Jumanji - The Adventure, the world’s first fully themed Jumanji ride based on Sony Pictures’ popular film franchise, is now open at Gardaland.

We were invited to experience the new dark ride that brings together multi-motion ride vehicles by Oceaneering, huge themed sets and animatronics by Futura Form, and massive screens with media created by Framestore.

Our latest visit to the Gardaland Resort in Italy included Gardaland Park, the LEGOLAND® Water Park and the SEA LIFE Aquarium.

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Jumanji - The Adventure

The exterior of the new attraction resembles the Great Temple of Abu Simbel in Egypt, taken over by giant vines and with an enormous hippo crashing through the centre. It's still familiar to those that remember Ramses: Il Risveglio, the previous dark ride that occupied this building until 2020, but given a complete makeover. Outside, the large pools of water and impressive fountains help to create what is undeniably a spectacular entrance for a ride.

The staff are dressed as members of the Gardaland Archaeological Society, and guide you into the temple. Here, surrounded by walls covered in hieroglyphics and precious artefacts, you wait for the experience to begin. Guests are batched into small groups ready to enter a portable container office, where the society has based its operation, and it is here that the backstory for the ride is provided via a Jumanji game console hooked up to a screen - a brilliant detail!

As the game loads, the very space around you then transforms and guests find themselves deep in the jungle and met by an explorer who introduces the experience. The storyline for the ride involves a sacred jewel that must be recovered and taken to an ancient shrine in order to save Jumanji from a terrible curse. Guests are asked to join the mission.

After passing through a few passageways, guests emerge in a mysterious bazaar and encounter the Magic Mirrors, in which you then see your own reflection transform into the image of an avatar in the game - another well executed element of the storytelling that keeps you engaged throughout. The ride control station is even disguised as a fruit stall.

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It is from the bazaar that the journey really begins, as guests board special jeep-style vehicles based on the 4x4 off-roaders from the films. Each vehicle accommodates up to six guests in two rows of three seats, and takes guests through 12 different scenes in a ride experience that lasts 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Loading is quick and efficient, keeping the line moving and enabling a theoretical capacity of 1,100 guests per hour.

The well themed multi-motion vehicles not only move in a linear direction on the track but also react to dangers, obstacles and audio and video effects along the way, twisting and swinging around to simulate the movements of a real jeep. Guests encounter many creatures, including a cheeky mandrill, a deadly hippo, the mighty Stone Giant, a venomous snake, a fierce jaguar and giant spiders!

The adventure is made even more impressive and captivating with 7 screens; two of these are an incredible 15 metres wide and 5 metres high, and two utilise the Pepper's Ghost illusion to provide the impression of a holograph. Throughout the ride guests are kept informed of their progress, and after starting the mission with three lives available, the drama intensifies as these are lost.

A particularly effective moment comes right at the start of the ride, where two ride vehicles come head to head, headlamps flash and horns sound - a brilliant interaction. Part way through the ride the jewel first seen on screen attaches itself to the front of the vehicle and later it's sent back into the on-screen action. This clever effect is done very well and another detail that really impressed us.

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At the end of the ride, guests pass through a final walkthrough section that completes the story. Stepping through a vortex of green light you are returned to the real world, and find yourself on the other side of the portable office container in which you first crossed over into the realm of Jumanji, having now returned to the ancient Egyptian temple where your adventure began.

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Before leaving, guests enter the first Jumanji-themed shop in the world, where you'll find merchandise to satisfy adventurers of all ages: from t-shirts, caps, water bottles, mugs and soft toys to survival kits complete with a torch, compass and tactical pen. Right by the exit, you can also view and purchase on-ride photos.

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Jumanji - The Adventure is by far the largest and most impressive dark ride created by Merlin Entertainments, the operators of Gardaland, and it utilizes a very strong global IP to great effect. The combination of a clear and compelling narrative, the large-scale sets and animatronics, screen-based content used sparingly and effectively, multi-motion vehicles, and an array of sound and light effects, all comes together beautifully.

We were pleased that no 'point and shoot' interactivity features, because not every new dark ride needs it, and we didn't feel the lack of 3D video content was a problem, especially as it avoided the need to wear special glasses.

For non-Italian speakers, there are brief excerpts of audio in English throughout the experience so you never feel as though you are missing out on any essential plot details. The action very much speaks for itself, but we did appreciate that an effort had been made to ensure the attraction is suitable for the countless international visitors that it is likely to attract.

There are a few aspects that could be better, in particular there are unfortunately some bare unthemed areas of walls and ceilings and a number of brightly lit emergency exit signs positioned rather unsympathetically, which at times breaks the immersion somewhat. When considered within the overall package of what has been achieved, these are gripes that the typical guest may not feel are of any great consequence.

Gardaland Park

In our previous review of Gardaland, we summarised everything that this superb 200,000 m² theme park has to offer, from the iconic dive coaster Oblivion: The Black Hole and thrilling wing coaster Raptor, to the impressive dark ride I Corsari and water rides including the excellent Fuga da Atlantide.

So what's changed since our last visit? The previous San Andreas 4-D Experience has had a superhero takeover and is now home to Aquaman and Wonder Woman films. Aside from that, and some new and updated live shows, the main theme park remains largely unchanged.

When it came to much needed refreshments and a relaxed lunch, Bar Aladino and the Silver Saloon served us very well indeed. Bar Aladino is just across the plaza from Jumanji - The Adventure, and offers amongst other things fabulous iced coffee in lovely surroundings. In the centre of the park, the Silver Saloon is a large table service restaurant offering a wide range of pizzas, all baked in pizza ovens fired by beechwood aged for 24 months. All the pizzas are traditionally handmade by expert pizza chefs with fresh and delicious ingredients. The staff were attentive and made this a really worthwhile break from the hectic theme park.

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LEGOLAND® Water Park

LEGOLAND® Water Park is a new fully-themed water park designed for families with children under 12. It includes a variety of splash pools and slides, along with a Miniland featuring famous Italian sights and a mini Gardaland, made from 4 million LEGO bricks.

Many of the most iconic monuments in Italy have been built to scale, including the Colosseum in Rome, the Tower of Pisa, the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, and many other iconic Italian monuments.

The new LEGOLAND® Water Park is located inside Gardaland Park, but admission is only possible with the purchase of a combination ticket for Gardaland Park and LEGOLAND® Water Park. Any park ticket can be upgraded to include entry into LEGOLAND® Water Park.

Children under the age of 12 are not allowed to enter LEGOLAND® Water Park unless accompanied by an adult, and adults can only enter LEGOLAND® Water Park if accompanying one or more children under 12 years of age. Unfortunately this will cause some disappointment, because it means that families visiting with children 12 years and above, or any adults without children, are not able to experience the water park or see Miniland.

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SEA LIFE Aquarium

This was our first visit to the highly themed aquarium, featuring more than 5,000 aquatic creatures and located a short walk from Gardaland Park.

Through 40 fully-themed pools, you're transported on an exciting voyage of discovery from the fresh waters of nearby Lake Garda to the deepest seas and oceans. As there are plenty of large windows, transparent domes and an underwater tunnel, guests are provided with brilliant viewing opportunities.

We loved the use of projection throughout the experience, which really brought each of the areas to life. In the interactive ocean room, fish designed by guests come to life in a virtual aquarium.

Admission to the SEA LIFE Aquarium is available separately, or as a €5 per person upgrade to Gardaland Park tickets. You should allow up to an hour and a half for your visit.

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Find out more!

We were guests of the Gardaland Resort for the purposes of this review.

Find out more and book your visit at gardaland.it