🏠 All Areas 🌲 Dark Forest 👾 Forbidden Valley ⬇️ X-Sector 🏞️ Katanga Canyon 🏴‍☠️ Mutiny Bay 🏰 The Towers 🧸 CBeebies Land 🌲 Gloomy Wood

⬇️ X-Sector

Alton Towers Resort

🎢 2 Rides 📊 View Queues 🎟️ Get Tickets

X-Sector is Alton Towers' most intense thrill zone, home to the world's first vertical drop coaster Oblivion and the mind-bending The Smiler. This area is not for the faint-hearted, offering some of the most extreme rides in the park.

🎠 Rides & Live Queue Times

⬇️ Oblivion

10m

Diving Coaster Opened 1998 Min. 1.4m

😵 The Smiler

Closed

Sit-Down Coaster Opened 2013 Min. 1.4m

📖 X-Sector Articles

Alton Towers X-Sector

Alton Towers: Oblivion

Oblivion at Alton Towers is the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster, a pioneering dive coaster that changed the theme park industry forever. Located in the X-Sector, this Bolliger & Mabillard creation takes you to the edge of the abyss before plunging you 180 feet into the darkness below at 68 mph. The ride begins with a slow, dramatic climb to the top, where you're held at the edge of a 90-degree vertical drop for a moment that feels like an eternity. Then, you plunge into a tunnel, surrounded by darkness and the rush of wind. Opening in 1998, Oblivion's iconic black and red colour scheme and legendary "Don't Look Down"...

X-Sector, Alton Towers, Alton Towers Rides

Alton Towers X-Sector

Alton Towers: The Smiler

The Smiler at Alton Towers is a world-record-breaking rollercoaster featuring 14 inversions – the most of any rollercoaster on the planet. Designed by Gerstlauer and opened in 2013, this psychological thrill ride in the X-Sector takes riders on a nearly three-minute journey through interlocking loops, corkscrews, and a vertical lift hill, all themed around the sinister "Marmaliser" and the fictional Ministry of Joy. With speeds reaching 85 km/h and a height restriction of 1.4m, it delivers an intense, disorienting, and unforgettable experience for thrill-seekers. The ride is also equipped with secure over-shoulder restraints and features a unique narrative that immerses visitors from the queue to the final brake run, cementing...

X-Sector, Alton Towers, Alton Towers Rides

🏠 All Areas 🌲 Dark Forest 👾 Forbidden Valley ⬇️ X-Sector 🏞️ Katanga Canyon 🏴‍☠️ Mutiny Bay 🏰 The Towers 🧸 CBeebies Land 🌲 Gloomy Wood