First tickets available and (some) pricing announced for Munich’s wave pool
o2 Surftown MUC announced today pre-sale tickets for Germany’s first surf park. Construction work on the 20,000 square meter surf park in Hallbergmoos adjacent the Munich Airport is on schedule with the official opening date still planned for early summer 2024.
Standard rates across the board will be 89€ for most sessions we’re told. However, all pricing has not yet been finalised. The company is currently offering discounted vouchers that price A-Frame and beginner sessions at 59€ and 79€ respectively. They also have ticket bundles. In this case surfers can buy 10 sessions for 749€ (75€ per surf), 25 sessions for 1,699€ (68€ per surf) and 50 sessions for 2,899€ (58€ per surf.)
WavePoolMag has been following the developments of this venue as it signals a tectonic shift for the lively Bavarian surf community. Once restricted to rapid river waves around town, most noteably the Eisbach, and relying on surf vacations to coastal europe, surfers in southern Germany will now have a high-quality, consistent wave at their disposal.
The surf park will also be the global debut of Endless Surf wave-making technology, a hotly anticipated pneumatic system with several bells and whistles. We thought it a good time to catch up with o2 Surftown MUC co-founder Michi Mohr to hear what has been happening and what we can expect in the coming months.
How is the building progress coming along at o2 Surftown MUC, what are some recent milestones?
The project “o2 SURFTOWN MUC” is progressing according to plan at all levels. Both the administrative preparations and the construction site processes are running as planned. Work is currently underway at various topics on the construction site, including important areas such as the completion of the wave pool, construction of the wave technology and the roofing of the surf center.
Can you give us a “best case scenario” timeline for 1) filling the pool and testing the waves and 2) public opening?
At the status, we assume that water will be let into the wave pool at the beginning of 2024. After that a long test phase will start. During this phase, various areas in and around the wave pool are set up, tested and harmonised. These include water treatment, wave technology, preparations for the surf academy, etc. The next big thing will be the pre-opening phase, where the first surfers of the SURTOWN community will be able to surf the first waves in o2 SURFTOWN MUC. After that we are assuming a big opening in early summer 2024.
Did you discover any unique challenges?
In general, the building process has been going pretty well and apart from rising the process of building the wave pool went really quick and quite smooth. The pool is now covered with the Myrtha stainless steel skin and wave machinery / water treatment tech is being installed as we speak. A really challenging part of it is coordinating everything in the right way. Once you start building it´s pretty straight forward: earthworks, building the basin, starting the foundations of the building. Later on with less space to move and also a tighter schedule, you really have to be on track with all parts of the building but also to be installed tech to make everything aligns. Though, we are really happy of where we are now in the process.
How did the main partnership with o2 come about?
We saw right from the beginning that this will be a lighthouse project not only for the vicinity of Hallbergmoos and Munich, but for all of Germany and for European Surfing. Apart from bringing the ocean to a landlocked site with an already amazing surf-scene, we realized the potential of longterm strategic partnerships on B2B Level, as o2 SURFTOWN MUC will reach a global viewership with many different facets of the facility, not only core surfing or the learn to surf aspect. There is plenty of potential for other amazing activations. o2 being based in Munich, having a great public image, a very fitting customer group, their communication based around blue colors, water, and finally many aligned values, created the base for this partnership. Also, o2 now puts a lot of focus on surfing, as this is part of their main strategy. News just went out that they support Sebastian Steudtner with his hunt for the next world record wave in Nazare this winter.
What makes a company a good strategic match with O2 Surftown MUC?
For us, the main premise is, that our future customers as surfers, families, B2B customers, realize easily and in a natural way, why the partnerships of o2 SURFTOWN MUC exist. Meaning: there has to be a clear benefit and story for the customer. An example could be: you surf on a colder day in the offseason and the water is already quite fresh, but you had a great day because you spent the time in the water in a great 5/4/3 wetsuit from Rip Curl provided by the SURFTOWN® crew. Or: you wanna share your best waves caught on cam after the session or jump on a call with your friends to show them what´s going on and everything (upload etc.) happens in an instant – because o2 SURFTOWN MUC is equipped with the highest 5g network standard from o2. Of course, the company values and interests in sharing a common public image have to be aligned that a longterm partnership makes sense for both sides.
While talking about all the innovations of o2 Surftown MUC, is there something you feel is often overlooked? Please share that here.
For sure this being the Endless Surf Facility and the first wave pool worldwide with the Myrtha Skin is a great thing and we have had a crazy amount of interest in what we are doing since we started communication. The topic of our strategic partnerships has raised further interest in what “ze germans” are doing there in Bavaria. We feel we will provide a pretty unique surf experience as well, no matter if for the learn to surf program or professionals including high performance coaching – so that is gonna be interesting. Plus in general we have a lot of focus on state of the art customer journey, so we hope to set the operations up in a unique way that will satisfy all types of customers. On site and digital customer experience is something that will be the longterm decider for surfparks to be profitable, especially the ones that are surf centric and have a limited number of revenue streams.
When do you start to sell the first tickets and what about the pricing?
On the 30th of November we will start the presale, where our customers can purchase surf session packages for O2 SURFTOWN MUC for the very first time. The presale packages will be limited and offer a lot of additional benefits on top of a very attractive pricing. The following limited offers are available, with up to up to 35 % discount for A-Frame and beginner sessions. We offer: 10 sessions for 749 euros, 25 sessions for 1,699 euros, 50 sessions for 2,899 euros. But these are not only very attractive presale prices, but the advantages do not end here. The presale packages also include other exciting benefits such as the SURFTOWN Membership, the possibility to be one of the first to surf our waves during the pre-opening phase, already before the official opening, as well as being part of an exclusive raffle with attractive prices of our partners like a PURESURFCAMP surf trip to Sri Lanka or Rip Curl wetsuits. And in the presale we also offer the perfect Christmas gift: discounted vouchers for one Beginner session for 59 euros and one session Peak (A-Frame mode) for 79 euros.
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