Pictures of the Future Fall 2005
Intelligent Networking – Europa-Park
"Wow, I Gotta Ride That!"
Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, is a major success story. Over the last 30 years, Siemens has provided state-of-the-art automation technology for all of the rides, delivering excitement, entertainment, and the highest level of safety for visitors of all ages.
Pure thrills in one of the world’s largest amusement parks. Shrieking kids ride on roller coasters, pirate ships or a huge water slide. Behind the scenes, all the attractions are controlled by Siemens technology (bottom right) and supervised by safety engineer Walter Mitternacht
Dad, you lied! It’s all so tiny!" cries six-yearold Dominik in disappointment. We’ve just checked into a hotel in the Europa-Park, one of the world’s largest amusement parks, and my son is basing his judgement on what little he’s already seen—basically, the entrance to the park and the hotel lobby. Two days and a host of attractions later, Dominik has certainly changed his tune: "Dad, I don’t want to go home! There’s still loads more to see."
This year, the Europa-Park in Rust, near Freiburg, Germany, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Operated since 1975 by the Mack family, it has been a success story from the word go—thanks not least to Siemens, which has provided the automation, drive, control and safety systems for each of the almost 100 rides. Likewise, the complete electrical installation in the Hotel Colosseo, a spectacular combination of a Roman amphitheater with Italian-style architecture (see insert box), is from Siemens. "Our business is combine technology with emotion," explains Roland Mack, head of Europa-Park.
That’s all fine and good, but from the kids’ room on the hotel’s eighth floor the technology is more or less invisible. Basically, what Svenja (12), Lukas (9), Dominik (6) and Leonie (4) can see is a 70-hectare park, Each year, the amusement park draws almost 3.8 million visitors. Nearby, the Atlantica SuperSplash water ride is completing its morning test run, which involves drawing boats up to a height of 32 m and then letting them plunge down the water track. "Wow!" exclaims Svenja. "I gotta ride that!" Further away, the Silver Star, Europe’s biggest and highest roller coaster, is warming up for the day. Lukas shakes his head. "No way you’re getting me on that!" he says.
Behind the Scenes. My family’s visit to Europapark begins with safety engineer Walter Mitternacht as we look at one of the park’s older attractions, an underground boat trip to the magical world of the Pirates of Batavia, which has been in operation for 15 years. Bypassing a long line of visitors, we descend a narrow stairway and go "backstage." Mitternacht opens up the technological heart of the ride—huge cabinets full of cables, clicking relays and flashing lights. This is where all the special effects are controlled with the utmost precision. "This is one of the older control systems in operation here," says Reinhard Egner, formerly of Siemens and now head of SSG, a Freiburg-based company. A close partner of Siemens, SSG builds the electronic control systems for the rides and always uses the very latest automation technology.
High Tech at the Coliseum
When the fountains shoot into the sky at the end of the evening’s water extravaganza, spectators truly believe they are in Italy. From their seats in the courtyard, they can see a replica of the Coliseum and the curved facade of the four-star hotel, which cost 50 million € to build in 2003. Siemens was responsible for electrical installations and not only supplied all 1,450 rooms with power and heating but also equipped them with communications technology, air conditioning, and safety and security systems.
The power supply for the hotel was planned using a tool called Simaris design. Behind the scenes is state-of-the-art field bus (instabus) technology and 220 kilometers of cable. Features such as the hotel’s 4,500 sockets, telephone system and multimedia technology for its nine conference rooms can be controlled via computer using a building management system based on the Desigo system. Siemens Automation and Drives, Power Transmission and Distribution, and Building Technologies and Communications Groups were involved in the project.
"Where are the pirates?" demands Leonie. Smiling, Mitternacht opens a metal door and we’re suddenly at the starting point of the boat ride. The trip features more than 500 moving animal and human puppets, all of them artistically arranged and illuminated throughout the gigantic building. Wild-looking figures swill from tankards, while others chase storekeepers out of their shops, and prisoners even try to coax a key to their dungeon from a monkey. All too soon, the boat has come to the end of its journey. "Can we go again?" pleads Dominik. "Let me show you something else instead," says Mitternacht.
Screams of pleasure are audible from afar. The control system for the Silver Star is located in a small room beneath the 73-meterhigh roller coaster, which entered service in 2002. An operator sitting in a glass cabin observes operations on a bank of monitors. "There are actually three control systems," explains Egner. "The first, a Simatic S7 300, controls the Silver Star, a second system monitors the first, and the third, a Simatic S7 200, also controls the roller coaster, but using a different program, so there’s virtually no chance of a breakdown." With assurances like that, Svenja plucks up the courage to take a ride. Mitternacht advises her to empty her pockets. "Why?" inquires Lukas. "If not, everything will fall out. We’re always finding coins, keys and even mobile phones."
The ride takes three minutes. People in the cars behind us are already yelling as we near the top. Then we plunge into the void at 140 km/h and hurtle—teeth clenched—toward the first crest, where we take off from our seats for a fraction of a second. All that prevents us from flying out of the car is the safety bars. "It’s like being an astronaut!" shrieks our photographer.
Our legs are shaking after the ride, but we all agree that we would do it again. "That’s part of our philosophy," says Mitternacht. "Obviously, it would be technically feasible to build even more spectacular rides, but then people would say ‘Never again!’ instead of ‘Let’s have another go!’" with some 300 sensors installed along the 1,800-m track, it goes without saying that the Silver Star meets the very highest safety standards. "If the system detects an irregularity, everything is shut down immediately," says Mitternacht.
Remote Maintenance. The spectacular Atlantica SuperSplash water ride, Europa-Park’s latest attraction, is situated in a 4,000 m&2sup; lake. Once again, we reach the control room via the rear entrance. Lukas is allowed to press the button that launches a couple of boats on their journey. "This display tells us exactly what’s going on," explains Mitternacht. Each boat is represented by a yellow strip. A host of sensors and clever technology ensure that no two boats are ever simultaneously under way in the same section of the water track. The control system, a Simatic S7 300F, is amazingly small—little more than a child’s lunch box. "That just goes to show how much progress we’ve made in this field. The technology is so advanced that regulations now permit the use of single fail-safe control system," explains SSG’s Egner. "If there’s a problem, the people here can contact our experts online. The technician on duty will then give advice via a laptop, including on weekends."
"Let’s go to the racing cars!" says Dominik, heading off toward the next attraction. This is followed by the Alpenexpress, a rafting ride and the dodgem cars, where even Leonie can drive on her own. At the end of the adventure, Lukas says to Mitternacht admiringly, "That’s really cool. You’ve got the keys for all the rides and can always sneak to the front through the back door!" "You’re right," he replies with a smile. "But you can overdo it. Three years ago, when we first opened the Silver Star, I rode it so much that I dreamed about it at night."
Norbert Aschenbrenner
"Combining Technology and Emotions"
Interview with Roland Mack
Roland Mack (56), a mechanical engineer, is a managing partner of the Europa-Park in Rust. He is also one of the three partners of the family firm Mack Rides, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of amusement park rides
All the rides, facilities and hotels in Europa-Park are of a remarkably high quality. Is it worth the expenditure?
Mack: Of course! Our business is selling emotions. And we wouldn’t succeed if we tried to do it on the cheap. Besides, our success to date means that our strategy is working. Seventy-eight of every 100 visitors to the park have already been here before. That’s not a bad ratio for a 3.8-million-visitors-a-year facility.
You opened a new hotel in 2004, followed by a massive water ride in 2005. What’s next on the agenda?
Mack: We want to attract more shortbreak vacationers by expanding the number of attractions on offer here so that it’s practically impossible to get through them all in just one day. One option we’re looking at is a hotel with an indoor beach and bathing complex.
What do you get from your close cooperation with Siemens?
Mack: It’s a special partnership that benefits both sides. Besides running an amusement park, we also sell mobile and fixed rides worldwide. As soon as we mention the name Siemens, the interest of our customers increases. At the same time, availability is a crucial issue in this business. If a ride at Munich’s Oktoberfest is out of action for a whole day, sales fall by 150,000 €. Using Siemens components enables us to ensure a very high level of availability. And we also provide Siemens with an ideal showcase for its products, which we use to combine technology with emotion.
What other contributions can Siemens make to the Europa-Park?
Mack: If all the Siemens employees in Germany came to visit with their families, that would increase our sales by 10 % (laughs). But seriously, one of the options we’re looking at is a visitor information system, which at peak times would direct people to less busy areas of the park and thereby help avoid long waiting times. Similarly, networked technology could help to identify faults more rapidly and prevent down times. The bigger we get, the more we benefit from systematic and preventive maintenance, including remote services (see Pictures of the Future, Spring 2005, Remote Services).
What will the park look like in 20 years?
Mack: A park like this needs to develop continuously rather than in leaps. We’ll have a lot more hotel beds and one or two really spectacular rides. But on the whole, the main thing will be to maintain a balance between the new and the tried and true. That way, in 20 years our visitors will still be giving the same answer to the question of what they liked best about our park: "Everything!"
Interview: Norbert Aschenbrenner