Abandoned Amusement Parks in Berlin | Urban Exploration | [pics]

Urban-Space

Abandoned Amusement Parks in Berlin | Urban Exploration | [pics]

By The Grand Douche of York ⋅ April 28, 2009 ⋅

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Filed Under abandoned theme parks, berlin, urban exploration

Rough guide to "Spreepark"

Berlin is home to one of the creepiest amusement parks in existence. Abandoned and empty since early 2002, the “Spreepark Berlin” (also known as the “Kulturpark Plänterwald”), initially opening its gates in 1969, was the only constant entertainment park in the GDR and, after the unification of Germany and its capital, in Berlin. The park came to experience financial problems by 1999. Debts, mismanagement and other complications forced the closure and abandonment of “Spreepark”. You can still walk past the former amusement area, but it lies behind fences and is “patrolled” by private security guards nowadays. The abandoned place offers splendid photo opportunities and locks you in with its somewhat surreal atmosphere, it’s a call to urban exploration! This is a story of a recent trip to the amusement park.

Any successful operation requires some thought out preparation. Preparing for the trip ahead involved checking out some blog posts and forum topics about the security “forces” in the park. The internet is full with mixed reports concerning this issue. Some say that the park is left completely empty, some say that the only watchful eye patrolling the park is an old lady with a dachshund and some say that the park is practically packed with security. Others warned about the seriousness of getting caught, police would be contacted immediately and any trespassers would be shot (alright, alright… maybe I exaggerated a little…).

The situation was cleared up immensely upon having some good old German beer in the morning. Everything seemed clear, the desire to penetrate the abandoned area could never be suppressed, especially by an old lady with a dachshund. Sneaking into the park turned out to be pretty easy. The fence was not particularly impressive, actually, it was not impressive at all… I’d say even an 8 year old could have climbed over it. So no problems there… Upon landing on the other side, we were greeted by strange voices that sounded very similar to the voice of a fairly distinct creature. The lonely and angry private security guard.

Sneaking away from the area of entry and going deeper into the abandoned park opened up fantastic sights. Abandoned structures, deserted roller coaster rides and forsaken control booths were popping up everywhere. Nothing was spared from mother nature, man-made machines have been “consumed” by her over the years. The photographic opportunities were almost orgasmic. Our guard began to sink gradually, while being devoured by this magnificent place and almost finding ourselves in a state of trance. This of course led to us running around the park, photographing every little thing and eventually getting caught.

Now the procedure was nothing out of the ordinary. Caught by a very mean looking guard (he was riding a bicycle, in an attempt to save the environment) inside an abandoned circus tent. The accusations followed immediately, denying the obvious and playing the ignorant fool was crushed by a simple German “Nein!” (and what seemed to be a reference to the huge warning signs all around the area, advocating that trespassers will be prosecuted). Being “politely” asked to remove all the pictures or face prosecution caused some sense of horror. After deleting every single picture taken in the span of three hours and getting evicted from the abandoned amusement area, depression set in.

But, after taking a sip of some good old German beer, my mind screamed: “DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE!”. The rest is self-explanatory. Moral of the story: Hurray for beer! Sub-moral of the story: Private guards can go fuck themselves (yeah I know you guys are just doing your job… but still).

Here are some of the better pictures taken inside the former amusement area: