Holiday Park : Future home of Air Force One?

[Pedro]

It has been a rumour for a few days now: Plopsa is apparently interested in buying Air Force One. Yes, the plane that carried the U.S. presidents between 1975 and 2005 and was put to auction a few days ago.

The website Pretparkkriebels announced in a recent article that the aircraft could be purchased by the group to be part of a retheming of their famous coaster Expedition Ge Force.
The goal is to pay tribute to the U.S. military, as there is an American base not far from the park and soldiers often come to visit.

More infos on the 2 articles (in Dutch)
Link 1
Link 2

 

[Novas]

That's a really strange idea for a European park. Expedition Ge Force could do with a tidy up, but it doesn't need a re-theme and certainly not to anything military related! Personally I'd rather they invest whatever this would cost into the rest of the park. :/

 

[Sam]

I think it'd be awesome if they did this.

EGF is a truly great rollercoaster, let down by poor theming and presentation. A substantial re-theme would add enormously to the attraction, and give it more 'soul'. Hopefully this will include a covered station.

Given the world-renowned status of the ride, it's current presentation is a bit embarrassing.

 

[Pedro]

The covered station for EGF has been a rumour every year since Plopsa bought the park. I'm still hoping that it will come true one day.
I agree they have to do something with EGF theming, and the coaster also need to be repaint as it looks awfull at the moment.
But I'm not sure if buying that plane is a good idea, they could spent the money in something else.

 

[Sam]

They seem to have taken a leaf out of Europa's book up-the-road, who have a full-size replica of the Mir SpaceStation in front of EuroMir.

 

[Pedro]

The Station Mir at EP isn't very popular, and I dont think that it adds anything to the Russian Area Theming. That isn't the greatest example to take at EP!

 

[Ramius]

They seem to have taken a leaf out of Europa's book up-the-road, who have a full-size replica of the Mir SpaceStation in front of EuroMir

It's not a replica. It is the original training modul for the Mir SpaceStation.
It was much more popular when it was installed in 1994.

 

[Tim]

There's one big thing about this that confuses me. Expedition Ge Force along with most of Holiday Park is built in the middle of a wood isn't it? How the heck are they going to fit a plane in there as well?

Buying Air Force One seems like an extreme and rather crazy thing to do :S

 

[Anonymous]

Parks official Press Release on the matter, translated by Google of course.

Holiday Park / Plopsa has cast their eye on Air Force One. The U.S. aircraft transported five U.S. presidents (Gerald Ford, James Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush), and First Ladies more vice-presidents.

The aircraft is up (after 30 years of service) for sale, the auction site the American Federal Agency offered. The Air Force One would have a special place in the Holiday Park, the German park of the Belgian Theme Park Group, Plopsa.

"The Holiday Park has a special connection to the Americans, "said CEO Steve Van den Kerkhof," a 30 minute drive from Park has the largest American air base outside of the United States of America. A little further there are a U.S. hospital. Today there are 50,000 U.S. soldiers still stationed. Together with their families, please visit our park regularly.

Many Americans spend their holidays with us. Park manager of the Holiday Park Bernd Beitz continues: "The Air Force One in the To bring Holiday Park, is a tribute to our American guests. So we bring a little America to Germany. In addition, it would be a first step in the be theming a new zone for our attraction bigFM Expedition GeForce. "

The Holiday Park has been taken over by Plopsa 2010. Plopsa builds and operates Theme parks for the whole family. The bigFM Expedition GeForce has been repeatedly to elected Europe's best steel roller coaster, and others because of its spectacular downhill and Speed ​​of up to 120 kilometers per hour.