Once upon a time there was a crisis from which the Schongau Fairy Tale Forest emerged stronger: After eight months of corona-related closure and four months after reopening, the family park can look forward to high visitor numbers and a lot of encouragement.
Schongau
- It's a rainy day. Nevertheless, Florian Hallmann and his sister Franziska cannot spoil the mood. Eight months of pandemic-related forced closure lie behind the siblings who took over the fairy tale forest in 2020. Then the surprising lightning opening in June. Lots of stress. After just four months of opening, there is really good news: The visitor numbers are bombastically good.
There are actually around 100,000 people who visit the Schongau Fairy Tale Forest every year during regular opening times.
Despite all the obstacles, the Märchenwald team has managed to host 70,000 adults and children in the past four months since it opened in June.
And that although the months of July and August were not exactly covered with fame in terms of the weather.
Hallmanns attribute this to, among other things, “that a lot of locals came to us this year who couldn't go on vacation”.
People would increasingly use on-site offers.
Many of the visitors were locals
Because many of the permanent staff were looking for a new job after the permanent opening, the kitchen in the fairy tale forest has been running on the back burner since June - but it is running. “Actually we always had 20 dishes on the menu, now there are only five,” explains Florian Hallmann, who is in the kitchen with his sister Franziska. The kitchen team has shrunk from an eight-man crew to two due to a lack of staff. And still it works somehow.
Florian and Franziska Hallmann draw a consistently positive balance: even if there were many challenges at once.
“We were able to completely restructure operations due to the long shutdown period.” Processes were optimized.
This also includes the new flexible online booking system, which the Hallmann family of operators would probably not have started so quickly without Corona.
"That was really a night and fog action."
Online booking system offers advantages for visitors and operators
The intelligent system, which adapts the prices to the weather and visitor numbers, is now used by more visitors than at the box office: 60 to 70 percent pre-book on the Märchenwald website and always travel cheaper than at the cash desk on site.
So the visitors save, but the new system also offers an enormous advantage for the Märchenwald team: "It helps us a lot to plan."
New project: the construction of a traffic training area
Now it's time to take a break after the summer phase. And then the Hallmanns want to tackle the next project: A traffic training area is to be built in the rear area of the park, where the wild boars once lived their existence. “That doesn't work in the high season because the noise level is too high.” So there are plans. Big plans, small plans. The Hallmann family has a positive outlook on the future and is happy that the fairytale forest weathered the crisis so well.
This is also thanks to the Corona aid, among other things.
Despite all the uncertainty as to when and how much government aid would flow in order to keep the park afloat with all the animals: "The aid came, and we are grateful that the state has supported us." But there was also support from the population Has taken “her” fairytale forest into her heart as an institution.
“It wasn't until the Corona period that we really noticed how many connections we had.
Everyone wanted to help. "
A good feeling for which the Hallmann family would like to thank them in a very special way: In the coming months, vouchers for admission tickets will be distributed in the kindergartens in Schongauer Land.
