Ride Profile
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Second gate
Since it was added in 2004 in an attempt to stop families heading to the nearby Adriatic Coast, the waterpark Mirabilandia Beach has cooled down thousands of happy
Mirabilandia guests – just like the
water rides Niagara (a Hopkins
Shoot-the-Chute),
Rio Brava (Intamin Rapids), Raratonga (Preston & Barbieri Splash Battle) and Autosplash (Intamin Flume). Starting this season, Mirabilandia Beach becomes a second gate to the main park, accessible for €16. “People have been asking us for many years if they can visit the waterpark independently,” Mirabilandia commercial director Pietro Lanciotti tells Park World. “This is a cheaper option than visiting the main park, but we hope that it will also encourage many visitors to come back. And hopefully we can sell some more season passes too.” Mirabilandia guests can already benefit from the amusement park’s “second day free” offer, but those that want to sign up for a season pass can do so for the special offer price of just €51, or €71 including Mirabilandia Beach. With summer temperatures in the local area regularly hitting over 30°C, we know which option we’d choose!
RIGHT: The veritical lift in action
The tower is 60-metres-tall and the lift works with two chains (for redundancy reasons) attached to a single drive. It’s much quieter than a traditional lift with an anti-rollback system. We had to complete some quite detailed risk assessments regarding the redundancy system, the brakes and the lifetime of the chains. We also had to explain to the local authorities about the lap bars, because their first opinion was that shoulder restraints should be used. However, we were able to demonstrate with the acceleration measurements that these were not necessary. All this meant commissioning was a long process, but in the end everything worked out satisfactorily. The vertical lift moves at three metres per second, and it takes just 12 seconds to reach the top. The total ride time is just over two minutes, with loading and unloading taking more or less three minutes. The theoretical hourly capacity is 1,300, but to achieve this you have to get people in and out of the boats really quickly. The real capacity that we expect to reach in peak season is probably 1,200 per hour, using 11 boats.
Aquaplaning Action
The ride includes two splashes, including an ‘aquaplaning’ section on the first drop, which is quite interesting. This is the first time Intamin have installed such a water brake feature. When the boat lands, it skims smoothly across the surface before the water slows it down. The effect is similar to a magnetic brake, but much more impressive. A separate reservoir and five pumps then refill the main reservoir with the water displaced by the boat. One of my favourite parts of the ride is the vertical
lift. You do not have anything around you as you move to the top, and you do not know where the boat is going to land. Because of the shape of the tower legs, you are not level all the time, which creates an unusual feeling. I like the first drop too – you do not get a huge acceleration, but it is a long and very steep!
Vittori Santelmo was speaking to Owen Ralph. To see an official “point of view” video of Divertical in action, read this article at
parkworld-online.com
mirabilandia.it
34
JULY 2012
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