Colossus The Fire Dragon


Manufactured By: Anton Schwarzkopf Company
Height of Ride: 89 Feet
Length of Track: 2,296 Feet
Speed: 49 Miles Per Hour
Cost of Ride: 2.5 Million
Built: 1981
Year Installed: 1983
Location: South Midway
Duration: 1 Minute 45 Seconds
Capacity: 1600 Passengers per Hour
Amount of Lights: 12,000 +
Height Requirements: Riders under 46" in height may not ride. Riders between 46" and 50" in height must be accompanied by a responsible person.
Aggressive Thrill

Colossus The Fire Dragon (sometimes called Fire Dragon or Colossus) is a steel double-looping roller coaster.

Ride details

Colossus The Fire Dragon is a classic steel looping roller coaster designed and built by famed German coaster designer Anton Schwarzkopf. Since it was moved to Lagoon in 1983 it has been one of the more popular rides at Lagoon. In 1984 it was selected by People magazine as one of the top 10 roller coasters in the country. The ride is actually a mobile roller coaster, and initially toured with German traveling fairs after its manufacture in 1981. According to an old Lagoon Ride Operator Manual, the coaster is designed to be set up or taken down in a 72 hour period.

The ride features two loops, one after another. When upside-down in the loops 75% of a rider's body weight is pressed against the seat making it impossible for a person to fall out. Properly seated riders would not fall out of the train even if they did not have a lapbar. The lapbar is used to prevent people from standing up, and would hold riders in place in the extremely unlikely event that the train stalls while upside-down (this has never happened).

The ride can operate with up to three trains at one time, and was operated in this mode in the past. At some point the park decided to generally only run a maximum of two trains as an extra safety precaution. On rare occasions when the park is at capacity the park may still choose to safely run three trains.

Colossus The Fire Dragon is the only "Double Looping with additional trackway curve" model of roller coaster that was ever built. It is very similar to the more common "Double Looping" model (such as Laser at Dorney Park) but has additional helices near the end of the ride.

Seating

Colossus The Fire Dragon does not allow riders to choose their own seats. Riders will be place in the first available seat starting from the front of the train. Single riders are not allowed to ride in the very front or back seats. They will be asked to move to a different seat.

Name

Colossus The Fire Dragon was originally named 'Colossus' during its days traveling with German fairs. Lagoon added 'The Fire Dragon' to the ride's name at the request of Six Flags Magic Mountain in order to distinguish it from their 'Colossus' roller coaster (The name of that ride has since been changed to 'Twisted Colossus'). Lagoon did not alter or remove the original Colossus logos on the trains or the large Colossus sign on the top of the ride's first loop. Most people continue to refer to the ride as Colossus. When the ride was installed Lagoon added the word 'Fire' to a Zamperla 'Dragon' sign and placed it at the ride's entrance. This sign has since been replaced with Yesco sign with the ride's full name.