Thirteen, Steel roller coaster in Alton Towers, England
Thirteen is a steel roller coaster in the Dark Forest area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. The ride runs through dense woodland and combines outdoor track with an enclosed building section where a vertical drop takes place.
The ride opened in 2010, replacing the earlier Corkscrew roller coaster. It was the first in the world at the time to feature a vertical freefall element inside an enclosed building.
The name plays on superstitions and ghost stories surrounding the number thirteen. Riders pass through artificial ruins that evoke old crypts and crumbling stone walls deep in the woods.
Riders need to be between 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) and 1.96 meters (6.4 feet) tall to board. The queue can handle several hundred people per hour at full capacity, though wait times may grow on busy days.
The ride contains a surprise in the dark: after the cars halt inside a building, the seats suddenly tilt backward and drop several meters straight down. This mechanism was a technical novelty when it opened and still creates unexpected moments during the ride.
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