Movie Park Germany park info, rides and attractions

Opened	7 June 1996
Season	April to November
Owner	Parques Reunidos
Website	www.movieparkgermany.de
Nearby	De Waarbeek (44 miles) Toverland (45 miles) Phantasialand (57 miles) Avonturenpark Hellendoorn (58 miles) Attractiepark Slagharen (71 miles)

Movie Park Germany Entrance

Originally opened in 1996 as Warner Bros Movie World Germany, Movie Park Germany has rides and other attractions themed (sometimes loosely) around Hollywood movies and film production. Although some parts of the park are a bit faded, the entrance and main street area looks fantastic, and there are some good rides amongst the more quirky examples on offer.

The entrance area is named Hollywood Street Set, and houses a number of shops and restaurants, together with three rides: Ice Age is a 4D cinema showing a film based on the Ice Age franchise. The Lost Temple is one of the more quirky ride experiences, with riders venturing through multiple pre-shows before boarding trucks inside a SimWorx Immersive Tunnel. Bermuda Triangle: Alien Encounter looks from the outside like a simple flume ride. However, the large rock formation into which the 8-seater boats disappear hides a large indoor dark ride section past various scenes featuring aliens and their associated spaceships. Its quirky ride that is much more fun (and less wet) than it first appears.

Nestling between Bermuda Triangle: Alien Encounter and The Lost Temple is the brand new Federation Plaza and the Star Trek: Operation Enterprise Mack Rides launch coaster that opened in 2017. This features the first twisted halfpipe element in Europe.

Intersection of The Streets of New York and Hollywood Street Set

The Streets of New York connects to the end of Hollywood Street Set on one side, with the Van Helsing's Factory indoor rollercoaster at the other. Van Helsing's Factory is (with the probable exception of Star Trek: Operation Enterprise) the best coaster at Movie Park Germany. The coaster itself is a Gerstlauer Bobsled, and is smooth with a decent layout. The theming is good, with some really nice effects.

The other major attraction in the area is Time Riders, which is one of the park's most quirky attractions. Movie Park Germany love their pre-shows, and Time Riders has multiple. Guests are guided through them by a younger-looking John Cleese in video form, speaking in German (the sight of which makes all Brits naturally think back to the infamous Fawlty Towers episode ... "Don't mention the War!"). The experience culminates in a rather rough simulator ride - it's painful, but fun, and even if it wasn't you really couldn't pass up the opportunity to see John Cleese in a rather unusual acting role!

Continuing along the path past Van Helsing's Factory, visitors will find themselves in The Old West. This is a typical generic Cowboy & Western themed area and, together with its neighbouring Santa Monica Pier, really looks very tired and could do with a retheme or at least a repaint. Unfortunately, its ride lineup does it no favours: Bandit is a horribly rough and not very re-ridable wooden coaster, and MP Xpress is an even rougher and less re-ridable Vekoma SLC. MP Xpress isn't even well themed - it's stuck in the back corner of the park surrounded by a boring grey metal fence. Santa Monica Pier isn't a lot better and features a few generic flat rides with faded paint jobs. This is definitely the unloved section of the park.

Part of the daily parade

Across on the other side of the park is Nickland, which hosts a large number of more kid and family-friendly rides. Its big, bright and colourful. Highlights include Ghost Chasers, a Mack Wild Mouse coaster with a strangely positioned but nicely decorated backdrop; and Jimmy Neutron's Atomic Flyer, a Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster. How is it that Vekoma can make decent family sized suspended coasters, but totally fail to reproduce their rideability in their bigger SLC cousins?

Hidden behind Nickland is Movie Park Germany's final area, Adventure Lagoon. This currently only hosts one ride, the park's Mystery River rapids. It is a little difficult to find, but well worth seeking out. The ride is long and the rapids are fun, with boats passing by some nicely themed outdoor and indoor sections. Unlike River Quest at nearby Phantasialand, you won't come off completely soaked but rather satisfyingly sprinkled.

For a park that is supposedly themed around Hollywood films, Movie Park Germany features surprisingly few well-known film franchises. Some of the rides and areas are badly in need of attention, but there are others which are both unusual and fun. The new Star Trek coaster could herald a new era for the park - it needs it, and it has enough good stuff on offer that it would be a shame if it were allowed to fade further.