Wonderla is promoted by Kochouseph Chittilappilly 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 Bengaluru in 2005, the third in Hyderabad was commissioned in April 2016, and finally the fourth in Bhubaneswar in May 2024.
History
Kochouseph Chittilappilly
In the year 2000, Kochouseph Chittilappilly started the flagship amusement water theme park under the name Veegaland in Kochi, Kerala. ₹75 crore 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 ₹105 crore in Bengaluru 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
Wonderla Kochi
Wonderla Bangalore
Wonderla Amusement Park, Raviryal, Hyderabad
Kochi
The Kochi park was re-branded in 2011.[2][3] 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.[4]
Wonderla Kochi is the first park in India to get ISO 14001 certificate for eco-friendliness and OHSAS 18001 certificate for safety.[5] The park is spread over 30 acres of landscaped space with more than 60 amusement rides.[5] In July 2018, Wonderla Kochi was ranked eleventh in the TripAdvisor 'Travellers' choice awards for amusement parks and water parks in Asia.[6]
Bangalore
The park features a wide variety of attractions including 55 land and water rides, a musical fountain, laser shows, and a virtual reality show.[7] Wonderla Bangalore has a full-fledged dance floor with a twist, electronically controlled rain showers. Wonderla also has attractions specially designed for children, and these are gentle yet unusual like a kiddies free fall ride. It uses solar-heated water for all its pools during winter. It has conference facilities for up to 1,000 persons and features five restaurants with a total seating capacity of 1,150. It has locker rooms with over 2,350 lockers and restrooms and showers.[7] Wonderla Bangalore has been ranked 1st in India and 7th best in Asia by Tripadvisor for 2014, the highest for any Amusement park in India.[8]
Wonderla Holidays opened its first luxury resort, an 84-room hotel complex spread over 100,000 square feet and operational since 2012.[9] The resort features a dedicated children's play area as well as recreational and conferencing facilities.[10] The resort is located next to Wonderla Bangalore.[11]
Hyderabad
Wonderla Hyderabad offers 28 land-based rides and 18 water-based attractions on 50 acres of land.[12] Wonderla Amusement Park is situated in Raviryal, which is 28 kms from Hyderabad City. Its most notable ride is Recoil, a reverse looping roller coaster. It was launched on January 20, 2018 by Managing Director Arun K Chittilappilly and Chief Executive Officer DS Sachdeva.[13]
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.[14] The park opened to the public on 24 May 2024.[15]
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.[16] Amusement park in Chennai will cost ₹3 billion (US$36 million), spread over 55 acres (220,000 m2) of land.[17]
IPO
The initial public offering (IPO) of Wonderla Holidays for about ₹180 crores received overwhelming response. The IPO proceeds were to be used for its upcoming theme park project in Hyderabad.[18][19]
