Spreepark

Spreepark

Spreepark Ferris wheel in 1985
Location	Plänterwald, Germany (East Germany 1969-1990), Berlin, Germany
Opened	1969 (1969)
Closed	2002 (2002)
Website	http://www.spreepark.de/
Status	Abandoned

Spreepark is an abandoned amusement park in the north of the Plänterwald in the Berlin district Treptow-Köpenick (formerly part of the GDR-controlled East Berlin). It was also well known by its earlier name Kulturpark Plänterwald Berlin.

The entertainment park was opened in 1969 as Kulturpark Plänterwald, covering an area of 29.5 hectares. The area is situated in the north of the Plänterwald, next to the river Spree. It was the only constant entertainment park in the GDR, and the only such park in either East or West Berlin.

The VEB Kulturpark Berlin was completed in 1991, after the reunification, by mixed municipal authorities in Berlin. Out of a total of seven applicants, the Spreepark Berlin GmbH company received the contract. Crucially, the references of Norbert Witte of the company were not properly checked.

Under the Spreepark GmbH some new attractions were added and visitor numbers reached 1.5 million per annum. Later the concept was changed and the park was gradually transformed into a more Western-style amusement park. An entrance fee (adults: 29 DM, children: 27 DM) covering all individual attractions was now charged, instead of visitors paying for each individual ride, as had previously been the case.

The asphalted surface around the Ferris wheel was taken up and converted into a water landscape. Roller coasters, two game water courses, a stage, a Western town and an English village were later added to the park.

Since 1999 the park has had to cope with large debts. The increase in the admission fee to 30 DM per person and a lack of parking space contributed to a drop in visitor numbers until in 2001 only 400,000 visitors entered the park.