Yeah and the large bit at the front honestly makes the ride car look a lot better. Kinda looks like a massive battering ram with the front.

Does anybody know why Oblivion is down for the second day in a row? Just curious as I’m visiting on Saturday and hope that it is open by then.

Me too, I'll be there tomorrow and Saturday, so I do hope it will be running.

The Nemesis Fox wrote:

Does anybody know why Oblivion is down for the second day in a row? Just curious as I’m visiting on Saturday and hope that it is open by then.

They probably can’t afford to run it

It may be waiting on a part. Out of all the B&Ms at Towers, Oblivion seems to be the least reliable. It always seems to go down early on in the season despite having had 4 months of maintenance...

Oblivion has re-opened

It is running , in fact, everything’s running today!

Strangely enough on Monday pretty much everything was closed for the first hour other than Oblivion and Enterprise.

Hi long time stalker here. Quick question on Oblivion construction. Was the hole backfilled on top of those arched tunnel supports or was it just covered over with concrete, essentially leaving a void. Been having a look round but cant find any pics?

I really wouldn't know the answer to this... is it also a possibility that after the tunnel was built, they could have filled the space on top with the dirt that was excavated?? In both cases, wether concrete or dirt, it does seem interesting since that amount of material would be extremely heavy... I guess there really is a possibility that it was left hollow..

Spacemonkeys wrote:

Hi long time stalker here. Quick question on Oblivion construction. Was the hole backfilled on top of those arched tunnel supports or was it just covered over with concrete, essentially leaving a void. Been having a look round but cant find any pics?

Not 100% sure myself but I think the metal arches were part of a concrete framework and then it was fully back filled

There would be no reason to leave a hollow space as it’s more likely to give the concrete some support from vibrations. Not to mention I reckon there’s some tunnels out there with more weight on than Blivvy

Oblivion was very, very slow to dispatch this week. I must've been sitting waiting to go back into the station for at least 5 minutes.

Yeah it's currently operating with 4 staff in total. They have got it going as fast as they can with 4, but a real shame they couldn't employ at least two more to operate the second station. The queue was short, but there's something about being stuck waiting in the queue or on the ride when operations aren't at maximum which is pretty annoying.

More amusing is that the photo booth at one point had 3 staff.

No fan of this, for a big Secret Weapon ride, its so short and one note, only worth riding on the front row.

Yeah, I kinda agree about the front row thing. I've only ever ridden it in the front row and I don't know what I'd do if I was placed in the back to be honest.

and you think about it, Saw at Thorpe Park, does it even better than Oblivion, its at a greater angle after all, and that giant saw blade, is all the themeing it really needs.

Whilst Oblivion may not appear to have as much to it as some other dive machines, just remember that in 1998 when it opened, it was the first of its kind anywhere in the world. As with anything that's the first of its kind, the technology behind it will have been very new, and limited in what it would be able to achieve - Oblvion very much paved the way for all the other dive machines. Personally, whilst the post drop layout may not have the same length or twists and turns of the likes of say Baron 1898 or Sheikra, the drop itself still has a fair force to it - more of a force than some of its more recent descendents.

I'm not saying Oblivion is a bad ride at all! I'm just presuming the ride experience in general is better in the front row, than the back.

I thought it was awesome in both front and back. The back is raised so you do see in front of you, rather than the seats in front. The main difference is really just not being held at quite the same angle at the drop. But you don't really stay there very long now anyway.

Front or back, I still floated out of my seat on the way down!

Anecdote alert! I can't say this applies to the majority of the GP, however, I've always been struck how my non-enthusiast friends and family find Oblivion (front or back row!) so imposing and terrifying compared to the other rides at Towers. Oblivion's layout may be simple in comparison to newer dive machines, but it certainly thrills and scares like newer dive machines, and in my opinion more so than the likes of Sheikra! Just goes to show how effective an innovative ride system along with thoughtful theming and an incredibly imposing 35 m (ish) deep tunnel can be...

MIR wrote:

Anecdote alert! I can't say this applies to the majority of the GP, however, I've always been struck how my non-enthusiast friends and family find Oblivion (front or back row!) so imposing and terrifying compared to the other rides at Towers. Oblivion's layout may be simple in comparison to newer dive machines, but it certainly thrills and scares like newer dive machines, and in my opinion more so than the likes of Sheikra! Just goes to show how effective an innovative ride system along with thoughtful theming and an incredibly imposing 35 m (ish) deep tunnel can be...

Speaking as an enthusiast I HATE Oblivion...

I think it’s a brilliant ride, with brilliant theming and a fantastic story to back it up.

But the sound of the ratchet up the lift hill, the hold at the top, the plummet into nothingness genuinely still scares the life out of me.