The German theme park Europa-Park is currently working on the reconstruction of Piraten in Batavia. The new ride is set to open this season. Piraten in Batavia, which originally opened in 1987, was already one of the park’s largest rides when it burnt down in 2018. The reconstruction offers the opportunity to modernize the ride, which is shown in a new video by the park. In this week’s Europa-Park Weekly the parks gives a behind the scenes look of the ride.
During the 10-minute video the park shows and tells all kinds of details about the ride. Designer Pascal Heinzelmann tells about the design of the Pirate Village and how the design is transformed to the real decorations that are built. “It is not that easy to rebuild this ride. We want to have the old atmosphere and give people the nostalgic feeling of the old ride, while simultaneously offering something new.” The park also shows the designs for the original ride by Ulrich Damrau; these designs and all documentation were used as inspiration for the reconstruction of the ride.
“We cannot simply rebuild the old ride,” says project leader Patrick Marx. “We have to meet all modern standard on safety, air quality, and so on.” The park also gives a look at the construction site, where most of the facades in the Dutch area are already finished. The queue area, themed as a tavern, is also shown, but the rest of the ride is still kept secret even though the video shows some shots on the construction of the scenes of the ride.
