Drayton Manor provides early glimpse at Ben 10 rollercoaster in construction photo

Drayton Manor's new ride will be Europe's first Ben 10-themed rollercoaster. Image © Drayton Manor

Drayton Manor has released a new photo of construction work on its planned Ben 10 - Ultimate Mission rollercoaster, showing off much of the ride's layout for the first time.

Ben 10 - Ultimate Mission will be a variation on Vekoma's classic Boomerang design, dubbed a "Junior Boomerang". The photo shows off its green-coloured track, including the 65-feet-tall first lift hill. Riders will be pulled up the hill backwards, traversing the circuit once in a forwards direction, before completing a return trip facing backwards.

The new coaster, which is due to open by Easter 2011, will feature a relatively short track length of 590 feet (180 metres), hitting a maximum speed of 34 miles per hour. To add to the experience, Drayton Manor is constructing a heavily-themed, interactive queue line which will incorporate a live pre-show.

Drayton Manor's latest addition will be the first rollercoaster in Europe based on the popular Ben 10 children's cartoon show. The family-friendly ride will form part of a new area of the park themed around the Cartoon Network TV channel (on which Ben 10 is broadcast). Also featured in Cartoon Network Street will be a new themed restaurant and a retail outlet selling merchandise based on Ben 10 and other Cartoon Network shows.

In addition to adding the Ben 10 coaster, Drayton Manor will also add a new Zamperla Junior Regatta ride to the Thomas Land area of the park. This will replace the Terence the Tractor ride, which will be moved to the Farm area. The park will also replace Happy Feet 4D with a new movie for the 2011 season, details of which will be confirmed soon.

Ben 10 - Ultimate Mission will replace the Sombreros attraction, which was removed at the end of the 2010 season.

Theme Park Tourist will feature an in-depth preview of Ben 10 - Ultimate Mission in the near future.

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