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| Statistics | |||||||||
| Manufacturer | W.F. Mangels | ||||||||
| Product | Kiddie Whip | ||||||||
| Capacity | 16 per cycle | ||||||||
| Hourly capacity | 320 | ||||||||
Griffin's Magic Dragon was a Junior Whip built by US manufacturer W.F. Mangels that was previously located at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK.
History
It was built by American firm W.F. Mangels and originally opened at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1927 as the Fairy Whip. The ride was said to have originally opened with as part of the Bingle & Bob's children's park.
In 1934, it was relocated to the brand new Emberton's Kiddies Park area, located approximately south of the Zipper Dipper.[1]
It continued to operate into the 1980s, remaining fairly popular even with the rebranding of the children's area to Funshineland and later into Beaver Creek in 1992. At some point during its operation in Beaver Creek, the ride was rethemed to Griffin's Magic Dragon and repainted into new colours featuring new themed elements.[2][3][4]
The ride eventually closed in 2008. On 13 June 2009, it was announced that The Dreamland Trust, in charge of The Save Dreamland Campaign had purchased the ride for £632.50, being relocated to the site of Dreamland Margate as part of a planned heritage park that was proposed by The Dreamland Trust. The costs covered for the ride to be transported from its original location and some of the needed money were donated in from others.
On 22 June 2009, the ride was removed from Blackpool Pleasure Beach and loaded onto a lorry for transport to Dreamland Margate. On 27 June 2009, the amount needed for transport payment was reached.[5] It was subsequently left in storage.
By 2015, the ride was eventually relocated to the Port of Ramsgate for further storage, subject to discussions between the Dreamland Trust and the new operator of Dreamland Margate, Sands Heritage Ltd about whether the still intact ride would be refurbished and installed in the reopened park. The tendering survey to install the ride in the new park ceased due to refurbishment costs exceeding the budget for the reopened park.[6][7]
As of 2016, the ride is still believed to be in storage at the Port of Ramsgate.[8]
References
- ↑ "Junior Whip". Joyland Books.
- ↑ "Bye Bye Beaver Creek". Joyland Books.
- ↑ "Bye Bye Beaver Creek". Joyland Books.
- ↑ "Bits of the Beach". Joyland Books.
- ↑ "News Archive: June 2009". Joyland Books.
- ↑ Ride Review Final.docx.html "Ride Review Final.docx.html "Trust Ride - Review and Assessment March 2015"". WhatDoTheyKnow.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ↑ "THE NEW RIDE LINE UP". Joyland Books.
- ↑ "Ex - BPB The Whip". Joyland Books.