Anubis - Gerstlauer

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Anubis: The Ride
06/2009
It is not very unusual to find the story of a movie transformed into the theme of a theme
park attraction. But it is unusual however, to find the story of a TV series used just for a
roller coaster. Such an unusual attraction can now be found at Plopsaland (De Panne,
Belgium). In the densely wooded area right behind the new entrance of the park, a huge
turquoise blue construction juts out of the trees. Every few seconds a golden car whizzes
over the crest, reflecting the sunlight. We follow the path down to the sea, getting closer
and closer to the construction. We discover the steel track winding up through the trees
and performing some crazy looking loops in the treetops. The path finally leads us to a
cobbled square and an old house, the House Anubis.
Since the grand opening 9 years ago on the 1st April 2000, the history of the Belgian
Plopsaland is a story of success. Surely one of the main reasons for their success is the in
Belgium well known TV Group Studio 100, who is behind the family park. Especially at
the Benelux, nearly every child knows all the characters of TV Studio 100, who found a
lively home at Plopsaland. Even the name of the park -formerly known as Meli Park for
64 years- is founded on two characters of the TV group. The popular characters of the
ship's kobold Plop and the talking dog Samson were the inspiration for the parks new
name. Another reason for the huge success, since Studio 100 took over, is surely the
nice theming and the neat and proper appearance of the whole park.
The House Anubis
Anubis: The Ride
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The storyline of the roller coaster is the in Belgium and the
Netherlands very successful TV series "The House Anubis". At a
college of the same name, eight teenagers and students of the
boarding school, try to solve all the secrets of the old house, where
they live. A lot of mysterious stories and adventures happen to
them. But also, some ordinary problems of a teenager fuel the
conflicts in the episodes of the series. This concept of a daily soapopera will be seen on German television in September 2009,
however in an adaptation for the German market.
When you take a walk across the cobbled square of the new built
area, the brick house with the narrow little tower looks kind of small
at first sight. The building, which is a perfect copy of the original one
from the TV series, accommodates the waiting area and the station
of the roller coaster. The visitors of the house Anubis find cozy lit
living rooms on the ground floor. Far inside the house, we look at a
stone statue of a man, who looks down on us with a stern view. We
pass some shelves with dusty books and all kinds of jumble, then,
the queue leads directly to the cellar. A wooden staircase at the back
of the house winds its way up to the station. A chandelier hangs
deep down from the ceiling, creating some spooky shadows from all the hunting trophies on the wall. When we climb the stairs, we finally
reach the station. On the right hand side a large hole in the brick wall yawns, where the cars move out of the house and disappear around a
sharp turn. There is no extra waiting line for the first row, so all passengers are equally allocated to all three rows of each car.
In the bosom of Anubis
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Six passengers, two in each of the three rows, begin their journey in one of the cars. For a good
view, each seat is elevated and fan out like a "V". Even with closed restraints, the comfortable
seats give enough space to the riders. A high grade of details went into the designing of the cars.
The seats are mounted on a lying Anubis, holding them tight in his hands. A huge eye with some
hieroglyphs looks out of the front of each chaise. The dark black seats contrast with the golden
Exterieur. The chaise looks clunky, due to the very narrow station and exit platform. When we
board the car, a friendly ride operator takes our bags and glasses and stores them in a small
board at the exit. A quick check on the restraints and the journey begins.
The Ride
We leave the boarding school through the large hole in the wall. Our coaster car takes a sloping
90° turn to the right and rolls right into the launch section. Suddenly the magnetic field of the
Linear Synchronous Motor packs the car and catapults us straight to the first hill. We speed
through an Egyptian-themed gate before we rocket upwards to the sky. Anubis rises vertically
and takes the self-supporting top hat with ease while providing us with a first and intense portion
of airtime. We plunge straight down to the ground again while twisting to the right. The track
slightly bends to the left and winds itself into an Immelmann inversion at the same time. For a
very brief moment we are upside-down for the first time and dive down again in a half looping,
the second part of the Immelmann. Strong positive G's pin us into our seats as the car forcefully
takes the valley between the inversion and a following hill. We get some more airtime while
taking the tight hill and drop down once more while tilting to the right. What follows is a
somehow similar element as the first inversion but taken the opposite direction: Anubis speeds
through the valley and takes a half looping before twisting out of the upside-down position after
reaching the top. This alignment of ride elements - from the first inversion to the second - has
been given the colourful name "Cow Hitch" by the ride manufacturer Gerstlauer as it resembles
the knot with this name. An ascending left turn takes Anubis to the mid course block brake.
Another left turn takes us down again and the ride continues over a small hill as a transition to a
wide right turn near to the ground. Still in the flow of that turn we ride through the last
unexpected inversion as our car takes the heartline roll through the Cow Hitch. The roll is taken
at a constant speed before we are being slowed down in the directly following final brakes. We reenter the house Anubis again through another hole in a wall of the boarding school.
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Summary
Technical Facts
Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH
Münsterhausen, Germany
Manufacturer:
Opening:
04/05/2009
Height:
34 meters
Length:
600 meters
Topspeed:
90 km/h
Acceleration:
0 - 90 km/h in 2 seconds
Capacity:
Special:
Anubis is short and fast. The ride takes the elements at an incredible speed. The
launch is surprisingly forcefully and quick and accelerates the coaster car long
enough that we are pulled out of our seats while taking the following top hat. The
hill between Immelmann and Dive Loop however lacks that airtime, missing the
opportunity to have some great and intense changes of positive and negative Gforces. Despite the high speeds and twisted track the car takes all inversions
very smoothly, making all elements a lot of fun to ride through. Also visually the
dark turquoise-blue track on top of beige-coloured supports looks very good and
noble.
700 pph
Cow Hitch (Dive Loop, Immelmann),
Heartline-Spin
Large point of criticism on Anubis is the exit area of the station. The platform is
very cramped and the space is barely sufficient to turn around when six people
are trying to get their backpacks and glasses out of the tray at the same time.
On top of that riders from the front row also have to somehow push themselves
past the friendly staff member that took all bags and other loose items during
boarding a short time ago. Because of that boarding can sometimes take a bit
longer than necessary, reducing overall capacity. Also the Egyptian gate through
which you get catapulted during the launch has a plastic look that doesn't blend
with the otherwise classy and well themed overall appearance.
Apart from these small issues Anubis is a successful and well done new attraction
for Plopsaland. The manufacturer Gerstlauer Amusement Rides has once again
delivered a roller coaster with the usual high quality. With the new ride elements
at Anubis as well as the other recent steel-made pieces of art from
Münsterhausen we are very excited about upcoming creative surprises from
Gerstlauer!
Related Links
» Photogallery Plopsaland
» Review Rage
» Parkhomepage
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Renderings
Text: Lifthill.net - ob, mg (eng:mg, ak) | Photos: Lifthill.net | Renderings: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH
© Lifthill.net 2009