I Corsari: La Vendetta del Pirata was a pirate-themed dark ride attraction located at Gardaland, Italy.
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| Manufacturer | Intamin | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Designer / calculations | Richard Crane, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 22 gondolas seating 40 guests each | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Track length | 600 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||
History
In 1987, the management of Gardaland decided to design a major dark ride with an adjoining themed area. The design was entrusted separately to Mazzoli Enterprise, led by Claudio Mazzoli, a set designer who had worked at both Disney and Universal parks and had joined Gardaland a few years earlier.
After a year in which the Mazzoli team created numerous sketches, the park decided to commission the large project to American designer Richard Crane, as Claudio Mazzoli chose to focus on the upcoming opening of the first European Disney park, Eurodisney.
Richard Crane designed the attraction and its storyline but relied on Claudio Mazzoli for the set design and animatronics (source?). More than 30 companies from around the world took part in the construction of the attraction. The Swiss company Intamin was tasked with building the water ride system.
Construction began in 1988 and ended four years later. Due to the underground positioning of the ride, the works experienced delays, also caused by the extremely draining soil. In 1991, the Tudor village was inaugurated, with scenery inspired by 18th-century English villages and the galleon that would serve as the attraction’s entrance. The following year, the attraction itself was inaugurated.
The attraction featured several cutting-edge special effects, which were later removed due to the experimental nature of the technology at the time, the difficulty of maintenance, and the unavailability of spare parts. I Corsari was one of the first attractions to feature video projections along the ride path, using Lasermax players and some of the first, extremely expensive, LCD projectors. During the same period, Disney attractions were still using film-based projection systems. A notable highlight was the spectacular and innovative (for its time) battle scene, where a ghost ship would emerge from the fog via a 10x5 meter rear projection, beginning to attack a Spanish fort amidst cannon effects, the howling wind, and water bombs.
Over the following years, the attraction underwent various changes. In 1998, the attraction was updated by Mazzoli Production which, while keeping the storyline intact, replaced the mechanisms of some animatronics and added a physical ship in the aforementioned battle scene—a necessary choice due to the deterioration of the projection materials. Over the years, and progressively until 2003, all projections disappeared.
Between 2008 and 2009, the attraction was temporarily closed for several months to allow for waterproofing work on the external pool where the entrance galleon is located, and to build a souvenir shop at the boarding station. In the following three years, the lighting system, animatronics, and fog effects in certain scenes were gradually replaced or restored.
In 2017, Gardaland decided to carry out a major restyling of the attraction, involving significant changes to the storyline. In 2018, the attraction reopened as I Corsari: la vendetta del fantasma (The Corsairs: The Ghost’s Revenge). The story was revised to introduce the figure of a ghost pirate who haunts visitors throughout the ride. New 3D mapping projections were added, along with new projections placed in the same locations where projections had existed during the 1990s.
Plot
Original Plot
The original storyline featured the character of Jason Montague, a ghost pirate who, aided by his crew, tried to attack the visitors in various ways. Convinced that the guests had arrived on the island to steal his treasure, he tried to stop them from continuing their journey by firing cannons, dropping crates, and eventually taking on the form of a monstrous sea creature. After failing in that attempt as well, the pirate launched one final attack, appearing with his ghost ship and opening fire with cannons. He would ultimately manage to sink the visitors’ boat.
Throughout the ride, however, guests were aided by Honorata and the Black Corsair, who appeared (via projections) in the places where Jason launched his attacks. The pair first appeared on the stern of a broken ship, just as a cannon and crate were about to fall, warning guests just in time. They also appeared on a balcony in the village scene, pointing out which of the two paths the visitors should follow. Finally, they appeared in the last scene, when Jason had successfully sunk the visitors’ boat. The couple reassured the guests, telling them not to be afraid and to follow them. Their projections would then transform into two streams of fiber optics that guided the visitors back up to the boarding station, safe and sound.
Noteworthy along the attraction’s path was the Parrot character. He would ironically warn visitors of the dangers in each scene, praise the ghost pirate, and scold the recklessness of the guests for daring to explore that paranormal world.
2018 Restyling Plot
The new storyline centered around a ghost pirate (voiced by actor Pietro Ubaldi) and his mission to turn into ghosts all those who dared to enter his underground world without fear. In the final scene, the pirate warned that the guests had been lucky to escape unharmed this time—but next time, they wouldn’t be so fortunate.
Rooms
The attraction was composed, excluding the outdoor area, of various "rooms" (actually full-fledged theatrical sets, each with its own entrance and exit, independent from one another).
The main rooms were as follows:
| Name of the Room | Scene Represented | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Prigions | They were located beneath the ship and were reached by descending the stairs inside the galleon. The set design depicted a pirate prison, with iron bars and a river running through the middle—this was the boarding station. This setup existed prior to the construction of the souvenir shop, which eventually replaced those original rooms. | Boarding-Disembarking |
| Beach | A beach with palm trees, crabs, and a projection of Jason and his crew dividing up the treasure. They attempted to attack the passengers by firing at the boats. A crocodile distracted the pirates, allowing the guests to escape. | |
| Broken Ship | A ship, having just come out of a storm simulated in the previous scene, appeared broken in half. Inside, Jason attacked the visitors by throwing a crate and a cannon at them—but the audience had been warned just moments before by an apparition of Honorata and the Black Corsair. | |
| The Inn and the Village | A village inhabited by pirates, featuring a tavern where Jason and his crew were gathered. Jason told the story of how some intruders had come to steal the treasure, and how he had tried to fire at them—but a crocodile had distracted him, allowing them to escape. | |
| Sewer | In the sewer scene, a particularly noteworthy effect reflected the obsessive attention to detail and craftsmanship that characterized the attraction in its earliest years. There was, in fact, a small mouse that, connected to a system of pulleys, appeared to swim through the water. | Transition |
| Swamp | A swamp filled with mangroves and snakes. The tree branches took on the appearance of serpents, which moved and brushed past the visitors. | |
| Sea Monster (Edge of the Earth) | The scene where Jason transformed into a gigantic sea monster, emerging from the water and creating a vortex to sink the visitors' boat. | |
| Crystal Cave | In this scene, it was revealed how Jason's curse would strike those who dared to touch his treasure. Enormous colored crystals displayed the faces of petrified people. | |
| The Great Battle | A Spanish fort was illuminated by a large moon. On the right, an open sea, where, through the fog, appeared Jason's enormous ghost ship, attacking the fort and the visitors' boats, eventually managing to sink them. | |
| Depth | After the battle, the boats sank, and the guests found themselves at the bottom of the sea. However, upon exiting, Honorata and the Black Corsair appeared once again, inviting the visitors to follow them to safety. | Ascent |