Ride Profile
www.parkworld-online.com WOODEN WONDER Europa-Park’s first woodie
Iceland is now complete. Whilst the real country attempts to recover from financial crisis and brace itself for the next volcanic eruption, visitors to Germany’s largest
amusement park can enjoy a rollercoaster ride of a more literal and enjoyable kind
O
ne of two coasters within the Icelandic themed area of this popular Black Forest venue, WODAN – Timburcoaster rounds out a section of the park that opened in 2009 with the launch of Blue Fire Megacoaster. The mammoth 1.6- hectare construction from Great Coasters International (GCI) is Europa-Park’s 11th rollercoaster, and arguably one of its most awesome to date. Yet it is the first to be built of wood.
“My grandfather [Europa-Park co-founder Franz Mack] was always against adding a wooden coaster,” recalls chief operating officer (COO) and Wodan project manager Michael Mack. “He said wood is too technical and difficult to maintain, and whoever goes with it is the one who will have to live with it.” So, here we at the start of Europa-Park’s 38th
season, during which the Mack family has made its biggest ever capital investment – €60 million – and it is staking its reputation on a pile of timber. Actually, it’s a pretty safe bet. Wooden coaster construction (and therefore maintenance) has come on significantly in recent years, Wodan is a perfect complement to the park’s existing rides and attractions, and guest satisfaction seems certain.
Over 1km long (1,050 metres), the ride features a 40-metre, 52º first drop and a succession of heart- pounding sequences as it races up, over and between two existing coasters – Blue Fire and Atlantica SuperSplash. During the 3 minute and 25 second ride sequence, passengers reach speeds of up to 100km/h and experience maximal vertical acceleration of 3.5G. Yet, insists Michael Mack, it is still a family-friendly ride.
Pictured at the grand opening of Wodan on March 28 are (left to right) Europa-Maus, Ernst Heller, circus priest and friend of the Mack family; Clair Hain, Great Coasters International; Roland, Marianne, Miriam, Michael, Jürgen and Mauritia Mack; Ekaterina Petrakova and Thomas Mack
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Intense & Fast “This isn’t a bumpy, shaky kind of coaster,” he tells us. “It’s a great ride with all the speed and excitement of a wooden coaster – very intense and fast – but still it is a smooth experience.” The park’s COO should know. Even before Wodan’s official launch on March 28 he had ridden it, “20 to 25 times. My favourite part is once you leave the lift because it begins quite rapidly and continues without a stop. I would say it’s one of the most challenging rides, in a good way, that we have in the park. My dad [Europa-Park managing director and current IAAPA chairman Roland Mack] is loving it too, so I think it really is suitable for all ages.” To ride Wodan, guests need to be a minimum of 1.2-metres tall and 6 years-old, a lower restriction than some wooden coasters. Lap bars hold passengers firmly in place without the need for seat belts. The modified GCI Millennium Flyer trains are one of
APRIL 2012
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