 | |
| Established | April 10, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Location | Tigre, Buenos Aires  Argentina |
| Visitors | 1.7 million annually |
| Website | www.parquedelacosta.com.ar |
Parque de la Costa (Spanish : Coast Park) is an amusement park located in Tigre, a northern suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The park, located on a 14 hectares (35 acres) lot along the Paraná River Delta (on the Luján River), was developed by Santiago Soldati & Walter Álvarez, whose family holding company, SCP, had been bolstered by record earnings in its Compañía General de Combustibles (CGC) unit, an energy sector distributor, during the early and mid-1990s. Its development was preceded by the Tren de la Costa, a 16 km (9.9 mi) tourist light rail line inaugurated in 1995, and connecting Vicente López (just north of Buenos Aires) with the northern suburbs. [1]
Following an investment of nearly US$400 million, the Parque de la Costa was inaugurated on April 10, 1997. The park, connected to the light rail line at the latter's Delta station, originally included Tronador (a Pinfari Zyklon Loop rollercoaster), El Dragón water coaster, the La Vuelta al Mundo ferris wheel, El Octógono stage, an amphitheatre, a musical fountain, and other attractions. [2] The park's projections of 3 million visitors a year failed to materialize, however (traffic was about half that amount). [3]
A series of investments in the late 1990s, including the installation of two, larger rollercoasters (Boomerang and El Vigia), the addition of more live performances, and its reorganization into a theme park, as well as cost-cutting measures, reduced the unit's losses. Debts at SCP of over US$750 million continued to jeopardize its operations, however, [1] particularly following incidents in 1999, in which two rollercoaster passengers entered into a coma, or lost their lives, allegedly due to the ride's excessive speed. [4]
A two-thirds share in the park, which netted around US$30 million in annual sales, was transferred to SCP's creditors after the company entered into an bankruptcy proceedings in 2000; a major project, the Rapidos del Delta water ride, was cancelled as a result, though other rollercoasters, built by the Dutch firm Vekoma, were opened in subsequent years. [5] The park and Tren de la Costa (which remained in SCP ownership) helped revitalize the mainly upscale real estate market in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires. [6]
The Parque de la Costa has more than 30 attractions, some of them are:
The park also maintains Puerto de Comidas (a food court), as well as a bar, Winners Pub, and two restaurants: Wunderbar and Come Prima; [7] the adjacent, 22,000 m2 (240,000 sq ft) Trilenium Casino is another SCP development. [8]
La Recoleta Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and military commanders such as Julio Argentino Roca. In 2011, the BBC hailed it as one of the world's best cemeteries, and in 2013, CNN listed it among the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world.
Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) (In English: Trains of Buenos Aires) was a private company that operated commuter rail services over the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge Sarmiento and Mitre lines of Buenos Aires. The company, owned by Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, also operated long-distance services on the General Mitre Railway to central-western Argentina and on the General Urquiza Railway to northern Argentina and Uruguay on the international Tren de los Pueblos Libres.
Tren de la Costa is a suburban 15.5 km (9.6 mi), 11-station light rail line in Greater Buenos Aires, between Maipú Avenue station in the northern suburb of Olivos and Delta station in Tigre, on the Río de la Plata. The line connects with the Mitre line at Maipú station, via a footbridge across Avenida Maipú, for direct access to Retiro terminus in central Buenos Aires.
Tigre is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, situated in the north of Greater Buenos Aires, 28 km (17 mi) north of Buenos Aires city. Tigre lies on the Paraná Delta and is a tourist and weekend destination, reachable by bus and train services, including the scenic Tren de la Costa. It is the main city and administrative centre of the Tigre Partido.
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Santiago Soldati is a prominent Argentine businessman.
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