Mini-Europe and Kinepolis, the two Heysel survivors: “Difficult to invest in these conditions”

“The City did not spare us”

The man remembers the painful moment, at the end of 2018, when his teams had to dismantle his water park to resell it to a Romanian company. “The City did not spare us. Yet Océade was in third position among the most visited attractions in Brussels after the Atomium and Mini-Europe. It was an extraordinary park, arriving before Aqualibi, and which allowed everyone to come and escape for a few hours. We attracted a lot of people from Brussels, people from the neighborhood. We even proposed a partnership with schools.”

According to Mr. Meeus, the Neo project is “more elitist” than that of Brupark was. “We will no longer find this atmosphere that we had on the Heysel plateau. Brussels wants to attract foreign tourists more than Brussels residents.” According to him, due to a lack of places to eat, visitors don’t hang out much on the Heysel plateau these days. “There is a temporary food truck but it is insufficient. Kinepolis is also asking for development of the hospitality sector which would be beneficial for everyone.”

A fate still uncertain

The Mini-Europe park, which is now managed by Thierry Meeus’ daughter, Vinciane, was itself on the verge of being wiped out. “At the beginning, we were not included in the project. We were told several times that we had to pack our bags.” Thierry Meeus did everything to save his park, even considering moving it to another Belgian city.

The new boss of Mini-Europe: “We need Brussels to reassure us about our future”

But ultimately it was the promoter of the Neo project, the consortium led by Unibail Rodamco Westfield, which saved Mini-Europe by integrating it into its project at the last minute. “If Neo is done, we can continue for many years. If this is not the case, we will have to check with the City which owns our land. We continue to develop our fleet but it is obviously difficult to invest in such conditions.” The fate of Mini-Europe is more than ever linked to that of the neighboring Atomium. “When we arrived, the number of visitors to the Atomium jumped by 30%. When the famous Brussels monument was under repair, we were the ones who felt it in our figures.”