The adventurous search for the missing sword, Excalibur Movie Park Germany reopens water attraction with new theme

By | May 7, 2018

Bottrop-Kirchhellen — While General Manager Thorsten Backhaus proudly announces the opening of the new attraction “Excalibur – Secrets of the Dark Forest” at its entrance, the last employees sneak out of the ride at the other end with vacuum cleaner and paintbrush. “We have really put the pedal to the metal to present Excalibur to our guests before the May holidays”, he says with a satisfied smile. “All those frosty days really didn’t make it easy for us, but now the time has finally come.” Starting today, the new adventure featuring Merlin, King Arthur and Excalibur will be awaiting visitors at Movie Park Germany.

Some guests may still remember the water attraction as “Mystery River” or “The Neverending Story”. “It is one of the oldest and most popular rides at our park”, says the General Manager. More than 900 litres of paint, 2500 metres of cable, 200 new lights and more than 150 new loudspeakers have been used to create the exciting story in a construction phase lasting several months, following a planning period of about one year. “Almost 100 people from Movie Park and other partner companies were involved in the project.” Enchanted forests, dark caves and dangerous sea monsters line the path on the adventurous search for the missing sword, Excalibur. “There are twelve new scenes with a total of almost 400 new props awaiting our visitors”, Thorsten Backhaus summarises. Not an easy undertaking, as the attraction is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. “The ride’s characteristics have stayed the same, but we have rewritten the story surrounding the ride. I’m sure we’ll be able to inspire all the generations with this exciting world of knights and magical beings.” Nearly 13,000 hours of work have been invested in the project, not least in order to add 15 new special effects and projections and to programme 25 new music files. “I can’t count how many drops of sweat have flowed in the last days of the final phase”, he says with a wink.

The new theme is part of the extensive quality offensive of Germany’s largest film and amusement park. “Our main focus is naturally on the construction of new rides, but bit by bit we are also devoting attention to older attractions”, Thorsten Backhaus concludes. “And everything we do focuses on film and television. Last year we built a Star Trek roller coaster, before that a permanent horror attraction based on The Walking Dead. The story of Merlin and King Arthur has been filmed so often, I’m sure many guests already know the characters.”

One of the most exciting moments during the construction phase for the General Manager of Movie Park Germany was letting in the water once all the new elements were in place. “We really wanted to know what it was like not just to walk through but to ride through again. It took days to reach the attraction’s full water level.” No wonder – after all, the ride needs more than four million litres of water. But it has been worth the wait. “The first impression was priceless.”