Hullámvasút status?

[MestnyiGeroi]

Hullámvasút at Budapest’s Holnemvolt Park is one of the oldest coasters in the world, but it has been SBNO since 2015.

Does anyone here know the situation? Are there plans to revive this ride? Or is it a dead relic already?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[davidm]

When it died there was some discussion on it ; https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/vidam-park-bankrupt-to-close.34979/ but can't say I can recall anything more recent being discussed (on here at least).

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

When it died there was some discussion on it ; https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/vidam-park-bankrupt-to-close.34979/ but can't say I can recall anything more recent being discussed (on here at least).

Thanks for the link. But, as you say, no recent information there. In that thread there was talk of the Budapest Zoo acquiring the property. Even if development is stalled at the moment, I just hope there are or will be plans to reopen the woodie at some point.

 

[Kw6sTheater]

Thanks for the link. But, as you say, no recent information there. In that thread there was talk of the Budapest Zoo acquiring the property. Even if development is stalled at the moment, I just hope there is or will be plans to reopen the woodie at some point.

I agree.
I always enjoy the chance whenever someone brings up a Hungarian coaster on here, as my grandparents immigrated from there and I would love to visit the country someday for heritage reasons. Back on topic - I believe Hullamvasut hasn't been removed yet due to its Ace Coaster Classic status, and likely a protected structure as well due to its age. A part of me still has hope that the Budapest Zoo has plans to reopen and restore this coaster, but the amusement park segment of the property was cleared away in 2015 and hasn't been expanded upon since. This is prime real estate to develop something like the Hungarian equivalent of a city park like Elitch Gardens, Tivoli Gardens, Liseberg/Linnanmaki bar the terrain or most appealingly Grona Lund. One can dream.

 

[TilenB]

The land of the former amusement park has been given to the Budapest ZOO after the amusement park closed at the end of the 2013 season. Most of the amusement rides were removed back then, with only the protected structures such as Hullamvasut, Merry-go-Round and a small dark ride left operating.

At the end of 2015 the amusement area of the park closed to be fully integrated into the aformentioned zoo as a new area called Pannon Park. The concept of the new area seems very ambitious and I believe money has been a bit of a problem, since the opening date of Pannon Park keeps getting pushed to a later date (at the moment the website says it should open in the Winter of 2020/21)...

Relevant bit of the website (if you use Google translate/speak Hungarian somehow, there's a lot of interesting info elsewhere on the zoo's website):

Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert

Állatkert Budapest szívében

zoobudapest.com

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

The land of the former amusement park has been given to the Budapest ZOO after the amusement park closed at the end of the 2013 season. Most of the amusement rides were removed back then, with only the protected structures such as Hullamvasut, Merry-go-Round and a small dark ride left operating.

At the end of 2015 the amusement area of the park closed to be fully integrated into the aformentioned zoo as a new area called Pannon Park. The concept of the new area seems very ambitious and I believe money has been a bit of a problem, since the opening date of Pannon Park keeps getting pushed to a later date (at the moment the website says it should open in the Winter of 2020/21)...

Relevant bit of the website (if you use Google translate/speak Hungarian somehow, there's a lot of interesting info elsewhere on the zoo's website):

Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert

Állatkert Budapest szívében

zoobudapest.com

Thank you!

 

[Peet]

I was going though some old photos of my visit to Budapest in 2017 when I was able to peer over a wall and see the wasteland that used to be Holnemvolt park, with Hullámvasút sitting at the edge:




It made me wonder what the latest is on the reopening of Hullámvasút as part of the zoo. @TilenB mentioned the ambitious "Pannon Park" expansion here's the concept art:

source: http://budnews.hu/news/news/1287/shark-nursery-opened-in-zoo-budapest-the-new-“biodome”-also-started-to-emerge

And it actually seems construction of the biome is fairly well progressed as of August 2019 (spot the coaster in the background):

From Google street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5193719,19.0844958,3a,75y,17.07h,80.25t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjMK9zb6osfhDA2vVgfMH-g!2e0!5s20190801T000000!7i16384!8i8192


Edit: Just found this construction photo from December:

Along with some troubling sounding numbers about the cost of this thing:
https://hungarytoday.hu/pannon-park-biodome-budapest-zoo-open-2021/

There's now a page in English about it on the zoo's website here:
https://zoobudapest.com/en/the-tradition-behind-the-ambition/building-the-future
It still says that Pannon Park is currently scheduled to finish construction in 2020 and open to the public in 2021. Obviously there may be an impact on this due to the virus (especially given the current plight of zoos) but it's good to hear the coaster might still be saved as I didn't hold out much hope for it based on what I saw in 2017 and it's one of Europe's oldest coasters (built in 1922 but opened in 1926 according to RCDB).


PS. request to moderators - could this be moved to News & Rumours? We have moved beyond the initial question and there will (hopefully) be more news to come on this.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Wow that's pretty good progress! It was a bit of a dive when I went back in 2011 but it would be a shame to lose the cred. It gave me a good laugh even if it was ****. I wonder if they are planning to keep the spinner as well?