Spreepark
Spreepark could be found in Plänterwald, Germany; next to the river Spree. The park opened in 1969 with its original name of Kulturpark Plänterwald. The park became the only constant park in GDR (German Democratic Republic) and visitor numbers quickly soared, with he park having 1.5 million visitors annually.
The parks concept later changed and it had more of a western style, with the new style they also brought in an entrance fee, changing from the original concept of paying for the individual ride. The surface around the ferris wheel changed and was converted into water; the park boasted of rollercoasters, 2 game water courses, a stage, western towns and they even added in an English village.
The park built up large debts, starting from 1991, probably due to the changes and improvements they made to the park. These debts meant they increased the parks admission fee, which resulted in visitor numbers dropping. The drop in visitors was also due to the lack of parking at the site. In 2001 Spreepark had just 400,000 visitors for that year, and Spreepark GmbH announced they had become insolvent (unable to pay their debts). The park closed shortly after their announcement, and hasn't been opened for visitors since 2002. The debt remained at €11,000,00.
The site has been left abandoned and has fallen into disrepair. The ferris wheel still stands, un-operated, along with many other rides that have just been left and forgotten about.
In 2011, guided tours were offered for those wanting to see the park, although there were restricted times. These tours stopped in March 2014, when the City of Berlin bought Spreepark.
10th August 2014, most of the park was destroyed in a fire, which authorities believe to have been started deliberately. Firefighters on the scene found that there was two blazes 200m apart, leading them to be suspicious on how it started. In 2016 the tours resumed, but is on a limited basis, and the parks future is unsure.
A worker for Spreepark, Norbert Witte, moved to Lima, Peru with his family, friends and co-workers on 18th January 2002, shipping 6 attractions in 20 ship containers. The authorities believed that they were going to be repaired. The reality, however, was that Norbert was planning to open his own amusement park. "Lunapark" was a failure though, and on the 19th May 2004 he was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for attempting to smuggle 180kg of cocaine from Peru to Germany in the mast of one of the rides. Two years later, his son Marcel was sentenced to 20 years for drug smuggling.
The parks concept later changed and it had more of a western style, with the new style they also brought in an entrance fee, changing from the original concept of paying for the individual ride. The surface around the ferris wheel changed and was converted into water; the park boasted of rollercoasters, 2 game water courses, a stage, western towns and they even added in an English village.
The park built up large debts, starting from 1991, probably due to the changes and improvements they made to the park. These debts meant they increased the parks admission fee, which resulted in visitor numbers dropping. The drop in visitors was also due to the lack of parking at the site. In 2001 Spreepark had just 400,000 visitors for that year, and Spreepark GmbH announced they had become insolvent (unable to pay their debts). The park closed shortly after their announcement, and hasn't been opened for visitors since 2002. The debt remained at €11,000,00.
The site has been left abandoned and has fallen into disrepair. The ferris wheel still stands, un-operated, along with many other rides that have just been left and forgotten about.
In 2011, guided tours were offered for those wanting to see the park, although there were restricted times. These tours stopped in March 2014, when the City of Berlin bought Spreepark.
10th August 2014, most of the park was destroyed in a fire, which authorities believe to have been started deliberately. Firefighters on the scene found that there was two blazes 200m apart, leading them to be suspicious on how it started. In 2016 the tours resumed, but is on a limited basis, and the parks future is unsure.
A worker for Spreepark, Norbert Witte, moved to Lima, Peru with his family, friends and co-workers on 18th January 2002, shipping 6 attractions in 20 ship containers. The authorities believed that they were going to be repaired. The reality, however, was that Norbert was planning to open his own amusement park. "Lunapark" was a failure though, and on the 19th May 2004 he was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for attempting to smuggle 180kg of cocaine from Peru to Germany in the mast of one of the rides. Two years later, his son Marcel was sentenced to 20 years for drug smuggling.
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