Joris en de Draak is a wooden racing roller coaster in the Dutch theme park Efteling , built around the legend of Saint George and the Dragon .
The attraction is located in the Ruigrijk theme area on the former Kano pond , on the site of the former Pegasus , which was demolished in mid-2009. The opening for Efteling visitors was planned on 1 June 2010 , but had to be postponed to 1 July.
After there had been rumors for some time about a possible closure of the Pegasus , Efteling announced in July 2009 that the Pegasus would be replaced by a double wooden roller coaster that would bear the name Joris en de Draak .
On October 8, 2009 the municipality of Loon op Zand published the planning application and a day later the construction drawings appeared on the internet.
In December 2009 the concrete pillars were placed and the first wooden constructions became visible. The first construction cranes were placed on January 5, 2010 and the track was built with about 50 people. The highest point of the roller coaster was reached on February 3, 2010.
The first test drives took place on 11 June 2010. On June 27, the Nickelodeon dragon warrior tournament was held in collaboration with the Efteling, where the participants competed for the first rides with an audience. On June 28, the Efteling staff were allowed to take a ride and a day later it was the turn of the people who won a sneak preview with a code, received when purchasing a block of wood from the Pegasus . The press opening was on June 30, and since July 1, 2010, the track has been open to all guests of the park.
On July 29, 2011, a 'test cart' was placed at the entrance of the roller coaster. The function is that people with a certain physique can see whether they fit in the cart. This was removed after a period for a queue extension on busy days, but was reinstated in December 2013.
The main designer of the roller coaster is Karel Willemen , who previously designed De Vliegende Hollander . The builder of the track is Great Coasters International , who also built the Troy in Toverland in 2007 . The name and theme refer to the legend of Saint George . In the roller coaster, 2 trains compete against each other to defeat the dragon. One train tries that with water (blue), the other with fire (red). The train that reaches the finish board first wins the battle. The finish board is given the color of the winning train and flags in this color are lowered in the station above the winning train.
The attraction is 25 meters high and the two lanes are each 810 meters long, with a combined capacity of 1700 people per hour. The maximum speed is 75 km/h. A minimum height of 1.10 meters and accompanied by an adult is required for the ride in the trays in the center of each train. In the trolleys, the guest is kept in place by a belt and a hip bar that is closed via a click system, standard the bars are checked by means of a tug on the handle by one of the employees. For the slightly wilder ride at the front and back of the train, the minimum length is 1 meter 20 and guidance is not mandatory. The track extends from the Python to the water attraction Piraña To fit the roller coaster into the environment, the footpath that ran along the Pegasus has been replaced by a new one, passing under the roller coaster and past the 9 meter high moving dragon that lies in the water between the tracks. This dragon seems to follow the trains with his eyes as they go through the track. Every now and then the dragon spits fire when a train from the waterway passes by. The other train, traveling on the fire track, is fought by the dragon's tail splashing in the water.
