One of the first things you may notice on approaching Mandoria is that the building it calls home in Rzgów, 20km south of Łódź (pronounced “Woodge”), isn’t very tall compared to your average family entertainment centre. In most places, the roof is just 8 metres high. It is soon confirmed after stepping inside that this is indeed not your average FEC. With its 16th-century trading city storyline and decor, the title of indoor theme park is justified.
The doors of Mandoria were first opened to the public in July 2021. Since then, the park has launched one expansion and plans were recently announced for another. Opening in early 2025, this will take the total indoor space to nearly 30,000 square metres. Add to this land that has already been amassed for outdoor expansion, and the park has a total of 50 hectares to play with.
Merkant, one of Mandoria’s three roller coasters (a fourth is on the way), runs over the heads of arriving guests in the lobby. A double-deck carousel acts as a centrepiece once through the gates. The rest of the rides and attractions are mostly tried and tested family favourites. A one-day ticket is priced online at PLN 129 ($32.30/€29.50).
From fashion to theme parks
Mandoria is owned by the Ptak family (the name means “bird” and the ‘P’ is silent). The park sits adjacent to the Ptak Outlet shopping mall, part of the wider Ptak Fashion City. This is described as the largest wholesale clothing centre in Central Europe.
Now aged 38, Albert Ptak is the second oldest of Ptak group founder Antoni Ptak’s six children. His interest in theme parks was sparked when he lived in Tampa, Florida, and visited Busch Gardens. Having observed the convergence of retail and entertainment that was already happening elsewhere, he decided to test the water at Ptak Fashion City in 2018 with an indoor attraction called Candy Park. This hall full of colourful inflatables proved successful and still operates today.
It just so happened that a larger building was going spare. Originally used to host trade fairs, this was given over to the sale of clothing after the opening of Ptak Warsaw Expo (Poland’s largest exhibition centre) in 2015. This allowed a quick start of investment for Mandoria.
When it came to the park’s contents:
“We had only a vague understanding but a strong sense of direction and willingness to learn,” says Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Now Mandoria’s chief business development officer, she previously worked at Ptak Outlet. Soon after, Dutchman Leroy Koevoets joined the team. An alumni of the Breda University of Applied Sciences, he also spent eight years in various roles at Efteling.
Building the team
“The building of the team was as much a challenge as the building of the park,” says Koevoets, who started as a designer in 2019. He has served as creative director since last summer.
“It was difficult to explain to people who were used to doing real estate that we were not actually building a real city; it was just decoration with the feeling of a city. That’s why we decided to build our own team of architects.”
“Running a shopping centre is extremely easy, building one is even easier,” adds Jędrzejczyk. “In a theme park, you have so many fields to cover. If anything goes wrong, you hear about it immediately.”
Many of the designers working alongside Koevoets were recruited straight out of college. Speed was of the essence – until it wasn’t. “Suppliers normally take at least 12 months to deliver attractions,” he says. “We were supposed to open the entire project in less than a year.”
Getting Mandoria open
The launch date for the park was originally set for the summer of 2020. But of course, this was delayed by the pandemic. All of the sectors in which the Ptak group does business – retail, leisure and exhibitions – were hit hard. When the 15,000 sq m first phase of Mandoria finally opened, there was a change of tact when it came to marketing.
“We had put in place all this storytelling which we were going to reveal little by little,” says Koevoets. “After Covid hit, our goal was just to finish the park. We wanted to open it up, see how we go and then do the rest.”
A handful of attractions opened late, restaurant menus were tweaked and other fine-tuning was made. The chessboard floor tiles are a legacy from the building’s former life, but match the park’s Renaissance theming remarkably well.
As well as those already mentioned, other attractions at the launch included a spinning coaster, Rockin’ Tug, Magic Bikes, Jump Around, Miami, wave swinger, bumper cars, boat ride, pedal boats, bumpy slide, play area, 3D cinema and fun house. Suppliers include C&S, EliPlay, Gerstlauer, Lamborghini, Metalbau Emmeln, SBF/Visa and Zamperla.
Park manager Daniel Zieliński, who joined a few months before opening, says that despite a relatively small budget for phase 1 compared to parks in Western Europe (PLN 100 million or $25m/€21m): “Quality is what distinguishes us. The attractions, maintenance, service, everywhere.”
Theming Mandoria
To get inspiration for Mandoria, Zieliński, Jędrzejczyk and Koevoets visited over 20 parks with Albert Ptak across Europe and beyond. Mindful of generic Polish attractions that have gone before, Jędrzejczyk says, “One thing we didn’t want was dinosaurs. But the topic of trade was perfect. There are 1,500 traders on the other side of the road [at Ptak Fashion City] and 20,000 companies in this region connected to textiles.”
The period portrayed by the theming was important, says Koevoets. “When we showed a medieval street or a horse and carriage to local people, they responded that it looked like Soviet times. Also, Łódź can be a grey and cloudy city, so we needed colour to give optimism. We came to an almost Mediterranean High Renaissance style. Polish people love to be somewhere that feels warmer.”
An additional 5,000 square metres of fun was added last summer. The highlight was a powered coaster from Mack Rides named Carrara. This races around the centre of the former exhibition hall. It is complemented by a small water ride called Chytra Wydra (Sly Otter) and two quirkily-themed family rides. Another recent addition is a themed event space.
What’s in a name?
Both the city of Mandoria and the name are made up. “We had a set of rules,” says Koevoets. “No ‘Land’, ‘World’ or ‘Park’. It had to be a singular word that was not too difficult for children to pronounce. In Polish it’s quite common to have ‘ia’ in the name of a city. Over time, Mandoria started to sound natural.”
Originally it was planned to present each visitor with a ‘visa’ that would allow them freedom of the city. Mandoria coins were even produced, which can be bought as souvenirs inside the gift shops. Even better sellers are plush replicas of Mandoria’s ferret mascots Lili and Raskal.
Located more or less in the centre of Poland, close to the intersection of the two major highways, the park is well-placed to attract families from across the country. “The catchment area is incredible,” says Jędrzejczyk. “We have around 20 million people within two and a half hours.”
The capital city, Warsaw, sits comfortably within that. In addition, the park has attracted guests from the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic and Ukraine.
Indoor vs. outdoor
Whilst management prefers not to release attendance figures, Jędrzejczyk says: “We are happy. We have the confidence to expand again.”
By the time phase 1.2 opens, all of the building will be devoted to rides, attractions and back of house. To accommodate Aquila (‘Eagle’), the Vekoma family launch coaster that will anchor the expansion, a tower structure will be built on the edge of the property. An additional family ride from Zierer will be accompanied by fresh food & beverage options and a very high level of theming.
Elsewhere in Poland, Plopsaland operator Studio 100 and Momentum Capital have already experimented with an indoor-outdoor model at their Majaland parks in Kownaty and Warsaw (a third is on the way in Gdańsk). However, plans for an al fresco offer at Mandoria have been put on ice. One consideration for management would be whether it would be feasible to operate outdoor attractions year-round, like the rest of the park.
An in-house development team of 25, which will grow as the final indoor phase moves closer to completion, has also been working on concepts for a new, larger project in the Masuria region of northeast Poland. Here the Ptak family has acquired 350 hectares of land that it wants to turn into an outdoor theme park resort, but under a different name to Mandoria.
From Mandoria to Masuria: Ptak’s resort dreams
The location in Masuria is much more rural than Rzgów and planning approval has yet to be granted any kind of development. “We are still doing the paperwork,” says Jędrzejczyk, “but we want to be as close to nature as possible.”
Koevoets is excited about the creative potential. “It’s a different landscape. The site we have at Mandoria is completely flat. Because of the low ceiling, we’ve never been able to put in real plants or trees. To work outdoors would be a dream.”
The new site already benefits from a lake, which would make a nice focal point. “It’s the perfect holiday location,” adds Jędrzejczyk.
It would be tempting to suggest that planning a resort before you’ve even added an outdoor area to your existing park is overly ambitious. However, by expanding in baby steps, Mandoria is arguably growing sustainably. And since Antoni Ptak is listed by Forbes as one of the 100 richest Polish people, the resources should be there when the time comes.
The crash course in theme park design that Koevoets’ colleagues have experienced since joining Mandoria should serve them well. Don’t be surprised if a generation of Polish imagineers makes its way out into the wider attractions industry over the coming years.
Poland’s emerging theme park industry
In the meantime, Zieliński, who was the first Polish speaker on an IAAPA Expo Europe panel this year in Vienna, would like to see more dialogue between existing operators in the country. “We have some kind of trade association, but it’s not so active and people are not very open. Maybe that’s because this is still such a new industry in Poland. When we travel to other countries, park owners are willing to share everything.”
Indeed there is no recognised term in the country for theme park or amusement park. And when Mandoria launched Carrara last summer, the words “roller coaster” were emblazoned on the side of the building in English.
Relocating from the Netherlands was a decision that took Koevoets a little (but not too much) time. Ultimately he’s pleased to be part of a fledgling industry in Poland. “There’s interesting stuff happening here. But it will take some years for theme parks to become part of the national heritage.”
There’s still a bit of education to do at Ptak Fashion City. “When people look across from the shopping mall, our building looks the same,” says Jędrzejczyk. “But when they come inside Mandoria, often they are astonished at what they see and tell their friends.”
And when Aquila opens in 2025, the coaster’s tower feature should provide a great shop window.
