AT: Tim Baldwin

RUST, Germany — “Devastating fire at theme park” is not a headline any owner or operator ever wishes to see. In May of 2018, just such news spread throughout the industry. Europa-Park’s massive 1987 dark ride, Piraten (Pirates) in Batavia had gone up in flames, along with part of the Scandinavian village. Through such tragedy, the safety of guests and employees was the single bright spot.

“The fire in May 2018 was one of the most difficult and emotional moments in the history of our family business,” said Roland Mack, founder and owner of Europa-Park. “Due to the emotional sympathy and impressive support, it was clear to us to rebuild the Scandinavian themed area as well as the popular Pirates in Batavia as quickly as possible.” 

Whatever future plans the park had, they were put on hold. Pirates in Batavia was such a crowd pleaser, restoring this beloved ride took top priority. As progress was underway in 2019, the idyllic Scandinavian village opened with colorful house facades and a delightful new, smaller dark ride called Snorri Touren, based on the popular water park character from Rulantica. On July 28, 2020, the adventurous pirates’ journey by boat opened anew, modernized and taken to a much grander level.

“The family attraction is now even bigger, more beautiful and exciting,” said Mack. 

Placed within the Holland area of the park, the new version puts pirates in the port city of Batavia on a quest for a mystical dagger, the Fire Tiger. Two rivals, Bartholomeus van Robbemond and Diablo Cortez, are on a chase through Indonesia to acquire the priceless treasure, which renders its owner invulnerable. Visitors learn their tale as they queue through a brewery of overturned tables and empty beer barrels, evidence of a drunken brawl the night before. A room of countless land and sea maps and a collection of exotic props sets the stage for the voyage that awaits.

Once aboard, passengers are at sea through elaborate scenes, waterfalls, sunken ships, cannon fire, jungles, cityscapes and a magical realm where the dagger is found. The new Pirates in Batavia has elevated the experience in superior theming and rich detail. Of interest is that each boat sports a lantern on its bow, flickering and going out at key times during the ride.

“This project has been very challenging,” said Mack. “The task was to rebuild something that had many emotional memories, from all kinds of sensations, smell, lights, special scenes and certain figures. Everybody had different memories or emotions when talking about the old ride. Catching those and finding a way in rebuilding something with similar emotions was a hard task.

“I´m sure we found a great way in having a new ride with all modern technology but still having that lovely, funny adventure that takes visitors young and old from scene to scene and all they have to do is watch out to find some new hidden details. For example, the boat trip includes a reunion with eight pirates and other relics from the former attraction,” he told Amusement Today. “According to initial surveys, we have succeeded in creating the perfect mix and visitors are absolutely thrilled with the new and yet familiar attraction.”

“Each project at Europa-Park is very special for us! Europa-Park is ‘our’ park and our showcase, to where we invite our clients and where we know nearly everybody personally,” said Christian Elverfeldt, CEO, Mack Rides. “We love to work with the Mack family and our colleagues and friends at the park. There is nearly no other project in the world, where we are already involved at the earliest stage. And it´s further an outstanding opportunity for us to try new things and to propose our ideas to the great team at the park. The collaboration here is absolutely unique and makes for a lot of fun!” 

Along the ride’s journey, passengers still float alongside a dining area. Bamboe Baai continues to entertain visitors with performances on the other side of the river. Upon safe anchorage, passengers can enter the restaurant and become part of the final scene as they enjoy the exotic cuisine and show they had just sailed through. At the restaurant, visitors can customize their own pasta or rice dish with a choice of fresh meats, vegetables, toppings and sauces. Merging dining, show entertainment and a ride experience into one setting is an extraordinary feat.

Pirates in Batavia operates with 18 boats, each containing 16 passengers. The ride experience is a long one, clocking in at eight minutes. With 80 animated figures, it’s no wonder the ride continues to maintain its reputation as a crowd favorite, now taken to a more modern and opulent scale. 

“Pirates in Batavia has been a joint project of our Europa-Park team,” said Mack. “Our designers from MackNeXT have done a brilliant job in creating a magical story with lovely characters and beautiful scenes but also in making sure the execution is as close as possible to the design. Moreover, we have a very strong and experienced construction department in Mack Solutions. So not only the construction of the attraction but also the fit out and the theming has been managed in house, with mainly local builders, carpenters, painters and steel builders. The media and animation input came from MackMedia and Mack Animation. Plus [we had] some great suppliers: Mack Rides, Universal Rocks, Jora Vision, Garner Holt Productions, Hofmann Figuren, Life Formations and Sally.”

Michael Mack, managing partner, tweeted out to fans following the ride’s debut to look for Easter Eggs along the route. Longtime fans will still find details they loved. One new innovative twist keen eyes might spot is an animatronic that looks like Roland Mack himself. Portraying a magician in the village scene, the character pulls off a stunt with a crystal ball that just might be the first animatronic to do a magic trick.

In preparing the theming, a team from Europa-Park traveled to Indonesia, particularly Bali, and hand selected more than eight large containers of decorations from shops and handcraft businesses to complete the look of the environment and attraction with an overlay of true authenticity.

In addition, multimedia effects have updated the ride. More than 200 loudspeakers, 18 video projectors or screens and 13 fragrance machines offer aromas ranging from fruit to gunpowder. MackMedia and MackAnimation provided the video content balanced between real images and CGI.

The ride system has been updated too.

“The ride itself changed quite a lot in the details when you compare it to the 1980s,” said Elverfeldt. “The standards are different; the calculations now are much more accurate and of course needed as we have video mapping and triggers for the show scenes. That would have been very hard to achieve with the old system in place. Like it was with the old ride, we didn´t want to have any rider restrictions like age or height and at the same time we didn´t want to install any restraint systems, which was quite challenging, but we made it, and the German TUV was satisfied.”  

Pirates in Batavia circulates 1,800,000 liters (more than 475,500 gallons) of water in the attraction.

Fire protection was at the forefront in the rebuild. A powerful ventilation performance circulates 81,600 cubic meters of air per hour. The modern smoke extraction system consists of 32 detectors with 300 smoke extraction points. A state-of-the-art sprinkler system can provide up to 15,000 liters per minute at high pressure.

“We paid a lot of attention to fire protection when rebuilding Pirates in Batavia. The attraction meets the highest standards. With regard to other attractions, fire protection is even more important due to the lessons we learned here,” said Roland Mack.

“We are very proud that the new ride also features our new Rocking Boat system. Unfortunately, it is not yet as a guest experience but as a long-term test installation as a decoration element,” said Elverfeldt. 

To help envelop guests into the new attraction, the park’s 4D Magic Cinema shows Departure for Batavia three times a day.

“Emotionally this was a huge relief as we opened up the ride two years after the terrible fire. I remember very well the grounds after the fire and the positive energy the Mack family had with rebuilding the whole area and the ride itself,” said Elverfeldt. “Everyone in the company knew the ride and had a lot of memories with it, so it was an affair of the heart to rebuild it and make it even better.”  

“Even if the visible traces of the fire are removed, it will always be an important part of our history and will shape not only the past but also the future,” Mack said.

This article appears in the SEPTEMBER 2020 issue of Amusement Today.
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