Gardaland, Italy’s largest theme park, has opened a new 4D theatre from 3DBA and Kraftwerk Living Technologies, for the 2007 season. The attraction, which opened on March 31st., has been incorporated into the Egyptian themed area of the park underneath the Gardaland theatre which was built in 2006, and is “practically underground” according to the park’s commercial director Aldo Vigevani.
The installation is the largest ever built in Europe by Kraftwerk and is a unique project in that the theatre includes a total of three screens, with a central, 3D screen and two additional, 2D side screens, providing an even more immersive experience than usual. The film being shown is called Time Voyagers, which the park has had specially commissioned.
“We have created a mix between a temple and a time machine,” explained Aldo Vigevani, “where guests can enjoy an astonishing adventure and interactive experience. The theming on the outside of the attraction incorporates some of the icons of adventure with the faces of Indiana Jones, a Spanish conquistador, an astronaut, a cowboy and an American Indian. The whole frontage of the attraction is 10m tall and 50m long so is very impressive. It’s the Italian version of Mount Rushmore!”
Inside, the new theatre features 222 seats and is the largest such attraction to be created by Kraftwerk. It is also the company’s first project in Italy.
Unique project includes exclusive Gardaland film and 2 extra side screens.
“It is a unique project in many ways,” noted Kraftwerk’s Managing Director/Division Manager Entertainment Markus Beyr. “It has a special film produced exclusively for Gardaland and makes use of two extra side screens. It looks amazing from the outside and features very good theming.”
Additional features within the theatre include a scent system, strobe lights, wind and moving heads, while a range of special effects complete the multi-sensory experience. These include a water blast in the face, a short air blast in the face, leg tickers, seat vibration and seat movement up and down.
“We decided to introduce the theatre because we think interaction is one of the mainstream elements in entertainment,” Aldo Vigevani continued. “There are several areas where people are happier in a park. Some rides like roller coasters and spillwaters are obviously very successful but I think more and more people want interaction. We also wanted to continue to enlarge our offering and to increase the length of stay of visitors to the park so this is part of that (strategy).
“We put the project out to tender and between the various offers we received the one from 3DBA was the best for quality, price, technology, after sales service and the equipment they were offering. They also have many other successful installations elsewhere.”
And according to Aldo Vigevani, the theatre has been received extremely well by visitors to Gardaland. “The guests have reacted very well to the new theatre,” he said. “They are very happy with it and enjoy the effects and the whole experience.”
For further information, please contact Roger Houben at 3DBA: Tel. +32 473 510 380 Email: roger.houben@3dba.be www.3dba.com