Funpark Impressions (July 2006, Germany)

[Little Jo]

Today I went to the funpark in Zirndorf. Last (and also my first) time I went there, I just visited the shop. This time I would like to see the inside (= park) too.

To make it short: most of the funpark can be seen on the 360° views provided on the German playmobil homepage (it's a shockwave animation which can be started via the homepage -- go for the funpark hyperlink on HP). I can confirm: it actually looks the way as shown there  (probably depicted people are different ones  )

Nevertheless I want to share some views which can not be seen on those "animations".

Let's start with the entrance and a few meters after it. There you can come to a line of small "shops" integrated into the well known castle walls (on the photo you can e.g. see the label "Eis", i.e. icecream) and guarded by the lion knights. Actually that's not the castle you can also go inside but only a small "dummy" wall -- cf. second respectively third photo which shows the "behind the scenes view" of walls1.jpg.

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[Little Jo]

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Beneath the about 1.5 metres high figures which are standing around everywhere (also cf. the previous lion knights) there are also smaller variants, which are mainly used to be placed on top of poles (they are about 40 cm large). In this photo also very interesting how "first aid" is spelled (= "1. Hilfe") -- never have seen this in such a spelling (normal would be like in English "Erste Hilfe").

And not only the PM figures are in nearly real-life-size are available, also animals: second photo shows my favourite pets (some rabbits for sure  ) which are quite hidding and I discovered by incident. In the third photo you can see a milk cow, milked by a little girl.

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[Little Jo]

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some more animals

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[Little Jo]

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the HOB center is an inside area where the kids can play with Playmobil in an enlarged Playmobil location. There are also some attractions like climbing frames and areas for eatings and snacks. There is also a large screen for presentations and films.

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[Little Jo]

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right before leaving the funpark there is a exhibition of some dioramas in front of the shop. They are really lovely and built with much love to details, and often with humor.

E.g. in the first photo you can see a landing platform for the red dragon (the dragon itself is unsharp, because it was animated and moving up/down -- and my exposure time was quite long due to the indoor light situation).

In the second photo you can see how PM used the microset in the background to simulate perspective. I quite fantastic idea.

The third one a "frozen" moment in knight's life. (I wonder how they stabilized the flying rope that way ... hair spray? glue? ...  )

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[Little Jo]

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and finally inside the shop a football diorama.

The stadium ... the fans of the blue team ... and the fans of the red team.

Interesting here that the linesmen look totally different from the referee set 

[Little Jo]

I hope you enjoyed my little photo report and hopefully you will get the opportunity to visit it some day too.

(I wonder if the other funparks -- USA, Greek, Malta -- look the same ... does anybody know?)

[Richard]

Thank you very much, Jochen ...

GREAT PICTURES !!!

In the United States we really have three FunStores even though the two in Florida are called FunParks. They are nothing like Zirndorf.

Orlando and North Palm Beach Gardens have areas for children to play with some Klickys. They also have a few Klicky theme displays and a few large figures. What they really have is a Playmobil store that usually has a fairly complete stock of available Playmobil sets. The "FunStores" also usually get the new sets about the same time that they are released in Germany. (All the other stores usually have to wait for a year to get the "new" sets.)

Maybe Brian and Panos can tell us about the Malta and Greek locations

Do we have a member from Paris ?

Thanks again and all the best,
Richard

[Sylvia]

Thanks for sharing your photos with us, Jochen!

I always enjoy looking at the dioramas they build because there's so much going on in them.
They certainly do come up with some imaginative uses for things, like the micro set you've pointed out.

The football stadium looks great! I wonder why the police are arresting that man...

Maybe Brian and Panos can tell us about the Malta and Greek locations

Do we have a member from Paris ?

I think we have only one French member so far, and that is Teddyboy.
He's located in Poissy which appears to be quite close to Paris.

[Captain Henry]

Thanks for the pictures Jochen! Since the chances of getting there for me are rather slim, it is wonderful to see the photos! I especially like the detail shots of the dioramas - they are terrific.