Featured Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Topics: News, Theme Park
Joshua Nair
It's a truly tragic story for adrenaline junkies.
What was once a 'symbol of pride' and claimed to be the biggest theme park in Europe now sits idle.
Several abandoned rides and stranded attractions were once what thousands of families and kids looked forward to, but they have now all been deemed useless.
Located in Ankara, Turkey, the site was formerly known as Ankapark before changing to Wonderland Eurasia shortly before opening.
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Many flocked to the massive park, which is over 1.3 million square metres in size, when it opened its doors in March 2019.
However, just 11 months later, the tourist attraction shut up shop for good, with several rides and rollercoasters left on the grounds to rust away.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan held the park in high esteem during its peak, calling it 'one of the symbols of pride' for the country.
But these words have seemingly been tarnished since then, with weeds and wildlife around Wonderland Eurasia consuming its remains.
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Upon opening, it became an instant hit with tourists from around the world as it reportedly consisted of 26 large rides and a whopping 2,117 smaller rides, with all of these situated in 13 huge tent structures in a colossal outdoor space.
A car park with space for 1,000 cars was constructed, and the park even installed a fountain that would shoot water over 100m in the air to impress its expected visitors.
It was predicted that Wonderland Eurasia would bring around five million guests in every year, but issues with construction, lawsuits and unpaid wages eventually cost the park dearly.
It was meant to be Turkey's answer to Disneyland, as it reportedly cost an eye-watering £637 million to build.
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It took just two days for something to go wrong at the park, with a rollercoaster breaking down, public restrooms being left in horrible conditions and several rides left unfinished.
A number of areas around the park were still closed to the public after its official opening as building hadn't been completed in time, with all this meaning that the following year, the park closed for good.
That wasn't the end of the drama though, as operators struggled to pay wages and electricity bills.
Today, broken parts of the theme park litter the abandoned original site and it has become a hotspot for thieves looking to steal electrical equipment.
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Announced by Ankara's mayor Melih Gokcek in 2013, it was first surrounded by accusations of corruption and legal issues.
The next mayor, Mansur Yavas, blamed the downfall of the project on his predecessor, even going as far as to file criminal complaints against him for abuse of office and negligence.
Meral Aksener, a Turkish politician and close associate of Yavas, spoke on the scandals prior to the park's collapse, stating: "Ankapark is the concrete version of all the corruption and waste that has been carried out in Turkey to date."
All the hope in the world, and it sadly looks like it has amounted to nothing.