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2014: Arthur in the Minimoys kingdom

Europa-Park is now closed until the winter season starts on 22nd November (18 days). The park has had a record-breaking final week to the summer season, with 55,000 guests in attendance on Saturday alone.

As part of the final week, DJ Bobo held live concerts for park guests and here's his 'thank you' video to everyone who saw the show last week!

 
I am pleased to report that EP have really sorted out the issues that Arthur was experiencing earlier in the year. For the time we were there I did not see it go down once (the only 'issue' was that it opened 10 or 15 minutes late one morning). It was also constantly running seven trains which really does improve the throughputs, the queue constantly moves. Single rider is still great for a shorter queue time.

I was really impressed with how EP decorated the park for Haloween. They certainly go all out with theming and pop up stands etc. Although I do prefer the magic of the main season atmosphere, Haloween did grow on me. I particuarally enjoyed seeing what they did to EuroSat! Lots and lots of additional theming inside the ride.

Finally, shows. Horror on Ice V was something else. People could genunienly died in that show, it was utterly absurd and worth the €25 Horror Nights entry fee alone. I was in shock at times, a true spectacle. EP also had their very own musical for Haloween, Spook Me, the first time they have done so. It was a top quality production, they only fault really was the lack of English subtitles like they did for French. Still for a theme park show it is a cut above most, certainly a new level for EP.

I can't quite believe I've had three trips over the Rust this year. It has been a fantastic season for the park and has truly stolen my heart this year. Now bring on the 40th anniversary celebrations in 2015!

:)
 
Just noticed Europa have posted this video:



Seems like they are selling a making of video for Arthur
 
Indeed they are, lots of us bought it! Over 2 hours of footage for just €10!

:)
 
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I did think it was weird them advertising this when the park is closed if it wasn't on sale already :p
 
I think a lot of people gloss over these as a massive revenue stream for the park. I include 99% of Merlin management in that statement.
Yes they're well made, provide a glimpse into the workings of the park and business and are for the fans, but at the end of the day it won't have cost a great deal to produce and will generate a lot of goodwill. Plus lots and lots of cash.
If 1/5 of the people there on the last day bought that DVD they will have made over €100,000!
 
This is the whole thing again about, give people memories, they'll want to buy reminders!

It is where Merlin royally screw up.
 
A 2014 addition that none of us picked up on until last week. The Universe of Energy dino dark ride underneath EuroSat has had narration added (in German). According to EP-Board, this was added in April, but only to cars 1-7 which explains why we heard it on our first ride but not the second. Hopefully they will roll this new feature out to all the cars over closed season!

The other change since July that I spotted is the improvements that have been made to Blue Fire's pre-launch dark ride section. The banging, crashing and shouting noises have been turned up significantly, and there are new white strobe lights as well as other lighting changes that make the whole thing feel a lot more intense. When I first rode in 2011, the dark ride section was a bit boring, with scientists tapping away at computers as if everything was fine. The tone of the whole scene has now acutely shifted since July, so that events seem to start going wrong even before the 'Oh no, there is a problem!' animatronic appears. It's a big improvement, and makes this part of the ride a lot more exciting.

*

My thoughts on Horror Nights were mixed. Overall, the mazes were poor. Two mazes I thought were brilliant last year (The Crypt and Dead Inside) were terrible this year. Not a single scare on either of them - the former had dropped its imaginative wanderings through a spider's cave in favour of bland box rooms with actors in. Dead Inside last year was a tightly-controlled, masterfully designed piece of entertainment. This year for whatever reason it was all over the place, and felt a bit of a shambles.

Labor and Nightgrabber Forest were both good, especially the latter with its imaginative scenes of organic tentacles grabbing at you through forest walls. Last year's The Villa was great, so it was a shame that its werewolf-themed replacement this year was rubbish. On the plus side, there was no maze like last year (Snow White) that could be described as absolutely appalling. All of them at least had some standards of professionalism.

Blitz was fun with silly hard rock music blasting out mid-ride. Horror Nights' salvation though has to be the jaw-dropping ice show - maybe the best show I've ever seen in a theme park. It was totally adult and completely, utterly bonkers. Unfortunately, it's impossible to describe accurately how ridiculous it was to anybody who wasn't there. But - at various points - it included cocaine snorting, Nazi jokes, a simulated S&M sex, an orgy scene, hetero and homosexual flirting as well as the f-word, the s-word and the n-word. Is there anything I missed? The usual EP disregard for Health & Safety was even more flagrant than usual, with dozens of fireworks and sparks and angle-grinders and flame-throwers going off inside the packed ice show tent.

I don't really feel I can pass an opinion on Spook Me! as I don't speak any French of German, but I was underwhelmed. I reckon that I would have found it pretty boring even if I understood it. But this ignorant British monoglot was disappointed in EP's laziness. They clearly spent a fortune putting this musical together. There was a French translation on the screens at the side of the stage. So why not an English translation? The park were supposed to be moving towards being permanently trilingual. I know the percentage of visitors who speak neither German or French must be very low (1-2% perhaps?) but the park employ dozens of native English speakers already - they could have included an English translation with the absolute minimum of effort and expenditure. I am baffled as to why they did not do this.
 
Sam said:
I don't really feel I can pass an opinion on Spook Me! as I don't speak any French of German, but I was underwhelmed. I reckon that I would have found it pretty boring even if I understood it. But this ignorant British monoglot was disappointed in EP's laziness. They clearly spent a fortune putting this musical together. There was a French translation on the screens at the side of the stage. So why not an English translation? The park were supposed to be moving towards being permanently trilingual. I know the percentage of visitors who speak neither German or French must be very low (1-2% perhaps?) but the park employ dozens of native English speakers already - they could have included an English translation with the absolute minimum of effort and expenditure. I am baffled as to why they did not do this.
Click to expand...

Even without the English translations, I really enjoyed Spook Me!. The songs and acting were enough to make most of the story out. However, I do agree it would have been nice to see some sort of translation. From what I remember after seeing the show, I don't think the French translations were all that either though, and what was on the screen mainly served as a "scene setter" rather than anything that truly translated large chunks of the story. It was great to see the response to the whole thing though, and absolutely unbelievable to see a show have such massive popularity.

I think a lot of people gloss over these as a massive revenue stream for the park. I include 99% of Merlin management in that statement.
Yes they're well made, provide a glimpse into the workings of the park and business and are for the fans, but at the end of the day it won't have cost a great deal to produce and will generate a lot of goodwill. Plus lots and lots of cash.
If 1/5 of the people there on the last day bought that DVD they will have made over €100,000!
Click to expand...

As much as these kinds of DVDs are great (and I'm not one to always defend Merlin!), they'd be far from a massive revenue stream for a park away from Europa. I'm sure there will be some interest from enthusiasts and fans of the park, but there's no way 1/5 of people heading to the park would purchase that DVD. Europa have their own production company in Mack Media, and an interest in making a video like this as a ride manufacturer showing off their hardware. So before you even get to selling the DVD to the park's customers, you have two other motives for making such a video. Three if you include a bit of showing off, which we all know the Macks love to do ;).

Got to agree Horror on Ice is the most ridiculous show I've ever seen at a theme park, not the best but for crazyness it's right up there. It's certainly the best ice show I've seen at Horror Nights in the years that I've seen it, although admittedly not necessarily for the ice skating itself! I am glad though that despite the negatives of Marc Terenzi's presence in the past, the event has kept it's adult side since he left. Maze wise, I did go at a much quieter time, so maybe things were a little better. That said, some of the scares were still mistimed or just missing altogether and initially I put this down to it being one of the earlier events, but it seems that wasn't necessarily the case. I'd love to see a bit more thought put into operations of the mazes (perhaps more professional actors?), it'd really bring the event up to standard.
 
Craig said:
Even without the English translations, I really enjoyed Spook Me!. The songs and acting were enough to make most of the story out. However, I do agree it would have been nice to see some sort of translation. From what I remember after seeing the show, I don't think the French translations were all that either though, and what was on the screen mainly served as a "scene setter" rather than anything that truly translated large chunks of the story. It was great to see the response to the whole thing though, and absolutely unbelievable to see a show have such massive popularity.
Click to expand...

Yes, the French subtitles were just a form of 'narration' informing you of what was going on in each seen. There was no translation of what was being said or sung; that would be impossible and you would not be able to watch the show as you would be constantly reading! I do agree that it would not have been hard to add this narration in English also at the bottom of the screens.

Saying that I still really enjoyed the show and was able to get the general idea of what was going on. The storyline was not complex (probably deliberate) so the vast majority could enjoy and appreciate it.

The popularity is something else. Huge queues to get in long before the doors opened. Then once they did open the theatre was full in under five minutes. And the standing ovation at the end said a lot, I've never seen anything like it for a theme park show!

:)
 
A nice little article on Europa about them breaking the 5 million visitor mark. That's remarkable. We all know they'll build on it as well. The rise of this park is becoming meteoric they just "get it". Obviously, it's been good to read some criticism lately of the place, as people visit more and realise these issues - but, goodness me, when you put those against the backdrop of what they do right.

Also, 2 1/2 MILLION Christmas bulbs? Not saying anything about lighting... :D

http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=312330

Thanks to @Sam I think for the link to this mag on another topic, been interesting reading!
 
As much as I love Arthur...and I really do...but the best thing about this autumn were those late rides on Wodan in the dark :yum:

I remember me and my buddies thinking in the end of last season, that Wodan wouldn`t get any more intense. But no...!

Yes, SiSta ist higher and faster, yes Blufi is smooother, has the launch and some great elements...but the sheer intensity of how Wodan is running by now is EXACLTY what EP needed IHMO. I just love it...
 
I don't think even the Macks could have expected Wodan to be as crazy and intense as it is now. We got a re-ride at the end of the day on Saturday, it was incredible!

:)
 
I know we are going off topic, but I agree, the park did need something fast and intense. Wodan really does offer that on a good day!
 
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