A little more than a week ago, I spotted
this tweet by BelieveTheWinx revealing the alarming news that Alfea Castle at Rainbow Magicland (
which has been covered in Street View) is going to be dismantled
So I decided to dig a little deeper into the issue (mainly at theParks.it and ParksMania.it), and here's a summary of what I've discovered:
- Rainbow originally licensed out its properties to Alfa Park for 10 years from the park's opening, in May 2011. However, the park has
accumulated substantial debt in the past few years (the article has then-current pictures of Alfea, and it's clear that it has seen better years) so last year it was sold to Pillarstone Italy, who plans to make substantial investments over the next 4 years
- Pillarstone announced at a press conference in January that (among other things)
the agreement with Rainbow will not be renewed after it expires, so that means Rainbow Magicland will have to get rid of all Rainbow properties by 2021 (they've also slightly modified the park's logo, shrinking the size of the word "Rainbow" as if to downplay their presence;
this album at the park's official Facebook clearly shows the difference)
- Even before Alfea's likely dismantling (apparently for some sort of space station theme?) the
PopPixie-themed rides have already been re-themed to match their new
jungle surroundings, and at most recent check, Alfea has already been fenced off, with patrons being funneled through a tunnel to get to the planetarium (the only remaining part of Alfea still operating)
Here's a video of a recent walking tour of Rainbow Magicland (cued to Alfea)