I'll let the pictures do most of the talking on this report, as there's not too much detail to go into, however despite this it was still a really fun and unusual explore, and something a bit different from your average UK site!
Location: The north edge of the highly popular resort town on the southern coast of sunny, beautiful Gran Canaria, on the road heading towards Mogan. Pretty difficult to miss! However, with holiday villas and resorts overlooking the site in all directions so it's virtually impossible to go un-noticed, although from what I can tell very little care is given anyway.
History: I really know very little about the place - a quick bit of Google research reveals that the park shut the flumes off for the last time in 2009 due to competition from other, bigger parks and ever since has been scheduled for demolition to be converted into a shopping district (no doubt selling yet more generic tourist tat). However, timescales work a bit differently in Spain and the park still sits empty and decaying to this day. It seems some vague demolition work has in fact been carried out sometime in mid 2017, notably the removal of most of the slides and other equipment, but at the date of this report nothing further has been done.
Explore: I first came across this place during my first visit to the gorgeous island of GC back in September 2016. Although itching to explore the place at first sight the right opportunity never really came up, especially as I was travelling with my then girlfriend who was a bit less adventurously-inclined.
Upon returning to GC with friends last week, and heading over to Puerto Rico for some dolphin-spotting, I was very surprised to see the park still standing (if in a little worse and less complete condition this time around), particularly sitting on such valuable land in such a hugely popular resort town.
Therefore this time I wasted no time in breaking away from the pack with a friend and heading in. In typical Spanish fashion, virtually no efforts to seal the place up have been made and there are entry points all over - easiest is a set of double doors leading off the car-park, but if you fancy a scramble over the rocks behind the site there are many access points here too.
Although at this point there was little beyond the dried-up rides and features to see, it still proved a very entertaining little explore, and quite a strange experience to be alone in a place once swarming with people, noise and laughter. As my friend remarked, it was a pretty ironic to find a place deliberately built to look like the ruins of an ancient civilisation now equally abandoned and ruined!
Please see below for pictures - all I had with my was my phone so not the highest quality.
Also didn't want to hang around too long due to the very exposed nature of the site, and after a slightly unsettling encounter, the very high possibility that it's inhabited by a few homeless residents hence I stayed away from the darker corners and interiors of the complex.
A well and truly beached whale.
Some excellent translation work here!
Thanks for stopping by and viewing - Gran Canaria really has some amazing scenery and wilderness to hike through but I never expected to find a chance for some urban exploring whilst on holiday! If you do find yourself catching a few rays out here any time soon I would definitely recommend a visit before the demolition crew finally finish their siesta and pull the place down - though as stated before do be very mindful of the fact you might not find yourself entirely alone or indeed welcome here.
As ever, thoughts and comments welcome! ^w^
Location: The north edge of the highly popular resort town on the southern coast of sunny, beautiful Gran Canaria, on the road heading towards Mogan. Pretty difficult to miss! However, with holiday villas and resorts overlooking the site in all directions so it's virtually impossible to go un-noticed, although from what I can tell very little care is given anyway.
History: I really know very little about the place - a quick bit of Google research reveals that the park shut the flumes off for the last time in 2009 due to competition from other, bigger parks and ever since has been scheduled for demolition to be converted into a shopping district (no doubt selling yet more generic tourist tat). However, timescales work a bit differently in Spain and the park still sits empty and decaying to this day. It seems some vague demolition work has in fact been carried out sometime in mid 2017, notably the removal of most of the slides and other equipment, but at the date of this report nothing further has been done.
Explore: I first came across this place during my first visit to the gorgeous island of GC back in September 2016. Although itching to explore the place at first sight the right opportunity never really came up, especially as I was travelling with my then girlfriend who was a bit less adventurously-inclined.
Upon returning to GC with friends last week, and heading over to Puerto Rico for some dolphin-spotting, I was very surprised to see the park still standing (if in a little worse and less complete condition this time around), particularly sitting on such valuable land in such a hugely popular resort town.
Therefore this time I wasted no time in breaking away from the pack with a friend and heading in. In typical Spanish fashion, virtually no efforts to seal the place up have been made and there are entry points all over - easiest is a set of double doors leading off the car-park, but if you fancy a scramble over the rocks behind the site there are many access points here too.
Although at this point there was little beyond the dried-up rides and features to see, it still proved a very entertaining little explore, and quite a strange experience to be alone in a place once swarming with people, noise and laughter. As my friend remarked, it was a pretty ironic to find a place deliberately built to look like the ruins of an ancient civilisation now equally abandoned and ruined!
Please see below for pictures - all I had with my was my phone so not the highest quality.
Also didn't want to hang around too long due to the very exposed nature of the site, and after a slightly unsettling encounter, the very high possibility that it's inhabited by a few homeless residents hence I stayed away from the darker corners and interiors of the complex.
A well and truly beached whale.
Some excellent translation work here!
Thanks for stopping by and viewing - Gran Canaria really has some amazing scenery and wilderness to hike through but I never expected to find a chance for some urban exploring whilst on holiday! If you do find yourself catching a few rays out here any time soon I would definitely recommend a visit before the demolition crew finally finish their siesta and pull the place down - though as stated before do be very mindful of the fact you might not find yourself entirely alone or indeed welcome here.
As ever, thoughts and comments welcome! ^w^
