According to Atlas Obscura,
THE EERILY ABANDONED PRIPYAT AMUSEMENT Park was only open one day: April 27, 1986, as entertainment for those preparing to evacuate the Ukrainian city following the April 26 Chernobyl disaster.
Festive decorations still linger near the haunting rides for the planned May 1, 1986 opening that never came. Its looming ferris wheel has become an unsettling icon of the nuclear disaster, and visitors sometimes leave stuffed animals in its cars as a memorial. The park still contains varying levels of radiation, although the concrete areas are mostly safe. The area under the ferris wheel has some of the highest levels of radiation in the amusement park.
There is also an abandoned bumper-car ride, with most rides still fully intact.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pripyat-amusement-park
From Meandering Wild
Pripyat Amusement Park was still being finalised when the nuclear disaster happened at the nearby Nuclear Power Plant. Being built for the May Day celebrations just a few days later it was never opened formally. Today it sits empty and forlorn, an icon of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The amusement park in Pripyat has to be one of the iconic locations within the city. It was just being set up, ready to open for the May Day celebrations in the city on 1st May. However, the nuclear disaster on the night of the 26th April 1986 meant that Pripyat was empty and abandoned by the end of April. Many Russian cities had amusement parks known as a “Park of Culture and Rest” and some of these are still working around both Russia and the new countries formed after the break-up of the USSR.
An incomprehensible action today given what we know now about the severity of the disaster and the levels of radiation already in the area that morning. It wasn’t really ready, the Ferris wheel was still behind cladding and the paratrooper ride did not have the canopies in place, but people were excited and visited the new park.
The park sits empty and lonely. The bumper cars are where they were left, leaves blowing around the barriers. The seats on the paratrooper ride are slowly rusting away and the Ferris wheel is fixed and fading. The yellow capsules remain as bright as they originally were in places but the supports are orange with rust and the paint is flaking and peeling.
Radiation levels around the park vary; the liquidators washed radiation into the soil after the helicopters carrying radioactive materials used the grounds as a landing strip. Concreted areas are relatively safe, but areas where moss has built up are high. Some areas can emit 25 µSv/h and one particular hot-spot on the underside of a ferris wheel capsule was found to emit just under 230µSv/h. These are some of the highest levels of radiation in the whole of Pripyat.
Which begs the question, WHY did they open it up when they knew the area was dangerous and required evacuation?
Does that sound odd to you or was there more to it than that?
The park appears in the video games S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Call of Duty; Modern Warfare, in the film Chernobyl Diaries and is also the inspiration for Atlantic Island Park in The Secret World.
The amusement park can be quite a busy location. It is one of the places that many tour groups visit. If you visit on a two day tour you are more likely to have it to yourself and this will help with photography.
In the late afternoon the Ferris wheel is in full sun. The best view of the whole wheel is from the bumper cars in the middle of the open space. Ensure you stay on the tarmac. The moss and grass in this area has quite high levels of contamination still.
This can be visited at any time of the year but in the summer months the plant growth covers the area in green. This gives a hidden feel to the Ferris wheel but makes it difficult to photograph.
Pripyat Amusement Park is located in the centre of the city just a short distance from the main square.
It can be seen from various points around the city and isn’t difficult to find.
Pripyat is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and can only be visit on a guided tour.
This needs to be planned in advance with most starting in Kyiv. The best way to have time at the Amusement Park is to book a two day tour so you can spend more time in each location.
The Pripyat Amusement Park had a 26m Ferris wheel, swing boats, a paratrooper ride, bumper cars and a shooting game.
The fairground was opened briefly when it was decided that a distraction was required on the morning of the 27th April, just before the notice to evacuate was given.
Do you find this odd?
https://meanderingwild.com/pripyat-amusement-park/
Chornobyl: The Pripyat amusement park / Cinematic FPV
Chernobyl abandoned ghost town (amusement park) | Ep2
Some of the art can be seen in an old grocery story
You can see the marble floors, this was a very expensive city.
He said supply of food products was superb at this time as the town was very rich.
Due to the Nuclear Power Station, salaries were 2-3 times higher.
Like a dream city back in the day.
This was the theatre
This is the ceiling in the theatre,
A dance studio where children danced,
Hear how the town came to be and was quickly built up.
They were able to deliver a building a month
The city of Chernobyl ( Pripyat ) before the nuclear accident - 1982 (translated)
This is all Very Interesting wording in this segment. . .were they lucky?
#Chernobyl, #Pripyat, #NuclearPowerPlants, #Ukraine
More Sources
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chernobyl-pripyat-before-disaster
https://thetripgoeson.com/pripyat-amusement-park/
https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/3612/transcript/
https://ukrainetrek.com/blog/cities/pripyat-before-the-chernobyl-disaster/
https://www.npr.org/2006/04/21/5355810/voices-of-chernobyl-survivors-stories
http://www.nabrdalik.com/menu/stories/slavutich.php
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/exclusion-zone-chernobyl-ukraine