Submission (Alton Towers)

Information

Submission was a Chance Double Swinging Inverter located in the X-Sector area and was built in 2001. From 2005, the ride only operated one of its arms to save electricity. The ride's cycles were shortened and the crackling of the gondola floor was very off-putting. The slogan used in advertisement was 'Hang in there'. Following the area's theme, the ride was painted blue and was covered in a shiny metal, most likely steel. Each of its two arms had a counterweight in the shape of two metal spikes, which would sweep near to the ground like a scythe. The sequence was always the same, different to some other weight based rides that have numerous sequences. The ride was never one of the most popular at the theme park and queues were never usually that long. This was due to the fact that the ride was given negative reviews because of the ride being extremely uncomfortable to ride. This was due to the ripsaw-style harnesses that would essentially crush the riders legs and crotch area, especially on the parts of the ride where the rider would go upside-down, obviously this would happen on numerous occasions.

Ride experience

Submission was a simple ride, featuring a central tower with two gondolas attached to rotating arms on each side. Each gondola contained 6 rows of 4. When the ride started the gondola was lifted 90 degrees back and forth, slightly tilting forwards and backwards and gradually rotated in a full circle with the gondola spinning the opposite way to the arm, making the riders go upside down. As the arm would move in one direction, the gondola would tilt in the other way. Because of the double sided seating which saw riders sitting back-to-back, when one arm moved one way, there would be one set of riders that we tilted vertically, pointing the ground not dissimilar from Oblivion (with added pain). When the gondola reached its highest point, it was turned upside-down.