Steffen Kottkamp, director at MackCreative, MackMedia
Europa Park revitalised its oldest rollercoaster in September when it added a world-first to the ride experience – virtuality reality.
Up to 2,000 visitors per day can take the Alpenexpress VR-Ride, donning the wireless Samsung Gear headsets and launching into an immersive journey combining virtual reality with the real world experience of riding a rollercoaster.
Park mascot Ed Euromaus guides the VR adventure, featuring a ride on a mine cart and a lift on the wings of a dragon. Using precise synchronisation, the 3D animated world – produced by MackMedia, Europa Park’s in-house design and ideas engine – perfectly complements the coaster track.
Steffen Kottkamp, director of MackCreative (like MackMedia, a division of Mack Rides), says the technology can be applied to an old ride to reinvent it for a new audience, but that it has more significant applications.
“You have to imagine it as defining an area and in this area you can manipulate movement to appear how you want it to,” Kottkamp says. “We take the existing ride, unfold it and then put it back together again as a new ride, using every curve, ascent and descent of the track to add to the virtual experience. It’s a bit like driving or flying through a game, but here you feel the real movement. This is an immersive experience like you’ve never had before.”
The project was a collaboration between VR Coaster, Mack Rides, MackMedia and Samsung, and was developed with Thomas Wagner, professor in the department of Virtual Design at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern in Germany.
“It’s cheaper than building an entirely new coaster, but that’s not the aim of the technology,” says Kottkamp. “It can give an existing coaster a new lease of life, as we did with Alpenexpress. This is a first step, but there will be a lot of companies that decide to build a new coaster and integrate the technology from day one.”
Kottkamp says he thinks the solution will be somewhere in between.
“We didn’t invent the technology in order to give old coasters a new-world sensation,” he says. “We invented the technology to create a much higher level of experience, where we can create a ride bespoke for virtual reality.”
The revolutionary technology is being distributed by Mack Rides to the wider theme park market, and Kottkamp says there’s interest from multiple parties.
“We’re making a business model out of it – one that also takes care of the operational side, such as ride capacity, hardware hygiene and ticketing solutions.”
So does Kottkamp believe the rollercoaster, as we know it, is dead?
“The future of the rollercoaster lies in a combination of real physical forces and appropriate thematic content. Using VR, we can create a much more elaborate and interactive themed world,” he says.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2015 issue 4
Attractions: Gone, Not Forgotten
We find out what people thought of
Dismaland, Banksy’s twisted theme park
and contemporary art attraction – and
talk to one of the Dismal Stewards
Promotional feature: IdeAttack
Mysteries of China’s rich culture are at the heart of IDEATTACK’s new mixed-used tourism destination
Zoos & Aquariums: Turn over a New Reef
The Florida Aquarium is teaming
up with the National Aquarium of
Cuba in a bid to save and restore
the region’s precious coral reefs
Steffen Kottkamp, director at MackCreative, MackMedia
Europa Park revitalised its oldest rollercoaster in September when it added a world-first to the ride experience – virtuality reality.
Up to 2,000 visitors per day can take the Alpenexpress VR-Ride, donning the wireless Samsung Gear headsets and launching into an immersive journey combining virtual reality with the real world experience of riding a rollercoaster.
Park mascot Ed Euromaus guides the VR adventure, featuring a ride on a mine cart and a lift on the wings of a dragon. Using precise synchronisation, the 3D animated world – produced by MackMedia, Europa Park’s in-house design and ideas engine – perfectly complements the coaster track.
Steffen Kottkamp, director of MackCreative (like MackMedia, a division of Mack Rides), says the technology can be applied to an old ride to reinvent it for a new audience, but that it has more significant applications.
“You have to imagine it as defining an area and in this area you can manipulate movement to appear how you want it to,” Kottkamp says. “We take the existing ride, unfold it and then put it back together again as a new ride, using every curve, ascent and descent of the track to add to the virtual experience. It’s a bit like driving or flying through a game, but here you feel the real movement. This is an immersive experience like you’ve never had before.”
The project was a collaboration between VR Coaster, Mack Rides, MackMedia and Samsung, and was developed with Thomas Wagner, professor in the department of Virtual Design at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern in Germany.
“It’s cheaper than building an entirely new coaster, but that’s not the aim of the technology,” says Kottkamp. “It can give an existing coaster a new lease of life, as we did with Alpenexpress. This is a first step, but there will be a lot of companies that decide to build a new coaster and integrate the technology from day one.”
Kottkamp says he thinks the solution will be somewhere in between.
“We didn’t invent the technology in order to give old coasters a new-world sensation,” he says. “We invented the technology to create a much higher level of experience, where we can create a ride bespoke for virtual reality.”
The revolutionary technology is being distributed by Mack Rides to the wider theme park market, and Kottkamp says there’s interest from multiple parties.
“We’re making a business model out of it – one that also takes care of the operational side, such as ride capacity, hardware hygiene and ticketing solutions.”
So does Kottkamp believe the rollercoaster, as we know it, is dead?
“The future of the rollercoaster lies in a combination of real physical forces and appropriate thematic content. Using VR, we can create a much more elaborate and interactive themed world,” he says.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2015 issue 4
Attractions: Gone, Not Forgotten
We find out what people thought of
Dismaland, Banksy’s twisted theme park
and contemporary art attraction – and
talk to one of the Dismal Stewards
Promotional feature: IdeAttack
Mysteries of China’s rich culture are at the heart of IDEATTACK’s new mixed-used tourism destination
Zoos & Aquariums: Turn over a New Reef
The Florida Aquarium is teaming
up with the National Aquarium of
Cuba in a bid to save and restore
the region’s precious coral reefs
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Expo 2030 Riyadh is being planned as a permanent visitor destination, with organisers
confirming the six-million-square-metre site will become a Global Village after the event closes.
The owner of one of Australia's best-known waterparks has acquired a major competitor,
creating a new attractions business spanning two of the country's largest visitor destinations.
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
+ More news
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