The ride opened on 17 July 1991 by Frank Bruno. When opened, it was the world's longest rollercoaster at , taking over 5 minutes to ride, and costing £5.2 million. Initially, Staveley had not set out to break any records and it was only once construction had gotten underway that a colleague exclaimed that there couldn't be a roller coaster longer than the one they were building. Later that day, a colleague was sent to Ripon to buy the Guinness Book of Records, which confirmed that the length of track that Staveley had ordered was well over the record. The Ultimate has two trains, which have both been reverted to the original navy blue colour after serving 17 years as red and blue. The trains also used to have over-the-shoulder-restraints until 1992 when they were removed and replaced with lap bar restraints to improve the ride experience.