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[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion

Rob said:
I think it's pretty much what I expected. A new parade was always on the cards, and hopefully all venues will have new shows for 2025.

I wondered whether they might do some sort of spectacular show for the anniversary, but I am not sure what they would do or where. They don't have a large open space, and any sort of night time spectacular would not really work as the park closes before it gets dark for most of the season.

The themed festival stuff throughout the park with different food and music offerings sounds the most exciting thing to me, I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out. And no doubt there will be lots of other little touch ups etc. around the park, as is usual for EP!
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I guess it’s just because they make a big thing of new parade and shows… which yeh I’d expect anyway. And DJ Bobo is of no interest!

Themed festival things could be interesting though, I’ll grant you!
 
Instant crowd pleaser would be an in-park German beer brewery, hosted by Roland Mack for the entirety of the 50th anniversary season. But in all seriousness, I don't see the problem. The park doesn't really need to try too hard beyond putting on a few shows. :p
 
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They have said there will be more announcements through the year.

As for the festivals, they already hold several of these throughout the year. It’s not clear whether those announced today are new or just similar to what they run already.
 
Bowser said:
Is this a new ride? Looks like the new one at Paultons?


From: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCBy7PcMAyV/?igsh=MXV4azA5MHZ6eHI4eg==
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Yup, it’s being discussed here:

[2025]: Ed & Edda Grand Prix Edventure | Gameplay Theater

Historama (currently Journey to Rulantica preview centre) is set to be replaced by a new attraction. It was mentioned in a recent Mack Rides interview piece in Kirmes und Park Revue magazine. It will be a Gameplay Theater (interactive shooter attraction). No opening year was mentioned. The...
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The Bosnian national football team were at EP recently! They play against Germany in Freiburg on Friday
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I've just come back from another great trip to Europa-Park! I was last there in May and this was my first time going during the HalloWinter event - I have previously visited during Halloween and Winter season too. Some observations:

Crowds
  • HalloWinter has been touted as being one of the quietest times of year, but we visited on Saturday 9th and it was super busy - it turns out this was the last night of Traumatica, so the place quietened down a bit by 6pm. It was also Armistice day on Monday 11th which apparently is a French public holiday, so it was much busier than expected. Tuesday 12th was utterly dead with everything pretty much walk-on all day!
  • We did Rulantica on Sunday 10th (my 7th visit since it opened in 2019) and honestly it was the busiest I have ever seen it. Svalgur and Vinter Rytt had queues to the bottom of the stairs all day - similarly the trap door slides had a posted wait of 25 minutes, but we ended up queueing 50. Previously I have only ever waited from the very last flight of stairs.
Europa-Park
  • It's quite nice to visit on a really busy day sometimes as it's great to witness some of the operations! Staff were running down the Blue Fire station which allowed us on after 20 minutes with a 40 minutes posted wait time. Voltron's operations are unmatched.
  • Unfortunately ARTHUR's advertised 45 minute queue was more like 60.
  • Some ride staff were intent on really jumping on restraints to staple you in. I experienced this on Silver Star and Voltron.
  • Voltron is incredible in the dark and cements itself in my number 2 spot, between Steel Vengeance and Maverick. Across 6 rides we got 1 on row 4 and 5 on row 3. It's a shame there's no way you can queue separately for front row but I appreciate that the station is too fast-moving and there's not much space for it.
  • Snorri Touren's media domes still haven't got the music playing despite the sound effects working. This was the same in May and is the case across both domes.
  • Overall, effects were working brilliantly. CanCan had some issues in May with projections not working properly (the winking moon near the start of the ride, for instance) but this has now been fixed. We experienced one ride where the on-board audio cut out just after it started playing at the top of the lift hill for the whole train. It really affects the ride experience and you'd be annoyed if you waited a while for the ride. Fortunately we had walked-on that time.
  • Blue Fire's on-board audio is temperamental as ever. However we had some brilliant rides on this, especially towards the back of the train!
  • Euro Mir is still mental and will be missed greatly. I've possibly had my final ride on this now.
  • Audio across the park seems to be really quiet. You could barely hear it on rides like Dancing Dingie and Spinning Dragons, which is a shame as they have lovely whimsical soundtracks!
  • Piccolo Mondo, Geisterschloss and Voletarium were all open at about 10am, an hour before official park opening. For some reason Volo da Vinci didn't open until afterwards on the Monday and Tuesday.
  • New Geisterschloss is an improvement over what was there before. It seems like every scene has changed quite significantly and there is far more of a narrative going on now. The final descent into the station is especially good and really quite sinister!

Rulantica
  • Vikinglop is a fantastic investment for capacity of Rulantica - even with a 25 minute queue it's almost always moving thanks to having 8 lanes. Stormvind and Tva Fal, Hugin & Munin, the rapids and lazy river hold up as always having an acceptable wait time.
  • Hyggedal proves to be a great option especially on busy days. It is utter bliss to step away from the chaos of the main hall and simply chill out in this space. We discovered the somewhat hidden lounge next to the entrance and sat in there for a while where it felt like you could have a bit more of a conversation with your group - it also has sofas you can sit on as opposed to just the loungers in the main room (unless you've specifically booked a Hygge Sofa).
  • Hyggedal food seems to change quite regularly and I wish they'd bring back the poke bowls, but they have a good selection which is a bit healthier than what you can get in the main hall.
  • Even on these spectacularly busy days, there is definitely a trend of Rulantica quietening down significantly after about 7pm.
Resort/Hotels
  • On busy days the bars don't cope. We went to try Spirit of St Louis on the Friday night and couldn't find a table, even just for 4 of us. It was very busy with lots of people stood up and a not-very-good band on. We left to go to Commedia del Arte, which had just closed and we were directed up to Bar Colosseo. We struggled to find a table in there too but eventually one became available. We weren't staying on site but you'd be annoyed if you were and couldn't get a seat in any of the bars. I'm surprised they haven't added canopies and space heaters in the outdoor areas to increase capacity during the Winter season.
  • We had a nice evening in Roland Koch Lodge on Saturday night which is a very hidden gem. Unfortunately we came out stinking of cigarettes but it was that or nothing!
I'm sure there's stuff I've missed but just wanted to get some thoughts out of my head. Most likely won't return next year due to having other holiday plans, but 3 visits in the space of 12 months isn't bad going and almost affords a year off.
 
You’re spot on with the bar capacity. If you think of how much outdoor space is lost in the winter season, it reduces the capacity of many of the bars substantially. That would be okay if the resort itself was proportionally quieter, however the winter season seems to get a little more popular every year. The group of original hotels suffer already because with Buena Vista still only open at weekends, El Circo has an entire three hotels-worth of bedrooms to serve.

It is however good to see Roland’s Koch Lodge open more regularly - seemingly its weekend opening has been quite consistent over the past few months. As you say though, it’s not a particularly pleasant environment for non-smokers.
 
If the bars are all struggling for capacity then why don't they have them all open all the time? I could understand closing them if it was quiet but surely if they're busy enough?

Also the 50th Anniversary song seems a little...meh.

I remember quite liking the previous one.
 
I was there in October and all the bars were open, so things *are* moving in the right direction.

We went to El Circo, couldn't find a table so I asked if Buena Vista was open, to be told it was. We went upstairs and it was very quiet in there.

I like the idea, especially outside of summer, that Commedia closes around 8pm to swap with the largest indoor bar, Bar Colosseo.
 
Bar capacity in the colder months has been an issue for as long as I can really remember, especially if you are in a slightly larger group. Having said that, there has never been a time where I've had to totally give up on getting a spot in a bar; even if it has meant ending up in your last choice.

I don't like the idea of putting heated marquees over some of the outdoor seating areas, it would take away from the beauty and character of the hotels too much.

If they can try to have all of the bars open at peak holiday times then there shouldn't be too many issues.
 
Back from my annual trip! Yet another brilliant few days at EP.

I'll start with the bad although by this point my bad thing is almost comical: The only thing that went wrong was yet again my hotel card key stopped working almost immediately. I made a special point of not putting it near my phone but there are only so many places I can safely store a card key. I feel like I'm cursed in this regard, although all in all this took about five minutes to deal with over my entire trip so really not so terrible in the end. Mainly just silly that it happens to me every year without fail.

The good: Literally everything else. Low crowds, everything open and operating up to EP's standards, and the absolutely jaw-dropping amount of Christmas lights on every single surface. The amount of lights you see while on the small monorail or Panorama Bahn at night are almost overwhelming.

Was aiming for 10 total rides on Voltron but due to some morning downtime on one of our park days we only managed 9 which isn't too bad all things considered. I don't think I've ever been on such an intense roller coaster! I could only manage two rides in a row before needing a long dark ride break and I don't normally have issues with coaster intensity. I wasn't keeping track of train numbers but a few of the rides did feel much more intense than others. Luckily our final ride at closing time was on a glass-smooth train and we walked out on a high note. I still think Wodan, especially at night, is still my favorite coaster at EP, but this is a really great addition overall and I look forward to riding it on future trips.

The new Austrian area was pretty but I think I preferred the older version. The previous diamond mine was a little more charming, though I admit they did a great job with the new version especially given the amount of time it took.

Castello dei Medici is much better than the previous version, but overall it's a little too spooky for me! They did a great job with the revamp but I would have preferred a lean in the other direction, towards the goofy nature of the Haunted Mansion and not towards actual demons and blood and ending the ride by going to Hell but not in a cute way like on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

The much-discussed salmon stand was open for us for the first time and it is really as good as everyone says. The woman at the register laughed a bit when we came back about 2 minutes after our first order for a second sandwich.

Also, something I somehow overlooked in years past: you are allowed, maybe even encouraged, to bring drinks with you on the Snorri's Saga lazy river at Rulantica. A game changer if there ever was one. We also had friends staying at Kronosar this year and the rooms are really nice there, so I'm hoping they get the connecting monorail done sooner rather than later to make it a little more attractive to overnight on that side of the resort.

I am a bit dark ride-brained but this trip further convinced me that the biggest hole in EP's lineup now is a huge and modern dark ride, something on the scale of Symbolica or Piraten in Batavia.

Overall: yet another trip convincing me that EP is really the best all-around theme park on the planet.
 
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