Vampire (roller coaster)

Vampire is an Arrow suspended swinging roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures Resort theme park in London, England. It opened in 1990 in the new Transylvania area . 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. The ride was designed by John Wardley and the theme design by Sparks. During the 2001 season, Vampire was closed so that it could be modified to use new trains, and reopened in 2002.HistoryThemeThe ride has a Gothic theme and was originally very detailed, with a queueline 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 character playing at a large pipe organ. The animatronic was originally programmed in time to the soundtrack, appearing to play to the organ music, however this has not been maintained for many years and the character's movements are now much less fluent. In 2014 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 Now, very little of the themed queue and station exists the way it was intended; the lighting too has been replaced by generic flashing LED bulbs.