Vampire (originally named The Vampire) is an Arrow suspended swinging roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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. It opened in 1990 in the new Transylvania area (now renamed "Wild Woods") and is the only

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (194 ...

suspended roller coaster still operating outside of North America. The trains hang from the track, and swing freely as the roller coaster completes the course. It has two lift hills, featuring many dives and turns throughout, and takes place almost entirely through a forest. The ride layout was designed by John Wardley and the theme design by British firm Sparks Creative Services. The Vampire underwent modifications in 2001 so that it could use new trains manufactured by Vekoma and reopened in 2002.

History

Theme

The ride has a Gothic theme and was originally very detailed, with a queueline through castle gates, a fog-filled underpass beneath the coaster track, a graveyard canopy with Gothic tombs and dark passageway into the station. The station was dressed as a castle ballroom with flaming chandeliers, Gothic murals and a large pipe organ stage piece, with dramatic lighting and audio. However most of this has since been removed. The famous theme music in the station was composed by Graham Smart in the style of an organ overture with a Gothic rock sound, alluding to ''

Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...

''. The station features an animatronic organist playing at a large pipe organ. The character originally moved in time to the soundtrack, appearing to play to the music. In 2015, the graveyard canopy was demolished following years of little maintenance. The grand station chandeliers were also removed. Now, very little of the themed queue and station exists the way it was intended, with much of the scenery, sound and lighting design lost. The rollercoaster originally had black,

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

-themed trains. Towards the end of the ride, the coaster takes a sudden drop into a tunnel, before entering into the brake run. The tunnel was originally longer, darker and themed as a cave, but this has been removed. In 1998, the ride was partly refurbished with new branding.

Floorless refurbishment

As Vampire started to show its age, it suffered from a number of breakdowns and maintenance problems. The manufacturer,

, had gone bankrupt since the ride had been built, meaning little could be done to rectify these issues. The Vampire was closed for the 2001 season, and at the time this was thought to be permanent. However, instead of removal, the decision was taken to modify the ride so that it could use a new type of suspended coaster train. The track was to remain unchanged because modifying this would require

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

, which was unlikely to be granted. Since the ride consisted of the suspended swinging model, with tight corners, any new trains would also have to be able to swing (reducing lateral Gs). This led to the development of swinging suspended floorless coaster trains, manufactured by

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally m ...

, which are still in use today. The modified ride opened in 2002.

Gallery

References

External links