Bayern Park



Theme Park:Bayern Park (since 1991)
Vilstaler Wildpark (1985 - 1991)
Address:Fellbach
94419 Reisbach
https://www.bayern-park.de
Operated by:Bayern-Park Freizeitparadies GmbH

Bayern Park in the small village of Reisbach is one of the most beautiful amusement parks in Germany. Numerous roller coasters, water rides and carousels make for an unforgettable family day out.

For the youngest guests, there is a specially designed toddler tour, with plenty of quieter rides waiting for the kids. But even those looking for an adrenaline kick will quickly find what they are looking for. In 2011, the “Freischütz” launch coaster opened its doors, a magnet-driven roller coaster that provides thrills with its special design and fast-paced track. Winner of several awards and voted one of the top 5 roller coasters in Germany, Freischütz offers an unforgettable experience. Voltrum, Southern Germany’s tallest free-fall tower, takes you high above the ground. With a total height of 109 metres and a free fall of 93 metres, this is a unique experience.

The lovingly designed grounds are not limited to fun and action: the green heart of Bayern-Park is located at the back of the park. Along the tranquil forest circuit, lined with sunny meadows and shady spots, the enclosures of numerous animals, the nature discovery trail or the birds of prey show invite you to linger and marvel.

 
 
 

Highlights of the Animal and Theme Park

 




 

Achterbahn

The large roller coaster with the super long train

 


 

Freischütz

The opera launch coaster

 


 

Froschbahn

A charming family coaster

 


 

Thalon

A family ride in the dark

 


 

Wildwasser-Rafting

A very long and twisty rapids river

 



New for young and old: Bayern-Park becomes even more attractive!

Roller coaster, Adventszauber, mascot and entrance area with show stage

Munich/Reisbach, 1 March 2023: Good news for all theme park fans! Bayern-Park, the excursion destination for the whole family, will be even more colourful in the coming season and will be coming up with various new attractions and events. The highlight is a new family roller coaster that offers fun and excitement even for the youngest adrenaline junkies. The season starts on 1 April and the last regular day of operation is 8 October 2023.

Open End Family Coaster

The new roller coaster will be a real eye-catcher! The open end of the track, which rises eleven metres into the sky, makes many visitors ask: Where does the ride go on the new Family Coaster?

The roller coaster, which was individually designed for Bayern-Park by the renowned company Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, is also suitable for small children and can travel both forwards and backwards thanks to an ingenious set of points and other special effects. The Family Coaster guarantees great fun for the little ones and still enough thrills to excite the whole family.

In addition, the amusement park will have a newly designed entrance area from Whitsun onwards. The lovingly and cosily designed area directly opposite the car park will then allow better access to Bayern-Park and faster entry at up to eight ticket booths. The new entrance area consists of a large forecourt, a half-timbered building with a new kiosk, a large fountain with a lion statue and a large show stage.

During the holidays, guests will be greeted by a life-size version of the mascot, the lion Franz Xaver. He received an update during the winter break and shines in new splendour. In cooperation with an animation studio, the “real Bavarian park animal” has been created as a fully movable 3D model as a further development of his analogue predecessor and will also be available as a merchandise item in the souvenir shop.

 

Bayern-Park Adventszauber

A special highlight awaits visitors even after the end of the season. On the first three weekends in December, Bayern-Park invites you to a stylish winter opening in an extraordinary ambience. In addition to fun and action in many rides, guests can look forward to Christmas decorations and treats, a festive show programme and a variety of market stalls – from regional to traditional.

Prominent guests and extraordinary events

A regular guest at Bayern-Park this year is Ben Blümel. The popular KiKa (german children’s TV) presenter, pop singer and actor is not only the new brand ambassador of Bayern-Park, but also a passionate theme park visitor and roller coaster lover himself. Visitors can look forward with anticipation.

In addition, there will be other events and special campaigns. On 22 April, the “Applicants’ Day” is on the programme. On this day, interested people can take a look at the leisure park and look over the shoulders of the various employees. From 5 to 7 May, the Bavarian Championships in Target Sprint, a combination of running and shooting, will be held on site. In addition to normal operations, those interested can watch the competitions here.

On 3 June, there is a must-attend event for all fans of the popular Eberhofer crime novels when actors from the films and fans meet at Bayern-Park for the first Franz-Eberhofer e.V. Fan Club Day. Then, on 31 July, there will be a big action day in aid of the Bavarian Radio charity Sternstunden e.V. with a world record attempt at Bayern-Park. And from 12 to 13 August, visitors from near and far can already look forward to the popular Sternkrieger und Fantasy Treffen (Star Wars and Fantasy Reunion).

The most important dates 2023 at Bayern-Park at a glance:

DateEvent
01.04.2023Season opening
22.04.2023Applicants' Day
28.-30.04.2023Free admission for winter birthday children (birthday in the period 11.10. - 31.03.)
05.-07.05.2023Target Sprint
03.06.2023Franz Eberhofer e.V.-Fan Club Day
31.07.2023Action day in aid of Sternstunden e.V. with world record attempt
12.-13.08.2023Sternenkrieger- und Fantasytreffen (Star Wars and Fantasy Reunion)
12.-17.09.2023Free entry for school starters
07.-08.10.2023Last regular operating weekend
01.-03.12.2023Bayern-Park Adventszauber
08.-10.12.2023Bayern-Park Adventszauber
15.-17.12.2023Bayern-Park Adventszauber

Secure tickets now

Bayern-Park opens its doors again on 1 April. The season ends on 8 October. Day tickets, season tickets and blue tickets (valid on all “blue”, i.e. normally less frequented opening days) as well as the corresponding vouchers are already available in the online shop.

Birthday children, regardless of age, have free admission on the day of their birthday upon presentation of ID. From 28 to 30 April, all “winter birthday children” up to the age of 13 who have a birthday during the closure period from 11 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 will also be allowed to “re-celebrate” their birthday and enter the park for free. At the beginning of the new school year, from 12 to 17 September 2023, first graders pay no admission fee and also receive a small gift.

 

What do you think about the new offerings at Bayern Park? Just write it here under the report in the comments field or in our social media channels:

 

          


About the Freischütz and other roller coasters

Bayern Park

The Bayern Park belongs to one of the more highly praised amusement parks in Germany, which attracted the attention of all roller coaster enthusiasts with the construction of the Freischütz at the latest. We arrived at the park just in time for the opening, after all we only had a drive of about 6 km that day, and the first impression was quite positive at first, although the weather unfortunately didn’t want to play along like the day before.

Because the ride at most of the attractions still didn’t start at this time we enjoyed the Heege comet swings, which offered airtime en masse. Unfortunately we overlooked the complete upper part of the park with wave swinger, an arcade including butterfly in space optics, as well as the second butterfly for the time being, thus this part was only checked off towards the end of our stay.

Froschbahn

The relevant part of the park in Bayern Park is further down anyway and can deliver the first roller coaster ride of the day with the Froschbahn. Fortunately, the small coaster by Zierer opened just slightly delayed, but still had to do some test rides. Due to a small group of youngsters the train was well filled and did a few laps on the small oval-shaped layout with a great atmosphere.

Achterbahn

Friends of particularly long roller coaster trains will find something for themselves at the New Tivoli roller coaster by Zierer with the incredibly original name Achterbahn. This roller coaster is identical in construction with the Green Scream from the English Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea, but rides a little better due to the later year of construction.

After the train has been dispatched without being checked, it goes up the lift hill after a left turn and the train shows itself in its full splendour for the first time. Very shallowly follows the first descent, which quickly gains speed in a right turn. A left helix follows, so that the layout results in a figure of eight. Above the station building you take up momentum again and pass the following valley quite powerfully. Another helix, this time clockwise, follows and circles the lift just before it goes straight on the shortest way to the end of the ride.

The roller coaster has a very neat layout and makes a good impression due to the strong forces, if it weren’t for the totally incompetent staff. It’s a big mystery to me why the train was completely humid despite the covered station and the staff, standing at the other end of the station just so that nobody notices that they are there, not even the idea to clean the train before the first guests were waiting for minutes for the ride. Funnily enough, even Karlos Taxi in the Danish Djurs Sommerland was cleaned by an older gentleman before our ride. But in the course of the day this competence turned out to be missing basically everywhere in the park.

Schmetterlingstanz

After a meandering ride on the HUSS Airboat Schmetterlingstanz we went over a bridge towards a part of the park with no real meaning. Not every park can afford a totally filthy lake with a steamboat ride and an artificial castle with a Bavarian look at its edge. Through its optically appealing garden a small round boat trip takes you to a grotto where a fountain of youth is waiting for you – the hottest temptation for Americans since the beginning of Europe.

The luge of the game park

In this corner you will also find the entrance to the game park of the Bayern Park, probably the only reason why it is worth the long way to come here. Friends of luges might see it differently, but the extra charge of obligatory rides in a theme park, where even the Heege rides are free, borders on impudence. In addition, there is another installation in the upper park area. As the slope at the Olympus of the animals seemed to be too steep, we went back the same way.

Thalon

Connected to civilization again we could observe the first test runs of the Freischütz, but it did not seem that the rideF would open soon. Therefore we climbed up the mountain parallel to the track, as at the upper end of this way Thalon a modified tower construction was waiting for me to explore its interior.

The ride inside the former observation tower is a Zierer Family Freefall Tower, the best examples of which are the double ride Tikal of Phantasialand or Majas Blütenturm of Holiday Park. In contrast to the brilliant fun machines, however, one tried to enhance the ride with an unimportant background story, in which one lights up scenes in different heights without any animatronics. The concept itself could be good, but for that the ride itself would have to be more dynamic and not operate in toddler mode, similar to Screamie in Heide Park. The scenes inside make absolutely no sense and can also be left out completely, which would even enhance the ride and also improve the look of the tower a lot, because the extensions for the interior scenes don’t make the tower very attractive, even though the ugly paint scheme already retouched some of it.

Next to the tower is a Zierer Kontiki in a stone look, which doesn’t really offer anything apart from the queue where you should watch your head as an adult. But admittedly, this way it fits wonderfully into the theme area Thalonia.

Wildwasser-Rafting

Below these attractions, one of the highlights of Bayern Park is on display: the ABC Rides Rapid River Splash Wildwasser-Rafting. At first glance, this beautifully designed ride seems hardly to differ from the smaller installations of the manufacturer, but a compact design was not abandoned in favour of a flow channel in front of the lift hill, including a waterfall. The lift here shows itself in a very simple version, which is unfortunately a pity, because the 45° lift of the Lost World from Erse Park Uetze is a small highlight, just like the vertical versions. At the top, the boat slowly but surely picks up speed and after the first curve combination at the latest, you are spinning like crazy. In addition, the boats have a very distinct upswing, so that the descent is very entertaining. At the end of the slide, the obligatory splash waits for the passengers, but as it is typical for the manufacturer’s constructions, the wetness of the ride tends to zero.

Freischütz

The second highlight is right beside the rafting course, but unfortunately, the entrance is at the other side, so that from here, one has to walk long ways up and down again, although there is a bigger open space at this side and the waiting area could just start here. Beautifully designed waiting areas do have their charms and the opera roller coaster Freischütz could well cope with a suitable area, but instead, a path below the inside tophat leads through two buildings with zigzag pathways to an open square before entering a labyrinth. After this square follows the bigger one before there are several smaller paths with different obstacles, but here only one path was open, leading to the very modern station.

As soon as you sit down in the train, it starts immediately; first a little bit forward, then a little bit backward and in a funny way only perceptible in the first car, the train slowly starts moving and is immediately accelerated forwards. Always leading upwards, it goes with a lot of pressure into the first inversion. In the following valley you are pressed into the car very powerfully, but also shaken properly. The following looping goes the way a looping should go, but often does not. Afterwards an insanely intensive Bavarian curve with a heartline roll that is just as intense is performed. A little more leisurely follows a steep turn whereupon the last inversion is completed. Another right turn later you pass through the station and with a lot of luck you are sent on a second lap through the course. Most of the time you are braked and driven back to the starting position.

The Freischütz is a very good roller coaster by the Munich roller coaster manufacturer Maurer Söhne, but it is justifiably notorious for its pronounced rocking of the cars, which is especially more pronounced in the front car of the train than in the rear car. As prospective mechanical engineers, Jan and I immediately thought of several possibilities for improvement, but these would unfortunately result in higher friction and thus a far less snappy ride. In my opinion, the intensity of the layout is grossly exaggerated despite the powerful driving style, because the greyout during the ride, which is often advertised as a core feature, was consistently omitted despite several directly consecutive rides.

Pictures Bayern Park

Conclusion Bayern Park

Bayern Park is a well-kept amusement park with some good rides and a reasonable price/performance ratio both in terms of park admission and catering. However, a park loses a lot of sympathy points as soon as the staff turns out to be incompetent, unfriendly and above all unenthusiastic. Apparently, it is quite normal in this area, as the staff in the premium partner hotel Schlappinger Hof was the same. Sure, the Bayern Park attracts tourists and you don’t have to like them, but elsewhere you force at least one or two smiles on your cheeks while you serve your guests professionally and without grumbling – why they don’t do it here is highly questionable, although it was only one day in the off-season.

 

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