Vampire (originally named The Vampire) is an Arrow suspended swinging

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

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 ...

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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 (19 ...

suspended roller coaster still operating outside of

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. 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 draughted 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 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 queue-line 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 station features an animatronic organist playing at a large pipe organ (Named "Marcel"). 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 original black,

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). 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 birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

-themed trains were built by

and were the same style as the trains found on other Arrow Dynamics Suspended Coasters. Towards the end of the ride, the coaster takes a sudden drop into a tunnel, before entering into the anti-rollback devices then the brake run. The tunnel was originally longer, darker and themed as a cave, however this theming has been removed to make room for larger, floorless trains provided by

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

. In 1998, the ride was partly refurbished with new branding. In 2008, the ride rolled back inside its tunnel during its test run due to not having passenger or water dummy weight.

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 building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...

, 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

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

Gallery

References

External links