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several areas in which Mack Rides, the family’s long established manufacturing business, has given direct input into the ride. This, admits Michael, is another reason why it’s taken Europa-Park so long to add a woodie. “We try to use Mack rides and attractions within our park wherever possible,” he says. “The wooden coaster was actually one of original products from our company in 1921, but we gave it up in the late ‘60s because we had so many showmen buying our rides and it was more practical for them to travel steel than wood.” Europa-Park opened in 1975, so the love affair with steel was inevitable. Of those 11 coasters now operating at the park, only one other was sourced from an external company, Bolliger & Mabillard’s Silver Star, which opened in 2002. As revered as it is throughout the industry, the Swiss supplier is hardly known for its track record with wood. Neither it nor Mack Rides look likely to start any time soon.


Back To Mack’s Roots


“I think the market is full at the moment with two American companies and two in Europe offering wooden coasters,” notes Michael Mack, who is also a director of the family manufacturing firm in Waldkirch. “But I like the idea that with this ride the Mack family is going back to its roots.”


Signing up with Great Coasters was a relatively simple decision given the US company’s existing relationship with Mack Rides: “Back in 2000 they were


searching for a distribution partner in Europe, and we decided to do it together with Dirk Engelhardt in Hannover,” explains Mack. “After that GCI sold rides to Power Park in Finland, Freizeitpark Plohn in Germany, and Toverland and Efteling in the Netherlands. So we had some nice coasters to try out, and this made it easier for me to convince the family.” The layout for Wodan was finalised by GCI in Germany together with engineers from Waldkirch, who also worked on the stress calculations and supplied the ride’s control system, the same as that used on Blue Fire. Wood for the ride was sourced primarily from German forests, and construction was carried out with assistance from the same team responsible for erecting many of Mack Rides’ own coasters.


Michael Mack reveals that one particular section of the ride came about as the result of a friendly game of bowls between GCI and Mack’s engineers. “They were looking at the layout and couldn’t find the solution for one curve; should it be left or right banked? Jeff Pike [GCI vice-president of sales and design] thought it should bank to the left. I believe he won the bowling, so it is now left banked!”


Construction on site went relatively smoothly over a


nine-month period. The biggest challenge was building around the two neighbouring coasters, but as Mack built both these rides, plenty of know-how was on hand. The finished product dramatically changes the profile of the park in an area close to the four (soon five) Europa-Park Resort hotels, yet the Mack


Father of Balder


Europa-Park’s first wooden coaster was going to be called Thor, until the Mack family realised they might have problems registering the name given the recent Disney/Marvel film.


Instead the ride takes its name from a legendary Germanic god. According to Norse mythology, Wodan was the father of the Icelandic god Balder. It’s an even more fitting title given that Balder is also the name of the much-loved woodie at Liseberg in Gothenburg, Sweden – an in-joke not lost on either park. Europa-Park has made a lot effort in bringing this back-story to life within the Iceland area of the park, and Wodan features a richly themed station (as per concept art above) and queuing area that make standing in line lthat little bit more tolerable.


Wodan’s fits perfectly into the Iceland themed area of the park APRIL 2012 25


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