Oblivion is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. The prototype Dive Coaster model from Bolliger & Mabillard opened to the public on 14 March 1998 and was marketed as the "World's first vertical drop roller coaster". With a maximum speed of , it is the third fastest roller coaster in the UK, behind The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Stealth at Thorpe Park. History Throughout 1997, the park's 'Fantasy World' area was closed and all its former rides removed, except the Black Hole. Details about Oblivion were not revealed until March 1998. The "SW4" codename stood for "Secret Weapon 4", after Nemesis' codename, "SW3". Oblivion's opening was accompanied by a large promotional campaign, including appearances on Blue Peter, news channels and cereal boxes. Prior to its opening, memorabilia including its own brand of deodorant was available to purchase. The total cost to construct the ride was estimated at £12 million. The park area containing Oblivion was redesigned as 'X Sector'. The only surviving ride from the former area was the Black Hole roller coaster, which was externally redesigned to suit the new theme. Alton Towers moved and rethemed two existing rides from other areas of the park to open with X-Sector, Energizer and Enterprise. Despite advertising the ride as the "worlds first vertical drop rollercoaster", Oblivion's vertical drop is slightly less than 90 degrees, at 87.5 degrees. This is due to the trains lacking sprung wheel assemblies which would mean the transition from vertical to horizontal would be uncomfortable. For a brief period in April 2011, the ride was sponsored by Fanta. The Fanta company also had put the Oblivion rollercoaster into one of their adverts to show that the brand was being sponsored there. However, much of the Fanta branding was removed after only a few months "following numerous complaints about the obtrusive nature of the brand". On 8 May 2012, a reportedly suicidal 20-year-old man climbed over tall safety fencing and managed to access the underground ride area. He reportedly entered via the tunnel exit portal and walked underground, emerging on a ledge around the entrance portal. Neither he nor any guests on the ride were harmed. He was arrested for a public order offence and the ride returned to normal operation the following day. Ride experience The queue line spirals upwards around a mound and passes through abstract buildings at