Fire Dragon
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| Location: South Midway |
| Height of Ride: 89 Feet |
| Length of Track: 2,850 Feet |
| Speed: 55 Miles Per Hour |
| Cost of Ride: 2.5 Million |
| Built: 1981 |
| Year Installed: 1983 |
| Duration: 1 Minute 45 Seconds |
| Capacity: 1600 Passengers per Hour |
| Amount of Lights: 12,000 + |
| Manufacturer: Anton Schwarzkopf Company |
| Height Requirements: Riders under 46" in height may not ride. Riders between 46" and 50" in height must be accompanied by a responsible person. |
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Fire Dragon (sometimes called Colossus The Fire Dragon or Colossus) is a steel double-looping roller coaster.
Ride details
The Fire Dragon is in my opinion Lagoon's signature ride. Since 1983 it has been one of the more popular rides at Lagoon and a favorite among many roller coaster enthusiasts. In 1984 it was selected by People magazine as one of the top 10 roller coasters in the country. And rightly so, even if it's height doesn't match some of the coasters out there, the ride is one to remember.
The style of this ride is a traveling roller coaster. Designed to be set up or taken down in a 24 hour period. So if Lagoon really wanted to surprise people, they could take it down in a single day. But I wouldn't worry about that, Lagoon has kept this ride for over thirty years now.
For those of you that are afraid of going upside down, never fear! 75% of your body weight is pressed against the seat when the train races through the loops making it impossible for a person to fall out. You could even ride the Fire Dragon without a lap bar, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's there for other reasons.
On busy days you will normally find two trains running. Lagoon used to operate up to three trains at one time, but park management felt it was safer to limit maximum operation to two trains. But on rare occasions when the park is at capacity, you may find Lagoon operating three trains, but do not count on it. If you only find two running don't worry, the line moves quickly.
Name
Fire Dragon was originally named "Colossus" during its days traveling with German fairs. Lagoon changed the ride's name to Fire Dragon so that it would not be confused with the wooden roller coaster of the same name at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Lagoon added the word "Fire" to an existing Zamperla "Dragon" sign and placed it at the ride's entrance. This sign has since been replaced. Since Lagoon did not remove the original logos from the trains or the large Colossus sign from the top of the ride's first loop, many people still refer to Fire Dragon as Colossus.
Gallery
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Train descending the first drop -
Ride with the old Fire Dragon sign -
New sign shortly after being manufactured
Video
Click "Expand" to see an on-ride video. Possible spoilers.
See Also
Double Looping with additional trackway curve at schwarzkopf.coaster.net
Fire Dragon at schwarzkopf.coaster.net