Maus au Chocolat is an

interactive dark ride A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, suc ...

that opened 9 June 2011 in

Phantasialand Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. The park was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented p ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The ride is situated in the Berlin area of the park.

Story

It is

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the 1920's. The kitchens of master pâtissier Gustav E. Lehmann are infested with mice. In order to get rid of them he calls Oskar Koslowski, a pest controller who uses rather unconventional methods to avoid the use of toxic substances that could ruin Lehmann's cakes. Koslowski arms himself with pastry bags to fight the rodents with shots of

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

. There are too many mice for Koslowski to handle on his own so guests are called in as reinforcements to get rid of the mice.

Design and Operation

Maus au Chocolat was inspired by

Toy Story Midway Mania Toy Story Midway Mania! (also known as ''Toy Story Mania!'') is an interactive 4-D theme park attraction, located at three Disney theme parks: Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, Disney California Adventure at the Dis ...

and was designed for Phantasialand by Eric Daman in collaboration with

ETF Ride Systems ETF Ride Systems is a Dutch manufacturer of amusement ride systems. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by the ETF Group. The company has manufactured both tracked and trackless systems for both dark and outdoor rides. History ETF Ride Systems ...

, 3DBA and

Alterface Alterface Projects is a manufacturer of interactive and media-based attractions, offering interactive technologies and turnkey solutions. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Belgium, Europe, Alterface operates globally, having a US office and ...

. The ride immerses guests behind the scenes of a large

pâtisserie A () is a type of Italian, French or Belgian bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets, as well as a term for such food items. In some countries, it is a legally controlled title that may only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed ...

infested with mice. The ride was part of the reorganisation of the central area of the park and was built in a new building bordering Wuze Town. The entrance of the ride is through the storerooms of the pâtisserie. As guests make their way through the queue-line they find that all the food has been locked away and discover the presence of the pâtisserie's little intruders. On the loading platform, a pair of

3D glasses Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

is given to each guest before boarding their vehicle. The vehicles leave in groups of three and each can contain four guests (two on each side). Each guest has a pastry bag in front of them to shoot virtual chocolate at the mice that appear on seven screens throughout the ride, with the ride vehicles briefly stopping at each. Guests gain points for each mouse they hit. In the last scene the scores and winner for each ride are announced. The exit is through a tea room that opened the same year as the ride. The name of the ride is a play on words between Maus (German for mouse) and

Mousse au chocolat A mousse (; ; "foam") is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. Depending on preparation techniques, it can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick. A mousse may be sweet or savory. as e ...

References

{{Phantasialand Dark rides Amusement rides manufactured by ETF Ride Systems