The beloved Rainbow's End Pirate Ship will be saying ‘ahoy’ again next year with a new look and super-sized capacity.
At 13 metres long, the new ship 'Pacifica' will be able to hold a whopping 50 people - the most people one ride can have at the theme park.
"The Pirate Ship was a Park favourite for decades and our guests were vocal about missing it,” says Rainbow’s End CEO Susan Mundie.
We couldn’t walk past that kind of feedback so started investigating how to bring it back, better than ever.
Rainbow’s End has confirmed the ship will be ready to set sail in late 2025, swinging in with "some exciting twists to the original".
The ship swings 75 degrees to each side and will be over 13 metres long - you don't have to be good at maths to know that's going to be epic.
The original ship became a crowd favourite during its 40-year stint at the park, having first opened in 1983. Much to the disappointment of many Kiwi kids - big and small - the ride was decommissioned back in 2017.
The limited availability of replacement parts to keep the ship up and running meant we had to say ‘see ya’ to the fun of swinging back and forth, but the new ship parts have been created over in Europe, and are set to make their way from Germany to NZ soon.
Susan said the original ship had the "dubious distinction" of being "the most thrown-up on ride in the entire park", and there's only one way to find out if the new one will create the same legacy…
