Ride the Prince turned into an enormous dragon for eternity...
Ride the Prince turned into an enormous dragon for eternity...
| Theme Park | PortAventura |
|---|---|
| Park Area | China |
| Type | Rollercoaster |
| Audience | Thrillseekers |
| Opened | 2 May 1995 |
| Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
| Model | Sitting Coaster |
| Height | 148 ft |
| Length | 4165 ft |
| Inversions | 8 |
| Max Speed | 65 mph |
| Duration | 1½ minutes |
Dragon Khan
Dragon Khan is PortAventura's large multi-inversion rollercoaster which sits within the park's China area.
The ride opened in 1995 along with the park itself, and at the time broke the world record for the most inversions on a rollercoaster: Dragon Khan features eight. It was a record the ride held until Colossus opened with ten inversions at Thorpe Park in 2002.
The eight inversions include two vertical loops, a zero-G roll, an interlocking corkscrew and a cobra roll. Although these may be overwhelming on a smaller rollercoaster, Dragon Khan is well paced with just the right amount of transition time between each element. Riders are given a few moments to re-orientate themselves after each one, but are not left hanging around too long to get bored.
Dragon Khan was built by B&M and is one of their Sitting Coaster models. Sadly it is a lot rougher than you would typically expect of B&M coasters, with a few rattles and bangs as trains make their way around the track.
However, the layout is interesting and the intensity is high so it's still worth a ride, even if it is now overshadowed by the spectacular Shambala with which its track is intertwined.
Dragon Khan entrance
Climbing the lift hill
Near the top
Inversion
Dragon Khan train
Racing downwards
Train detail
