The design of the ride itself is very simple, it’s drop, then 5 inversions, brake run and then three inversions and three corners, however the size of the beast is what makes it stand out. When it opened it contained the tallest inversion in the world, and was one of the fastest loopers around. The roar the ride creates can be heard from most areas of the park, and thanks to the fact the ride is situated on a hill, can be seen from most areas of the park as well.

Heading through China, it is hard not to get a bit apprehensive about your first ride, and walking along the Great Wall of China, which runs along the entire ride, many people will have had second thoughts. One thing that amazes me as you walk along this stretch is how close you can come to some of the ride. You can literally sit and eat lunch right next to the interlocking corkscrews, less then five meters below the turnaround for them. You soon reach the Universal Express entrance, which isn’t very well marked and as a result you often get people assuming that this is the main entrance and so a lot of embarrassed looking people walk back out of this entrance. If you continue walking along the Great Wall of China you will reach a square with a lively , interactive dragon that squirts water onto passers-by, and it’s on the right that you will find the entrance to Dragon Kahn.

Entering the Ride:

The entrance isn’t the grandest entrance ever built, but it does the job, consisting of a large sign over the entrance decorated with two dragons and lots of Chinese touches. The queue itself is in a word- horrible. It consists entirely of cattle pens for the entire duration of the queue, all under a large Chinese roof and surrounding a large and quite beautiful dragon’s head.

The queue moves very slowly on busy days, and faster on quieter days, the simple reason for this being that on very busy days, Universal Express is in operation for anyone who doesn’t want to shell out 18 euros on a wristband. This means that a lot of people, about half a trainload, enter from the Universal Express line, and then only half a trainload from the normal queue. This whole system is very good for those who can afford it, but is very infuriating for the people who are waiting in line to see smug looking queue jumpers steal their spot in the train.

As the queue slowly moves towards the station, you are offered some very spectacular views of the cobra roll, and not a lot else. Just as you start the home stretch the Universal Express queue meets up with the main queue and they run next to each other, the reasons for this being most probably that Universal want as many of the Expressers to get evils as possible, which let me warn those who will use the Express queue, you are glared at a LOT just as you enter. You enter the large station area; all adorned with wonderful Chinese touches and are directed to a seat by a reasonably effective op.

You are let in and it’s a real free for all to grab a decent seat, the front doesn’t have its own special queue and you are not allowed to wait behind another group. Each row holds four people, and if you are on your own, be prepared to move into another row to fill in all available seats. The only thing I would say as a discredit to this procedure is that it would benefit a lot from single rider, almost every ride I had the ops had to call out for a single rider from the queue, which sometimes

slows down the loading times. The train before yours leaves and yours rolls into the station. The gates open and you take your seats. The seats are comfortable enough and the restraints are comfortable and hold you in place nicely, they come down slowly and the buckles are nice and easy to use. The extremely good ops check all the restraints, take any loose items you may have forgotten to remove and still you have to often wait for the first train to hit the mid course break run.

The ride itself:

The train departs from the station smoothly and starts down a small pre-lift dip, which gives a nice pop of airtime if you’re sitting further back. The train takes a smooth corner and starts up the lift hill, at a good speed, you have time to admire the view but you don’t get bored (ala The Big One). You reach the top of the lift and get a quick look at the fabulous view and then dip down slightly. I must warn you that this can be alarming if you’re not at the front because it feels as if you are going to smash the car in front with your head, but this is just because of how tight the dip is.

You do a quick 90 degree turn and get a wonderful view of the park. Anyone that thought the first loop looked big from the ground is in for a shock at this point, it looks absolutely gigantic from the top of the first drop. The drop is quick and fast, and at the back has some of the most amazing airtime ever on a first drop. You level out and are then faced with what is more likely than not the biggest loop you’ve ever encountered. You start to head skywards and it just keeps going up and up. You reach vertical and then it hits you just how high you are, and the fact that you’ve got to keep going seems very scary.

The train almost stops over the loop, which creates some of the most sensationally thrilling hang time around. If you’re at the front you get a wonderful look at the floor, inverted and over a hundred feet below you. The train starts to head back to ground level, and the back even gets yet another pop of airtime before it levels out. The bottom of the loop can bash you about a bit, but you can avoid this by simply pulling down the restraint until it’s tight. You then enter the dive loop, which feels very graceful, albeit a little forceless on the way up. Once more you invert at very scary heights, before starting on the half vertical loop back to the ground. The view on the way down is less than inspiring, a road and a railway are the visual delights served while vertical. The train then makes a very quick and barely noticeable direction change before heading into my personal favourite moment of the ride.

You start climbing up and pass under the second vertical loop, before you hit the zero-g-roll. You are yanked out of your seat as the train elegantly flips, especially at the back on one of the sides. The roll is perfect in every way, huge negative g, followed by huge positive g at the bottom. It’s very fast and doesn’t last long at all, but you’re spun around, the whole world flips, and then you find yourself heading back towards the ground. Next in this coasters cocktail of inversions is my least favourite- the cobra roll. You head up in a half loop, which is followed by a half corkscrew. Speed is lost at this point and you get a chance to breath for the first time since the lift. You head back into another half corkscrew, and then another half loop back to the ground. They both feel very bland and dull, and provide little that you won’t have tried before, even the element of height which makes the first two inversions exquisite seem to be lost on this one.

The train then flies up into the mid course break run, which only pinches the train and barely take 10mph off the speed. You head down a rather violent twisting drop into a trench dug into the barren wasteland that serves as the ground for this coaster to stand on. You head up into a very tight, very g filled loop which is wrapped around the zero-g-roll. You come up out of the trench and hit a quick 270 turnaround, followed immediately by a very snappy corkscrew. The train is ripped out from under you before you a flicked about, before heading back down again. Another turnaround follow, barely inches above the grass below, before hitting an even spunkier second corkscrew over the first one. Your on-ride photo is taken on the way out of this final inversion, before you hit one final corner, and then the smooth and efficient brakes.

The Aftermath:

Everybody leaves this coaster with a buzz, the exit ramps are filled with happy guests all talking excitedly about the coaster. There is always a sense of accomplishment after taking on huge roller coaster and fortunately this in no different. The exit consist of 4 shallow ramps taken you back down from the raised station, under the pre-drop, which you usually get to just as your train leaves again, up some stairs and frees you next to the photo booth. The photos are very well priced at only six euros, and the merchandise available from the ride shop is of the best quality, and is also well priced.

Quick Thoughts: Very fast, well paced ride with great variety and some very tall and forceful inversions.

Good points:

- Inversions mainly of the highest order
- Amazing first drop and high level of airtime through out the whole ride
- Height makes you feel very exposed and makes the ride quite scary
- Theme is good enough
- Excellent operation
- Very good length
- Looks very impressive

Bad points:

- Rough on some corners and inversions
- Cobra roll is pretty dull and doesn’t add anything to the mix
- Queue is horrible and slow.