Gardaland Resort is an amusement park resort in Castelnuovo del Garda, Province of Verona, Italy. Opened on 19 July 1975, the resort includes Gardaland Park, Gardaland Sea-Life, Legoland Waterpark, Gardaland Hotel, Adventure Hotel and Magic Hotel. It is adjacent to Lake Garda. The entire complex covers an area of , while the amusement park alone measures .
Since October 2006, the park has been owned by the British company Merlin Entertainments. Major attractions at the park include Mammut, Jungle Rapids, Fuga Da Atlantide, Shaman, Blue Tornado, Raptor and Oblivion: The Black Hole which opened on 28 March 2015. The park's mascot, Prezzemolo, was popular in the Italian licensing market during the 1990s and the 2000s.
With three million annual visitors, Gardaland is ranked as the seventh most visited theme park in Europe.
History
The concept for Gardaland dates to the early 1970s when Livio Furini, an entrepreneur from Verona, was inspired by Edenlandia in Naples and later by a visit to Disneyland in California. Built on the eastern shore of Lake Garda at Castelnuovo del Garda, Gardaland opened on 19 July 1975, between Peschiera and Lazise.
Furini founded ElettronicAnimazione in 1978, a company that designed theme park attractions. During the 1980s, the first large themed attraction was constructed in the park named The Valley of the Kings. This was followed by the addition of a dark ride named I corsari, Blue Tornado, Jungle Rapids and Space Vertigo.
In 2004, Gardaland Hotel opened, which was the first hotel in Italy to provide themed accommodation. Merlin Entertainments took ownership of the park in 2006. A Sea Life aquarium opened on site in 2008. In the following years, more hotels were built. Gardaland Adventure Hotel opened in 2016 followed by the Gardaland Magic Hotel in 2019. Additionally, the first Legoland Waterpark in Europe was launched in the park in 2021.
Gardaland was forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened on 13 June 2020, making it the first Italian amusement park to reopen after the COVID-19 lockdown. The maximum number of daily visitors in that season was restricted to 10,000 per day.
As a result of a global deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, a variety of rides, food outlets and hotel rooms were developed across Merlin theme parks themed around the Jumanji film franchise. The park opened a ride called Jumanji - The Adventure for the 2022 season, featuring a large animatronic figure. The ride was the first theme park attraction to be based on the Jumanji franchise. In 2023, another Jumanji-themed attraction named Jumanji - The Labyrinth opened in the park, which is a walkthrough attraction featuring a mirror maze and jungle maze.
In 2025, the park celebrated its 50th anniversary. In that year, Gardaland inaugurated a water dark ride named Animal Treasure Island, based on an original intellectual property registered by Merlin Entertainments. The 6,000 square metre ride was an investment of approximately 10 million euros. Additionally, four attractions were introduced to the park in 2025, including a remodelled area named Dragon Empire, Bim Bum Bam Live, a live show based on the Italian television puppet Uan, A.I. – The Future is Here, a multimedia show exploring artificial intelligence, and Prezzemolo and the Mystery of Hidden Worlds, a 4-D cinema show.
Mascot
Gardaland's mascot is a young dragon named Prezzemolo, the protagonist of an Italian animated television series. Prezzemolo became the park's mascot in 1984. He was popularised in Italy through cartoon theme songs and Gardaland adverts. In 1993 the park ran a competition to modernise Prezzemolo's image. A local cartoonist won and was responsible for making the character more visually appealing to the public.
Resort hotels Gardaland Hotel
Gardaland Hotel comprises 247 rooms, including 36 themed rooms. The hotel has two bars, the Wonder Bar in Wonder Palace and the Pool Bar at the Blue Lagoon pool area. The onsite restaurants are the Wonder Restaurant Buffet and the Matka Family Gourmet Restaurant. Alongside the launch of the Jumanji - The Adventure ride in 2022, four Jumanji-themed rooms were introduced to the hotel.
Gardaland Adventure Hotel
In 2016, the Gardaland Adventure Hotel was inaugurated. Constructed across 15,000 square meters, the hotel features 100 themed rooms, including 90 standard rooms, 8 superior rooms and 2 junior suites. The rooms were designed with four themes: the Arctic, Arabian, jungle and the Wild West. The hotel, located adjacent to the Gardaland Hotel, was an investment of 25 million Euros and features the Tutankhamon Restaurant, which was designed to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple.
Gardaland Magic Hotel
The third themed hotel opened in 2021. Gardaland Magic Hotel comprises 128 rooms with three themes: Enchanted Forest, Magic Ice Castle and Great Wizard. The four-star property was an investment of 20 million Euros and was designed around the concept of a magical enchanted kingdom.
Themed areas Name Picture Additional information Fantasy Kingdom Fantasy themed area featuring a variety of family rides. Rio Bravo Western themed street. Dragon Empire Formerly an area based on Kung Fu Panda with family rides, from 2025 it has been partially re-themed due to ending of DreamWorks license for the use of Kung Fu Panda brand. The rides in this area also changed name and partially got re-themed to eliminate any references to the franchise. Peppa Pig Land A small Peppa Pig themed area with younger rides just by the main entrance. Prezzemolo Land Medieval themed area featuring a variety of family rides, a restaurant & a playground.Animal Treasure Island Pirate themed area, representing a typical English Victorian Era village, that used to house the biggest Italian dark ride (I Corsari, opened in 1992). In 2025 this are has been partially rethought to better fit the new ride, Animal Treasure Island, that shares the same facility of I Corsari, but with some new updated pieces of scenery, new animatronics and more modern technological effects, besides a new story, which is a new and original intellectual property of Merlin.
Attractions
Roller coasters Name Picture Type Opened Area Manufacturer Additional informationBlue Tornado Suspended Looping Coaster 1998 Adventure Vekoma The Vekoma SLC ( extended with helix) is situated near the entrance of the park, and stands tall from the ground. The track is long, and the main elements are a rollover, sidewinder and a double in-line twist ending with several high speed helices close to the ground. The minimum height restriction is 1.4 metres. Shaman Steel sit down coaster 1985 North America Vekoma Vekoma Double Loop Corkscrew, and is situated on the lower level of the park. The oldest coaster in the park, originally called Magic Mountain. It stands at above the ground and long. Its main elements are a double loop, double corkscrew and a rising helix. In 2009 the classic Arrow Dynamics trains have been replaced with the new model of Vekoma. The minimum height restriction is 1.2 metres. In the 2017 season the ride was rethemed and renamed as Shaman and featured a Virtual Reality experience. The VR was removed prior to the 2018 season. Raptor Wing Coaster 2011 Raptor Bolliger & Mabillard Raptor is the prototype Wing Coaster by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard. It opened on 1 April 2011. The minimum height restriction is 1.4 metres. It stands 33 m tall. Mammut (Mammoth) Steel sit down 2008 Adventure Vekoma Mammut (Italian for Mammoth) is a steel roller coaster which includes a statue of a mammoth. It features three lift hills with a maximum height of 14 m and is the longest coaster in the park. Oblivion: The Black Hole Dive Coaster 2015 Oblivion Bolliger & Mabillard Oblivion: The Black Hole opened on 28 March 2015 and is a dive coaster manufactured by Bolliger and Mabillard. It is based on the prototype dive coaster at Alton Towers which is called 'Oblivion'. The minimum height restriction is 1.4 metres. At a height of 42.5 m, is the tallest coaster in the park. Dragon Rush Steel spinning roller coaster 2016 Dragon Empire Fabbri Group Family spinning coaster from Fabbri. Opened on 14 May 2016 as part of the Kung Fu Panda Academy area. Rethemed for 2025, removing the Kung Fu Panda theme. Ortobruco Tour Steel 1990 Luna Park Pinfari Ortobruco Tour is a family caterpillar coaster from Pinfari and opened in 1990. Its track was extended in 1993.
Water rides +Name Picture Type Opened Area Manufacturer Additional informationColorado Boat Log flume 1985 North America Mack Rides Log flume themed to the Americas, featuring two drops with the tallest reaching 15 m. Jungle Rapids River rapids ride 1999 Adventure Intamin Rapids ride which passes by various Asian scenes.Fuga da Atlantide (Escape from Atlantis) Shoot the Chute 2003 Adventure Intamin Fuga da Atlantide, is a Shoot the Chute, the Intamin Super Splash, and is situated near Blue Tornado. The ride begins with a cable lift hill, then the car/boat turns on a shallow helix and plummets down a steep drop on a track with water jets into a pool. The ride progresses to another similar element. It features two drops, standing 16 m and 19 m tall.
Dark rides Name Picture Type Opened Manufacturer Additional information - The Adventure Dark ride 2022 Oceaneering A multi-motion dark ride, based on the Jumanji movie franchise. It replaced La Valle dei Re (1987) and Ramses: Il risveglio (2009) both dark rides were set in the Ancient Egypt. Animal Treasure Island Dark ride 2025 Intamin (transportation system) A water dark ride featuring cartoonish characters in a pirate advnture. It replaced I Corsari (1992), keeping the same main scenery and the transportation system.
Flat thrill rides Name Picture Type Opened Area Manufacturer Additional information Space Vertigo Drop Tower 1998 Oblivion Intamin A 40 m tall drop tower. Magic House Madhouse (ride) 2002 Fantasy Kingdom Vekoma A mad house built underground.
Family rides Name Picture Type Opened Area Manufacturer Additional information Flying Island Flying Island 2000 Oblivion IntaminA 50 m tall observation tower offering panoramic views across the park and Lake Garda. Baby Pilota (Baby Pilot) Spinning ride 2000Camelot- The planes rotate and move up and down. Originillay opened at Fantasy Kingdom in 2000, then relocated in the Camelot area. Now part of the small Baby Land area. Wolf Legend Drop’n Twist Tower 2024 North America SBF Visa GroupFamily based drop tower ride located on the site of the former Sequoia Magic Loop. Peter Pan Spinning ride 1986 Luna Park Mack RidesFast spinning family ride. Giostra Cavalli (Horse Carousel) Carousel 1988 Camelot C and S Double-decker carousel. Monorotaia (Monorail) Monorail 1989 Luna Park Mack Rides Monorail with views across the bottom section of the park. Rocket Factory Teacups 1988 Dragon Empire Mack Rides Formerly known as Kaffetassen. Rethemed in 2016 as part of the Kung Fu Panda Academy area and renamed Mr. Ping's Noodle Surprise. Rethemed again in 2025 removing the Fung Fu Panda theme. Il Trenino di Nonno Pig (The Little Train of Grandpa Pig) Junior train ride 2018 Peppa Pig Land I.E Park Children's train ride. La Mongolfiera di Peppa Pig (The Balloon of Peppa Pig) Balloon ride 2018 Peppa Pig Land I.E Park Balloon ride with scenic views. L'Isola dei Pirati (The Pirates' Island) Junior boat ride 2018 Peppa Pig Land I.E Park Spinning boat ride. La Casa di Peppa Pig (The House of Peppa Pig) Walk-through attraction 2018 Peppa Pig Land A walkthrough where you go through Peppa Pig's house.Jumanji - The LabyrinthMirror walk-through maze2023JumanjiA walkthrough mirror labyrinth attraction themed to Jumanji.4D Cinema4D theatre2007 -A 4D theatre that shows one or two videos during every season. It previously screened videos based on SpongeBob Squarepants, Ice Age, San Andreas, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Looney Tunes.L'Albero di Prezzemolo