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Gardaland

Matt N said:
For anyone who’s ridden it and remembers it, what was Ramses II actually like? I know it was interactive, but was it a ride you rated highly?
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Honestly, no. Regardless of laser guns, it was such a dull experience that even I didn't want to re-ride it when we visited the park in December 2019. However I won't discount the impressive entrance, theming and set design. A shame really.

And to ramble on a bit, because the ride's history is far more interesting than the ride itself, there's this ParksMania article you can translate to English about the ride's original incarnation, La Valle dei Re/The Valley of the Kings, and watch a 1988 promotional video for. The original attraction was a big deal as it was one of the first dark rides ever built in Italy, the park's first dark ride and designed by the Mazzoli brothers who were former Imagineers.
 
Ramses was an awful attraction. There was a fair amount of strobe lighting but the story didn't make much sense, especially compared to the original non-shooting attraction (Valley of the Kings).

It's good to see construction finally happen on the site, as a jumanji family launch coaster has been rumoured on this site since 2018.
 
Ah, thanks all! The removal of Ramses makes far more sense now; I was under the impression it was quite new and quite highly rated, but the fact that it opened in the 80s and none of you guys are especially complientary of it would suggest otherwise...

Let's hope that whatever Merlin Magic Making is concocting is more highly rated. In terms of what it could be; I've heard numerous rumblings about a Zierer drop track coaster similar to Polar X-plorer/Verbolten replacing Ramses over the years, so one of those or something similar seems like a logical guess. However, I also heard someone say that Gardaland was due to get an attraction similar to Derren Brown's Ghost Train, although the way DBGT has gone down at Thorpe would suggest that Merlin probably won't be rushing to buy another any time soon...
 
Chessington is more likely to install 14 clones of The Smiler before Merlin turn to attempting DBGT ever again.

I honestly cannot remember this ride from the visit in December '19. Compared to the glaring memory of I Corsari's exit, I suppose that says it all really.
 
It would be ironic if a model of the Ramses building is in the new waterpark, despite it now being permanently closed...
 
Well Ramses was complete and utter crap, so this is good news! I remember seeing Ramses when I went and being so impressed by the building and entrance. Then the ride was so very forgetable, I think it was like some sort of weird omnimover with spaced out vehicles that was probably much better when it first opened and had not been given some weird overlay.
 
I liked the music.

I vaguely remember it being full of Terminator Mummies for.... reasons. Certainly not the worst Merlin shooty dark ride refurb though.
 
I am trying to visualise where the building is for the ride, I recall the huge (pretty cool) entrance but not any other structure ?
 
The building is hidden as it were underneath pathways, so you can only really see that huge entrance/facade. Could be an interesting challenge to build a new coaster inside!
 
Found a video of the original predecessor here.


Looks something of a cross between Terror Tomb and Fata Morgana (albeit more dated).

Haven’t done either attraction but the attraction in it’s last form didn’t look anything remarkable. Hopefully the replacement will be worthwhile Ip or no IP.
 
We got caught up some flash mob dance set outside the entrance which is this introverts recurring nightmare. I barely remember anything else about the ride, which I thought was PTSD.

After all looking at these posts, maybe it was just bland :D
 
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Matt N said:
the fact that it opened in the 80s and none of you guys are especially complientary of it would suggest otherwise...
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It opened in 2009. It was a very basic Duel / Tomb Blaster type revamp (with a weird Terminator theme) of an older dark ride. The original looked a lot more Disney esque for its day
 
And I thought Silbermine was slow…

Will give it credit though, that light tunnel at the end looks like a great effect!
 
I watched a POV of Ramses the other day to try and remind myself of it, it was like watching a POV of something I had never ridden before. The theming pieces are impressive but the ride itself really is terrible.
 
This is the latest video with lights on from the historic darkride "Valley of the Kings". A year later Ramses was inaugurated
Now for the 2022 attraction they are said to have demolished all the walls of the building
 
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Gardaland has officially announced that Jumanji: The Adventure is opening in 2022:
https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202109/8510/
Whether or not it’s a coaster is yet to be ascertained; the promo image briefly shows track, but nothing has yet been said about the ride being a coaster.
EDIT: It is being described as “a dark ride for adventure lovers of all ages”.
 
Rick said:
Is this reusing the Ramses space, perhaps?
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Almost definitely. The Ramses space had Jumanji-styled construction walls around it earlier in 2021, so it seems like a fair guess to say that this is going in the Ramses spot.
 
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