2015: 40th Anniversary

[Rob]

Given that it was quite clearly set up to have two Towers from opening, you have to question why it's taken them nearly 2 years to add the second one...

Maybe they wanted to wait and see what the demand for the ride was before adding a second. No point have two if the one rarely got a queue. However it's always had a 10-15 minute queue when I've been so the decision to add a second has been justified.

I did expect the second one to be in place for the start of the 2015 season but winter season is fine by me!

 

[AstroDan]

Given that it was quite clearly set up to have two Towers from opening, you have to question why it's taken them nearly 2 years to add the second one...

It is as above.

Waiting to judge capacity requirements before adding it. Fairly logical - the queue for Poppy Tower was regularly 15-20 minutes. In fact, the whole Arthur complex is incredibly popular.

 

[AstroDan]

It seems the park is getting more popular - with winter season this year seeing a few more extended closes than usual.

It was extended to 8.30pm last night and 7.30pm tonight

Good to see.

 

[josht]

It seems the park is getting more popular - with winter season this year seeing a few more extended closes than usual.

It was extended to 8.30pm last night and 7.30pm tonight

Good to see.

At least one park in Europe is doing well

 

[Rob]

So, Europa-Park have confirmed a 10% rise in guest numbers during 2015 - 5.5 million in total - another new record! Quite incredible when you think that there was no major new ride.

 

[Jonathan]

10% rise in guest numbers. That's phenomenally good.

 

[AstroDan]

I am quite shocked by the 1/2 million increase in guests.

I would imagine that EP will remain 2nd in Europe following Parc Disneyland.

 

[Dar]

If the hotels are running at 98% already, is there any concern that they might run out of capacity before the new hotel is built? I wonder if they might try to become more integrated with some of Rust's guesthouses and hotels, offer cheaper tickets or spa access or something similar?

 

[DiogoJ42]

We hear ths statistic about EP hotels all the time.... but how full are the thirteen billion guest houses that surround the park?

 

[John]

Given that we were able to get 2 rooms from 29th Dec - 2nd Jan at 30min notice, apparently not that full. I suspect there's a lot of people who check EP accommodation first and only then look in the village if they can't get on resort

 

[AstroDan]

Given that we were able to get 2 rooms from 29th Dec - 2nd Jan at 30min notice, apparently not that full. I suspect there's a lot of people who check EP accommodation first and only then look in the village if they can't get on resort

There were only 2 place with accommodation in the village over New Year on booking.com, at least.

I don't think EP are concerned about any of this. They would rather steadily expand rather than go down the Disneyland Paris or PortAventura route.

 

[Burbs]

A video has been posted on the Europa-Park YouTube channel of the dinner show "Cirque d'Europe"! I'm still not entirely sure of any details about it, but it's basically a comedy variety show with the audience sitting around tables, eating from the 2 Michelin Star menu.