The Wodan, a roller coaster mostly made of wood, has been reproduced. Like so many other attractions. – Europapark-minecraft.eu
- A young inhabitant of Colmar, Jean-David Lidy, in 2015 embarked on the reproduction of the Europa-PArk amusement park on the construction video game Minecraft.
- Today, a server is dedicated to the achievements of the student, who has since been joined by about twenty other enthusiasts.
- The result is quite incredible and took thousands of hours of work.
A colossal project. Unbelievable. Almost infinite. “It is perhaps even the most beautiful, we can always improve it”, laughs Jean-David Lidy. This inhabitant of Colmar, in Alsace, has embarked since 2015 in the reproduction of Europa-Park on the famous construction video game, Minecraft.
Six years later, the result, accessible on the europapark-minecraft.eu server, is astounding. A large part of the German amusement park located near Strasbourg is perfectly recognizable. Tens of thousands of blocks have been assembled to mirror reality down to the smallest detail.
Roller coaster like the Wodan (70,000 blocks!), The Silver Star or the Blue Fire, are visible and accessible. Like almost all the other attractions, whose location and architecture have been respected. “We tried to be as immersive as possible”, continues the student in BTS Computer Science, who surrounded himself with a team of twenty people to make his dream come true. “I recruited real fans of the park, not necessarily game specialists. It allowed me to go much faster and much further. “
He was mainly responsible for the construction part of the project. “In short, I would look for maps on Google Maps and transform them in bulk with software. »Before taking charge of the realization or delegating it to another enthusiast. But it wasn’t always that simple. Some places in Europa-Park are visible, others are not. “We were also inspired by photos posted by people or from our visits. For example, before the Covid-19, I went there about fifteen times a year, sometimes just for a walk. “
Toilets, backstage, fries …
The team thus embarked on the reproduction of the backstage of the amusement park, its parking lot… its toilets too! “You can even flush the toilet,” laughs the 20-year-old. If you want to buy fries, that’s also possible. And in the attractions there are also a lot of features. When the train arrives, for example, you can put on your harness and in case of concern, there are brakes. “
Many evolutions are still possible. JDcraft68, his nickname, and his family are working on it and have no shortage of projects. The Austrian, Spanish and Portuguese districts of Europa-Park have not yet had the right to their virtual excavators, just like the Enchanted Forest Grimm or “Arthur and the Invisibles”. “We started part of a hotel and we will reopen ‘Pirate de Batavia’ this spring”, the attraction that had destroyed in a fire in May 2018 and which has since been completely renovated.
Jean-David Lidy hopes visitors to his server will appreciate it. Since its launch, 20,000 people have walked the aisles of this giant construction. “Entrance is free and we are open to comments, which allows us to improve. If some people want to make a donation for accommodation costs, it is also possible, it helps us a bit. The Colmarian admits, he has to pay a small amount each month to pay the waiter. But he doesn’t count too much, like all his hours spent on the project. “When you’re passionate …”
The Rulantica water park too!
Jean-David Lidy’s team did not stop at the reproduction of Europa-Park. It would be too simple ! They also created a replica of Rulantica, the water park that also belongs to the Mack family and is located a stone’s throw from the first. “It took us two years and we opened it in 2020,” explains “JDcraft68”. We had found plans online. An extension is in progress. As soon as it opens, we will also expand! “