In its summer series entitled
Tour Manèges
, the editorial staff of
20 Minutes invites
you to dive into the secrets of sensational attractions.
This time, heading to Germany for a zoom on the oldest of the roller coasters of Europa Park: the Express des Alpes Enzian.
For seven years, virtual reality has interfered in the course to offer a new perspective to visitors.
After a day strolling through the aisles of an amusement park, can you imagine having toured it?
After a dozen cumulative loops, do you think your heart can resist all the sensations?
What if all your beliefs were shaken up thanks to virtual reality?
In New Aquitaine, Futuroscope has its experience dedicated to Sébastien Loeb and on the other side of the German border, Europa Park uses this technology to make something new out of the old.
Complicate a simple course
In 1984, the park celebrated its ninth birthday and inaugurated its first roller coaster: the Enzian Alps Express.
A ride that lasts less than two minutes, a maximum height of six meters, a speed of 45 km/h... In short, a walk in the park if you have just climbed aboard the Silver Star, emblematic attraction of the leisure complex with its 127 max km/h.
To overcome the disappointment that some visitors may feel, Europa Park has decided to pimp up its 40-year-old course with a virtual reality headset.
“It was the oldest attraction, we wanted to renew it a little, reports Mathis Gullon, project manager at Mack Next.
And it's the most classic, you might think the course is very simple so we wondered if we couldn't twist it”.
After a study of the curves and a first 3D animation, a film is born.
Since then, a new short film appears about once a year.
A two-euro option
But then what is the use of virtual reality when visitors can appreciate the colors of the pretty train in which they have just embarked and discover the decorations hidden in the cave of the route?
“You can accentuate curves, do loops when in reality, you're on a straight line.
Conversely, we can sometimes reduce the sensations,” says Mathis Gullon.
One of the films currently showing takes the audience on a jet-ski chase through tight turns and full turns.
However, in reality, it is not so: you have just done the only aquatic attraction from which you do not come out soaked.
However, your dry clothes have a price: two euros at the entrance to the attraction, in addition to the price of your admission ticket to the park.
"From a capacity point of view, we could not follow" without making this option pay, justifies the project manager.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 people a day choose to put on a virtual reality headset, i.e. 15 to 20% of visitors who join the Express des Alpes Enzian.
"Virtual reality still tends to isolate a little"
This roller coaster is not the only one to make use of virtual reality within Europa Park.
The Eurosat Coastiality attraction, based on the film
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
by Luc Besson, also asks the public to be equipped with a helmet before jumping into the wagon.
Another space, Yullbe Go, offers several experiences within which the spectators-actors can move around.
What to forget about these good old roller coasters to make way for the sole use of new technologies?
"A park entirely dedicated to virtual reality is not what people want," replies Mathis Gullon.
The purpose of a park is to be together, to be able to exchange.
For now, virtual reality still tends to isolate a bit.
It works well in small doses but the whole day is of no interest”.
Despite this, there is now always a reflection on virtual reality when creating new attractions.
A helmet could then well be offered in the fourteenth rollercoaster of the park, which is scheduled to open at the end of next year.
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Amusement park
Virtual reality
Germany
Culture