ALTON TOWERS NET

During the summer of 2004 rumors started to spread that Alton Towers was going to add a coaster for the following year, and I like most didn't believe it. Coasters take time to plan and then time to build. Most builds were taking around a year from start to finish and it was starting to get later in the year, there was no way a new coaster was going to be built. Then UG Land was closed and construction began. Quite soon after track was going up and Rita was born.

Rita is a launched coaster from manufacturer Intamin, in short this means instead of the train being pulled to the top of a hill and then gravity powering the ride, it is catapulted down a straight section of track and this is where the excitement of Rita comes from. The catapult will actually launch you from 0 - 100 kph in 2.5 seconds. Following the launch you are subject to a couple of air time hills and some helix's.

Sadly to me I felt the rides location in the middle of UG Land dominates the area far to much, as it put a big gap between the other rides and the shops. It also just looks far to squeezed in like they couldn't find an edge of an area to put the ride so they placed it over the top of one.

I've also never found what follows the launch of the ride to be particularly exciting, more just track to go round while you recover from the launch which requires less time each time you ride it. However this shouldn't come as much of a surprise as Rita does hold the record for worlds smallest rocket coaster.

Don't let me put you off though, the launch is fantastic and other rocket coasters in the world such as Top Thrill Dragster consist of only a launch and a tower so having some helix's makes the ride nicely different.

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