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[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion

AstroDan said:
Silver Star celebrates its 20th birthday today. It was the tallest B&M coaster ever when it opened.

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I never realised Silver Star is actually that tall! Thought it was a mid-size hyper coaster, but it actually remained the tallest for 10 years, and even now Shambhala is the only hyper that is taller (for B&M any way).

Knowing that I see why people are a little underwhelmed by the ride. There are smaller alternatives that do more with the layout. But it's still a great ride.
 
Danny said:
What a gesture. Words probably can't be composed as to how much that will mean to those kids and their families.

Europa Park. 👏
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Are you on glue? Europa have been taking money from Vladimir Putin for years!

It stinks of hypocrisy.
 
djtruefitt said:
I mean it would be easy to do with it only having Bench and Euromir, but you’ve also got the train that runs kind of through the area, plus the parade goes through it.

I wouldn’t think they would go that dramatic to lose capacity but you never know.

Maybe they’ll just remove mentions of the world Russia from park maps, etc even though the area will still be Russian.
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I've noticed a number of people comment on Europas official english speaking facebook profile about removing Russia and Europa seem to have this stock reply

"The Russian themed area at Europa-Park represents the history, handicraft and culture of this nation. The themes of the buildings and paintings reach back all the way to the tsar era and mirror the far-reaching tradition of the people of this country."


Some people seem to not be having any of that and are of the opinion that the whole area should just be blocked off, which I think is a tad hysterical, as its not the culture of Russia and the people that are at fault with the Ukrainian invasion, also its not the parks fault, however I also see what it now SYMBOLIZES.

Theres not an awful lot that the Park can do for this Season - but I wonder if the area could be themed to Poland for subsequent seasons - as it is a Neighbour to Germany, and I'm sure there is shared architectural styles with Russia, which the art and buildings could be modified to! Euromir and the bench are on the cusp of overalls anyway!

or as suggested before could they have a general ' old slavic' area - much like having a general 'Scandinavia' area, and also only deal with ancient legends to remove itself from a modern context. I'd love to see them change the bench into a Baba Yaga ride!

Time is also a healer - I mean the German area would have been taboo if it had existed for many years after WW2! Most European countries have been beastly to each other and their own people at some point in history, it's just theres not really been such an event during the time Europa has existed! So its a very 'now' issue...... I suppose this is the danger of having geographic, nationalistic real-world themes!

But I think the park needs to be forgiven for retaining the theme this year! I think there was a bit of controversy as i think they still flew the Russian flag at the Park entrance, thats something that would be an easy change!
 
I think people need to be careful not to conflate a countries government with its culture and people. I see no issue in having a Russia themed area of a theme park. I am glad the sponsorship with Russian government backed companies has been suspended but to “cancel” the entire nation and identity of Russia in a theme park seems extreme.
 
Isn't removing the Russia area the ultimate in wokeness and "cancel culture"?

I get removing the Nord Stream branding and any commercial affiliations with the current regime, but the Russian area in EP is just representing Russian culture and architecture. Nothing more. Neither Russia or any of the other areas are political and none are an endorsement of any government or leader of that country.
 
Dave said:
I think people need to be careful not to conflate a countries government with its culture and people. I see no issue in having a Russia themed area of a theme park. I am glad the sponsorship with Russian government backed companies has been suspended but to “cancel” the entire nation and identity of Russia in a theme park seems extreme.
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Yeah I'm actually with you - and the architecture of the area is beautiful! Some people are kicking off on facebook comments (Europa's official page, see below comment). So It's curious to see different view points. And I'm always of the view of compromise!

Personally I don't think they will and Europa haven't said they will (as in the statement) - but how do you counter peoples visceral reaction to socio-political things! I suppose people with really strong views simply wouldn't visit!

On the other hand the two major rides in the area need an overhaul, It could happen if they choose to invest heavily in the area, it could be modified into a different country or like I say into a 'Slavic' land, which would include Russia. EP reaction.jpg
 
If they want the removal of countries who have been aggressive or invaded others, there’s more than one themed area of the park that’ll need removing. In fact, I’m not sure there’ll be too many left… maybe Ireland?

Shows how preposterous this type of reactionary nonsense is.
 
It's hardly surprising that people are cropping up and demanding that the Russian themed area be removed from the park. But Europa-Park's stance is spot on. The area does not represent the Russian government or Putin, it represents the history and culture of Russia, just like all of the other themed areas represent the history and culture of their respective nations.

They've got rid of commercial associations with government backed Russian companies which absolutely was the right thing to do. But the area should remain now and for years to come.
 
Wokeness is such a cop-out term for any time generally older people want to knock back the opinion of generally younger people without actually having a debate.

And I see far more cancelling of people and ideas from the “right” than the left. That said as Sam points out Russian condemnation and these social media reactions span the political spectrum.
 
Dave said:
Wokeness is such a cop-out term for any time generally older people want to knock back the opinion of generally younger people without actually having a debate.

And I see far more cancelling of people and ideas from the “right” than the left. That said as Sam points out Russian condemnation and these social media reactions span the political spectrum.
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Oldie woke ageism alert...
I hit sixty this year, most of my customers are at least one generation older than me...and I can only agree with you!
 
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I agree lets now go down a rabbit hole of what wokeness/ cancel culture/words means etc, thats another debate, just on the topic, I wouldn't say it's wokeness but it is a FORM of reactionary cancel culture of sorts..... but to reiterate, it's just what some people (probably a very small proportion) are SUGGESTING ( well some demanding) the censoring or erasing of Russia..... EP aren't ACTUALLY doing this...at this time!

It offers up interesting managerial debate, how does one manage issues like this whist pleasing the most people?
 
The correct response is the one given, that it represents Russian people and culture but does not benefit current day Russia or promote their current administration. Admittedly, it would work better as a response had the park not been working to benefit current day Russia or promoting the work of their current administration until they actually started killing their neighbours.
 
The covid regulations in Baden-Württemberg are changing from Sunday, resulting in the following for visitors to Europa-Park:

From 03.04.2022 onwards, you will only need a valid admission ticket or a valid reservation confirmation for your visit to Europa-Park Resort. Due to the current Corona strategy of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, the obligation to provide proof (recovered / vaccinated / tested) as well as the requirement to wear a mask for almost all areas of Europa-Park Resort will be waived. Only during the use of the shuttle bus (between Rulantica, YULLBE and the Europa-Park hotels) and the stay in the Europa-Park first-aid station the mask requirement (medical mask or FFP2 mask) remains.
 
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