New Viking experience at Tayto Park
Katapult has redesigned a new, interactive queue line experience at Tayto Park, Ashbourne, for their water-flume ride, ​Viking Voyage at the Park.
Tayto Park appointed Katapult to design and install the new queue line experience in March 2019, and less than three months later, the ride and new queue line were fully opened ready for peak season.
Katapult worked with the Tayto Park team, and Fáilte Ireland. The project was part of the Ireland’s Ancient East narrative and had to include historically accurate information and education in a fun environment.
The design started with the narrative: Guests are invited to step back in time to 1014; the year of the famous Battle of Clontarf. Odin greets the guests on a walk-through mist hologram projection and asks them to fight alongside his Viking army. As guests progress through the queue line they become more and more Viking, from strength and agility games, to sitting on the Viking throne with animatronic ravens, seeing themselves in an AR Viking helmet, eating themed food, and finally depart with a last rousing speech from Odin. The ride starts as guests set sail for Ireland to do battle. The queue line blends theming, technology and low-tech interactives.
David Everard from Tayto Park says: “The new level of theming will add so much more to the guest experience at our park. We are in a unique location and making the most of our local historical stories sets us apart and creates something authentically Tayto Park. We know guests will love it so much that even at low-queue times they’ll still play with all the interactives. We couldn’t have done this without the support from Fáilte Ireland.”
Katapult’s Co-Founder Dawn Foote adds: “Working on this theme park experience was great; we created a world with a narrative-led design. Not only could we have some fun with the theme but we also had to research and work with Fáilte Ireland on the historical context too. This project was the perfect blend of our skills; concept design, interactive creation, production and storytelling. We’ve enjoyed collaborating with Tayto Park to deliver this project in a short period of time ready for summer.”