Arrow @ Marineland Theme Park

This track layout is huge. Anybody with better photos or blueprints.

Did you check www.rcdb.com ?

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Kennywood Team Member Since July 2003
Phantom Fright Nights Fridays & Saturdays
September 12 - October 25

Its dragon mountain
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Thanks checked there. Thanks for the info.

Jay

They still hold the claim as the "Worlds Largest Steel Coaster"... which is technically true because the coaster encompasses a massive 30 acres of land, and unless you're looking at an arial view of the park, you can't see the whole coaster at once (even then, half of it's covered by tunnels).

I'd like to know what the layout would be, if there were original blue-prints, as although I've ridden it a few times, I just can't finger a complete layout because of how it circles around the "mountain".

Does anyone know the reasoning for the bizarre supports around the helix (5th pic on rcdb)?

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

How many acres does Lightwater Valley's Ultimate cover? That is a long ride that is virtually a circle - it must cover a lot of land, if not more than Dragon Mountain..

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Dorney,

The themeing for the ride was never completed. At that point in the ride you were supposed to be travelling through a volcano. At another point of the ride you were supposed to be travelling behind (a mock-up of) Niagara Falls.

I think they ran out of money and never finished it off.

Yea, now all you travel thru are a bunch of rusty supports!

Kinda funny how they don't bother to finish that job, but have plans to turn themselves into having not only the worlds largest aquarium... but also put up a 300' S&S drop tower with a 450' height (150' "mountain"), as well as many other exhibits spending a unprecented $160 million in total upgrades...

...yet cannot take maybe 1 or 2 million out of that budget to finish a job that was started 21 years ago!!!
**sigh**

One possible answer to what DawgByteII said.... Marketing.

Which sounds better: "New this year at Marineland... the worlds largest aquarium!" or "New this year at Marineland... a 450'* high tower!" or "New this year at Marienland... We finally got around to finishing the theming on our roller coaster after only 21 years!"

Also, I am no engineer, but since those supports were installed 21 years ago, would they still be viable to use now?

Also... the unfinished steel frame of the "volcano" and the long box like frame for where the water fall was reported to go, are on the back side of the "mountain". From the rest of the park you can't see it. IF they would expand back that way, I would imagine something would be done with those ugly looking steel frames. However, do you spend money on something only the people who ride the coaster see, or do you spend money on something that everyone sees and new attractions and upgrades that will draw people to your park? The parts of Dragon Mountain that can be seen from the main part of the park are very well themed (Entrance queue going into the dragon's mouth) and landscaped. The parts that can't be seen (including the unfinished sections) look kind of desolate and abandoned... almost like riding a coaster through an old industrial park that has been condemned.

When you come right down to it... Marineland is an animal / wildlife / aquatic park first, an amusement / theme park second.

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 10/17/2003 4:53:59 PM ***

Well, obviously it's not going to be used as a marketing tool, dude...

But think about it. If they market & promote their park so the 14+ million tourists that visit Niagara Falls yearly along with the local population of Southern Ontario & Western New York visit the park... they're bound to get many many new guests to the park who've never been to it before.

To those new guests... it's a brand new coaster. I'm sure they can take a little funding and fix up the coaster to it's original idea & make it come true at any point, just to have an overall finish & polish to the park. What is the average guest to think when they ride the only coaster at the park, finding out that it feels like travelling thru an industrial park?! Not a good taste.
They don't know the history. They don't know what WAS going to be made of the supports... They just see these ugly rusty supports!

It's not that hard to use some of that 160 million budget to theme the ride... to give the overall park a finishing touch, and match the rest of the quality of the park (which is pretty high, considering their Fridnship Cove & the new Sky Screamer)... so it only makes sense to give a few bucks and fix up an old ride to be just like new for all the new guests that'll be attracted to the park.

SLFAKE said:

Also, I am no engineer, but since those supports were installed 21 years ago, would they still be viable to use now?

If they aren't "viable," then I don't think they would even be running the coaster... Just a thought.

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They don't, dude...

They were supports JUST for the theming. They don't have any interaction with the coaster what-so-ever.

Soo, SLFLAKE means that if those supports are still strong enough for any theming that was to be used... but they definately don't touch the coaster nor hold up the coaster in any way shape or form.

Fake vulcano theming is mostly eyecandy for spectators. While you are riding you will still see the rusty supports with attached ugly paper mache´. If this area is invisible for the park guest, I would say its very unlikely to finish the job now.

Maybe thats what park management realized twenty years ago.

This coaster still fascinates me, though. The height difference between the loops and the bowtie element looks immense on the rcdb pictures. Every coaster that runs through a real mountain gets my thumbs up. There is no need for fake scenery. I would like to know what elements the ride has while going down through the mountain.

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i was a teenage Schwarzkopf stalker.

The POV of the coaster looks extremely boring, but I wouldn't base my opinion of the ride on that.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

There are some pictures OF DM that I took this summer on our website. Check my profile for the web address.

While not having any photos of it, I tend to disagree with statement that the supports do not hold up the track. To me it looked like the framework of the "volcano" did in fact hold the track. Could be wrong on this, just my fuzzy recolection. My visit was not that long ago (two months to be exact), but I was more interested in enjoying the coaster than "counting supports and inpecting welds".

What I meant about the "viability" of supports was in reference to anchoring theming to them, not supporting the coaster.

Is it a boring coaster? In my opinion, yes and no. The queue is great (and dark), the lift seems to be very slow (and very long). The two loops after the drop are kind of intense, and the helix (in the old fram work of the planned volcano) is fast. The boring part in my opinion comes after this... a tunnel and then long section of relatively level track that makes a sweeping turn to the left (though the old frame work of what was to be the waterfall), and then into the mountain again after a break nearly stops the train. In the dark you can feel the train speed up as it starts to descend and then the drop becomes steeper (though not really steep). You see the light at the bottom of the tunnel and burst out of the ground and imediately go into a bow-tie (or is it called a pretzel) type of loop... and then continue on around a corner and into the station again. The "bow tie" at the end is possibly the best part of the ride and one of the must fun inversions I have experienced... one of the very few that give that "stomach flipping" sensation to me... especially coming out of it. It is because of this element that I decided to grab a 4th and 5th ride on this coaster.

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew

Check this out...

Marineland's Dragon Mountain REAL layout.

It's what the coaster was SUPPOSED to look like. It's a layout that includes all the theming that was to have been, including the total re-creation of Niagara Falls & the volcano which houses the double helix.

Without the theming (ie: right now) the coater ranks as only average with some dull spots & an excellent tunnel/bow-tie. With the theming, this coaster would probably rank in the top 10 for many many years.

It's unfortunate that Marineland will never finish this off. How logical is it to market a 20yr old coaster as "new"? Would people flock to it if the theming was finished? Probably not... does anyone think Marineland would ever try to accomplish this as part of their 160 million expansion?

You answered your own question as to why Marineland won't finish the theming now: "Would people flock to it if the theming was finished? Probably not." So how, exactly, is spending the millions of dollars necessary to complete the project justified? They would see zero return on that investment. Thus, expenditures will be put into new rides, not into finishing unnecessary theming on an old one.

-Nate

.. I rode it a few years ago and the tunnel into bowtie was great...

Could it have been better.. yes, fix the problem where the two lift chains meet and cause the sudden jerk, and don't slow the train to a stop after the "waterfall" going into the bowtie tunnel.

It was a neat ride.. very impressive in person even if not finished..