Rita

Rita is one of the major rides at Alton Towers that opened on April 1st 2005.
 * Manufacturer: Intamin
 * Year opened: 2005
 * Type: Accelerator rollercoaster
 * G-Force: 4.7g
 * Top speed: 61 MPH

2005-2008 (Rita: Queen of Speed)
In late 2004, something strange was happening in Ug Land. Red rollercoaster parts were arriving and being sent to storage behind Duel. Then in 2005, an ad was sent out to TV saying "Nothing could top Nemesis. Not even Oblivion or Air. But come April, all of that will change. 100km/h in 2.5 seconds. Rita, Queen of Speed. Book now at altontowers.com." Then once April came, it opened. Just like The Smiler and TH13TEEN today, the queue was over 3 hours long. It was very popular back then.

2009-present (Ug Land retheme and Rita)
In 2009, Ug Land started to get deserted, with Energizer and Enterprise being sent to X-Sector while the Wave Swinger was sent to Cloud Cuckoo Land under the name Twirling Toadstool. So that meant the only rides were Rita and the Corkscrew. Then construction started on Rita's new neighbour, Th13teen, replacing the Corkscrew.

Ug Land was closed but reopened in 2010 under the new name "Dark Forest" due to the arrival of Th13teen. Rita lost the tagline "Queen of Speed" and is now used as an abandoned drag racer that is used to escape the forest. She still retains the orange car with purple flames but they look more damaged by the supernatural forest. And just before it launches the announcer says "Keep your head back. Hold on tight. You must escape. ... Go Go Go!" instead of "Keep your heads back, we're counting down. 3, 2, 1, GO GO GO!" The shop on the way out remains the same, but the pencil sharperners have gone from red to green and the rock candy says "Rita" on it halfway through. Plus the colour scheme of the ride has gone from red to black n' orange.

2012 accident
In Summer 2012, the launch cable snapped while a train was taking off. No-one was hurt though.

Trivia

 * Rita is the second fastest ride at Alton Towers, the first being Oblivion.
 * Rita is the only one of the 'Big Six' rollercoasters to not be in Alton Towers' infamous 'Secret Weapon' line of coasters.
 * The 2 highest points of the track were painted a very dark green colour to camouflage as the trees.