20 May 2023
Bayern Park has an exciting 2023 season ahead of themselves with the launch of a brand new coaster called FirleFranz, which you wouldn’t of seen before. For those who have not heard of Bayern Park before, it is a theme park located near Munich, Germany. Easily travellable via a short car journey from the airport, the park is home to a number of thrill & family rides which they keep expanding on most years.
The park has a detailed history from opening in 1991 to where it is today and they have no plans to slow down development and expanding this beautiful landscape they have. Pricing can be purchased online or at the park entrance for €34.50 for guests over 140cm. Guests between 100cm – 140cm have a 5 euro discount of this price and guests under 100cm can enter for free. There is season tickets, group prices and other special discounts that can be found directly on the parks website.
Opening times are quite simple with 3 different options being possible, which are listed as coloured. Most of the season Bayern Park is open between 9am – 6pm from April to October, with some reduced days and operations on off peak days.
We visited this park back in 2022 and covered it quite extensively in that review which can be found by clicking here! Due to this, we are going to highlight some of the changes for 2023 in this review whilst covering the best bits and the brand new rollercoaster in this review.
Our visit was in early May 2023 and the park kindly invited us back over to experience FirleFranz, a new interesting rollercoaster which we’ve not seen anywhere before!
FirleFranz has soft opened on April 28th at Bayern Park and this ride is a real eye catcher for all guests. This coaster is made by Gerstlauer which are known to make some thrilling coasters across the world, and more known for rides like SAW: The Ride at Thorpe Park. This is a family coaster however, which is custom made and offers a unique riding experience.
The clever ride allows riders to hop on this ride as you start being reversed launched up a spiral before you head back through the station as you go round the layout in the forward direction but, before you know it you have ended back up in the station but facing now the wrong direction! You are now facing forwards heading towards the spiral which you first started going backwards up. You then go back through the layout one last time before ending back at the station in the starting position.
This is all possible due to a clever switch track moment just in front of the station, hidden away from guest view. This track switches as you pass through the station to allow you to face these different ways when finishing the layout and then later correcting you to the starting position.
At first you do think it is witchcraft but after taking a look, it is such a clever & simple design which offers a unique experience.
FirleFranz is a combination of words using the name of the mascot lion of the park, Franz-Xaver. The backstory of the ride mentions the mascot had created the ride himself using all sorts of materials and objects he could find. Due to this, the theming is not yet complete and the mascot Franz has promised it will be sorted out at the end of the season ready for 2024! This is pretty common across smaller European theme parks. Whilst the theming is not yet complete, this does not ruin the ride experience itself as it is truly unique & different, which we had many thrilling & fun moments on ourselves.
For the creation of this brand new ride, it did mean we lost the toboggan run ride that was located in this area of the park. It was nice they incorperated it into the backstory of the creation of the new ride and why it came about, which was mainly for space and allowing them to expand.
Every ride we had on this offered a great on ride experience and even for those waiting in the station, as they see the coaster face forward and then backwards, it really is quite cool. We can imagine when fully completed next year, it will sit great at the top of the park near the entrance.
Bayern Park is home to many other great coasters at the park. The most thrilling being Freischutz, a launch coaster reaching over 4g in forces and having 4 inversions with another detailed, elaborate story. The park has other smaller family coasters, with up to 3 other smaller coasters to ride in 2023. Outside the coasters you have other thrilling rides such as a Sky Fly attraction, and a 109m free fall drop tower which is the highest in southern Germany.
They have many family rides such as a 4D interactive shoot em up ride, a rapids ride, a log flume and plenty of other quirky bits on the way. Most of this being hosted in one large building where you can find many self operating rides which you won’t see in the UK. With there being 3 different kinds of ride here, they all rely on you helping each other operate on a short cycle of fun rides. These include a swinging boat typed ride, a spinning sphere and a little coaster that rocks side to side.
@thrillnation A multi-angle view of the new rolercoaster at Bayern Park… woukd you have a go on this coaster that does the full layout both forwards and backwards!? #firlefranz #bayernpark #gerstlauer #rollercoaster #achterbahn ♬ Tropical house party (90 seconds) - TimTaj
@thrillnation Would you ride FREISCHÜTZ!? #bayernpark #rollercoaster #achterbahn #freischütz #deutschland ♬ Let's Go - M.Hustler
@thrillnation Are drop towers a yes or a no for you!? #voltrum #bayernpark #germany #droptower #scary ♬ Astronomia (Jiaye Bootleg) - Jiaye
There is plenty to see and do at Bayern Park, from animals to even a nature walk at the back of the park. They have a bird of prey show also and many other wondrous elements outside of the rides. If you took your time around the park and had a nice summers day, you could really spend all day here having all kinds of different fun. They have a boat that goes around a lake and along the nature walk, it feels like you’re not even in the theme park, which is quite impressive.
There are also plenty of food & drink options at the park also, with us using the main restaurant at the entrance of the park. They offer plenty of dishes from sausage, chicken and fish, with some of these being Bavarian delicacies and others being classic dishes, they have something for everyone. Although not all the staff speak English, they are all happy to help and are all having a good time with a smile on their face. They will always try and help and work with you on your day out and this has never been an issue for us on any of our visits to Bayern Park. We recommend knowing some basic German to make your life as easy as possible however.
Overall, Bayern Park continues to go from strength to strength in 2023 with it still being as great as we remember it on our first visit. The park in the sunshine and warm weather is just great and they are always working on something new to better the park. For example, the new entrance should be open any day now at Bayern Park, allowing for better facilities, less queues and also looks a lot nicer too. We can’t wait to see this in operation on our next visit.
We highly recommend you visit this park when in the Munich area when visiting other known parks, such as Legoland Deutschland. We have found it super easy to get to when travelling and with free parking, you aren’t paying premium prices like other parks.
If you were looking for a year to visit Bayern Park, the new coaster FirleFranz is a great excuse to choose this year. With the unique layout and switch track amongst everything else Bayern Park has to offer, it really has surprised us.
A huge thank you to the team at Bayern Park for welcoming us once again to the park, providing us free entry and food & drink vouchers for our visit. Whilst this is welcomed, this has not influenced the decisions mentioned above and are our own personal thoughts.
Let us know what you think of the new coaster and if you have any questions about visiting Bayern Park over on our socials!
@thrillnation Have you been to Bayern Park!? #bayernpark #amusementpark #themepark #achterbahn #deutschland ♬ Godzilla - Paul Velchev
PHOTO GALLERY
COMPANY WEBSITE
book a visit
BOOK DIRECTLY FOR THE BEST PRICES
More REVIEWS & news
Djurs Sommerland to open Northern Europe’s First Hot Racer Coaster in 2027
Djurs Sommerland will introduce Northern Europe’s first Hot Racer Coaster in 2027, representing...
The Traitors Live Experience Extended Until Late 2026
Following high demand, The Traitors: Live Experience has released a new wave of tickets for the...
Laura Benanti Nobody Cares Review
Direct from an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and two sold-out Off-Broadway...
Thrillnation.net is your ultimate resource for unbiased reviews of thrilling attractions across Europe. You'll find us covering theme parks, escape rooms, water parks and more.
Follow Us
For all of our latest news and up-to-date goings on, make sure you follow us on our social media channels!
WORK WITH US
We can offer a variety of different services from sponsored reviews to video content creation. Get in touch to discuss working with us.
Website lovingly created and managed by INOV8 Marketing