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[2025] Europa-Park General Discussion

Mentions of Nord Stream 2 / any Blue Fire sponsorship have been removed from the park website.
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Out of interest, why is it that they went with a Russian gas company in the first place? With BF being in Iceland, surely an Icelandic gas company would have been more fitting?

I guess Gazprom could have offered a very compelling business proposition to Europa at the time…
 
I’m not sure the sponsorship of rides has ever been specifically linked to the country it is themed to. Silver Star and Mercedes for example, and Wodan and some American jeans brand.
 
I'm not very 'in the loop' with Europa park but why on earth was Nord Stream two chosen as a sponsor? It seems incredible inappropriate, I'm sure they wouldn't want to get into controversy around it so it seems weird that they would've allowed it in the first place. Seemed to me like a PR disaster waiting to happen.
 
I'm not at all sure of the ins and outs, but I believe Nord Stream 2 is linked to Gazprom, and Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline from Russia to Germany. So I guess it seemed like a natural evolution of the sponsorship.

Despite liking the Gazprom logo and it fitting in very well with Blue Fire, it has always been somewhat of an uneasy sponsorship.
 
In my eyes they may as well as just gone with a gazprom sponsorship and not bothered with the Nord Stream 2 bit. Likely would've got the same or a little less sponsorship money but would've been able to stay well away from any major PR sponsorship.
 
Was always a controversial and questionable partnership with Gazprom - given its impossible to avoid the political association.

They aren’t the only ones though Gazprom do sponsor a number of things; even a football team in Germany. At the end of the day money talks and sadly this was a misjudgement on the park’s side.
 
Sam said:
Ahh yes, one of those well-known, flush-with-spare-cash Icelandic gas companies...
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There aren't many gas companies in Iceland, in fact they are the largest producer of green energy per capita. I do agree with @Matt N sentiment though, an Icelandic company would've made more sense, or in fact a company that isn't selling gas, something Iceland uses very little of.
 
Sam said:
Ahh yes, one of those well-known, flush-with-spare-cash Icelandic gas companies...
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I'll admit I hadn't personally heard of any Icelandic gas companies, but yes, I was referring to one of the bigger gas companies in Iceland; I assumed there must be at least one, or else where would Icelandic people get their central heating from?

On a different subject; with regard to the retracking, is EP likely to have the relevant rides back open in time for the new season, or is this work likely to extend later (e.g. into the summer)? I only ask as if anything is going to be down for long-term maintenance on my trip at the end of April, I'd like to be able to prepare myself for the spite in advance, if possible.

Also, is it known if Europa are only doing that first little tiny dip on Poseidon, or are they extending the scope of their work to encompass all of the track prior to the first splashdown?
 
Sam said:
A mildly interesting blog post about off-season renovations and maintenance.

Implies that Pegasus and Mir are also seeing a bit of minor re-tracking.
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I think as they mention getting parts from the nearby Mack facilities they just mean new technical parts for the rides' rather than Poseidon's case with the new track. There has been no other retracking afaik.

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The park have shared on Facebook some new looks at the Eurosat sphere - makes the difference between the renovated painted pieces and old cracking foil ones very clear. The pictures are a bit older though: they've now moved up to the top of the sphere.

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The new Poseidon track and mcbr are in place. Source
Matt N said:
On a different subject; with regard to the retracking, is EP likely to have the relevant rides back open in time for the new season, or is this work likely to extend later (e.g. into the summer)? I only ask as if anything is going to be down for long-term maintenance on my trip at the end of April, I'd like to be able to prepare myself for the spite in advance, if possible.

Also, is it known if Europa are only doing that first little tiny dip on Poseidon, or are they extending the scope of their work to encompass all of the track prior to the first splashdown?
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Sadly only that first dip between the lifthill block and next block section/mcbr for now.

All rides will be finished of course and open for season start on the 19th March.

Michael Mack also shared on Twitter that a permanent bridge/stairway is being built in Scandinavia. For the last 2 seasons a temporary scaffold bridge was in place to test if it would help reduce the congestion on that path by the rapids exit/bridge to Iceland.
FMRgPRPXIAAMdiK
 
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Talking of Blue Fires Sponcership, the Blue Lagoon and connected power plat would be a perfect fit. I assume that facility sparked the concept of the ride.
But the trouble with sponsorships is you very rarely get to chose them. You get whichever company is offering the money. Sometimes they are a good fit (like Mercedes and Silver Star) but more often you get a Cadbury's Hero's or dare I say it... Fanta.
 
Matt N said:
I'll admit I hadn't personally heard of any Icelandic gas companies, but yes, I was referring to one of the bigger gas companies in Iceland; I assumed there must be at least one, or else where would Icelandic people get their central heating from?
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Forgive me – I was being unfairly glib for comic effect. :blush:

There aren't any gas companies in Iceland, presumably because there aren't any gas fields. So I imagine they import most of their energy for domestic use. Even if there was an Icelandic gas company, I doubt their marketing budget would stretch to the prices Roland probably charges for sponsorship these days!
 
Sam said:
Forgive me – I was being unfairly glib for comic effect. :blush:

There aren't any gas companies in Iceland, presumably because there aren't any gas fields. So I imagine they import most of their energy for domestic use. Even if there was an Icelandic gas company, I doubt their marketing budget would stretch to the prices Roland probably charges for sponsorship these days!
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Ah, my apologies; I’m not particularly good at sensing that sort of thing!

Really? That surprises me; is Iceland quite big on renewable energy compared to countries like Britain, then?

Perhaps now that Gazprom are seemingly out of the picture, Europa might seek a renewable energy company to fill the void that Gazprom left? (As while I haven’t visited Europa, I’m led to believe that Gazprom propoganda plays/played a fairly pivotal role in Blue Fire’s theming and queue; is this true?)

Looking at all of today’s construction photos, though; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but I find it truly nuts how much Europa gets done in a closed season!
 
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Matt N said:
Perhaps now that Gazprom are seemingly out of the picture, Europa might seek a renewable energy company to fill the void that Gazprom left? (As while I haven’t visited Europa, I’m led to believe that Gazprom propoganda plays/played a fairly pivotal role in Blue Fire’s theming and queue)
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Not particularly. The actual main ride area, queue and station are a consistent theme of an Iceland landscape and an Energy Research Institute (the station building). Minus the logos on the trains and signage - only the building where the entrance and first section of the queue passes through was full of Gazprom propaganda. Always made for an unwelcome jarring difference in styles in my opinion opposed to subtler sponsorships at other rides.
 
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