Krampus Expédition
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Krampus Expédition is a water coaster at Nigloland in Dolancourt, France. The coaster opened on June 12, 2021 after spending multiple years under development, and takes riders on an expedition to find the mythical, figurative
Krampus The Krampus () is a horned anthropomorphic figure who, in the Central and Eastern Alpine folkloric tradition, is said to accompany Saint Nicholas on visits to children during the night of 5 December (''Krampusnacht''; "Krampus Night"), imme ...
. The ride was designed and manufactured by
Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...
and Nigloland's creative team, and represents an €12 million investment; the park's largest since its inception in 1987.


History

Nigloland's owners - the Gélis family - had wanted to build a water coaster for a long time, ever since
Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...
had debuted at
Europa-Park Europa-Park is a theme park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Covering a total area of 95 hectares, twenty themed areas offer around a hundred attractions, including shows and fourteen roller coasters. The park also includes six hotels, a c ...
in 2000. During interviews in 2014, following up on the debut of the
Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...
creation Alpina Blitz, project manager Rodolphe Gélis once again expressed the park's interest in a major new water attraction if attendance figures stayed profitable. The water coaster began development in 2017, following the opening of the ''Extreme Dungeon''
drop tower A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more gondolas attached. In a typical modern configuration, each gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of the tower and then released t ...
the year before. The attraction was developed over the course of two years, with park officials deciding on a patch of land in between Alpina Blitz and the adjacent hotel. A
Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...
''Supersplash'' - similar to Europa Park's Atlantica SuperSplash - was initially sought after, but was dropped after ride engineers were unable to fit the bulky attraction into the limited plot of land, and a smaller-scale variant entered development. In order to accommodate the new attraction, the park's ''Grand Roue''
ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...
was dismantled after the 2019 season and relocated within the park to the site of the former Bobsleigh coaster. French forums ''Coastersworld.fr'' hosted a livestream on May 21, 2020, where they recapped a recent ''
Planet Coaster ''Planet Coaster'' is a construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Frontier Developments for Windows. It was released worldwide on 17 November 2016. Frontier had previously worked in the amusement park constru ...
'' competition; contestants had been tasked with designing a possible new coaster for Nigloland. During the stream, Rodolphe Gélis made an appearance to give the first official confirmation of a new coaster project, which would open for the 2021 season. A day earlier, on May 20, the park had trademarked the name ''Krampus Expédition'' with the National Institute of Industrial Property, which remained uncovered by the public until several months later. Construction of the ride progressed throughout the 2020 season, and the coaster track began to arrive in the fall. The first pieces of track were placed in October 2020, and the coaster portion was completed on November 27, 2020. In a fall 2020 interview with local park
fanbase A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of ...
''Niglofans'', Rodolphe Gélis confirmed the addition of Krampus Expédition and released various technical aspects and details about the attraction. Following a number of teasers, Krampus Expédition was formally announced by Nigloland on December 10, 2020, as France's first water coaster and the park's largest investment to date at €12,000,000. The coaster made its first test runs on February 20, 2021. Krampus Expédition officially opened to the public on June 12, 2021.


Ride experience


Queue

Riders enter the queue, and after navigating a curved footpath, take a fight of stairs up on top of the station. Beside these stairs, various posters are plastered on the building's side referencing multiple well-known rapids rides around the world. These include Mystic River Falls at
Silver Dollar City Silver Dollar City is a theme park in Stone County, Missouri, near the cities of Branson, Missouri, Branson and Branson West, Missouri, Branson West. The park is located off of Missouri Route 76 on the Indian Point peninsula of Table Rock Lake ...
, Fjord-Rafting at
Europa-Park Europa-Park is a theme park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Covering a total area of 95 hectares, twenty themed areas offer around a hundred attractions, including shows and fourteen roller coasters. The park also includes six hotels, a c ...
,
Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges is a river rafting ride at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, inspired by the character Popeye created by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar. Opened on May 28, 1999, it is one of the park's original attractions ...
at
Universal's Islands of Adventure Universal Islands of Adventure, often shortened to Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, United States. It originally opened as Universal Studios Islands of Adventure on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part ...
, River Quest at
Phantasialand Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. It was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, ...
, Grizzly River Run at
Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The park is themed after Disney's interpretation of California ...
, and Waschgzuber Rafting at Erlebnispark Tripsdrill. Riders cross over the station platform and enter an attic, navigating their way around piles of furniture. A staircase leads back down to ground level, where riders encounter relics from previous voyages - including the skeleton of a young Krampus - and an outdoor overflow queue. Following this, riders enter the station platform and board the cars.


Onride

Riders dispatch from the station into a short flume section, which makes a 180° turnaround to the right, where the car engages with the coaster track. The cars then ascend the lift hill to a peak height of . Upon reaching the top, the car descends into a helix outside of the park perimeter and into a twisted airtime hill over a maintenance road. Riders make a left-hand turnaround before descending into the coaster's finale; a final plunge below-ground, which is followed up by a speed hill through a rockwork structure of the Krampus's head, and into the climactic
splashdown Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft or launch vehicle in a body of water, usually by parachute. This has been the primary recovery method of American capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with th ...
. Riders make a right-hand turn in the flume section and lazily meander back to the station building, where the cars re-embark the coaster track inside. The ride experience lasts an advertised 4 minutes.


Characteristics


Statistics

Krampus Expédition stands tall and - coaster track and flume section combined - is long. The coaster runs six cars that seat 8 people each, in four rows of two, which allow the coaster to achieve a theoretical capacity of 850 rider per hour. The cars are also capable of reaching a top speed of .


Theme

Krampus Expédition is themed as a journey through the
Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...
to find the mythical
Krampus The Krampus () is a horned anthropomorphic figure who, in the Central and Eastern Alpine folkloric tradition, is said to accompany Saint Nicholas on visits to children during the night of 5 December (''Krampusnacht''; "Krampus Night"), imme ...
folklore beast; half-man and half-goat. Given the Krampus's fearsome stature, it is used figuratively by the park in order to appeal to a wider audience and not scare younger riders. The theming and rockwork was completed by Universal Rocks.


Design

Numerous design changes were made to the Mack Rides water coaster hardware for Krampus Expédition, chiefly the usage of a new tri-tube track on the coaster portion. Past water coasters didn't use such, but updated standards led to a reinforcement of the track design. A mid-course
brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track that utilizes some form of brakes to slow or stop a roller coaster train. There are various types of braking methods employed on roller coasters, including friction brakes, skid brakes, a ...
was also planned to be installed just before the final drop, but Rodolphe Gélis - critical of the concept - convinced engineers at Mack Rides not to do so by proving that it would have no effect on the ride's hourly throughput.


References


External links

*{{Official website, https://www.nigloland.com/attractions-et-spectacles/thrilling-attractions/krampus-expedition Roller coasters in France Water Coaster (roller coaster) Water rides Water rides manufactured by Mack Rides 2021 establishments in France Krampus in popular culture