[2024] Europa-Park General Discussion

[Jambo]

Euro-Mir is a classic but it's in desperate need of some love/work. The brakes at the end destroy your knees!

 

[Rob]

Really enjoyed the new Voltron 4D film last week, which is now showing in the Magic Cinema in the afternoons. Although I do find it a little strange that it was all filmed in English, but is only shown dubbed in German and French. One English showing a day wouldn't go a miss seeing as they have it.

Needless to say that Europa-Park was as wonderful as ever last week. Nice to have the Erdinger hut back for Halloween/Winter, not least because it provided some good shelter from the torrential rain! Operations were good across the board, although Blue Fire was only running three trains; I assume there is an issue with what should have been the forth train.

The return of single rider queues is also a blessing, even if they can be rather long at times.

 

[Rowe]

Sometimes, the YT algorithm blesses you with a French documentary, circa Summer 2018, which features a fab shot of Thomas Mack driving a Vespa (?) around the office buildings. Also take a shot every time the documentary uses archive and stock footage (no, actually, don't).

 

[Joel]

Eigenaar Europa-Park (74) haalt weer uit naar jonge werknemers

Roland Mack, de 74-jarige eigenaar van Europa-Park, spreekt zich opnieuw uit tegen de werkethiek van jonge werknemers. Het Duitse attractiepark heeft...

www.looopings.nl

Saw this on Looopings about Roland Mack interviewing with Handelsblatt about having issues at EP with younger workers.

I have to admit reading through though - is it more that he is just out of touch with the modern day society? Especially with the reference to things like working a silly number of hours too!

...has there even been any indication of perhaps when Roland is due to hang up his dated views on the world too?

 

[Benzin]

Rich old white men are all the same at the end of the day.

Working in any role that has hazardous potential (I.e. retail, restaurant, theme park) post Covid isn't going to be top of anyone's list.

 

[Rob]

Well he does admit that he has a work-life balance problem! But yes, clearly his views on a working life are very different to how it is viewed in the world today. I guess all he has ever known has been work, a bit like Walt Disney.

Staffing in the leisure industry seems to be a problem across the board, especially since Covid when employees saw just how quickly that work and therefore income can vanish. I could be wrong here, but I think at peak times Europa-Park used to operate 2 separate shifts, which allowed them to stay open for longer, but this has not returned since Covid due to staffing issues. Which is why on some extremely busy days this year the park was open until only 8pm, when in the past it would have been 9pm.

Having said all of that, despite his frustrations, I don't think his comments are overly useful, especially when the park is going to need to rely on younger people going forward. You don't want to alienate them.

 

[venny]

Rich old white men are all the same at the end of the day.

Yes, it’s pretty ridiculous to stereotype an entire group of people.

 

[Plastic Person]

While I admire rich old white Roland's work ethic and what he has created, I'd propose that the payoff of developing your very own theme park is typically greater than 50 hours a week cleaning the water park. EP staff are still very sharp and seem dedicated, but from chatting to the locals in Rust, I don't think there's as much affection for the company, or the family as a few decades ago. It's a juggernaut, for better or worse.

 

[GeorgeT]

EP staff are still very sharp and seem dedicated, but from chatting to the locals in Rust, I don't think there's as much affection for the company, or the family as a few decades ago. It's a juggernaut, for better or worse.

The loss of humbleness (just my personal impression) could be another part of the reason for that change...cause humbleness really seems to be foreign language to some members of the Mack family...some of the very few things that I don`t like about the Park as a whole...

 

[Llama]

Any specific recommendations for the winter season at EP? I have the main things on my list already (Ferris wheel, circus show, Glühwein) but if there are any lesser known things that are special to this season that I shouldn't miss, would love to hear them!

 

[Gurkensalat]

Oldfashioned Christmas market and big Christmas pyramid in Irland
Light figures near Schloss Balthasar (when it's dark)
Christmas show on the lake with fireworks

 

[venny]

I really like the big tent they set up in the Spanish Arena filled with parlour games. Great for a rainy day. The ice bar next to it is a bit of a letdown though, so don’t go out of your way for it.

There’s ice skating on the rapids lake which is fun, plus a nice Christmas village next to it. The Erdinger Urweisse Hutt’n is back for the first time since Covid - they serve some traditional wintery food in a pleasant ski lodge setting.

I also find the puppet show a delightful diversion - it usually has a vague Christmas theme. The Christmas tree in Hotel Colosseo is also pretty impressive to see. I’d second the traditional markets, which have some wonderful artisans working on them.

 

[Rob]

I've posted snippets from it in other threads, but Roland Mack has done an interview with Badische Zeitung and I thought the full thing would be of interest to people here. You can read it via the link if you sign up, however here is the full translated transcript (some of the translations are a bit off but you can get the general gist):

BZ: Mr. Mack, can I congratulate you?
Mack: To what? It's been five weeks since my birthday.

BZ: It could be that Europa-Park will have a record year.
Mack: It's too early to say. Our fiscal year lasts until March 31st. There are still important months ahead of us. Especially the Christmas season, which can come close to months of the high season. In addition, there is the winter business of our Rulantica water world. The harvest is far from over. But you're right, I guess that the number of visitors will end up being higher than in 2022 – and they were already a record for the park with over six million visitors.

BZ: Won't the park reach its limits at some point?
Mack: We can easily accommodate up to 40,000 people, we're still below that. And we can already control the flow of visitors via online tickets. But in the future, it will be all about making offers to customers so that they don't all come at the same time. We try to do this, for example, with dynamic pricing, i.e. to make cheaper offers at weaker times. We're going to amplify this to make the workload more even. But of course, the park is not getting bigger and maybe at some point we will get to a point where we say that the number of visitors has reached a limit.

BZ: Despite the good visitor numbers, 2023 was not an entirely positive year for the park. In June, there was a major fire in which two of the oldest attractions, the Alpine Express and the white-water ride, burned down. In addition, there was the collapse of a stage during a diving show. In retrospect, do the positive or negative aspects outweigh the negatives?
Mack: The two accidents in 2023 have very different qualities. There was the fire that no one wanted. It has to be said, however, that the emergency management worked excellently and no one was harmed. The other was the incident in August with the divers, where we were the venue but had nothing else to do with it. It was a guest performance where equipment and artists came through an external provider, we couldn't control that. What exactly happened has still not been determined.

BZ: Nevertheless, the number of accidents has increased in recent years. Just five years ago, there was a major fire in which the pirate ride in Batavia burned down. Is this a coincidence?
Mack: It's important to remember that Europa-Park has the dimensions of a small town. Take a look at Baden-Baden, where there were 2022 fire missions in 190 alone. And we've had two in 50 years. And that's with five to six million visitors per year. The simple fact is that such a fire can happen. 40 years ago, a cable was pulled through a wall, chafed and set fire to the insulation. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens.

BZ: Batavia, the Alpine Express and the white-water ride were among the oldest attractions in the park. Do they simply no longer meet modern security requirements?
Mack: I rule that out. We have an excellent maintenance department where the trains are constantly renewed. The TÜV also regularly inspects the systems, there are clear regulations, and we all comply with them. In this respect, age plays a secondary role. But again, we are doing everything humanly possible to prevent such disasters. Our systems are all networked, are continuously monitored by fire alarm systems and our plant fire brigade is on duty around the clock. And yet, as an engineer, I know that there will always be a residual risk. We try to keep that small, but you can't completely rule it out.

BZ: From the engineer's point of view, the view is understandable. But what was going on in Roland Mack's mind when you heard about the latest major fire?
Mack: At first, it was a state of shock. But then I immediately asked if there were any personal injuries. Fortunately, this was not the case and we were praised by visitors and the media for our professional handling of the disaster. But what hurts me when you read between the lines is that these are systematic errors. That doesn't do it justice, especially since we do more for safety than many others in the industry.

BZ: Let's go back to the burned-out rides. How will they be rebuilt?
Mack: There will be a different concept. We won't be building a hall anymore, the Alpenexpress will run through a rocky landscape. Both rides are scheduled to go into operation in April. We work on it 24 hours a day, except Sundays. If the weather doesn't throw a spanner in the works, we'll make it.

BZ: At the same time, construction work is underway on the new Croatia themed area. Are you also on schedule?
Mack: Yes, we are on schedule. There were supply bottlenecks, which did not always make it easy for us. But we are on track and confident that we will also open this area in April. In December, there will be the first test rides with the new roller coaster, in which many innovative elements will be installed.

BZ: It will also be the most spectacular roller coaster in the park. Is it the case that attractions have to become bigger, faster, more bombastic?
Mack: This development is happening, for example in America. But I'm not going along with this race, especially since it's not economical either. For me, it's about building an amusement park with a high experience value for the whole family. It's not about even faster corners or more loops.

BZ: What's coming to Croatia anyway? Europe still has some countries that are not represented in the park.
Mack: We already have plans for the areas that exist. In addition, there are also the plans for our water park, which we also have to keep an eye on. There, too, expectations are now very high, so we have to make sure that we remain on an equal footing with the major parks around the world.

BZ: Let's stay with Europa-Park for now. What are your plans for the coming years?
Mack: We have a water system in the conceptual design and we also want to develop further in the direction of a show experience. The eight hectares of undeveloped land, on which the horror event Traumatica will take place partly in autumn, is in the planning stage. This is quite a challenge, because we plan it in such a way that we will use the course differently during the day than in the evening. In the evenings, we only allow guests over the age of 16 onto the site, but during the day small children should also come to the new show. How we spatially separate them from Traumatica is part of our considerations. And besides, we will celebrate our 50th anniversary in two years. In addition, we have a nice ride in the pipeline, where we are converting an old system. I won't reveal details yet, but it will be in the center of the park.

BZ: Last week, the largest trade fair in the theme park industry took place in Orlando. Why weren't they there?
Mack: Half of my family was there. I deliberately didn't go there so that my children would notice that they could do things on their own.

BZ: At the age of 81, Wolfgang Grupp from Trigema has now handed over the business to his children. You are 74. Will you still be at the helm at the age of 80?
Mack: I certainly won't play the role that Mr. Grupp played when he was over 80, and I haven't played that role for a long time. We have already initiated the transition. This started years ago, when I concentrated on my work in the USA on the board of the global umbrella organization for the industry, IAAPA. I was on the road a lot and my children automatically had to act and decide independently. But then there were all the setbacks that made the handover concept more difficult, because they fell back on my experience: be it the pandemic or the fires. Everyone was very happy that there was life and work experience in the house.

BZ: Can you even imagine retiring?
Mack: I have to learn not to interfere in a lot of things. That's why I've already outsourced my office from the central, operational administrative area, so that I don't run into one all the time, then it won't be so visible that I get loose. What I don't want to do without is hearing the rustle of the park and passing on tips to the children. But that will decrease from year to year. It's clear to me that I have to hand over the responsibility at some point. Roland Mack will remain in the park. But in a different role.

A few little hints towards the future, and it's looking like once the 2023 season concludes in early January Europa-Park will once again have had a record year for attendance. It also looks like dynamic pricing will be introduced sometime in the coming years to help spread out guest visitation to the park.

 

[Burner]

Nevertheless, the number of accidents has increased in recent years. Just five years ago, there was a major fire in which the pirate ride in Batavia burned down. Is this a coincidence?

Is the interviewer trying to imply that the fires were intentional? lmao

 

[AT86]

Thanks for sharing.

Interesting to see Roland questioned over safety measures following the fires and show incident. It is a bit of an elephant in the room so good on the interviewer.

 

[CSLKenny]

BZ: Let's stay with Europa-Park for now. What are your plans for the coming years?
Mack: We have a water system in the conceptual design and we also want to develop further in the direction of a show experience. The eight hectares of undeveloped land, on which the horror event Traumatica will take place partly in autumn, is in the planning stage. This is quite a challenge, because we plan it in such a way that we will use the course differently during the day than in the evening. In the evenings, we only allow guests over the age of 16 onto the site, but during the day small children should also come to the new show. How we spatially separate them from Traumatica is part of our considerations.

Interesting in the face of the rumours (mostly based on the ACE book they released on Croatia which mentions both elements) of Croatia phase 2 featuring a new show venue and the Mack Rides Rocking Boat ride.

 

[venny]

Some thoughts from our last visit: -

- Christmas remains arguably the best time to visit the park, with different attractions, decorations and lights abound and some lovely extras like the Christmas markets. That said, the word now seems to be out and weekends are the busiest I’ve ever seen at this time of year. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are quiet though.

- Given the crowds, the funnelling of guests through the narrow paths created by the markets at the end of Deutsche Allee creates an unnecessary bottleneck. I’d much rather have the markets return to the street itself for the atmosphere it creates since there’s a bottleneck at some point anyway.

- It goes without saying, but ride ops remain world class.

- Voltron is looking impressive and looks like it will integrate nicely with Greece. There’s still a fair bit to do theming wise, although most of the structures seem to be in place.

- I’ve always thought food service has been spotty, but it seems to have now deteriorated further. With the large crowds on some days we found absolute carnage created throughout the park with people trying to get something to eat. On one day Bamboe Bai, Fjord restaurant, Erdinger Urweisse Hutt’n, Spices and nearly all the small outlets were all closed in the centre of the park. This meant that the queue for Seehaus stretched out of the door, Three Little Pigs stretched fully across the path (with only two windows open) and Food Loop’s queue was to the windmill; and that was at the shoulder time of 3pm. Suffice to say, they need to get on top of this long running problem, as it’s just not acceptable to have families waiting ages in the cold and rain just to feed themselves.

- There are similar problems at the resort hotels. Reservations are few and far between at weekends (even weeks in advance) and the buffets are becoming unpleasantly busy, especially considering their price tag of €40+. The Chinese Aroma buffet just next to the hotels seemed busy every night and it’s easy to see why when you compare the price points and offering. We enjoyed Aroma more than Harborside this time and paid half the price after drinks.

- The prices at Silver Lake have skyrocketed and the drinks prices are now the highest I think anywhere across the resort, with a large coke costing €5.90. The cheapest burger is now €17, although other items haven’t increased anywhere near as much. Gone are the days of visiting Silver Lake for a cheaper evening. We’ve also not seen live entertainment there for at least our last four visits.

- The bars remain very limited in their opening times, for example Buena Vista still only opens Friday and Saturday nights (so about 8 hours in total per week). With the capacity reduction from outdoor tables not being available in the winter, there is inadequate room at the bars and we saw so many people being turned away.

- The progress of the Austria reconstruction is absolutely incredible. Just how they have managed to clear the site, design and then build what they have in a six month period is heroic. Roland isn’t lying when he says they’re working all day and night.

- Can Can seems to be struggling a little at the moment, with broken, mistimed or quiet audio and a couple of rough edges here and there. There’s a couple of other examples across the park too and I think keeping the park open during Hallowinter is hampering maintenance a little.

- The new Ferris wheel cabs are excellent - fully air conditioned and with audio too. They make the ride much more pleasant.

- The circus remains superb and they’ve kept the opening from last year which was great to see.

- Shoehorning the Yomis into the Enchanted Forest Theatre is a poor decision driven by Mack’s obsession to create their own IPs. They don’t fit and it’s a shame that we’ve lost what was a delightful and much more theme-appropriate show.

- The character interactions we had this time were the best we’ve ever had. Whether there’s a good batch of workers at the moment or a greater focus on interacting with guests generally, I don’t know, but we had a blast with lots of the characters.

- Gheisterschloss looks to have had some lighting adjustments throughout, improving areas like the queue, stretching room and the final drop backwards.

- The relocation of the Ice Bar to use the canopy for the Spanish stage is a big improvement from its previous location under the arena.

- I enjoy Rulantica a little more each visit. The half price tickets for season passes was nice. We find ourselves not really riding most of slides since they’re not that good, but the atmosphere in the swim up bars and the smaller diversions like the lilly pads, twist n splash and lazy river are great.

Despite a few niggles, you can’t not have a good time at Europa and we had an absolutely brilliant time.

 

[Llama]

Back from a few days at the park as well. I posted my review of Eatrenalin in the dedicated thread, so here are more general thoughts. We went Monday and Wednesday at EP and Tuesday at Rulantica, and the longest queue of that period was probably 10 minutes for Can Can Coaster. Literally everything else was less than 5, with most rides being closer to 1.

The lights at night during the winter season are truly, for lack of a better word, magical. Riding the monorail on a loop after sundown was really beautiful. The rest of the seasonal changes were also perfect: Glühwein, the ferris wheel, Josefina's little show at the end of the night, the projection show on the French dome, the list really goes on. My biggest gripe is that even in early December, with park close at 19:00 you only have about two hours to do everything at nighttime, which isn't nearly enough. If I could go from 19:00 - 06:00 I would in a heartbeat!

After a kind of disappointing time at Captain's Finest with the tasting menu a couple of years ago, this time ordering a la carte the meal was 10/10. Perfect for the last night of the trip.

My biggest problem: My hotel room keys ALWAYS stop working. Last time the worker at reception said it was from being kept too close to my phone (which, as far as I'm aware is not a problem for any other sort of card key in the world, but fair enough) so I made sure to keep them completely separated, and by the second day it had stopped working already. Thankfully we had a second key that worked (barely, at the end) for the whole trip, but this is baffling to me. The last thing I want after a full day at the park is to have to deal with a broken room key!

Second biggest issue: Rulantica is SLIPPERY. The flooring they picked is almost dangerous. I fell once myself (though I had some inertia after running across that floating obstacle course) and saw several other people fall over the course of the day, one of them quite badly. Not sure if there's much they can do about this at this point, but it's a big minus to have to walk around so carefully for fear of hurting yourself.

Still think it's the best theme park on the planet.

 

[Rob]

Strange about the hotel key cards, never experienced that issue myself at Europa-Park!

I do agree about the Rulantica flooring and am quite surprised it's not something they've addressed since it first opened. I am always super careful when walking around and when there last year saw the aftermath of what looked like quite a serious incident where someone had slipped over.

Looking forward to getting back myself in just over 2 weeks, probably my favourite time of year to visit Europa-Park!

 

[venny]

Rulantica’s floor truly baffles me.

Considering the other details they’ve gone to such as the heated floor and handrails and employing the alleged guru of waterparks as a consultant, you would have thought at some point throughout the process they would have checked whether the floor might be slippery. It really is bad enough for me to tiptoe around the place on all my visits now, having previously been close to having a couple of bad slips.

Interestingly when we checked in we were told that we should be careful because they had a “new floor” and it was slippy. I didn’t see any new floor…