Vampire ( roller coaster ) - wikipedia Vampire ( roller coaster ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( October 2014 ) Vampire Vampire 's second lift hill and drop. Chessington World of Adventures Park section Wild Woods Coordinates 51 ° 20 ′ 50 '' N 0 ° 18 ′ 56 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 51.347279 ° N 0.315607 ° W ﻿ / 51.347279 ; - 0.315607 Coordinates : 51 ° 20 ′ 50 '' N 0 ° 18 ′ 56 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 51.347279 ° N 0.315607 ° W ﻿ / 51.347279 ; - 0.315607 Status Operating Opening date 11 April 1990 General statistics Type Steel -- Suspended Manufacturer Arrow Dynamics Designer John Wardley Model Suspended Lift / launch system Chain lift Height 70 ft ( 21 m ) Length 2,200 ft ( 670 m ) Speed 45 mph ( 72 km / h ) Inversions 0 Capacity 1,200 riders per hour G - force Height restriction 43 in ( 109 cm ) Fastrack available Wheelchair accessible Vampire at RCDB Pictures of Vampire at RCDB Vampire ( originally named The 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 ( now renamed `` Wild Woods '' ). 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. Contents 1 History 1.1 Theme 1.2 Floorless Refurbishment 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 References 5 External links History Theme The 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. The rollercoaster originally had black, bat - themed trains. Towards the end of the ride, the coaster takes a sudden drop into a tunnel, before entering the brake run. The tunnel was originally longer, darker and themed as an underground cave, but this has been removed. In 1998, the ride was partly refurbished with new branding, logo and name abbreviated to Vampire. Floorless refurbishment As the ride started to age, it suffered from a number of breakdowns and maintenance problems. The manufacturer, Arrow Dynamics, had gone bankrupt since the ride had been built, meaning little could be done to rectify these issues. The Vampire was closed for the 2001 season, and at the time this was thought to be permanent. However, instead of removal, the decision was taken to modify the ride so that it could use a new type of suspended coaster train. The track was to remain unchanged because modifying this would require planning permission, which was unlikely to be granted. Since the ride consisted of the suspended swinging model, with tight corners, any new trains would also have to be able to swing ( reducing lateral Gs ). This led to the development of swinging suspended floorless coaster trains, manufactured by Vekoma, which are still in use today. The modified ride opened in 2002. From 2013 onwards the Vampire operated with two trains instead of the original three. This greatly reduced the capacity of the ride, and has drawn lots of criticism from all areas. Gallery Ride entrance Ride station, themed as an abbey, with an organ in the far back Animatronic organ player Riders in sitting position Helix after lift two See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vampire ( roller coaster ). Chessington World of Adventures Resort References Jump up ^ `` Chessington World of Adventures Resort ''. Chessington World of Adventures Resort. Jump up ^ `` Vampire ''. T - Park. Retrieved 2013 - 10 - 15. ^ Jump up to : `` Transylvania ''. ThemeUk.com. Retrieved 2013 - 10 - 15. Jump up ^ `` John Wardley interview episode 103 ''. Season Pass Podcast. 11 / 11 / 09. Retrieved 2016 - 08 - 19. Check date values in : date = ( help ) External links Vampire at ThemeParks - UK Vampire at Chessington World Of Adventures Chessington World of Adventures Roller Coasters Vampire ( 1990 ) Rattlesnake ( 1998 ) Dragon 's Fury ( 2004 ) Scorpion Express ( 2014 ) Other rides Black Buccaneer ( 1988 ) Tiny Truckers ( 1993 ) Rameses Revenge ( 1995 ) Tomb Blaster ( 2002 ) Hocus Pocus Hall ( 2003 ) KOBRA ( 2010 ) Flying Jumbos ( 2013 ) Zufari : Ride into Africa ! ( 2013 ) The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure ( 2017 ) Past rides Runaway Train ( 1987 - 2012 ) Dragon Falls ( 1987 - 2017 ) The 5th Dimension ( 1987 - 1993 ) Rodeo ( 1989 - 2004 ) Bubbleworks ( 1990 - 2016 ) Terror Tomb ( 1994 - 2001 ) Samurai ( 1999 - 2003 ) Beanoland ( 2000 - 2009 ) Peeking Heights ( 2005 - 2017 ) Madagascar Live ! Prepare to Party ( 2012 - 2014 ) Safari Skyway ( 1986 - 2015 ) Theme Park Areas Adventure Point Mexicana Pirates ' Cove Mystic East Forbidden Kingdom Land of the Dragons Wild Asia Africa ZUFARI Wild Woods See Also Chessington Zoo Merlin Entertainments John Wardley ( designer ) List of amusement parks in the United Kingdom Commons chessington.com John Wardley Designed rides Dragon Falls ( 1987 ) Runaway Train ( 1987 ) The 5th Dimension ( 1987 ) Vampire ( 1990 ) Prof. Burp 's BubbleWorks ( 1990 ) Runaway Mine Train ( 1992 ) The Haunted House ( 1992 ) Nemesis ( 1994 ) Dragon Khan ( 1995 ) Megafobia ( 1996 ) Oblivion ( 1998 ) Hex -- The Legend of the Towers ( 2000 ) Air ( 2002 ) Related Chessington World of Adventures Alton Towers Thorpe Park Gardaland Heide Park Merlin Entertainments PortAventura Oakwood Theme Park Category : Rides designed by John Wardley Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vampire_(roller_coaster)&oldid=804852228 '' Categories : Operating roller coasters Roller coasters by name Roller coasters introduced in 1990 Steel roller coasters Suspended roller coasters Roller coasters manufactured by Arrow Dynamics 1990 establishments in England Roller coasters in the United Kingdom Roller coasters operated by Merlin Entertainments Animatronic attractions Chessington World of Adventures rides Rides designed by John Wardley Hidden categories : CS1 errors : dates Articles needing additional references from October 2014 All articles needing additional references Use British English from October 2017 Use dmy dates from October 2017 Coordinates on Wikidata All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from October 2013 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Edit links This page was last edited on 11 October 2017, at 14 : 51. About Wikipedia

Question: when did the vampire ride open at chessington
Answer: in 1990