Pirates in Batavia

Piraten in Batavia Pirates in Batavia
The attraction entrance at Europa-Park
Europa-Park
Area	Netherlands
Coordinates	48°15′49″N 7°43′11″E
Status	Operating
Opening date	1987
Ride statistics
Manufacturer	Mack Rides
Model	Dark ride
Theme	Pirate raid on Jakarta
Drop	5 m (16 ft)
Length	400 m (1,300 ft)
Speed	2.9 km/h (1.8 mph)
Site area	3,800 m2 (41,000 sq ft)
Capacity	max. 2000 riders per hour
Vehicle type	Boat
Vehicles	22
Riders per vehicle	16
Rows	4
Riders per row	4
Duration	7:30 mins
Handicapped persons	Not suitable for handicapped persons, according to TÜV-restricitions

Piraten in Batavia (engl. Pirates in Batavia) is a water-dark ride at Europa-Park. The ride was built by Mack Rides in 1987 and is situated in a large hall at the Dutch themed area, which is designed as a typical Dutch clinker brick building from the outside.

In some aspects the attraction is reminiscent of the different Pirates of the Caribbean-Rides at the Walt Disney parks.

Story

The story is set during a pirate raid on Jakarta (known as Batavia until 1942) in the 17th century at the beginning of the Dutch colonization of Indonesia.

Ride

The building of the ride is characterized with a banner labeled with "Piraten in Batavia" in golden letters and a Jolly Roger. The station is situated on the first floor. Along the way there, the visitor is going to be introduced into the story, and learns about the history of Dutch colonisation of Indonesia based on different animated scenes. Mural paintings are showing different maps of the Java Sea region, among others the maps of Sumatra, Borneo and Java.

At the station the visitors get on one of the boats, each of them has a capacity of 16 persons. The first scene shows a cave in the Indonesian jungle, which is inhabited by different animals and humans. After a wide bend, the boat goes down a waterfall and passes through a battle scene, in which the pirate ship attacks the nearby fort. The scene is dominated by screaming pirates and gunfire. Through a break in the fortification wall the boat arrives Batavia, which is full of marauding pirates. In the following scenes the visitor experiences how the pirates win over the native women, staving off their hunger by eating exotic animals and get drunk. The ride carries on passing a hidden temple in the jungle, the burning fort, a fishermen's village and a jail.

Just before the end of the ride, the boats pass a show venue on the right, which is embedded into the setting, and the opposite restaurant Bamboe Baai.

External links

• Media related to Piraten in Batavia at Wikimedia Commons
• Official page of Europa-Park attraction (English)
• Pirates in Batavia on freizeitpark-welt.de (German)
• Pirates in Batavia on flickr.com