ABOUT THIS RIDE
What Oblivion is
Oblivion opened in 1998 as the first vertical-drop roller coaster of its type. Bolliger & Mabillard built a 55-metre (180 ft) structure with a drop that looks near-vertical from the hold. Published top speed is about 110 km/h. The layout after the tunnel is short — this ride is the drop, not a long mountain course.
The queue is part of the show. You see the drop, hear the trains, and stand on the view platform before you sit down. That is why the POV matters: if the hold and the hole in the ground are the problem, you will know before you wait an hour.
X-Sector pairs Oblivion with The Smiler. They are different jobs. Oblivion is one big drop; The Smiler is a long string of inversions. A lot of visitors ride both in the same block of the day.
What to expect
The train creeps onto the drop, pauses, then falls into the tunnel. The rest of the circuit is a fast, brief run back to the brakes. There are no inversions.
Front-row seats have the clearest view of the hole. Rear seats add a little extra hang time on the drop. Either row is the same ride; the difference is what you see on the way down.
