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Plopsa
Plopsa is the theme park division of Studio 100, the company operates 8 parks across Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. HistoryPlopsa began operation at the end of 1999 when Studio 100 acquired Meli Park in Adinkerke. After several renovations the park reopened as Plopsaland on 29 April 2000. Several attractions got a layover with Studio 100 characters, such as Kabouter Plop, Samson & Gert and Bumba.[1] In December 2005 the company opened a new indoor theme park in the Municipality Hasselt, Plopsa Indoor Hasselt. This marked the opening of the first indoor theme park in Belgium. In the same year Plopsa also acquired Télécoo, an amusement park near the waterfalls of Coo. As with Meli Park, several attractions got an overlay with Studio 100 characters. In July 2007 the park was renamed Plopsa Coo.[2] In 2010 Plopsa crossed the Dutch and German borders and opened an indoor theme park in Coevorden, similar to Plopsa Indoor Hasselt. The park officially opened its doors on 29 April 2010 as Plopsa Indoor Coevorden. In Germany, Plopsa acquired Holiday Park in Haßloch. As with Meli Park and Télécoo, the park got a layover with Studio 100 characters; The name, however, remained the same.[3] In 2015 the company enterend a new ares of park entertainment with the opening of Plopsaqua in De Panne, a water park themed around the Studio 100 character Vic the Viking. This park also received a subsidy from the Municipality, so the people of De Panne could use the facilities at a discount. Other Plopsaqua water parks are in active development throughout Belgium.[4] The same year Studio 100/Plopsa opened their catalog of characters to other amusement park operators outside Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Majaland Kownaty, Poland and a yet to be built theme park in Prague, Czech Republic are examples of this, since these parks are partially owned by an investment company. Steve van den Kerkhof (CEO of Plopsa) stated that there is also interest in the characters from companies in China, The US, Australia and Canada [5] The latest location opened in Torzym, Poland in September 2018 with Majaland Kownaty. Majaland Kownaty is an indoor theme park similar to Plopsaland Coevorden in The Netherlands. The title character is Maya the Bee. In contrary to the other 6 parks this park is partially owned by an investment company. The theme park is doing so well that Plopsa and Momentum Capital decided to build three other parks in Poland in Warsaw, Gdańsk and Katowice.[6] At the end of 2019 Plopsa acquired the struggling theme park Comic Station, located in a terminal of Antwerp Central Station. The park closed for a partial refurbishment and opened in October 2021 as Plopsa Station Antwerp.[7] Theme parks, Water parks and other assets    Plopsa Resort Belgian Coast (De Panne) Hasselt Coo Antwerp Mechelen Hannut-Landen Wijnegem Current and future locations of Plopsa in Belgium. Red: themepark, Blue: waterpark, Green: other asset. Current and future locations of Plopsa in the rest of Europe. Red: themepark, Blue: waterpark, Green: other asset. List of all theme parks, water parks and other assets of Plopsa that are open or in active development.
InvestmentsA list of all investments of the Plopsa Group in their current and new parks.
During a corruption investigation to a city official of The Hague in 2019 it was discovered that Plopsa was actively searching for a new site in The Netherlands to expand with a Plopsaqua and a possible second Plopsa Indoor. During an interview with RTL Nieuws Steve van den Kerkhof confirmed this and that Plopsa was in talks with the city of The Hague, but that they were also investigating other sites in The Netherlands. Since the interview no updates were given to the Dutch expansion.[15] References
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