A trip to Wild- und Freizeitpark Willingen, Germany
After spending a few days snowboarding, the kids were in need of a little break to recharge. We decided to drive over to Willingen to check out the ski resort, and visit the wildlife park.
Wild- und Freizeitpark is located in Diemelsee Nature Par, Hesse. It was founded in 1966 as a fairytale park but has added native wildlife enclosures over the years such as red deer, Barbary macaques, a brown bear, raccoons, wild boar, sheep, goats and birds of prey. The park also features a dinosaur trail, along with a playground area that offers small funfair-style rides. It was noted on the website that the rides would be closed out of season, which we had anticipated, especially considering the constant drizzle that fell on the day of our visit. The entry fee was €22.50, and it is also worth mentioning that the park operates as a non-profit organisation.
After reading mixed reviews about the park, we did not know what to expect. We followed Google Maps and found ourselves outside a hotel and having to cross a ski slope in the van to reach the carpark. We drove around the slope to find a second track to the park inaccessible with mud. We decided to leave the van in the hotel car park and walked across the ski slope to the entrance. We only spotted two members of staff on the day. One was working on the entrance and cafe, and the other was feeding the animals. We were handed a map of the park and left to explore.
We decided to head up towards the Fairytale Forest. As we walked through the trees we found wooden carts and houses with moving replicas of well-known fairytale scenes. The scenes look quite dated, and some were a bit scary, but the kids enjoyed running and pressing the buttons to each one. Some of the older scenes, along with the empty park (we encountered one other party of 3 adults) gave the whole visit an eerie and abandoned feeling! The kids did recognise some characters from the more popular fairytales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, however, we did not recognise some and were unable to translate them. As well as fairytales, there were some large underwater and jungle scenes. They looked like newer additions and were more modern than the others. Sam loved the jungle scene.
As we walked around, the wildlife enclosures were dotted around the Fairytale Forest. Our biggest surprise was coming toward the brown bear enclosure. The Bear came out of his indoor closure and was curious to see who was visiting. He was definitely the highlight of the day!
We saw many of the larger animals; the deer were very tame and the kids were amazed at the size of their antlers. The owls and birds of prey were all being fed when we walked by and Sam relished watching them eat the mice! We did notice that many of the smaller animals were not in their enclosures and we put this down to being out of season.
There were many surprises, some quite bizarre, as we walked around. There is the odd museum room, such as the hunting museum full of taxidermy and information on hunting. There are also two large fish tanks housing native fish. Our biggest surprise was the Geisterkeller ‘Haunted Cellar,’ which was a dark maze with windows into halloween type scenes. Sam found it all very entertaining but Esme screamed for the exit!
We walked through the ride attractions towards the dinoland trail. Most of the rides were inaccessible, but the smaller carousels and single rides were working. Esme rode a few of the smaller rides and Sam had a play on the park, even though it was wet and slippy. We ended our visit with the dinotrail. Some of the dinosaurs, although a bit damaged and weathered from years of exposure, did not stop the kids from enjoying spotting and naming them. They were also incredibly lucky to spot a wild red squirrel in the adjacent woods!
Luckily, we had packed food for the kids, as nothing was available inside the park in terms of food or drink. The cafe and stalls were not open. Although there was a small cafe open at both the entry and exit of the park, we decided it was best to head back towards the hotel next to the car park for late lunch.
We had spent the entire morning exploring and enjoying the various attractions within the park, and with all the things to see and do, it could easily become a full day trip in the warmer summer months. The park is a mashed up mixture of different things, some very old, but this made it interesting and quirky! So much of it was unexpected and we had great fun. It will be on our radar again if we are in the area during the summer months as it will be a compeltely different experience with everything open and other visitors!
