Today, the Angry Birds world comes to life in the form of Angry Birds Land at the Särkänniemi theme park in Tampere, Finland, the first of many attractions to open across Europe.
The original Angry Birds game has been downloaded more than 1bn times and the new version, Angry Birds Space, has already reached 100m downloads having launched in April – officially making it the world’s fastest-growing mobile game.
In two and a half years, Rovio, the game’s creator, has seen Angry Birds take over the world, earning €75.4m from merchandising sales and licensing deals in 2011. The phenomenal success of the game has been reflected in plush toys, iPhone covers, playsets, jewelry, apparel, slingshot pens, sweets, juice drinks, MasterCard debit cards and a Lotus F1 car – so, why not add a theme park to the mix?
Angry Birds Land
A collaboration between Rovio, Särkänniemi, design company BDR Design Group and Finnish playset manufacturer Lappset, Angry Birds Land will feature a number of themed rides, as well as a large play area for fans of the popular app to climb, ride and slide on the familiar bird and pig characters.
Not quite the high-octane experience of flying through the air having been catapulted towards some pesky pigs, the park should be enough to entertain little ones all the same, with spring riders, swings, tunnels, rope ladders, climbing towers and Pig Popper, a slingshot carnival game.
Music and sounds from the game will be piped into the park, while Red Bird and Green Pig mascots will be there to entertain any idle children. Food comes in the form of Mighty Eagle snacks and Red Bird sweets and, of course, there’s also a souvenir shop.
Not forgetting the game behind it all, large screens are placed throughout the park for visitors to play the original Angry Birds.
Theme parks, and cartoons and films, oh my!
More Angry Birds attractions are expected to open up in parks across Europe and Asia, with Sundown Adventureland in Nottingham a confirmed location for the UK.
Rovio doesn’t plan to stop there, either, and a series of 52 short animated cartoons are in the works, and an Angry Birds film is expected in cinemas come 2014.
