Le Pal theme park and zoo in France is to introduce a new King Kong ride for the 2009 season.

Supplied by German ride manufacturer HUSS Park Attractions, the King Kong ride features a single, 24-seat gondola which a huge figure of King Kong, positioned behind the vehicle, appears to grab before standing up straight and slowly "shaking" it.

The gondola is lifted to its maximum height adjacent to King Kong's head, at which time a series of special effects including sound, mist and vibrating seats are triggered.

Le Pal president and director general Arnaud Bennet said: "The park opened in 1973 with a zoo and in 1981 we added the amusement park element. Our first attraction at that time was a King Kong-themed ride, 6m-high with a truck which carried four passengers and was lifted into the air by King Kong. It had a big impact on the children at that time and worked very nicely.

"We took this off the park about 10 years ago and since then have received a lot of letters, and more recently emails, from people who used to visit us when they were children and didn't like the fact that we had taken the King Kong ride away. This attraction had a very strong draw for our visitors and now there is still a call for King Kong to come back.

"So when we heard about HUSS doing this new ride, which is obviously very different to the one we used to have, we thought it could be a very good addition to the park which we could promote as 'the return of King Kong' to Le Pal. Also, it is a very family orientated ride so most ages can ride it, which was another reason we chose it."