Vampire is an Arrow Dynamics steel suspended rollercoaster opened in April of 1990 at Chessington World of Adventures. The design allows the cars to freely swing below the track and originally had enclosed cars, but was later modified to accept new Vekoma floorless trains in 2001.
The ride has a gothic style theme and used to have bat shaped enclosed cars on the trains, adding the the effect of a Vampire taking flight. Over the years the theming has been slowly removed and very little still remains of the original so I’ve read. I’d have liked to have experienced Vampire in its early years to not only see the theming around the queue and station, but to also see what the enclosed cars were like too.
It’s still decently themed, but it does feel like they’ve just added bits here and there rather than making a good focused effort. It’s no Swarm, but certainly better than most other UK coasters for theming!
The station still has an animatronic organist that moves in time with the theme music so he looks like he’s playing it. This is very well done and has had an update quite recently with new lighting to add to the effect.
The ride itself rides ok, it’s not the smoothest rollercoaster out there, but considering its age, it’s not too bad either. We’ve found that back row rides offer the best experience on Vampire. It doesn’t bang your head about much, if at all, and you get good whip effects when going over both lift hills. The front is a good time too, but not quite as a good a ride as back row and mid train is just average.
It does also feel like a much better ride at night, with the darkness adding to the experience. Not quite being able to see what’s coming, coupled with the heavily wooded setting make it another great UK nightride!
The ride features two lift hills and a mostly pleasant not too intense layout. After the second hill you’ll fly directly above the path below and after this is the best part of the ride as you take a dive into a tunnel.
It’s here that it achieves its maximum force as you plow through the tunnel into a curving right banked turn with enough force to put the train on its side. It’s an excellent dive and turn, plenty of force and always puts a smile on my face. It’s also here where the camera takes your onride photo so look out for that!
I really like the Vampire, which up until recently, was my favourite family ride in the UK. That spot now belongs to Storm Chaser at Paultons Park. That’s not to say its a bad ride or anything, but it is starting to ride a bit rougher than it used to now, which can sometimes spoil the ride a little. It’s still a ride both myself and Tracy have ridden every time we’ve been to Chessington, a feat that none of the other rides at Chessington have!
If there were any improvements I’d like to see done to the ride it would be theming and restraints. Firstly the theming could really do with being updated and modernising to bring it up to standard, but leave the station as is as that is fine!
Secondly the restrains could do to be changed. Currently they are over the shoulder ones similar to ones found on Vekoma’s Suspended Looping Coaster models and, though perfectly serviceable, feel a bit too much and add to the head banging. If they could adapt the trains to accept Vekomas lapbars as found on Flight of the Pterosaur at Paultons Park, then I feel the overall ride would feel even better than it currently is.
So that’s my thoughts on Vampire. A great ride that I thoroughly enjoy and hope to see it continue to operate for many more years to come!
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