Wonderla is the largest chain of

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

s in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is owned and operated by Wonderla Holidays Limited which is headquartered near

Bidadi Bidadi is a town situated on the Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States a ...

, from

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. It operates 4 amusement parks in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

and

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

. Wonderla is promoted by

Kochouseph Chittilappilly Kochouseph Thomas Chittilappilly (born 1950) is an Indian business magnate, writer, investor and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of V-Guard Industries, a chain of amusement parks called Wonderla, a real e ...

and his son Arun Chittilappilly. The first amusement park project Wonderla Kochi (then called Veegaland Amusement Park) was set up in 2000, followed by the second in

in 2005, the third in

was commissioned in April 2016, and finally the fourth in

in May 2024.

History

In the year 2000, Kochouseph Chittilappilly started the flagship amusement water theme park under the name Veegaland in

, Kerala.

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

was invested in the construction and development of Veegaland. In 2005, with the overwhelming success of the Veegaland project, Kochouseph Chittilappilly and his son, Arun Chittilappily, launched another amusement park on a larger scale at a cost of around crore in

by the name Wonderla, spread over an area of 82 acres. A third amusement park, Wonderla Hyderabad, was commissioned in April 2016. Currently the company is run by Arun Chittilappilly as managing director.

Locations

Kochi

The Kochi park was re-branded in 2011. This park is situated on the top of a hill at Pallikkara, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the city center. The park was set up in 2000 and was designed by architect Joseph John. Wonderla Kochi is the first park in India to get

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

certificate for eco-friendliness and

OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 (OHSAS 18001) was an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. It was developed in March 1999 by Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series Project G ...

certificate for safety. The park is spread over 30 acres of landscaped space with more than 60 amusement rides. In July 2018, Wonderla Kochi was ranked eleventh in the

TripAdvisor Tripadvisor is an American company that operates online travel agency, travel agencies, comparison shopping websites, and mobile apps with user-generated content. Its namesake brand, Tripadvisor.com, operates in 40 countries and 20 languages, and ...

'Travellers' choice awards for amusement parks and water parks in Asia.

Bangalore

The park features a wide variety of attractions including 55 land and water rides, a musical

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

shows, and a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

show. Wonderla Bangalore has a full-fledged dance floor with a twist, electronically controlled rain showers. Wonderla also has attractions specially designed for children. It uses

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

-heated water for all its pools during winter. It has

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

facilities for up to 1,000 persons and features five restaurants with a total seating capacity of 1,150. It has

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as Changing room, locker rooms, workplaces, schools, transport hubs and the like ...

s with over 2,350 lockers and restrooms and showers. Wonderla Bangalore has been ranked 1st in India and 7th best in Asia by

Tripadvisor Tripadvisor is an American company that operates online travel agency, travel agencies, comparison shopping websites, and mobile apps with user-generated content. Its namesake brand, Tripadvisor.com, operates in 40 countries and 20 languages, and ...

for 2014, the highest for any Amusement park in India. Wonderla Holidays opened its first luxury

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

, an 84-room hotel complex spread over 100,000 square feet and operational since 2012. The resort features a dedicated children's play area as well as recreational and conferencing facilities. The resort is located next to Wonderla Bangalore.

Hyderabad

Wonderla Hyderabad offers 28 land-based rides and 18 water-based attractions on 50 acres of land. Wonderla Amusement Park is situated in

Raviryal Raviryal is a village in Rangareddy district in Telangana, India. It falls under Maheshwaram mandal. A semiconductor hub FAB City (fabrication facility) is located in Raviryal village. Raviryal is located about 15 km away from the Rajiv Gan ...

, which is 28 kms from Hyderabad City. Its most notable ride is ''

Recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

,'' a reverse looping roller coaster. It was launched on January 20, 2018 by Managing Director Arun K Chittilappilly and Chief Executive Officer DS Sachdeva.

Bhubaneswar

Wonderla Holidays has set up an amusement park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The property is developed as one of the biggest parks in the country on a 50-acre patch of land at an investment of 115 crore. The company has signed an agreement with the State government for leasing of land for a period of 90 years for the amusement park on an asset-light business model at Kumbharbasta village in Bhubaneswar. The park opened to the public on 24 May 2024.

Chennai (under construction)

Wonderla holidays is currently working on its 5th amusement park in Chennai and the park awaiting final approval from the Chennai Department of Town & Country Planning to commence its project. Amusement park in Chennai will cost , spread over of land.

IPO

The initial public offering (IPO) of Wonderla Holidays for about

s received overwhelming response. The IPO proceeds were to be used for its upcoming theme park project in

References

External links

{{Tourism in Kerala Amusement parks in Karnataka Tourist attractions in Bengaluru 2000 establishments in Kerala Amusement parks opened in 2000 Amusement parks opened in 2005 Amusement parks opened in 2016 Amusement parks opened in 2024 Buildings and structures in Bengaluru Amusement parks in Kerala Buildings and structures in Kochi Amusement parks in Hyderabad, India Tourist attractions in Hyderabad, India Tourist attractions in Telangana Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Planned amusement parks