Th13teen is a steel family roller coaster at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England, built by Intamin and opened on 20 March 2010. It occupies the site of the park’s former Corkscrew, which operated there for 28 years before its removal in 2008, and cost around £15 million to build.
What sets Th13teen apart isn’t outright speed or height but a single, disorienting trick: partway through the layout, the train enters a darkened crypt where a section of track drops away beneath it, sending riders into a real vertical freefall of about five metres before the track locks back into place. Alton Towers and its designer, John Wardley, billed it at the time as the world’s first roller coaster to feature a genuine freefall drop element.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Alton Towers
- Manufacturer: Intamin
- Opened: March 20, 2010
- Height: about 66 ft (20 m)
- Top speed: about 42 mph (68 km/h)
- Length: about 2,480 ft (760 m)
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
Th13teen begins as a fairly conventional family-style layout, winding through Alton Towers’ Dark Forest area with modest hills and turns at up to 42 mph. The real tension builds as the train is drawn into an enclosed, coffin-lined crypt, where it comes to a near stop in total darkness before the freefall section releases and drops the train roughly 16 feet before catching it again.
With no inversions, the coaster relies on theming, sound effects, and the unpredictability of the drop’s exact moment to deliver its scares, making it more of a themed thrill experience than a high-speed coaster.
Replacing the Corkscrew
Th13teen was built on the footprint once occupied by Corkscrew, a looping coaster that ran at Alton Towers from 1980 until its closure in 2008. Ride designer John Wardley, known for other Alton Towers attractions including Oblivion and Nemesis, worked on Th13teen’s concept, aiming for a psychological scare rather than a purely mechanical one.
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Th13teen FAQs
What makes Th13teen unique among roller coasters?
It was promoted as the world’s first roller coaster with a genuine vertical freefall drop, where a section of track and the train itself drop several feet in darkness before continuing.
Does Th13teen have any loops or inversions?
No, Th13teen has zero inversions. Its main thrill comes from the freefall drop element rather than loops or twists.
What ride did Th13teen replace at Alton Towers?
Th13teen was built on the site of the Corkscrew, a looping coaster that operated at Alton Towers from 1980 to 2008.
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Photo: Freddo / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.