Movie Park Germany is a theme park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen in western Germany, 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of Düsseldorf, with an area of 40 hectares (100 acres). It consists of 7 areas based on movies and TV series. Nearby the park are several film studios.
The park originally opened under the name "Kirchhellener Märchenwald" in 1967. Märchenpark was run by the West German family Allekötter. The park featured attractions consisting of huts in the woods where guests could press buttons to listen to different fairy tales.[1]
A couple named Hans and Ida Rosenberg bought the park after the 1976 season. They operated the park under the name "Traumlandpark". This became their second park, the first being the Tuddern safari park in Tüddern, West Germany which they purchased from Mr. Löffelhardt and Mr. Schmidt, who sold the park so they could focus on their newest project, Phantasialand. In 1985, the Rosenbergs ran out of money and had to declare bankruptcy with the debt of €22 million.[1]
Wolf-Dieter Jahn from Essen, West Germany and Alexandre Berthé from France, who had previously worked at the park, bought it in 1986 and reopened it in 1987 under the name "Neue Traumland". In 1989, they decided to sell the park to Bavaria Film and it closed again on 31 August 1991.[1]
The park opened on 6 June 1992 under the name "Bavaria Filmpark". This park was originally scheduled to open in May 1991. The park closed in 1993 after not becoming very popular.[1]
In May 1994, Warner Bros. purchased the location and began construction on "Warner Bros. Movie World Germany". The park had a grand opening on 29 June 1996 with 20,000 invited guests including Johannes Rau, Ernst Löchelt, August Everding, Gustava Everding, Michael Douglas, Sophia Loren, Ron Williams, Amanda Lear, David Copperfield, Claudia Schiffer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Alicia Silverstone, Joel Schumacher, Hans Meiser and Heinz Hoenig as special guests.[2][3][4][5][6] The park opened to the general public on 30 June 1996.[1][7] Zeitgeist Design and Production's Ryan Harmon served as the Director of Show Development for Warner Bros. International Recreation Enterprises, where he conceived, wrote and managed the design team for Warner Bros. Movie World Germany's worth of rides, shows and attractions.[8][9] Botticelli's - Atelier der angewandten Malerei, Sanderson Group and Kevin Cardani were responsible for designing and painting the theming for the park.[10][11][12] Alan Griffith Architect and Alder Constructions were also involved in the park's development.[13][14]
At the end of 1999, Warner Bros. sold the park to Premier Parks (now Six Flags). Premier Parks continued to license the Warner Bros. Movie World name.[15]
In later years, large investments in bigger, faster, more action-packed attractions made Warner Bros. Movie World Germany no longer a crowd puller for families, but rather in the direction of teenagers and the young at heart. Families stayed away from the park and many thrillseekers visited it. This, along with a decline in visitor numbers, resulted in Warner Bros. Movie World Germany being acquired by StarParks, a subsidiary of Palamon Capital Partners, on 3 April 2004, which led to the park reopening as "Movie Park Germany" on 19 March 2005 and having a grand opening on 24 March 2005, with the Warner Bros. theming removed from the park and replaced by newer themes from 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Nickelodeon.[16][17][18][19]
In August 2006, the two-lane roller coaster Cop Car Chase (previously Lethal Weapon Pursuit) was shut down and dismantled as a repair would have been too expensive from an economic point of view. The vacated space was used for the new Santa Monica Pier themed area, which opened in May 2007. The area based on the Californian Santa Monica Pier also uses part of the area of the also partially dismantled, partially redesigned Downtown area (previously Marienhof). The main attraction of the area is Germany's first stationary Disk'O Coaster.[citation needed]
In addition, the kids' area Wonderland Studios was expanded with Nickland by 15,000 m² for the 2007 season. The themed area, built in collaboration with the German version of Nickelodeon, deals exclusively with the station's characters and themed worlds. Attractions include a Suspended Family Coaster (Jimmy Neutron’s Atomic Flyer) and a water attraction (Spongebob Splash Bash). In addition, the 2007 season brought a change of motto; instead of "A day like in the film", it is now "Hurray! I'm in the film" (until 2004, the slogan was "Hollywood in Germany"). With the opening of Nickland, old attractions such as Dishwasher were re-themed.[20][21][22]
Since 2007, the sidewalks of the park have been paved. The entire Nickland, Main Street and Vine Street are now paved.
For the 2008 season, Wonderland Studios was integrated into Nickland. For this purpose, old children's attractions have been relocated or demolished and other attractions have been redesigned. In addition, a wild water course was built on the site of the go-kart track; the latter was demolished. Another new attraction is an carousel of the model Aviator. The new area opened in May 2008. In the Roxy 4D-Kino, a film about SpongeBob SquarePants was replaced by Shrek,[23][24] which again was replaced for the 2012 season by Ice Age. To this end, the Roxy 4D-Kino was redesigned and a new preshow was installed.
On 17 May 2010, Parques Reunidos bought the park from Palamon Capital Partners. No changes to the park's name or theming occurred.[25]
For the park's 15th birthday on June 18, 2011, the combination of roller coaster and dark ride Van Helsing’s Factory was opened in the hall that formerly housed the Gremlins Invasion and had only been used for Halloween since 2005. The roller coaster was built by the Gerstlauer company, the theme is based freely on the character of the vampire hunter Van Helsing from the 2004 film of the same name. According to the park, the roller coaster and the show Shadows of Darkness, which uses the character of Van Helsing, are attractions that do not require a license. In addition to Shadows of Darkness, which replaced X-Men Revenge - The Ultimate Action Show (ran in 2010 and 2011 in Studio 7), three more shows were revised for 2012.
The novelty for 2017 was announced for the 20th anniversary of the park. It is a new roller coaster from Mack Rides and is called: Star Trek: Operation Enterprise. The track is located in a completely new themed area that is devoted to Star Trek. The themed area takes up the last parts of the former Marienhof, the former film museum and the unused space between Bermuda Triangle - Alien Encounter and The Lost Temple. The 40-meter-high launch coaster is the second tallest structure in the park and replaces the plans for the Air Driver roller coaster that were rejected in 2012. The following year it was announced that the Mystery River, one of the most popular and oldest attractions in the park, would be subject to a complete thematic redesign. The main changes are the waiting area, the theming and the effects during the journey. The ride also received a new soundtrack from IMAscore. The course of the journey itself remains largely unchanged.[26] In 2019, the theming of Bermuda Triangle - Alien Encounter was slightly changed. The ride was renamed Area 51 - Top Secret, and a new soundtrack from IMAscore was included.[27]
In the building of the former dark ride Ice Age Adventure, a new roller coaster with the name Movie Park Studio Tour was built. On 23 June 2021, this new attraction had its opening to celebrate the 25th birthday of the park.
The park is divided up into 7 areas each with their own collection of attractions.[28]
(formerly Gotham City)
Former attractions:
Nickland is themed to the programmes and characters of Nickelodeon. The land initially opened in 2007, and expanded in 2008 to the "Wonderland Studios" section, itself formerly being themed to the Looney Tunes and named "Looney Tunes Land" during the park's period as Warner Bros. Movie World Germany.
PAW Patrol Adventure Bay is a sub-area of Nickland dedicated to the PAW Patrol franchise. The area opened in 2019.
Former attractions:
Former attractions:
(formerly part of Looney Tunes Land (1996-2004))
(formerly Downtown (2005-2006), Marienhof (1996-2004))
Movie Park Germany features many live shows as well as a 4-D movie.[32]
The Halloween Horror Fest is an annual event around Halloween time that began in October 1999. It features over 250 scare actors and extra attractions like mazes and scarezones, as well as shows.
Mazes:
Former mazes (1999-2022)
During the HHF, the Nickland theme area is a 'Monsterfreie Zone' (engl. 'monster free area') where children can stay at the park without being scared of the scare actors.
