In one of the most ambitious 3D projects the company has yet helped to realise, Norway’s projectiondesign has supplied 84 of its F22 DLP projectors to Germany’s Phantasialand theme park for a ground-breaking new attraction. Since the launch, ‘Maus au Chocolat’ has been awarded ‘Best New Attraction in Europe’ by Parksmania magazine, Italy.
‘Maus au Chocolat’ is the latest addition to Phantasialand, which is located between Cologne and Bonn and is one of the largest theme parks in Germany, withg two hotels, restaurants, conference facilities and a wellness centre, as well as a large number of indoor and outdoor family rides.
Visitors to ‘Maus au Chocolat’ wear 3D glasses and, as they are transported around a custom-designed interior space on motorised vehicles, they are immersed in an animated video re-creation of a traditional bakery owned by the fictional master confectioner, Oskar Koslowski. It quickly becomes clear that Herr Koslowski has a problem: his bakery has been over-run by mice.
Visitors are then given a simple task: to ‘zap’ as many mice as possible using icing-sugar dispensers that are positioned at the front of each vehicle. The more mice you zap, the higher your score – and the safer Herr Koslowski can sleep, safe in the knowledge that his finest chocolate creations can be enjoyed by children rather than his shop’s unwelcome pests.
The interactive media part of the ride was designed by Belgian-based Alterface, which specialises in creating multi-dimensional experiences for theme parks and other visitor attractions.
“Whenever you design a ride like ‘Maus au Chocolat’, you know you are going to need very high image quality and consistency in order to maintain the illusion that visitors are really being immersed in this fantasy space,” said Alterface CTO Xavier Marichal. “We have used projectiondesign on several previous occasions so we knew we could rely on them to provide accuracy and that all the projectors would be properly colour-matched.”
“What was also necessary for the Phantasialand project was a small form factor, because the physical demands of the motorised vehicles and track meant we were very restricted in terms of where we could put the projectors.”
“The ride opened in June this year and the performance we have had from the F22s has been phenomenal. The 3D effects are incredibly realistic and the ride is really addictive – many people simply can’t resist coming back for more.!”
“3D gives companies such as Alterface an incredibly powerful new tool when they are designing rides for visitor attractions,” said Gerben van den Berg, regional director for projectiondesign. “‘Maus au Chocolat’ has been a fantastic project for us to be involved with, and the performance of our projectors has been excellent so far. Today’s theme-park audiences expect to be ‘wowed’ in ways they cannot experience at home, even with the latest, interactive 3D computer games, and we congratulate Phantasialand on their hugely successful launch of this truly amazing new ride.”
