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2021: Europa-Park General Discussion

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Europa Park's press release marking the end of the season for Traumatica's successful return. They also confirmed the event will return for 2022.

150 monsters, 5 horror houses, 3 scarezones, 100 liters of film blood - the "Horror Nights - Traumatica" are not for the faint of heart and were a huge success in 2021. More than 95% of the spectacle was sold out this autumn and shows that the desire to be scared is unbroken.

The "Horror Nights - Traumatica" are a success format
On an area of 25,000 m², the brave experienced a world after the apocalypse, in which five rival groups fought for power over Traumatica. Never before have more horrific creatures per visitor caused fear and terror than this year. At the “Horror Nights - Traumatica”, which has received several international awards, you could experience your very own horror film between Shadows, Ghouls, The Fallen, The Pack and Resistance for the first time until mid-November. In 2022, too, the successful format will freeze the blood in your veins.
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Will be interesting to see how it works with the construction of Croatia and the BigDipper looming - while the coaster planning permission shows it barely touches the event site you'd assume the only possible space for the themed area would be alongside where Traumatica is right now.
 
Traumatica needs an overhaul. I didn't even bother with it this year: I mean, there are some positives but the event is tired. Lots of it still feels too temporary when you are there, and I think a resort of EP's calibre could step it up a gear.
 
Isn't the thought that they might build Croatia with some permanent parts underneath/behind for Traumatica? Either way it was brilliant fun this year.
 
Poisson said:
Isn't the thought that they might build Croatia with some permanent parts underneath/behind for Traumatica? Either way it was brilliant fun this year.
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It's fine for first timers. But it's barely altered in 5 years now.

Yes - hopefully...

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Arrived earlier today in Rust today and had a lovely meal in La Romantica in hotel Colosseo which was lovely and quite a few of the Christmas Decorations are up already. There was live music as well which was a lovely surprise as I assumed all of that had stopped. Would add as a minor gripe that the Gluten free options are a touch limiting which wasn't idea for my girlfriend who has celiacs but fortunately the one main that they said they could do for her was fantastic.

A few slight observation from this evening. From what we could see all three of the hotels that are joint together looked completely closed which was news to us as I knew alot of the bar and restaurant offerings are currently shut but didn't expect the entire hotels to be shut to which was sad to see. The only bar in the section with the 5 hotels that we found open was the bar on the right hand side of Colosseo across from reception. Looking forward to getting back on park tomorrow after over 6 years away.
 
Marcus said:
Arrived earlier today in Rust today and had a lovely meal in La Romantica in hotel Colosseo which was lovely and quite a few of the Christmas Decorations are up already. There was live music as well which was a lovely surprise as I assumed all of that had stopped. Would add as a minor gripe that the Gluten free options are a touch limiting which wasn't idea for my girlfriend who has celiacs but fortunately the one main that they said they could do for her was fantastic.

A few slight observation from this evening. From what we could see all three of the hotels that are joint together looked completely closed which was news to us as I knew alot of the bar and restaurant offerings are currently shut but didn't expect the entire hotels to be shut to which was sad to see. The only bar in the section with the 5 hotels that we found open was the bar on the right hand side of Colosseo across from reception. Looking forward to getting back on park tomorrow after over 6 years away.
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I would imagine the three smaller hotels will re-open at the end of this week, as we're currently in this strange "Hallowinter" period, which historically would have seen the smaller hotels closed.

Either way, enjoy! I bet the place will be absolutely empty this week.
 
The idea of "Hallowinter" is an amusing one. The pumpkins were past their best when we visited between the 24th and 27th October, but by now I imagine they're positively ROTTING.
 
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Burbs said:
The idea of "Hallowinter" is an amusing one. The pumpkins were past their best when we visited between the 24th and 27th October, but by now I imagine they're positively ROTTING.
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Having Visited last week, it was definitely a “transition phase”. With by the end of the week the park basically being all Christmas. One day Euromir had it’s Halloween music, on our last days it was a Christmas remix song. Same at the entrance, on Day 1 there were the mummies, they were gone day 2.
 
AstroDan said:
I would imagine the three smaller hotels will re-open at the end of this week, as we're currently in this strange "Hallowinter" period, which historically would have seen the smaller hotels closed.

Either way, enjoy! I bet the place will be absolutely empty this week.
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Thanks Dan for the explanation we did potentially think it might be down to that. We will be exploring throughout our days here so will keep posted on how busy the park is and if bits like the silver lake saloon are open etc. We did notice pretty much all the Christmas Decs were up in Hotel Colosseo but not all of them switched on yet but it still was so amazing to finally see in real life as well as going into Bell rock which looked amazing just had a strange atmosphere as all the lights were on inside but we didn't see anyone else in there the entire time we were in there.

Can't wait for the park today, August was the time of year I visited last time so I feel it's going to be a bit of a contrast.
 
Just want to add November has been a fantastic time to visit if you don't mind it a bit cold but enjoy an empty park. I am not exaggerating when I say everything has been walk on or station walk in and that's with Silver Star and Wodan on one train! We found the whole experience a tad surreal especially when the fee people who were at the park left a good 3 hours or so before closing making a quite park even quieter.

It was the same in Rulantica today with next to no queues for anything. We have a third day tomorrow which although for some would be overkill there are still a number of bits we have missed and who doesn't want another day of countless rides and shows all with the fantastic Christmas backdrop!

P.S. still without a doubt the best park I've been to!
 
Having just returned from the Christmas event, I thought I’d post a few thoughts: -

- Despite the uncertainty of the current environment, the event is still mightily impressive in its scope and scale. That said, there are a couple of changes to previous years, including:

- the ice sculptures are replaced in the Spanish arena by a play area in the same tent. It’s actually a lovely warm space with some great old fashioned parlor games, music and distractions.
- the Erdinger Hutte in Portugal and Ice Bar in Spain don’t make an appearance which does make this somewhat a dead corner of the park despite the big wheel being there. We were regularly the only people about when we would wander through.
- the markets have been shifted around, with the medieval market moving to Ireland and the Deutsche Allee market moving into the Castle Gardens/fountain area. They’re also not selling alcohol at the markets in an effort I suspect to prevent people congregating at the end of the day. This and the moving of the markets did mean that there was a slight lack of atmosphere that you otherwise get in the evening as the park closes.

- Elsewhere, the park and ride operations appear to be continuing unhindered.

- The circus remains a highlight of the event, especially the clown. There was a small drop in artist quality although I expect that arises from the current circumstances.

- Other shows remain a decent quality, and it’s good to see the puppet show back. I do think that the productions in the Italian Teatro have not been up to the quality they were 2-3 years ago.

- Just like the summer, I’m convinced the volume of the show audio has been decreased and it really detracts from the impact and feel of the productions.

- Catering outlet closures persist, albeit unlike summer the amount of crowds really didn’t justify any more being open.

- On the subject of crowds, the weekdays did not see a wait for any ride at any time. Everything was walk on, all week.

- Pirates remains a triumph of a ride. With crowds being so minimal we managed to catch innumerable rides and it’s extremely rerideable - there’s something new to spot every time.

- The faster the new ride comes to the bottom of Food Loop the better. The current attraction is now an excruciating advert and needs getting shot of.

- The park have introduced a reusable deposit based system for hot drink mugs. It works the same as the Gluhwein cups.

- Maybe an anecdotal thing, but it felt as though spirit measures had become a little stingier. €16 for a measure or Balthasar rum and coke in El Circo really stung.

- Colosseo and Buena Vista remain closed, despite being advertised as open by the hotel on their very specific welcome email and again on the resort to channel. The pool opening times were also wrong on the tv. There’s not much point advertising opening times if they’re wrong.

- The hotel room TVs generally need an upgrade. They’re about 5 years out of date now and need a better entertainment selection to coincide with the evolution in tv services and align with the room prices charged.

- Attempting to book the Dinner Show via the hotel was incredibly difficult. Given the amount of marketing around the park (even in the parade) it’s amazing that they make it so complicated to actually buy a ticket anywhere but online.

- We finally managed to try the buffet as Santa Isabel. I found the cold buffet to be absolutely excellent, I was slightly surprised at the lack of hot selection and the awkward ordering process and the dessert quality was relatively poor. It was probably the most relaxed and upscale feeling buffet I’ve ever been to, but on balance I have to say Harborside remains the best value overall.

- Rulantica was absolutely empty on the Thursday which gave us chance to complete the slides quickly. This only reinforced my belief that all of the slides are very average and they are badly missing a standout attraction. Svalgurok being closed highlighted what a big difference this new addition has made.


Overall, the winter event remains astounding in its scale, even with the backdrop of covid. If you’ve previously visited in the summer, there’s an argument that you may even enjoy the winter offering more, especially if you’re after plenty of walk on rides.
 
You are truly lucky to have made it out there. All my plans for next week have been canned. It must be a nightmare for EP at the moment, with walls being built between countries left, right and centre - removing their significant international market.

Here's to 2022.
 
AstroDan said:
You are truly lucky to have made it out there. All my plans for next week have been canned. It must be a nightmare for EP at the moment, with walls being built between countries left, right and centre - removing their significant international market.

Here's to 2022.
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It was touch and go at times, with rules seemingly changing daily. EP themselves even had to clarify/change the rules around testing/boosters a few days before we left. Given the restrictions in place, there were still a fair number of people at the park and hotels. Obviously with France now being subject to restrictions I expect visitor numbers will drop quite significantly.

It was a definite challenge to work through and organise the different requirements, but on balance it was worth the effort and stress. Flying though Basel only added to the confusion between Swiss, French and German restrictions.

I know a fair few people use Basel as the closest accessible airport. For what it’s worth, a few bits of Covid information we gathered flying into Basel and travelling that route at the moment were: -

- The airport operates under French Covid rules for entry unless you are a Swiss citizen.

- Once you’ve made it through the French checks, there is an additional set of checks to get into the Swiss side of arrivals. If you stay on the French side you’re free to leave once you e gotten through the French checks. We always hire our car from the French side so this suited us.

- We filled out the entry forms for France and Germany, but neither of these were checked. The airport checks in arrivals were for your vaccine certificate and covid test. There were no checks crossing the border from France to Germany via road in either direction.

- You can use both sides of the airport for departures as normal (i.e. there’s no requirement to meet Swiss entry requirements if you check in on the Swiss sector for departures).

- If you’ve been before you’ll know that the car hire desks in France have quite limited hours. We found that Sixt were quite accommodating in organising out of hours collection for our car.

Clearly this is all subject to change, but hopefully it helps anyone planning for next year a little.
 
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