Corkscrew was a steel roller coaster manufactured by Dutch company Vekoma to a design by Arrow Dynamics. The coaster was located in the Ug Land area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. It was the park's oldest ride and is considered the greatest factor in promoting the new theme park to the British public. It was one of the first double-inverting coasters in England, so it received much publicity and avid popularity in the 1980s. Waiting times for the ride frequently reached 6–9 hours during the first few months of operation at Alton Towers, and the park would often be forced to close early as it found itself swamped with visitors long before the evening ever came.
History
In 1979, John Broome, director of Alton Towers, wanted to make the Towers and Gardens into a new style of leisure attraction. On 4 April 1980 Corkscrew opened to a crowd of 30,000. It became the main attraction of the park, and led to attendance numbers doubling from 500,000 in 1979 to over 1,000,000 in 1980. It was a Vekoma MK1200 Corkscrew with Bayern curve. The track was yellow, the supports were black, the cars were red, white, blue and black and the station was blue and white. In 1984, more attractions were built in the new 'Festival Park' along with Enterprise and the Twirling Toadstool. When a newly themed area called Ug Land opened in 1999, Corkscrew's appearance was modified. Its trains and track received a new paint scheme, and dinosaur-themed props were placed around the ride, including a dinosaur skeleton that guests would pass under in the line queue. In 2005, Rita was built, as well as there being several other changes to the park. This resulted in Corkscrew becoming dated and eventually a decreasingly popular attraction of the park. Customers also reported that due to its age, it had become increasingly uncomfortable to ride. In October 2008, after 28 years of service, Alton Towers confirmed that the ride was to be dismantled at the end of the 2008 season, to make room for the 2010 attraction TH13TEEN, then named Secret Weapon 6. On 9 November 2008 the park held a special event in honour of the attraction in which the Corkscrew completed the final circuit of its 750 m track. The official date for the last day in regular service was 2 November 2008 - the last day of the season. After being dismantled, the section of track which formed the two corkscrew inversions was saved and is now displayed at the entrance to the park near the ticket booths.
Ride experience
The ride started by a slow ascent of 22 m. Once it had reached the top, the car went round a turn and down the 20.7 m drop reaching 44 m.p.h. The train then pulled through a camel hump and a 180-degree turn before entering the two Corkscrew inversions. Once the train exited the two inversions it then went around a 180-degree turn and into some trim brakes. After that the train went across another camel hump and in to the bayerncurve and around the perimeter of the coaster again before going into the brakes and station. The coaster became very rough toward the end of its life, and contributed to the decision to dismantle it in 2008.
Popular culture
One of the coaster's cars was put up for sale on eBay. The car was sold on 15 December 2008 for £7,200, and these funds went to good causes. Alton Towers retained the famous corkscrew inversions which were refurbished and placed as an artwork feature in the entrance plaza. The opening title sequence used by The ITV Chart Show between 7 January 1989 and 30 November 1991 was created by digitally rotoscoping footage of the Corkscrew. A photograph of the Corkscrew was used on the cover of the 1991 single Everybody in the Place by The Prodigy Footage of the rollercoaster and the Pirate ship feature in the music video for British doo-wop band Darts cover of Let's Hang On!
