The Ultimate

The Ultimate is the signature ride of Lightwater Valley. Designed by Big Country Motioneering, which I believe now goes by the name of Interlink (but if anybody could confirm this I will update!). The ride wasn’t finished by Big Country Motioneering, but was actually put together by the good people from British Rail (queue the late train jokes!).

It is actually quite evident of the railway influence in the ride, not just the rollercoaster cars, but if you look at the track, it sits on railway sleepers.

When the Ultimate opened in 1991 it was the longest rollercoaster in the world – at just under 1.5 miles, it takes a whopping 6 minutes to complete the circuit.

You start by climbing the initial lift hill out of the station. At 102 feet its not a baby! The lift is slow and as you get higher and higher the nerves start to show themselves. Finally you crest the hill and are dropping back to the ground. What is unique about the ride at this point is the front of the train hangs from the lift hill, and because of the insane length of the train, the front carriage is halfway down the drop before it actually starts to pick up any speed. Saying that, you get some good airtime on the small bunny hops following the drop.

In all honesty, the Ultimate is a boring ride at this point, the airtime is its only good feature. Shortly afterwards you reach the second lift hill – a few feet taller than the first, this is where the ride really begins! Again, the slow ride up the lift hill builds the adrenaline, a slow corner at the top leads you straight to the second main drop. This drop is much scarier than the first, the track disappears through the trees. The train picks up speed very quickly, before the train enters a series of ground hugging bends and sweeps through the trees – the speed means that the train is very jerky around some of the corners, but I think that just adds to the fun!

This second part of the coaster is fantastic, you forget the pain in the knees after banging them into the restraints, and just enjoy the power this ride carries through all the way to the end.

If I was to give you one tip, it would be not to sit at the front of the train on a hot day – swarms of small flies live in the forest the track makes its way through. A mouth full of flies at 50mph isn’t the nicest experience – unless you sit in row 2 that is and can take great enjoyment of other peoples misfortune…..but that’s just mean!