Scorpion Express

Scorpion Express is a mine train themed roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures in Greater London, England. It was originally the Runaway Train and opened with the original theme park in 1987. The ride was redesigned and reopened on 14 March 2014, with the same track layout but new name and theming. Scorpion Express is set in a small mining village, featuring an animated metalwork scorpion.HistoryThis Mack Blauer Enzian family coaster opened as the Runaway Train in 1987 and operated for over twenty five years.In 2013, the area surrounding the Runaway Train was boarded off with notices up saying that the ride would be "Re-launching in 2014". Over the closed season, the animatronic scorpion was installed after 208 hours of off site construction. During this downtime, the ride had all its original cave design, landscaping and theming features removed, now placing the track completely in the open and the queue on flat ground.The ride was complete on time to open for the park's Annual Passholder Preview Days when it soft-opened. The ride officially launched on Wednesday 19 March after having slight alterations and theming adjustments.AdvertisingDuring the resort's annual February Half-Term event - African Adventures - advertising for the ride was placed on large billboards at the zoo entrance and on the back of the gate maps. At the same time a mini site for the ride was launched on the parks website, which showed the concept art for the attraction among other details. During this time it was also announced that the ride would feature fire, water and smoke effects, as well as an animated scorpion.