Kongeparken is an amusement park in the village Ålgård

Ålgård

Ålgård is an area functioning as the administrative centre for the Gjesdal municipality in Rogaland, Norway, in the Jæren region. It is 10 km southeast of Sandnes...

, near Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Kongeparken is the biggest amusement park in the southwest of Norway and Rogaland's biggest tourist attraction. The park offers over 50 different rides and adventures for the entire family.

History

Kongeparken was opened by Gabriel Ålgård May 16th 1986, and was intended to be a park with outdoor activities such as BMX, roller-skating, arcades, golfing etc. The building came to a total of 220 Million Norwegian Kroner. Kongeparken had over 200 000 visitors opening year, but already in July 1986 the park was bankrupt. In 1997 the park was bought by its current owners, the Lund-family, who has over a hundred years experience through Lunds Tivoli. The park is owned and operated by Rogaland Fritidspark AS. The son of Bjoern and Veslemoey Lund, Haakon, is the leader of the park today. The Lund-family did some major changes in the park, such as adding new concepts and put a larger focus on activities. After years of toil, the family was able to reverse the trend of few visitors in the park. In the beginning the number of visitors approx. 40 000. Since then the number of visitors increased to 199, 451 in 2009 (196 765 visitors in 2008, 177 415 in 2006 and 159 978 in 2005).

Theme park: Bears

The Lund-family gave Kongeparken the theme of bears. They were the first in Europe to import teddybears from America, and started the import in the late 1800. Kongeparken is the only amusement park in the world that holds the theme of bears. In 1997 the bears Brumle and Brumleline moved into the park. The King and the Queen of Bears lives in the castle of Kongeparken. In the castle you'll find one of the biggest rides in the park - a roller coaster with spinning gondolas.

The park has a BearBotel where your teddybear can check in for a spa treatment, while you enjoy the park.

Brumle, Brumleline, the King and the Queen of Bears, The Bie Queen, Pysjamas, Tranbamsen, Storm and the Icebear is some of the bears you can meet in the park. In the Freia theater you can watch the bears of BrumleBand or make chocolate with the bears in the Chocolate Factory.

Rides and adventures

Kongeparken has over 50 rides and adventures besides the restaurants and the other things you expect to find in an amusement park. The park has an expansive renewal program and introduces new rides every year. The news in 2010 is the Tilt Tower, King of the Hill and Sword in the Stone.

Kongeparken is an amusement park most aimed at children between 3-12 years, but also offers adventures for children of all ages.
As a guest you can sled down Norway's longest (1000 meter) bobsleigh track, make your own chocolate in Freia's Magical Chocolate Factory or lend a digital 2D or 3D camera. The park is full of exciting rides for the entire family.

Awards and Criticism

Kongeparken has won a lot of awards, both local, national and international.

• In 2008, Kongeparken was named one of the two best amusement parks in Norway by the national newspaper Dagbladet.
• Spirit Award for the best leadership training program. The prize is awarded in the U.S.
• Brass Ring Award for best print advertising in a park with 250 000 visitors. The prize is awarded in the U.S.
• Pony Award. The prize is awarded in Italy.
• Rogaland Travel Award 2005.