PHOTOS: Dragon Challenge Closes at Islands of Adventure

One of the most iconic Central Florida roller coasters is now gone. Dragon Challenge (formerly known as Dueling Dragons) has been a staple of Universal's Islands of Adventure since the park opened back in 1999. Featuring one of the most immersive and detailed queues on property, the coaster had two completely different tracks that represented the Fire Dragon (later known as the Chinese Fireball) and the Ice Dragon (which then became the Hungarian Horntail).

While many fans had the chance to say goodbye to these B&M coasters on the very last day of operations (Monday, September 4, 2017), we were not able to make it. That said, we did take one last look around the attraction just a few days ago. We hope you'll enjoy the photos we took around the outdoor portion of the queue (since the metal detectors were installed a few years ago, Universal doesn't allow Guests to carry loose objects - including phones and cameras - inside the queues of select attractions; for that reason, we were not able to take photos of the indoor portion of the queue).

Let's begin by checking out the queue:




A large number of small trees and plants helped to hide some portions of the track:










The castle:











The attraction's exit:




The Re-Ride shortcut was quite popular among roller coaster fans, as it allowed them to skip the majority of the outdoor portion of the queue (we forgot to mention that the queue of Dragon Challenge was very, VERY long...):



Let'c conclude with some photos of the two coasters:

Heading back to Hogsmeade:

The Universal Orlando Resort has shared very few details about the new attraction that will replace Dragon Challenge in the near future. be sure to stay tuned on Orlando Theme Park News for updates.