ImUrNemeis
TS Member
What's Europa Park's horror nights like in comparison to Alton Tower's Scarefest?
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2013: General Discussion
- Thread starter Ramius
- Start date
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
ImUrNemeis said:
Totally different.
Europa-Park basically have 2 products for Halloween.
The first is the daytime park event, which takes place when the theme park is open. This includes family friendly Halloween characters, a more tamed-down version of The Villa (which is one of the Horror Nights mazes), Halloween shows, Halloween food and beverage, Halloween theming across the park and, for the last week of the season, Mysteria - a major, multimedia show which includes singing, dancing, fire, water projections and fireworks. The extent of Halloween theming and immersion across EP dwarfs anything in the UK.
Horror Nights is separately ticketed (around €22 / £18) and runs from 8pm till midnight (not daily, weekends from mid September to late October, then daily for the final week). It basically encompasses 2 Scare Zones, which you enter as you wish and there are characters etc. marauding around with smoke and special effects. Then, there's the Halloween on Ice show, which is a more adult-natured horror on ice spectacle in the Ice Arena. The 5 mazes are mixed in quality - some are better (Take Away, The Villa) while some are more basic. The mazes are not better than those at Alton Towers on the whole, which is perhaps surprising, however the event as an entire package is much better and the value for money is good, given it is £12+ for just 2 mazes at Alton Towers.
Regarding D4n's point about the rides which open, it's a fair point and one which I partly agree with (in fact I raised it on EP's facebook page earlier today!). Back in 2007 and 2008, Eurosat opened as part of the original THN events, when they took place in France/Italy. However, since they moved to Greece, there isn't really a thrill coaster they could open. Poseidon station is used for the Vampires Club, and if Poseidon was open, it would kind of alter the atmosphere as it's quite loud. They could possibly open Euro-Mir, but then it's not really immediately in the Horror Nights area. The only other option would be Eurosat, but again - it's quite a walk. At least M. Blitz is now part of the event (as it wasn't pre-2012) which at least is slightly larger than Pegasus. I agree it seems daft opening the balloons though...!
RE: Silver Star, the park are forbidden to open it beyond 10pm due to local noise issues.
Some days during the end of the season, EP is quite busy - so you end up with the whole park open till 8 or 9pm, and Horror Nights already gets underway from 8pm. If larger coasters were part of Horror Nights, it would mean they have to close these coasters off from regular day guests too, which wouldn't be ideal.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
D4n said:
Yup - it sure does, and Pegasus is the ride at Europa-Park where they tend to limit capacity the most, for some reason - compared to the other rides. Although I have seen it on 2 trains, this is only on the busiest days. It's mainly down to queue length. On one train, it's 30 minutes to the queue entrance, generally the ride just doesn't get much of a queue.
Here's a video of a train being put into the garage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzuUpFjTnEo#
Pedro
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Expedition Ge Force
Pegasus is often on 2 trains recently. As it is very popular, they need to use he 2nd train more often.
And remember that Eurosat was opened for Horror Nights 2008 and 2009; as the event was in the Italiana and french part. Eurosat is now an old coaster, I think they could open it but they don't want to also for technical reasons. Using Pegasus and Matterhorn Blitz are great ideas, and they are very different by dark, which is not the case for Eurosat.
And remember that Eurosat was opened for Horror Nights 2008 and 2009; as the event was in the Italiana and french part. Eurosat is now an old coaster, I think they could open it but they don't want to also for technical reasons. Using Pegasus and Matterhorn Blitz are great ideas, and they are very different by dark, which is not the case for Eurosat.
DragonMarty
TS Member
Pedro said:
I think that is not relevant for EP's decision. Eurosat may be old, but it was renewed coninuesly. I think it runs at least as good as in it's early days. Otherwise it would not be possible to have such a high throughput without many flaws.
Pedro
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Expedition Ge Force
Eurosat is old, and the park knows it. It is now used in the winter season since 2001, and it was not supposed to when the park designed it. It also wasnt designed for such a throughput, dont forget it opened in 1989, and the park at that time was nothing like a major theme park.
It still is a good coaster, but it need more and more maintenance. And I can tell you that it is nothing like it was when I first rode it years ago (Also due to many theming changes).
One day it will have to be retracked, or completly rebuilt, and the park knows it, even if it is not planned at the moment.
It still is a good coaster, but it need more and more maintenance. And I can tell you that it is nothing like it was when I first rode it years ago (Also due to many theming changes).
One day it will have to be retracked, or completly rebuilt, and the park knows it, even if it is not planned at the moment.
Craig
TS Administrator
Random fact - I've actually never done the Vogel Show despite a hideous number of visits *puts on list for October*
Really looking forward to getting back to Halloween and seeing what they're going to pull out the bag post Terenzi. Mysteria is one of my favourite shows just for it being utterly ridiculous in terms of the level of production!
Really looking forward to getting back to Halloween and seeing what they're going to pull out the bag post Terenzi. Mysteria is one of my favourite shows just for it being utterly ridiculous in terms of the level of production!
Sam
TS Member
Congratulations to Katja and Thomas Mack, who have got married.
Do the Macks know the meaning of the words 'low-key'?
Seriously though, congratulations to them! I was lucky enough to meet both of them last year in Bell Rock, and chatted to her a little bit while Thomas signed his autograph. She was friendly and so polite, and seemed genuinely curious about our trip (and why I knew her husband-to-be by sight!)
A lovely couple, now to get down to the more important business of 'securing Europa's future' if you know what I mean.
EP's press site (via Google Translate) said:
Do the Macks know the meaning of the words 'low-key'?
Seriously though, congratulations to them! I was lucky enough to meet both of them last year in Bell Rock, and chatted to her a little bit while Thomas signed his autograph. She was friendly and so polite, and seemed genuinely curious about our trip (and why I knew her husband-to-be by sight!)
A lovely couple, now to get down to the more important business of 'securing Europa's future' if you know what I mean.
josht
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- bandit (movie park)
How can somebody own a theme park and have a wife like that its not rightSam said:Congratulations to Katja and Thomas Mack, who have got married.
EP's press site (via Google Translate) said:
Do the Macks know the meaning of the words 'low-key'?
Seriously though, congratulations to them! I was lucky enough to meet both of them last year in Bell Rock, and chatted to her a little bit while Thomas signed his autograph. She was friendly and so polite, and seemed genuinely curious about our trip (and why I knew her husband-to-be by sight!)
A lovely couple, now to get down to the more important business of 'securing Europa's future' if you know what I mean.
Plastic Person
TS Member
Anyone reckon Thomas does actually look a little like Euro Maus?
