Rita, formerly known as Rita: Queen of Speed, is a launched roller coaster located in the Dark Forest section of Alton Towers amusement park in

Staffordshire Moorlands Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, is based in Leek and is located between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Peak District National Park. The ...

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. Designed by Intamin, the

Accelerator Coaster An Accelerator Coaster is a hydraulically launched roller coaster model from Intamin. The model usually consists of a long, straight launch track, a ''top hat'' tower element, and magnetic brakes that smoothly stop the train without making con ...

model opened to the public on 1 April 2005. It features an acceleration from 0 to in 2.5 seconds. The ride is loosely-themed to a drag racing concept, which partly changed when the section of the park transformed from "Ug Land" into the "Dark Forest" in 2010, when the ride TH13TEEN was added into that section. It is now themed as an abandoned drag racer that is used as the escape cart to escape the Dark Forest. In 2006, a similar launched roller coaster opened at

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

, called Stealth. It is also manufactured by Intamin and is faster than Rita, reaching speeds at . The ride was temporarily renamed "Camilla - Queen of Speed" on 9 April 2005 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles to

Camilla Parker Bowles Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

. This simply involved banner signage to notify guests of the name change.

Ride experience

''Rita'' was Alton Towers' new attraction for the 2005 season, where it was marketed as "Your best Alton Towers ride ever". The ride starts with the train racing forward from the station area, accelerating from 0 to in 2.5 seconds, and negotiates high speed corners and air-time hills (the layout is a figure-of-8) before then reaching the brake run parallel with the station. The track is painted red but the higher parts of the track are painted green due to a rule which states that no roller coaster should be visible above the tree line. The original pre-launch voice was delivered in a motor racing commentary-style, counting down to the start of a drag race. In 2010, the ride was subtly re-themed to align with the new Dark Forest area of Alton Towers, and theme of nearby

Thirteen Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

which opened in March that year. The ride control cabin and entrance were refurbished to look partially consumed by the branches of the supernatural Dark Forest. As well as the control cabin and Rita tyres being rethemed to suit the Dark Forest, the ride's trains have been rethemed with a darker grey tint to the bottom of the cars with forest stains over the flames. The trains still have the blue and purple cars with flames but with a tint of grey-brown to make Rita look damaged by the supernatural forest. The voiceover heard before the ride launches was also changed to match the more sinister theme. The message, ''"Keep your head back! Hold on tight! You MUST escape! Go! Go! Go!"'', was recorded by

Brian Henson Brian Henson (born November 3, 1963) is an American puppeteer, director, producer, voice actor and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson. Early life Henson was born on November 3, 1963, in Ne ...

. According to Alton Towers, the ride's maximum capacity is 1,150 riders per hour.

History

In September 2004 UG Land was stripped of almost all of its attractions including The UG Bugs, The Bone Shaker and Lava Lump preparing for a major new ride. The only rides that remained were the

Corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...

and the UG Swinger. On 1 April 2005 Rita Queen of Speed opened to the public and 'UG Land and the Thunder Rock Rally' was formed, incorporating the new ride, Corkscrew, and a number of other rides which would be removed in the following years. Rita - Queen of Speed (Alton Towers) 09.jpg, Rita as Rita Queen of Speed: 2005-2009 Rita - Queen of Speed (Alton Towers) 10.jpg, Rita launching with

1980-2008 in background. Rita - Queen of Speed (Alton Towers) 02.jpg, Rita Queen of Speed from the queue line In March 2010, following a change of the area to the Dark Forest, the "Queen of Speed" suffix was dropped from the ride's name, and Rita (as it is now known) received a retheme, with a redecorated entrance, queue line, station, control room and cars. Thirteen entrance.jpg, Th13teen entrance with Rita above. Rita (Alton Towers).JPG, Rita 2009–present in Dark Forest

Incidents

On the morning of 24 July 2012, the ride's launch cable snapped during testing while attached to an empty train. A similar incident also happened in 2005. No injuries were reported, but the incidents were similar to the 2009 failure of the

Xcelerator Xcelerator is a steel launched roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It was Intamin's first hydraulically launched coaster, while also the fourth Intamin installation at Knott's, alongside Sky Cabin, Calico River Rapi ...

rollercoaster's launch cable in the United States. Rita re-opened on 26 July 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rita - Queen Of Speed Roller coasters in the United Kingdom Roller coasters operated by Merlin Entertainments Alton Towers