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2020: Piraten in Batavia

AstroDan said:
Delighted to see the ride is receiving a largely positive reception! I was there the day the thing burned to the ground and it's wonderful to see the work that has taken place in just 25 months.

I intend to be on park on the 6th, 7th and 8th August and so am hoping that some of these tweaks to audio and the doors are working by then. No doubt they are working right now on some of these things. It is killing me not watching a POV but I must resist.

I would half expect it to open later in the day for now, whilst they continue to work on things.
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If the POVs are anything to go by. Then do resist watching as seeing the real thing so close to opening will be amazing!

I did notice after watching a couple of videos, some of the effects / animations were working in some videos and not in others. Minor teething issues that I am sure will be fixed soon.

On the one video there were also people walking around one of the scenes at one point. Presumably sorting out issues.

When there are so many animations and AV equipment, it's almost inevitable to have minor teething issues I guess.

After re watching again, the number one thing that really strikes me. Is the lighting, it is simply stunning. They have really set a benchmark in that department among other things. I would say the lighting aswel as other aspects really do rival Disney in the quality department.

Dare I say it. From what I have seen, the quality of the scenery is some of the best I think I have seen done by the park. I have only watched videos mind you. But it does look impressive.
 
Watched POVs as I wont be making it there for the foreseeable. I'll avoid posting spoilers as the ride really does look great with some brilliant set pieces and effects, unlike @DistortAMG though the only thing I'm worried about is the lighting, some of it looks rather garish, I'm hoping it looks a little more subtle in person especially some of the blues.
 
I'm avoiding watching a POV unless I hear there's a very good one (Most likely after the park have had time to finalise all the effects).
The trouble with lighting and projection effects is that they often get over exposed when filmed, and become far more noticeable because of it. All the Disney rear-projected animated faces suffer from this problem. So if rather wait to see these in person, even if it's in a few years time.
 
From POVs it looks wonderful, especially
the waterfall birds projection
the ghost boats
the various use of shadow projection and projection mapping

A couple of other observations
Captain Straight Arm in the preshow looks like he has a good range of movement but is poorly programmed.
A few more static models than I was expecting, there's a couple that stand out as looking particularly lifeless due to their prominence, like sleeping pirate in queue line and dangling leg child who could have really simple breathing and leg swinging effects.
I was hoping for a fire effect scene as a bit of a homage to the old rides demise.
 
I think it more likely they want to move away from being just anouther PotC clone, and a fire scene wouldn't have helped with that.
 
Tim said:
I think it more likely they want to move away from being just anouther PotC clone, and a fire scene wouldn't have helped with that.
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Jail cell door key scene suggests they're not too fussed about that comparison! :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
pluk said:
Jail cell door key scene suggests they're not too fussed about that comparison! :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
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Ahh... like I said, havent actually watched a POB so didn't realise.

Side note: Does every pirate ride have to copy that trope? They added a dog with a key to Pirate Falls when it got rethemed despite there being no jail cell insight. Its just become a thing that Pirate dog's do.
 
We rode Pirates today, and my god it is fantastic. Without giving much away, the sets and lighting are beautiful and the sound levels now seem to have been fixed enough for now. A shame the doors between rooms still aren't working but it doesn't make a huge difference to the ride overall. There's also a couple of effects which I'm not a massive fan of and could do with a tweak.

The boats move through the ride somewhat quicker than before, which isn't great on your first ride as there is so much to look at it's truly overwhelming, but after that intitial ride it's much more enjoyable than the slow trundle of the Piraten of old.
 
I was at Europa-Park watching Piraten in Batavia burn to the floor from my hotel window in Castillo Alcazar. Needless to say, I was delighted to be able to get a ride on the new version within a fortnight of its re-opening.

I had the pleasure of riding the new Piraten in Batavia 5 times during our time spent in the park on 6,7 and 8 August. I would like to summarise my thoughts and give my areas where I think it could be improved!

Needless to say, I was very happy with the overall experience.

The throughput on the new ride is sensational. Equally as good as the former ride. The idea that you can join a temporary queue from well outside of the Dutch themed area and wait only 25 minutes is amazing. I would estimate that from the ride entrance, with no social distancing, the queue will be around 15-20 minutes. This is almost identical to the previous ride. I would estimate the attraction to achieve in the region of 1,600 riders per hour.

The new queue line is fantastic. Although it effectively uses the same space as the old version, due to the way they have created the rooms, it feels like a totally different set-up. The tavern scene is great and then the larger room is very impressive - especially as the queue uses multiple levels. I especially liked the animatronic scene with Robbemond and Jopi explaining the quest ahead. If you're lucky, you'll get this in English as it rotates between German, French and English. Jopi is brilliant.

The new station is fairly understated - but the difference now is that you are still in Amsterdam.

After the ride sets off, without going into too much detail, you effectively 'teleport' into Batavia via the drop. From this point on, the sets, animatronics, music and lighting are vastly superior to what went before. This is now a top level yet still classic/traditional indoor boat ride.

Quick-Fix Areas for improvement:
  • More mist is needed before the drop, as it is a bit of a dead-spot. In addition, more mist would prevent riders seeing the bottom of the drop before they engage with the lift. They need to go down the DVH (Efteling) route, here.
  • The lightning effect on the drop is quite poor It is too obvious that these are projected onto a square screen.
  • The Green Canyon section is over far too quickly! I wish they could slow the boat down more rapidly after the drop.
  • The ride is generally taken at too quick a pace. They need to slow it down a fraction as there is so, so much to take in.
  • There is one slight dead-spot on the ride just prior to the battle scene with the ships (although the scale of the ships is hugely impressive!)
  • Some more moving animatronics would be nice under the stage in the Bamboe Baai section of ride, and up above the restaurant (birds etc.) like there used to be.
  • The doors between scenes are not yet in use.
The only thing I think they could have done better from a ride system point of view (which is probably impossible now) would have been to use a turntable in the Fire Tiger scene. However, this may have compromised throughput quite significantly.

In the past decade, Europa-Park have gone from the all-so-rans of European dark rides to a park which has prioritised them. Although all on different scales, the arrival and delivery of Voletarium, Snorri Touren and Piraten in Batavia means the resort now offers dark rides on an international quality level. The fact that both Snorri Touren and Piraten in Batavia were delivered in such a short time is simply incredible.

Well done to all involved - I can't wait to see Piraten in Batavia tweaked and enhanced as the months go by.

A GREAT JOB!
 
I'm just listening to the soundtrack again, having ridden it two weeks ago. They've done such a good job with it, and I love how lots of the original melodies are still present but altered slightly in some of the tracks. Magical.
 
SPOILER ALERT!

Pirates of Batavia is SOOOO fab, I loved it and rode it 4 times during my visit and noticed new things every time! the first time I almost teared up!

  • It's the perfect dark ride, the right blend of practical effects with projection and lighting effects!
  • The score is beautiful
  • Great queue!
  • lots of heart and humour
  • cuteness overload - Otters, pigs, monkeys!
  • Cheeky nods of Shanghai's Pirates, a shameless rip-off of Tokyo's Jungle Cruise projection mapping temple - and even a 'fog room' aka Efteling's Flying Dutchman - but you know why not!!
  • It still somehow does its own thing that separate if from Disney's Pirates
  • Excellent throughput and continually moving line!
  • a nice touch of the a ride vehicle 'life-boat' complete with pirate crew - who i think where the pirates models that survived the original fire!
  • It actually gets you wet - unlike the Disney rides the cannon splashes and blasts actually get you!!
  • One of the best rides in the park in my opinion and one of the best dark rides in Europe!
 
As a piece of promtional music, that really is one of IMAscore's finest offerings to date. Still gives me goosebumps!
 
Absolutely loved this ride on my recent visit. We rode 4 times over two days and noticed something new every single time. Including a 'wait is that Roland Mack?!' moment.

One minor criticism is they could perhaps tone down the bacon smell in the fire scene. It fills up the whole room and you can smell it way before you arrive at that scene.

Only went on the original version once and don't really remember it tbh so can't compare. But this is well up there with the best dark rides in Europe.

Snorri was fun too, had no idea there's a mini motion simulator section so that was a nice surprise. Amazing how the park just bosh something like that together like it's no big deal.
 
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