Big-show audiovisual technology creates a winning dark ride experience in a small space.
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Imagine a journey to a mysterious fantasy island led by a cheeky octopus through an eerie water world populated by trolls and mermaids. It sounds big, but this is no large scale extravaganza. Thanks to the magic of audiovisual and immersive technologies, this dark ride recreates the fascinating Scandinavian world of Rulantica in a small space.
Visitors travel in boats through seven themed scenes that recreate the mysterious water world. It’s a ‘full-grown dark ride on a very small scale’ according to the operators, Europa Park.
The ‘Snorri Touren’ experience is considered the most immersive attraction of this scale in the world. Winning big at the 2020 THEA Awards, taking home the trophy for best attraction on a limited budget, the highest accolade a ride like this could secure.
Electrosonic, in partnership with Mack Solutions/Mack Animations, Jora Vision, T-Gix and Emis, was responsible for the engineering, deployment and integration of the audiovisual, immersive and show control systems.
Animatronics, special effects, movie-quality imagery and cutting-edge media bring characters to life and expand the potential of the site beyond its physical limitations. The 360⁰ immersive ride features great content and all-round quality of experience.
The ride takes visitors through seven scenes, each with different audio and video content. Special audio separation techniques differentiate scenes while maintaining a seamless experience throughout the journey.
The main character Snorri appears, disappears and reappears at various points. Using the classic Peppers Ghost effect required careful installation to cope with space restrictions. Precise triggering matches images to the position and motion of the viewer and creates a realistic experience of travelling through the 3D world.
The result is a combination of classic dark ride techniques such as animatronics and elaborate sets with advanced technologies such as dome projection, integrated media, waterfall projection and projection mapping. This is truly an experience where imagination comes to life.
The ride features advanced audiovisual techniques never used before on this scale — a compact space of just 500 square meters creating unique projection challenges. Two dome projection installations were designed to feature effects and images normally found in large flying theatres.
This required careful selection and positioning of projectors using special ultra short-throw lenses. The control system had to cope with a very large amount of monitoring and maintain precise triggering.
Electrosonic fused storytelling with architecture, integrating large-scale technology into a small space using innovative projection techniques. Electrosonic pushed the boundaries of technology to create an immersive space featuring seventeen screens, dome projection, animatronics, projection mapping, movie-quality imagery, powerful multi-track audio and fully uncompressed 4K content. Special programming techniques control huge volumes of information and integrate the many separate elements.
Snorri Touren demonstrates the potential of audiovisual and immersive technologies to maximize the potential of limited spaces and create amazing experiences. Collaboration between partners with creative, set building and audiovisual engineering skills ensured a seamless solution that brought the vision to life.
The ride has added an attractive new dimension to Europa Park, voted ‘Best park of the year’ by the Golden Ticket Awards.
