Crazy Bats
| Crazy Bats | |
|---|---|
A train in the station |
|
| Data | |
| Location |
Phantasialand ( Brühl , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany ) |
| Type | Steel - seated |
| model | Custom MK-900 |
| category | Dark roller coaster |
| Drive type | Chain lift |
| Manufacturer | Vekoma |
| Designer | Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH |
| opening | April 2nd, 1988 |
| length | 1300 m |
| height | 11.7 m |
| Max. Bank | up to 50 ° |
| Max. speed | 46.5 km / h |
| Travel time | 4 min |
| capacity | VR maximum 400 people per hour |
| Trains | 4 (since VR max. 3) trains, 7 cars / train, 2 rows of seats / car, 2 seats / row of seats |
| Restraint system | individual lap bars |
| Security restrictions | From 1.20 m. People from 1.00 m - 1.20 m only when accompanied by an adult, no VR allowed. |
| elements | 3 × lift hill , descents, driveways, curves |
| Inversions | No |
| Subject area | Fantasy |
| Theming | Castle, queue in ice cave style |
Crazy Bats , formerly Space Center and Temple of the Night Hawk [ templ ɒv də naɪt hɔːk ] ( "Temple of the Night Hawk ") in Phantasialand ( Brühl ) is a dark roller coaster manufacturer's Vekoma .
It was opened on April 2, 1988 after 18 months of construction as a space center with a space theme. Although the park had already started its season the day before, the opening of the Space Center could not take place due to the Good Friday at that time. The journey led past models of rockets and simulated asteroids . Thousands of points of light were installed in the dark hall that were supposed to simulate a journey through space. In 1996 parts of the television film Adrenalin with Til Schweiger were shot in the Space Center . In order to better adapt to the neighboring, newly created Wuze-Town , the roller coaster was re-themed for the 2001 season and reopened as the Temple of the Night Hawk with a fantasy / jungle theme . The waiting area and the station were equipped with artificial plants and jungle sound. Since then (until 2014) the station performed the song Inner Sanctum / The Nesting Grounds and the intro of the song The End Of Our Island from the Disney film Dinosaurs .
The originally silver trains based on spacecraft design have been repainted in yellow-brown to match the jungle theme. The dioramas in the queue, which for example showed the crew of an alien space station, were built with chipboard. An irrigation system for greening the hall was installed on the roof, but the desired result was not achieved. As an interim solution, camouflage nets were attached to the roof, which, however, were removed after the major fire in the park and the tightened fire protection regulations.
During the summer season 2008 the hall was repainted and some decorative elements of the roof changed. Until 2006 there were green light-effect tubes and stroboscopic lamps in the first lift, which were replaced after nine years of inactivity in the 2015 summer season. In 2008 the lights on the trains were switched off or failed and have not been repaired since then. Until 2010 there was also a green laser projection with the outline of a flying hawk. This was projected onto several “gates” covered with nets, which were installed over a straight section of the route and were often seen during the journey. The actual roller coaster is now, except for a few red light effect tubes, which flash when entering the final brake and which are completely dark in the first lift. During the trip, the song The Egg Travels from the Disney film Dinosaurs could be heard over several loudspeakers placed in the hall until 2014 . For the 2015 summer season, the train, the waiting area and the station received new soundtracks from IMAscore .
During the approximately four-minute journey, the trains are pulled up by three chain lifts and climb around 1,300 meters. This makes the roller coaster the longest indoor roller coaster in the world. Phantasialand itself sometimes calls the runway the longest dark rollercoaster in Europe, the longest dark rollercoaster in the world or the longest indoor rollercoaster in the world.
The hall in which the track is located was also supplied by Vekoma. This was built by the Dutch company Daelmans from Geelen. It holds 120,000 m³ and rests on 180 concrete pillars that protrude up to twelve meters into the ground. 980 tons of steel were used. The Dark Ride Hollywood Tour is located in the basement of the hall . The total investment for the plant was around DM 15 million.
Crazy Bats has four trains with seven cars each. Each car has two rows of seats, each offering space for two people. The route is divided into eight block sections by three chain lifts, the reduction brake, a brake on the feeder line between the reduction brake and the transfer rail, the transfer rail itself, the front station and the train station , so that all four trains can be used at the same time. Originally 5 trains with 6 wagons each were delivered by Vekoma to the park in February 1988. In the initial test operation, however, it became apparent that running 5 trains on the railway was not sensible. Cars 2–5 of train # 1 were therefore used before the opening of the facility to increase the remaining 4 trains to 7 cars to increase capacity. The remaining end pieces (cars 1 & 6) are still in the hall today.
The roller coaster was originally supposed to be supplied by BHS / Zierer. In cooperation with the Itrasys company, linear induction drives were planned as transport elements. Although the route layout and models had already been made, the contract was ultimately awarded to Vekoma for financial reasons.
Initially, the roller coaster should open under the name Orion . In order to prevent a connection to the erotic trade of the same name , it was later decided to change this name to Space Center .
There are various details about the length of the runway. An issue of the association magazine Park + Ride of the Freundeskreis Kirmes und Freizeitpark lists the track at 1174 m, while on an earlier website of the park it was mentioned as being 1280 m long. Official information from Vekoma speaks of 1,300 m (4,276 ft).
Remodeled to Crazy Bats
On March 31, 2019, Phantasialand announced that the roller coaster would be transformed into a VR attraction called Crazy Bats . Crazy Bats opened on June 25, 2019 after the facility had been closed on April 1 for renovation work since the start of the 2019 season. The VR film is about three bats that come from the film Happy Family . The film was produced by Ambient Entertainment .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of the longest indoor roller coasters on RCDB
- ↑ Phantasialand: Attractions for the whole family. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
- ^ Phantasialand: Attractions for the whole family. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
- ↑ phl-infos.de: Sign at the entrance to the attraction. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Phantasialand: Phantasialand> Attractions> Temple> Technical data. Retrieved December 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Vekoma Rides Manufacturing BV: data sheet. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Vekoma Rides Manufacturing BV: Press article. Retrieved September 24, 2018 .
- ↑ parkerlebnis.de: Phantasialand makes “Temple of the Night Hawk” a new virtual reality roller coaster in 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Phantasialand Blog: Crazy Bats - ice-cold facts about the big VR family coaster. Retrieved June 24, 2019 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 2.5 ″ N , 6 ° 52 ′ 40.8 ″ E