Dragon Falls

Dragon Falls
Chessington World of Adventures
Area Mystic East
Coordinates 51°20′54″N 0°19′15″W / 51.34842°N 0.320926°W / 51.34842; -0.320926Coordinates: 51°20′54″N 0°19′15″W / 51.34842°N 0.320926°W / 51.34842; -0.320926
Status Closed
Cost £4 million
Opening date 7 June 1987
Closing date 10 September 2017
Replaced by Tiger Rock
General statistics
Type Log flume
Manufacturer Mack Rides
Designer John Wardley
Height 15 m (49 ft)
Length 21 m (69 ft)
Speed 26 mph (42 km/h)
Capacity 1,500 riders per hour
Boats 32 boats. Riders are arranged 1 across in 5 rows for a total of 5 riders per boat.
Height restriction 120 cm (3 ft 11 in)
Fastrack available

Dragon Falls (originally Dragon River) was a flume ride at the theme park Chessington World of Adventures[1] in Chessington, southwest London, England. Primarily designed by John Wardley and opened in 1987, it was located in the Mystic East area of the park. The ride was originally extensively themed, although the majority of its scenic design was later removed due to lack of maintenance and durability over time. While a contest to propose a re-theme to the ride was held in 2014, the ride was temporarily closed on Sunday 10th September 2017 and was rethemed as Tiger Rock, which revolves around tiger imagery, and features a large tiger's head on the second drop that replaced the long-lived Angkor Wat heads.

History

The ride was named Dragon River[2] when it opened in 1987, but subsequently named Dragon Falls since the 1999 season.[3][4] The ride was manufactured by Mack Rides and was produced by John Wardley with the Tussauds Group.[5]

In July 2017, Chessington filed for planning permission to undertake a large overhaul of the Mystic East area of the theme park. Part of this overhaul could potentially involve re-theming and renaming Dragon Falls to Tiger Rock and adding a large rock work structure shaped like a tiger around the final drop. The ride closed on 10 September 2017 so that this overhaul can take place. The nearby Peeking Heights ferris wheel was also closed permanently on the 10th of September.

In 2018, Chessington announced that Tiger Rock will open on 5 May 2018.

Description

Path

The top of the main falls, as the boat travels between the tops of the two stone heads

Dragon Falls is a water flume ride, and features two drops. The first drop is smaller than the second. The boats are themed to resemble wooden canoes with inline seating.

The station building is designed as a pagoda. The ride begins its journey by passing out of the station, and along a picturesque stream lined with traditional Japanese plants and trees. Bridges are placed above the ride at certain points, allowing people to watch the riders go by. The boats go up the first lift hill, and then drop down into a sculpted dragon tunnel which originally housed a trick waterfall effect.

The boats exit the tunnel into trees, under a bridge around a lagoon and then to a second, taller lift ascending the side of a rocky mountain. The boats reach their highest point, before dropping between two large scenic stone faces, resembling those of Angkor Wat, into the main splash pool.

As riders return to the station, they encounter an animated elephant which waves its trunk to squirt riders with water. Originally very lifelike, this elephant animation has been in poor condition or defunct for many years.

Theme

The surrounding area is Oriental themed and features multiple bridges, viewpoints of the flume and a large fibreglass Buddha statue based on the Great Buddha of Kōtoku-in. The original faux-rock mountain with waterfall, which the boats climbed up on the second lift, was demolished in 2005.

The remaining rock scenery and sculpture was demolished in 2013 along with half the dragon tunnel, meaning boats now travel through exposed back-of-house facilities during the ride. Much of the architectural decoration in the station plaza has also been removed over time. Chessington initially advertised a competition to redesign the ride, claiming the attraction would be rethemed for 2014, although nothing ever came of this development and the ride continued to operate in this half-demolished condition.

The ride closed for a tiger retheme on 10 September 2017. In October 2017, it was announced that the ride would be renamed Tiger Rock. As with Runaway Train, the ride itself will remain unchanged, with only the scenery being redesigned. New Amur tiger enclosures were constructed and built into the area and the 'Mystic East' area of the park was later renamed 'Land of the Tiger'. The parks Ferris Wheel attraction called 'Peeking Heights' was demolished to make way for the new enclosures. The enclosures feature great interactions with the paths, bridges and with the 'Tiger Rock' flume ride in the area and there are also trails in the area where the tigers can walk over the head of guests called 'Tiger Crossings' in a 'Europe First'. A fair bit of the theming of the area has been changed including a few buildings have been repainted to fit in with a new tiger theme, the 'Angkor Wat' structure on the second 'main' drop of the ride has been replaced with a large rock structure centrepiece that the ride drops through that looks like a tiger head and noticeably the 'Dragon tunnel' has been repainted and re-purposed to look like a rocky cave structure. Notably, the large Buddha statue themed to Kōtoku-in in the city of Kamakura in Japan has survived the re-theme.

Height requirements

The ride opened in 1987 and had a height requirement of 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) to ride (anyone less than 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) metres in height must be accompanied by a person aged 16 or over). This was updated early in the 2011 season from a previous 0.9-metre (3.0 ft) restriction.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "News & Changes". Chessington World of Adventures. Archived from the original on 2012-03-22.
  2. ↑ "Map of Chessington World of Adventures from 1987, with 'Dragon River' (scan)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.
  3. ↑ "Map of CWOA from 1998 (scan), also with 'Dragon River'". Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.
  4. ↑ "Map of CWOA from 1999 (scan) with 'Dragon Falls'". Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.
  5. ↑ "Official website 'Mystic East' page". Retrieved 2008-11-02.
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