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2020: Europa-Park General Discussion

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LIVE from the Norwegische Stabkirche... the EasterGodService at Europa-Park!



Not that I'm a religious man, but this is a very EP thing to do. There's a new song as well!
 
I quite like the songs in between, which are sung by EP's very own Murray and Ornella.

I guess, irrespective of what your religious status, the video demonstrates just how Europa-Park is more than a theme park. It has a depth to it, which few places - if any - can match.
 
Local German newspaper BNN have an article about the situation and atmosphere in Europa Park and the village of Rust during the shutdown. Germany may be starting to look to gradually return to normal life but its expected the park will remain shut longer, despite no official word on this yet from the state or Mack family so far, as a low priority site in terms of public life. Questions over how the park would operate in the current situation also remain. Locals in Rust told the paper they anticipate the park may open at the beginning of June at the earliest.

Spring is breaking in Europa-Park. 25,000 tulips have blossomed, the daffodils stretch out towards the sun, and a sea of pansies make the streets shine brightly. Only there are no visitors to appreciate all the flowers. The largest amusement park in Europe is closed due to the corona epidemic.
At least until April 19, probably longer. "It is a strange feeling to walk through the park now and to have almost all of these flowers to myself," says Bernhard Rein. "And it is a shame that they will soon be torn out to make way for the summer flowers."

Rein knows the Europa-Park like the back of his hand. He had attended the opening of the mega leisure facility as a teenager and has been taking pictures for the Mack owner family for two decades. "I've never experienced anything like this here," says the 57-year-old on the phone. "Now the park and the hotels even switch off most of the lights in the evening - this is done to avoid light pollution, but it is already ghostly."

In the border triangle of Germany, France and Switzerland, the 134-hectare facility with over 100 attractions, a huge "water world", six hotels and a 23-hour show program is "system-relevant". The Mack family employed around 4,150 people in summer 2019, and Europa-Park attracted more than 5.7 million visitors in the previous year.

In and around the small community of Rust with 4,300 inhabitants, hundreds of pensions, inns, restaurants and shops, but also craftsmen, food manufacturers and service providers usually benefit from the hustle and bustle in the family fun paradise.

That is why a lot of people listened when the Macks announced with a heavy heart on March 23 that the season opening would be postponed for almost a month by corona. "We look forward to welcoming you again as soon as possible," wrote the operator.

Now, however, it looks as if the park fans have to prepare themselves with even more patience. Because the "gradual return to normality after the Easter holidays", which Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is talking about, almost certainly does not mean the starting signal for the hustle and bustle in Rust.

The Mack family is currently not giving press interviews. But the pessimistic forecast confirms the Member of the State Parliament Lahr, Marion Gentges.

In her own words, the CDU politician only discussed first the “restart of public life” with Spahn on Tuesday. “The question now is: what things do you need and what can you do without? Work and schools will definitely take precedence over leisure activities, ”says Gentges.

The residents of Rust interviewed by the BNN expect the park to open at the beginning of June at the earliest. It is unclear whether the offer and the number of visitors will be reduced for security reasons, for example by restricting it to online ticket sales. “The park cannot go up from 0 to 100 right away,” Gentges is convinced.

According to information from the Lahrer Zeitung, the Mack family introduced short-time work for more than 2,000 employees in all areas. According to Marion Gentges, the operators increase the salary of the employees through additional payments.

"In the park, they prepare intensively for Day X," she says. The photographer Bernhard Rein explains that the artists and craftsmen of Europa-Park are using the forced break for more construction and maintenance work.

The activities in the leisure facility are reduced, but for Rein they represent a great contrast to the street scene of his community under quarantine. "Rust is dead". In the past, everyone would have hibernated during the season break: "Then: Peng! When the park opened, the community was 100 percent full. This, Peng ’is now missing for everyone who benefits from Europa-Park.” Because of the many cancellations by guests, he would be missing at least three monthly sales, Rein estimates, who owns three holiday apartments in the village.
"We were fully booked until November, but no one is coming now," moans Josef Utz, who runs the "Ferienwohnung am Steingarten" together with his wife Rita - as additional earnings on his pension, as he says. "It is financially very tight right now, unfortunately we cannot expect any help," complains the pensioner.
The situation in the “Gästehaus Glück” is just as difficult. The 50-year-old Rolf Glück has submitted an application for financial aid: "A few months without income, I would have to talk to the bank if it can defer the repayment of the loan."

In an interview with the BNN, Mayor Kai-Achim Klare (SPD) called the situation "depressing" and the consequences for Rust due to the Europa Park closure "serious". "These cuts have dimensions that we could never imagine," says Klare. His great hope is that Rust will soon be able to slip under a state "rescue umbrella".
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https://bnn.de/lokales/ortenaukreis...dies-europa-park-herrscht-gespenstische-leere
 
Good article. The impact on the supply chain, local business in Rust is considerable. And that's before we even talk about the impact on Europa-Park itself.
 
Burbs said:
Over in Italy, there's a new animatronic in the Geisterschloss queue line, as if it wasn't already a mish-mash of separate things already.

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Was reading through the Adventure Club of Europe website and found that this new character is Ghost Hunter & ACE member Giacomo Medaina with a full backstory here: https://adventure-club.de/en/home-page/giacomo-medaina/
Giacomo2.jpg

(if only they could now retheme the whole ride to this story please...)
 
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That is the sort of thing that EP put onto that ridiculously overblown ACE website and theme a new ride on the above story in 2 or 3 years time.
 
German parks are looking at reopening on 4th May apparently. Obviously there will be slight changes to operations etc but how amazing have the German's handled this epidemic? Europa n Phantasialand will be busy this summer.
 
Benjsh said:
German parks are looking at reopening on 4th May apparently. Obviously there will be slight changes to operations etc but how amazing have the German's handled this epidemic? Europa n Phantasialand will be busy this summer.
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Well, I'd imagine that they won't be too busy in order to adhere to social distancing rules, but I definitely think that an opening on this date would certainly soften the financial blow a lot for them; that would mean that they've only missed out on about a month of their planned season, potentially less than a month in Phantasialand's case as I think they normally open in mid-April anyway!

However, I must ask; where did you hear this? I was under the impression that theme parks and leisure attractions were banned until August in Germany, or did I imagine that?
 
But most theme parks are still closed "until further notice" according to their websites.
Although zoos opened this week/last week.
 
Just to clarify there's nothing official about when German parks will reopen. The Tourism Minister for Baden-Wurtemberg Guido Wolff has been in the press talking about his desire to allow them to open on 4th May (but he cannot speak for the whole country). It is part of his 3 step proposal on reopening leisure facilities which he intends to argue for at the next Government Lockdown Review Meeting this Thursday (30th April).
Whether he can convince his counterparts in other states, remains to be seen as for the moment those restrictions are nation-wide. Whether a decision will be reached or it is devolved to each individual state to decide for themselves is also not yet clear. Should each state be given those powers certainly his enthusiasm could mean if that were to happen EP and Tripsdrill could open before Phantasialand or Hansa depends on what their respective states decide.

Overall its all still up in the air. Thursday might bring some more answers but nothing is certain yet. Personally I would guess a June date may be more realistic.
 
Yeah its not set in stone hence the 'looking at reopening' however it clearly shows they are pretty close to what they believe they can cope with.
 
I doubt parks will open next week. It's a bit of posturing I would say.

That said, it's good to see traction. I can see them opening in May for sure.

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This could be so much worse...the impact of the virus healthwise and the impact in the industry including themeparks. It´s such a good sign that they already started talking about opening the parks...even if there will be restrictions in the beginning...
 
In this week's Rulantica Weekly, Michael Mack has said that they're working on a virtual queue-type system to allow guests to go straight onto an attraction without having to wait in the queue line.

This will surely mean that capacity has to be majorly reduced considering the paths aren't simply wide enough to contain a lot of people. The park have said before that they need people in queue lines to keep paths less busy, one of the reasons that a fast pass system has never been implemented.
 
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