2017: Voletarium

Jordan said:

It amuses me that the Adventurers Club of Europe is a blatant copy of Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) which is the backstory to part of Mystic Manor and much of Tokyo DisneySea.

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Plus everyone fixates on Florida Soaring when California Soaring is better themed (though not as deeply as Volaterium will be) and has a level of immersion.

It's not as blatant a copy as the first part of Giester, the name of Picolo Mondo, Eurosat, their mouse mascot etc. I would say this is the level of inspiration that a lot of parks take from Disney which is no surprising thing when you consider how much money Disney can apply to R&D.

Would be nice if they watered down their historic plagerism a little but these days they seem to be attempting something that isn't so "in your face" copying.

I am not particularly enthralled by the ride system - I don't particularly rate Soarin' (although the issue Soarin' has is that it is surrounded by other incredible screen dark rides such as FJ, Spiderman etc.). I am very much looking forward to the theming, though.

The fact Disney also have a ride system like this is neither here nor there for me.

Am I supposed to get frustrated that there's a Mack launch opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios next year?

AstroDan said:

Am I supposed to get frustrated that there's a Mack launch opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios next year?

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Only if Mack gave it them for free, in return for ripping off Soarin'?

I doubt either Disney nor Mack really give a damn.

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AstroDan said:

I doubt either Disney nor Mack really give a damn.

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Agreed, I was just adding to to the ridiculousness of the conversation.

Europa Park have posted some lovely snap shots of progress to their SnapChat. It looks absolutely stunning!







Fantastic

How to make an amazing themed queue look like shiße, lession one: Use snapchat.

Voletarium has soft opened today (albeit by a back entrance) to help them enhance operations ahead of the full opening this weekend:


Source: Micheal Mack

Not long to go now!

We were invited for a preview yesterday evening.
We didn't have the chance to see the whole queueline, as we used the back entrance.
From what we have seen, the theming is really nice and the atmosphere is good. Of course no photos were allowed, so we can't show you yet.
The ride itself is just has I expected it to be, a fun family ride I enjoyed riding. The effects werent all working at every ride (we rode it 3 times) but when it does it is definitely a great addition. This will obviously be fixed for the official opening. The film is nice, won't say much about it not to spoil you.
I'm sure that this will be a popular ride in the park, and I'll be happy to ride it at each visit if it doesnt have a 1h queue.

I thought Voletarium was great when I rode it on Tuesday! The theming is excellent and very immersive, and the ride system comes across as quite futuristic. On my second ride I started to notice where the different screen panels join up, but didn't the first time, so it's really not that obvious. I wasn't expecting there to be smell pots used on the ride, which was a great surprise, and the smells were very strong. Hopefully they will stay like that.

Some more images of Voletarium have been published by Europa-Park.

A few more from Michael Mack:







The theming looks incredible! They have also had the official opening ceremony today ahead of the public opening on Saturday:





Loving all of the little details that there appear to be around the place. Also looks like this ride is 'sponsored' by Eurowings.

Rob said:

Also looks like this ride is 'sponsored' by Eurowings.

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It does have an affiliation with Eurowings, however it wasn't until @AstroDan mentioned it in conversation that I realised it was, and this was after we had ridden it twice. The sponsorship is very subtle, I didn't notice any Eurowings branding anywhere.

Burbs said:

It does have an affiliation with Eurowings, however it wasn't until @AstroDan mentioned it in conversation that I realised it was, and this was after we had ridden it twice. The sponsorship is very subtle, I didn't notice any Eurowings branding anywhere.

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And that is exactly how ride sponsorship should be done, IMO.

The Eurowings branding is only noticeable briefly on a preshow and there is a Eurowings plane on the video zooming across (but you can blink and miss it).

The ride is a lot of fun, but let's not pretend this was ever about the ride. This was about Europa-Park stepping their theming up a level once more.

When I took part in the ride preview on Tuesday evening, many effects weren't yet ready or turned on - but it is clear that the depth of theming on this ride is amongst the best in Europe. The main 'hall' at the end of the queue line is incredible, vast and with tapestries hanging on the walls. The lights are bespoke and beautiful. It is honestly a beautiful place to be.

I am looking forward to riding properly later in the season.

From the park that gave you BENCH... you get Voletarium!

Official Live Stream TONIGHT from 7.15pm GMT:

http://www.europapark.de/en/node/1881

If you are having technical problems: use Facebook instead

In a weird way I think this is a step backwards for EP. At least in terms of moving away from their history of ripping-off Disney rides. I had feared that Voletarium might be a Soarin' copy, but hoped that there would have been some advances and new elements which topped or steered away from Soarin'.

After riding today, I have to say the queue is pretty good. Certainly of an impressive scale. The finer details don't appear to be a massive revolution for EP though, rather they just build on the likes of Arthur.

As for the ride itself, it is unfortunately everything I'd hoped it would not be - a Soarin' a la Europe. This inevitably draws comparisons to what is a 15+ year old ride and it does not compare favourably. The vehicles are a little more articulated but to no great degree. The film is just a blatant rip off of Soarin' - from the golf ball, to the fireworks finale to the soundtrack. Personally I also found the CGI insertion of people at various points distracting and unnecessary.

A couple of other disappointments were that the score suffers from a lack of bass and the definition of the picture itself is lacking. Again, neither reach Soarin' levels of quality. I understand unofficially that both these items are still in beta, so let's hope they improve.

All in all, by building a ride like this EP will inevitably draw comparison to the Disney versions. They don't help this by essentially stealing like for like elements from these films. Aside from the queue, Voletarium is the poor relation which I wasn't expecting given the significant gap between their development. A real shame and I can't help but think whether the money could have been better spent elsewhere. Arthur shows they can build more original rides (IP aside) that are world class and I would have loved to have seen this route followed over Voletarium.

I think it's worth noting that most visitors to Europa probably haven't been to a Disney park with Soarin'. I actually visited Europa 3 times before getting out to Florida. If your native language is German or French I suspect it'd be even less likely.

of course I'd have liked Europa to do something a bit more unique, but the ride type lends itself to sightseeing so I cant blame them for doing just that.