Tropical Islands Resort is a tropical water park located in the former Brand-Briesen Airfield in Halbe, a municipality in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in Brandenburg, Germany, from the southern boundary of Berlin. It is housed in a former airship hangar (known as the Aerium), the biggest free-standing hall in the world. The hall belonged to the company Cargolifter until its insolvency in 2002. Tropical Islands has a maximum capacity of 8,200 visitors a day. In its first year of operation it attracted 975,000 visitors, according to the operators. The Tanjong company reported 155,000 visitors in the business year February 2004 to February 2005. Approximately 600 people work at Tropical Islands. Tropical Islands has a world record for the largest indoor waterpark. It is bigger than Canada's World Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall. It is also the fourth-largest building in the world by usable volume. Parques Reunidos acquired Tropical Islands in December 2018. Access It can be reached by taking the A13 autobahn. It can also be reached taking a train to Brand Tropical Islands station, followed by a free shuttle bus. Background In 1938, Nazi Germany began development of Brand-Briesen Airfield for the Luftwaffe. The Red Army overran the site in May 1945, and occupied the site after World War II, adding a second runway and nuclear-resistant command and control facilities for the fighter aircraft regiment. With the reunification of Germany in 1989/1990, the Soviet Army agreed to return all military bases by 1994. Returned to the Federal Government of Germany in 1992, Cargolifter AG bought the former military airfield to construct airships. It began development of a new construction hall, long, wide and high, which cost €78 million. At 5.5 million m³ (194 million ft³), it is one of the largest buildings on Earth by volume, and is the world's largest single hall without supporting pillars inside. The hangar was commissioned as an airship hangar named Aerium in November 2000, but the airship it was intended to house – the CL160 – was never built. CargoLifter went bankrupt in mid-2002. Concept Tropical Islands was built by the Malaysian corporation Tanjong in the former airship hangar known as the Aerium. The hangar – the third largest free-standing hall in the world – was originally designed to protect large airships from the elements. It was purchased by Tanjong on 11 June 2003 for €17.5 million, of which €10 million was a