Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
They are still working on this, yesterday I saw piles of planks that are still to be installed. My guess is that they’ll open it for the summer.
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[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion
- Thread starter CSLKenny
- Start date
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
I was there last week, and Long Island's in Spirit were €14 last week, with the American Style €15. Similarly, in Colosseo the Long Island was €14 with the "Big Bang Boom" version €15. Zombie's in Colosseo were €11.30.
To be honest, back in 2008 prices were comparably higher. I remember paying €9.80 for a Zombie back then - it was €10.90 last week.
Burbs
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
The cocktails I see as pretty good value. Try getting a cocktail that strong and well-crafted without being 90% ice for less than £10 in the UK. I do think that food has gone up quite significantly of late though - the club sandwich in Spirit is around €25, last time I had it a couple of years ago it was €18.50. Similarly, a lower-end steak, chips and sauce in Captain’s Finest is now over €40. It’s not long ago it wasn’t much over €30.
It certainly makes eating off-site a more attractive prospect these days, now there are plenty of decent options such as The Grill, China Restaurant Aroma, Hardy’s, Gasthaus zum Ochsen, The Chicken, etc.
It certainly makes eating off-site a more attractive prospect these days, now there are plenty of decent options such as The Grill, China Restaurant Aroma, Hardy’s, Gasthaus zum Ochsen, The Chicken, etc.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
venny
TS Member
Keeping up tradition, here’s some thoughts from our recent visit: -
- Return of the Sultan is feeling rather stale nowadays. I think it’s now the resort’s longest running show and it feels clunky and worn (missing props and elements - even the camel has disappeared). Please bring back the jousting.
- The planting continues to be beguiling. We had chance to take a look around the outside areas of Rulantica in summer for the first time in a few years and even it is looking cracking.
- Some of the food quality at Schloss Balthasar seems to have deteriorated. It’s not terrible, but for the price, using stuff like frozen veg is not okay.
- Closing times continue to be illogical. We saw 6:30 closes on days which were about as busy as 7:30 closes (c.45 min queues for the major coasters).
- A perennial complaint of my mine is the inconsistent, often inaudible audio across the park. It beggars belief that a resort of Europa’s calibre doesn’t seem to be able to sort consistent audio for their various areas. It seems like such a relatively easy fix for such a big pay off.
- Audio problems don’t stop there though because the shows seem to have gotten even quieter, following a trend over the last few years. This time we could clearly hear footsteps in the magic show and the parade music in Luxembourg Square (where if anything you’d expect it to be louder) was really quiet for the party vibe they’re trying to engender.
- Audio on-ride on Can Can seemed to work every time after numerous glitches we’ve experienced over the last year, albeit there was still inconsistency in speaker volume. The audio on Pirates however appeared to be suffering from some volume/mixing problems and was a bit of a mess, rather than its usual beautiful orchestration.
- The Helles beer seems to have spread further across the resort and is now very widely available. A positive step.
- We had a couple of occasions where we needed to rely on guest relations to organise some things for us and they were exemplary. In fact we probably encountered more friendly staff than ever this trip.
- I’d worried about the window from Spain to Austria before the attractions opened. Unfortunately with the rides now operating I haven’t changed my mind. The new patio and structures in Spain are beautiful, but the break in thematic consistency and immersion that were once offered in this area, and which could be even better with the new patio area, are ruined by the direct view of grey rock, log flume boats trundling along and the mine train flying past regularly. Please separate the areas again Europa - just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should and this scream of an ill advised “more is more” approach.
- A development on that Spanish patio is the arrival of mobile ordering to your table. It was a little slow, but more of this would be greatly welcomed.
- I was a little unsure whether the Rulantica preview centre had closed along with the revolving theatre. It hasn’t.
- Blue Fire’s baby switch line has now been combined with the virtual line queue. A sensible move.
- Parts of Croatia are beautifully delivered. The paving is immaculate, as too the walkways around the ride. The planting is beautiful and I’m glad to see the Dream Dome was retained. The museum area however feels quite odd. There’s not really much context provided, the large screen on the front of the building doesn’t fit in and many of the exhibits were broken when we visited.
- Whilst those areas which have been completed are successful, the overall area does feel unfinished (probably because it is). I’m intrigued to see what comes next because the large open plaza in front of Voltron feels quite different for Europa, where most areas have a more intimate feel.
- The new animatronic has had mixed reviews, but I was pretty impressed by its lifelike quality. Definitely another step in developing in-house capacity for animatronics.
- The live music in Rock Cafe included a cabaret singer, which was pretty disappointing. Jan Gregersen was at O’Mackays again, and whilst the duo are good, it would be nice to see more variety.
- The low level mist at the start of Arthur has finally returned!
I say it every time, but it was yet another great week at the world’s best theme park. I’m excited to see how Croatia expands, the refreshed Gheisterschloss and the new gameplay theatre.
- Return of the Sultan is feeling rather stale nowadays. I think it’s now the resort’s longest running show and it feels clunky and worn (missing props and elements - even the camel has disappeared). Please bring back the jousting.
- The planting continues to be beguiling. We had chance to take a look around the outside areas of Rulantica in summer for the first time in a few years and even it is looking cracking.
- Some of the food quality at Schloss Balthasar seems to have deteriorated. It’s not terrible, but for the price, using stuff like frozen veg is not okay.
- Closing times continue to be illogical. We saw 6:30 closes on days which were about as busy as 7:30 closes (c.45 min queues for the major coasters).
- A perennial complaint of my mine is the inconsistent, often inaudible audio across the park. It beggars belief that a resort of Europa’s calibre doesn’t seem to be able to sort consistent audio for their various areas. It seems like such a relatively easy fix for such a big pay off.
- Audio problems don’t stop there though because the shows seem to have gotten even quieter, following a trend over the last few years. This time we could clearly hear footsteps in the magic show and the parade music in Luxembourg Square (where if anything you’d expect it to be louder) was really quiet for the party vibe they’re trying to engender.
- Audio on-ride on Can Can seemed to work every time after numerous glitches we’ve experienced over the last year, albeit there was still inconsistency in speaker volume. The audio on Pirates however appeared to be suffering from some volume/mixing problems and was a bit of a mess, rather than its usual beautiful orchestration.
- The Helles beer seems to have spread further across the resort and is now very widely available. A positive step.
- We had a couple of occasions where we needed to rely on guest relations to organise some things for us and they were exemplary. In fact we probably encountered more friendly staff than ever this trip.
- I’d worried about the window from Spain to Austria before the attractions opened. Unfortunately with the rides now operating I haven’t changed my mind. The new patio and structures in Spain are beautiful, but the break in thematic consistency and immersion that were once offered in this area, and which could be even better with the new patio area, are ruined by the direct view of grey rock, log flume boats trundling along and the mine train flying past regularly. Please separate the areas again Europa - just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should and this scream of an ill advised “more is more” approach.
- A development on that Spanish patio is the arrival of mobile ordering to your table. It was a little slow, but more of this would be greatly welcomed.
- I was a little unsure whether the Rulantica preview centre had closed along with the revolving theatre. It hasn’t.
- Blue Fire’s baby switch line has now been combined with the virtual line queue. A sensible move.
- Parts of Croatia are beautifully delivered. The paving is immaculate, as too the walkways around the ride. The planting is beautiful and I’m glad to see the Dream Dome was retained. The museum area however feels quite odd. There’s not really much context provided, the large screen on the front of the building doesn’t fit in and many of the exhibits were broken when we visited.
- Whilst those areas which have been completed are successful, the overall area does feel unfinished (probably because it is). I’m intrigued to see what comes next because the large open plaza in front of Voltron feels quite different for Europa, where most areas have a more intimate feel.
- The new animatronic has had mixed reviews, but I was pretty impressed by its lifelike quality. Definitely another step in developing in-house capacity for animatronics.
- The live music in Rock Cafe included a cabaret singer, which was pretty disappointing. Jan Gregersen was at O’Mackays again, and whilst the duo are good, it would be nice to see more variety.
- The low level mist at the start of Arthur has finally returned!
I say it every time, but it was yet another great week at the world’s best theme park. I’m excited to see how Croatia expands, the refreshed Gheisterschloss and the new gameplay theatre.
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Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
No, not at all! The park closing times will be decided as usual, but if it is going to be a later closing time then the areas of the park that are used for Traumatica may close early.
Matt Creek
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Just come back from another trip to the beautiful Europa Park.
Despite previous experience, my liking towards Voltron has increased significantly, maybe due to being worn in and further tweaks. It’s a stunning coaster with some excellent theming and lovely viewing spots throughout the area.
The park have continued to add new theming elements to the Austrian area, such as a canopy for the old Alpen train as well as some other interactive features.
Whilst still closed, had a sneaky look at Geisterschloss. From what could be seen, the former lobby looks largely gutted/stripped back. I look forward to what they do there.
Did the Vogel show for the first time, which is basically a mix between the Tiki room and the former Chuck E Cheese animatronic shows. Definitely prominently 80’s/90’s style, which seems to be a dying breed of attraction, but ultimately charming to say the least.
Food as always in the park was absolutely delicious, even the vegan dishes in Spices. I don’t know many other parks that have such a wide range of dining options of good quality for a mostly reasonable price.
Now my criticisms. Park breakdowns/reliability for EP standards seemed noticeable, as several breakdowns were witnessed including Batavia. That being said almost all were resolved quickly and a bad reliability day in Europa is certainly better than a good reliability day at a Merlin park.
A number of noticeable effects seemed broken throughout the park, whether it’s the random animatronics, the effects on some rides or things like the gondolas in Piccolo Mondo. Perhaps the vast stretch of resources at the park is unbuckling due to an overstretched maintenance team. Having so many new/recently opened projects could be affecting this.
Lastly, Europa is a lovely place to drink and soak in the atmospher, but like other parks, there seems to have been a noticeable retraction in hotel drinking options. St Louis is great, but when the main in Colosseo is oversubscribed with footie punters there aren’t many other options in the EP bubble really. Buena Vista is rarely open and I believe the rooftop Colosseo bar is now perhaps mothballed. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Three pass trips later, and it’s been great to see the park in so many different seasons and events. It’ll probably be a little while before my next return here. But never say never.
A stunning resort with only some imperfection.
Despite previous experience, my liking towards Voltron has increased significantly, maybe due to being worn in and further tweaks. It’s a stunning coaster with some excellent theming and lovely viewing spots throughout the area.
The park have continued to add new theming elements to the Austrian area, such as a canopy for the old Alpen train as well as some other interactive features.
Whilst still closed, had a sneaky look at Geisterschloss. From what could be seen, the former lobby looks largely gutted/stripped back. I look forward to what they do there.
Did the Vogel show for the first time, which is basically a mix between the Tiki room and the former Chuck E Cheese animatronic shows. Definitely prominently 80’s/90’s style, which seems to be a dying breed of attraction, but ultimately charming to say the least.
Food as always in the park was absolutely delicious, even the vegan dishes in Spices. I don’t know many other parks that have such a wide range of dining options of good quality for a mostly reasonable price.
Now my criticisms. Park breakdowns/reliability for EP standards seemed noticeable, as several breakdowns were witnessed including Batavia. That being said almost all were resolved quickly and a bad reliability day in Europa is certainly better than a good reliability day at a Merlin park.
A number of noticeable effects seemed broken throughout the park, whether it’s the random animatronics, the effects on some rides or things like the gondolas in Piccolo Mondo. Perhaps the vast stretch of resources at the park is unbuckling due to an overstretched maintenance team. Having so many new/recently opened projects could be affecting this.
Lastly, Europa is a lovely place to drink and soak in the atmospher, but like other parks, there seems to have been a noticeable retraction in hotel drinking options. St Louis is great, but when the main in Colosseo is oversubscribed with footie punters there aren’t many other options in the EP bubble really. Buena Vista is rarely open and I believe the rooftop Colosseo bar is now perhaps mothballed. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Three pass trips later, and it’s been great to see the park in so many different seasons and events. It’ll probably be a little while before my next return here. But never say never.
A stunning resort with only some imperfection.
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venny
TS Member
Bar Colosseo is only open weekends. I haven’t checked recently whether it’s definitely open in those times as it’s also the only time when Buena Vista is open and we much prefer to drink there. It’s certainly correct to say that the opening hours for those bars needs expanding back to their pre-Covid daily opening.
It’s interesting you note about breakdowns and effects, as it’s something we’ve noticed more and more since Covid. Effects more-so than actual breakdowns, but elements on the likes of Pirates and Can Can have seen intermittent issues for a while. I think it can only be explained by a stretched team, which along with the F&B issues always seems to come back to staffing levels.
I expect that with the continued addition of theming to Austria and Croatia, along with Geisterschloss and Historama projects, there’s likely not much of a reprieve for the teams. With Europa’s constant push for improvement, the only answer can be more staff, but it feels like that’s been an unsolved issue for a protracted period now. They’re clearly trying, but it begs the question as to whether a step change in recruitment is required.
It’s interesting you note about breakdowns and effects, as it’s something we’ve noticed more and more since Covid. Effects more-so than actual breakdowns, but elements on the likes of Pirates and Can Can have seen intermittent issues for a while. I think it can only be explained by a stretched team, which along with the F&B issues always seems to come back to staffing levels.
I expect that with the continued addition of theming to Austria and Croatia, along with Geisterschloss and Historama projects, there’s likely not much of a reprieve for the teams. With Europa’s constant push for improvement, the only answer can be more staff, but it feels like that’s been an unsolved issue for a protracted period now. They’re clearly trying, but it begs the question as to whether a step change in recruitment is required.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
This coming Saturday sees the park's annual midnight opening. As usual for this event, Silver Star will close early (at 8pm) but I have also noticed that Wodan now closes early for the event, at 9pm. I am not sure how many years this has been going on for, but I do very much remember riding Wodan at midnight back in 2024!
Just more evidence, along with all of the new sound barriers, that noise from Wodan is an issue to the town of Rust.
Just more evidence, along with all of the new sound barriers, that noise from Wodan is an issue to the town of Rust.
John_P
TS Member
From: https://x.com/MichaelMack/status/1811822249093013560?t=JPnOIcndLbd0ajBxCERLpg&s=19
So Ed and Edda are getting an actual film next year with Warner Bros on board.
I'm against this as I did not see Eurofant in the trailer.
siralgenon
TS Member
She needs to stop watching TV and get some work done.
Rowe
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Matterhorn Blitz (with an Aperol Spritz!)
If you check the leaderboard at 40 seconds in, there is an elephant who may or may not be Eurofant.
Also, my general thoughts for this film are "what on earth, I didn't expect to see THIS?!" and "does this mean I'm going have to lift my Warner Bros ban over Coyote vs Acme to see THIS?!"
First Edit:
In addition, there is a livestream for 'PROJECT 2025 - The Magic of Tomorrow' available on Veejoy, which includes the teaser trailer. It's a very dry presentation and is very much a Michael Mack thing, but it's equally entertaining they filmed this in the Blue Fire hall.
Michael confirms the release date will be July 12th (aka Europa-Park's 50th anniversary), will be 90 minutes long and be released in cinemas worldwide in said livestream too. Sneaky Fourth Edit: This is also looks to be Waldemar Fast's directorial debut, who comes from a visual effects/animation/art background and who has previously worked on Mack Media films.
Second Edit:
So, there's already been a British cast announcement and synopsis for Grand Prix of Europe released via The Hollywood Reporter.
And some stills, albeit most from the teaser trailer, are available on the IMDb page.
Third Edit please make me stop, I'm going cuckoo:
There's ALSO a website available in German, French and English.
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