There is Walt Disney’s original theme park Disneyland in southern California in the USA and in Paris in Europe, and Astrid Lindgren’s World – a theme park where children can meet Pippi Longstocking, Emil and Karlsson from the Roof – in Sweden. Finland, Estonia’s neighbour, has Moomin World, based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. In July, Lotte, a cartoon character cherished by Estonian children, will spring to life in the theme park Lottemaa, built at the site of a former Soviet missile base near Pärnu.
This article is published in partnership with Life In Estonia magazine.
Lottemaa (Lotte’s land – ed.) will open on a 18-hectare seaside land plot near the summer resort of Pärnu on 26 July 2014. It will be the largest family theme park in the Baltic States. Lottemaa is an original family leisure park based on the dream world of Janno Põldma and Heiki Ernits, and will offer both children and adults exciting activities and playful forms of participation. Popular animation films, theatrical productions and books by Põldma and Ernits introduce Gadgetville, home to the friendly and ever helpful girl-dog Lotte, with her faithful friends: the cat Bruno, the rabbit Albert, the old traveller dog Klaus, a fly called Jaak and other fun village inhabitants.
Children can play with Lotte and her friends, visit Lotte’s home, build some inventions with Lotte’s father Oskar, have fun on the adventure trails and work out with the cat Mati in a stadium. Kids can discover the house of the rabbits, with its mysterious attic and surprising planetarium, and also visit the cat Bruno’s house, with its fantastic scale models of Lotte’s trip to the South. Over a hundred different attractions and games wait to be discovered.
There are exciting activities and opportunities to make things on your own and to test your nerves on the adventure trails, for both small and big visitors. In the fox Giovanni’s home, you will find a 500-seat theatre, where the in-house troupe will perform a funny play about life in Gadgetville several times a day. There are also performances by singers, dancers and circus artistes. In the evenings, there are plays and concerts for adults.
As one must have a proper meal during an active day, there is a food street with seating for 250 in Lottemaa – even the best Tallinn restaurants would be proud of the menu. For a light meal, there are also various pancake kiosks around the theme park.
On hot summer days, one can visit the beach, which has a play area for children and opportunities to cool down by going for a swim or enjoying an ice-cream shake.
Lottemaa is the place to be if you have the urge to discover things and to find joy and playfulness. It is a place for all age groups, and positive emotions are guaranteed. The programme of the amusement park also caters to Latvian-, Russian-, Finnish- and English-speaking visitors.
As Lotte says: “Goodness makes life interesting.”
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Cover photo: Lottemaa has eleven large buildings and over a hundred different attractions. Almost 90 staff members are at work on a daily basis taking care of visitors.
Video: The tandem Põldma and Ernits have made two feature-length animated Lotte films:“Lotte from Gadgetville” (Leiutajateküla Lotte) in 2006, and “Lotte and the Moonstone Secret” (Lotte ja kuukivi saladus) in 2011, which have both been dubbed into English.
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Why don’t you publish your own articles on this topic? I much prefer EW’s view as it is more balanced. This reads like a press release. Real journalism would list more details like visitor expectations, ticket prices, cost to build, etc.
Interesting article about Lottemaa. A much different view:
http://doteebubble.blogspot.com/2014/07/lottemaa-horrible-ride-for-taxpayer.html