Cavallino Matto postpones opening of Pirati

Pirati castle and construction site
Construction site of Pirati in June (© Dark Ride Database (28-06-2022))

Last winter, the Italian theme park Cavallino Matto announced their new ride Pirati. Announced as ‘rapid dark ride’, Pirati is supposed to combine a spining raft ride with a dark ride section. It will be the second (semi-)dark ride in the family-oriented park, though their water coaster Jurassic River (opened 2018) already showed the park’s ambitions on highly themed rides. Construction of Pirati was well underway, but Cavallino Matto announced recently that the opening of the new ride is postponed.

An opening date for Pirati does not seem to be in sight any time soon. An update on the website of the park now reads “Unfortunately we must inform you that, due to complications due to the current situation, we are forced to postpone the opening of the “Pirati” attraction. As soon as we have more precise information, we will let you know. Stay tuned.” The park has not disclosed what the ‘complications due to the current situation’ are or when the park is hoping to open the new ride. Rumour has it that the park is not only suffering from delayed construction, but also from legislation issues with local authorities.

Cavallino Matto announced the construction of Pirati in January of this year, with an opening date set ‘before summer’. The spinning raft ride is constructed by the Italian manufacturer Zamperla, and is an installation of their ‘Hydro Lift’-ride. Dark Ride Database visited the park in June and took some pictures of the construction site, which are placed below. The structure of the ride and the façade of the pirate castle already seem complete, but details around the lift and inside the building appear to need more work. The castle hosts both the station and the presumed dark ride section, though it is uncertain whether the dark ride is large enough to qualify as entry on the Dark Ride Database.

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The pirate castle (© Dark Ride Database (28-06-2022))
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Monster looming over the door by which boats re-enter the castle (© Dark Ride Database (28-06-2022))
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The outdoor part of the spinning raft ride (© Dark Ride Database (28-06-2022))