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[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion

Rowe said:
It does seem odd at first, yes, but as Dave says, Mack Rides didn't start manufacturing Hyper Coasters until the mid 2010s post-Silver Star (2002) and hadn't manufactured a wooden rollercoaster since at least the 1950s pre-Wodan (2012). Ba-a-a Coaster was from outsourced manufacturer ART Engineering, and at least 16 other attractions ranging from Fjord Rafting (Intamin) to the Panoramabahn (Chance Morgan) have also been installed in the park by outside manufacturers. As for the ownership question, Europa-Park has always been owned and operated by the Mack family since inception and opening in 1975.
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Wait, Ba-a-a Express isn’t a Mack?
 
venny said:
Wait, Ba-a-a Express isn’t a Mack?
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No, it’s manufactured by ART Engineering… although RCDB does admittedly list Mack as a subcontractor, which confuses things slightly.
 
Mack aren't in the market for that scale of coaster and there is little point joining it when ART will do it for R&D cost, which was probably offset anyway as they offer it as a standard design (the only other one is Duplo at LLW)
 
John_P said:
Didn't Mack at some point act as the European sellers for GCI.
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I think they still do, but it’s mostly just that they take European customers to ride Wodan and wine and dine them a bit for GCI, I don’t think Mack have any stake in the company.

In other industries this happens, they are called reference sites. Where companies can take you to see their product in action.
 
AstroDan said:
According to the EP website, hotel bars are as follows:

Bar Commedia dell'Arte (Hotel Colosseo)
Daily: 9am-midnight

Bar Colosseo (Hotel Colosseo)
Daily: 8pm-2am

Bar Eriksson (Hotel Kronasar)
Daily: 10am-midnight

Bubba Svens Sports Bar (Hotel Kronasar)
Daily: 6pm-midnight

Bar Buena Vista Club (Hotel Castillo Alcazar/El Andaluz)
Friday & Saturday 8pm-midnight

Bar El Circo (Hotel Castillo Alcazar/El Andaluz)
Daily: 10am-midnight

Spirit of St. Louis (Hotel Bell Rock)
Daily: 10am-midnight

Roland Koch Lodge (Hotel Bell Rock)
CLOSED

Panoraama: The Rulantica Bar (Accessible via bridge from Hotel Kronasar)
Daily: 9am-10pm

The re-opening of Bar Colosseo every day is a very positive step. According to this, the only bar that is now limited is Buena Vista and obviously Roland Koch.
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It seems these are only core opening hours, as Buena Vista is open tonight. Assume this is because it’s a bank holiday in Germany tomorrow and hotels are busy
 
I think today is an example of how the park are still struggling with staffing issues post-Covid. It is completely rammed; Voltron, Wodan and Blue Fire all 90+ mins, Silver Star 75 mins, even Alpenexpress has been at 80 mins (never seen that before). Yet the closing time is 8pm.

I'd imagine to really go beyond 8pm they need to have another shift pattern on, which requires more staff, which is a pity as a day like today should probably be a 9pm close.
 
Rob said:
I think today is an example of how the park are still struggling with staffing issues post-Covid. It is completely rammed; Voltron, Wodan and Blue Fire all 90+ mins, Silver Star 75 mins, even Alpenexpress has been at 80 mins (never seen that before). Yet the closing time is 8pm.

I'd imagine to really go beyond 8pm they need to have another shift pattern on, which requires more staff, which is a pity as a day like today should probably be a 9pm close.
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Why is it so busy?

Worried about my trip this Saturday to Wednesday now...
 
Out of interest, why is Europa Park rammed on a random Thursday in early May?

When I went in late April (a little over 2 years ago now), I don’t remember waiting much over 30 minutes for anything, so unless operations and throughputs have declined drastically in the 2 years since I went (unlikely), I’m very surprised to hear that the park is rammed to the point of having numerous 90+ minute queues on numerous major rides on a weekday at this time of year.
 
First decent sunny weather of the season, with lots of students officially "in term" but idle?
Oh to have those reading/essay weeks over again.
 
It was always going to be rammed today, and likely will be tomorrow also which is a bridge day (day between a public holiday and the weekend).

This weekend will probably be pretty busy as well, especially with the glorious weather forecast, but next week should be back to what you'd expect for this time of year. I hope so anyway!
 
I did notice the other day when looking to buy tickets for next month that Rulantica was sold out today, tomorrow and I think yesterday, which is the only time I’ve ever seen it listed as sold out.
 
EP is sold out tomorrow as well. Pretty standard the May public holidays are always by far the busiest days of the year.

As for staffing the park truly are struggling. Plus they've also been hit with new rules on the number of hours long shifts can be for staff by the local authorities this year due to complaints of overworking staff. So unless they can finally start to attract more staff to have two shifts per day; the days of super long opening hours are done.
 
I'm sure it is something they are working on, but is likely fraught with various challenges. Guessing that for the midnight opening they pull in pretty much all the staff they have, which means it is possible to have 2 shifts.
 
This time of year is one of the busiest for visiting EP because there's lots of public holidays in the surrounding countries. As well as the public holidays you also have bridge days (people take the Friday off if the holiday falls on a Thursday), and of course people can choose to tack their holidays around them too. I work with colleagues in France and Switzerland and I know a lot of them have taken this week off.

France:
  • May 1st: Labour Day (Fête du Travail)
  • May 8th: Victory in Europe Day (Fête de la Victoire 1945)
  • May 9th: Ascension Day (Ascension)
Germany:
  • May 1st: Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit)
  • May 9th: Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt)
Italy:
  • May 1st: Labour Day (Festa dei Lavoratori)
Switzerland
  • May 1st: Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit)
  • May 9th: Ascension Day (Auffahrt)
 
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