Chessington’s Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) wing coaster is the standout attraction within the World of Jumanji. During the experience, riders reach a maximum height of 20 metres whilst traversing a track length of 380 metres. The track, supports and trains were manufactured by B&M in the USA, Hungary, and France. There are 251 tones of steel used across the ride structure as well as approximately 1,519 litres of paint to give Mandrill Mayhem its iconic jungle themed colour scheme. The coaster is supported by 54 concrete footers that distribute the vibrations and pressure of the ride into the ground. 2480 bolts were used in the construction.

The Station and Launch 1

The station for Mandrill Mayhem also doubles up as launch 1 on the coaster layout. Across the station and the launch 1 track which extends slightly outside of the building, there are thirteen pairs of LSM staters. There are also some smaller staters in between some of the LSM stators, these are what measure the speed of the train to ensure the exact correct speed is reached. In the station there are seven horizontal pads which link to the train whilst it is parked in position. These pads have metal contacts which are used for the automatic unlocking and locking of the restraints as well as to transfer signals that communicate with the ride system itself. When the ride is dispatched, these lower into the track prior to launching to avoid any damage to the pads when the train is going over them at high speeds. These pads rise back up when the train comes to a stop, they then self-clean as the train then adjusts itself slowly back into the correct parked position.

There are also two sets of four wheels which can be used to move the train back and forth for daily maintenance checks on the ride. In the photos, they are positioned out away from where they would be able to make contact with the train. This is because during the main ride cycle the train is moved fully by the LSM launch system and the drive tires are not in use. The train needs to be moved back and forth within the station as the wheels are checked daily throughout the season. There is a small piece of track at the front of the train which can be removed to make the running rail slightly smaller. This, as well as the small pit covered by the green metal on the floor, provide engineers access to the wheel bogies on the train for daily inspections.

Transfer Track

Unlike most roller coasters, Mandrill Mayhem doesn’t have a standard switch or transfer track system to remove the train from the circuit and into the maintenance building. Instead, there is a removable piece of track rail at the end of launch 1 that allows the train to be removed row by row via a crane. Each car of the seven on Mandrill Mayhem weighs 1200kg and the entire train weights near to 10 tons. This is also the position of the only traditional brake on the ride which is used to clamp down the rest of the train while the small piece of track is missing to stop it from coming off of the track unintentionally as an additional fail-safe system.

Launch 2

Eight pairs of LSM stators are used on the second launch of Mandrill Mayhem. In the control room for the ride, the capacitors from Stercom are constantly charging the stators to power the launch system. These stators are used to speed up and slow down the train through the use of Linear Synchronous Motor technology; a powerful electromagnetic propulsion system used on modern roller coasters. There are pipes around and fans below the LSM stators which make up the air cooling system. After each cycle, the ride takes about one minute to recharge the LSM stators ahead of the next dispatch. Each cycle on Mandrill Mayhem uses 1.5 mega watts of power and is stored at 1000 volts.

Maintenance Building

Entering the workshop itself, the first difference to the majority of other coaster maintenance buildings is the lack of track which holds the train for servicing and strip down. Due to the unconventional train transfer method, Mandrill Mayhem has seven trolleys, one for each of the rows on the ride. During winter maintenance, up to three of the seven rows are being stripped at any one time due to the space within the workshop. The other four cars sit outside of the maintenance building while the other work is taking place inside. The steel framework and the build quality of the B&M train is fantastic and extremely refined. Everything has been designed to a very high standard. Each winter, Chessington is likely to spend nearly £160,000 on maintenance for Mandrill Mayhem, 90% of the budget for this ride will be spent servicing the train.