Tiger Rock (previously known as Dragon Falls and Dragon River) is a

flume ride Log flumes (colloquially known as log rides) are amusement rides consisting of a water flume and (artificial) hollow logs or boats. Passengers sit in the logs, which are propelled along the flume by the flow of water. The ride usually culminat ...

at the theme park

Chessington World of Adventures Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around southwest of Central London. The complex originally opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931; the theme park aspect was dev ...

Chessington Chessington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames within Greater London, which was historically part of Surrey. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. The Bonesgate Stream, a tributary of ...

, southwest

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The ride was manufactured by

Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...

, based on a concept designed by

John Wardley John Richard Wardley (born 6 June 1950) is a British developer for theme parks in the UK and Europe: an innovator of special effects, dark rides and roller coasters in the themed attraction industry. He is known for Nemesis at Alton Towers and ...

, and opened in 1987. It is located in the Land of the Tiger area of the park that was formerly known as Mystic East. 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. A contest was held in 2014 that focused on possible new themes for the ride. In September 2017, the ride closed for refurbishment and reemerged on 5 May 2018 as Tiger Rock.

History

The ride was named Dragon River when it opened in 1987, but subsequently named Dragon Falls since the 1999 season. The ride was manufactured by

, and the original concept for the ride was designed by

. 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 included the re-theming and renaming of Dragon Falls to ''Tiger Rock''. The ride closed on 10 September 2017 so that the overhaul could take place, which involved nearby '' Peeking Heights'', a

ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

that was closed permanently the same day. In 2018, Chessington opened Tiger Rock to the public on 5 May 2018. Its theme revolves around

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

imagery and features a large tiger's head on the second drop, replacing the Angkor Wat heads.

Ride description

Tiger Rock is a water flume ride and features two drops, with the first being smaller than the second. When it was known as Dragon Falls, the station building was designed as a

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

and the first drop featured a sculpted dragon tunnel. The ride began its journey by passing out of the station, and then along a picturesque stream lined with traditional Japanese plants and trees. Bridges are positioned above the ride at certain points, allowing guests to view passing boats. The boats go up the first lift hill, and then drop down into a tunnel which originally housed a trick waterfall effect. The boats exit the tunnel into trees, under a bridge, and around a lagoon until reaching a second, taller lift that ascends the side of a rocky mountain. The boats reach their highest point, before dropping into the main splash pool. Prior to the Tiger Rock theme, the boats would pass between two large scenic stone faces resembling

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...

. Right before returning to the station, they would also pass an

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

elephant that sprayed water at passing riders from its trunk.

Theme

The surrounding area is Oriental themed and features multiple bridges, viewpoints of the flume and a large

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

Buddha statue based on the Great Buddha of

Kōtoku-in is a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple of the Jōdo-shū sect in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Its mountain name is , and its common temple name is . The temple is renowned for , a monumental outdoor bronze stat ...

. The original faux-rock mountain with waterfall, which the boats climbed up on the second lift, was demolished in 2005. The boats are themed to resemble wooden

canoes A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

with inline seating. The original Dragon sculpture for the tunnel was created by Aden Hynes Sculpture Studios, along with the two stone Angkor Wat Buddha faces that framed the large flume drop. These sculptures were installed in 1987, having been hand carved from polystyrene, and coated with glass fibre for long time durability outside. Both the dragon and the stone faces were repainted over the years, contributing massively to the rides impressive theming. The Buddha heads and remaining rock scenery were demolished in 2013, a few years prior to the re-theming of the ride, leaving a bare structure of the flume drop. Half of the dragon tunnel was also removed, 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. However, nothing immediately 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 A runaway train is a type of railroad incident in which unattended rolling stock is accidentally allowed to roll onto the main line, a moving train loses enough braking power to be unable to stop in safety, or a train operates at unsafe speeds d ...

, 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. Noticeably, the 'Dragon tunnel' has been repainted and re-purposed to look like a rocky cave structure, with the rough shape of the dragon being recognizable, but the artwork replaced with a flat blanket of grey rock texture. Notably, the large Buddha statue themed to Kōtoku-in in the city of Kamakura in Japan has survived the re-theme.

References

External links

* {{John Wardley 1987 establishments in England Chessington World of Adventures rides Rides designed by John Wardley Log flume rides