Photo TR: Vienna Prater

Located just two subwaystops from the Vienna city center at Praterstern the classic city park offers a mixed bag. On the one side you've the signature Ferris Wheel and the unique Funtime attractions - on the other side you've closed up rides and gameshops which seem to rot for years. In between you'll also find a good collection of carnival flats and a so-so coaster collection with the brakeman woodie Hochschaubahn beeing the highlight. It's visible though that Prater Management is trying to revitalize the park by adding a renovated entrance quare with the upper-class restaurant Eisvogel and installing new colorful lightposts in the park. The main problem seems to be that each attraction or restaurant is independently owned and that each owner has it's own ideas and the owners obviously can't agree on future development let alone a flat-fee wristband. This also limits Prater's coasters as they've to fit into one of the properties - as I gathered there were sometimes ideas to install a major coaster but there was never agreement on the sharing of building coasts nor entrance revenue.

After visiting Bakken and Prater this year I've to say that even while Prater offers more signature attractions the look&feel as well as atmosphere is way better in Bakken.

The main reason most tourists visit the Prater

Ferris Wheel machinery

Worlds tallest High-Flyer at 115 meters or 377 feet

This Pinfari coaster will shake you up

Very fragile Ferris Wheel construction

The Vekoma MK-750 Megablitz is actually pretty good

Boomerang with unique lapbar-only trains

Not a sign of excellence...

The rafting ride Alpenblitz by abc-rides is mega-spinning - highly recommended!

This is a sign of excellence

Scenic railway Hochschaubahn

Bext to Ferris Wheel and High-Flyer there's also this option to get a view over Vienna

Funtime Tornado, Volare and small ferris wheel

Funtime' Schwarze Mamaba beeing by far the best ride

As the seats spin freely the ride is always different depending on the weight of riders - sometimes offering massive ejector-air

Ah, yes--the Ferris wheel that was used in Director Carol Reed's The Third Man. That makes it twice the classic. I've wanted to visit this park ever since I saw the movie when I was in college.

I like it when parks "theme up" their old scenic railway rides, too. The tunnels, mountains, and little village really add something to it.

That High Flyier looks amazing! Nice report!

I love seeing photos of Wiener Prater. It is upsetting that so many rides were closed. Did you visit this month? Do you think a lot of rides were closed due to it being the off-season?

Not surprisingly, I hadn't seen a report on this place for quite some time. It still looks like a great time and there are some very intriguing rides there. I'd love to visit sometime. Too bad there has to be a Volare, though.

I was there the last week of September and visited all day evenings Tue-Thu, with Thursday starting the Vienna version of Oktoberfest called "Wiesn-Fest" right next to the Prater. Nevertheless the attendance was always very low - the only rides gathering good crowds were the Ferris Wheel, Schwarze Mamba and Prater-Turm (the HighFlyer). At least somne rounds were possible on the Tornado, Alpenblitz rafting, Break Dancer, TopSpin and the coasters.

The rides seem to open and close at random. The Hochschaubahn and log-flume were only open on tuesday. The kiddie rides mostly closing at about 6pm. Some rides might be closed for the weekdays or season but others were closed far longer. Some walkways were completly dark at night and looked quite shadowy with some local teenagers gathering in these murky areas.

On the other hand there was also construction going on for new rides or attractions in two places.

This mirror maze is clearly closed for good.

^How did the trains with lapbars feel/ride on the boomerang?

The new trains rode okay - beeing the same make than the ones on german carnival Schwarzkopf double-looper Teststrecke - but not really equipped for riders taller than 2 meters. Even if I normally prefer lapbar-only trains IMO the new rubber-OTSRs by Vekoma like I've ridden on Speed Of Sound at Walibi Holland better fit this coaster. Mainly due to the fact that on the lifts and the last inversion of each direction you slightly hang in the restraint - were an OTSR is better suited. On the Schwarzkopf this lapbars work better as those coaster jam you into the seats and you've no hangtime.

After nightfall the dark covers up the unpleasant sights and it can get quite spooky in the deserted sidelanes but if you keep on the main walkways you can have a nighttime carnival air here.

Starting with a spin on the Boomerang

The smaller ferris wheel Blumenrad

Black Mamba with nighttime lights

Entrance plaza with Waveswinger

Eisvogel offers delicious food - mains starting at €20. First class dinning with pop music from the bumber cars next door

Trying to keep the food in...lol

They've a Sorani&Moser Sombrero here - a seldom found and very fun Polyp variant

High-Flyer swirling

The views at night were fantastic

Always good to ride a Break Dancer at night

Right next door to the Dancer is another HUSS ride...

Why did one name a ride "Time To Say Goodbye"???

Someone actually tried the Volare

Ending the last evening with a ride on the Boomerang

I still think that Extasy looks like the most insane amusement ride in human history. There are at least a couple of smaller versions made by Zamperla (?) that roam fairs around the world too.

That park looks cool

Thanks for sharing

Very interesting park. I remember seeing a video of it with Rammstein's "Feur Frei" in the background a while back.

And remember, you can't spell Pinfari without PAIN!

Awesome update! I have always wanted to ride a boomerang that only has lap bars. I know lots of people hate them (yet still ride them and complain - I do not get it) but I love them!!!

Wow, I did not appreciate how spindly those spokes really look on the Ferris wheel until seeing this report. And that Star Flyer? Forget it, NO WAY EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER.

Awesome photos, thanks!

Surely this must be one of the most famous ferris wheels in the world?

Picture above taken from the Third Man film shot in 1949

Thanks for sharing

@RoCo - You should really do the Star-Flyer, the view is amazing at day and night. I guess on a hot day it's even better to get freshened up over the warm city air.

Learned in a small exhibit in the Ferris Wheel station that they could after recent computer model calculations hang up the missing cabins on the wheel. They were first removed after the wheel was damaged after allied bombardments in WWII and it was feared the wheel wouldn't support the weight anymore. But they decided to keep the current load to a) keep the signature look and b) the removed cabins were not stored but they're standing all around Vienna and Austria as tourist attraction and advertisement for the wheel.

^I'm sure you are right about the view, but I think 150 feet is about all I can handle on a Star-Flyer. Any higher than that, I want more than slinkly little chains holding me up. #BigWuss

Very interesting trivia about the Ferris wheel; I had no idea.

Surely this must be one of the most famous ferris wheels in the world?

 

 

Picture above taken from the Third Man film shot in 1949

 

Thanks for sharing

Also in the Bond film The Living Daylights I believe.

Venna Pratter looks amazing. Black Mamba is insane.

Boomerang with lap bars? Take that Carolina Cobra

Boomerang with lap bars? Take that Carolina Cobra

I don't understand?

The new Vekoma trains are pretty comfortable.

I haven't been to the Prater since 1990, so it's really interesting to see these current photos. Thanks for sharing!