Even Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) can manage a ride on the children’s carousel. Reiter, who says he avoids intense rides, is sitting next to his future rival in the next mayoral election campaign, Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU), and both are beaming as brightly as the sun. The Grand Carousel, a two-story carousel with brightly painted horses, is one of the new features that Mayor Reiter and Wiesn boss Baumgärtner presented on Thursday during the traditional tour two days before the opening of the Oktoberfest.
The organizers of the Oktoberfest make it a point to ensure that there is something new every year. This year, there are seven rides that are appearing on the Theresienwiese for the first time.
For example, there is the Hupferl, which is actually an old hat, but is being presented for the first time at the Oktoberfest under the label of a classic. The passengers sit on a round bench and hold on to the railing while the carousel turns and bounces up and down – not for people with disc problems, but fun and family-friendly. The mayor prefers to skip the test drive, but various city councilors do the honors instead.
The Laser Pix ride, a kind of shooting gallery on rails, where visitors become the protagonists of a video game and shoot at various targets with a laser gun, which are familiar from video games from the 1980s, is not yet ready on Thursday. Also not yet open is the Kick Down, where passengers are spun around at breakneck speed. Big Pictures 2.0 is a “12-D cinema” that uses all kinds of effects to give visitors the feeling that they are not just watching a film, but are actually there live.
And if you want to get wet at the Oktoberfest, you can take a ride on Jim and Jasper’s Wild Water – the largest transportable white water ride in Europe.
Making its debut at the Oidn Wiesn is the wooden post scooter, a historic bumper car like the ones that were common in the sixties and seventies.


Otherwise, this year there are ten drinking water fountains installed at the external toilet facilities behind the large tents as well as at the Oidn Wiesn, at the entrance to the Familienplatzl, at the entrance to Esperantoplatz and at the Weißbierkarussell.
The entrances to the Oidn Wiesn have also been redesigned and are now more spacious. They are home to a previously hotly debated innovation: the Boandlkramerei, which has replaced the Herzkasperl tent as a musicians’ tent. This was not without criticism from the large Herzkasperl fan community. “A lot of noise” was made beforehand, says Mayor Reiter. But the city’s rating system has proven itself. And Boandlkramerei landlord Peter Schöniger is now happy that he is represented at the Wiesn with a real tent. It was his childhood dream. Now it has arrived, and he has received flowers from the Munich Showmen’s Association.

Among the culinary novelties are the “Corn in a Cup” stall, which sells corn in cups and with various sauces, the “Auer Ox and Soup Kitchen” stall and a stall with an Italian delicacy: pasta made from a Parmesan cheese loaf.
On Saturday at 12 noon, Mayor Reiter will tap the first keg in the Schottenhamel tent, immediately afterwards the cannon shooters will let off twelve bangs, then the beer can flow in all the tents and the masses will storm the festival grounds: there were 450,000 people on the first Saturday of the Oktoberfest last year, one million after the first weekend.
But on Thursday, craftsmen and suppliers still dominate the scene: As always, drilling and screwing is going on on the festival grounds right up to the last minute. There is a smell of fresh paint everywhere, and many showmen are still putting the finishing touches on their stalls and rides. And the acceptance of all equipment has not yet been completed just before the start of the Oktoberfest.
The Olympic Loop, where a worker died on Monday morning, is scheduled to start on Saturday. But there is no official mention of that during the tour on Thursday. Reiter believes that everything has already been said about safety, except for this: “We will ensure that the Oktoberfest is as safe as possible, we are doing what we can.”
After the terrorist attack in Solingen, visitors to the Oktoberfest must prepare for stricter controls and possible waiting times at the entrances this year. Among other things, hand-held metal scanners will be used randomly to ensure that no knives are smuggled onto the site. The city has also increased the number of stewards. For him, says Reiter, this is the end of the matter.