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trailer world Issue One 2014

    Issue One 2014  15 Shoulder guards are so yesterday. With- in the next few moments, a highly mod- ern lap guard will keep you in your seat as the rollercoaster thunders downwards. A screen displays your pulse rate while you look at your own face. Assuming of course you can still direct your glance at the screen whilst travelling at 100 km/h. Last but not least, your speed buzz is stored via WLAN whilst you are riding in the vehicle, before being transferred to your smartphone in YouTube style. A vision of the future? Not at all. A roll- ercoaster with just these technical touches is already in operation at the Europa-Park Rust. “That is our prototype for other cus- tomers,” says Maximilian Röser. A glimpse behind the scenes of a funfair caused Rös- er to turn his life around several years ago: that was while he was still studying eco- nomics in Freiburg. According to his own diagnosis, he became “addicted to funfairs”. Nowadays, the former leisure park addict is the marketing director of Mack Rides in Waldkirch (Baden-Württemberg). The company is regarded as the Rolls Royce of rollercoaster builders. Incidentally, it is not Mack Rides that describes itself in this way, but the fair- ground attraction operator Max Eberhard from Hamburg. Last year, he had his “Wild Mouse” rollercoaster expanded into the XXL variant by adding a spectacular sec- tion from Breisgau – and he found a con- genial partner in Mack Rides. Thrills for the Mouse The special feature of the XXL expansion was two large dips which extend the roller- coaster ride to 2:30 minutes. “You really get a lot for your money,” says the owner Max Eber- hard.“There’smomentum,there’sattraction.” It is made possible by a drop from 10 metres height which Mack Rides integrated into the familiar zig-zag section. Röser well remembers last year when Max Eberhard came to him and said: “I’d like you to get to work on my rollercoaster and make the Mouse more exciting.” The challenge in the concept facing Mack Rides was to make the classic “Wild Mouse” appealing to young people in the extended version. “They want more thrills,” observes Max Eberhard. At the same time, however, the Mouse had to be, “different from other crazy rides which throw you around upside down 60 metres in the air, as a result of which visitors to the fair just take a look and think: I’d never get in that thing.” Max Eberhard wanted both in his rollercoast- er: granddads with their grandchildren and young people. That’s what he got with the “Wild Mouse XXL”. For Maximilian Röser, jobs such as these are more the exception. Mack Rides concen- trates on stationary installations at leisure parksallovertheworld.“TwoprojectsinAus- tralia, three in China, in Sweden, America, Chile, we’re busy all over the world,” says the marketing boss, counting them up. Idea, de- velopment, implementation, set-up and main- tenance: these are magic words for him. Mack Rides doesn’t handle the delivery; transport is carried out by service providers such as Schenker or Dachser. At the moment, Mack Rides is building a large indoor park in Dubai. “Dubai thinks big,” says the expert. Specifically, Mack Rides is going to be installing two large rollercoasters and a smaller teacup merry- go-round there. The items will be sent on their way in 40-foot open top containers on board ship. Everyday business for the roller- coaster builders. Faster, higher, farther Will the principle of “faster, higher, farther” still apply in the future? To date, the American parks in particular have wanted that, observes Röser. Howev- Photos:MackRides,Tim-OliverFrische Mack Rides  Mack Rides has a history stretching back over 234 years. The company with its head- quarters in Waldkirch gradually came to specialise in stationary rollercoasters and flumes, and is active all over the world. One hundred and thirtyfive em- ployees generate sales of EUR 35 million annually. The unique arrangement of being both a manufacturer and park operator (Europa-Park in Rust) enables the company to develop optimum solutions for practical operators based on practical experience. Innovation Car, lap guard, rails – “Made in Germany” is the motto of Mack Rides.

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