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Dragon Falls


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What do you mean by 'wall effect'? It sounds like a good improvment watever it is.Although, that was where the old mountain rockface was meant to be making its reappearance. Why they had to demolish the mountain nobody will really understand, it was fantastic theming and hid the awful Tomb Blaster warehouse and dodgy metal supports.Significant improvments have been made to Dragon Falls in the past recent years. Good effort! Hopefully the long lost waterfall effect inside the dragon's tunnel will also be reinstalled and the ride will make more sense like it did back in the late 80s. The more I hear about Dragon River, the more it sounds like a rather different ride experience.
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What do you mean by 'wall effect'? It sounds like a good improvment watever it is.Although, that was where the old mountain rockface was meant to be making its reappearance. Why they had to demolish the mountain nobody will really understand, it was fantastic theming and hid the awful Tomb Blaster warehouse and dodgy metal supports.

The old rock-work structure was close to collapsing. It was either goodbye rock-work or goodbye dragon falls.
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Posted ImagePosted ImageYou two have never seen the mountain on Dragon Falls?!?! :P:P Good to hear there was actually a good excuse for its removal, but I wish they would go and rebuild the whole thing. As you can see, it looks far better than it does now. I always assumed that they removed them just to make way for that money-grabbing 'pan for gold' game stall. The mere thought of it is horrifying!Apparently the effect in the dragon's tunnel was a waterfall over the track. When the boats came close, the lights would go out and the water switch off, tricking the riders into thinking they would get wet. (It would have been similar to the same effect on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Alton Towers). It, along with the elephant, broke and was never fixed. I guess it has since been removed, but I only knew about it recently, so have never looked for remains. :P As for that new 'wall effect'... Well, hardly very nice, is it? It looked better without it if you ask me. Why exactly would there be random brick towers climbing up the side of the track? Is is anything to do with Mystic East? And it is so fake, obviously just a sheet of painted material, I mean it is even translucent!? :P Send it back to Tesco where it came from!
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As for that new 'wall effect'... Well, hardly very nice, is it? It looked better without it if you ask me. Why exactly would there be random brick towers climbing up the side of the track? Is is anything to do with Mystic East? And it is so fake, obviously just a sheet of painted material, I mean it is even translucent!? :P Send it back to Tesco where it came from![/color]

I think its supposed to be the Great Wall of China with blue hills in the backround. It covers up the ugly Tomb Blaster building but its still quite cheap looking.
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I actually much prefer the area as it looks today. I love the plants / shrubbery that cover the section of track featured in picture one of the above post, and the ride seems to look a lot more themed and less generic. Although I quite like the rockery covering the lift hill supports, I do agree that it looks a bit cheap, and I feel that the buddha structure has a lot more presence in the area when it isn't surrounding by the bulky rockery.

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Well, you can't really judge from a few photos. I remember riding before the rocks went (they were removed in 2005) and the elephant still working. The fountains, theming and general ride experience was much more impressive, I think. Now the sculpture heads on the falls are going rotten, the elephant still isn't fixed completely, the fountain just outside the station is on and off, the station looks a bit empty, the rocks missing is a BIG let down. You had to have seen them with your own eyes to realise the difference the rocks made. That area feels so bare now. Also, John Wardley said on an interview that he wanted the ride to take you to different countries around Asia, which is a concept that has since been completely lost. There were probably other changes to the ride since. Back in its good late 80s/early 90s days I think Dragon River would have been much better, though what he have now is still a far above average log flume.By the way, those photos are very early, in fact the large areal view photo was taken from its opening year, so that would explain the lack of foliage. Notice you can just see the dragon on the far left, but on opening year it was painted to look like a statue and is therefore grey, meaning difficult to spot. Here is a photo of it back then in 1987, also from Theme UK:Posted Image
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  • 3 weeks later...

I love this ride! what I'm curious about is how do you not fall of your seat if there is not any tight seatbelts, how does the boat not fall of the track because gravity would make it? I know its a stupid question but ive been wondering about that for a while.Also I tried this ride on Thorpe Park but my mum said the chessington one is higher, is this true?

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Loggers' Leap at Thorpe Park is actually the tallest log flume in the UK, so no it is not true.I don't know what you mean by gravity making the boat fall out of the track, since gravity is what keeps the boat in the flume. ;) It isn't going to make the boat fly over the edge. There are metal sides to the channel which the boat bumps against, which keeps it from crashing into the ground. Common sense, really! ;) However, on the drops, which may be what you are talking about, the boat is kept steady in a position in which it skims the water by two rails on either side. Look at this photo and you can see what I am talking about.Posted ImageHope that helps. ;)
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1. You don't fall out as gravity keeps you in your seat, you never experience negative G or invert and the drops aren't steep enough for you to leave your seat.2. Gravity would not make it fall out the track, I think you must've got confused on this one3. I am afraid to say your Mum is wrong and the Thorpe Park Log Flume, Loggers Leap, is in fact taller than Chessington'sBut yeah so basically, throughout the "flume section" the boats float around channels, until the lifts where they are taken up on conveyer belts, then on the actual drop they roll down 2 rails which align with wheels on the bottoms of the boats. Glad you enjoy Dragon Falls.Edit: Beaten to it ;)

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Dragon Falls used to be the best of its kind in this country but I think that by getting rid of the rockwork in 2005 (no matter how essential it was) took a lot away from the ride and it's not as good as it once was. Lets face it, the ride itself is pretty rubbish but the theming really made the experience.

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Dragon Falls used to be the best of its kind in this country but I think that by getting rid of the rockwork in 2005 (no matter how essential it was) took a lot away from the ride and it's not as good as it once was. Lets face it, the ride itself is pretty rubbish but the theming really made the experience.

Agreed. The theme and the theming of it is still good, but it still never matches up to to older version. In my opinion, Loggers is the best Flume out of the Merlin parks, possibly the UK.
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There aren't many great flumes in the world anyway...The best one are usually the ones with heavy theming around it (Splash Mt and Europa's) or rather good drops (Loggers and Kennywood's)...I do wish they would replace the rocks and other theming on Falls, the new canopy is a start... But it would look so much better if the entire top was themed to the Great Wall... Plus extra stuff being added into the tunnel would be even better...Hell, make the Gold Wash thingy 'indoors' with the new rocks...

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Thanks guys, I understand it better now with the pics and description along with it, lol I think I need to read up on my science again if I'm getting confused with the laws of gravity.I can't remember the log flume in Chessington that well because I haven't been there for a few years, which one has a longer ride the log in Thorpe Park or Chessington? I really like the new Wild Asia theme with the buddhist statue!

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Ok I have another question, is it ok to wear my glasses when going on this ride? last time I took them off but everything was a blur which is a shame ;) but I'm scared that I'm glasses would break and I would lose them.

The only rides at Chessington you should take your glasses off for are Dragons Fury and Rameses Revenge. And I don't think you'll be going on them judging by your other posts. So you have no worries. ;)
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  • 5 weeks later...

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