Regional Italian amusement park Cavallino Matto is currently working on a new semi-dark ride. This new addition will combine a small dark ride with a spinning raft water ride, all themed around pirates. Construction of the new ride started in the 2021-2022 off-season, with the ride’s opening expected in summer 2022. Problems with obtaining permits required the park to delay the ride’s opening, and at this moment the ride is still under construction. Recently, reporters from Parksmania.it got to visit the park and the construction site, filming the current situation and even showing a scale model of I Pirati.
The video shows that I Pirati’s show building will contain an indoor queue and station, and two locations for possible scenes – which makes the ride likely to qualify as a semi-dark ride. One of these scenes is located just after the station, before ascending the lift. The other scene should be located just before re-entering the station at the end of the ride.
I Pirati uses a second-hand spinning raft ride system by Zamperla. The ride system was originally built for Miragica, a theme park in southern Italy which opened in 2009, but closed due to financial problems in 2018. At Miragica, the ride contained less indoor sections and was not a semi-dark ride. The ride lay-out is swirled around a central tower containing a vertical lift, after which the 6-person boats descent a curvy route, ending with a splash.
With I Pirati, Cavallino Matto adds another highly themed ride to its line-up. The new ride fits the park’s recent investments in more themed experiences, such as the highly decorated Jurassic River water coaster that opened in 2018. The pirate theme of the new ride matches the theme of the adjacent splash battle, which is a neatly decorated ride. Cavallino Matto does not mention any opening date for I Pirati now, due to the uncertainty of obtaining the necessary permits, but hopes to open the ride in 2024.
