Germany: Europa-Park adding ‘Arthur and the Invisibles’ ride

A new hybrid dark ride-roller coaster at Germany’s Europa-Park will take visitors through a microscopic universe populated by ants the size of elephants, bumble bees as big as fighter jets and blades of grass taller than skyscrapers.

Photos: ‘Arthur and the Invisibles’ ride at Germany’s Europa-Park

Debuting in April, the ride will be themed to the “Arthur and the Invisibles” animated movie trilogy directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson. The stories follow the adventures of a tiny race of creatures known as Minimoys who live in peaceful harmony with nature in a secretive underground world.

The trio of movies have included a well-known list of celebrity voice talent: Madonna, David Bowie, Snoop Dogg, Robert De Niro, Selena Gomez, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, will.i.am, Fergie and Jimmy Fallon.

The unique new Europa-Park attraction, dubbed Arthur: In the Minimoys Kingdom, combines a suspended roller-coaster experience similar to Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain with a dark ride environment like Peter Pan’s Flight at Disneyland. As part of the back story, riders will be “shrunk” to microscopic size (much like the old Adventure Thru Inner Space in Tomorrowland) as they search for stolen treasure in the lilliputian land.

Germany’s Mack Rides has long used the company-owned and operated Europa-Park as a proving ground for its prototype attractions – including the Poseidon water coaster (2000) and the Blue Fire mega coaster (2009).

The new Arthur attraction will dispatch riders in four-person rotating cars suspended below a 1,800-foot-long coaster track that winds through an outdoor wooded area and over meandering creeks before heading inside a domed building.

Based on scale models built for the films, the interior of the attraction will be filled with oversized objects, plants and animals designed to create the illusion of flying above the microscopic world of the Invisibles aboard a coaster car shaped like a floating leaf. Along the way, riders encounter the miniature Minimoy inhabitants as they interact with ladybugs as big as Volkswagen Beetles, frogs the size of dump trucks and caterpillars as long as a school buses.

At the center of the attraction, riders will weave through the roots of a supersized tree and zip around its towering trunk as they navigate through 10 special effects-laden scenes from the movies.

The lavishly themed “Arthur and the Invisibles” area will also include a 30-foot-tall poppy-shaped freefall drop tower designed by Zierer, a gilded carousel built by Zamperla with gondolas shaped like creatures from the movies, a children’s play area, shops and dining.

France’s Futuroscope theme park added an Arthur and the Invisibles 4D simulator ride in 2011 that won the Thea Award for outstanding achievement from the Themed Entertainment Assn.

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