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Europa-Park opens WODAN Timburcoaster -
Interview with Roland Mack
Update : 19/04/12 - 19h38Published by François Mayné the 2 April 2012, New.
Nearly 400 members of the press and special guests - including the racing driver Ralf Schumacher and Miss Germany 2012 - were invited last Wednesday at Europa Park (Rust, Germany) to attend the media event of its 11th roller coaster : WODAN Timburcoaster.
Constructed by the U.S. company Great Coasters International, this wooden roller coaster has been erected in the Icelandic themed area in a space of 1.6 hectares (about 3.9 acres) located between the water coaster Atlantica SuperSplash and the launch coaster Blue Fire. The construction phase of the project took nine months and required more than 25 carpenters as well as the involvement of many German subcontractors in addition to the expertise of American engineers. 3,000 m³ of concrete and 315 tons of steel were used for foundations and buildings while 2 million nails and 100,000 screws were needed for fixing the ride structure. At the request of Europa-Park, on about 1,000 m³ of timber (21,000 tree trunks) that were used to build the structure, the majority comes from the German forests. The rest (the boards forming the track) was imported from the USA with certificates proving that they were part of a policy of sustainable development and responsible.
Great Coasters International designed a rather unusual layout consisting of a first drop through the structure of the lift, 3 tunnels, a fly-through in the station building and several parts above and below Atlantica Supersplash and Blue Fire. The track's lenght is 1050 meters (about 3.444 feet) with a maximum height of 40 meters (about 131 feet). 3 Millenium Flyers trains (with 12 cars for 24 passengers) reach a maximum speed of 100 kph (about 62 mph) for a maximal vertical acceleration approaching 3.5 G. The capacity of the ride will round 1250 people per hour, or 18,000 per day. In addition, the minimal height of 120 centimeters (3 feet 11 inches) and an minimum age of 6 years is in perfect accordance with Europa-Park’s family-friendly philosophy.
Clair Hain Jr., Great Coasters International's President, stated just before the grand opening "Europa-Park took our expertise and made it even better. This is a real pleasure to see a customer as a partner and a collaborator, and not just as a buyer. Their leadership elevated our product to a new standard. Their creative input has help produce a wood coaster experience that will set out a new standard for product quality, attractions quality and a smooth quiet and thrilling experience. This is trully a special park, a special ride and a special day for us at Great Coasters International. Thank you for the opportunity and thank you for allowing us to be part of the Europa-Park family."
The artistic design was carried out internally by Mack Solutions, a team of five designers, whose Petra Hartkopp which gave some explanation of the work done to develop the atmosphere and theming of the attraction during a press conference. "Europa-Park has always attention for details. Our attractions are developed to fit into an overall theme with sceneries, landscaping, ambient sounds and music." For WODAN Timburcoaster, the Norse mythology and the Icelandic sagas (stories of the 10th and 11th century) served as bases for the theme, with a great attention to cultural references. "The Norse mythology - Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish - and the stories of the Vikings are a big source of inspiration with characters and stories that have survived for centuries" explained Petra Hartkopp.
According to the designers, WODAN Timburcoaster is a kind of initiatory journey. The queue - probably one of the most themed for a wooden coaster in the world - is divided into several "stages" through outside passages under the structure, and through dark rooms and corridors under the station. Visitors pass first under a huge portal surrounded by two Viking warriors statues before crossing a village of wooden huts where they find the entrance of the ride overlooked by a animatronic of Leif Ericson, the explorer who was the first European to cross the Atlantic according Icelandic sagas. They then discover in turns the magical tree of the Yggdiasil world, the statue of the god Odin emerging from the water, the goddess of death "Hel", the giants of ice and fire of kingdoms of Nifheim and Muspelheim, the sea serpent "Midgard" and the fountain of wisdoms "Mimir" before arriving at the station, in which Valkyries statues monitor the trains supposed to represent the ultimate test before entry to Valhalla (the heaven of warriors).
Our opinion
WODAN Timburcoaster is a successful project. The whole attraction/theming is coherent and achieving well-mastered, allowing the park to increase its offer by proposing a new type of experience for its visitors. We especially appreciated the attention to detail of the queue, with statues that move, light effects and even flames out of the water ... not to mention the passages at the heart of the wood structure which gives a particularly unique perspective!
The trains are beautifully themed and very comfortable, with upholstered seats and lap-bars rounded to the waist. The ride may be a little short, but offers a concentrate of thrills with the first drop through the lift, the tunnels and lot of banked turns that are very nice to ride for speed lovers! Finally, we liked the presence of a single rider queue as well as the opportunity to be filmed while on board.
Interview with Roland Mack, owner of Europa-Park
During the media event, we had the opportunity to interview Roland Mack, co-founder of the park and current president of IAAPA.
NewsParcs : What is your feeling on this grand opening day ?
Roland Mack : It’s a wonderful day, a great opening event with a lot of international press and people who are interested in the development of Europa-Park and the family business of Mack.
NP : You like to surprise your customers, this time with a wooden coaster!
RM : Not only Europa-Park, I think that all of our industry has to surprise guests! It’s the most important issue if you want to be successful and if you want to have the people coming back to your park. From time to time, you need to surprise them, otherwise they wouldn’t come back!
NP : Could you explain us the story behind WODAN Timburcoaster?
RM: That was a long process, because as you probably know, we would really prefer to have a Mack coaster in our park. So, we already have 10 steel coasters and we tough it was better to have another family coaster out of wood, because all others kind of steel coasters woudn’t be so family oriented. It’s also a look back at our history, because in 1921, the first coaster that left the Mack company was a wooden! So there is also nostalgy involved with this choice. A wooden coaster also gives a beautiful theming to the Icelandic wood village, and is a perfect combination with Atlantica Supersplash and Blue Fire. That’s the really selling point of this ride
NP: You decided to work with Great Coasters International which is also your business partner?
RM : Absolutely! We did a lot of researchs… I rode many wooden coasters before which I really didn’t like because they were too rough and unconfortable to ride, especially the old ones That's why we chose short trains which allowed Great Coasters International to design a layout with many banked turns, making the overall experience more comfortable.
NP : What were you looking at?
RM : We were looking for high-speed, airtimes and turns, with the idea of making a ride experience without downtime. We preferred the banked turns in order to make the ride as much comfortable as possible.
NP: Europa-Park is the most visited theme park in Germany. What are your expectations for this season?
RM : I always say that our glass is not half empty, it is always half full! I am serious about expectations and as you know, we are never ever looking for the highest attendance you can get. We want to have happy visitors, quality attractions and to succeed in serving the people with a motivated and friendly staff. I think that if we succeed in giving our customers a nice day out with the family, this will bring us a lot of new visitors and will stabilize our visits per year. If you reach the level of attendance where we are, the first thing you need to do is to maintain the number of visitors!
NP : Especially during this tough economic backdrop?
RM : It's not a big problem for us because we found that, with the crisis, people now prefer day trips rather than long holidays abroad. If they want to save money, it is more interesting for them to go from time to time for a day of fun. And if we offer them a good value for money especially in terms of attractions and services, well then they will come here! There is nothing better to relax away from home than a safe and comfortable place as Europa-Park!
WODAN Timburcoaster facts and figures
Height: 40 meters (approx. 131 ft)
Length: 1050 meters (approx. 3,444 ft)
Top speed: over 100 kph (approx 62 mph)
Total time: about 3 min 25 sec
Maximum acceleration: 3.5 G
Maximum gradient: 52 °
Maximum lateral inclination: 65 °
Number of trains: 3
Number of passengers per train: 24
Weight train (fully occupied): about 7.7 tons
Length of train: 12.80 meters
Hourly capacity: 1,250 people
Minimum size: 1.20 meters
A gigantic year for Europa-Park
In addition to WODAN Timburcoaster, the 2012 season of Europa-Park will once again be full of novelties and events, especially with the opening on July 12 of a fifth hotel - the Bell Rock - that will complement the supply of accommodation of the Resort with 1000 beds. On the theme of New England, Bell Rock will offer three restaurants, three bars, two conference rooms, an indoor and outdoor pool, a wellness center and 35 suites, which the most prestigious ones will be installed in a lighthouse of 35 meters high.
This season, a new 4D movie of 15 minutes will also be presented in the French themed area with headlining the mascots of the park. Directed by Mack Media, it will follow the success of the first one launched at the 2011 winter season. Two new exhibitions will also be presented in the Mercedes-Benz Hall (Silver Star) on the theme of Michel Vaillant and in the Gazprom Hall (Blue Fire). Moreover, Europa-Park has worked on several additions and improvements including a new building to house the seasonal staff, a new LTE mobile network and an improved road access with the development of a alternating circulation system (€1.3 million investment) to reduce the traffic jam at the beginning and end of crowded days.
Finally, the 2012 season will be punctuated by many events (including the Easter holidays, the Oktoberfest, Halloween and the winter season) and new shows.
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