Defunctland: The History of Alton Towers' Black Hole

as you admire its dignified tranquility it's hard to believe that this is the crowning glory of a unique achievement that draws more than two million visitors a year they come quite simply for the day out of a lifetime because this isn't merely a stately home this is Alton Towers Britain's great entertainment success story there are charming rides the whole family can enjoy like around the world in 80 days a colorful gondola trip round an enchanted Lagoon with a different serenade for every ingenious setting nearby do you fancy a cuppa takes on a whole new meaning the delightfully designed teapot ride will leave you stirred but not shaken and here the fountains really do play their jets arching like frisky caterpillars even the great American leisure parks could never compete with this they started 150 years too late Alton Towers is special because it cares it's beautiful wholesome safe and above all hugely enjoyable Alton towns [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the 1600s a ruined castle located in present-day Staffordshire England was reconstructed and repurposed as a hunting lodge the castle constructed around 600 years prior had been owned by a series of English noblemen before it was mostly destroyed in the English Civil War however one tower remained and it was implemented into the hunting lodges design the lodge was split into two parts one being used for the family of the Earl Shrewsbury and the other available for rent the lodge was named Albertan Lodge the ancient name given to the nearby village of Alton the lodge was renovated into a permanent residence for the Earl in the early 1800s this renovation doubled the size of the structure and added an additional Tower albertson Lodge was renamed to the Alton Abbey a sprawling garden was created adding to the beauty of the estate after the Earl passed in 1827 his nephew took over his position and eventually his residency he expanded the estate even more and renamed it to Alton Towers he would even begin to occasionally invite the public to visit the residency Alton Towers would be handed down to the succeeding Earl's of Shrewsbury for the coming decades in the 1890s the Earl began an annual festival on the estate in which the public could visit the gardens and be treated to fireworks clowns and torture devices in the early 1920s the Earl Shrewsbury would put Alton Towers up for sale a group of entrepreneurs would take this opportunity to purchase part of the estate and update it for public use under the company Alton Towers limited this remained until World War two when the British government acquired the land for training grounds Alton Towers Limited would resume operation after the war opening an elaborate model train display in 1957 the model was so impressive the Alton Towers limited began requiring an admission fee to view it over the next two decades the land surrounding the estate would be renovated for the public's enjoyment Alton Towers Limited would add a lake for boating a small fair with temporary attractions sea lions and a chairlift in 1973 the famed English property developer John Broome married the daughter of the owner of Alton Towers he then purchased a major share in the company renovating the land once again with additional attractions and events throughout the 70s Broome would begin to study other successful theme parks throughout the world including the popular Disney parks in the United States the management of Alton Towers one of the intricate theming of Disneyland and Walt Disney World and they realized that they would not need to renovate the entire area in favour of a world of fantasy they already had this tour local grounds the beautiful albeit deteriorating castle and the expansive gardens Alton Towers would simply need to remove their temporary makeshift attractions and replace them with something bigger and better [Music] in 1980 Alton Towers began adding large-scale permanent attractions this featured a movie theater named the Cinna 2000 and the swinging pirate ship Alton Towers also constructed their first two rollercoaster the corkscrew a classic by popular manufacturer aerodynamics this was the first double looping coaster in the UK and while good start for Alton Towers it was clear that the park was still finding its footing while broom was striving to match the theming to park such as Disneyland the roller coaster lacked any whatsoever it was incredibly similar to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's first coaster Python both were developed by aerodynamic both featured their signature corkscrew loop both lasted about a minute and a half both were yellow and Python a corkscrew both reached the short height of around 70 feet in short Python was no record breaker and its lack of theming was problematic for a park wishing to capture Disney magic however it was massively successful in drawing audiences and Alton Towers the new tractions were met with such a positive response both verbally and monetarily that Alton Towers immediately expanded and its seeming improved the very next year the park would open his first themed area named after the noble family that presided over the castle during its stages of rapid development that same year a theatre was added along with a log flume ride the flume then named the white water flume was the world's longest and was 15 feet taller than the corkscrew coaster at a height of nearly 90 feet in 1983 the second themed land fantasy world opened this began a more consistent sectioning of the parks attractions the corkscrew coaster along with other temporary carnival attractions were section two the Festival Park area while the pirate ship in the cinah 2000 were on the other side of the park in fantasy world Alton Towers was booming with new temporary guest experiences being added to entertain the large crowds in the midst of this wild success the park was planning a new thrilling experience for its guests in 1974 anton schwarzkopf the famed a german coaster designer that would go on to build the first vertical looping steel coaster debuted his most recent sign the Jetstar - this was the second version of the successful Jetstar model versions of the original were reproduced all across the world popular for their condensed nature which was perfect for the smaller parks it's fast speed and sharp turns made some riders uncomfortable especially as it aged Jetstar's not to be confused with star jet the coaster that famously fell into the Atlantic Ocean due to Hurricane sandy in 2012 star jet was at Casino pier in Seaside Heights New Jersey where it actually replaced an original jet star model in the early 2000s at the 1974 World's Fair and spoke in Washington Schwarzkopf would introduce jet star to to the public this model was similar in style to the jet star one with a few key differences first the new ride implemented an electric spiral lift hill instead of the originals chain lift this was powered by an electric track and small motors beneath the rides car the lift is weak which is why a gradual spiral incline is necessary an electric spiral that's not only made jet start to experience more enjoyable but also condensed the lift allowing for more Trek another difference was the Jets r2 was 200 feet longer than just r1 which might be attributed to the longer length of the lift Hill finally the new model had a hire car capacity than the original the new coaster was a massive success at the World's Fair and two years later it was moved to Farmington Utah silcoon amusement park Schwarzkopf eventually would release the Jets r3 or jumbo jet which was a larger version of its predecessor the Jets r2 model was probably the most popular of the trilogy being reproduced in multiple countries on multiple continents eventually finding its way to a growing amusement park in Staffordshire England strictly for none but the brave in fantasy world there's the new black hole which makes the old one look distinctly tame this pitch dark space ride planted around impossibly tight bends and down seemingly share drops in 1984 Alton Towers opened its second roller coaster the black hole the black hole was a jet star - housed in two large tents complete with special effects on theming over 250,000 metric tons of soil had to be excavated in order to place the ride in the hilly area the coaster was an obvious attempt to copy Space Mountain at Walt Disney World and Disneyland a fact they did not try to hide of course the theming was not nearly as complete a space mountains which is understandable considering that it was made on a budget of one tenth of space mountains with Alton Towers coaster costing around 2.4 million dollars while space mountains cost around 20 million dollars nearly ten years prior the black hole's effects comprised of a few rocks that were barely ever visible and minimal laser and star projections it also did an attempt to tell any kind of story like other Space Mountain ripoffs did guests do not know what to expect out of the enclosed coaster and the theming revealed nothing during the boarding process or during the spiral ascent into darkness while riding roller coasters guests subconsciously braced themselves as they see an upcoming twister turn this results in a smoother ride experience as both the guests and the coaster are working to navigate changes in direction together this symbiotic relationship becomes clear when guests ride a coaster that goes in Reverse such as the classic boomerang style the first trip in which guests are travelling forward is not nearly as jarring as the second reverse run as guests are not able to brace themselves for what is coming behind them most indoor coasters are steel coasters that are already fluid Space Mountain the long before riding the steel coaster could feel as smooth as butter compensates for the impairment created by darkness by having a very limited top speed of 28 miles per hour and even the Disney classic has become increasingly rough with age the black hole did not account for the fact that guests would not be able to see when and where a turn would come and due to the Jetstar twos compactness nearly all of its turns are mind-numbingly sharp so in 1984 when guests first plunged into the darkness of the black hole following 27 feet at a speed of 32 miles per hour they were not prepared for the intense whiplash they would receive at the bottom this immediately gave the ride a reputation of Terror making it quite popular among the local youth one recalls I don't think any coaster after the black hole created the same sense of buzz around the schoolyard you were nobody until you rode the black hole and proudly showed off your own ride photo at school in 1984 it was the nemesis and oblivion of its day but back then steel coasters were still new so I had a far greater impact on visitors and the later grand rides and the fact that it was all hidden in the dark only added to its sense of Menace as mentioned the ride also featured an on-ride photo that would be purchased upon exit the ride cars fit to per seat in a single-file meaning that one rider would have to sit in the others lap for a total of 6 per vehicle for years there have been rumours that there was a death on the black hole but this is not true however there was a notable accident that occurred only weeks after it opened the metal and mechanisms and one of the ride cars undercarriage broke loose causing it to Halse in the front of the car to derail this of course injured the passengers the majority of which were teenagers or children the injuries were minor when compared to the worst case scenario but one guests needed five stitches in their head and another 19 in their jaw the ride was inspected and quickly reopened just one year after the black hole opened it underwent a refurbishment lights were added to the spiral list of the guests could see the drop coming the first Hill was adjusted to reduce whiplash and a smoke machine was added to the special effects lineup this machine was originally oil base but was later changed to water-based smoke because the oil lubricated the rail so much that dangerously increased the speed of the coaster three years after this refurbishment the black hole would be dismantled and transported out of the park where I was taken to a manufacturer that adjusted the ride to allow for new dual car trains the ride reopened the same year now marketed as a new ride black hole - despite the only changes being the Train style and a few minor updates to special effects the next year in 1989 the sequel's signature was dropped and the ride was just referred to as new black hole this was changed almost immediately reverting back to simply the black hole the following year Alton Towers had grown dramatically during the 80s and a fantasy world section of the park was just a small part of the story the entire park had improved its theming and added new thrill rides one of the new coasters of the 1988 Beast a Jetstar three jumbo jet coaster observant park guests noticed the striking similarities between beasts and the black hole leading many to wrongly believe that they were the same ride the confusion and near repetitiveness would turn out to be the least of the black hole's problems because while Alton Towers had boomed in the 80s it was nothing compared to the growth that they would face in the 90s [Music] while Alton Towers had originally been comprised of simpler mundane coasters that would all change in the mid to late 90s in 1992 roller coaster manufacturer BM changed the landscape with their new inverted coaster Alton Towers would be one of the first parks to receive the style in 1994 with the well themed nemesis this was B n M's first European ride and it solidified Alton Towers as the capital of thrills in the region four years later BN m would return to the park to test out a new coaster unlike anything ever created [Music] [Music] in 1998 the world's first dive coaster oblivion opened adults and towers diving vertically into a large hole in the ground oblivion thrilled audiences with its unique design the attraction itself was remarkably short with a ride time of just over a minute long but at more than satisfied guests the attraction was placed in the fantasy world section of the park causing the entire area to undergo a massive reteaming it was changed to X sector an experimenting facility that used guests as subjects the festival themed fantasy world rides were removed leaving only one when the new land opened in 1998 the black hole in preparation for oblivion is opening the black hole was redressed it's green and yellow tents were replaced with dark blue ones the interior hue was updated with the steampunk bronze look possibly attempting to copy Disney's newest space mountain which had opened in Paris three years earlier the black hole would continue operation for the next few years however in 2004 20 years after it opened Alton Towers announced that the attraction would be closing the ride had become severely outdated throughout the years and as it aged it become more expensive to maintain white chalk marks the railings in order to reveal any fractures in the track if they were to occur it was deemed that the attraction was not worth the time and money of maintenance and on March 5th 2005 the attraction shut its doors the final riders were allowed to ride the attraction with the lights on as well as tour the ride the large blue tents had abandoned for years in 2007 the track was removed from the park but the tents remained after four years residing empty in the ex sector the black holes show building was used for two separate seasonal haunted house attractions just months after this in early 2012 Alton Towers announced that a new roller coaster would use the land currently occupied by the remains of black hole the new coaster was named the smiler and it holds the record for the most inversions of any coaster in the world with a total of 14 the ride opened on May 31st 2013 and it is still operating today the coasters backstory fits in with the ex sector experiments and that the guests are subjected to trials designed to make them smile and somehow its marketing campaign was even more terrifying than Oblivion's dos look down miles don't look down let go of the pain focus on the joy my body is sufficient the new ride has had multiple incidents including a recent collision that led to two guests having to partially amputate one of their legs the smiler tops his predecessor in almost every measurable category theming story and design but for many fans nothing will compare to the original attraction that occupied its space maybe it was the slow spiral set maybe it was the thrilling plunge into darkness or maybe it was the whiplash and ensuing neck pain whatever it was it was fun special and memorable it was the black hole [Music] [Music] you you

Channel: Defunctland

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Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, alton towers the black hole, alton towers history video, alton towers defunctland, defunctland coaster history, alton towers accidents, alton towers black hole, black hole, alton towers, defunctland uk, defunctland international rides, defunctland history of roller coasters

Id: LbuXDlEJPME

Length: 16min 32sec (992 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2018