In 2019, Europa-Park opened a new dark ride in the basement of the Scandinavian theme zone, called ‘Snorri Touren’. The ride was custom designed for Europa-Park by Jora Vision and featured Snorri, the mascot of Europa-Park’s waterpark ‘Rulantica’. Now, two years after the opening of the original ride, Mack Rides and Jora Vision are building a second installation of the ride in Tetsyblu Theme Park, Kazakhstan.
Tetsyblu Theme Park is the newest theme park in Kazakhstan. The park, located just outside the city of Aqtau on the coast of the Caspian Sea, opened in August of last year. It is part of a resort that also contains a water park, hotel, golf course and a shopping area. The theme park’s main attractions include four rollercoasters and the first dark ride in Kazakhstan: Snorri. The ride will be an almost exact clone of Snorri Touren in Europa-Park.
The ride for Europa-Park was developed after the devastating fire of May 26, 2018. The fire burned down the original Piraten in Batavia dark ride and most of the Scandinavian theme zone. It was quickly decided by the park to rebuild the destroyed parts of the park. To improve the Scandinavian theme zone, the park decided to place a dark ride in the basement of the area. Europa-Park asked Dutch design company Jora Vision to design the new ride, while the park would focus on the new Piraten in Batavia themselves. Jora Vision gave us an insight on designing the ride during our interview with the company.
The ride’s main character is Snorri. This friendly octopus is the mascot for Europa-Park’s water world Rulantica (that opened in 2019). In the ride, Snorri will take you on a journey in his world, both below and above the surface of the sea. The story of Rulantica, Snorri Touren and its characters were created by Mack NeXT, a daughter company of Mack Rides.
The original ride was developed in less than 18 months and opened on October 22, 2019. It was rewarded with a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Attraction with limited budget in 2021. The new Snorri dark ride in Tetsyblu Theme Park is scheduled to open in the spring of 2022.
