Category: Germany

Wandering around the Wilhelma

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Wilhelma

The zoological and botanical garden Wilhelma in Stuttgart has its origin in the year 1829, where neither the botany and zoology played a role. The king of Württemberg Wilhelm I planned a bath house in the park of rosenstein’s castle after some mineral springs were found. Due to the high costs, it took a few years until the groundbreaking ceremony in 1842. On the advice of the architect Karl Ludwig von Zanth, the bath house became the Moorish country house. For the wedding of the crown prince in 1846, the Wilhelma, which now consisted of several buildings, pavilions and greenhouses, was officially inaugurated.

After the dissolution of the Württemberg court the Wilhelma went into state ownership in 1918/19. From then on, the Wilhelma was open to the public as a botanical garden and was even used in 1939 as part of the Reichsgartenschau. Heavily damaged by bombing in 1944, the park was reopened in 1949.

With the reopening, the first animals moved into the park. In the following years an aquarium and bird show, as well as various animal exhibitions of different subjects were presented. The number of animals gradually added up and thus in 1953 a zoological Garden formed.

With the approval of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament on the further expansion of Wilhelma to the zoological and botanical garden in 1961, new buildings were created, which still characterise the park landscape today. Thus, the enclosures have mostly the charm of a zoo of the 1970s. Although some enclosures are built very interesting, you mostly look at dismal fences or walk through dreary animal houses. Really nice and modern, however, are the enclosures from the 1990s onward, where species-appropriate animal husbandry is respected. Particularly of interest are the African ape house and the Amazon house.

Pictures Wilhelma

Conclusion Wilhelma

The Wilhelma is a beautiful, albeit slightly confusing park, where you automatic stay slightly longer then expected due to the topographical location of the park. Despite its 2.4 million visitors a year, the gastronomic offer in the park is manageable and nice at the bottom, as well as at the top of the park. In this regard, if you look at the less visited, but outstanding, zoos in Hannover and Hamburg the state is slightly surprising, e.g. the only country-led zoo in Germany seems to be slightly sluggish in the renovation of its old enclosures. On the other hand, the entrance fee to Wilhelma is favorable, which is why a visit to Germany’s second species-richest zoo is worthwhile.

 

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Wilhelma

Legoland Deutschland

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Theme Park:Legoland Deutschland (since 2002)
Part of the Resort
Legoland Deutschland Resort
Address:Legoland Allee 2
89312 Günzburg
https://www.legoland.de
Operated by:Merlin Entertainments Group

Legoland Deutschland in Günzburg, located between Ulm and Augsburg in Bavaria, is one of the largest Legoland theme parks of the Merlin Entertainments Group. Like every Legoland, the park is characterised by its numerous replicas of national and international buildings in the Miniland section of the park. In addition, Legoland Deutschland offers an exquisite number of roller coasters and other rides for the whole family, all of which are also excellently staged by the well known clip-on bricks. In general, the park is well thought-out and can show some atmospheric themed areas that merge very well.

Fun Fact #1: Legoland Deutschland is not the first Legoland in Germany. As early as the 1970s, there was the first Legoland directly on the Baltic Sea, Legoland Sierksdorf. Today, however, the site belongs to Hansa Park. 

Fun Fact #2: Originally, the small roller coaster Drachenjagd was supposed to open with the park and to be called Bergwerkbahn.

 
 
 

Highlights of the Theme Park

 



 

Das große LEGO Rennen

A wild family ride

 


 

Drachenjagd

The small family coaster

 


 

Dschungel X-Pedition

A surprising log flume

 


 

Feuerdrache

The large family coaster with the dark ride section

 


 

Flying Ninjago

The original interactive roll-over ride

 


 

Maximus – der Flug des Wächters

The entry level B&M Wing Coaster

 



 

Miniland

The large miniature area in the middle of the park

 


 

Power Builder

The Kuka Robot ride

 


 

Tempel X-Pedition

An interactive dark ride

 


Legoland Deutschland

Ninja training in Legoland

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Preface

What do you do if you are a fan of the Sky Fly rides of the manufacturer Gerstlauer and completely disregard the opening hours of the Holiday Park in advance but are already in Darmstadt? Certainly not the way back of 500 km to Hamburg, when you can also have a way back of about 1000 km, but with one or the other ride. Surely you shouldn’t make this decision at 10 o’clock in the morning, so that you don’t reach Legoland Deutschland until the afternoon due to the rather modest condition of the south German motorways. At the entrance to the parking lot we found out that the rides close already one hour before the actual closing time of the park, so we only had about 90 minutes left for the park and Flying Ninjago.

Legoland Deutschland

Tempel X-Pedition

In 2013, a good three years after Legoland Billund, the dark ride Tempel X-Pedition opened at Legoland Deutschland, where you can go on an interactive treasure hunt through the Egyptian temple armed with pistols in search of the tomb treasure of the pharaohs. The ride is handsome and original, but a little too short. Although the rides in Billund and Günzburg are the same, the outdoor area here is much more convincing.

Flying Ninjago

In the same year in which the prototype of the Sky Fly rides was presented to the public in Nigloland, France, Flying Ninjago, the second ride of this type, was opened. Since then, the prototype, which was designed after the quite popular in-house animation series Ninjago, has been putting its more or less daring passengers upside down or not, but unfortunately without The Weekend Whip, the title music of the series, as soundtrack. Instead, you accumulate your rollovers under shallow Asian-sounding music, which can be numerous even without much practice. Unfortunately, the ride was operated without the last two rows for most of the time, so that there was some waiting time in the otherwise empty park.

Halloween in Legoland

Interestingly enough, Halloween was already taking place at the time of our visit, which is why the medieval area was significantly redesigned and the Feuerdrache (fire dragon) was therefore shown in a different guise. Nearly all figures were transformed into ghosts with sheets and the soundtracks were deactivated or changed, but this limited the sense of the dark ride before the actual roller coaster part a bit. For the more courageous children there was also a little Maze, which was indeed operated during the week, despite the small crowd.

Pictures Legoland Deutschland

 

What is your opinion about the Gerstlauer Sky Fly Flying Ninjago?  Just write them in the comment field below the report or in our social media channels:

 

          

Legoland Deutschland