Two fun parks on road to Mysore

Two fun parks on road to Mysore
The Times of India

Bangalore: For the city’s adrenaline junkies, here’s some good news.

Two amusement parks are coming up — one on the outskirts of Bangalore and the other on Mysore’s suburbs — both within a couple of months.

Currently, the formula for success is: design the best parks, import the latest rides, throw in a few themes, adhere to safety norms and let people enjoy. Basic premise: people are willing to pay, if it is really worth it.

Wonderla Amusement Park coming up on an 80-acre campus near Bidadi, could set your nerves tingling and pulse racing with death-defying rides — like Maverick which only feels like a roller-coaster, Wonder Splash where the train falls into water from a height of 45 ft, and Magic Carpet on a breathtaking sky.

Designed on the lines of such parks in Singapore and Germany, this park, to be inaugurated on September 30, would be the closest to the city, the other being FunWorld in the city itself.

Sammy’s Dreamland was closed down after an accident which left one child dead and many injured. While this park has not managed to get back its licence to operate, Neeladri Amusement Park near Electronics City is also closed for renovation and likely to open after 6-7 months. Way back in 1994, Crazy Water Amusement Park was the city’s first, but it also shuttered down after a couple of years.

Says Kouchouseph Chittilapilly, managing director, Veega Holidays and Parks, Kochi: “There are three reasons why we chose Bangalore. One, there are no world-class amusement parks here. Two, purchasing power is very high and, three, many residents here have seen parks abroad, and would love to share such experiences with their children.”

Fun Fort is coming up on the outskirts of Mysore, where the focus would be on ambience rather than bone-chilling rides.

Says Santosh Kumar, MD, Fun Fort: “With themes such as Arabian Nights, Toons Village and an African Zone, we are looking at attracting tourists too. Our amphitheatre is in the middle of a lake along with a Grand Canyon ride,” he adds.

“The idea is to take people closer to a different country or planet. Our Dragon Den is a long water ride developed by our own engineers. It won a national award last year,” points out Yogesh Danghe, managing director of GRS Fantasy Park, Mysore.

Today, safety standards are the order of the day and new amusement parks adhere to the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) norms.

All to cater to that tiny devil which lives somewhere within us, and which wants to leap from the roof-top, or fly, or dive deep — just for the kick of it. And, if there is a net of safety norms, amusement could be fun.