Ride Experience
While riders queue they are shown numerous videos showing The Lord of Darkness (played by Renny Krupinski). CODENAME:XD001 He apparently lives in the underground tunnel and tells you that the ride is perfectly safe. One of the videos shows his alter ego, the Lord of Light, who is shown warning riders that they might die, but the Lord of Darkness is also there with him maintaining that the ride is safe. Another video, shown at the cafe, is a mock news flash detailing how a ride car has gone missing. This fuels the rumours that cars have fallen into the pit and have never been recovered. The Lord of Darkness leaves the last video with mocking, booming laughter, just as riders board the ride. Before the ride shuttle leaves the station, another short clip shows him saying:
"For some things, there is no rational explanation. There is no way out. There is no happy ending to this story. Welcome to the unknown; welcome to eternal darkness; WELCOME...to oblivion."
This is quickly followed by the Lord of Darkness' head disappearing into the distance and then the sound of an explosion. These visuals are all designed to build up fear and tension before the drop.
The roller coaster has a simple layout with a 196 ft drop at 88.8° degrees. The car slowly ascends 60 feet at a 45 degree angle to build tension, then levels out, slowly travelling around a curve as they approach the drop, using a unique chain system only ever used on Oblivion, as other Dive Machines use a slight downward gradient to move the car around the turnaround, for ease of maintenance. As each car reaches the drop it is held by a drop chain (reverse of a lift chain) for a 3 seconds- giving the rider a clear view of the long drop- before a clutch is released allowing the car to drop into the tunnel. This is followed by a highly banked turn that climbs up and makes the train lie on its side as it goes through. Then after dropping out of the turn the train climbs over a small rise in the track to the brakes, slowing down, and then pulls around back to the station. The open design cars accommodate sixteen passengers in two rows of eight. The back row is slightly raised to give passengers a clear view of the drop. A pre-recorded and disembodied voice saying 'don't look down' was played just before release. However, in 2004, this sound effect was removed due to sound restriction on the park. However, the words "Don't look down" have been painted on the floor of the guest observation area which is visible to riders when the train is hanging over the edge.
Although regarded as the world's first vertical drop roller coaster, at its steepest, Oblivion's drop has an angle of 88.8° as the ride vehicle's bogies are not spring loaded. To avoid a sudden jolt as the ride levels out, the drop was made at a 88.8° angle so the upper wheels remain more in contact with the track; if the drop was a 90° angled drop, negative G's would push the upper wheels slightly off the running rail and hit the track suddenly when leveling out, causing discomfort to riders and increasing the wear and tear on the wheels. Newer models of Oblivion's type have vehicles equipped with spring loaded bogies which allow the vehicle to drop at 90° and cushions the force of the wheels during leveling out.
Read more about this topic: Oblivion (roller Coaster)
Famous quotes containing the words ride and/or experience:
“The Danaan children laugh, in cradles of wrought gold,
And clap their hands together, and half close their eyes,
For they will ride the North when the ger-eagle flies,
With heavy whitening wings, and a heart fallen cold....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“If Montaigne is a man in the prime of life sitting in his study on a warm morning and putting down the sum of his experience in his rich, sinewy prose, then Pascal is that same man lying awake in the small hours of the night when death seems very close and every thought is heightened by the apprehension that it may be his last.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)