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[2025] Europa-Park General Discussion

Electric Elly said:
The next country to be annexed could be... France- and by royal decree at that.

https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/275...ieuw-Europees-themagebied-in-2026-Monaco.html
Spotted this on Looopings and saw some discussion taking place over on EPFriends.

Will be interesting to see how much they can get squeezed in- next few years are getting very busy for them.
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That sounds interesting. I don't know anything about Monaco's culture, but I look forward to seeing how they bring that aspect into the area.
 
They've done a bit of a Monaco theme to the hall in the past, so I'm not sure this will give the area much of a new feel. I guess it will help promote Monaco though! And it makes sense seeing as Monaco has big ties to F1, which is already a main theme of the Silver Star area.
 
The one thing that doesn’t quite stack up for me is that, if this is going to be an expected light touch retheme, why would the park go public over a year in advance of it opening in 2026? This is usually the sort of thing we’d learn about a few months in advance or even be a surprise thrown into the annual pre-season new attractions video.

If it just an anomaly or might it suggest a larger scale area than we’re envisaging?
 
Could they theme the hall you walk into as part of the Silver Star building into being like the tunnel bit of the Monaco Grand Prix, especially the bit were they currently have the Mercedes F1 car.
 
So, whilst browsing YouTube just after a day at Europa-Park earlier this week, I was recommended this Gastro Whisperer walk 'n' talk interview with Thomas Mack. It's an interesting watch with the auto-English subtitles on, especially when Rulantica becomes 'Rolandika', though not much new information to glean as Thomas sort of recaps the park's history, their 'two feet on the ground' stance and so on. There are also Eatrenalin spoilers from 27:05 onwards.

I particularly like these details:
  • The Tiemann family, Heide Park and Merlin Entertainments are mentioned a few times, notably between 04:05 and 12:10. For those unaware, Franz and Roland Mack were planning for their showman friend, Otto Tiemann, to be the park's operator until he died a few weeks before the park opened in 1975 and Otto's son Hans-Jurgen eventually opened Heide Park 3 years later. Thomas says he finds himself a little bit lost in the Merlin run Heide Park after it was sold. It's a reason why a desire to sell the Europa-Park resort has never come up in the family and he insists it's not for sale.

  • Thomas and Michael would compete for the most re-rides on newly built coasters in the '80s. Apparently 8yo Michael had a nosebleed all night after re-riding one coaster 20 times.

  • Thomas also mentions they introduced the Euro as a form of payment before it became the official currency.



Also, adding this SWR Doku that turned up right after the above video for me. It largely focuses on the Mack family and their roles as they bimble around the resort in the run up to Voltron's official opening. Geisterschloss spoilers between 21:55 and 25:40.
  • Piraten in Batavia is Roland Mack's favourite ride. "I think back then [original 1987 ride] we produced the entire track for the same budget as the figures alone cost today". There's also a moment later on where Roland briefly runs the Panoramabahn, and just leaves it blocking the English-Russia path when he goes back to the camera! :laughing:

  • Remy Bricka, the one man band, turns up at 6:15 :hearteyes:

  • Roland and Marianne reminisce about living in the house by the lake, next door to Kids Paradise, between 1974 and 1978. Marianne talks about how park management would be run in that house at the start, and Roland jokes "the toilet was also the central cash register". It's very sweet watching them walk around the site and their farm.
    Screenshot 2025-01-06 102442.png

  • Ann-Kathrin talks about how Franz was as a grandfather. They would build roller coaster kits together and he sadly passed just before she was due to study architecture. Ann-Kathrin now manages Mack Solutions, the construction department.

  • Jurgen and Mauritia make an appearance. Mauritia discusses rebuilding the main Deutsche Allee shop, bar Voletarium section, for the 50th Anniversary. We can briefly see the inclusion of greenery and coaster track in the design between 29:10 and 29:22.

  • Roland and Jurgen discussed how the pandemic lockdown affected them, working with the state government to reopen with the measures in place and saving costs where possible. Roland still thinks about the energy issues, rushing around the park to unscrew light bulbs and turning off circuits and not getting the costs below 10,000 euros per day.



And, to end this mega-edit on a sombre note, Eatrenalin's co-founder Oliver Altherr suddenly passed away on New Years Day.
The sudden death of gastronomy expert and entrepreneur Oliver Altherr on New Year’s Day at the age of just 58 has caused great consternation and sadness. [...] In collaboration with Thomas Mack, Managing Partner of Europa-Park and CEO of Eatrenalin, Oliver Altherr, as CEO and co-founder, developed the concept for the innovative experience gastronomy Eatrenalin, which opened in November 2022 as part of the Europa-Park Erlebnis Resort in Rust. [...] “We are deeply saddened by the sudden death of Oliver Altherr. We have lost a very good friend, a great person and one of the greats of the international gastronomy scene,” says Thomas Mack. “Oliver Altherr was a stroke of luck for us. His foresight, his unerring instinct for trends and his creative thinking had a decisive influence on the project. He was a doer with vision and a man with his feet on the ground ... We mourn his loss and will continue to run our Eatrenalin, which very much bears his signature, in his spirit with the same passion and dedication that he exemplified.”
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The full article can be read on the Euro Amusement Professional Magazine website.
 
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The Grand Prix of Europe movie has an English teaser trailer out. And whilst it's not weird hearing them speak English during the park announcements, it's definitely weird hearing them both have British accents.

 
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