Specific Type: Dark Ride, Water Coaster
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What could be more fun that just your everyday dark ride? Add a water coaster to the dark ride and then you have one of the most thrilling rides at Efteling Park in the Netherlands. The Flying Dutchman is a combination water coaster with an indoor dark ride component. The coaster was built in 2006 but due to construction problems, the ride wasn’t operational until April of 2007. The ride was supposed to open exactly 328 years after the disappearance of the legendary Flying Dutchman for which the ride was named and themed.
The coaster was designed by Karrel Willeman and was built by Kumbak. Each boat on the coaster has seats like a theater diesigned in rows of 3,4,3,4 This allows everyone in the boat to experience the entire ride both indoors and out. The water coaster has a maximum height of 73 Feet and can reach speeds of up to 43 mph. The ride is rather long at almost 4 minutes because of the indoor dark ride element. The track spans 1,377 feet in length and cost just over € 20.3 million to build. Music plays a major role in the ride as it syncs with certain effects on the boats themselves. Come now as we take a journey on the search for the Flying Dutchman. Guests who dare go on this journey race toward the queue line where the house of Van der Decken is part of the scenery for the queue line. After walking through this abandoned house the queue continues down into a so-called 'smugglers' tunnel', where Van der Decken's treasure can be seen hidden behind a small door. The tunnel ends in the cellar of a pub in 17th century style. In the harbor, under a dark clouded sky the coaster ride begins. The 14- person barge goes into open sea where it meets a holographic ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman, and dives under its bow into the Underworld. The barge is then towed to a height of 22,5 meters. Here, it halts, and a ghostly voice is heard stating: "You shall sail until the end of time! Doors open and the barge shoots in a curved declination through a tunnel. After this element there is some airtime in a bunnyhop and an 85 degree horseshoe. A steep fall and a left curve bring the barge back into the water. A special technique allows for variation in the size of the “splash”. As the ride concludes, the disappearance remains a mystery and you live to search another day. |
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