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2021: Europa-Park General Discussion
- Thread starter Jambo
- Start date
- Status
venny
TS Member
It’s a fantastic way to accept an award and well-deserved.
That said, the Golden Tickets become more laughable every year. The coaster rankings are bizarre and their awards seem to be very static. If there were ever a great example, Valhalla won best water ride again despite being closed for two years. You also have to ask yourself whether the votes were for the ride experience that doesn’t exist anymore or the ride experience that nobody’s ridden yet…
That said, the Golden Tickets become more laughable every year. The coaster rankings are bizarre and their awards seem to be very static. If there were ever a great example, Valhalla won best water ride again despite being closed for two years. You also have to ask yourself whether the votes were for the ride experience that doesn’t exist anymore or the ride experience that nobody’s ridden yet…
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
I'm surprised Valhalla was even permitted in the awards, given it's SBNO.
Marcus
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Helix
Am in the process of planning a trip for late November. It will be the second time I have been having not been back since 2015. I was wondering if anyone has any information about the new for 2021 "Hallowinter". I was wondering if people who have been at a similar time previous years can say is it like a Mish mash of Halloween and winter decoration? Just interested as was planning on going during winter but that is looking less likely for myself. Any expectations people have for this new season?
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
It's just that the park is open when it used to be closed. There will be some halloween stuff and some winter stuff. Go earlier in the period, it'll be more spooks than Santa and go later and vice versa.
I expect it to be more akin to winter season in terms of rides etc.
Marcus
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Helix
Thank you Dan. That's good for us as having not experienced either offering and leaning more towards an interest of their Christmas offerings going the last full week of November hopefully is nearly a full Christmas experience but won't let ourselves be disappointed if it isn't as the park are quite clear with their seasonal dates.
2 days in the peak of August although great and able to squeeze in a surprising large amount of rides wasn't enough time for myself as I'm someone who would rather take their time, do a few shows and get lots of re-rides. Planing at least 2 days as well as a day at Rulantica. Do they still offer the 3rd day at a discount after your two days if you goto guest information inside the park? Looking forward to returning to my favourite park.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
I believe they do the third day thing although recently, Covid has affected what tickets are on offer. You'll just have to ask.
venny
TS Member
A few observations from a 5 day trip last week:
- the park are clearly struggling for staff, and you can see it in the removal of some of the smaller things.
- ride ops are thankfully not really effected. You’ll be on Silver Star as quick as ever.
- Food and beverage has taken a hit with closures including Walter’s Wurst, CMAK Burgers, Bodega, Magellan Lounge, Cafe Benedetto, the Sports Bar by the dodgems and the upstairs bar in O’Mackays. This did detract a little from the visit as the closures are to some of the hidden gems of EP like Magellan.
- Buena Vista and Bar Colosseo were both open at weekend despite Colosseo being advertised as closed. Service at both bars is by queueing at the bar and there was no live entertainment when we visited. It was good that they were open though.
- the park entry process was really slick. I’d seen videos of massive queues but we had no problems with waits to enter.
- the 4D cinema was completely devoid of effects this time.
- Food Loop queues seemed to be even longer than usual, although I’m not clear what the reason for that was. There didn’t seem to be too much reduction in capacity.
- Pirates is a triumph of a dark ride. It’s difficult to articulate what makes it so much better than the original, but it is now more coherent, cleaner and far more enjoyable than the original. It’s exciting to think what’s on the horizon for EP dark rides of the future.
- Most of our group were new to EP and their reaction to Can Can was rapturously positive. It made me appreciate what a good ride it is.
- Audio across the park, but most notably in the shows is just too quiet. I’m speculating there’s some Covid reason for this, but the shows suffered as a result and this year’s show in Italy in particular lacked because of that and also some clunky scenes changes. El Baron remains a relatively poor show for the Spanish Arena.
- Why have we not heard more about Blue Fire’s vibrating seat add-on?? I’m not sure what to make of it, but it was certainly a surprise the first time I rode.
- We ate in Harborside for the first time and I have to say I couldn’t fault it. The food was mostly delicious and the desserts were spot on.
- There seemed to be less live music around the park this time. We only managed to come across music in the Biergarten and Rock Cafe.
- Silver Star’s queue line vinyls are all ripping off. They look terrible and are not in keeping with the park’s otherwise well kept image.
- The Svalgurok addition to Rulantica really feels like a significant addition. Some of the slides are really enjoyable and the lighting at night is beautiful.
- The Hyggedal spa up charge is not worth it if you’re not willing to take your trunks off. The sauna and balcony are all fabric free which means you only have some loungers and the bar to relax in. Half the bar closes at 6 to allow the public to enter (for free) and if you’re not lucky enough to snag a lounger then your €10 hasn’t really acquired you anything. It is a very odd set up that feels like very poor value. The poke bowls are tasty though.
- The queue for the half pipe really shows that they need another headline attraction. The queue was a minimum 30 minutes all day and evening.
Overall it was a great trip without too much in the way of Covid interference. In an odd way it’s both more and less noticeable at EP because it’s the small touches that add up to make it the park that it is; with a few of those touches currently not available, you’re not going to have the ‘full’ experience. That said, you should not delay your trip for that, ride operations were as good as ever and it remains my favourite park.
- the park are clearly struggling for staff, and you can see it in the removal of some of the smaller things.
- ride ops are thankfully not really effected. You’ll be on Silver Star as quick as ever.
- Food and beverage has taken a hit with closures including Walter’s Wurst, CMAK Burgers, Bodega, Magellan Lounge, Cafe Benedetto, the Sports Bar by the dodgems and the upstairs bar in O’Mackays. This did detract a little from the visit as the closures are to some of the hidden gems of EP like Magellan.
- Buena Vista and Bar Colosseo were both open at weekend despite Colosseo being advertised as closed. Service at both bars is by queueing at the bar and there was no live entertainment when we visited. It was good that they were open though.
- the park entry process was really slick. I’d seen videos of massive queues but we had no problems with waits to enter.
- the 4D cinema was completely devoid of effects this time.
- Food Loop queues seemed to be even longer than usual, although I’m not clear what the reason for that was. There didn’t seem to be too much reduction in capacity.
- Pirates is a triumph of a dark ride. It’s difficult to articulate what makes it so much better than the original, but it is now more coherent, cleaner and far more enjoyable than the original. It’s exciting to think what’s on the horizon for EP dark rides of the future.
- Most of our group were new to EP and their reaction to Can Can was rapturously positive. It made me appreciate what a good ride it is.
- Audio across the park, but most notably in the shows is just too quiet. I’m speculating there’s some Covid reason for this, but the shows suffered as a result and this year’s show in Italy in particular lacked because of that and also some clunky scenes changes. El Baron remains a relatively poor show for the Spanish Arena.
- Why have we not heard more about Blue Fire’s vibrating seat add-on?? I’m not sure what to make of it, but it was certainly a surprise the first time I rode.
- We ate in Harborside for the first time and I have to say I couldn’t fault it. The food was mostly delicious and the desserts were spot on.
- There seemed to be less live music around the park this time. We only managed to come across music in the Biergarten and Rock Cafe.
- Silver Star’s queue line vinyls are all ripping off. They look terrible and are not in keeping with the park’s otherwise well kept image.
- The Svalgurok addition to Rulantica really feels like a significant addition. Some of the slides are really enjoyable and the lighting at night is beautiful.
- The Hyggedal spa up charge is not worth it if you’re not willing to take your trunks off. The sauna and balcony are all fabric free which means you only have some loungers and the bar to relax in. Half the bar closes at 6 to allow the public to enter (for free) and if you’re not lucky enough to snag a lounger then your €10 hasn’t really acquired you anything. It is a very odd set up that feels like very poor value. The poke bowls are tasty though.
- The queue for the half pipe really shows that they need another headline attraction. The queue was a minimum 30 minutes all day and evening.
Overall it was a great trip without too much in the way of Covid interference. In an odd way it’s both more and less noticeable at EP because it’s the small touches that add up to make it the park that it is; with a few of those touches currently not available, you’re not going to have the ‘full’ experience. That said, you should not delay your trip for that, ride operations were as good as ever and it remains my favourite park.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Not heard about this, could you elaborate please?
venny
TS Member
The seats on Blue Fire appear to have been retrofitted with vibrations, so as you pull into the launch section and the danger signs and buzzer goes off, the seats vibrate quite a bit until the train is launched.
It was a surprise to me as I’d heard nothing about it before riding. Im not too sure when they were added but they weren’t like that 18 months ago.
emmerse2891
TS Member
Sort of sad to hear about the missing aspects - but then i visited Last sept and lots was shuttered and I still had a good time! Is Bodega the ship in Portugal? I miss that...one of my fave hidden gems.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Bodega is the tapas bar in Spain, part of the El Andaluz structure. There ship in Portugal is the Santa Marian, and the bar is named the Magellan Lounge.
djtruefitt
TS Team
They’ve had the vibrations for years, but only on the updated trains, and from my experience they don’t always work, so it might be they were there on your last visit, but you got the older trains or just a seat where it didn’t work.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Vibration only on one or two trains max.
Re: Covid - sadly, Germany remains under covid measures which are coordinated regionally so unlike the UK, I can't see the park returning to 100% before next year.
Still...!
Re: Hyggedal, I actually thought €10 for the quiet space was worth it. Was peaceful and a nice escape from the noise.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
Re: Covid - sadly, Germany remains under covid measures which are coordinated regionally so unlike the UK, I can't see the park returning to 100% before next year.
Still...!
Re: Hyggedal, I actually thought €10 for the quiet space was worth it. Was peaceful and a nice escape from the noise.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
venny
TS Member
I wonder whether they’ve done a bit of maintenance on the trains, as we’ve never had the vibration before in countless previous visits, but we got it on all three rides this time.
A couple of other bits I forgot to mention for anyone interested:
- the parade no longer has a parade stop, so it’s not really worthwhile staking out the spot outside Food Loop. The confetti cannons however seem to have had an upgrade - they really filled the sky with confetti.
- there’s a temporary cocktail food truck parked in Luxembourg Square which serves decent cocktails via the same system as Rulantica. A nice sticking plaster whilst places like Crocodile Bar are not open.
- the new electric trains take forever to stop.
- Snorri Touren was having some real issues with stacking, causing the entire ride to be out of sync. I think they might need to take a car off as it serves to significantly disrupt the ride experience otherwise.
- I much prefer the updated Atlantis Adventure soundtrack. It serves to make the ride feel less cartoonish.
- The Ice Show is not good. It feels quite small scale but also lacks the charm and tongue in cheek wackiness of previous shows.
- With the updates to some of the other classic rides, Euromir is starting to stand out more and more as out of place in the current park. And if they do renovate it, they also need to include Bench (sorry).
- The Rulantica advert in the revolving theatre is embarrassing. The old park history exhibit needs to be reinstated in all its kitsch splendour.
A couple of other bits I forgot to mention for anyone interested:
- the parade no longer has a parade stop, so it’s not really worthwhile staking out the spot outside Food Loop. The confetti cannons however seem to have had an upgrade - they really filled the sky with confetti.
- there’s a temporary cocktail food truck parked in Luxembourg Square which serves decent cocktails via the same system as Rulantica. A nice sticking plaster whilst places like Crocodile Bar are not open.
- the new electric trains take forever to stop.
- Snorri Touren was having some real issues with stacking, causing the entire ride to be out of sync. I think they might need to take a car off as it serves to significantly disrupt the ride experience otherwise.
- I much prefer the updated Atlantis Adventure soundtrack. It serves to make the ride feel less cartoonish.
- The Ice Show is not good. It feels quite small scale but also lacks the charm and tongue in cheek wackiness of previous shows.
- With the updates to some of the other classic rides, Euromir is starting to stand out more and more as out of place in the current park. And if they do renovate it, they also need to include Bench (sorry).
- The Rulantica advert in the revolving theatre is embarrassing. The old park history exhibit needs to be reinstated in all its kitsch splendour.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
- Status