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2012: Wodan

No - the annual "start of season list of changes" isn't updated. It is merely a reflection of what the park have done over the winter ready for the start of the main season.

EP are constantly adding and improving existing rides, though - right through the season.

:)
 
Sorry, wrote this reply before the new updates, I'll address them after.



Having been to both Port Aventura and Europa Park this month I'd also agree and without a doubt recommend Europa. Nothing really comes close.

Port Aventura is a great park, and this year it is certainly better than ever. Shambhala is easily my favourite/the best coaster I've ever been on in my opinion. Mind-blowingly good - I was astounded when I came off. Colossal amounts of airtime, insane sense of speed, surprisingly high gs (coming into and out of the turnaround, most of the pullouts of drops and the turn after the MCBR was really quite intense), great theming and really open seats. The views are incredible too. I can't fault it.

The problem is, Shambhala is in a different league to the rest of their coasters. Whilst I thought Dragon Khan was better and more intense this year than I remember it, it's definitely got rougher and for me it lacks 'soul' as it were. It's fun but it's copy and paste, and too easily leaves me with a headache. I love Furious Baco (my favourite Intamin launch I've been on) and never considered it rough, but it's said to be rough so often that my opinion must be an anomaly. Stampida is good fun but PMBO-rough. Huracan Condor is fantastic, absolutely terrifying.

One of the best things about PA though has to be Temple del Fuego - the temple of fire. It's mostly a tongue-in-cheek guided walk through/show led by an Indiana Jones-type character through a couple of rooms with effects. The finale is astonishing, though I think it should be left a surprise. It's such an easy-to-miss attraction as well, but really quite wonderful.

PA is very nice to walk around in but it doesn't have the same atmosphere/character that EP has; whilst it's often beautiful it's nowhere near as beautiful as Europa; whilst there are shows and impromptu street entertainment they're not as good/too generic or corporate-feeling compared to EP's; the queuelines are probably as bad as their reputation suggests (although when I was there Shambhala did have a staff member preventing queue jumping plus due to its great throughput* and constantly moving queue the most I waited was 20minutes, but this too seems anomalous); food is much more expensive than EP's; I don't think there is enough to do for each member of the family, or rather, it is too segregated - at Europa, family and thrill attractions are all so close together, and all intermingled, so you can stick together even whilst riding different rides (this is something Alton I think have a problem with [and countless other parks really]).

So yeah, whilst Port Aventura is a fantastic park, I would say it is nowhere near the quality of Europa, even though it has in my opinion the best coaster in Europe.

*PA seem pretty determined to push for high throughputs on Shambhala, something that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case with their other coasters. As soon as a train pulls into the station and the restraints are released, a 60-second timer by the ops cabin starts to countdown, really pushing the staff to get trains loaded and set to go as soon as possible. I never saw them miss the target, usually trains would be out in 45-50 seconds. This makes the queue constantly move, which I always find makes it feel like less time.

The good things about Europa have generally been covered, but if you haven't definitely check out the stickied "Europa-Park: Trip Planning, Questions and Advice!" thread just for some more encouraging comments. But primarily it's a joy to walk around in, the atmosphere is wonderful, there's really so much to see and they have a fantastic range of coasters. Blue Fire is sublime (my second favourite coaster ever, and it's a pretty damn close second. I'd rank both above Nemesis but many disagree); Wodan is brilliant and so fast, even if it tails off a little after the station fly-through; Silver Star is ace with a great S-turn finale; Eurosat and Euromir are immense if not entirely insane and ridiculous; and coasters like Matterhorn Blitz, Schweizer Bobbahn and Alpenexpressen are just really fun.

So if you can, Europa is the better choice (by some consensus it seems).



Bell Rock does look amazing, particularly the interior shots. The only issue I have, is that because it is across the river, pretty much in Rust itself, it feels like it dwarfs the village in a way the other hotels don't seem to.

Also, that fisherman really didn't look new! He looks as vintage as the rest of EP's models! Gotta love them though.

Thanks for the updates though, once again.
 
Rupert said:
I don't think there is enough to do for each member of the family, or rather, it is too segregated - at Europa, family and thrill attractions are all so close together, and all intermingled, so you can stick together even whilst riding different rides (this is something Alton I think have a problem with [and countless other parks really]).
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I hope this is not too off topic, but I do have to disagree there - Stampida is located next to the Carousel, Tomahawk and another ride I've forgotten the name of, plus a parks for children. Hurakan Condor has a small children's area to the left with 2-3 kids attractions, and has another Sombrero ride behind for the family. Dragon Khan and Shambhala are just up the hill from the main China area, with Tea Cups, the new Driving School and a large themed playground and the wave swinger* (*think that returns next year) is next door. I appreciate that Furius Baco has no other rides nearby but that is an exception I feel.
 
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It's just so... Beautiful... *Breaks down into tears and curls up in fetal position*... Is it just me or does there appear to be a fountain in the middle of that pond/lake/manmade puddle? :p
 
In the fact sheet there is something mentioned: Bell Rock Show „Rhode Island Waterfire“

Maybe it's a fountain "show" like the one of Colosseo.
 
Milka Shop <3

And this is why I'm taking two suitcases on my trip, one for merch, and one for Milka...
 
"Exploring Bell Rock"

[youtube]http://youtu.be/aMzawfeNx78[/youtube]

I love how they interview someone from EP-fans about their thoughts on the new hotel. The equivalent would be if Alton Towers put out a YouTube interview with Kaycee about her thoughts on Fried Chicken Co. :p
 
The just looks stunning and so lovely! The detail they go to is incredible! The hotel looks like a lovely place to just sit outside and relax, never mind the fact that you've got an awesome theme park on your doorstep. Very impressive indeed.

:)
 
A day in the life of Ornella de Santis, one of the main entertainments "stars" at Europa-Park, has been posted to YouTube. Ornella has featured in Mysteria (halloween show) and performs on part of the new Piccolo Mondo soundtrack, and the Santa Isabel theme and original story video.

She is currently starring in Waterloo, in the Globe Theatre but, like with all entertainers at Europa-Park, she also has a part in the daily parade:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCV6VaiAyE[/youtube]
 
From the Europa Facebook page:

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There we go!! ;-)

Wir suchen für die Horror Nights 2012 neue Talente, die bereit sind Gästen ein unvergessliches Erlebnis zu ermöglichen. Wenn Du Lust auf den gruseligsten Job der Welt hast und Teil der Crew werden möchtest, dann bewirb Dich jetzt!

Schicke dafür deine aussagekräftige Bewerbung (Anschreiben, Lebenslauf) bis zum 20. Juli per Post an:

Europa-Park Freizeit- und Familienpark Mack OHG
Entertainment
Sebastian Rosenbaum
Europa-Park-Straße 2
77977 Rust

oder per PDF (auch bis zum 20. Juli) an

[email protected]

Voraussetzungen:

- Du bist mindestens 18 Jahre alt.
- Du kannst fließend Deutsch und/oder Englisch.
- Du kannst Blut sehen ohne dass Dir schlecht wird.
- Du kannst an allen Spieltagen (stehen auf www.europapark.de und www.horror-nights.de).

Wenn Du nicht an allen Tagen kannst, dann hast Du die Möglichkeit Dich als Freiwillige(r) zu bewerben. Hierfür forderst Du einfach ab dem 16. Juli das vorgefertigte Bewerbungsformular unter [email protected] an.
Click to expand...

Doesn't look like the Terenzi brand is going anywhere just yet then :(.


Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
 
Access Road Update

Over the past few weeks, the installation of overhead lane controls for the access road to/from the motorway has been taking place, with a view to beginning their use as soon as possible.

At present, there are 3 lanes - and two are permanently used for access to EP, with only 1 for exiting (back towards the motorway). This causes immense traffic pressure when the park closes. As a result, they will now be able to have 2 in / 1 out first thing, with 2 out / 1 in later on!

The total cost of the project has been €8million (£6.4million) with money coming in from the local authority and Europa-Park.

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:D
 
Towers need this sort of thing for their access road, or at the very least electronic signs to replace the manual ones that would remove any possibility of them displaying conflicting information.
 
Aww it's like the A38(M) going into Birmingham! :p

In all seriousness though, this is a very good idea and should work well. Towers could definitely benefit from something like this.

:)
 
Question about Overhead Lane Control (or any kind of lane control): at the point in the day where they switch the direction of one of the lanes, how does that work?

Surely it's quite a complex operation to avoid head-on collisions during the changeover period?
 
Sam said:
Question about Overhead Lane Control (or any kind of lane control): at the point in the day where they switch the direction of one of the lanes, how does that work?

Surely it's quite a complex operation to avoid head-on collisions during the changeover period?
Click to expand...

This is a complete guess but I'd imagine it would work like this for a 3 way control. So the lanes are set overhead for 2 going in and 1 going out. Then when they want to change it they would have one lane in and one lane out for a period of time with the middle land closed in both directions. Then after the period of time has passed and there is no chance of any cars in the middle lane they can set it to one lane in and 2 lanes going out.

:)
 
Really want to come just for a few days hopefully I can get a late flight over
 
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