Dadipark / Belgium


Here are the results of another location I explored with Fuerst earlier in 2012.
Dadipark in the Belgian village of Dadizele opened already in 1949 and was supposedly one of the first of its kind in Europe. During its peak years it hosted up to 1 Mio visitors. The park featured more simple and child-friendly attraction, for example an 800 m long suspension bridge walkway as well as carousels, bumper car rides and quite a bunch of swings and slides. After a child lost an arm on one of the rides, the park was closed in the early 2000s. It was supposed to re-open after renovation but never did though. The longer the park stayed closed the further the deterioration and destruction went on so that no new investor could be found.
I suppose we must have been one of the last urbexers there, as we learned already some time back that the park is now being demolished for good.
It was quite an eerie location, basically a young forest with some colourful yet decomposing constructions here and there. However, some of the merry-go-rounds for example were still in pretty good shape and turned without much efforts. We first were very cautious not to be seen on our way in, but then discovered that actually quite a few people were leisurely roaming around the overgrown paths there, among them for example a young family, most likely parents trying to show their kids some childhood memories (thus certainly causing some nightmares in their offspring, haha). Many of the buildings were totally vandalized, it must have been an ideal lair for many youth gangs in their quest for secluded spaces for whatever „forbidden“ activities…

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