Black Mamba - B&M inverter at Phantasialand

They are slowly make that entire track profile disappear behind something. Absolutely sick!

BTW, did anyone else notice the American Flag in the construction site. I would guess there is some US contractor working on the project.

^No, the flag belongs to the theming of the adjacent Colorado Adventure Coaster (aka Michael Jackson Thrill Ride) or the Campground. You can read something like "Smokey Diggers Camp" beneath it. Its a short way from the Old West to Africa!

There are alledgedly 100 companies which work on landscaping, sculpturing, construction, etc. And they are all reportedly from the surroundings of the park. Most workers seem to come from China, though.

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Camden Crazy said:
This looks like Nemesis version 2....I like that.

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Hey Camden!

Are you going to tonight's game? I'll be there, as long as the weather holds off.

I would think that even if they don't have the theming finished they would get things setup to at least run during the World Cup.

Wow that looks like an intense ride. Nice theming too.

This looks like it'll be quite a good ride. I'll report back in October, when I Get back from my Germany Oktoberfest/Fairs/Parks trip :)

It looks like someone went all out on RCT 2 and made it reality.

This ride looks fantastic! It could be one of the best themed coasters ever. I can't wait to hear how the ride runs, some of those transitions could be sketchy. I also find it interesting that this tight-turning ride has trains with 8-cars while Patriot only uses seven.

magnus over at onride.de posted the following

"Just to update this with the most recent information.

Phatasialand has anounced on the official Black Mamba site, that the Coaster will open for the public on May 24th."

OK - it's official!

Black Mamba opens 2.5 weeks from now!

They even have an official theme song and a cool web site including the "usual" auctions for first rides up on their website -

I must say, from the website it looks like the most American-style attempt at themeing I have ever seen in a German park - they are taking original artifacts produced specially in Kamerun, mixing it with Eurodance-style themeing music and a story that reminds of the typcial adventure movies set in Africa. But the result seems like it's an amazingly insane sculpture of steel, plaster, water ---- and people screaming :)

http://www.deepinafrica.de/

*** Edited 5/7/2006 10:33:04 AM UTC by superman***

Do European amusement parks make so much more money than American parks that they are able to theme their rides to such an appreciable extent?

I think that the European amusement parks make so much more money than American parks because they are only a fraction of the parks we have in the U.S.A. So the parks get a higher revinue because people fly out from all over Europe to go to them because they have less compition.

^ not true.

In some euro-countries (e.g. Germany) the number of parks is exceptionally high. Add to this the close proximity to other high-profile countries such as Holland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, UK and you have the main number of parks quite close together.

So there is indeed heavy competition to get the family who wants to visit just one park during their summer holidays through your gate.

I don´t think that the parks make more money in Europe. Going to a park and spend, spend, spend is still more of a tradition in the USA.

On the other side, travelling carnivals with huge rollercoasters and overthemed flatrides are a big tradition in Germany and the Netherlands. So the parks have to distinguish themselves from the fairs and have to offer something completely different from a makeshift fairground. Thats why landscaping and escapism play a much bigger role in their concept.

On top of that, most of the extremeley themed euro-parks started out as a fairytale forest, or they got their kickstart during the sixties when Disney set new standards in themepark design.

So they define themselves as "theme-parks" and not as amusement parks. Thats why you have the big players who really try to outdo themselves no matter what it costs. And you have the small parks who try to theme with less money. Sometimes the results are tacky and laughable, sometimes it is charming and sweet.

Actually, the only "older" parks who theme to the extreme are: Phantasialand (G), Europapark (G), De Efteling (NL), and Alton Towers (UK)

These parks don´t offer big new rides like CP or the big SF parks on a yearly basis. There are easily five or more years in between those "big" attractions. (Except Alton, who now add many rides but they don´t theme them anymore.)

I find this Las-Vegas-esque semi-fake along with the definite "Halloween"-type terror-themeing extremely surreal :)

Just a detail: In the story department, "Black Mamba" is described like a mystic snake that takes you on a shamanistic journey through the bowels of the world - and the game-department, you shoot up Black Mambas for fun. And in the midst of it all, wooden skulpture from actual African artists who most likely knew nothing about what their art was being used for, and who probably have not relation to anything "Black Mamba" at all.

:)

(edit) Anyway, I should add that I'm really proud of Phantasialand for building such a cool B&M inverter.

*** Edited 5/7/2006 8:18:09 PM UTC by superman***

Today was "preview day" for Black Mamba and the "Deep in Africa"-area.

First voices are very positive. The ride is smooth and not too intense. People claim that you really fear for your feet.

Here are pictures from today which show the new area from the ground for the first time:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=26&forum=DCForumID128&viewmode=all#16

Official opening is tomorrow. Good news for those who will visit during the soccer-onslaught.

More ride, theming and station:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=27&forum=DCForumID128 *** Edited 5/23/2006 7:33:44 PM UTC by kitsch-transporter***

WOW!

That definitely tops off Nemesis in overall themeing I think. If only it was in the US so I could ride easily :(

Wow, that looks so cool.

That's an unbelievable amount of themeing. I don't know what it is about it, but I love this shot for some reason.

*** Edited 5/23/2006 11:35:42 PM UTC by SFoGswim***

less dancing, more ride footage please ;)

http://www.cafe-blu.com/bm2.divx

I can't wait to ride this in 3 weeks.