Scorpion Express
| Scorpion Express | |
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| Chessington World of Adventures | |
| Park section | Mexicana |
| Coordinates | 51°20′58″N 0°19′05″W / 51.349435°N 0.318012°WCoordinates: 51°20′58″N 0°19′05″W / 51.349435°N 0.318012°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Soft opening date | 15 March 2014 (as Scorpion Express) |
| Opening date | 7 June 1987 as Runaway Train (19 March 2014 as Scorpion Express) |
| Cost | £300,000 (when originally built) |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Steel – Powered |
| Manufacturer | Mack Rides |
| Model | Blauer Enzian |
| Height | 4.7 m (15 ft) |
| Length | 259 m (850 ft) |
| Speed | 22.4 mph (36.0 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Duration | 105 seconds |
| Capacity | 1,100 riders per hour |
| Height restriction | 90 cm (2 ft 11 in) |
| Trains | Single train with 10 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 40 riders per train. |
 Fastrack available |
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 Wheelchair accessible |
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Scorpion Express at RCDB Pictures of Scorpion Express at RCDB |
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Scorpion Express is a train themed roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures in Greater London, England. It originally opened as Runaway Train in 1987. The ride officially reopened, following a major refurbishment, on 19 March 2014 just a few days after soft openings began. It is a retheme of the Runaway Train ride, of which Scorpion Express retains the cars and track from. Scorpion Express is themed around the fictional Mexican village of Scorpion Valley, that has unstable mines guarded by an animatronic scorpion.
This Mack Blauer Enzian was originally opened as the Runaway Train, which had operated for over twenty five years. At the end of the 2012 season, the Runaway Train closed for a large scale refurbishment, which would have involved a complete rebuild of the ride. Due to the ride retaining the track and carts from the Runaway Train, it is technically one of the oldest Rollercoasters in the park, although its themeing is among the newest.
The Runaway Train's track was done up towards the end of the 2013 season, ready to be refurbished for the Scorpion Express. The area surrounding the Runaway Train was boarded off with notices up saying that the ride would be "Re-launching in 2014". Over the closed season, the animatronic scorpion was installed after 208 hours of off site construction. During this time, the ride's signature oil derrick was built as well as the station and queue line.
The ride was complete on time to open for the park's Annual Passholder Preview Days when it soft-opened. The ride officially launched on Wednesday 19 March after having slight alterations and theming adjustments.
Little was known about the scrapping of the refurbishment idea until a large media announcement on the park's website on 17 December 2013 which included some information about Scorpion Express such as the ride's theme and slogan. Its logo was then released a month later.
During the resort's annual February Half-Term event - African Adventures - advertising for the ride was placed on large billboards at the zoo entrance and on the back of the gate maps. At the same time a mini site for the ride was launced on the parks website, which showed the concept art for the attraction among other details. During this time it was also announced that the ride would feature fire, water and smoke effects, as well as animatronics.
Days after the ride's soft opening, adverts for the attraction were broadcast across British television. Several other media stunts including newspaper articles about the ride appeared at this time.
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Wikipedia