Where in the world can you experience a 10-course fine dining meal on a dark-ride vehicle? At Europa-Park, you can do just that, and the gastronomic experience is going global. Recently, blooloop got to experience Eatrenalin, which is a world’s-first in luxury experiential fine dining. It is a creation by Thomas Mack, managing director of the park, and gastronomy expert Oliver Altherr, CEO of Marché International.
During TEA SATE Europe, attendees heard from Mack, alongside Felix Heuberger, marketing executive at Eatrenalin. The pair talked about the creation and challenges of bringing this unique experience to life.
Guests begin the experience in a futuristic bar. Here, canapés are served while they wait for their group’s experience to start. They then enter the experience and after a dramatic reveal, see their unique table for the evening – an individual table and chair dark ride vehicle. Once seated, the first guests slowly set off into the next room with their chairs ‘dancing’ together and moving throughout the experience.
Without any spoilers, the chairs move through various rooms. In each of these, they are served a course that is enhanced by the various senses. The experience brings together multimedia content, an original score and sound integration, haptics and unique flavour combinations to immerse the guests into the experience and into their own palates.
Creating Eatrenalin
The idea for Eatrenalin began five years ago. The Europa-Park team knew it wanted to create a F&B experience that truly immersed guests in an environment. “Why does the wine from sunny Italy taste different in rainy Rust, Germany?” said Mack. They needed to transport guests into the story and environment.
The team at Mack Rides set about creating their own dark ride vehicle for the attraction. The final vehicle is prototype number seven. After several weeks of sleepless nights and vehicles bashing into each other (according to Mack), the team perfected the ‘dance’. The trackless vehicles move in sync between rooms, slowly moving in various configurations, as well as tilting, vibrating and even revealing a meal at one point!
Blown away by Eatrenalin – full of surprises, good food and the world’s most unusual dark ride vehicle. @TEA_Connect #TEASATE pic.twitter.com/BzZiBSoam8
— blooloop (@Blooloop) May 3, 2023
“Every second is choreographed,” said Heuberger. “Because every 27 mins a new group starts their experience”. With no room for error, it was imperative that the Eatrenalin vehicles move through the rooms seamlessly.
It was a logistical challenge for the kitchen. Serving 160 people per evening in 10 groups equates to 1600 meals in total a night. All 10 courses need to be served at the same time, repeatedly throughout the night. The kitchen is in the middle of the attraction, set in a circle. It cleverly shares cleaning and back-of-house facilities with Hotel Krønasår next door. All timings of the staff, the chairs, the media and the music had to be perfectly in sync with the show.
Efficiency
Guests determine at the time of booking whether they will eat ‘the red dimension’ (meat) or the ‘green dimension’ (veggie). Any dietary requirements are taken care of as they know exactly which seat you are in through the experience. This means the kitchen is incredibly efficient.
“We have no food waste as we know exactly what people will eat beforehand and can plan for staffing,” said Mack.
The booking process is efficient too – opening slots gradually so that they don’t have ‘gaps’. Although this has yet to be fully tested, Eatrenalin has been fully booked every day since opening in November last year.
Whilst I was not always confident in exactly what was on my plate, it was all delicious and luxurious. Certainly not your usual theme park food, complete with foams, jus, tiger milk, and more. The team have just updated the menu in May and the international kitchen team includes Dutch chef Ties van Oosten, French-Austrian chef pâtissière Juliana Clementz and gastronomy expert Pablo Montoro.
High-value experience at Eatrenalin
A high-end experience has a high-end price tag. Experiences at Eatrenalin start at 195 euros per head, with champagne add-ons, exclusive bookings (like a recent solo flight booked just for the Prince of Monaco) or the 645 euro-a-head Sommelier Dinner.
With the amount of tech and R&D packed into this attraction, we could see where the money had been spent to create a bespoke attraction. It certainly felt like you got a high-value (and Instagram-worthy) experience.
“Most people say it’s expensive before they have done the experience, then after they say it’s too cheap,” said Mack.
Going global
Mack is in talks with developers to bring Eatrenalin to major cities around the world including London, New York, LA and Vegas. These locations could have a higher throughput with larger footprints. Mack even suggested Vegas could have an immersive fine dining dark ride breakfast seating!
So, what is the price tag for such an experience? 15-20 million euros capital investment, with options to lease the chairs not buy them outright too.
The Mack Group has created a unique, revenue-generating experience that not only adds value and extends the stay to guests staying at Europa-Park, but really does blend the boundaries of leisure and restaurant verticals, with a bright future outside the theme park resort’s boundaries.
All images kind courtesy Eatrenalin / Europa-Park
