Tropical Islands Resort

[wheresrenaldo]

 

"On the left: a $110 million airship hangar, the world's largest freestanding building, located 40 miles south of Berlin. On the right: that same building seen today: home to Tropical Islands Resort, a massive water park and indoor rainforest. Huh?

 

The massive hangar, measuring 1,181 feet long by 688 feet wide by 351 high, was built by Carl von Gablenz, a German entrepreneur who thought that helium airships were the future of heavy machine transport. His company, CargoLifter AG, used the hangar to house a prototype airship capable of carrying 60 tons, but by 2002 they were bankrupt and ordered to sell the building to a Tanjong, a Malaysian company. Tanjong was not in the airship business.

 

Instead they repurposed the hangar for their Tropical Islands Resort, a massive indoor theme park. They welded the 600-ton steel doors shut, replaced its steel skin with 20,000 square yards of translucent film, and brought along everything they needed to build a totally immersive, totally fake paradise: 600 feet of sandy beach for a fake shoreline, 50,000 trees of some 600 varieties, comprising the world's biggest indoor rainforest, and, of course, a nine-story water slide that sends riders shooting down into a 3,000 square yard swimming pool at 44 MPH. Yikes. I think I'd feel safer on the airship. "[Air Space Mag via BoingBoing]

 

Send an email to Kyle VanHemert, the author of this post, at kvanhemert@gizmod

 

Website

 

Looks pretty expansive, and nice.

[DBru]

I'm pretty sure that's a drawing...right?

[deathbydinn]

I'm pretty sure that's a drawing...right?

 

Ummm..no? The park is already open..

[coastercrazy216]

I have seen pictures and videos from this place. It looks freaking amazing.

[Jerrykoala2112]

We were actually making plans to come here next time our family heads to Poland. It's in Germany, but right by the border and not too far away. There was even a special on it on one of those cheesy Travel Channel shows about Mega-Structures. The park itself isn't a theme park, it's all a water park with a rain-forest trail and a fake sand beach.

 

Me, I'm excited! But the water park itself is nothing special. There's only one major slide tower complex....