Immersive Tunnel

Going back to Hogwarts

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Port of Entry

The Port of Entry themed area is the large and extremely attractive entrance area to the theme park. The large souvenir shop is located here, as well as all kinds of catering options. The area serves as a hub to the themed areas Marvel Super Hero Island and Seuss Landing.

Seuss Landing

The Seuss Landing themed area is dedicated to the children’s books by the famous American author Dr Seuss. Here you can meet well-known characters such as the Grinch, the Lorax and the Cat in the Hat in an environment that is as colourful as it is clearly designed and minimalist.

The Cat in the Hat

The journey leads through the events of the book, with the nameless boy narrating the ride. The cat in the hat and the fish also have their say at various points during the ride. As in the book, all sorts of mischief happens when the mother violates the house and leaves the children alone. The cat in the hat appears and with it Thing 1 and Thing 2. Chaos increasingly breaks out, which is staged quite well in the ride. The end comes quite quickly and after the chaos has been cleared up by the cat with a machine, we get off the ride.

Caro-Seuss-el und One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Seuss Landing is home to two colourful carousels. While the Caro-Seuss-el is more classic and features colourful animal characters from children’s books, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish requires a little skill to avoid getting completely soaked on the carousel. The accompanying song tells you what to do, but if you don’t listen, the fun is all the greater.

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride consists of two lengthy powered coasters from Mack Rides, but they don’t build up any speed here and are more of a high-backed railway through the area. There are anecdotes and jokes, but a ride on the two tracks is not really exciting.

The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent theme area itself is a little lost in its current form. There used to be the big walkthrough show Poseidon’s Fury and the stunt show The Eigth Voyage of Sindbad. Today, both are no longer in use. What remains is probably one of the most beautiful themed areas in the world and, with the Mythos restaurant, probably one of the best restaurants in a theme park worldwide.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Express

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme area spans both Universal theme parks in Florida. While you can visit Hogsmeade and Hogwarts in the Islands of Adventure, you can explore Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. Both themed areas are connected by the Doppelmayr funicular railway Hogwarts Express. However, a ticket valid for both parks is required for the journey. While a park hopping ticket makes little sense at Walt Disney World due to the distance between the parks, the walking distance between the two Universal theme parks is a big plus, as well as the opportunity to take a ride on the Hogwarts Express, which is a really great experience. It is also recommended to ride both routes once, as the film sequences shown are different.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

Where the Dueling Dragons once stood – two B&M inverted coasters that met several times during the ride, but in the end no longer dueled, which meant that many of the visual attractions were simply no longer there – now stands a rollercoaster with an incredibly unwieldy name, which we will simply call Hagrid’s for the sake of simplicity.

The ride on Hagrid’s begins with a long right-hand bend that takes us into the first launch area. After a short left-hand bend, we then take a right-hand bend at some speed, after which we reach the second launch area. At high speed, we then race into a passage close to the ground with numerous left and right turns before briefly taking our foot off the accelerator at Hagrid’s hut. This is where Hagrid and a Blast-Ended Skrewt await us. After this short lesson, we head back towards Hogwarts. Over the third launch section, we gather enough speed to climb a hill and immediately throw ourselves towards the ground in a left-hand bend. This is followed by a number of ground-hugging bends along a lake. After adjusting our speed a little, a right-hand bend leads us directly into a small hill and another right-hand bend takes us to Fluffy, the three-headed dog. After a short left turn over a switch, we reach another launch section. We then dive into a tunnel at full speed and then race up a long straight. Unfortunately, we run out of steam and experience part of the journey in reverse. We then come to a halt in a cave, but are attacked by the magical creatures. With Hagrid’s help, we manage to escape. After the freefall segment, the path leads us into another launch section, which takes us into a wide left-hand bend followed by a right-hand bend. Shortly afterwards, our speed is reduced to a minimum and we approach the end of the ride.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is a really good roller coaster and my personal favourite at the Islands of Adventure. The overall concept of the ride is simply harmonious and the finale of the ride with the small freefall element was something I really didn’t have on my radar. I at least was blown away and can only warmly recommend a ride on this rollercoaster to anyone.

Flight of the Hippogriff

Flight of the Hippogriff is the standard model of a Vekoma Junior Coaster, which you can also experience in the park next door as Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster. Accordingly, the ride begins with a short curve out of the station and the subsequent lift hill. You immediately complete a left-hand steep curve with a subsequent upward helix, cross a short valley and a wide right-hand curve near the station. Over a hill, you cross the route you have just travelled, whereupon you lose some height in another helix. This is followed by a left-hand bend, after which the braking section awaits. Here you wait a little until the train in front of you has been dispatched at the station and you can enter it.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The wild ride through Hogwarts begins with Hermione’s generous use of floo powder, after which we soon find ourselves in the observatory. Slight tilting effects to the side during transport provide initial excitement, as all movements are absolutely smooth – which is quite unexpected given the otherwise very rough movement profiles of the stationary Robo-Coasters. In the observatory itself, we join Harry and Ron and experience a fabulous ride over the rooftops of Hogwarts towards the Quidditch match. Meanwhile, we meet Hagrid, who asks us if we have seen the dragon, only to encounter said dragon a few moments later. Pushed by the dragon, our path leads us into a bridge, where the dragon is waiting for us as an animatronic, but we manage to escape.

Shortly afterwards, we find ourselves in the Forbidden Forest, where we immediately encounter Aragog. Hermione rushes to our aid and chases him away while we continue our escape. More spiders get in our way, but we manage to leave the forest. The whomping willow awaits us in the clearing, although we manage to avoid it quite well, it does eventually catch us and we are thrown into the Quidditch stadium. So far so good, after all it was our goal and we are right in the middle of the action – which is much cooler than the trendy muggle sport.

When Slytherin stupidly scores a goal against Gryffindor, Dementors get into the arena. Since evil plus evil stupidly still equals evil, Harry immediately escorts us out of the arena. We are separated from Harry and soon find ourselves in the Chamber of Secrets. Another Dementor chases after us and even Lord Voldemort gives us the slip. We manage to escape, but a horde of Dementors is already waiting for us. It’s getting cold, the gondola bearer’s movements are noticeably slow and a heartbeat can be heard from the subwoofers on the benches. At the last possible moment, Harry chases the Dementors away and we follow him through the collapsing entrance towards Hogwarts. In the main hall leading to the grand staircase, we meet all sorts of students and teachers and, last but not least, Albus Dumbledore, who uses Floo powder to transport us to the Room of Requirement, i.e. the station of the ride.

I was amazed. I would never have believed the Kuka robots capable of such a ride. I was also simply overwhelmed by the scale of the decorations and screens. The whipping willow in particular thrilled me so much that I could only smile for the rest of the ride. The symbiosis between the projection and the real backdrop simply works perfectly and the ride system supports this in the best possible way. The robots’ great freedom of movement in particular brings an incredible dynamic to the ride, which is also utilised perfectly and ultimately offers an absolutely wild but extremely harmonious ride through the Harry Potter universe. I’d love more of this!

Jurassic Park

Jurassic World VelociCoaster

As soon as it opened, the VelociCoaster was labelled the best roller coaster in the world by many roller coaster fans. All the more reason to take the ride with all kinds of crazy people from the Buzzed Bars Coaster Club and spend lap after lap on this rollercoaster.

The ride begins with a left-hand bend that leads us into the launch area. The velociraptors, which are supposed to chase after our train for entertainment reasons, have apparently escaped and so we now have to complete the route through the enclosure as quickly as possible. The journey begins with a very steep uphill curve, which turns into a large drop. However, we only reach the bottom after the following dive loop, which is extremely challenging. This is followed by a nice turn to the right, after which we change direction on a hill. We are now steadily gaining height, but the first velociraptor is already waiting for us up here. Taron-esque, we then wind our way towards the ground, only to continue our route in a left-hand bend. In a right-hand bend, however, we narrowly escape the second raptor. After an implied turnaround, we then enter a tunnel in a right-hand bend, whereupon we accelerate a second time.

Now we race up the Top Hat, which characterises the entrance area to the roller coaster. Whilst we turn on our own axis on the ascent, the subsequent drop is quite straightforward. A slight swing to the right then leads us into a very wide stall above the walkways, where we spend a long time upside down. This is followed by a wide Bavarian curve with a negative incline in between. After a speed hump, we then shoot through the so-called Mosasaurus Roll – a fast barrel roll – which is incredibly popular with American roller coaster fans. After a short swing to the right and left, we reach the braking section of the ride.

The VelociCoaster is a really good rollercoaster with a highly dynamic layout, but it doesn’t quite come close to its European role models Taron and Taiga. While the first part of the ride is extremely compact, the second part focuses mainly on long curves and speed; the VelociCoaster should therefore be seen more as a roller coaster with two acts, with either the first or second act being more appealing depending on your taste.

Jurassic Park River Adventure

The Shoot-the-Chutes Jurassic Park River Adventure is also one of the best rides of its kind. The ride through the time-honoured dinosaur park is certainly one of the most famous rides in the world, which makes it all the more enjoyable when the posted waiting times go by much faster than expected.

As the ride is thankfully based on the first film, we are looking forward to an adventurous ride without divorce drama and genetically modified hyperdinos on the island of Isla Nublar. After leaving the station, a short lift hill takes us to an intermediate level, where we bob along the canal for a few metres before approaching the significant gate from the film. The gate opens, the music plays and we feel like we’re back in our childhood, so my primary school self was addressed, and so the path leads us leisurely through the Ultrasaurus and Stegosaurus enclosures. In the Hadrasaurus enclosure, we receive a warning that the raptors have broken out. Meanwhile, two dilophosaurs are fighting over the remaining coat of a park employee, enough distraction for us to take care of our own escape. As we approach a building, a small container almost falls on our heads. In the building itself, we then use the transport system inside to get to the power station. On the very long lift hill, we gain a few metres in altitude and are attacked from both sides by Velociraptors. Once we reach the power station level, we are attacked by more dinosaurs as we approach the evacuation path in a wide curve. A short lift hill brings us to the aforementioned drop, so that we can only just escape from a T-Rex that has just appeared. We now descend a good 26 metres, whereupon the obligatory splashdown takes place and the ride, which is absolutely worth experiencing, comes to an end.

Camp Jurassic and Pteranodon Flyers

The small suspended roller coaster Pteranodon Flyers is located in the middle of the children’s area Camp Jurassic, which unfortunately adults are not allowed to ride without a child up to a certain age. For whatever reason, the ride has a rather low capacity for a theme park like Islands of Adventure, which can lead to longer waiting times.

Skull Island: Reign of Kong

The Skull Island: Reign of Kong dark ride is based on the latest King Kong films. The ride is based on the concept of a safari through Skull Island, punctuated by the dangerous oversized wild animals. There are some animatronics, but the majority of the ride takes place on large screens to the right and left of the ride, while the truck is on a platform that moves in sync with the film. This is very cool and impressively realised, especially compared to other immersive tunnel attractions worldwide.

Toon Lagoon

The Toon Lagoon themed area is home to the two water rides Dudley-do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls and Popeye & Pluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and is characterised above all by the colourful drawing style of classic American comics.

Dudley-do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls

The log flume Dudley-do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls is based on the character Dudley Do-Right from the American animated series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, which first aired between 1959 and 1964.

Once you have squeezed yourself into the incredibly tight seats – which are equipped with individual restraints – the journey can begin. On the way to the first lift, we bob along through a nicely designed scene with some funny allusions. After the lift, we travel quite quickly through the canal before making our way through a mine. Back in daylight, we pass under the final descent once and then make our way to the next tunnel. When we have to avoid a railway in this tunnel, we set off on our first drop. Surprisingly, this takes us over a small hill and ensures that everyone on board gets wet. After a right-hand bend, we quickly enter the next descent, which is just as moisturising. After a few bends, we climb the second lift hill, which takes us right to the top. After a left-hand bend, we then split into one of the two descents, which we immediately tackle. Interestingly, the descent takes you far below the level of the final splashdown. We reach the required altitude over a hill with a crest that is always covered in spray and immediately start the splashdown. This is followed by the return to the station, whereupon our ride on this fantastic log flume unfortunately comes to an end.

Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges

The Rapid River with the unbelievably bulky name Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges is one of the wettest rides of its type. The ride is characterised by its winding course with numerous rapids; however, the numerous water effects that protrude into the ride make it wet, which makes for surprised faces, especially on the lift. A great ride!

Marvel Super Hero Island

The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man

Just like at Universal Studios Japan, everything is just right on The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man dark ride. Perfectly coordinated movements interact with the video projections in the most ingenious way, leaving you speechless and amazed as you leave the ride vehicle and wanting to queue again. The electric shock scene, triggered by the villain Electro, and the scene with the anti-gravity cannon are particularly noteworthy here too; otherwise I find it difficult to describe this dark ride, as it really is simply overwhelming.

Doctor Doom’s Fearfall

The two towers of Doctor Doom’s Fearfall both house a Space Shot from S&S, while the theming inside suggests an Intamin Giant Drop, as do the rather unusual check-in areas of the towers. However, the ride itself is surprisingly fun and is highly recommended, especially in the evening (and with correspondingly short waiting times), as you can catch a great view of the beautifully illuminated park and Orlando at night.

Storm Force Accelatron

The Storm Force Accelatron teacup ride is characterised above all by its extremely large and rather sluggish gondolas. The ride is accompanied by rock music and lighting effects.

Incredible Hulk Coaster

One of the time-honoured rides in Orlando is the Incredible Hulk Coaster, B&M’s first roller coaster with a launch, although this was probably not provided by B&M but outsourced. It is the first roller coaster with a friction wheel launch.

After leaving the station, the path leads us straight into the launch cannon. The experiment goes wrong and we are shot out of the cannon straight into the first inversion of the ride; a zero-G roll. Immediately after the big descent, the track leads us into a Cobra Roll and then, without mercy, into an oversized loop. After a short dive under the park paths, we take a quick spin around the launch cannon before tackling our next inversion – a corkscrew. Over a long downhill straight, we then gain momentum for loop no. 2, which we also ride through with plenty of pressure. This is followed by two larger cornering manoeuvres that lead us into a block segment in the middle of the second loop. After another downhill section, we race through a second corkscrew and a right-hand bend before quickly approaching the end of the ride in an uphill helix.

Like many of the great B&M rides of its time, the Incredible Hulk Coaster is simply an incredible power machine. The ride is merciless and impresses with its constant high pressure in almost all manoeuvres.

Pictures Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

Conclusion Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

I really enjoyed the Islands of Adventure. Together with Universal Studios Florida right next door, the park offers an incredibly high-quality entertainment package that I would like to experience much more often. Everything is just right here. What’s more, the VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure are two of the best rollercoasters in the world within the same park.

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Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

The legacy of Dinocittà

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The History of Cinecittà World

The history of Rome as a film location dates back to 1937, when the film city Cinecittà was founded. Equipped with what were then the most modern studios in Europe, a backlot and a copy studio, around 300 films were produced by 1943. Bombed by the Allies and looted by the Nazis, the film production was moved to Venice. After the end of the war, Cinecittà served as a DP camp for two years before the film production site was returned to its original purpose. In the 1950s the Cinecittà Studios experienced a golden age, probably also due to the film funding of the Italian state, and served as the film location for important Hollywood films such as Ben-Hur.

Due to constantly increasing demand and limited studio capacities, the producer Dino de Laurentiis founded Dinocittà, at that time the largest film studio in the world, also in the south of the Italian capital. The studio mainly produced historic and monumental films such as Barabbas (Italy 1961, Richard Fleischer), Waterloo (Italy/USSR 1969, Sergei Bondarchuk) and John Huston’s mammoth work La Bibbia (Italy 1966). However, due to the reduction of subsidies at the beginning of the 1970s, the film studio was not able to survive for long, and so in 1973 the land was sold to the Italian state. From then on Dino de Laurentiis produced in the United States and the Dinocittà remained unused; although not forgotten. Plans in the early 2000s to run the studios under the name Roma Studios were quickly discarded and Cinecittà Holding took over the site.

Originally planned for 2012, the movie park Cinecittà World opened its doors for the first time in the summer of 2014. Unpaid bills and a lack of visitors, despite the surprisingly low target of 1.5 million visitors, quickly left the park in a negative light. Short-notice cancellations of seasonal events and the planned winter opening quickly gave rise to doubts as to whether the park would ever open again. However, after restructuring over the winter months, the park opened punctually at Easter.

Tour of the park

Through an elaborately designed entrance portal, one enters the park directly into Cinecittà Street, the park’s main street, inspired by New York of the 1920s. Although the set is only of generic design, i.e. not based on any film, this area has a lot of charm as long as it does not look like a ghost town due to a lack of visitors. The design is generally of a very high quality and equipped with all kinds of details, so that the first and last impression of the park is inevitably a positive one.

Aktium

To the left of Main Street the set extends around Aktium, an elaborately designed Super Splash from Mack Rides. It is supposed to depict the naval battle at Actium, in which Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus, asserted himself against Marcus Antonius and the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII, thus securing sole rule in the Roman Empire. As violent as the battle was, the area around the ride is just as impressive and once again you can see that the Cinecittà World is a place where quality is the name of the game.

After you have left the spacious queue behind you, the journey can start right away. Without much foreplay, you go directly up the first lift hill, where you approach the first slope in a rough curve. Similar to various larger Spillwateranter installations, this runs directly down into the water without any great gimmicks. One turn later, the boat climbs up again and also makes a rough left turn. Where the ride showed itself to be quite untypical for this type of roller coaster the true character is revealed in the second shot. With a lot of momentum you pass a valley and take off on the adjacent hill before you get in contact with the water. After a little sailing through the canal you soon reach the station and are bid farewell by the staff to thunderous applause.

Aktium is a nice spillwater replacement, but it shows the limits of this roller coaster and reveals the reason why almost all other rides of this type use turntables instead of curves for the turning manoeuvres. Apart from the angular curves the ride runs without any other problems, although the level of wetness could have been a bit higher.

Studio 1

Across the Piazza Dino de Laurentiis with all its fountains and fountains we now enter Studio 1, where a magic show took place. Except for the time-consuming mind-reading number (which was only presented in Italian), the show was very professionally staged, but unfortunately not as worth seeing as the comparable show at Movieland Park.

Altair CCW-0204

Directly behind it is Altair CCW-0204, a roller coaster that many people are probably already familiar with from the English amusement park Thorpe Park near London. Unlike the former record-breaker, however, the ride takes passengers up to the starting height of 33m a little faster and without a failure-prone chain lift. After an exciting start, the passengers are then thrown through the rollover elements in trains without shoulder restraints. A massive spaceship serves as an oversized station building, in which mankind returns to earth after more than four millennia and has to ask the question who is the alien, the creatures that developed here, or we who left them in the 22nd century?

While the background story of Altair offers plenty of room for philosophical discussions, the train, whose restraint system is very similar to that of the Divertical water rollercoaster at Mirabilandia, ascends the lift hill directly. At the top, you pass the top of the hill quite leisurely and immediately drop down to the ground. With a high speed and a high pressure you go through a steep left turn before you shoot up the first inversion, a loop. This is traversed with the usual intensity, followed by a small hill with some airtime. In the valley below, the Cobra Roll is initiated, which is crossed just as confidently. After three rollovers, the half time of the ride is rung in with two corkscrews.  After another left turn above the first downhill run, the quadruple heartline roll in the back of the ride is initiated. Because of the freer sitting position, you can complete this with a slight lateral overhang and thus the feeling of always being able to fall out. The train then passes through a last left turn and then the final inversion, a right leading heartline roll towards the brakes. In contrast to Colossus in Thorpe Park, this roll is a bit disappointing, as it is identical to the previous rolls and therefore offers no more surprises.

Altair is a great roller coaster with excellent ride characteristics and a significantly improved seating position compared to the original. However, Colossus also has its strengths, which are mainly reflected in the grandiose final roll and the better integration into the terrain; it is simply more photogenic, although Altair is by no means photo-shy either. The modified first drop is a great experience and the lack of vibrations in looping and the subsequent cobra roll, as well as the absence of a queue to our visit point, make the ride a guarantee for repeat rides.

Erawan

Through the pretty western town of Ennio’s Creek, named after Ennio Morricone, the composer of numerous Italo western scores, where a scary walkthrough is to educate during the season, and past Studios 3,4 and 5 (with a 4D cinema in Studio 4 and a children’s playground in Studio 3), we head towards the most impressive ride in Cinecittà World, the Erawan Freefall Tower. This visual treat includes four lanes, two of which offer pure falling pleasure while standing, while the other two lanes entertain their passengers while seated. All gondolas are tilted forward before the fall, which generally ensures a great and outstanding ride experience. But even apart from the special features Erawan is a magnificent tower. The pure fall reaches similar qualities as Apocalypse from the English amusement park Drayton Manor, which is in my opinion the best freefall tower in Europe. The only difference is that you are one experience poorer due to the absence of the hilarious standing gondola with corridor. Erawan is undoubtedly the best designed giant drop far and wide and also offers a great ride that you should not miss.

Darkmare

Just a few metres from Erawan is the entrance to Darkmare, the family rollercoaster of Cinecittà World featuring a very dark story. Thematically one takes up Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, which was to be filmed in the 50s in Studio Hall 2. However, there were numerous strange accidents and finally a fire, whereupon the shooting was stopped and nothing happened afterwards.

After years of standstill we venture into the hall and experience a wild ride through hell, which begins with a short descent in a right turn, into the lift hill of the lift. You pass a mirror, which is admittedly a really great effect. Passing numerous, artistically valuable projections, all of which make Van Helsing’s Factory from Movie Park Germany look old, you quickly reach the ceiling of the hall, whereupon the train immediately plunges to the ground in a steep left-hand bend. Regardless of losses, the first valley is crossed with outstanding intensity, whereupon the train soon gains altitude. After a curve change, the train passes through a narrow downward helix and winds its way to the other end of the hall in a zigzag curve combination. After a short ascent you reach the freefall segment, where a demon now shows itself and puts its wings around us. Shortly afterwards we are already one level lower and leave the segment very quickly. Now follows a narrow left turn, which is immediately joined by the final turn to the right. Shortly afterwards we reach the station and are once again bid an enthusiastic farewell.

Darkmare is really, really, really damn good! In contrast to the prototype Th13teen of the English amusement park Alton Towers, the ride has no funny backward part after the drop segment, but the rest of the track is much better. In addition, the general design of the ride in its dark comic style is really outstanding and the projections are just perfect. The large and demonically well darkened hall makes the compact ride look three times as big as it actually is and extends the ride in equal measure. The free fall is also quite ok, but can be a bit too much for first-time riders, after all the ride is not lacking in power anyways. But you shouldn’t take such a gloomy view, because Darkmare is definitely the best roller coaster of the park and one of the best roller coasters in the country; so it’s a great ride with a very high repetition urge.

Aquila IV

Opposite Teatro 2 is the submarine Aquila IV, which was used in a German submarine film and a music video by the band Bon Jovi. Of course it is not Das Boot, because it is still located in the Bavaria Filmstadt not far from Munich, but the U-900 from the film of the same name with Atze Schröder in the leading role. Admittedly, the scenery builders did a good job, but we couldn’t explain to ourselves what the meaningless tour was supposed to be in Italian. Without language skills you should avoid Aquila IV and even with language skills you really shouldn’t expect too much, especially since the waiting time is very long. On the other hand, a visit in a real submarine is really recommendable; we at least wished to return to the U-571 of Movieland Studios.

SpacExpress

In addition to the SpacExpress, an immersive tunnel of Simworx, which however was not yet in operation at the time of our visit, the children’s kart track Velocità Luce and the entrance to the children’s land Sognolabio are also located in this area. This area is very colourful and offers some nice rides for children made in Italy, as well as a very annoying soundtrack and a nice splash battle.

Pictures Cinecittà World

Conclusion Cinecittà World

Cinecittà World is a good amusement park that has made quality its top priority; here neither the design nor the rides are of inferior quality. Unfortunately, sometimes the quantity is still missing, because you can only manage a whole day in the park if you actually watch every single show, eat comfortably in one of the restaurants and take multiple rides. The Movieland Park shows how it’s done, but at the Cinecittà World their own professionalism still stands in the way. In no other Italian park you could meet as much staff as here, neither in the shows nor in the attractions. Although this creates a good image, it is known to be somewhat more expensive than the one-person operation of the Mirabilandia. In addition, Cinecittà World is based on something you know and which is also used in numerous film parks or film studios with guided tours, but it is questionable whether they are on the right track; because sometimes they only show larger generic sets without any actual film reference with suitably embedded attractions. A larger reference to own productions would therefore be advisable, but one does not necessarily have to give up the intended concept. I’m curious how the Cinecittà World will develop in the next few years, because the park has potential and already offers a lot of quality; a condition that one would wish for other parks around Rome.

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Cinecittà World / Il Viaggio dei due Runner Day 5

In search of Dr. Carter

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Preface

Due to long queues in and especially in front of the Wunderland Kalkar I had to drop an intended trip to some Dutch parks at short notice, but since the Lost Temple, the last untested German novelty of this year, was waiting within a radius of about 70 km, it was quite bearable. To my own surprise, I got a free ticket instead of the 50% discount I had hoped for with my Fort Fun annual ticket, so that the way to the Movie Park Germany was already worthwhile at that time, although it was unexpectedly full thanks to the first sunny weekend in weeks (but unfortunately Kalkar was also).

Movie Park Germany – The lost Temple

The Queue

Arriving at Movie Park Germany, I first concentrated on the compulsory program, so that the way led directly to this year’s novelty, the Simworx Immersive Tunnel Lost Temple. Fortunately, the waiting time was limited, so that I only had to wait a few minutes for the elevator. The safety instructions, held in three languages, were very annoying, especially since they were sufficient for every second load. Finally arriving in the elevator, after another speech, the descent is relatively slow and with rather simple effects, even the elevator at the traveling haunted house Psycho with the asynchronously running rollers seems more convincing. To my own astonishment, the elevator actually was a real one, and thus, after leaving the gondola, one got out in a different environment that is thematically very outstanding. Relatively quickly, one went through the empty queue that could show a hot surprise right in the first room until one was stopped by a chain. Now for minutes absolutely nothing happened, which is to be called negative, after all there were not even signs of a co-worker. By means of simple possibilities, one could make the waiting time in this part of the queue more pleasant, even if it was only due to an expiring timer. After the now already longer waiting time, one got some 3D glasses in one’ s hand, whereupon one could listen to a safety instruction in three languages again. In the following room one was finally divided into the rows of seats and a preshow was held. When you could finally board into the train, the departure was delayed only by the slow handling.

The ride

Shortly after the sides of the car were folded down, the car started to move and so we drove into the Lost Temple. Shortly after that the film was started and despite the static position it always felt like accelerating forward. This is where the strength of the system becomes apparent, because there is absolutely nothing to criticise about the actual technology of this large capacity simulator. The movements are all smooth and well coordinated, so fortunately you don’t get sick as quickly as with the simpler 4D simulators in various theme parks. The film is partly sharp, but mostly very spongy, the 3D effect can hardly score any points, it rather worsens the picture massively. The actual story is free of meaning and can be compared to the story of the computer game classic Tomb Raider II, after all, they had a temple-like environment with dinos in it.

Conclusion

Although dinosaurs have become extinct since the end of the 1990s, at the latest shortly after the third Jurassic Park film, some small parks, such as Erse Park or the Tolk-Schau, have kept the dinosaurs alive. That a big park like Movie Park Germany is trying to jump on the dinosaur direction is strange, but it makes sense considering a fourth part of the Jurassic Park series. At least you can still revise the film quality of your own attraction until the movie release next year, so that you can enthuse some visitors for the topic as a pioneer and at the same time as a free rider.

At least from a technical point of view the Lost Temple is a very interesting ride, which only suffers from the lack of quality of its movie. But since this is a problem that is quite easy to handle, I’m sure that the attraction will be able to make a significant quality leap in a few years (if not already next year). Most visitors already leave the ride satisfied, only one little boy was disappointed, after all the dinosaurs were not real. Beside all the bigger novelties this year, the Lost Temple can at least hold its own against Arthur – the Ride from Europa Park, the competition this year was also very strong with Flug der Dämonen, Chiapas and Sky Scream.

Pictures Movie Park Germany 2008 – 2016

 

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