merlin theme parks.[4][5]

Construction of Air began in mid-2001.[2] Later that year, Alton Towers officially announced the ride as being an unnamed "Aerial Inversion Ride", expected to open in March 2002.[6] Alton Towers later revealed that the ride's name would actually be AIR, the abbreviation of Aerial Inversion Ride; it was subsequently altered to lowercase.[7][8]

In early 2002, testing of Air began with special crash test dummies. At the time of opening, Air tied with Oblivion as the most expensive ride at Alton Towers, at a cost of £12 million.[9][10] A £4.5 million marketing campaign for the ride included commercials based around the ride's slogan, "assume the position".[2] Air officially opened to the public on 16 March 2002.[9] On opening, Alton Towers entered into a five-year sponsorship agreement for the ride with Cadbury Heroes.[11]

Galactica (2016–present)

In June 2015, the park submitted a planning application to make modifications to the station building and retail space. This proposed adding a new photo opportunity into the queue, enclosing the station building with new walls, and constructing additional theming elements around the ride area.[12] This was in addition to an earlier planning application to convert the existing ride shop into a restaurant.[13] In October 2015, the first promotional material was posted on the Alton Towers website, advising guests to "prepare for a new flight" and to "watch this space".[14]

Retheme and Virtual Reality

On 12 January 2016, Alton Towers announced that Air would be re-themed as Galactica for the 2016 season and would include on-ride virtual reality headsets simulating a ride through the cosmos. The announcement was made at an event held at the Science Museum.[15] Galactica is the world's first roller coaster to use dedicated virtual reality. Each seat is fitted with a Samsung Gear VR headset, and pouch.[16] The virtual reality experience is optional, as guests can choose to ride without using the headsets.[17] A promotional website was also released explaining more information about the ride and its new storyline.[18] In late February 2016, the park announced that the official opening date would be 24 March 2016.[19]

Characteristics

Statistics

At the time of opening, Galactica was the tallest ride at Alton Towers, standing 20 metres (66 feet) tall.[9][10][20] The 840-metre-long (2,760-foot) ride reaches a top speed of 75 kilometres per hour (47 miles per hour). Riders can experience a g-force of up to 3.5g whilst on the ride. One cycle of the ride lasts approximately three minutes and six seconds.[9]

Trains

Galactica features a dual-platform loading station, permitting three trains to operate simultaneously. Each train has seven cars, with each car carrying four riders side-by-side in a single row. This configuration allows for up to 1500 riders per hour.[9]

Experience

A train in the loading position
A train ready to depart
A train in the loading position (left) and flying position (right)

Station and loading

Once in the station, riders board a train sitting down, in a similar style to inverted roller coasters.[21] Riders are restrained through a padded over-the-shoulder harness and a lap bar. At the ankles, two flaps hold the legs in position and close as the harness locks into place. After a train is fully locked and checked, riders are raised into the flying position and the train departs the station.[21] Since being rethemed to Galactica for 2016, riders have the option of wearing virtual reality headsets, which are attached to the restraints.

Ride layout

A train navigating the fly-to-lie
A train navigating the inline twist
Trains navigating the fly-to-lie (left) and inline twist (right) elements.

Galactica departs the station and rises a chain lift hill. The ride's first drop dips to the right, rises up to a 180° turn, and continues down a large drop to ground level. The track then twists so the riders are on their backs.[22] This manoeuvre is known as a fly-to-lie.[9] The coaster then performs a large upward left turn before twisting again, returning riders to the prone position.[22] This manoeuvre is known as a lie-to-fly.[9] After exiting from the lie-to-fly element, Galactica passes underneath a small ravine before pitching up, into a tight turn.[22] A 360° inline twist[9] is followed by a series of straight flying, and several turns and dips in the track. The train then slows in the brake run before returning to one of the station's two platforms.[22]

Reception

The Tussauds Group, owners of Alton Towers in the early 2000s, claimed that Air contributed to the park's strong performance in 2002 and 2003.[23]

In Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards, Air was ranked in the top 50 steel roller coasters numerous times following its opening. It peaked at position 24 in 2003,[24] before dropping to position 34 in 2004 and 36 in 2005.[25][26] In 2006, it tied for position 49 with another Bolliger & Mabillard flying coaster, Superman: Ultimate Flight.[27] It has not appeared in the top 50 since until 2015 it peaked at 38.[28]

In Mitch Hawker's worldwide Best Roller Coaster Poll, Air peaked at position 36 in its debut year.[29] The ride's ranking in subsequent polls is shown in the table below.

Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll: Best Steel-Tracked Roller Coaster[29]
Year 200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013
Ranking
36
64
61
54
75
94
107
96
106
[nb 1]
130
136
  1. ↑ No steel roller coaster poll was held in 2011.

References

  1. ↑ "The World's First Flying Rollercoaster Opening At Alton Towers" (Press release). Alton Towers. 10 March 2002. Archived from the original on 28 May 2005. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Air: A Coaster in the Making". Alton Towers Almanac. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "All Time Greats - Air". Alton Towers. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Gogarty, Paul (6 July 2002). "Tight buckles, white knuckles and screeeams!". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  5. ↑ Ralph, Owen (9 August 2010). "John Wardley". Park World Magazine. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  6. ↑ Koranteng, Juliana (15 October 2001). "Coaster shoots for all ages". Amusement Business 113 (41).
  7. ↑ Koranteng, Juliana (14 January 2002). "Alton Towers debuts coaster". Amusement Business 114 (2): 9.
  8. ↑ "Air Rollercoaster". Alton Towers. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Marden, Duane. "Air  (Alton Towers)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  10. 1 2 Marden, Duane. "Oblivion  (Alton Towers)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  11. ↑ "Minor works to the 'Air' rollercoaster, including enhancing the existing station area, installing a photo-opportunity kiosk and new themed features". Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Alton Towers plans extension to 'Air shop'". Leek Post & Times. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Alton Towers promise ‘out of this world’ year for 2016". Airgates. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Galactica launches at London's Science Museum". TowersStreet. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  15. ↑ White, Jeremy (18 March 2016). "Galactica at Alton Towers: What it's like to ride a VR rollercoaster (Wired UK)". Wired UK. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  16. ↑ Wright, Dan (12 January 2016). "Alton Towers announce Galactica". Airgates. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "Galactica". www.galacticatours.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Exciting developments for our 2016 season!". Alton Towers. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  19. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Nemesis  (Alton Towers)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  20. 1 2 Bevil, Dewayne (17 November 2008). "Manta on demand: more details about SeaWorld coaster under construction". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Bell, Ian (13 October 2006). "Air, Alton Towers POV". Coaster Force. YouTube. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  22. ↑ Koranteng, Juliana (22 December 2003). "Despite Economic Woes, Attendance Stable In Europe". Amusement Business 115 (51): 11, 15.
  23. ↑ "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. September 2003.
  24. ↑ "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  25. ↑ "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. September 2005.
  26. ↑ "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. September 2006.
  27. ↑ "Issue Archive". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  28. 1 2 Hawker, Mitch. "Steel Roller Coaster Poll 12 Year Results Table (1999 - 2012)". Best Roller Coaster Poll. Retrieved 27 April 2013.

External links

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