The Dragon Coaster is a staple at the Legoland parks. This unique attraction
combines a well-themed dark ride section followed by a more traditional family coaster.
This particular video will focus on the version at Legoland California and it
also happens to be my favorite coaster in the park. I’ll explain why in this review.
There are 10 operating Legoland parks across the globe. Every single park
includes a medieval themed area and a Dragon coaster. This coaster always starts off with
some dark ride scenes before heading outdoors for a series of twists, turns, and helixes.
While the overall format and dark ride section is very similar park-to-park,
the coaster section can vary. The first Dragen coaster went to Legoland Billund
in 1997. This was a Mack powered coaster. This is the tamest of the dragon coasters worldwide and
I’m glad the later ones got a bit more ambitious. The second Dragon coaster went to Legoland Windsor
in 1998. This was built by WGH Transportation, a small English ride manufacturer.
All of their coasters and most of their rides in general have been built in their native country.
The third Dragon went to Legoland California in 1999. This would use the Vekoma junior coaster
ride system. The only other Vekoma version would be at Legoland Florida, but this was a unique
case. Cypress Gardens built Okeechobee Rampage with a standard layout. When Legoland purchased
the park, they extended the ride to feature the usual dark ride section before the main layout.
The 6 ground-up Dragon coasters Legoland has built since the turn of the millennium
have been built by Zierer Rides. More specifically, this is a Force Five model.
I previously reviewed the installation at Legoland New York if you want to hear more.
I prefer the Zierer version since it has some deceptive power and is a more thrilling ride,
but the version in California is enjoyable too. Dragon was the only coaster to open with Legoland
California. The 40 inch height requirement was perfect for this park’s family audience.
Located in Castle Hill, the whole area has a medieval theme. The focal point of the land
is Dragon. The coaster’s station and dark ride scene is housed in a nice-looking gray castle. The
coaster sports faded green track to blend in with the nearby trees, but you can still see the first
few elements fairly well from the midway. The best vantage points of this attraction are actually
from the hotels adjacent to the park. This is the lone attraction visible from outside the park.
To access the attraction, you walk under this festive archway bearing the ride’s name.
Then the queue line mostly takes place outdoors, routing you around a graveyard with some comical
tombstones. Then the station area looks fantastic. The walls have nice brickwork and there are a
series of chandeliers and flags hanging from the ceiling. And there’s a medieval soundtrack
fostering a pleasant atmosphere. Last but not least, you have the trains. It’s a vibrant dragon
designed to look like it was made of Legos. All this contributes to a great overall presentation.
I’ve only visited Legoland on quiet weekdays in the off-season, but I believe this ride can
typically get a 15-30 minute wait. Fortunately, it has decent capacity. The ride has and often
runs two trains. Then each train has 10 rows of 2, so 20 riders can be accommodated at once.
And the simple lap bar restraints make it easy for the employees to get the trains out quick.
I didn’t see the crew stack this ride once. There were many instances where they were standing
around waiting for the next train to return. As for which seat you want, I think the back
offers the best experience if you want some added thrills. A few of the drops have some
extra oomph back there, but it’s nothing too extreme. I believe the ride uses assigned
seating in busy times, but the employees seem open to you waiting for and requesting a row.
Once dispatched, you have a 1.5 minute long dark ride section. I think this is really well-done
and the highlight of the ride. You pass a series of charming medieval scenes. You pass a kitchen,
a series of jesters, a wizard, and best of all- a massive dragon. All the characters
have the stylized Lego look you’d expect, but several move and they’re quite big in scale.
The end of this section has a long dark hallway. The doors open revealing the lift
hill. It’s 43 feet or 13 meters tall. And the train is propelled to the top using a series
of drive tires as opposed to a lift hill. Vekoma commonly uses these on their smaller coasters.
Unfortunately, the great theming of the dark ride section is not carried over to the outdoor bit.
It does at least feel scenic since a bunch of trees wall you off from the midway.
Vekoma has a lot of clones, but this ride still has a unique layout that hasn’t been duplicated.
But it bears a lot of similarities to their extended roller skater model.
If you’re unfamiliar with this model, examples include Islands of Adventure’s
Flight of the Hippogriff or the Dragon Coaster at Legoland Florida that I already mentioned.
But back to Legoland California’s Dragon Coaster, the first drop is short and twists right.
But if you’re in back, you get some whip as the long train is pulled down it.
Next is a 540 degree helix. You enter it rather slowly, but you get some light positive Gs at its
lowest point, but the forces are far less than the Zierer Dragon coasters I mentioned earlier.
You then have a slow turnaround and head towards the ride’s finale, which is actually pretty good.
You have this swooping plunge into a ditch. It’s a nice use of terrain and
you get some solid force on the element yet again if you’re in the back rows.
You then head upwards, hit a set of brakes, and crawl back into the station.
This ends the 1247 foot or 380 meter long coaster. That’s not a lot of track and the coaster section
is short, but the ride does feel far longer and more complete because of that dark ride sequence.
In terms of smoothness, I have no issues with Dragon. It is very smooth. Vekoma
struggled to make smooth thrill coasters a few decades ago, but their junior and family
coasters were almost always tracked well. And then in terms of pacing, this is about
on par with those aforementioned roller skaters, but it’s more than
fine for a family coaster like this. It’s not expected to be a thrill coaster, nor is it.
So what would I rate the Dragon? I would give this coaster a 6 out of 10.
This is a decent coaster. I love the dark ride segment at the start. I honestly like that better
than the coaster bit. The quality of the scenes would be enough for its own standalone ride.
I think it’s better themed than several coasters just up north at Disneyland. Then
you have the outdoor coaster section. It’s just a hair better than your usual roller
skater model, but I do like a few of the drops if you’re seated towards the back.
As I mentioned at the start, this is the park’s best coaster and it’s a
really nice fit for the park’s audience. Every kid I saw come off had a big smile
on their face and wanted to get back in line. So those are my thoughts on Legoland California’s
Dragon Coaster. What are your thoughts on this unique coaster? Is this your favorite coaster in
the park as well? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!