Boneshaker (Alton Towers)


Boneshaker was a Mondial Supernova located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. It was removed on 9 November 2003 due to mechanical failure in the ride's gearbox, and inability to source required parts. The park also needed space to build their new roller coaster for 2005, Rita: Queen of Speed. It first opened at the park in 1995 under the name "Energizer", but ran on less intense cycles in its later years to better suit Ug Land's intended family audience.

History

Energizer (1995-2000)

Energizer first opened on 18 March 1995 on the former 1001 Nights site in Festival Park area. The ride brought in many crowds of teenagers and thrill-seekers. At the time, this ride was extremely popular because of how it swung from side to side so much with only a lap bar to keep visitors secure. Being alongside the Corkscrew, a world-famous attraction, the ride normally had quite long queue times.
When X-Sector opened in 1998, Energizer was re-located into the new area. It still proved to be popular while next to Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster, now pulling in guests of all ages. At the end of 2000, Energizer was removed to make way for Submission, a Chance Double Inverter. As of 2014, Submission has also been removed from the park.

Boneshaker (2001-2003)

After what was thought to be the end of Energizer, it returned to its original area under the name of Boneshaker at the back of the newly re-themed Festival Park, UG Land. Due to UG Land being a family area, the ride's settings were changed and it never operated the way it used to ever again. Following these setting changes, the ride experienced many faults and became extremely costly for the park to maintain. The park decided to close the attraction at the end of the 2003 season, and at the end of 2004 it was removed to make way for the new 2005 roller coaster.
Some images and information were acquired from towerstimes.co.uk.