Skyline Park
Skyline Park is a amusement park in Bad Wörishofen, Bavaria, Germany. The facility includes several thrill rides, family attractions, and playground amenities. The park is run by the Löwenthal family of showmen.
History
Kirchdorf Leisure Park and Skyline Park's beginnings (1975–1998)
The beginnings of Skyline Park can be traced back to the Kirchdorf Leisure Park in Stadtbergen, a town within the district of Augsburg. The park - essentially a giant playground - was located there from 1975 to 1991, but a disagreement with the land's owner over expansion plans led to the park's move to its present location in Bad Wörishofen. The Leisure Park's attractions consisted mainly of several slides, pedal-powered rides, and an electric-powered car ride. The park began to install larger rides in the late 90s, most notably with the addition of the Anton Schwarzkopf roller coaster Silberpfeil. In 1999, the park was bought by the Löwenthal family of showmen and was formally reopened as Skyline Park. Park owner Joachim Löwenthal quickly brought a multitude of larger rides into the park upon its acquisition, including the Sky Rider suspended roller coaster and Bob Racing powered bobkart attraction.Continued growth and development (2004–2014)
In the spring of 2004, the Löwenthal family approached Maurer Söhne, a German firm whom were at the time making headlines around the industry with their innovative X-Car coaster design. The park opened the Sky Wheel roller coaster in late 2004, and formally in 2005. The coaster was shaped like a vertical arc and described to the public as a "ferris wheel without spokes". The success of the Sky Wheel resulted in several similar attractions and X-Car designs built around the world over the next several years, with varying degrees of success.In 2009, the former Condor was purchased from Heide Park and rechristened as the Sky Twister. The Autoscooter bumper cars, which were installed during the previous year, was expanded in order to become the largest bumper car attraction in Germany. For the 2010 season, Skyline Park added the Sky Rafting rapids ride, which had formerly traveled on the fair circuit with the Löwenthal family. Its addition was a part of a 2-hectare expansion to the northeast corner of the park.
The 2012–2013 seasons saw Skyline Park purchase two retired attractions from the United Kingdom. For the 2012 season, the Sky Jet thrill ride was added near the Sky Rafting. The ride was a Zierer Star Shape that had formerly operated as Bling at Blackpool Pleasure Beach from 2004 to 2011. Sky Jet was removed following the 2019 season and sold to Fantasy Island in the UK. For the 2013 season, the park purchased the Whirlwind, a Maurer AG spinning coaster, from the former Camelot Theme Park, which had ceased operations in late 2012. The coaster was refurbished and rechristened as Sky Spin.
Expansion and further investments (2015–present)
Various new attractions were installed at the park during an expansion to the western side of the property between 2015 and 2019. During this time, the Italy-based SBF Visa Group provided multiple rides, most notably the High Fly pendulum ride, Kids Spin junior spinning coaster, and Zero Gravity rotor. Joachim Löwenthal retired two well-known attractions from the fair circuit and permanently installed them at the park, in 2017 and 2019, respectively; Wildwasserbahn III, the world's largest transportable log flume, and Geisterschlange, a ghost train style dark ride. The headlining installation, however, was Sky Dragster, a prototype Spike Coaster from Maurer AG. On this attraction, riders straddle a monorail-ensue track and are able to control the speed of their car. Although the coaster concept won various innovation awards, it ultimately suffered from severe mechanical failures throughout its lifetime, to the point that for a period of time in 2020 park management brought the coaster's long-term viability into question.For the 2020 season, two major new rides were added to the park. The first, Sky Fall, was a portable drop tower that stood tall and is one of the tallest active fairground drop towers. As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had cancelled festivals across Europe, Löwenthal invited Sky Fall's operators – the Goetzke family – to set up the attraction at the park in order to make a profit. Although it was intended to only be rented out for 5 months, the Sky Fall stayed at the park through to the 2021 season. The second attraction was the Allgäuflieger, a Funtime Starflyer attraction. The Allgäuflieger currently stands as the world's tallest of its kind at, and is thus one of the tallest tower rides ever built.
In October 2021, Löwenthal declared to the press the park's intentions to invest €8-10 million into a major new coaster for the 2024 season, which would become one of Germany's tallest roller coasters at of height as well as a track length of. It was reported that Bavarian manufacturer Gerstlauer would manufacturer the project. Although the project ultimately didn't come to fruition, the park installed three attractions from SBF Visa between 2023 and 2024; the children's coaster Flotter Otto, the Looping Alois thrill ride, and launched Berg- und Tal Hetz.
Rides
Roller coasters
| Name | Year opened | Manufacturer | Description | Ref |
| Berg- und Tal Hetz | 2024 | SBF Visa Group | A compact launch coaster that utilizes drive tires positioned on an incline to reach a top speed of. Originally intended to open in 2022, the project was delayed multiple times. The coaster was initially set up for commissioning at SBF Visa's factory before being delivered to the park, opening in August 2024. | |
| Flotter Otto | 2023 | SBF Visa Group | A double-helix children's coaster that reuses the former Bob Racing station. | |
| Kids Spin | 2017 | SBF Visa Group | A small spinning roller coaster that navigates a figure-8 layout. The attraction model is known formally as the Compact Spinning Coaster 3 Loop | |
| Sky Dragster | 2017 | Maurer AG | A prototype model of the Maurer Spike powered coaster. Riders straddle the track on a motorbike car and are able to control their speed along the track. The attraction was originally slated to open in 2016, but various technical problems at the time pushed its opening back. Even after opening in 2017, however, Sky Dragster was plagued with technical difficulties. In February 2020, following up on increasing issues and mounting frustration, officials from Skyline Park pulled Sky Dragster from operation and deemed it closed until further notice. However, after a thorough reprogramming, the attraction reopened in 2021 with the ability to complete multiple rounds around the track. | |
| Sky Rider | 2001 | Caripro | A spinning suspended roller coaster. Riders are hoisted up to a height of via an elevator lift, where they then make a smooth descent along the track. | |
| Sky Spin | 2013 | Maurer AG | A compact spinning coaster. The coaster originally opened in 2003 as Whirlwind at the now-defunct Camelot Theme Park in Lancashire, England. When the park closed at the end of 2012, the coaster was sold and relocated to Skyline Park. | |
| Sky Wheel | 2004 | Maurer AG | A SkyLoop roller coaster, in which riders descend a vertical lift hill and descend through a loop. The coaster is a part of Maurer's X-Car coaster line, and at the time of its opening was a world's first. |
Other attractions
- Humoristisches Velodrom - An arena filled with disproportionally designed bicycles.
- Kids Farm - A large children's playground, built in 2015.
- Sky Jump - A bungee trampoline attraction for children.
- Sky Walk - A zipline obstacle course suspended above the ground, installed in 2015.
- Spassbad - A swimming pool area with a small pair of waterslides, built in 2004.
- Trampolin - Trampolines.
- Wasserspielplatz - A water hole and area where children can cool off.