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[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion

The slippery floor indoors and the scalding floor outside in the summer are my two main pet hates about Rulantica. I'd assume their reference to a "new floor" is that they've resealed it again after maintenance, but that sadly doesn't make a difference when walking on it. I end up quite achy after a day there thanks to having to walk so carefully around the park.

Good to see some positives in there, but yes food has been a big issue for a while now. You'd presume it's staffing again, but if they want to keep the revenue going, they really need a plan to staff these places correctly. It's especially the case with an increasing number of off resort options appearing in recent years.
 
Agree on the staff, although it’s interesting that they seem to have the staff to open most outlets at weekend. It’s perhaps supplemented by part time weekend workers, but that does beg the question how they’ll cope at other peak times. It was amazing to see just how many outlets were closed some days mid-week. I wouldn’t put it all down to Covid either, as there have been issues to some extent for as long as I can remember.

The food service failures are put into even sharper focus when you contrast them against the almost flawless ride operations.
 
No they genuinely did replace a lot of the flooring around Skip Strand during a recent maintenance closure last month.
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In fact a lot of flooring was already replaced in March 2020 months after opening due to issues but it solved very little. Dunno how they can't get it right, very bizarre.
 
I noticed when I visited in March and in June there were large section of damaged flooring across Rulantica. Most of it was covered up with those anti slip mats, theming or just tape to fill the joins.

So there’s definitely been some issues with either the choice or floor or how it’s been laid.
 
To pick up on opening hours - it's generally 7pm off peak and 8pm peak during winter. So if you visit on a weekend, or during the christmas holidays, you'll get an extra hour of magic.
 
Very true, we arrived on Sunday and wanted to use the "last hour" passes but since park close was at 8, they conflicted with our dinner reservation. That said, according the queue-times.com, the average wait for (as a random example) Piraten in Batavia on Sunday was 19 minutes, and only 3 on the following Monday, when the park closed at 7. I suppose that's up to each individual, but as much as I love seeing the park at night, I love walking directly onto the rides slightly more :D
 
Man, I thought the slippery floor situation was just me. It's madness. We have a 3 year old and the kids area is a death trap. the path up to it is so slippy but even when you are inside it, they decided on raised concrete boundaries. Makes no sense in a kids area. The amount of people I have seen fall is crazy. Glad im not the only one to notice!
 
It was brilliant to see Wodan on 3 trains last week, the first time during Winter Season that they have been able to do this. It really does make such a difference to the speed that the queue moves at.

I'd imagine they did some maintenance on one of the trains during the quieter HalloWinter season, and then can complete maintenance on the remaining trains over the next couple of months.
 
Visited Europa for new years. Making it not only my first trip during their winter season but first new years experience at a theme park (unless Wookey Hole counts).

Have visited a handful of other winter park events, and this one may be the best one yet. Only potentially rivalled by Phantasia’s Winteraum. Chessington is a cheap pantomime in comparison.

The park was honestly lovely. Full to the brim with lights, some festive shows, bars, restaurant, stalls, activities and a giant festive wheel. It gave me festive VIBES I’ve haven’t felt in some time. Music nice too.

Jumping to new years, my group and I had our experience at Balthazar Castle. A place which seems to be the holy grail (wuzeball?) of Europa park experiences. Some lovely food and drink was consumed in the lavish surroundings. Some nice entertainment too, in the form of a violinist and pianist. The six course experience wasn’t cheap but definitely worth it, especially with drinks included.

Seeing the new year in at my favourite park was such a surreal experience, especially embracing a near empty Deutschland alley. We stayed until late at the after party in the dome/event area. Michael mack was there apparently.

Although the park was great, a few minor gripes could be said. A handful of effects around the park didn’t seem to be working, 2/3 of our rides on Can Can were without music and the new existence of virtual queue. Not a fan.

Aside from that it’s great to see the park (mostly) thrive and grow, whether it’s through the excitement of Voltron or the reimagined Austria area. Food isn’t cheap, but around £18 for a tasty meal and a pint beats paying a little bit less for some inedible Merlin grub.

Must not leave it almost 5 years for my next trip here,
 
The broken effects were something we noticed in early December, especially the audio issues with CanCan. I think I said at the time that staying open between the summer and winter season may be placing extra pressures on the tech teams, which is resulting in some impacts on show quality.
 
The music on Can Can was technically playing when I rode it early December, although at a volume so comically low it might actually have been coming from another train, now that I think back on it
 
I rode on the penultimate row of our train last week. There was audio from the speaker on one side of our row but not the other, and no audio from the back row speakers.

I hope it is something they can sort before the main 2024 season begins, as audio really is critical to CanCan Coaster.
 
Matt Creek said:
Visited Europa for new years. Making it not only my first trip during their winter season but first new years experience at a theme park (unless Wookey Hole counts).

Have visited a handful of other winter park events, and this one may be the best one yet. Only potentially rivalled by Phantasia’s Winteraum. Chessington is a cheap pantomime in comparison.

The park was honestly lovely. Full to the brim with lights, some festive shows, bars, restaurant, stalls, activities and a giant festive wheel. It gave me festive VIBES I’ve haven’t felt in some time. Music nice too.

Jumping to new years, my group and I had our experience at Balthazar Castle. A place which seems to be the holy grail (wuzeball?) of Europa park experiences. Some lovely food and drink was consumed in the lavish surroundings. Some nice entertainment too, in the form of a violinist and pianist. The six course experience wasn’t cheap but definitely worth it, especially with drinks included.

Seeing the new year in at my favourite park was such a surreal experience, especially embracing a near empty Deutschland alley. We stayed until late at the after party in the dome/event area. Michael mack was there apparently.

Although the park was great, a few minor gripes could be said. A handful of effects around the park didn’t seem to be working, 2/3 of our rides on Can Can were without music and the new existence of virtual queue. Not a fan.

Aside from that it’s great to see the park (mostly) thrive and grow, whether it’s through the excitement of Voltron or the reimagined Austria area. Food isn’t cheap, but around £18 for a tasty meal and a pint beats paying a little bit less for some inedible Merlin grub.

Must not leave it almost 5 years for my next trip here,
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Did you enjoy your evening at Silverlake Saloon? ;)
Always nice to have ents on there!
 
It would appear that the hotel buffet restaurants have seen another jump in price. The normal buffets such as Harborside and Antica Roma are now €46.50 (up from €41.50) and Sala Isabel is now €49.50.

Whilst the buffets are always good quality, the price is now pretty hard to swallow when they seem to often be far too busy, regularly attracting large queues at a number of the stations. Competition from the village is also now more vigorous than ever, with plenty of better value alternatives available. We find ourselves eating at the hotels less every visit now because of this.
 
I have emailed Europa-Park to complain about the buffet prices.

They are now ridiculous.

Santa Isabel, to a point, is OK - as it is much quieter and elevated quality - but Antica Roma is a joke for that price.
 
Burbs said:
Did you enjoy your evening at Silverlake Saloon? ;)
Always nice to have ents on there!
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Very much so. I love the atmosphere and surroundings of the silver laI’d. Reminds me of Smoth & Western a little. Not to mention the beer towers they do there.

Ents is always amusing, wish more parks would do that. The country singer was my favourite on our evening there.

5 euros is quite a jump in price. Went to Bellrock buffet on my final day. The food was very nice (especially the steaks), but it does seem very costly, especially when the kids play area was near to our seating area.
 
The Aroma Chinese buffet restaurant is literally across the road from Bell Rock and actually a shorter walk from the hotel exit than Harborside.

The selection is larger than Harborside and there’s no massive difference in quality. Their evening price is now €22 less than Harborside. And it includes unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks.

Suffice to say the hotel buffets are relying very heavily on their captive audience.
 
Does Europa Park ever hit capacity?
Am planning a big trip which will include 2 days at EP. The 1st day on the website is €69 and the next day is €61. I'll have a BPB season pass so will be entitled to 1 day free entry. Would much prefer to use that for the €69 day to save a small amount of cash and pay for the €61 ticket. Obviously though with the free entry I can only redeem that by visiting guest services on the day and thus am worried if the parks at capacity they won't let me in.
 
John_P said:
Does Europa Park ever hit capacity?
Am planning a big trip which will include 2 days at EP. The 1st day on the website is €69 and the next day is €61. I'll have a BPB season pass so will be entitled to 1 day free entry. Would much prefer to use that for the €69 day to save a small amount of cash and pay for the €61 ticket. Obviously though with the free entry I can only redeem that by visiting guest services on the day and thus am worried if the parks at capacity they won't let me in.
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It can sell out on exceptionally busy days like the midnight opening (Summer night party) but generally most days will be OK. Are you staying on resort or in Rust? If you are on resort then entry is guaranteed anyway.

I believe there's a similar scheme through the Rust hotels to guarantee tickets, but I've never tried it and I'm not 100% sure whether simply providing proof that you're staying in Rust will guarantee you entry at guest services or whether you must buy the tickets through the accommodation provider. Might be worth giving your hotel/guesthouse a shout to check to see what the process is.
 
Cheers for the info!

Staying in Rust, did consider staying on site but the prices for the number of days was quite too much to consider at this time sadly.
 
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