Germany had an eventful day last Friday with the opening of not just one, but two dark rides. Dämonen Gruft at Heide Park and Tiki-Tahiti Adventure at Tier- und Freizeitpark Thüle both welcomed visitors for the first time. The new “Flying theatre dark ride”, as the park calls it, was constructed by the German Aufwind group and offers guests a seven minute adventure through the jungle in search of the mysterious tiki treasure.
Tier- und Freizeitpark Thüle is a family-owned park situated in the northern region of Germany, close to the city of Cloppenburg. The park opened in 1968 as a small farm with a petting zoo, but over the years it added more and more exotic animals such as monkeys, llamas and birds. In addition, the park also introduced several amusement rides to appeal to a wider audience. Today, alongside the zoo and amusement park attractions, the park focuses a lot of attention on education and conservation, as it offers a broad range of guided tours and interactive exhibits aimed at educating guests about the wildlife found in the park.
Continuing its ongoing expansion, the park opened its newest ride, the Tiki-Tahiti Adventure, yesterday. The ride can be found in its own dedicated area of the park, situated across from the main park and right next to the parking lot. This newly developed Tiki-themed zone not only offers the dark ride, but also a flat ride and includes a small water playground. The main attraction’s show building measures 19 meters in length, 16 meters in depth, and 5 meters in height. The building itself is designed to resemble a tropical setting, complete with a small outdoor queue area and additional theming at the front. Inside, visitors will find not just the ride, but also a themed queue area and a pre-show experience.
In Tiki-Tahiti Adventure, guests embark on a journey accompanying a researcher in search of the long-lost treasure of the tiki’s, rumored to include coins, jewels, and gold. The journey takes an unexpected turn, prompting guests to hastily navigate through the tiki domain in pursuit of their ultimate goal: the treasure. The story is told during the queue, pre-show and the ride itself to offer a complete story driven experience for the guests.
Aufwind Group takes a turn key approach for Tiki-Tahiti Adventure
The ride was constructed by German manufacturer Aufwind group, which had previously also supplied rides for Eis-Greissler‘s and Ravensburger Spieleland. Alexandra Grothaus, managing director of the park recalls that the ride was acquired by the park after attending a German trade show. “There would be an attraction or a prototype that could be interesting for us. So we took a test ride and it was so exciting that we said something could be done with it. We immediately spoke to Aufwind and they had so many interesting ideas that after three hours we said we’d buy it”.
The system is similar to Ravensburger Spieleland’s World of Memory, and as such also provides six degrees of freedom (6DOF) in motion. The main difference are the restraints. “The restraints are new, simply to provide a better protection on this ride. Also we move a lot faster here than in Ravensburger Spieleland” according to Lutz Bayer, managing director at Aufwind Group. Grothaus adds: “It’s a flying theatre dark ride as we call it. Ultimately it’s almost like a virtual roller coaster”
Tiki-Tahiti Adventure uses multiple screens throughout its five scenes to tell its story, displaying content that is synchronized with the movement of the ride vehicles. Thematic elements are placed between scenes to link the various locations within the story. “We have the great advantage of doing the theming completely ourselves. We can write the script and design the whole ride. The whole story is what we do everything in-house and we have our own production department, which means we also build 80% of the components in-house so we can offer a very high level of quality” adds Bayer.
The total investment for Tiki-Tahiti Adventure amounted to 1.2 million euros, excluding the expenses for construction and essential infrastructure. The ride scenes are enhanced with special effects, such as fragrance and water. The total track length is 42 meters and accommodates four vehicles. The current capacity is 150 guests per hour, but the park can increase capacity to accommodate 200 guests per hour by adding two additional vehicles onto the ride.
Special thanks to Ride Review for allowing us to use the stills from their review for this article.
