Eurosat at Europa Park Undergoing Extensive Renovation

Europa Park’s Eurosat coaster will be nearly unrecognizable when it reopens this summer with new track, a slightly modified layout and a separate virtual reality (VR) ride experience.

Europa Park, located in Rust, Germany, is a showcase park for Mack Ride’s roller coaster and attraction product offerings. The park’s beautifully themed areas pay homage to various countries and regions in Europe and beyond.

Image courtesy of Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick / Europa-Park – Eurosat

In 1989, the company built Eurosat inside an Epcot-esque sphere in the French area of the park. Earlier this month, the park announced that it had partnered with Paris’ famous Moulin Rouge dance hall to transform Eurosat into “Eurosat CanCan Coaster.”

For all the nondancers (myself included), the can-can is a high-energy dance popularized in French dance halls such as Moulin Rouge beginning in the mid to late 1800s.

The new, Moulin Rouge-inspired Eurosat entrance will welcome guests into an interior decked out with decor and symbols from the iconic French dance hall.

Eurosat’s original layout was just under 3,000 feet in length. Its spiral lift hill stood roughly 84 feet tall. The 16-seat trains reached a top speed of 37 mph along the course.

It’s a spaghetti bowl of steel, as you can see in the model of the coaster below:

Photo © MR-Fotografie

Watch an on-ride video of the original Eurosat (possibly with the building’s lights on?):

Although the layout will change slightly with the new track, the Waldkirch company that is overseeing the redesign has made efforts to keep the layout similar to the original in honor of the coaster’s designer, Franz Mack.

The trains themselves will also receive a new look as seen in the rendering above.

But that’s not all!

Eurosat Coastiality VR Experience

In what is possibly the first for a roller coaster, Eurosat will simultaneously assume another name and theme: Coastiality, a VR roller coaster experience with a separate entrance and station.

Although Coastiality riders’ experience will be visually different from Eurosat’s, the two coasters will share the same track (aside from the separate stations).

The park hasn’t disclosed many details about the ride’s back story, but the rendering suggests a futuristic setting.

French Area Changes

The French area of the park surrounding Eurosat will see additional enhancements and changes in 2018. Buildings will receive a refreshed look that will reflect the historic Moulin Rouge atmosphere. A new, two-story “floating boat restaurant” nearby will seat up to 60 guests and will offer views of a 40-foot-tall fountain show.

While much of the Eurosat work is contained to the interior of the building, you can see in the below photo that the changes will affect the area around the roller coaster as well.