VENLO, the Netherlands — About just six months ago Lagotronics Projects has been commissioned to develop, produce, and install a new and very exciting interactive walkthrough for Movie Park Germany. The walkthrough attraction has some unique features and makes use of custom developed and innovative interactive soft- and hardware. It is time to chase some ghosts and unravel the ‘Secrets of St. Elmo’.  

Secrets of St. Elmo
The new attraction has just opened together with the largest Halloween Event in Europe which takes place every year in Movie Park Germany. The ‘Secrets of St. Elmo’ is an exciting interactive walkthrough in which guests slip into the role of a ghost hunter and accompany the young ghost Adeen to finally free the town and the saloon of St. Elmo from his evil powers.

140 years ago, a mine disaster left the place in ruins. In this walkthrough, the guests not only discover the mysterious history of St. Elmo, but also discover a well-kept secret that threatens the mission and raises the all-important question: who has good blood and who has bad blood? Be aware: ghosts appear everywhere!

Team performance
The interactive experience takes place in the former premises of the licensed attraction ‘The Walking Dead Breakout’. Mark Beumers, CEO of Lagotronics Projects explains: “In this existing building we have realized a very unique and innovative interactive walkthrough in just 6 months. It was a great challenge to come up with a new idea within this tight project schedule. With a great new storyline combined with interactives and great effects, we have certainly succeeded in this task. For me it shows that we have a loyal and flexible team with an enormous amount of knowledge and perseverance, to be able to reach this result.”.  

Thorsten Backhaus, Managing Director of Movie Park Germany, shares this opinion: “We are very pleased to be able to offer our guests a new interactive experience and let them become part of the story of the abandoned US ghost town St. Elmo. In detailed scenes, visitors go on a ghost hunt and discover the great secret of St. Elmo. Thanks to its theming, the attraction fits in perfectly with our western area and enriches it with a new family experience. We would like to thank the entire Lagotronics Projects team for the good cooperation and the creative input with which this project was implemented.”

A first of its kind interactive walkthrough
What makes this walkthrough so special is the use of live actors, pepper’s ghosts, and a custom-made interactive system. The live actors and pepper’s ghosts optimize the guest experience by means of adding excitement and entertainment. Some live actors guide, direct and trigger the guests in order to ultimately unravel the riddle. Others scare guests throughout the attraction. In the end a live actor plays the role of Adeen in a pepper’s ghost. Located in a separate room, the actor can see and hear the guests, and personally speak to them and surprise them.

Custom-made interactive system
The most impressive part of this attraction is the use of a custom made and innovative interactive system.

For this walkthrough attraction a custom shooter has been designed and developed. The shooter is wireless, battery powered, light weight and has an ergonomic design. Also new features have been included in the software to enable the use in a walkthrough attraction, with many changing targets in all scenes.

Ghost projections, hidden targets and SFX
The attraction has implemented two types of targets: ghost projections and hidden targets. The ghost projections appear throughout the entire walkthrough. The hidden targets are clues to eventually unravel the riddle. The live actors, which are operators of the park, help the guests discover those hidden hints. When guests hit the hidden targets, special effects are triggered like a moving branch, shutters that open and blacklight that reveals secret clues. Furthermore, scent and sound effects help to completely immerse guests into the story. With every hidden clue that is unraveled, the guests are one step closer to solving the mystery of what happened 140 years ago in St. Elmo.

Furthermore, the attraction features a scoring system to keep track of each individual players score. For each target that has been hit players collect points. The (high)scores are displayed on a large monitor at the end of the attraction.

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