PIRATEN IN BATAVIA

After a fire in 2018, ‘Pirates in Batavia’ reopened in 2020 with a new design and modern technology, based on the original classic attraction. This reconstruction provided an opportunity to update one of Europa-Park’s most popular attractions from 1987 while preserving the emotional connection to the original. An important part of this modernisation was the integration of media elements.

Guests join Bartholomeus van Robbemond on his quest to find the magical dagger, the Fire Tiger, passing through nine elaborately designed scenes while his rival Diablo Cortez follows close behind. The journey takes them from a Dutch tavern, through a raging storm, and on to an Indonesian stilt city and a mysterious jungle temple, featuring large, detailed scenes, spectacular effects, and numerous animatronic characters.

MACK Animation’s media integrations play a central role in the modernisation of ‘Pirates in Batavia’. MACK Animation produced all the media content for the water dark ride, including over twelve large-format projection effects that extend the physical scenery seamlessly into digital worlds. For instance, an 18 x 6 metre screen in the canyon scene offers a glimpse of the open sea, where Cortez’s ship vanishes on the horizon.

Photorealistic 8K CGI animations were created for these scenes, and the highly detailed 3D model of the ship was later used as a template for a replica in another scene. The aim of the media integration was to blur the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds by using projection mapping and large-scale scene extensions to visually open up the attraction’s limited space to the horizon. This ensures maximum detail and immersion for guests.