Let's travel together #315 - Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park (Vienna, Austria)

Keeping your inner kid alive or simply being childish once in a while no matter what the age number is, represents one of the most important things for me in this life. I often find it equally as important as health and love, two dominant things that many of us are missing in different quantities.

I'm saying that you must remain a kid or at least keep the inner kid inside your heart alive because once you stop fooling around and enjoying little things, you will hardly find moments that make you happy, constantly being focused on the adult life and the responsibilities it comes with, happiness slowly occupying a lower and lower position in your priorities.

I might be wrong, but after almost three decades of being on this planet, this is my experience gained so far and I fight daily with stress, worries, problems and all kinds of challenges that try more or less to take my childhood away, but which I will never give up on.

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Happily, activities related to childhood are not missing during most of my trips and I often enjoy all kinds of experiences that stir smiles and lots of good moods that tend to remind me about childhood where you could stay worry-free.

During the trip to Vienna, this feeling was perfectly described by the Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park also known as The Wurstelprater or The Prater where we had planned to spend lots of money taking advantage of the machines we could find inside.

However, on the way there we took a quick stop in the park, enjoying little things like the colors of the nature that was still numb due to the December's cold temperatures, the ducks, but also the horses and pony that wore a suit as well.

We booked our trip in December because of a good offer to the overall vacation, but also because we thought it would be nice to see the Christmas Markets that seem like having a magic apart in Vienna. What we neglected though, was the cold temperatures that made our overall trip very challenging, with bodies hardly to be ever prepared in front of the bitter wind, frost and sleet we experienced every single day in Vienna.

Adventure, tradition, and Viennese charm at once are what describe the best Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park which I think is hard to compare with a place that would radiate so much energy and joy as the Vienna Prater.
Even if I mentioned at the beginning of this post that it sort of is the best place to keep your inner kid alive, that is really not resumed to the younger audience but to every single person on this globe as there are a little over 200 machines for entertainment that obviously would make fit all categories of ages.
The amusement park was founded and first opened nearly 260 years ago which made it occupy many interesting titles for a long while before amusement parks becoming a thing in the whole world.
Such as, Wiener Riesenrad had the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985, this one also being part of some popular movies like "The Third Man" (1949),"James Bond 007 – The Living Daylights" (1987) or "Before Sunrise" (1995). The same wheel is popular for being able to reach a top speed of 2.7 km/h which makes a ride last 4 minutes only, while all the other Ferris Wheels we can see around the world have an average of 12-15 minutes per ride.

The Wurstelprater Amusement Park is placed in a location that no matter how easily will make you get lost through lots of entertainment machines, you will never lose sight of the green scenery that adds a pinch of relaxation to the overall adrenaline you will feel to be around. The same applies to the joys of happiness that make a great duo with the trill of the songbirds.

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Even if I failed taking a picture of every single machine surrounding us, I can guarantee that each of them has a charm and magic apart that would make you want to buy a ticket for and give it a try. I'm saying that after seeing quite a few rollercoasters, water rides, haunted houses and what not, that even if they might seem similar to the others, on a closer look you will see that they don't have much in common other than the theme.

And if we are still on the subject of haunted houses, above you can see two that I really found interesting. Actually, the marionette from the first picture I only spotted when it was too late, meaning when I approached to read how much a ride is and this one started to move and speak with me that obviously scared the hell out of me, lol.

There are some offers which might give you a good deal if you intend checking out more of the amusement park's attractions, but otherwise, it's a one of a kind location where you have to purchase a different ticket for every activity.

On the haunted houses I even spotted some security cameras that would show you bits from the inside that some might hate if they take them as spoilers, but for a person like me who was never into horror movies, games, or even activities, are always welcome.

Though, I had to skip every single activity in the Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park back in that day due to not feeling too well after all the days spent in brutal cold temperatures. I know this might sound funny and unreal based on the heat the whole globe is facing lately, but believe me, it's hard to focus on anything when you can't even walk normally anymore because of the legs that would never be warm enough.

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With the purpose of warming up our bodies for a bit, we also entered a small souvenir shop that had this mascot on the entrance with a funny message at the bottom of his kitchen apron. Sadly, we couldn't stay for too long as we were the single customers and for some reason the vendor seemed really unfriendly and put a lot of pressure on us to either buy something or go away.

However, if you visit The Wurstelprater during the winter, there is a Christmas Market held in there where you can have a hot drink or even enter the Madame Tussauds Museum.

Sadly, visiting this place off-season has both advantages and disadvantage. Such as, even if you enjoy less people around and a better view over the amusement park that is absolutely gorgeous no matter if you jump into any of those attractions composing it or not, the overall scenery is pretty sad, with very few tourists and even fewer attractions that are actually running.

That's how, if you pay attention to the pictures attached to this post, you will notice that maybe more than half of the attractions, restaurants, shops or anything else are either locked, have the access blocked or the windows covered with shutters.

Hence why, even if I might sound selfish, all these places made me feel better as I sort of had pressure on my shoulders for not taking advantage of the opportunity to get into those machines because of not feeling well, but it surely contributes on making me want to return one day when obviously, the weather conditions are better and more attractions are open.

One of the attractions that are open most of the time and which we also spotted from the distance, is called Prater Turm. This one measures a dizzying height of 117 meters and it's a carousel ride that takes you to the top of the tower.

The maximum speed this one can reach is of 60km/h and it offers you a great view over most of the trees and buildings you can spot around you... as long as you can spot anything on that speed and keep your eyes open along the ride. The price for one ticket is of 10EUR which is the average ticket price for most of the amusement park's attractions.

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Another notable aspect to be mentioned is that you will spot for quite a few times statues of Basilio Calafati here and there, the most imposing one being in the center of the amusement park. This is possible because Basilio Calafati is considered one of the most notable figures in the Wurstelprater’s history which is funny as it's often assumed to be a fictional character.

Calafati started performing at The Wurstelprater as a magician under the stage name of Salamucci, 20 years later earning a license to operate the merry-go-round. In addition to the renovation of the carousel there are rumours stating that Basilio Calafati have created several attractions for the amusement park, as well as a restaurant and billiard hall. This one died at the age of 78 and his tombstone can be found on the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church even in 2024.

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Along with the attractions that more or less bring a unique touch to the amusement park that is so well known around the world, there are also plenty of common activities you can enjoy such as shooting targets or trying to catch all kind of toys, and even restaurants that did gain some popularity as well because of the tasty food.

When locals talk about Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park, they often mean just one part: the largely open-air entertainment complex, but as I said, this place is a lot more than that, almost representing a whole new world where you can't be sad or bored.

The options you have range from classics like pony rides, ghost trains, dodgems, mini-golf, high-adrenalin activities like indoor sky diving, the Black Mamba ride, or the 117m-tall Prater Turm mentioned before which terrified me just looking at it. And I don't even have a problem with height in general.

The area stays open all year round, but many attractions are only open from spring until the middle of autumn, so if you want to take advantage of the whole full, avoid visiting Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park off-season as we did.

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The full address of the Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park is Riesenradplatz, 1020 Vienna and you can reach it by using one of the subway stations that flank the entertainment complex.

Praterstern station marks the main entrance to the amusement park and is best for reaching the Riesenrad. You can take U1 or U2 subway lines or trams 5 and 0 to get there.

Other places I've seen during my stay in Vienna:

• The Austrian Parliament Building
• Capuchin Church (Katholische Kapuzinerkirche "Hl. Maria von den Engeln")
• The tour of the Christmas Markets from Vienna, Austria
• Stadtpark
• Shop Windows of Vienna, Austria
• Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus)
• The Imperial Crypt
• Column of Pest (The Plague Column, Vienna, Austria)
• St. Charles's Church (Karlskirche)
• Schonbrunn Palace
• The Donauturm (Danube Tower)
• Café Gloriette, Schloss Schoenbrunn (Wien, Austria)
• Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 700+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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