The world’s first ride inspired by the popular adventure films, “Jumanji – The Adventure” which was completed in 6 months by a Polin Group company Futura Form in Merlin Entertainments‘ Italian destination Gardaland Resort offers a journey through a forest with “wild animals” and many different obstacles. Merlin Entertainments, Europe’s largest theme park operator and the second biggest globally, runs more than 135 attractions in 24 countries including Alton Towers, LEGOLAND, Peppa Pig World, SEA LIFE, the London Eye, Cadbury World and The Bear Grylls Adventure.
For Jumanji – The Adventure, Futura Form completed the work of all the theming and animatronic components of Jumanji – The Adventure along with the theming of four rooms in the Gardaland Hotel with the Jumanji theme. The 276-meter (905.5-foot) long dark ride has a capacity of 1,100 people per hour and offers an experience of 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
Visitors will be able to enter the world of Jumanji in a series of attractions and experiences coming to theme parks across the globe.
“This attraction is the result of an international agreement between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Merlin Entertainments, the parent group of Gardaland, for the creation in Europe and North America of rides, hotel rooms and shops inspired by the world of Jumanji films”, stated Aldo Maria Vigevani, CEO of Gardaland. “In Italy, at Gardaland, the first output of this important project is already available to visit, a mark of the importance of our park on an international level”.
Jumanji – The Adventure is a dark ride for adventurers of all ages, from families to teenagers to young adults, which aims to feature an exciting story.
After stopping to admire the exterior which features an enormous hippo, visitors can step into the attraction and pass through a mysterious Egyptian temple. Here, they encounter a desk that acts as a portal into the world of Jumanji and then find themselves in a mysterious bazaar with the Magic Mirrors, in which they can see their own reflection transform into the image of their selected avatar.
And it is from the bazaar that the journey begins for visitors, through 12 different location settings, on board special jeep-style vehicles, which reproduce the 4-wheel drive from the film. Each multi-motion vehicle not only moves in a linear direction on the track but also reacts to dangers, obstacles and audio and video effects along the way, twisting and swinging around to simulate the movement of a jeep.
Along the way they meet obstacles of all types, such as the Stone Giant who is ready to block the progress of the adventurers, and enormous spiders dangling from up high to shock them.
For some of its effects, the attractions utilizes seven screens; two of these are 15 meters (49 feet) wide and 5 meters (16 feet) high, and two are “pepper’s ghost screens” which are created with a special tempera to enhance the images, and are able to recreate optical holograph illusions.
