Viking's Revenge Flume Ride

Annaliserocks217 06:22, May 7, 2015 (UTC)

## About

Viking's Revenge Flume Ride (sometimes referred to as 'Flume Ride') is one of Sea World's family log rides. It is the first theme park ride and oldest to exist in Australia. It's 13 metres tall (43 feet) and is 460 metres (1510 feet) in length. It's a family ride so it has a maximum speed of only 58 kilometres per hour (36 miles per hour) which only occurs going down the main (and only) hill. The duration of the ride consists of 4 minutes. It contains 22 numbered Viking themed boats that allow 4 people in each boat (4 rows with 1 rider in each). Viking's Revenge Flume Ride used to go through it's own cave in the Bermuda Triangle, however in 2012 the tracks changed into just a curve surrounded by concrete that leads to the Viking themed castle, due to Bermuda Triangle being demolished.

## Requirements

* Riders must be 95cm to 200cm (3ft to 6ft) tall to ride. Riders under the height of 120cm must be accompanied by an adult.
* Riders who are pregnant or have any particular medical conditions cannot ride.
* The ride doesn't operate in certain weather.

## Queue/Waiting Experience

The queue for Viking Revenge Flume Ride starts on a fairly large wooden platform located beside the ride station over a part of the ride's route. The area has blue poles that separate queue lines. Usually, the wait for this ride is quite long and takes at an estimate of 30 minutes for the whole wait. However the station is divided into four parts which allows the ride to go quicker because it allows 2 boats to go near the same time. Once riders arrive at the station they must sit down (no lap bar or seatbelt required). If there is a huge age difference in the group of riders boarding the boat, the lightest must go in the front and the heaviest at the back.

## Ride Experience

The ride starts as the boat moves forward towards a channel with another stream on the other side. The opposite stream has the other station's boat, either waiting or just arriving. The boat brakes and waits to proceed pass its own stream. On the right, riders will see a sign that has a 'Vikings' logo, and says in (bold writing) '**For your safety'** and then underneath (in normal writing) says 'Please remain seated, boats dispatch automatically'. Once the other station's boat leaves, another boat will have to arrive to that other stream before proceeding. Once the boat proceeds, it will continue to go forward and under a small bridge. After that it proceeds through a long concreted curved stream, that leads to the light green conveyor belt lift. The boats will then be lifted into a viking themed castle. While lifted, riders will be able t

   o see an advertisement on their left, under the ride's main hill, for the SpongeBob Squarepants 3D attraction. Upon arrival at the top of the castle (13 metres, 43 feet high) the boat turns left and goes through streams that go around the outside of the castle, leading towards the top of the main hill. While going through the last and longest stream that leads towards the hill, an audio message is played from a speaker (with a sign) up above. It says 'Please stay seated, and hold the hand rails provided for the remainder of the ride. Thank you!'. Up above there is also a sign that looks like a map that says to look right for the camera. Right next to the green stream, riders will be able to see a staff member standing on the side, usually informing riders to look right and smile for the camera as well. The boat will then go down the hill at maximum speed and have the camera on the right go off half way through. At the end of the hill the boat makes a huge splash out of the stream water, and continues going forward under another bridge leading under a part of the queue, before arriving back at the station. Riders will exit on the left side of the station and walk up the concrete steps. They are able to purchase their on-ride photos from the Viking Photo Shop.

## Manufacturing History

The Flume Ride was manufactured by Sea World and opened in March 1979. It was meant to be manufactured by a popular American ride manufacturer, named Arrow Dynamics. The company asked for a price of $1.5 million Australian dollars late in the 1970's. However John Menzies from Village Roadshow theme parks decided the price was too high, so he designed and constructed a flume ride in house. He went to study dimensions of similar rides that were overseas, as Australia had not yet had any theme park rides yet. The cost of the ride he constructed was $350 000 Australian dollars, saving him $1,150 000 from what Arrow Dynamics wanted. The ride had its soft opening in 1978 but officially opened in 1979 as the first theme park ride in Australia, and became very iconic, much like the Corkscrew and Sea Viper. Late in 2012, Bermuda Triangle boat ride was being demolished which would affect the Viking Revenge Flume, as The Bermuda Triangle was apart of its tracks, featuring the volcanic cave. Consequently, the tracks were then re-coursed to just a long curve surrounded by concrete leading to the conveyor belt. This also made the ride shorter as it used to be around 5.40 minutes, but it's currently only 4.00 minutes.

## Trivia

* Viking's revenge flume ride is one of the only rides at Sea World to be constructed by Village Roadshow.
* It is the first ride at Sea World ever.
* Many visitors to Sea World say they feel nostalgic whenever they ride this ride again, as they remember riding it as kids.
* The Flume ride is one of the only flume rides currently operating in Sea World. The other being Storm Coaster.

## Links

* http://seaworld.com.au/animals-rides-and-shows/rides/viking-revenge-flume.aspx