The Plopsa owned Holiday Park (Haßloch, Germany) is planning a retheme for their one and only dark ride Burg Falkenstein. For some time now, rumours have been circulating that the medieval themed Omnimover has surpassed its expiry date and that Plopsa is looking for a way to breathe new life into the castle. When asked, the park was able to confirm that ‘Falkenstein Castle will not be closed’, and that ‘there will be a new topic’, hinting at a retheme in the works.
While Holiday Park hasn’t disclosed what exactly is going to happen or when, it might not be far fetched to assume that the retheming process could be starting this winter, seeing as how the ride has been experiencing major technical problems in recent years. Regularly scenes were missing movements or audio and as of last summer, all animatronic inhabitants of the castle have entirely stopped moving.
Rumours that are surfacing suggest that the new theme will be based on Belgian comic book characters The Smurfs, but no theme has been confirmed by the park as of yet.
Burg Falkenstein opened in 1987 (the park’s second dark ride after the travelling Geister-Rikscha) and required 7 million DM to construct (about €6,6 million adjusted for inflation), one of the biggest investments in the park’s history. It was the brainchild of then park director Wolfgang Schneider, who on multiple occasions took inspiration from medieval atmospheres to come up with new rides. Plopsa bought the park from Schneider in 2010.
The theming and animatronics were created by Studio Hamburg, famous for their television decors, and Hofmann Figuren respectively, while the Omnimover system was purchased from Mack Rides.
