TAMPERE, FINLAND, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A sister theme park of the Angry Birds Land made its debut on this weekend in Tampere, Finland, three days before its official opening to public due on May 1.
Situated near the Angry Birds Land, the Doghill theme area openned Saturday was named after the fairy tale figures created by the Finnish cartoonist and children's story writer Mauri Kunnas.
Mauri Kunnas, whose works have been translated into 30 different languages and published in 32 countries, are well known in Finland for generations.
The Doghill series tells about stories of a Finnish family, who are anthropomorphic dogs, in the 19th century. The prototypes of the stories are usually derived from Finnish folk tales.
When Mauri Kunnas visited the park this week, "he was surprised to find that the park reproduced the atmosphere of Finnish countryside in 1850s," said Leena Carelse, designer who was responsible to supervise if the scenery matches the storylines in the tales.
The one-hectare-large area appeared to feature a group of retro-style buildings constructed at life size. The old coffee house, traditional mill and rustic workshop were thronged by children, despite that the pharmacy sold candy disguised as drugs, and food ingredients in the bakery were replaced with mud.
Pushing baby carriages and carrying cameras, dozens of parents took seats around the central stage, where actors dressing as dog family members regularly presented scenario skits to the visitors.
The Sarkanniemi Adventure Park, where the twin theme lands are located, turned out to be more attractive to visitors from Finland and abroad, said Miikka Seppala, the CEO of the adventure park.
Thanks to the opening of Angry Birds Land, the first of its kind in the world, "700,000 tickets were sold last year during the period from May to October," Seppala told Xinhua. He expected more visitors to come this year.
Due to the low temperatures and heavy snow in winter, the adventure park is usually closed from November to April. However, this year could see a temporary opening at Christmas holiday, said Seppala.
Finland has partly pinned its hope of economic recovery on tourism. While the Santa Clause village maintains prosperity in winters, more delights need to be created in summer time.
When Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb visited China early this month, he announced the start of summer tourism promotion activity.
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