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2 March 2024
Fashion.at's walk past the 'Geldscheisser' sculpture and packaged and new attractions in Vienna's Prater, which is currently in a state of flux.
March 1st marked the beginning of meteorological spring. This year, the temperatures in Vienna are breaking records. While that's not a good sign for the climate, people are using the warmer days for walks, as Fashion.at did to explore what's new at the Wiener Prater amusement park.
The first 'artwork' that caught Fashion.at's eye was the larger-than-life sculpture of the 'Geldscheisser', which can be translated as 'money pooper'. The 'Geldscheisser' is a symbol of good luck and can be found on Christmas trees as well as New Year's figurines - or, in the case of the sculpture, as a manifestation of the derogatory humor that runs through the Viennese dialect. The word Geldscheisser is used in the phrase "I don't have a Geldscheisser at home" to express that a person doesn't have enough money to buy expensive things.
In recent years, the area of the Vienna Prater has shrunk. Some parts, where once open-air carousels and indoor ghost trains invited visitors to ride on colorful horses and get frightened by zombie bandits, have been completely replaced by apartments and public buildings. The heyday of plastic horses and zombie freak shows seems to be over. Children and teenagers prefer other attractions. The strategy of the Vienna Prater to become a year-round amusement park for the whole family has been developed over the last few years due to the changing climatic conditions and the desire of visitors to find recreation and fun even in winter. Attractions in halls that can be closed or opened, such as the 'Jump World One', replaced the old roundabouts. In a phone call with the Vienna Prater, Fashion.at was told that another partly indoor attraction - the roofed 'Laser Dance' - will be opened at the end of March.
Earlier this month, on March 15, the Prater Museum will open with a permanent exhibition on the history of the Vienna Prater and the development of carousels over time. The wheel of time for new indoor attractions seems to be turning faster these days. The ongoing transformation of the park's attractions will continue this summer with the opening of the 160-seat 'Magic World Vienna' theater with event and gastronomy spaces on the Riesenradplatz. The Magic World will be managed by Anca and Lucca Lucian, the reigning FISM World Champions of Mental Magic. It's announced that magicians from all over the world of all genres will appear in stage shows for all ages, alternating in English and German. Courses and workshops for beginners and advanced are also planned. Well, maybe there will be a course for aspiring clairvoyants to tell the future what the Vienna Prater will look like in five years and whether the money invested has paid off. After all, even the Vienna Prater has only a paper mache-acrylic 'Geldscheisser'. But maybe it will bring luck!
Images, from left: The sculpture 'Geldscheisser' and carousel horses in the Wiener Prater.
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