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Anubis: The Ride

T h e H o u s e A n u b i s

Anubis: The Ride06/2009

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.

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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 soap-

opera 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.

I n t h e b o s om o f A n u b i s

T h e R i d e

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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.

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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 re-

enter the house Anubis again through another hole in a wall of the boarding school.

S umma r y

Technical Facts

Manufacturer:Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH

Münsterhausen, Germany

Opening: 04/05/2009

Height: 34 meters

Length: 600 meters

Topspeed: 90 km/h

Acceleration: 0 - 90 km/h in 2 seconds

Capacity: 700 pph

Special:Cow Hitch (Dive Loop, Immelmann),

Heartline-Spin

Related Links

» Photogallery Plopsaland

» Review Rage

» Parkhomepage

R e n d e r i n g s

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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 G-

forces. 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.

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!

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Text: Lifthill.net - ob, mg (eng:mg, ak) | Photos: Lifthill.net | Renderings: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH

© Lifthill.net 2009