Giant Evolution back on the Road

[Mike Parker]

Just got some word from Germany that someone bought the Giant Evolution from
Prater Park (identical to what was at SFGAdv and now SFStL), and the current
plan is to put it back on the road in Germany, here are a few more details and
some Evolution history in general...

It was one of the largest rides ever produced for german fairs. 16 trailers,
most of them heavy load, to move it from town to town. 300 tons weight, 160
tons the arm only and about 35 meters high. (just for rememberance) It started
with the Evolution build by Nauta-Bussink in the netherlands for Eberhardt -
Hamburg. Just three of them ever build. The second one, called the Imperator
was owned by Aigner - Munich and travelled only two seasons. It was transfered
to Vienna Prater and stood there until last winter. The third one for a park in
Korea.
The Evolution travelled about 6 Seasons before it was sold to an Italian Park
and finally found Home at Six Flags in the states.

In summer 2004, the giant "Imperator" will return on german fairs. It was
bought by Eberhardt to present it in China, but the tour did not take place. On
Hamburg Sommerdom (maybe in Düsseldorf) it will start and maybe presented on
selected grounds over the rest of the year. It depends on the sucess. The
seasons started very well for german showmen, so it does not look bad.
Here some transport pics:
http://www.ride-n-rumors.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12392
And here is the ride:
http://www.funfair-area.de/ HISTORY, ANAKIRMES 1993

-end-

For anyone into flats such as myself, I'm thrilled this is happening, however I
just bought a car and that effectively killed my plan to his Oktoberfest this
year, where I'd bet money it'd show up. I'd kill to ride it on a German
Fairground.

I recently rode Evolution at SFStL(very very toned down I hear, and I didn
think it was very intense) and it's hard to imagine it was a transportable
ride.

Well, enough rambling. :)

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Finally, one day it was discovered that through an error in our accounting
department, we had inadvertently missed three payments on our roller
coaster..And then we knew the answer..Our ride had been REPOSSESSED!

[David Burton]

Great post! This ride really interests me. Just such a mammoth size...
hard to believe it was conceived to be portable.

Would like to see Fabbri's dwarf set up right next to her.

[avatar]

>WHy does this ride keep moving?? Nobody wants it? I hope the one at
Six Flags stays for awhile.
By the way, that other Evolution was not in Korea, it was at a park in
Japan called Kure Portopialand. I have a brochure from the
manufacturer(Bailey) of it. This park has since closed. So that makes
2 Evolutions and 1 Imperator. That means 1 Evolution is still
available somewhere.

[jreau...@twcny.rr.com]

I think this is correct (but corrections are always welcome!)

The Evolution (#1) that is at SFStl as Excalibur was previously at
SFGAdv, Mirabilandia Park in Italy, and prior to that was owned by
German showman Eberhard and transported on the German fair circuit
(kirmes).

Imperator (Evolution (#2) has been at Vienna's Prater for around a
decade. It was recently dismantled and currently stands at
RCS/Eberhard waiting to be returned to service. It was operational at
the Prater last year and probably could use some paint, but it will
likely be on the road this summer. Rumor has it that Eberhard Jr. has
plans for the Imperator at larger German Fairs (Hamburg, Munich, ?).

The Evolution (#3) that was at Portopialand in Japan was being offered
by Renoldi Rides of New Jersey last year and from what I understand
was already dismantled. It is no longer on Renoldi's site, so it may
have ended up somewhere else.

Besides the names the rides were differentiated by the design of the
counterweight and color scheme of the gondolas. The smaller Fabbri
Evolutions were built under license from Ronald Bussink (Nauta
Bussink)

-J R