Gardaland

Gardaland Resort is an amusement park resort in Castelnuovo del Garda, Province of Verona, Italy. 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. The entire complex covers an area of 520,000 m2 (5,597,233 sq ft), while the amusement park alone measures 200,000 m2 (2,152,782 sq ft). Since October 2006, the park has been owned by the British company Merlin Entertainments. Major attractions at the park include Mammut, Jungle Rapids, Fuga Da Atlantide, Shaman, Blue Tornado, Raptor and Oblivion: The Black Hole which opened on 28 March 2015. The park's mascot, Prezzemolo, was popular in the Italian licensing market during the 1990s and the 2000s. With three million annual visitors, Gardaland is ranked as the seventh most visited theme park in Europe. History The concept for Gardaland dates to the early 1970s when Livio Furini, an entrepreneur from Verona, was inspired by Edenlandia in Naples and later by a visit to Disneyland in California. Built on the eastern shore of Lake Garda at Castelnuovo del Garda, Gardaland opened on 19 July 1975, between Peschiera and Lazise. Furini founded ElettronicAnimazione in 1978, a company that designed theme park attractions. During the 1980s, the first large themed attraction was constructed in the park named The Valley of the Kings. This was followed by the addition of a dark ride named I corsari, Blue Tornado, Jungle Rapids and Space Vertigo. In 2004, Gardaland Hotel opened, which was the first hotel in Italy to provide themed accommodation. Merlin Entertainments took ownership of the park in 2006. A Sea Life aquarium opened on site in 2008. In the following years, more hotels were built. Gardaland Adventure Hotel opened in 2016 followed by the Gardaland Magic Hotel in 2019. Additionally, the first Legoland Waterpark in Europe was launched in the park in 2021. Gardaland was forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened on 13 June 2020, making it the first Italian amusement park to reopen after the COVID-19 lockdown. The maximum number of daily visitors in that season was restricted to 10,000 per day. As a result of a global deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, a variety of rides, food outlets and hotel rooms were developed across Merlin theme parks themed around the Jumanji film franchise. The park opened a ride called Jumanji - The Adventure for the 2022 season, featuring a large animatronic figure. The ride was the first theme park attraction to be based on the Jumanji franchise. In 2023, another Jumanji-themed attraction named Jumanji - The Labyrinth opened in the park, which is a walkthrough attraction featuring a mirror maze and jungle maze. In 2025, the park celebrated its 50th anniversary. In that year, Gardaland inaugurated a water dark ride named Animal Treasure Island, based on an original intellectual property registered by Merlin Entertainments. The 6,000 square metre ride was an investment of approximately 10 million euros. Additionally, four attractions were introduced to the park in 2025, including a remodelled area named Dragon Empire, Bim Bum Bam Live, a live show based on the Italian television puppet Uan, A.I. – The Future is Here, a multimedia show exploring artificial intelligence, and Prezzemolo and the Mystery of Hidden Worlds, a 4-D cinema show. Mascot Gardaland's mascot is a young dragon named Prezzemolo, the protagonist of an Italian animated television series. Prezzemolo became the park's mascot in 1984. He was popularised in Italy through cartoon theme songs and Gardaland adverts. In 1993 the park ran a competition to modernise Prezzemolo's image. A local cartoonist won and was responsible for making the character more visually appealing to the public. Resort hotels Gardaland Hotel Gardaland Hotel comprises 247 rooms, including 36 themed rooms. The hotel has two bars, the Wonder Bar in Wonder Palace and the Pool Bar at the Blue Lagoon pool area. The onsite restaurants are the Wonder Restaurant Buffet and the Matka Family Gourmet Restaurant. Alongside the launch of the Jumanji - The Adventure ride in 2022, four Jumanji-themed rooms were introduced to the hotel. Gardaland Adventure Hotel In 2016, the Gardaland Adventure Hotel was inaugurated. Constructed across 15,000 square meters, the hotel features 100 themed rooms, including 90 standard rooms, 8 superior rooms and 2 junior suites. The rooms were designed with four themes: the Arctic, Arabian, jungle and the Wild West. The hotel, located adjacent to the Gardaland Hotel, was an investment of 25 million Euros and features the Tutankhamon Restaurant, which was designed to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple. Gardaland Magic Hotel The third themed hotel opened in 2021. Gardaland Magic Hotel comprises 128 rooms with three themes: Enchanted Forest, Magic Ice Castle and Great Wizard. The four-star property was an investment of 20 million Euros and was designed around the concept of a magical enchanted kingdom. Themed areas Attractions Roller coasters Water rides Dark rides Flat thrill rides Family rides Other attractions Former attractions Attendance The park was a success in its first year, receiving approximately 100,000 visitors and a revenue of almost 140 million lire. In 2015, Gardaland reported a record year in volume and growth. Two thirds of visitors were families with children and one third (33%) were "thrill seekers" aged 15 to 25. A third of all visitors were international. The park's growth had been the result of its strategy to attract international visitors who were staying at Lake Garda by working with local hotels and campsites. Visitor numbers were also boosted by the Oblivion coaster. The park achieved an 11.5% rise in visitors from 2,600,000 in 2017 to 2,900,000 in 2018, driven by the addition of Peppa Pig. In 2024, Gardaland was listed as the eighth most popular theme park in Europe, having received 2,950,000 visitors in a year. It was twice as popular as Mirabilandia in visitor numbers. In 2026, the park ranked as the seventh most popular theme park in Europe, with 3 million visitors. Gallery Food and features References External links Official website