Description
Gargantua is the name of the giant statue that dominated the park's skyline and was Mirapolis' mascot. The giant is based on the story of The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel by 16th century French writer François Rabelais.
The dark ride housed within featured a suspended Endless Chain system and took guests on a journey through the giant's body (which also featured shops and a restaurant) and showed it's functions in a cartoony and ''futuristic'' manner by means of gears, lasers and a total of 120 animatronics.
At the highest point of the ride, guests would get a view over the park at a height of about 30 meters through the windows featured on the giant's collar.
History
The giant would remain intact after the park's closure at the end of the 1991 season but was eventually demolished in 1995, removing the final remnant of Mirapolis.
The suspended ride system, along with many other rides, was sold to the German Spreepark. It was re-constructed backstage but never operated for the public due to financial problems preventing the completion of the new ride. It remained abandoned, without even a building to house it, leaving the ride system SBNO in the open air.
Statistics
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Building costFr10,000,000
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Capacity2000 p/h
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Number of vehicles60 vehicles
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Seats (per vehicle/theatre)3 seats