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Potential Bargain Coach Trip

RicketyCricket

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Taron
Just been having a nose on Team Kara coach travel, some may remember they were offering a Europa Park trip which was cancelled due to lack of interest.

They're currently offering a 7 day coach trip to Heide Park, Grona Lund, Liseberg, Kolmarden and Tivoli Gardens. This doesn't include park admission but it's only £149 which covers all travel, plus I think one night in a hotel halfway through.



I'm quite tempted but thought it may also be of interest to some on here :)

https://tkholidays.co.uk/itineraries/8148-ultimate-thrill-seekers-experience?t3p=

  • Day One
Pick up London Victoria - Dartford - Dover and sail from Dover to Dunkirk and travel over night to arrive Heide Park for opening.

  • Day Two
Full day in Heide Park, Germany. After closing head back to the coach ready to travel overnight to our next Park. We will also be making comfort stops en-route.

  • Day Three
Full Day in Liseberg, Sweden. After closing head back to the coach ready to travel overnight to our next Park. We will also be making comfort stops en-route.

  • Day Four
Full Day in Grona Lund, Sweden. After closing head back to the coach where we will travel into Eskilstuna where we will spend the night.

  • Day Five
Full Day in Kolmarden, Sweden. After closing head back to the coach ready to travel overnight to our next Park. We will also be making comfort stops en-route.

  • Day Six
Full Day in Tivoli Gardens, Denmark. After closing head back to the coach ready to travel overnight to the port of Dunkirk.

  • Day Seven
On our last day we sail back to the UK - possibly exhausted - but with memories to last a life time. Drop off will be at the same point as you was picked up.
 
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Sounds like a great deal, and overnight travel should save time. Thats definitely cheaper than Interrailing, though arguably less interesting as well. It would have to be a comfy coach, on my last holiday I flew in the early morning hours both ways, didn't sleep, and I was much more tired than I thought I would be.
 
A week away with only one night in a bed? That sound more tiring than our 3 week road trip around a large portion of the US this summer! Each to their own of course but something like that is not for me.
 
I love their ambition and my one overnight experience with them was perfectly fine. But given there is only one opportunity to have a decent sleep in an actual bed and with a shower, tiredness is going to kick in by the time you reach Kolmarden and that is certainly not the place you want to be tackling on lack of sleep.
 
Yeah the whole sleeping on a coach thing is not ideal but that's why it's so cheap.

Comfort breaks I assume means a shower stop, I guess you've got to trust your fellow passengers to actually use them!

@Danny where did you visit previously with them?

I'm also considering their Efteling new years eve trip.
 
Let's have a look at how long it will take between parks:

Dover to Heide Park- 8h 45m (Inc ferry)

Heide Park to Liseberg- 11h 23m

Liseberg to Grona Lund- 5h 2m

Grona Lund to Eskilstuna- 1h 29m

Overnight stay

Eskilstuna to Kolmarden- 1h 36m

Kolmarden to Tivoli Gardens- 5h 37m

Tivoli Gardens to Dover (Inc ferry)- 12h 54m

Surely the coach drivers will need a rest?
 
Let's have a look at how long it will take between parks:

Dover to Heide Park- 8h 45m (Inc ferry)

Heide Park to Liseberg- 11h 23m

Liseberg to Grona Lund- 5h 2m

Grona Lund to Eskilstuna- 1h 29m

Overnight stay

Eskilstuna to Kolmarden- 1h 36m

Kolmarden to Tivoli Gardens- 5h 37m

Tivoli Gardens to Dover (Inc ferry)- 12h 54m

Surely the coach drivers will need a rest?
We had a school trip to Alton Towers, drove there from Aberdeenshie in the morning then back up the next evening. The driver took a least every three or four hours. I'm sure they will schedule it in.

After the first night those times aren't so bad. Personally though I'd pick parks closer together, and I don't think Kolmarden or Tivoli Gardens would need the whole day

EDIT: Just realised of course that doesn't cover actually getting a night's sleep. Plesumably the driver would sleep during the day? I wonder if there's a sleeping compartment in the coach...
 
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That itinerary is nothing short of hideous, my back is hurting just looking at it! I know enthusiasts can be a crazy bunch, but I can't think of anything worse than spending that amount of time on a coach without a bed or guarantee of a shower. Service stations aren't the best on the continent anyway, and I can't see a stop allowing everyone the opportunity for a shower. After a Summer day at a theme park in June that coach is gonna be vile!

Also, remember the Google Maps routes are based on cars, so you're likely looking at adding another hour or more on some of those journey times due to coach speed limits being 20mph+ lower in most countries. That journey to Heide Park alone is looking at probably 10.5-11 hours sat on a coach alone, and that's before you even hit a coaster! Then you've got probably a good 9-10 hours at an absolute minimum over to Liseberg after that.

This needs some rest days and hotel stays to make this remotely enjoyable. They've clearly modelled this after some people's credit trips, but instead of just doing maybe a few hours at a park and grabbing some kip at a cheap hotel en route to the next, they're doing full days at the parks.

As mentioned the Europa-Park trip was cancelled due to lack of interest. Perhaps that trip would have sold better if it wasn't a daft itinerary of heading there and back in one day? A lot of the parks on these trips are incredibly unique (I'm looking at you Tivoli) and would be far better enjoyed if one wasn't hobbling around with a knackered back like a zombie after a complete lack of decent sleep! Many are also in locations that deserve some time out exploring beyond the park gates.

If you've not done these parks before, I can't emphasise enough to take this into consideration and think about planning more sensible itineraries yourself. Flights and hotels are cheap enough to many of these locations that they make them more than do-able as a couple of weekend breaks rather than cramming it all in like this. Days at parks are long enough as it is, give yourself some R&R between parks and they'll be much more enjoyable!
 
@Danny where did you visit previously with them?

I'm also considering their Efteling new years eve trip.

Visited Asterix with them in August which is certainly manageable. I suspect this proposed trip came from some of the geeks on our trip who were discussing the prospect of Liseberg with the driver when we got back to London.

Aside from the fact I'm at EP for New Years, the major off-putting factor to TK's Efteling trip can be found on the itinerary when they suggest you retire to the coach for a pot noodle/cup of soup before the park reopens :p (Would have got a screenshot or quote but their website appears to be down).
 
Utter lunacy! Unless this is a fancy tour bus with bunks and living areas that can only hold a few people in comfort. Even then, as had been said, what about showers?

Does this company actually know what they are doing?
 
Hip flask for the coach and I'd sleep like a log.

It's not the travelling/sleeping that puts me off, it's the fact you cant just nip out after the parks and have a meal/drinks.

Probably won't bother tbf.

Efteling and a Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle however is a strong possibility.
 
I wouldn't be able to manage that. Going to Cologne and back on a coach for a school trip was enough for me!
 
Efteling and a Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle however is a strong possibility.

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;)
 
Nothing says happy new year like the clock striking midnight, singing Auld Lang Syne, wolfing down a doughnut and some bubbly then seeing in NYD with a 7-8 hour journey back to London where you'll be lucky your train is running and it's too early to check into a hotel for some proper kip. These all just sound absolutely awful :tearsofjoy:
 
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