2015: 40th Anniversary

[Sam]

Bits 'n' pieces.

Posted by Alcazar.

Zig zag, zig zag...

Unknown work at Andaluz (small new extension there...?)

New wood at Poseidon, blending in like a sore thumb.

Seats removed from the gondola of Euro Tower which pretty much confirms it'll be getting a refurb, not a new gondola. Hopefully the new seats will have padding. Also, are they going to keep the bow on Sat until Halloween?

Work on Crazy Taxi, the best flat ride in the world.

New beer garden in Austra - note the wall that wasn't there before.

Work on Tirol, the best log flume in the world.

Worth noting that if it's your thing, you can 'like' all the hotels individually on FB. They all post odd stuff quite regularly, sometimes construction updates, sometimes other cute things.

Hotel El Andaluz
Hotel Bell Rock
Hotel Colosseo
Hotel Castillo Alcazar
Hotel Santa Isabel
Camp Resort
...and if you want updates on their new drinks, you can like Bar Colosseo too.

 

[Sam]

Sorry for the endless posts, those goddamn resourceful Germans.



Monorail video. In addition to all the other projects, the entrance to Abattoir Atlantis seems to have been removed. I wonder why?

Renovation work posted by the Camp Resort's FB.

Meanwhile El Andaluz have confirmed to Astro on Facebook that the construction pictured in my last post is for a 'smoker's lounge', meaning that the rest of Bar El Circo will presumably become non-smoking. This is good news as although it's beautiful I'm used to stinging eyes every time I drink in there!

These pictures were leaked to epfans.ch from an unknown source...

Not really sure what is going on here, can any Schloss fans notice any difference?

How it used to look...

Meanwhile, the park have been doing their bit for feminism with their usual hosting of the Miss German contest.

 

[DiogoJ42]

So that's why Euromaus is always smiling.

 

[Sam]

Posted by EP on Facebook just now.

Beautiful photos!

And some more of the new restaurant, posted by Alcazar yesterday...

Also, Rust council have approved the construction of a new fresh water well, which was seen as a potential obstacle for the waterpark plans to overcome.

 

[AstroDan]

Awesome! So much going on!

 

[AstroDan]

As the 2015 season kicks off in exactly 1 month, here are the 2015 ticket prices for the park, updated to reflect the current exchange rates, with last years price shown.

Adult 1 day: €42.50 (£30.85) (2014: €41.00 (£29.75)) - rise £1.10; +3.5%
Adult 2 day: €80.00 (£58.05) (2014: €77.00 (£55.90)) - rise £2.15; +3.7%

Child/Senior 1 day: €37.00 (£26.85)* (2014: €36.00 (£26.12)) - rise £0.73; +2.7%
Child/Senior 2 day: €69.50 (£50.45)* (2014: €67.50 (£49.00)) - rise £1.45; rise 2.9%

Adult Annual Pass: €175.00 (£127.00) (2014: €165.00 (£119.73)) - rise £7.27; +5.7%
Senior Annual Pass: €155.00 (£112.50) (2014: €147.00 (£106.67)) - rise £5.83; +5.2%
Child Annual Pass: €150.00 (£108.85) (2014: €141.00 (£102.32)) - rise £6.53; +6.0%

Car Parking: €5.00 (£3.65) - no change on 2014

*Senior ticket holders get a free slice of cake in main season and a free mulled wine in winter season.

My view is that annual passes have risen more than other tickets in percentage terms due to the rises at Phantasialand in recent years. Europa-Park remains cheaper than Phantasialand and Heide-Park but slightly more expensive than LEGOLAND Germany.

Isn't EP looking cheap this year?

 

[josht]

The 2015 developments to See-Restaurant will see a beer garden added.

The park will now have 2 beer gardens!

That's the greatest investment this year

 

[AstroDan]

Due to unprecedented demand and positive feedback, Europa-Park have announced that for some of the 2015 season, SPOOK ME - The Europa-Park Musical will be featuring at the Teatro dell'Arte in Italy.

The show, which saw full to bursting performances twice daily during the last month of the 2014 season features music by Hendrik Schwarzer - composer of Wodan and the Europa-Park Suite to name two of his works.

Press release from EP:

The enthusiasm for the first self-produced Europa-Park Musical "Spook Me!" was enormous in autumn 2014. Around 30,000 visitors wanted to see live the story of Ghost King Borbar, his son Tao, the human girl Lilly and evil Isperia. In gratitude for the overwhelming success, there is a very special gift for all musical fans in the Jubilee year 2015.

Thomas Mack, management of Europa-Park has decided to extend the musicals run! To give the Europa-Park's 40th birthday visitors something very special and presents "Spook Me! The Europa-Park Musical "from the start of the season on 28 March to the end of Pentecost at 7 June and from 25 September to 8 November.

Detail in costumes, brilliant scenery and stunning light compositions enchant young and old equally. Great tunes, performed by a 60-member symphony orchestra in Berlin and top soloists from the world of musicals, turn the story into a firework of emotions. First presented in true 5.1 surround sound!

Original promo ad from 2014:

 

[Sam]

EP have posted this video about Horror Nights recruitment for 2015.

Italian renovations continue, seems to be a bit of a focus point for the park this year.

Paved path to Bell Rock is now finished. Photos of the construction work posted by Bell Rock here if you're interested.

New model ship at the Bell Rock reception (but they can't decide what colour to light it...) Meanwhile, at the new Alcazar restaurant...

Swinging by El Andaluz... how is Bar El Circo getting along?

To end, lets pull back with these aerial shots from epfans.ch...

Stage construction and Euro-Tower renovation.

New Greek attraction.

The hotels post a lot on Facebook.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Glad to see they finally paved the path round the back of bell Rock. Only took them 3 years.

(The ammount of images in this topic is getting crazy now!)

 

[Rob]

The amount of work they're doing in this year where they are meant to be getting 'nothing' is also getting crazy now!

 

[Jonathan]

See, this is what I love about EP. They don't just update stuff when it really needs doing. They do it because they want their guests to have a consistently high-quality experience at each visit they make to the park, and also because they just can!

 

[Rob]

Work on the express lane is nearing completion:

Less than 3 weeks to go until the start of the season!

 

[AstroDan]

Great stuff! Hopefully the new 2015 'what we have done' video will be out in a couple of weeks, then!

I have never known Europa-Park complete such a range of micro projects in one winter before as they have this year. Astounding even by their standards.

 

[Rob]

I cannot wait for this year's annual show off video, it is going to be quite something!

But quite, not only is the range of what they are doing astounding but the time it is taking to complete it all. It really wasn't that long ago the park was open for the end of the winter season. Even with no real new rides this season is incredibly exciting for Europa Park.

 

[Sam]

New clip from the park of the 4D film.

As this graphic shows, EP are on a bit of a naming streak. For some reason they're changing the name of Seerestaurant (Lake Restaurant) to Seehaus Restaurant (Lake House Restaurant). Michael Mack has also said in an interview that Euromausi (Euromaus's girlfriend? Sister?) will finally get a proper name on 28 March. Seems a good idea, as for a while she's seemed a bit of an afterthought.

The travelator is nearing completion:

For some reason they're putting small LED displays above the travelator. No idea what these would display.

Mysterious... what sort of feature could this be for?

Some photos posted by fckfan99 (???) on epfans.ch

Santa Marian getting a bit of work done.

Arena show rehearsals. Note that the ugly gantry structure used in last year's show is gone!

A look at the new stables and equestrian facilities below ASS. It'd be great if the area around these could be open to the public someday and you could go look at the horses.

Because there weren't anywhere near enough projects this year, they've also decided to refurb the front of Colosseo, and maybe also do something currently unknown with the bar balcony.

Re-paving at the car park entrance.

2015's Wodan poster.

Also, articles for anyone interested.
SÜDKURIER article about the park's maintenance and safety work, featuring a familiar interviewee to many of us.
Badische Zeitung article about temporary measures being put in place this year to ease traffic jams around the Rust/Ringsheim motorway junction

 

[Dave]

The obvious answer to the LED display on the travelator @Sam i would guess is a direction display. As there is only one conveyor I would assume it will change direction of travel through the course of the day and will need to be indicated.

Just a thought

 

[AstroDan]

Are they... jousting fences?

I hope so! Jousting is win and has been missing from the Arena Show for a few years!

Is that Wodan poster meant to show Euromaus with bits of broken wood!?

 

[DiogoJ42]

It does indeed look like the epic jousting might return! Lance to the face FTW.

 

[Craig]

Ooh and that stupid bridge has gone too, back to a similar setup to when I first saw the show hopefully!