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[2025] Europa-Park General Discussion

Chimp and I have just completed our first trip to EP and Rulantica. I won't do a trip report because nothing out of the ordinary happened, but had a few observations.

I deliberately didn't do too much research as I wanted to be surprised - and trusted the app would be helpful. But I did check where vegan options should be and other essential info.

The app is terrible if you don't know the site at all (or don't know people who do and have them on speed dial). Was telling us to walk through walls or lakes in order to get to rides, virtual line would state one time then change it to another when you clicked, sometimes hours later which meant it was no longer convenient, had false information about which food outlets had vegan options, so we'd traipse over there to be disappointed, and just generally was more of a hindrance than a help. Other parks' apps are much more helpful, Efteling's for example, and I'm not sure why EP's is so shonky.

The paper map wasn't much better, locations of entrances were sometimes difficult to find, clear info on where the trains go was difficult to find, we spent a lot of time trying to find something then giving up because we'd somehow ended up on France AGAIN (couldn't escape the place sometimes it felt).

Ride photos were a bit disappointing - no photo pass or similar to collect all our photos, and no fancy videos like other places do. No virtual option either (that we could find) so the few photos we did get ended up a bit crumpled in the rucksack.

But, saying all that, we did have a good time. The coasters were on the whole very good, the innovations such as moving floors and fancy lockers on Arthur and Voltron were impressive, we didn't see any shows as we prioritised re rides which was a bit of a shame but it's such a large park (and we got lost so much) it was too much to stomach trekking across park.

We stayed in El Anduluz and I was very impressed, beautiful even though it was the cheapest option, and close to the early access gate in the mornings. We didn't rate Bodega or Silver Lake Saloon, but Don Quixote was perfectly fine, even if they served the 14 year old chimp a real mojito rather than the nojito she asked for. Fun times.

I expected to hate Rulantica and did (it's really not my thing at all), but Chimp enjoyed it and only lamented not having someone to do those horrendous contraptions (slides ) with.

Overall, probably 8/10. Much better than what we have here, but had enough annoyances to mean Efteling is still my favourite.

Ready to be exiled for such heresy...
 
I'm pretty sure even Roland himself gets lost in EP. Though personally, I'd say Efteling is far worse for that!
 
Alix said:
Overall, probably 8/10. Much better than what we have here, but had enough annoyances to mean Efteling is still my favourite.

Ready to be exiled for such heresy...
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Let it be known all Europa-Park and Rulantica opinions, rankings and criticisms are valid here ✌️ Even us die hard fans can, will and shall grouse over questionable decisions made by management et al.
 
I've somehow survived when preferring Phantasia to EP all these years. Preferring Efteling to EP is much more palatable to the masses.

As much as I like the super themed entrances etc, some of them (like the Monorail in Iceland and the toilets in Scandinavia) are a little *too* well themed if anything.
 
I’m in the middle of a fairly long trip here. Heres a few points that might be of interest:

1. Don’t think good weather in summer is guaranteed;

2. Rain can turn a busy 90% crowd calendar day into a Wodan 10min / Voltron 15min / Water Rides walk-on day;

3. The Brazilian buffet at Alcazar at €47.50 p. adult now includes unlimited soft drinks. Waiter told us its for this month and next month. Sounds like a trial following the implementation at Silver Lake City. Will know by end of trip if its all buffets as got plenty more booked;

4. Theres a new fast food stall just before you get to the Chinese Aroma place. Pizza burgers hotdogs etc. Looked really new. And nice. Don’t remember it from last year. Haven’t tried it yet. Decent prices. 4min walk from Andaluz / Bell Rock. Stops serving food at 10pm. Pizza vending machine 24/7 next door;

5. I’m a pizza monster, and i don’t discriminate, i can go gourmet handmade fresh or frozen pizza from aldi. But the vending machine is pretty much cardboard. Might be ok if you’re utterly sloshed;

6. The Samsala show in England.. if you’ve got young kids that don’t speak German, absolutely FORGET it. My kids were climbing the walls. So so speech heavy unlike many EP shows;

7. If you have young kids, ignore everyone else on this forum but me regarding the Grand Prix ride :p My kids LOVE it;

8. If you have a kid below 1.3m and one above 1.3m then you can get the baby switch at Voltron, go on with the bigger kid and then afterwards the other adult can use the baby switch to jump to after the locker and take the bigger kid on again, allowing the bigger kid to back-to-back the ride (not sure if this is a universal tip);

9. Euromir does not seem to be a strict 1.3m. My kid was 1.27m and the dude at the start with the stick acknowledged it was under but gave the nod that it is ok for him to go on. Tried Blue Fire and it was a hard no;

10. If you have young kids, don’t miss the bubble show in Ireland!
 
Soprano187 said:
I’m in the middle of a fairly long trip here. Heres a few points that might be of interest:

1. Don’t think good weather in summer is guaranteed;

2. Rain can turn a busy 90% crowd calendar day into a Wodan 10min / Voltron 15min / Water Rides walk-on day;

3. The Brazilian buffet at Alcazar at €47.50 p. adult now includes unlimited soft drinks. Waiter told us its for this month and next month. Sounds like a trial following the implementation at Silver Lake City. Will know by end of trip if its all buffets as got plenty more booked;

4. Theres a new fast food stall just before you get to the Chinese Aroma place. Pizza burgers hotdogs etc. Looked really new. And nice. Don’t remember it from last year. Haven’t tried it yet. Decent prices. 4min walk from Andaluz / Bell Rock. Stops serving food at 10pm. Pizza vending machine 24/7 next door;

5. I’m a pizza monster, and i don’t discriminate, i can go gourmet handmade fresh or frozen pizza from aldi. But the vending machine is pretty much cardboard. Might be ok if you’re utterly sloshed;

6. The Samsala show in England.. if you’ve got young kids that don’t speak German, absolutely FORGET it. My kids were climbing the walls. So so speech heavy unlike many EP shows;

7. If you have young kids, ignore everyone else on this forum but me regarding the Grand Prix ride :p My kids LOVE it;

8. If you have a kid below 1.3m and one above 1.3m then you can get the baby switch at Voltron, go on with the bigger kid and then afterwards the other adult can use the baby switch to jump to after the locker and take the bigger kid on again, allowing the bigger kid to back-to-back the ride (not sure if this is a universal tip);

9. Euromir does not seem to be a strict 1.3m. My kid was 1.27m and the dude at the start with the stick acknowledged it was under but gave the nod that it is ok for him to go on. Tried Blue Fire and it was a hard no;

10. If you have young kids, don’t miss the bubble show in Ireland!
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Thank you. I'm arriving on the 12th for 6 nights. The soft drink inclusion would be a VERY welcome addition as we're doing 4 buffets (we booked Roma/Harbourside/Santa Isabel and Bubbas). We've budgeted for drinks but be great if that can be shifted into funding other stuff.

**Update checked the app and unfortunately it looks like Alcazar and Diner Station offer the free drinks. Maybe a trial like you said
 
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Can confirm Isabel buffet charges the usual extra for all drinks! Just been in there. Was nice. Stuffed.

Also saw Zorro show today. Well good. Best seats are front row, but not at the ends, and not in the middle. Once you've identified the seats that still make the cut, pick the ones nearest the “Spanien Arena” sign. If you pick the ones right in the middle you’ll miss a lot of bridge action. Show is action packed enough for non-german speakers and kids loved it as well as grown ups.
 
Oh wow the rain here has been horrific, not constant but absolutely chucking it down when it comes.

Hopefully Silver Lake City is ok as picking my parents up from baden later and got six of us booked into the saloon.

Queues overall have been short for summertime at least.
 
We are currently at Europa for the first time and had the privilege of experiencing Eatrenalin last night (unexpectedly sharing the meal with Katja Mack!) - my goodness it was one of my favourite ever experiences! I always look out for quirky or immersive dining; previously, the now closed Gotham inspired Park Row in London took top spot but this absolutely blew any other dining experience out of the water. The level of quality and detail is ridiculous and the floating chairs were a real spectacle - intricate & impressive bits of kit. The whole thing is unapologetically over-the-top and I just loved it!

Europa itself is everything I'd hoped and then some (felt teary upon entering with happy overwhelm! Crippling anxiety & a fear of travelling meant so many of my bucket list parks were just a pipe dream for such a long time), I can see why many hold it in high regard, magical!

Voltron was closed for a large portion of the day yesterday but managed a front row outer seat ride before we headed to dinner. Had been a little worried about roughness due to some of the things I'd read previously - we could have been lucky but noticed nothing of the sort, just a world-class coaster - wow! Will try for some re-rides today before we drive back towards the UK to fully form an opinion :) Thought about putting together a trip report but there are already so many amazing ones!
 
Copypasting my spoiler free Letterboxd review for Grand Prix of Europe that I just wrote in the Blue Fire queue, lol:

Since Grand Prix of Europe has finally been released in UK cinemas, I can now lift my review embargo because, by a stroke of luck from my job, I got the chance to attend Kazoo Films' exhibitor screening back in July.

Graciously, Grand Prix of Europe has turned out to be a gem and a lot of fun. The plot is decent, the character changes and development absolutely work, and the animation is the best Mack Magic have done since their Nachts in Park short. Ed and Edda work in this new context, and I love what they did with the other supporting characters (Bockli and Nachtkrabb stand out). I wasn't bored or dismayed for a single moment. And there was also barely any mention of Europa-Park in the film itself. There are definitely references but nothing overt to distract me. Overall I have very little to complain about with the film and, once I'm home, I will go see my second screening!

I don't expect the film to do that well in the UK but I really hope the intended family audience enjoy GPoE. I'd also like for my fellow thoosies to enjoy it and not tear it to shreds because, y'know, it's decent and ultimately for kids.
 
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