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[2022]: Josefina's Imperial Magic Journey

Wow, I was expecting the new ride to open sometime in May, so to have it ready for the start of the season will be very impressive. What will it be, about 2 months to completely re-build the ride? Gotta love EP!
 
Wow, don't really have much to add, but amazing what the Macks can do when they put their mind to something.
 
There are murmurings over on other EP forums (via google translate) that this might actually be the new name/theme of the African Queen - which is much simpler and could be converted to a 'romantic Journey', especially if theirs no dark ride sections to build etc. Also the graphics lend itself to something 'princess-y' which would fit with the fairy tail forest - where the station for the African Queen is located.
 
It does seem that the African Queen will stay, as the track is still there (except for bits removed for access), I assume if it was being removed then they would have just ripped all the track out by now.
 
Direkt zum Europa-Park Pre-Opening Weekend am 19. und 20.03. erwarten euch 3 Neuheiten im erweiterten Österreichischen Themenbereich!

⭐️ Josefinas kaiserliche Zauberreise, eine romantische Bootsfahrt für die ganze Familie
⭐️ Donau Dampfer ⛴
⭐️ Fontänenshow Wiener Wasser Walzer

PS: Im Jahr 2022 könnt ihr die 1. Phase der Erweiterung des Österreichischen Themenbereichs entdecken. In der 2. Phase, geplant für 2023, folgen dann für Josefinas kaiserliche Zauberreise neue Boote und weitere Überraschungen!
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Directly to Europa-Park Pre-Opening Weekend on March 19th and 20th. 3 novelties await you in the extended Austrian subject area!

⭐️ Josefina's Imperial Magic Journey, a romantic boat trip for the whole family
⭐️ Danube steamer ⛴
⭐️ Fountain show Viennese water waltz

PS: In 2022 you can discover the 1st phase of the expansion of the Austrian themed area. In the 2nd phase, planned for 2023, new boats and other surprises will follow for Josefina's imperial magic journey!

 
Intrigued to see what they do with the rafts and perhaps not surprising that the works are going to take two closed seasons to fully complete. It’s equally interesting that they decided to complete it over two seasons rather than just a later opening this year.
 
venny said:
Intrigued to see what they do with the rafts and perhaps not surprising that the works are going to take two closed seasons to fully complete. It’s equally interesting that they decided to complete it over two seasons rather than just a later opening this year.
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I would suspect that the rafts will be replaced with completely new boats next year. As for why it is being split over two closed seasons, most probable reason is that the site is right in the middle of the park, so any construction during the season would cause major disruption and limit guest flow around the park.
 
I wonder if they originally did intend this to be a single closed season project but the issues in the global supply chain disruted it.

Let's say for example they designed the new boats and tried building them for this year, but they are taking longer than expected to produce. As Rob has said that area is in the middle of the park and once the water is filled there's not a lot of opportunity to install anything until next year. So a few months delay becomes a year.

It just seems very out of character for Europa to split a project like this. They add to attractions all the time but a planned half re-theme is unusual.
 
Tim said:
I wonder if they originally did intend this to be a single closed season project but the issues in the global supply chain disruted it.

Let's say for example they designed the new boats and tried building them for this year, but they are taking longer than expected to produce. As Rob has said that area is in the middle of the park and once the water is filled there's not a lot of opportunity to install anything until next year. So a few months delay becomes a year.

It just seems very out of character for Europa to split a project like this. They add to attractions all the time but a planned half re-theme is unusual.
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In particular, we've a new rollercoaster for 2023 so i would have thought it unlikely they would want this going over, too.

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That there might be more theming added/finishing work for 2023 I expected. Given the short time and just in general EP love going back adding more touches (Jim Knopf for instance).
But something like the new boats not coming yet and having a year with African log rafts floating through the Imperial Gardens seems very odd. Can’t imagine that was by choice or just to save money. Must be some issues for sure I’d think that made it the best way to avoid the ride being closed for longer than necessary or so.
 
Are the system and boats manufactured by Mack? Perhaps they just didn’t have the capacity in the factory to get new ones ready for March so they have pushed it back until next year.
 
I do hope the 2023 phase will include a new dark ride section.. In my opinion Europa always seem to plus their experiences when they refurb their attractions (despite some people preferring older versions) they always seem to at least make them of a higher quality - people forgive the upgrade... so I hope they'll do something special with this.
 
As discussed Josefinas will this season use the old Floßfahrt boats before the new ones arrive next year. A look at the lite retheming work taking place to make the rafts more 'Austrian royalty'.
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Some sneak peaks of the Austria expansion from Michael Mack's twitter.
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Some new looks at the progress on Josefinas. Not long now until reopening on the 19th!
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EDIT:

The Adventure Club of Europe site has been updated to include the fictional Empress of Austria Josefina tying the new ride's story to the overarching ACE story. It also ties into the Diamonds Cave already in Austria which Alpine Express and WiWa pass through.

adventure-club.de

Empress Josefina of Austria - Adventure Club of Europe

Adventure Club of Europe – Entdecken Sie unsere interessantesten, spannendsten und zum Teil auch umstrittensten Expeditionen der vergangenen Jahrhunderte.
adventure-club.de adventure-club.de
 
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I looks great, I love a good themed boat ride me.

The pictures somewhat explain their very rapid (and clever) way they have constructed this. (Most of)The set pieces built and created offsite, possibly months in advance. Then shipped to site and relatively quickly put into place when the ride site is ready.
 
Scenic rides often get a lot of stick unless they're done on a really big budget with sophisticated animatronics, special effects and ride systems. But personally I'd rather have something like this, than a splash battle (in Europa Park's case, they've got both).
 
Sam said:
Absolutely no-one will prefer the old version of this. It was dire.
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I am not so sure, people are often very nostalgic. And I personally liked the exotic flair, I found it a thematic enrichment for the park (although the Africa theme had not much to do with the Europa theme of the park). Yes, the ride was oldfashioned and the animatronics showed their age, but we always did the ride once per visit. Dire is not a world I would connect with it. But I am looking forward to the new theming very much.
I only hope that the exotic theme will remain with Spices and Crocodile bar.
 
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