THE LEVIATHAN AWAKES

VuePix Infiled Screens Provide a Fully Immersive Experience for Leviathan, the new thrilling ride at Sea World

Welcome to The New Atlantis. Sea World’s brand new precinct, promising a maximum thrill in an ultimate utopian destination.

Rising from the depths of The New Atlantis are three new unique rides, the mighty Leviathan, the world’s most iconic wooden rollercoaster, the magical Trident, Sea World’s new tallest landmark, and the Vortex, a high-speed thrilling swinging attraction.

“Leviathan is our new signature ride at The New Atlantis precinct, which opened in December 2022,” says Cameron Crawford, Project Manager at Village Roadshow Theme Parks. “We have many different rides throughout our parks. But this is something that has never been done before in terms of a timber roller coaster and an immersive precinct themed in such a big way”.

“Initially, we were looking at a range of options to bring the underwater themed load station of the Leviathan rollercoaster to life, testing different technology and working closely with our thematic consultants Earthstory Productions. After evaluating all the options, we appointed ULA Group to deliver the latest digital screen technology for our unique immersive undersea environment.”

ULA Group has a long-standing relationship with Village Roadshow, supplying lighting and visual technology for their theme parks for almost 30 years. “Our VuePix Infiled technology has been at the forefront of many theme parks throughout the world,” states Cuono Biviano, Managing Director of ULA Group. “We have vast experience in this space, and we understand the requirements for the technology being delivered for this kind of environment. One of our key points of difference is an individual approach to each project and each client, and a level of customisation we can go into with our projects. We can sit with our clients and our integration partners and work out a perfect solution for the project, to deliver a result that our client envisages and requires.”

Prestige Group, a leading local audio visual expert, was contracted as an integration partner for this project. “Prestige Group is one of our Platinum partners, who have been fully factory trained across the whole gamut of VuePix Infiled technology. For a client like Village Roadshow Theme Parks, it gives them a guarantee that the product will be installed correctly, maintained correctly and supported during the whole warranty period, to provide reliability that this project requires,” comments Cuono.

“This project is a unique addition to our portfolio. It is not every day that you get to supply the screens for the world’s most iconic wooden rollercoaster,” says Nathan Wright, General Manager of Prestige Group.

ULA Group team and VuePix Infiled experts worked closely together with Prestige Group and the client to select the perfect digital platforms, providing the ultimate themed experience for the load station of the Leviathan ride.

Several tests were conducted at ULA Group showrooms to make sure the selected technology and the content created by Cutting Edge were a perfect match. Cutting Edge worked with Earthstory, the overarching story and thematic design consultants for this project, to translate their vision into digital content for the screens.

There are eight VuePix Infiled MV series screens installed in the location, all of them of 2.9mm pixel pitch, totalling in over 12.3 million pixels. All of the displays are an irregular shape, with the largest one (11x3m) installed overhead in the main area of the rollercoaster load zone.

“The VuePix Infiled screens were mainly chosen for their superb reliability, great durability in this kind of environment and local product support,” comments Nathan.

“There has also been a high level of customisation involved in this project, due to the excess salt air in this location. A double coating of silicon has been applied to all the screens to help them withstand the harsh elements in this environment.”

The complex control solution is run by a NovaStar H2 processor, with a custom media server triggering all the content via various motion sensors and ride controllers in certain parts of the coaster.

“There is no other load station for a timber rollercoaster like this in the world,” says Cameron, “and it has been very rewarding to watch people’s reactions and how they interact within the environment. Some of them are overwhelmed and it takes them a few goes on the ride, both forwards and backwards, to take it all in and to enjoy the unique thrill that this immersive experience provides”.

“People are coming to the theme parks for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and this is what it is all about,” concludes Cuono. “Together we have delivered a unique solution, a truly immersive experience, so when the patrons come along, they are drawn into different imaginary worlds and forget about the world outside for a moment.”

“Leviathan is without a doubt the most impressively themed roller coaster this country has ever seen,” wrote parkz.com.au, a website dedicated to theme parks. “The physical roller coaster experience is just half of the package… it is the themed experience that separates Leviathan from most other wooden roller coasters… it’s one of the most cohesively presented areas we’ve seen in an Australian theme park in decades… the term world-class is thrown around all too often in this industry, but Sea World have pulled off a world-class audio-visual experience here. The Leviathan show is a remarkable feat, to be sure. And the creative and technical teams behind it should be endlessly proud of their efforts… it is without a doubt the best-produced ride show currently in Australia.”