Park Update
parkworld-online.com
Guests at Holiday Park in Germany can enjoy €8 million of improvements this season including the park’s first new rollercoaster for four years and a fresh look to its flume ride. Thanks to this and some fine weather, the venue in Rhineland-Palatinate enjoyed sky high success this Easter
Auf Wiedersehen Wirbel
Only the second operating Premier Rides coaster in Europe, Sky Scream replaces the Vekoma Corkscrew Superwirbel (Super Whirl), which was Germany’s first
looping coaster when added in 1979. So won’t Holiday Park miss the ride? “Of course we miss Superwirbel,”
reflects manager Bernd Beitz. “It was an important part of our park’s history for 35 years, but in Germany we have a saying – ‘Man soll aufhören, wenn es a schönsten ist’ – you should leave the party when it is at its peak. Everyone will have nice memories about this ride.”
Sky Scream represents a new chapter in Holiday Park’s history. Come join the party – it’s just getting started.
Sky Scream U
Holiday Park enjoys Easter success
sually when Park World interviews park managers about their new attractions, we ask a predictable but important question: What effect on attendance are you expecting as a result of the new investment? At Holiday Park, Sky Scream – its new Premier Rides launch coaster – and other new improvements helped bring an attendance increase over the same period last year of a whopping 370%, or 77,000 guests in total. The goal is to get to 600,000 by the end of the season (versus 550,000 in 2013). Not a bad start.
Manager Bernd Beitz concedes it wasn't just Sky Scream that contributed to such great performance over the recent holiday period; it was also the sun in the sky. One way or another, the Sky delivered. “The great weather in the Easter holidays filled the parks everywhere,” says Beitz. “Let’s hope it stays this way throughout the summer.”
The money spent on Sky Scream, Wickie Splash (Holiday Park's new look and renamed log flume) and also a new live show for 2014 brings to over €37 million the investment made by the Plopsa group since it took over as owner o Holiday Park in 2010.
‘Grown-up’ attraction “After investing a lot in new attractions and theming for families with children – namely Majaland and its 11 rides/restaurant, the Tabaluga Abenteuer boat ride and now a zone featuring Wickie the Viking, we wanted to offer something new and spectacular for a more grown-up market again,” explains Beitz. “With Expedition GeForce we have already have awesome rollercoaster in the park, but we wanted another coaster which would be on par with GeForce but at
Sky Scream
the same time is completely new in Europe. Sky Scream fitted the bill perfectly.”
Standing 55-metres tall, Sky Scream is an action- packed coaster that accelerates from 0 to 90km in just 1.5km and reaches a top speed of 100km/h. It is Europe’s first coaster to feature three magnetic launches together with a signature inline twist and 45m (150ft) non-inverting loop. Riders sit in a single train with two cars, a total of 12 passengers in three rows in each car. “When you look at the ride, you will notice that there are no moving parts except for the train,” reveals Premier Rides president, Jim Seay. “We use magnetic technology that allows us to launch vehicle forward, launch the vehicle in reverse, and again to launch it forward a third time even faster. Magnetic braking has also been incorporated at both the top and bottom of ride. This attraction uses all sorts of unique technologies and then we combine those with an amazing ride layout where you have vertical twists going up, vertical twists going straight down, you have loops and 360-degree horizontal twists; the result is an incredible mix of different experiences packed into one ride.” The new attraction and the 5,000 sq m area around it can accommodate up to 1,500 guests per hour. The station to Sky Scream has been themed as a deserted factory, haunted by zombies and vampires.
Wickie Splash The fresh look now sported by Wickie Splash is thanks to Studio 100’s Piet de Konick, art director for all five Plopsa parks in Belgium, the Netherlands and here in Germany. The flume’s fun theme is inspired by the Wickie the Viking animated TV show from
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MAY 2014
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