Oktoberfest unveils new rides and tent changes for 2026

Oktoberfest organisers have presented new rides, tent operators and other changes ahead of Saturday’s opening, BR reported. The city invited councillors and media representatives to tour the festival grounds at Theresienwiese two days before the start of the festival.

Among the new attractions is Shake & Roll, a faster and more intense development of Break Dance. The ride was transported to Munich from Saarland on Tuesday. The Chaos Pendulum will also make its Oktoberfest debut, swinging visitors through the air on a rotating arm at heights of up to 42 metres.

Fisherman’s, an attraction with three-dimensional structures and water effects, is appearing at the festival for the first time. Which rides were tested during the tour depended in part on the inspections still being carried out by TÜV.

Preparations were also continuing in the festival’s nearly 40 beer tents. The kitchen at the Armbrustschützenzelt was tested on Thursday morning, while arrangements with the service staff were due to be completed in the afternoon. About 400 people will work in that tent. Beer for the festival is scheduled to be delivered on Friday.

Florian Fendt will host the Wiesn for the first time this year, running the Schützenlisl folk-singing tent in the historic section known as the Oidn Wiesn. Sabine Erhard is taking over the historic bowling alley there. Christine and Lorenz Stiftl will run the Paulaner tent, while Bartls Flößerstadl replaces the Münchner Stubn. Bodo’s Cafézelt is also receiving a new wooden building.

Munich Mayor Dominik Krause, a member of the Greens, used the tour to prepare for his first ceremonial beer tapping as mayor. He is due to tap the first barrel in the Schottenhamel tent on Saturday and said he would practise again. He joked that he planned to drink valerian tea on Friday evening. In an interview with BR, Krause said he had already managed two strikes during practice but compared the event to taking penalties in football, saying the pressure was different when millions of people were watching.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx also visited the festival grounds on Thursday and blessed the Paulaner tent, which has been taken over by the Stiftl family.

The forecast for Saturday’s opening is mostly sunny after some early fog, with occasional scattered clouds. Temperatures are expected to reach 20 to 24 degrees Celsius. Conditions in the Alps should also be pleasant, with about 10 degrees at 2,000 metres and up to four degrees on the Zugspitze. It is expected to remain dry at first overnight into Sunday.