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2014: Arthur in the Minimoys kingdom

Hopefully a bit of a distraction from the upsetting Arthur news: the shape of the info centre is really starting to come together, and the way it will act as an extension of the entrance building is now becoming clear...

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In other news, the park have released a new 'Historama' themed app for iOS, that lets you scroll through their history. :)

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No Android at the moment sadly.
 
Die beiden netten Marketing-Mitarbeiterinnen aus Rust informierten auf Anfrage von Freizeitpark-Welt.de darüber, dass die Eröffnung von Arthur wohl im Zeitraum Ende Mai/Pfingsten 2014 stattfinden wird.
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The two friendly marketing staff women from Rust informed us on request of Freizeitpark-Welt.de, that the opening of Arthur is planned at the end of May / Whitsun 2014.
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Source: http://www.freizeitpark-welt.de/index_news.php?nid=1417 (section Europa-Park)
 
Delayed until the end of May!? Wow, if true that's almost as bad as the embarrassment of The Smiler. Whatever the reasons for the delay I have to say it's very poor from EP, I expect much better. The Smiler got slated for it's delay, the reasons are probably very different but it really doesn't look good.

:)
 
Rob said:
Delayed until the end of May!? Wow, if true that's almost as bad as the embarrassment of The Smiler. Whatever the reasons for the delay I have to say it's very poor from EP, I expect much better. The Smiler got slated for it's delay, the reasons are probably very different but it really doesn't look good.
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It doesn't look good, and I cannot remember Europa-Park delaying an attraction by such an amount.

I can only presume that there are significant technical problems with the ride. It is a prototype from Mack, and they've never built anything like this before. So I can only imagine that programming it is proving rather more of a challenge than they would have hoped.

If it does open at the end of May (for Whitsun week), it should open around 7 weeks late. But I guess we still need to wait and see.

As for the other developments, I have to say - the Poseidon lake is looking lovely!
 
Great links DragonMarty, those water attractions are going to look fantastic on a nice sunny day. Might cost a bit now, but must save a fortune on maintenance costs.

Looking at your signature, its hard to believe that Blue Fire is 5 years old already.

Ian
 
Apparently it's nothing to do with the main ride; it's to do with the one of the kiddie rides in the building that houses the main ride. They say it'll be delayed by about a week.
 
nickhutson said:
Apparently it's nothing to do with the main ride; it's to do with the one of the kiddie rides in the building that houses the main ride. They say it'll be delayed by about a week.
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Source? Do you mean it'll be delayed until a week after opening? That conflicts very sharply with what's been written above - here's hoping! Though it seems unlikely, given that those children's rides are so basic. I like to think that if one of them wasn't ready but everything else was ready to go, they'd open the main ride anyway.

Anyone else having trouble viewing those epfans.ch images? I can't seem to see them 'big', it just keeps saying access denied. :S

I've heard that the info centre is getting a lift shaft to allow disabled access to the EP-Express, as it does in Greece and the Hotel Resort. This will have the added benefit of creating a new entrance to the EP-Express from outside the park gates, hopefully opening up the way for a more comprehensive after-hours service between both ends of the resort. :)

But more importantly...

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Photo from chris-space of the Arthur trains being airlifted into the building! I presumed this had been done at least a month ago (unless this is a second or third train). I think that explains the delay. :)
 
So does this mean you would be able to get the EP Express from the hotel to the entrance without needing to have your ticket in advance? I know a few people had problems with this a couple of years ago. Though I'm not sure how they could stop you from just jumping of at Greece or Spain.
 
This delay is not good news for EP, and I doubt management have been happy to announce this news.

I'm not comparing it to The Smiler though as it's widely known how rushed it was compared to this project, and was a series of unseen - but should have been foreseen - issues. Arthur was in development well before The Smiler was ever conceived so it must be something serious to be causing delays at such a late period in the construction
 
EuroSatch said:
This delay is not good news for EP, and I doubt management have been happy to announce this news.
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Nobody has announced the news. Sounds like that website rang up Rust tourist information who said it'd be the end of May. I'm holding fire until I hear from a more reliable source!
 
Sam said:
Sounds like that website rang up Rust tourist information who said it'd be the end of May. I'm holding fire until I hear from a more reliable source!
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The web site features an article from the ITB Berlin 2014 (a big German tourism trade show). They write that they have this info from a staff member at Europa-Park's trade show stand. Nothing is confirmed by the management. In addition it is not clear if this source is reliable.
 
Not that anybody really cares about this right now ;) but there's been another Chris-Space update on the third Tower of Rust being built near the Camp Resort, the first two towers being the town church and Bell Rock. It looks to be finished. :)

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More photos available here if that's your thang. :)

4:30 into the below video there is a short timelapse of the resurfacing work on Atlantica's lake. Do they do this every few years, or has it never been that colour before?

http://youtu.be/IGlyQpzh4_k?t=4m27s
 
I'm looking forward to the late-night views from the top of the tower. They should be fantastic.
 
Sam said:
4:30 into the below video there is a short timelapse of the resurfacing work on Atlantica's lake. Do they do this every few years, or has it never been that colour before?
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This is done every 3-4 years. The color wastes very fast in the chlorinated water. From Atlantica's top, the pool looked a bit dirty last year. Of course the water was clear. :) Luckily the park does not wait until this catches everyones eye, and the lake never gets really ugly.
 
Europa-Park today announced that the ride has been successfully testing in recent days. Obviously, this is a positive step for anybody concerned about the ride hardware being the main cause of problem.

I now presume that the delays are due to the theming and design work for the new area, as it is beyond what Europa-Park have done previously. Hopefully they will be able to catch up a little.

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More can be seen here

:)
 
Here is a translation of what EP have said regarding Arthur:

Europa Park said:
Last week saw the first successful test runs with people instead! The unanimous opinion of all involved: it will be great!

With a huge engineering effort and most elaborate interior decoration is "ARTHUR - In the Kingdom of the Minimoys" an impressive experience. Exactly these decorations and hundreds of details still need some time to perfect completion. The Europa-Park has therefore decided to put the ARTHUR-opening date to a date in late spring.

Once the date is set, you learn it here first!

Exclusive here the latest pictures of the theme world and the first successful test run with Roland and Michael Mack!
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So it does sound like the ride system is fine and it's just that they've not finished the theming. I'm sure once it's done it will look great and be very detailed, but I find this far more disappointing than a technical delay that cannot be helped. They've surely had more than enough time to do all of the theming?

:)
 
Rob - they probably have underestimated just how long it takes for such a project.

They began building this in September 2012, which I felt would be long enough.

But clearly 19 months isn't enough. They should have allowed 20.

:(
 
They deserve as much slating for this as Towers did with The Smiler! Poor planning and preparation :-(

I'm sorely disappointed that I won't be able to ride during the Junket in April... I do hope to make a return visit this year!

Such a shame.
 
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