Gardaland Resort is an amusement park located in northeastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Opened on 19 July 1975, the resort includes Gardaland Park, Gardaland Sea-Life, Legoland Waterpark, Gardaland Hotel, Adventure Hotel and Magic Hotel. It is adjacent to

Lake Garda Lake Garda ( it, Lago di Garda or ; lmo, label= Eastern Lombard, Lach de Garda; vec, Ƚago de Garda; la, Benacus; grc, Βήνακος) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between ...

. The entire complex covers an area of , while the theme park alone measures . Sporting both traditional attractions and entertainment shows, it attracts nearly 3 million visitors every year. In June 2005, Gardaland was ranked fifth in Forbes Magazine's list of the top ten amusement parks in the world, with the best turnover. According to 2011 data is the eighth in Europe by the number of park visitors. Since October 2006, the park has been owned by the British company

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investme ...

. Major attractions at the park include

Mammut A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of t ...

, Jungle Rapids, Fuga Da Atlantide, Shaman, Blue Tornado,

Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...

and Oblivion: The Black Hole which opened on 28 March 2015. The park's mascot,

Prezzemolo ''Prezzemolo'' is an Italian animated television series created by Lorenzo De Pretto and Giuseppe Ferrario. It is based on characters from the Gardaland theme park, and Gardaland distributes the series. The show was broadcast on Italia 1 from 7 ...

, was popular in the Italian licensing market during the 1990s and the 2000s.

History

Built on the eastern shore of

Castelnuovo del Garda Castelnuovo del Garda is an Italian ''comune'' (municipality), in the Province of Verona, in Veneto, on a couple of morainic hills few kilometers south-east from Lake Garda. Verona is about 20 km to the east, Venice is 140 km east and ...

, Gardaland opened on 19 July 1975, between Peschiera and

Lazise Lazise is a ''comune'' (municipality) and town in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about northwest of Verona. It is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. As of 31 December 2004, it h ...

. It has expanded steadily in both size and attendance, topping 1 million visitors annually for the first time in 1984. By 2007, attendance reached 3 million. Gardaland is now the eighth-most-popular theme park in Europe, and is run and operated by the

Group. It has a total of 32 rides, including 7 roller coasters and 3 water rides. The roller coasters are Blue Tornado,

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

, Ortobruco Tour,

, Kung Fu Panda Master,

and Oblivion: The Black Hole. Fuga da Atlantide is a

Shoot the Chute Shoot the Chute is an amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp or inside a flume into a lagoon. Unlike a log flume or super flume, which generally seats up to eight passengers, a modern-day Shoot the Chute ride ge ...

. The park opened a ride based on the

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first ...

film franchise called Jumanji - The Adventure for the 2022 season, featuring a large

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

figure.

Themed areas

Attractions

Roller coasters

Water rides

Dark rides

Flat thrill rides

Family rides

Other attractions

Gallery

Food, features

File:Casa di Prezzemolo.JPG, Fantasy Kingdom File:Esterno Fast Food Blue Tornado Gardaland.JPG, Fast Food Blue Tornado File:Il covo dei bucanirei fast food gardaland.JPG, Pirati Covo File:154Gardaland.JPG, Bar Hawaii File:177GardalandSaloon.JPG, Silver Saloon File:184GardalandMexico.JPG, Cantina Mexicana File:Stazioine del TransGardaland Express Gardaland.JPG, alt=Station of the TransGardaland Express, Transgardaland Express File:Punto informativo parcheggio.jpg, Information centre outside the park

References

External links

* *
Information about Gardaland

Gardaland Weather
{{Merlin attractions Buildings and structures in the Province of Verona Gardaland Merlin Entertainments Group Amusement parks in Italy 1975 establishments in Italy Amusement parks opened in 1975