Conny Land

place

Lipperswil

opening

1983

Visitors

320,000 (2005)

surface

3 hectares

staff

> 70

Website

www.connyland.ch

Conny Land

Location of the park

47.614166666667 9.0566666666667Coordinates: 47 ° 36 '51 " N , 9 ° 3' 24" E ; CH1903: 721,646 / two hundred and seventy-four thousand nine hundred and seventy-five

The Conny-Land is a Swiss theme park in the district of Lipperswil the community Wäldi ( Kanton Thurgau ), between Kreuzlingen and Frauenfeld . The amusement park, which opened in 1983, is best known for its former dolphinarium and its Patagonian sea lions .

history

On February 21, 1983 Conny Land AG was founded by Konrad, Gerda and Roberto Gasser. It was planned to run an amusement park with a restaurant, animal show and animal training. Conny-Land developed into the largest amusement park in Switzerland. In the 2016 season, 60 different attractions were operated.

Conny Gasser died in 2007, his wife Gerda in 2008. In 2009 Roby Gasser and his wife Cindy took over the management, while sister Nadja Gasser took care of the dolphins and sea lions. In 2013, after the dolphins had moved to Jamaica, Nadja Gasser left the business.

Attractions

Sea lion plants

The sea lion facilities consist u. a. from a sea lion arena and the sea lion lagoon. In the sea lion arena you can watch the sea lions all day long. Shows are performed several times a day in the Sea Lion Lagoon. Before the lagoon was used by the sea lions, the dolphin shows took place in it until the end of the 2013 season.

Château Revue Theater

Artists performed several times a day in the Château Revue Theater. The interior of the theater was designed in the style of a medieval castle and serves as a disco outside the park opening times. For the 2016 season, the theater was converted into a 4D cinema, as live performances during park operations are currently no longer worthwhile, according to the park management.

Entrance area of the roller coaster

Cobra (roller coaster)

Construction of the Cobra roller coaster began at the end of 2006. Due to delivery problems of the Russian manufacturer, the commissioning could not be celebrated until July 28, 2010.

Cobra has a length of 220 m. This is equipped with a looping and two camel's humps. The starting point is at a height of 36 m. The train reaches a top speed of 85 km / h. The design is known as a shuttle coaster . It is the highest and fastest roller coaster in Switzerland and the largest linear roller coaster in Europe. By the 2011 season, most of the rails had been replaced in order to smooth out bumps and enable a smoother ride.

5 D Space Trip Simulator

The Space Trip Simulator is a simulator that can be found at every fair. The attraction is packaged in a hall with an outer facade that is reminiscent of the surface of the moon. A futuristic door leads into a space-like corridor that leads into the space terminal. This is the waiting room before entering the simulator booth itself. Well-known characters from the Star Wars films can be found there. Next, the passengers are loaded into a small elevator, which simulates as if one were going to the 3,000th floor. Then the simulator cabin is entered, in which a long space flight is shown. As soon as this is over, the guests leave the attraction through a hallway flooded with fog. For the 2015 season, the original simulator including theming was torn down and replaced by a new high definition 4D simulator from Entertainment Ressource GmbH.

In 2014 the building was completely restored and provided with an open 5-arm platform. The projection screen has a size of 12 by 10 meters.

Pirate ship

Other attractions

Parrot circus
Bumper cars
Cable car
Giant slide
Flume
Park railroad
Ship swing
Space-Drop (Kiddy Free Fall Tower)
Flying Elephants
Dino-Attak (interactive Dark Ride by Zamperla )
Conny-Land city
Voodoo Island (Splash Battle by ABC Rides )
Magic Tree (interactive circular ride)
Jungle Adventure (indoor climbing park & playground)
Mammut Tree (cable car with freefall effect from Swiss Rides)
Laser Temple (indoor obstacle course with laser beams)
Cobralino (mini roller coaster for children)
5G the mega shooter

Former attractions

Dolphins in the lagoon

Open air dolphin lagoon

The dolphin lagoon opened in 2003. A dolphin show was shown there several times a day. Even outside the show times, bottlenose dolphins could be observed there under the open sky. The lagoon was 81 meters long, 35 meters wide and had a capacity of 13 million liters. The lagoon was also framed by palm trees and a yellow sandy beach, which created a tropical atmosphere.

After eight dolphins had died within three years in Conny Land, the last Swiss dolphinarium, the Swiss parliament passed a ban on the import of "dolphins and other whale species (Cetacea)" on May 29, 2012 (Art. 7 Para. 3 Animal Welfare Act) . The ban has been in force since January 1, 2013.

As a result, Conny-Land decided to close its dolphinarium at the end of 2013. The last two dolphins, “Chicky” and her daughter “Secret”, were successfully transported to a dolphin lagoon on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Chicky's eight-year-old boy named "Angel" fell ill while preparing for the planned relocation and died on November 3, 2013.

petting zoo

At the end of the 2013 season, the petting zoo , which was located next to the Cobra station, was closed. In its place, the Mammut Tree (Mammut Tree) was erected for the 2014 season .

criticism

In the 1990s in particular, Conny-Land was repeatedly the target of criticism from animal rights activists: although keeping dolphins complied with legal requirements, there was still very little space available for the porpoises. In 2000, a baby dolphin died one week after it was born as a result of oxygen loss during childbirth, and another dolphin was stillborn a month later. In September 2001 another baby dolphin was born. In 2002 a 14 year old dolphin died. In 2002 a new, 8 times larger dolphin lagoon was opened, which was able to alleviate the ongoing criticism of the dolphin keeping. In September 2004 and May 2005 two more baby dolphins were born. The dolphin was born in September 2001 and died on May 9, 2008. On June 20, 2008 another dolphin was born in Conny Land. In 2011 there were again demonstrations by animal rights activists. In November 2011, an eight-year-old male dolphin died. Only a few days later there was another death, which led to prosecutor investigations.

tradition

Conny Land AG was under the direction of Konrad «Conny» Gasser and, together with the Swiss Circus Conelli, represents his award-winning life's work.

2004 "Honorary Prix Walo " for extraordinary services to the Swiss show business
2005 "Golden Pony Award" from "Games & Parks" magazine
2014 "European Star Award" The "Mammut Tree" attraction was awarded 4th place in the "best family attraction" category.