“When you are family-owned, you have your own style,” says Benjamin Fischer. That is undoubtedly true of Tripsdrill. Now aged 38, he and his cousin Andreas Fischer (44) represent the fourth generation of the Fischer family to manage this much-loved destination an hour or so north of Stuttgart.
Their fathers, Roland and Helmut Fischer, will eventually take more of a backseat in the business as a CEO has been appointed from outside the family for the first time ever.
“We are not like other theme parks,” adds Benjamin. “We don’t have different themed areas. Swabia and 1880 is the topic for the whole park”.
This historic region included parts of what are now Baden-Württemberg and the neighbouring state of Bavaria. Yet Tripsdrill began life as an attraction a little later.
Tripsdrill: milling amusement since 1929
Benjamin’s great-grandfather Eugen Fischer opened the Altweibermühle (Old Woman’s Mill) in 1929 on farmland that had been in the family for almost a century. A windmill with a slide inside adjoining a restaurant, it overlooked a hillside vineyard in the small town of Cleebronn. This became a popular spot for excursions, and at weekends, crowds would gather to dance to local bands.
Eugen died in the Second World War. His son Kurt Fischer suffered further tragedy in 1946 when the Altweibermühle burned down after being struck by lighting. A replacement opened four years later. By 1957, an animal park was established, later to become the Wildparadies (Wild Paradise).
Simple rides and attractions were added over the years. So, too, were little museums, such as the Trilliarium with its vintage weapons and local artefacts and the Vinarium wine museum and its large collection of grape presses. All of the above, including the windmill, remain part of the Tripsdrill offering to this day. And frankly, the place wouldn’t be the same without them.
Benjamin helps run the Erlebnispark (Experience Park) Tripsdrill, whilst Andreas is the manager of the Wildparadies. The former is the most popular part of the operation, yet the animal park, open 365 days a year, has a loyal following and comes into its own during the WinterWunderWald season. It also acts as the gateway to Tripsdrill’s Natur-Resort with its charming treehouses and shepherd’s huts. Together, the two areas cover 77 hectares and attract around 850,000 annual guests.
Swabian flavour
Given the park’s theme, Tripsdrill’s attractions have an aged, rustic look. Even where ‘off the shelf’ rides have been added, they come with quirky touches.
Ride vehicles resemble, among other things, wine barrels, soup pots and bathtubs. Kurt Fischer is even credited with pioneering the tea cups ride, which is now a staple attraction at theme parks across the globe. New for 2024, Wild Gautsche is a Wild Swing ride from ART Engineering, themed to resemble a vintage industrial crane. On other attractions, however, the real machinery is hidden.
“Authenticity, that’s what we’re about,” says operations manager Alexander Portmann, who joined Tripsdrill nearly nine years ago from Disneyland Paris. His first encounter with the owning family occurred when he bumped into Helmut Fischer in a gift shop at Walt Disney World.
Originating from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Portmann has fully embraced the park’s Swabian flavour. “Everything that we build is made from or has the look of natural materials. You can see that with the treehouses. And wherever possible, we use partners from the region.”
Some expertise has been sought from outside the region, however. This includes French attractions industry professional Emmanuel Mongon (Happier Worlds/Imaginvest), who has worked in a masterplanning advisory role for the past three decades. More recently, the Dutch design firm Jora Vision has worked on various projects, including the Pumpwerk dancing fountains, which are new this season.
Tripsdrill steps up a gear
Benjamin Fischer has been part of the management team since 2013 and his cousin a little longer, but both have grown up in Tripsdrill.
“We live three kilometres away and, in our childhood, would come here after school,” says Fischer. It’s like a second home.”
After Benjamin’s father and uncles (including Dieter Fischer) took over the park from his grandfather in 1996, larger rides started arriving. Fischer cites the water ride Waschzuber-Rafting from Hafema as a pivotal attraction.
“It was a big step. We had just bought a lot of land, and this was our biggest-ever attraction at the time. From there, we began a masterplan that set us on the right path to where we are today.”
G’sengte Say, a Gerstauer Bobsled coaster, came two years later, followed by Europe’s tallest flume ride in 2000. Supplied by Mack Rides, the idea of bathtubs instead of logs was later used by Alton Towers. This was followed by a mini flume next to the Altweibermühle, which kids ride in boats themed as flour sacks.
In 2006, Tripsdrill debuted the first Maypole interactive tower from ABC Engineering, one of several attractions from the Swiss company (now part of the Intamin family) that can be found across the park.
The wooden coaster Mammut, built in 2008 and ridden the following year as a PR stunt by the inline skater Dirk Auer, bought a new level of thrills. More than 15 years on, it’s still a smooth ride.
Going above and beyond
Further coasters followed, the launch coaster Karacho (added in 2013) being the park’s first ride with inversions. The storyline, based on a professor’s experiments with a steam-powered vehicle, gives a nod to the region’s strong car manufacturing heritage, home to the headquarters of Mercedes and Porsche.
Hals-über-Kopf (Neck-over-Head), a suspended thrill coaster from Vekoma, is one of two intertwined coasters from the Dutch manufacturer introduced in 2000. The other is Volldampf (Full Steam Ahead). The bridge that passengers must cross to reach the loading platform, the toot of the whistle, and the steam effect before the train leaves the station indicate Tripsdrill’s attention to detail. And it doesn’t stop there.
The Family Boomerang’s return point is housed above the station to Hals-über-Kopf. Here, an entire room has been themed for passengers to take a quick peek at before they race backwards through the path from which they’ve just come. Unnecessary capital expenditure, you might argue. But arguably, it is touches like this and those in the themed queue lines for other attractions that keep guests coming back for more.
“You can do things an easier way,” says Fischer, “but that is not our goal.”
What makes Tripsdrill special
“We tell stories you will not find at other parks,” says Portmann. “This is what makes Tripsdrill special.”
Fischer notes, ” Many guests just want to ride a coaster or a flat ride. But when they are in the queue line and the waiting times are a little longer, they stop and think about the theming. We often get emails from people who say this is typical Swabian, typical Tripsdrill.”
It’s been said that some of the storytelling is so localised that elements are lost on visitors from outside the region. But it would be difficult for any guests not to agree with the park’s motto, “Mit Liebe gemacht” (made with love). This would also apply to the Natur-Resort and its woodland accommodation.
At present, Tripsdrill’s visitors arrive from up to two-and-a-half hours away. “For our accommodation it can be three hours or more,” says Fischer, “from Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, as well as other parts of Germany. What’s nice is we also have a lot of guests from the surrounding area who want to stay one time in a treehouse. From being a child, you dream of being in a treehouse.”
“But what you don’t think about,” adds Portmann, “is the premium experience. These are like hotel rooms but in the middle of nature.”
Is that a frog on my bed?
Tripsdrill was ahead of the glamping trend that has soared in popularity since the pandemic.
“You see that people are different than before,” says Fischer. “They think more about where they go because of money and inflation. They are more sensible. We started with the first treehouses more than ten years ago. But we saw that the concept works, so we said we want to have more.”
There are now more than 300 beds on site. The shepherd’s huts, 20 in total, each sleep between two and five people and have access to a themed shower block. The 48 treehouses, sleeping up to six, are fully ensuite, with underfloor heating and WiFi. Whimsical features include watering can shower heads and frogs carved into the beds. Secluded verandas offer a beautiful view of the surrounding forest and uninterrupted sounds of nature.
Planning permission has been secured for further treehouses, as well as a themed restaurant and reception building next to Wildparadies, to create more of a hub in winter. During the WinterWunderWald season, from late November to the beginning of February, the area is festooned with lights. Stalls selling hot drinks and sweet treats are also present, and additional rides are hired for the children.
Seasonal events throughout the year in the main park include four summer ‘Gaudi Saturdays’ when the rides operate for a little longer, autumn’s Altweibersommner season and the scarier Halloween nights Schaurigen Altweibernächte.
Tripdrill’s 2024 season
The current park season, which began on 23 March and runs until the first weekend of November, did not get off to the best of starts. “We had some good days over the Easter holidays, but also some bad days,” says Fischer. Thankfully, things took a turn for the better in May.
So far, guests have reacted warmly to Wilde Gautshce. However, the new ride was somewhat of a gamble.
“This was the first attraction we didn’t ride before [we bought it],” says Fischer. “I saw it in a magazine and said we have to speak with ART Engineering. We signed the contract in December 2022. It was a really short time to get the ride and the theming ready.”
The overall look is in keeping with the industrial finish of the train station on nearby Volldampf. Both attractions have a minimum height of 90 and 95cm, respectively.
Elsewhere, Pumpwerk is proving an entertaining distraction for younger guests too. As kids dare each other to dodge the random jets of water, parents can take advantage of the WiFi hotspot at the adjacent Werksküche restaurant. But Fischer would prefer that they use their phones to take a few photos rather than check their social media accounts.
“There are so many problems in the world. When guests buy a ticket to our park, it’s really important to have fun, leave normal life behind and feel the surroundings.”
Flowers, trees, and external expertise
It’s not only the rides that allow guests to unwind. “We have a lot of nature: trees, flowers, birds. People might not expect to see storks in Tripsdrill, but we have some of the birds who return to us every year!”
In 2029, the park will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
“We have really big plans over the next five years,” says Fisher. “We have some existing areas we want to make more attractive by adding new attractions. And then we have the plans for the restaurant in the wildlife park.”
Someone who should have valuable contacts when it comes to expanding the park’s food, beverage and marketing operations will be Stefan Seipel. The former head of marketing at Stuttgart brewery Dinkelacker joined as Erlebnispark Tripsdrill CEO in January.
“We needed more knowledge,” says Fischer of the decision to break with family convention and look externally for support. “He’s a good guy. Hopefully, we will have a nice future together.”
Helmut and Roland Fischer have been helping Seipel settle in, but the plan is that Andreas and Benjamin’s fathers will one day retire, if that’s possible in a family business on your doorstep.
The one million milestone
It seems fitting to finish by asking Benjamin Fischer about his family’s attendance goals for Tripsdrill. Wouldn’t it be nice to add another 150,000 guests and hit the magic million in time for the centenary in a few years?
“It’s a target for us,” he says. When that may happen remains to be seen. “It’s important also to look at the infrastructure; to do a lot of maintenance backstage. You don’t want to have 100,000 [extra guests] one year and then the next year lose 100,000. It’s better to grow smaller, in a more sustainable way.”
2029 will be a special year for Tripsdrill, one way or another. But inside this small part of Baden-Württemberg (or Swabia, if you prefer), it will always be 1880.
