Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz

[Rob]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Nigloand have posted this photo on Facebook:

 

[AstroDan]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

2014 map shows Alpina Blitz:

 

[Sam]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Spatiale Experience, ostensibly their second biggest ride, gets a bit of a shafting on that map.

 

[AstroDan]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Reasons to love Nigloland:

Reason 26: Free parking!

I do love a bit of free parking.

 

[BigAl]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Another photo, this time from E-Coasters:

 

[Rob]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Wow this is looking great! ;D

 

[Pedro]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

New photos

And the park is asking their facebook fans to choose between 4 T shirts. The one with the more likes will be available in the park at the opening
Tshirt 1

Tshirt 2

Tshirt 3

Tshirt 4

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

That's quite a small transfer track... Small trains it is then.

 

[CGM]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

I won't be convinced that it's intense as an Intamin model until I see it running. Intamin Megalites really throw the train over the first drop. I can't see the same sort of speed being achieved with a chain lift. Also, the height difference between the lift hill and the first airtime hill is noticeably less than on a Megalite.

Maybe it's because I just can't picture Mack trains performing any kind of aggressive manoeuvre. The motions on existing Mack megacoasters are always incredibly fluid and evolving. The coaster never looks like it's working hard, even in elements like Bluefire's heartline roll.

Intamin coasters on the other hand are visibly intense from an offride perspective. You can see the train bucking and twisting through the hills, throwing riders' hair all over the place. They generally just look a lot more lively.

In any case, it does look like it will be a very impressive coaster but at the moment, I'm much more keen to ride Helix or indeed an Intamin Megalite.

 

[BigAl]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Some pictures of this fantastic looking ride, courtesy of Parcs Passion:

 

[djtruefitt]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

That part looks fun!

 

[Rob]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Oh wow!! I cannot wait to ride this! ;D

 

[AstroDan]

Re: Nigloland 2014: Alpina Blitz - Mack Megacoaster

Although I still doubt it will offer the ejector of the Intamin coasters, this does look like a very cool little layout!

 

[Pedro]

There is quite a lot of photos, and a great video on parktrips.fr
You should have a look:

http://www.parkstrip.fr/2014/02/reportage-parks-trip-visite-le-chantier.html

 

[Rob]

I came across a brilliant post on AmeWorld regarding Alpina Blitz and thought it was worth taking extracts from it to post here. It sounds like they had some sort of tour and press conference.

The Alpina Blitz greeted us from afar and we approached , it was more beautiful. Hardly time to take some pictures , then it is time to join the press conference that will teach us what some of you already know. It will especially let us know why Mack was chosen . This is Philippe Gelis we explained:
"When the family returned to Denmark, the choice was made ! The coaster would be an Intamin . And the enthusiasm has given way to realism . Yes, Intamin makes monsters (in a good sense) , but the book is huge maintenance and economic vision has taken over enthusiasm. The map coaster , designed by Patrice Gelis and finalized by Intamin , was hung in the office of brothers Nigoland . Here , builders parade. Mack is finally won the song. If the price of the coaster was roughly similar between Mack and Intamin , the price of parts and maintenance tipped the balance in favor of the Germans. Then there were seats : those presented by Intamin were a little "vintage" and did not like to Gelis .
Neither one nor two , a panel of testers is moved to Europa Park in Germany ( Do not dream ! These testers are mostly family members and park staff ) .
A Rust , the panel tested Blue Fire ... and it emerged convinced ! The feed back said he had to Intamin route with trains of Blue Fire .. - Tell me, Herr Mack .. It is possible, ca - ? Ja, ja ! Everything is possible - (pronounced with a German accent ) .. And that's how Mack won the site ! It was there two and a half years "
Well, we never forget that Mack is a partner of the park and that customers are Gélis at Mack for almost 50 years .

In November 2013, work began and we Feb. 7, 2014 , the course is completed . The project took a little over 2 months.
From the outside, it throws ! The coaster is not very high , certainly ( the first drop rises to 33 m tall with a lift at 45 ° ), but successive bumps on 719 meters of the course . We are promised 9 airtimes up to 2 seconds each ! And as the speed will be 83 km / h , it makes us a ride that lasts about 60 seconds. There are 2 sets of 16 squares.
The beast weighs 345 tonnes , this includes posts 120 and 225 rails.
You want to talk about the money? Well, that's because it's you ! The Alpina Blitz cost around 8 million euros , this is the biggest investment of the park.
And as well you like the numbers, I also specifies that the station to house the heart of the Alpina Blitz is 12 meters high. It took 530 m³ of concrete and 9 tons of steel to build it. It required 1,600 hours of work on a surface of 340 sqm ... I hope that you are full because I have told you everything

The layout drawing:

And best of all, an off-ride and on-ride of Alpina Blitz in NoLimits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcEzrdnX4LU#ws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1s1fVkuFhQ#ws

The full post, along with lots of lovely photos, can be found here.

---

So basically the park owners (who I think are brothers) went to ride Piraten, fell in love with it, and wanted one for their park. But in the end they went for Mack due to cheaper maintenance costs and better trains. It does explain why the layout is almost identical to that of a Mega-Lite, bar it having some slight directional and element positioning changes. I don't think this will have quite as much airtime as a Mega-Lite but hopefully it won't be far off!

 

[Sam]

Ahaha, Intamin must be pretty annoyed about this. It proves how successful the Europa 'showroom' has been for Mack as well, especially when the showcase rides are as good as Blue Fire.

That on-ride POV has seriously raised my expectations for this ride. Having watched a POV of Piraten straight after this, they actually look to have about the same amount of airtime, maybe even slightly more on the Alpina Blitz rendering. Now I've seen this, I actually think there's a chance this could be as good, if not better, than the Mega-Lite.

EDITED for language

 

[AstroDan]

A very interesting commentary about the reasons behind Nigloland going for Mack over Intamin. Needless to say, Intamin must be livid about it!

I love the idea of Nigloland going to Mack and Mr. Mack (who knows which Mack is Mr. Mack in this case) just says that "anything is possible"...

I look forward to seeing this little coaster in action, and riding it on April 23rd!

 

[Benzin]

Not surprising really if maintenance costs are a big reason for their decision, considering Intamin's use of cable lifts against Mack's chain lift...

That however could affect the difference in ride style, I'm intrigued and hopeful this will be as good as Piraten if not better (as Piraten early in the morning wasn't great)...

 

[DiogoJ42]

I reckon this is their way of covering the monumental fail they made when they ordered a coaster that cannot operate below 5'C for the WINTER Olympic park.

 

[Rob]

Nigloland have posted this lovely overview photo to their Facebook page: