“Antares” at Conny-Land: Highest Roller Ball Worldwide Now Open
Photo: Courtesy of Conny-Land
(eap) With a total height of 34 meters, a new “Roller Ball M” attraction from RES Rides has opened at the Swiss amusement park Conny-Land. The ride was placed on top of the existing bumper car building – a special structural feature which, according to the manufacturer, makes it the tallest ride of its kind in the world. It is also the first vertical roller coaster in Switzerland. To date, there are only three installations of Rolle Ball type in the world; the other two are located at Parc Spirou in France and the Prater in Vienna and each reach a height of around 28 meters.
The Roller Ball type M was placed on top of the existing Bumper Car building and thus reaches a height of 34 meters. Photo: Courtesy of Conny-Land
“Everyone is thrilled, the feedback is extremely good,” reports Roby Gasser, owner and managing director of the park. With its swinging gondolas and vertical course, the new attraction is aimed at both adrenaline fans and courageous families. Children from a height of 115 cm are allowed to ride accompanied, and from 130 cm it is also possible to ride alone. The vertical lift first offers a sweeping view over the park grounds before the gondola slowly starts to move, begins to rock and finally glides rapidly down the track.
The theme of the attraction is embedded in a mystical, futuristic story: according to an ancient legend, a highly developed species from outer space landed on Earth long before the Sumerians – a mixture of humanoid organisms and robots with superhuman size and advanced technology. Impressed by the alien beings, the humans built a temple in their honor. When the visitors’ spaceship returned to earth one day in a huge fireball and crashed, the inhabitants salvaged the remains and integrated them into the temple complex – in the hope that the “gods” would one day return. They called them: Antares.
Spanish designer David Lopez was responsible for the creative realization of this legend. His concept combines voodoo mysticism with futuristic space elements and fits into the existing setting between flight simulator and voodoo area. The in-house creative team at Conny-Land, led by Roberto Torres, was responsible for the thematic implementation. ■
