Submit to the spin on Toxicator, which sees the Phalanx’s latest technology take the form of a ride which will turn your world upside down!
Need2Know
- Min. Rider Height: 1.4m
- Max. Rider Height: 1.95m
- Ride Photography: No
- Fastrack: Yes
Tech Specs
- Manufacturer: HUSS Rides
- Ride Type: Suspended Top Spin
- Opened: Spring 2025
- Elevated Platform Height: 4.9m
- Overall Max. Height: 23.8m
- Gondola Capacity: 38
- Capacity: 500 riders per hour
- Duration: TBC
Though Forbidden Valley has famously been home to a Top Spin previously, with Ripsaw occupying the same location in the park until 2015, Toxicator will not be a direct return of this ride type. Instead, the ride is a Huss Suspended Topspin, the first of its kind in the UK. The Huss Suspended Top Spin sees riders seated back-to-back with legs suspended below the ride vehicle, whereas the previous Topspin model saw guests facing one direction with a footrest.
Toxicator will be the only top spin ride in the world to be elevated above ground level, giving spectators the unique opportunity to view the entire ride experience from below. The attraction’s 16-foot elevated platform also makes it the highest ride of its kind, standing at 78 feet tall.
The attraction marks the latest technology from The Phalanx, extracting and separating toxic saliva harvested from the Nemesis creature. An intense spinning, centrifugal force is applied to the saliva to transform it into a chemical solution so powerful it will melt anything it touches.
Riders will sit back-to-back and be subjected to the intense spin patterns of the ride, before being held face down above a ‘bubbling pool of highly toxic alien acid’ which is set to be created with green-lit water fountains on both sides of the attraction.
Toxicator is located on the site which is most notable for having previously been the home of Ripsaw, a conventional Huss Top Spin. Ripsaw was removed from the park over the 2015/16 closed season with its former site becoming home to a pay-per-play attraction, Forbidden Sweep, the following season.
During the 2021 to 2023 seasons, the site was utilised by Funk’n’Fly, a Super Trooper attraction usually seen on the travelling fairground circuit. This was part of the Resort’s initiative to use temporary pop-up attractions, referred to as The Retro Squad, in order to provide additional capacity as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funk’n’Fly departed with the rest of The Retro Squad after the end of the 2023 season, in readiness for the opening of Nemesis Reborn in 2024, which also saw the rest of Forbidden Valley reimagined as a Phalanx Facility.
Nonetheless, in February 2024, ahead of Nemesis Reborn’s opening, Alton Towers submitted plans for the addition of a new attraction in Forbidden Valley in the location that had been most recently occupied by Funk’n’Fly. Referred to as Project Ocean, although details about specifically what model of attraction was being proposed were not disclosed in plans, the attraction was referred to as being “more fixed” in nature than its predecessor, suggesting that the Resort would finally be investing in a permanent flat ride.
With the plans approved in April 2024, it wasn’t long before construction work commenced on-site, with the focus being on the elevated platform upon which the ride would sit.
In September 2024, “Toxicator” was trademarked by Vista Maxima Services Limited, the same company which had been involved in obtaining the trademark for Hyperia at Thorpe Park in the year before – this led to speculation that this could be the official name for Project Ocean.
During the opening weekend of Scarefest 2024, and alongside the first social media teaser for the new attraction, signage and green flashing lights were added to the construction walls along with the construction site illuminated in a toxic green colour.
Further theming was added opposite the construction site for the Fireworks 2024 weekend, which coincided with a further teaser for the new attraction, inviting guests to return to ride in 2025.
With the elevated platform completed by the end of the 2024 season, this allowed Toxicator’s ride hardware to be installed just a few weeks into the closed season. Following its arrival and installation, Alton Towers Resort released two official images from within the park.
January 2025 saw Alton Towers officially announce Toxicator as the name for Project Ocean, alongside releasing further details about the ride and how it would fit into Forbidden Valley.
Plans
In February 2024, Alton Towers submitted plans for the addition of a new attraction in Forbidden Valley, referred to as Project Ocean, although details about specifically what model of attraction was being proposed were not disclosed in plans.
Construction
Work to construct Toxicator got underway in the first half of the 2024 season. With the elevated platform completed by the end of the season, the ride hardware itself was installed just a few weeks into the 2024/25 closed season.
