Dragon Mountain
Specific Type: Custom Looping Coaster, Terrain
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Every once in a while, some park, somewhere, makes a move that puts it on the map for the rest of its operating days - the bold type of move that puts an unheard-of business into the international spotlight in a single season. Well, in 1983, that was something like what happened in Niagara Falls, Canada. An unassuming aquatic life animal park named MarineLand operated on the outskirts of Niagara Falls, just blocks away from the famous natural landmark that gave the city its name, and from its opening in the 70's, that nearby tourist attraction had been the park's main draw of visitors. MarineLand operated several small rides in its collection of attractions including a kiddie coaster, but there was no indication of what the animal park was poised to do. Behind the scenes, America's major steel roller coaster manufacturer, Arrow Dynamics, had been contracted by MarineLand to craft the world's largest steel coaster, and Arrow came through. When MarineLand proudly unveiled Dragon Mountain in 1983, the once-unknown park now had claim to the highest coaster and longest steel ride on earth, a 186-foot tall monster and the first steel coaster to surpass a mile in length, at 5,500 feet long. The steel coaster records were taken away from Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Loch Ness Monster, and would stand until the end of the decade. Dragon Mountain's terrain-sweeping layout covered several acres of land that had been piled up into giant mounds, and tunneled deep under the earth in two long passes beneath and through the hill. Another claim to fame lies in the coaster's four inversions - not the first double loop, but rather the ride's finale of the world's first and only bow-tie element: a sequence of a left-hand half-corkscrew, full loop from the top, and second left half-corkscrew. And Dragon Mountain's theming earns it points with riders as they board dragon-themed trains deep in the beast's dark lair. MarineLand's original plan called for heavy theming during the coaster's double helix and carousel curve with a Niagara Falls scene and artificial mountain formation, but while framework was constructed for the scenery, it failed to work into the project's budget and was not completed in time for the opening. In later years, the park finished the theming they had planned.
To ride Dragon Mountain, guests at MarineLand walk to the back of the park, beyond other rides and past animal exhibits until they come within sight of the twisting brown tracks looping and following the terrain. Visitors pass under some dragon-esque architecture and continue down a path between the bow-tie inversion and second turnaround on a hillside above. The queue line begins upon entering into the menacing rock-carved mouth of the dragon to travel through the darkness of the dragon's cavern. Future riders walk through the pitch-black tunnel, over the station, then descending to the left into the main cavern. A twenty-eight seat train adorned with a dragon face on the lead car is loaded with riders and padded shoulder restraints are secured, then it leaves swiftly with a tunneled dip. Riders start up the lift hill and leave the tunnel to find themselves in route to the top of an eighteen-story hillside. The chain takes passengers through a hut midway to the top, and finally edges over the peak of the lift on the wooded hill. A dip, banking, and the train is sent on its way rolling around to the left preparing for the first drop. The Dragon plunges eighty feet straight into two consecutive vertical loops at fifty miles per hour, followed up by a banked turnaround rising to the right and curving around another hillside. Block brakes provide a temporary breather before a 135-degree curve and dive to the left sends the train into the top level of a left double helix. Track circles downwards and dips once before wrapping up as it enters a tunnel and dives to the left. Riders bank in the darkness as they curve underneath the hill and then emerge into a carousel curve rotating to the left. A trim brake slows things down just slightly before the train enters into the second tunnel, and speeds passengers blindly ahead through the passageway through the hill. Dragon Mountain enters the final drop, and things steepen for the plunge down and out immediately into the bow-tie inversion on the front side of the layout. The brown track twists in a half-corkscrew leftwards, then dives down in a half-loop to the ground and second half-loop back up again, then a second left twist exits the double-inversion. A straightaway, climb up a slight hill, second straightaway and then turnaround to the left and the train enters the final brake run, rolling back into the darkness and stopping for riders to unload and exit to the left. |
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