Funworld August 2009

FOUR HIGH-PROFILE COASTERS— INCLUDING A WORLD RECORDSETTER— DEMONSTRATE GERMAN PARKS’ COMMITMENT TO REINVESTMENT by Juliana Gilling AS GERMANY’S VOTERS PREPARE TO DELIVER THEIR VERDICT on the German government’s handling of the economic downturn in this September’s election, early indications are that the country’s theme park industry is bucking the slowdown. “It’s been a promising start for German leisure parks this season. Compared to 2008, increasing visitor interest has been recorded,” says Dr. Ulrich Müller-Oltay, CEO of German amusement parks association VDFU. Speaking in June, Holiday Park’s head of marketing, Rudi Mallasch, agreed: “Compared to previous years, attendance is higher than projections, maybe because of the benign weather and because we have new shows and a new pricing system.” According to Roland Mack, managing partner of Europa-Park and IAAPA third vice chair: “Theme park owners in Germany have every right to be confident because, despite the economic crisis, there is a large demand for theme parks here. More than 50 amusement parks in Germany have more than 100,000 visitors per year. Currently, people are tending to go on shorter holidays, mostly to close-by destinations. They don’t want to spend too much money on holidays abroad. A visit to a theme park is a fantastic alternative, especially for families.” With headline-grabbing rides making their debut this year and operators like Europa-Park, Phantasialand, and Heide Park offering hotels, German parks are well placed as short break destinations in 2009. “If you’re going to a theme park now, you can do a two- or three-day trip,” explains Mallasch. “Our park is located in the south of Germany near Heidelberg and the German wine route, so it’s a nice combination.” Anew flexible pricing structure is helping Holiday Park tap into the widest possible audience, according to Mallasch. “We’re piloting a taster price where you can enter Holiday Park for 9 euros and 90 cents. For that, you can see some of the shows, go to the restaurants, and look at the park. If you want to try a ride, you can buy a single ticket. Plus, we still have our flat rate, so for 26 euros as an adult you can ride and see everything at the park.” “German amusement parks offer a very good price-performance ratio for the price-conscious German holida maker,” says Mack. “German theme park visitors have always been very demanding, and they expect top-class entertainment. In Germany, the overall picture of a theme park—the combination of rides, food, shopping, theming, tidiness, and friendliness—plays an essential role. I am convinced of the quality of our leisure products, and good quality is always successful in the long run.” “Reinvest continuously” is the message from Hansa-Park Managing Director Christoph Andreas Leicht and his fellow executives. At Europa-Park, Mack points out: “Seventy nine percent of our guests are repeat visitors. This is only possible when you offer new attractions and leisure activities constantly. ”Germany’s parks are determined to differentiate their offers as other organizations target the amusement park euro. “Intense competition from foreign businesses and companies from other areas of the leisure sector have led to great pressure for innovation and investment,” adds Müller-Oltay of VDFU. Although more German parks are changing from family hands into corporate ownership, most remain “medium sized family firms, contributing to organic, balanced growth,” says Müller-Oltay. “Owners and decision makers have been able to make quick and flexible decisions. Also, each park has followed its own individual development path, so each one has its own charm.” It’s this distinctive character, closeness to consumers, generational knowledge, and willingness to seize new opportunities that should sustain German parks, whatever the world economy has in store.”

EUROPA-PARK’S “BLUE FIRE” is the superhero of coasters: mythical, powerful, and, like that, poof, it’s gone. A Mack Rides launch coaster, “Blue Fire” is Europa-Park’s first with a loop and brings its coaster tally up to 10.

“It’s the combination of dark ride, launch coaster, and four head-over-heels elements that makes ‘Blue Fire’ different,” says Roland Mack, managing partner of Europa-Park and IAAPA third vice chair. “Imagine being catapulted from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour [62 miles per hour] in just 2.5 seconds. After the horseshoe you shoot straight into the highest loop of a catapult coaster in Europe.

“Despite the loop, we use lapbars instead of shoulderbars,” Mack continues. “We designed a special seat, together with a nearby university, and the results are fantastic. Not only are the seats comfortable, we’ve added features such as a pulse rate monitor, audio effects, and video.”

Mack is especially pleased with the steel coaster’s smooth ride: “We had our first test runs and found out that you could hardly hear the ride.” Theming adds to “Blue Fire’s” appeal, as well. The “megacoaster” is the signature attraction in Iceland, Europa-Park’s 13th European themed area. The glacial blue ride takes people through a rugged landscape with cliffs, geysers, and volcanoes. Visitors enter and exit via an Icelandic-style fishing village, complete with “Kaffi Hus” (coffee house) and two shops. A new passageway links the Iceland area with a neighboring Scandinavian- themed zone.
www.europapark.de
www.mack-rides.com

GREAT COASTERS INTERNATIONAL IS THE CREATIVE FORCE behind “El Toro” (“The Bull”), which opened in April at Freizeitpark Plohn. Budding matadors are welcome to tackle the wooden coaster, which carries 24 passengers—arranged two across—on GCI’s patented Millennium Flyer train. Top speeds reach 75 kph (47 mph) along the 725-meter (2,378-foot) track. Coaster circuits take around one minute 30 seconds.

The ride site’s uneven terrain proved a particular challenge for the project team, says Freizeitpark Plohn spokesperson Katja Martin. The resulting roller coaster is designed to integrate with the surrounding rides, landscape, and water features. “El Toro’s” terrain-hugging layout prompts GCI’s Chris Gray to dub the coaster a “mini-‘Thunderhead’,” which is high praise considering the esteem the Dollywood new-classic holds.

“When you make one of these wooden coasters a little smaller, the elements can be much tighter and closer together, which means you can actually pack in a lot more elements,” Gray says. “‘El Toro’ feels like it’s going a hundred miles per hour from beginning to end—it does not let up.”

Future plans include the development of Mexican themed buildings and attractions around the coaster, says Martin.
www.erlebnispark-forellenhof.de
www.greatcoasters.com

AT THE NÜRBURGRING RACE TRACK THIS SEASON, “ring°racer” is expected to break speed records for roller coasters worldwide. Riders will feel what it’s like to go from 0 to 217 kph (135 mph) in 2.5 seconds on this steel coaster from Utah-based S&S Worldwide. “It’s the fastest accelerating coaster in the world,” says Miro Gronau, operations manager for Nürburgring’s Boulevard and ring°werk areas, where the ride is situated.

Nürburgring’s operators wanted to give guests the chance to experience the thrill of racing at the circuit, which attracts 2 million visitors a year. “‘ring°racer’ is an extreme acceleration experience located alongside Nürburgring’s real start/finish lane, in front of the track’s grandstands,” says Gronau. Thanks to compressed-air launch technology it takes just 85 seconds for two four-seater cars to cover the 1,212-meter (3,976-foot) track.

The ride is designed to complement ring°werk, a new indoor theme park at Nürburgring that immerses families in the world of the racing driver; “ring°racer’s” entry is included in a day’s admission pass. “Visitors can also experience a 4-D cinema with a spectacular film about the biggest race in the world, step back in time on a ride with the Nürbus Eifelfahrt, or enjoy the cartoon ‘MotorMania’ interactive dark ride from ETF,” explainsGronau.There are also behind-the-scenes and educational attractions, including a revolving theater that highlights Nürburgring’s 81-year history.

The new developments are part of a strategy to transform Nürburgring into a year-round leisure and business destination that is worth visiting outside the major events. “Besides the ring°werk, there’s a 5,000-seat ring°arena and a huge ring°boulevard, including brand worlds from renowned car manufacturers and suppliers. Also, there’s an indoor ring°kartbahn (go-kart track), a BMW grandstand, and a welcome center. Two new hotels, a bungalow park, and a party village round off the short break destination,” says Gronau.
www.nuerburgring.de
www.ssglobalinc.com

“FLUCH VON NOVGOROD” (“THE CURSE OF NOVGOROD”) struck at Hansa-Park this summer. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, the Euro-Fighter coaster starts in the dark with a four-meter (14- foot) vertical drop into an LSM launch, which propels the coaster from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 1.4 seconds. Riders experience a quick turn before catapulting into daylight at a height of more than 35 meters (115 feet). There’s an airtime hill, an Immelmann loop, and a heartline roll before the ride returns inside. It ends with a chain lift and a 97-degree vertical drop back into the dark.

“It’s the first time a roller coaster features cars that are suitable for both a launch system and a vertical chain lift,” says Hansa-Park Managing Director Christoph Andreas Leicht. “Instead of heavy trains, we used individual cars—four eightseater vehicles—to create a high-intensity ride experience and enhance the feeling of acceleration. The minimum height for passengers is 1.25 meters [4 feet] so, despite the thrills, the ride can be enjoyed by families, as well.”

Three years in the making, the new coaster mirrors the design of a lark’s head knot, explains Leicht. “The huge challenge was to integrate the attraction into existing park sceneries,” he adds. The project team battled snow and ice to bring the coaster in on deadline, but “Novgorod” opened on time April 9, in time for the start of the 2009 season.

Work has already started on a second phase, which will run into 2010. The park intends to create a fully themed ride inspired by a story from the time when Novgorod—once the pearl of Russia and the easternmost trading post of the Hanseatic League—was a thriving city. “Guests can expect an incredible ride into the dark through unknown passageways and eerie chambers,” says Leicht. “They’ll explore and discover the secrets of Novgorod’s Vladimir Tower, Saviour Tower, and the citadel.”
www.hansapark.de
www.gerstlauer-rides.de

Holistic Experiences

‘TERMINATOR,’ ‘SAW’ TURN COASTERS INTO MORE THAN JUST THRILL RIDES
by Jeremy Schoolfield

‘Terminator Salvation—The Ride’ SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Great Coasters International CHRIS GRAY, PROCUREMENTANDASSEMBLY DIRECTOR for Great Coasters International Inc. (GCI), was as surprised as anybody when he found out Six Flags wanted to theme his company’s latest creation to the new Hollywood film “Terminator Salvation.” “You think of ‘Terminator,’ you naturally think of something big and metal,” he says. But once Gray and his partners started working with Six Flags on the project, he says the whole thing fit together quite nicely. But how? Through expanding the guest experience, just like something you’d see in Central Florida. “Salvation” has an extensive preshow spanning approximately eight minutes and three separate rooms, where guests are shown film clips produced exclusively for Magic Mountain. According to the story, the deadly Terminators have destroyed the park and the wooden coaster is the humans’ only means of escape. Magic Mountain General Manager Tim Burkhart says “Salvation” Is without question the most heavily themed coaster in the park. He’s also quick to point out, though: “I don’t think it’s possible to theme your way out of a bad ride. The theming is added dressing that broadens the appeal to a wider audience.” In that respect, “Terminator” offers five hills and six banked turns as it zips around 2,850 feet of track. Gray says “Terminator” is also the most complicated project GCI has ever done, as for the first time in the company’s history its Millennium Flyer trains feature onboard audio with a pounding musical score and occasional story elements. For instance, as the coaster flies past the station, a voice screams over the speaker: “Take the tunnel!” At one point, a flame spouts into the air as the train rounds a bend. There’s more where this came from for Magic Mountain, as well: “Future projects we’re looking at definitely have an extensive theme element in them,” Burkhart says. www.sixflags.com/magicmountain www.greatcoasters.com