2015: A General Update - PHOTO HEAVY!

[Rob]

After just getting back from three and a half days at Europa-Park I thought I would do a 2015 general update from the park. I find that the start of the season is a worry; what if the incredibly high standards of the previous season are not met? What if operations have taken a slight back seat? What if the overall quality has diminished? Thankfully these worries were not at all necessary. In 2015 Europa-Park has taken things to a new level. What they have done is, in my opinion, unprecedented in theme park history. This 2015 update post will try to demonstrate some of that but the only way to fully appreciate everything is to go and visit!

Part 1 of 3.

Euro-Tower

I'll start with the changes to Euro-Tower. I never rode it before this year so am unable to comment too much on how it has changed but it now looks visually very impressive. Here you can see the new queue:

The area outside of Euro-Tower has also been re-worked with new paving/planting etc to give a more open/airy feel:

The gondola has received a new paint job. The park map implies that the top of the tower will receive a new lick of pain but I am unsure if or when this will happen.

Finally the lovely sign to the new shop:

Work on Euro-Tower does not look like it is fully complete. They were still doing some painting whilst we were there and I get the impression that more theming will be added in places.

Kolumbusjolle

Well what a fantastic change this has been! Kolumbusjolle has gone from being a standard circular flat that you may do if you get a chance to a must ride. We'll start with a few photos of the new entrance and queue:

The animatronic man is indeed from the bottom of the Alcazar stairs.

I'm sure videos will emerge in time but the new ride sequence is brilliant. There's new audio, new lighting, new projections and you can now control the direction that your boat faces using the little steering wheel. You can also 'fire' your cannon using a button. Overall these changes are immensely fun.

Erdinger Beer Garden

This is the new beer garden that has been built one one side of the Lake House Restaurant. It was not open when we went to have a look but here are some photos:

Looks brilliant and it will look even better once some of the new planting is given time to grow. I did not get any photos but there have one half of inside Lake House restaurant has also been refurbished/redecorated.

40th Anniversary Parade

There is an all new parade this year complete with new floats. Unfortunately it was raining when we saw it but here are some photos:

More photos of the parade can be found here. The new Iceland float is a clear highlight!

The new Iceland float is a clear highlight!

End part 1.

 

[Rob]

Part 2 of 3.

Minor Arthur Area Changes

There have been a few changes to the Arthur area. Firstly the entrance to the area; the temporary doorway/fence has been removed which looks a lot better:

I am unsure if this paving, planting and buggy store (on the right of the photo) on the secondary entrance/exit to the area is new or not but it looks it so I thought I'd post:

The new confratainment venue in the Arthur dome (behind Poppy Tower) is still under construction however they are making it blend in well. It appears to be taking the form of a gardeners toolbox with a large gardening glove hanging down one side:

In terms of the Arthur ride itself I did not notice too many changes. All of the effects were working smoothly and on the whole the ride was running well bar one period of downtime on Friday.

Modified Stage in Italy

The stage where the EuroMaus show takes place in Italy has been modified and now looks a lot better and more permanent. On the right you can also see a new bit of theming that has been built:

New Meeting Point Signs

The meeting point signs around the park have been updated. I won't post them all but here is an example:

Other Park Cosmetic Changes

Schweizer Bobbahn has had a full track and support repaint:

The new flower arrangements around the park are quite beautiful. Here are a couple of examples:

These new lights with speakers have been added to the path that leads up to Russia from Switzerland. The path may have been repaved also - I am not certain:

The speakers play the Europa-Park soundtrack.

El Circo Smoking Lounge

Bar El Circo in Hotel El Andaluz is now non-smoking. To compensate for this a new smoking lounge has been built onto the back of the bar:

A big improvement on an already great bar.

End part 2.

 

[Rob]

Part 3 of 3.

Whale Adventures: Northern Lights

Whale Adventures is getting a re-theme and new name for summer 2015; part of this will be two new dark ride sections, one at the start and one at the end of the ride. There's still a lot of work to be done but here are some photos of this substantial piece of work.

Advertisement banner with new logo and concept art:

Extension to one side of the station:

The extension here is done so well that I had to think twice about whether the section of building was actually new or not! However in this photo you can see the difference between the new and old walls and roof:

The exit of the extension:

Here you can see across to the new rock work that forms the new dark ride section at the end:

Some overview shots:

EP have obviously realised that the ride is not overly popular and are doing something about it. I'm pretty excited to see what the final product will be like.

Dome of Dreams

The Beautiful Europe film is shown in the new Dome of Dreams. This is a temporary addition and it does show from the outside; the entrance stands out a little and the queue tunnel is just corrugated metal at present. However work on the queue area is not quite complete.

Things get much better once inside. For starters there is a slight tardis effect going on - the dome does seem bigger on the inside! You have the choice of bean bags or benches around the edge and in the middle to watch the show from. The bean bags are immensely comfortable and help make great viewing. The show itself is of exceptionally high quality. It's a little bizarre with children looking down on you but some of the footage is gorgeous. The ending is so typically EP in a very amusing style.

Overall I would say this is a great addition, especially as it is temporary. Yet another thing to do at the park!

The Time Carousel

It was never going to be easy for the new 4D film to follow up the awesome Secret of Balthasar Castle, however with The Time Carousel EP and Mack Media have done it! The quality seems even better than before and Mack Media continue to produce the best 3D I have seen for a theme park film, in fact it is up there with cinema releases.

I won't go into details of the story but despite there being a lot of German spoken it is fairly easy to pick up what is going on. Great to see even more of the park animated in 3D as well!

Other

Elsewhere there are the new express lanes from the car parks to the entrance. I didn't get to use these but there are four of them and they are nice and wide. An addition that simply wasn't needed but they just did it.

Don Quichotte in El Andaluz looks very nice after its refurbishment and the new menu is very nice. Top quality food.

Overall the park is looking fantastic, fitting for the 40th anniversary. Chances are there have been other changes around the park that I have missed!

Shows

I saw four shows; the ice show in Greece, the arena show in Spain, the variety show in Italy and Spook Me!

The ice show, Surpr'ice with the Gods of Greece is a typically brilliant EP show - start with a story that vanishes very quickly and becomes an impressive spectacle. Got to love a bit of chariot racing on ice!

The arena show, The Return of the Black Knight, is a big improvement on last years arena show. We see the return of jousting and there are some rather amusing moments.

The variety show, White Balance, is a bit more of a mixed bag. Parts of it are fantastic and really enjoyable. However there is a very long magic show section which despite some impressive tricks involves a lot of fast speaking in German meaning it is impossible to follow unless you speak the language well. Other aspects did make up for this though.

I am a big Spook Me! fan and it was great to see the addition of English subtitles. It remains an impressive production and is on another level in terms of shows for EP.

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2015 is set to be a special year for Europa-Park! Now all I want to do is go back.

Happy Birthday Europa-Park!!

 

[AstroDan]

Thank you for such a comprehensive report, Rob! I look forward to seeing these changes for myself (tomorrow).

 

[Burbs]

Rob, you said to us last week that you'd do a very major update on the forum, and you haven't disappointed, mate! Great update there!

 

[Sam]

New Meeting Point Signs

The meeting point signs around the park have been updated. I won't post them all but here is an example:

SO happy about this. I thought the old signs were amongst the biggest eyesores in the park. Can't find a photo of the old Nestle ones but they were vile.

 

[John]

Which mascot was on the old Portugal sign? Have all the individual area mascots been removed?

 

[Rob]

Which mascot was on the old Portugal sign? Have all the individual area mascots been removed?

Kind of. From what I saw it looks like the mascots used on the new meeting points are Euromaus and friends (ie the main characters in the 4D) and the Rustis.