The Panorama Kugel was the central pavilion, topped by a 41-metre high sphere, from which the park's grounds could be seen. The "Kugel" contained exhibits of von Däniken's works. Erich von Däniken used the different pavilions to show the works that he believed extraterrestrials have had on ancient artifacts. His book Chariots of the Gods? explains his ideas on each of these pavilions and how they are all linked to visits from outer space.
Controversy
Von Däniken is an advocate of aliens influencing Earth and he has written books about the subject. All attractions heavily advocated the idea of alien visits to Earth. The Mystery Park was labeled a "cultural Chernobyl" by Académie suisse des sciences techniques member Antoine Wasserfallen who was cited by the Swiss newspaperLe Temps and other media. The Swiss federal railroad company advertised for the park and sold a combined ticket. Controversy struck again in August 2005 when Erich von Däniken decided to have a special exhibition on crop circles and also a "crop circle making competition." When the competition garnered no entrants, the park commissioned land surveyor and artist Vitali Kuljasov to create a complex crop circle in a field near the park entrance. A webcam was set up and pointed at the field, allegedly to document Kuljasov's technique. The night before Kuljasov was to create his circle, another circle appeared in the field. Several paranormal investigators came to Mystery Park, examined the crop circle, and concluded that it was obviously man-made due to "obvious mistakes and a crooked performance." Still photographs from the webcam showed little about what went on that night due to the darkness and the angle of the camera. Investigators noted the appearance of car headlights coming and leaving around the time the crop circle was estimated to have been made. The consensus was that the circle was created by unknown human hoaxers.
Failure of Mystery Park
In the winter of 2004, the park and its governmental support came under heavy criticism by the news channel SRG SSR idée suisse. Owing to failed expectations that projected 500,000 guests per year when in 2005 only 200,000 visited the park, Mystery Park found itself in dire financial straits. Operation of the park was suspended on 19 November 2006. Critics also attributed the park's failure to other reasons: some cited von Däniken's biases regarding alien interactions with ancient civilizations. Although these ideas worked well for his book and documentaries, they had less appeal for theme park visitors.
Reopening
On 16 May 2009, the park was renamed Jungfrau Park and reopened by its new owner, New Inspiration Inc., for the summer season hoping to attract at least 500 visitors a day until 1 November. In June, a children's paradise is on schedule. It opened again for the 2010 season.
