Artificial Paradise
Tropical Islands is the big aquapark/tropical theme park under a massive dome between Berlin and Dresden. It was nice, lots of different pools and things to do, the kids had a great time, our tent accommodation was perfectly comfortable and the food, although overpriced, was pretty good. At the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, Sam said “This is the best restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life.” At his age, of course, that is quite probably true.
So, I’m certainly not trying to discourage anybody from going there, but I felt a certain disappointment. I’d seen a couple of things on The Discovery Channel, or maybe it was National Geographic, the channel that has “Megastructures” in any event, and they were all about the amazingness of the dome and the completeness of the tropical atmosphere inside. Granted, it is big. We could see it above the trees long before we actually got to it. Somehow, though, it just wasn’t that impressive in real life. It just looks like a very high ceilinged airline hangar. Inside, the whole tropical island aspect of it was severely compromised. There was still construction going on, building more cabins, souvenir and snack stands all around the outer edge, turnstiles everywhere separating different sections (very un-tropical paradise like) and a huge banner ad for a Berlin radio station hanging from the exact mid-point of the dome.
I can see what happened. Perhaps the original designers, the visionaries, saw a tropical paradise encased in a dome, and thought they could have that with a water park inside . But botanical gardens don’t bring in visitors by the thousands and water parks do, so every time the planners, backers and architects met, and at every point along the design and construction process where the conflicts between the two visions came to a head, tacky themed water park won out over classy, exotic tropical atmosphere. Every time.
Because palm trees are lovely, but money talks.
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