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[2025] Europa-Park General Discussion

Poisson said:
Newcastle to Frankfurt, then either hire a car, a direct Flixbus or a couple of trains?
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Actually considered that route but don't drive, flixbus is completely unreliable and had a nightmare with trains going via Offenburg to Baden airport last time around so put me off travelling that direction again 😂
 
Poisson said:
Newcastle to Frankfurt, then either hire a car, a direct Flixbus or a couple of trains?
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Trains from Frankfurt is actually a lot more complicated than it sounds. I looked into it once and ended up getting a regional flight from Frankfurt to Basel. The plane wasn't much bigger than the coach that took me to the airport!

Unless you're near a major transport hub like London or Manchester it really is a very awkward place to get to.
 
velocikieran said:
Actually considered that route but don't drive, flixbus is completely unreliable and had a nightmare with trains going via Offenburg to Baden airport last time around so put me off travelling that direction again 😂
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I can testify to the ‘Offenburg issue’. Got delayed there by three hours (on the way out) and because it was a Sunday I couldn’t find a bus to take us all of the 15-20 miles to Rust. Very frustrating.
 
We often fly from Edinburgh to Basel and hire a car from the Swiss side. It’s about an hour drive and very easy. Edinburgh used to have seasonal flights to Baden Baden but alas, no more.
 
Jambo said:
We often fly from Edinburgh to Basel and hire a car from the Swiss side. It’s about an hour drive and very easy. Edinburgh used to have seasonal flights to Baden Baden but alas, no more.
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How easy is it to get a taxi to/from Basel? Baden Baden is an option for us too but i'd prefer not to use Ryanair.

Could hire a car but it would then sit there for 3 or 4 days unused and i'm imaging the cost versus a taxi isn't going to be miles apart. And from recent reports definitely want to avoid the bus!
 
We looked at a taxi and I think it worked out just a little bit cheaper than a car. We had the same predicament as we had a car just sitting in a car park but it was nice to have the freedom to get up and go whenever we pleased. Taxis aren’t really a thing in Germany (not like the UK) and seem much more expensive than back home.
 
I will add, it was good to get to the EP hotels and Silver Lake City as we were staying in the Moxy across from Bell Rock. If we were staying on site I’d have gotten a taxi I reckon.
 
Jambo said:
We looked at a taxi and I think it worked out just a little bit cheaper than a car. We had the same predicament as we had a car just sitting in a car park but it was nice to have the freedom to get up and go whenever we pleased. Taxis aren’t really a thing in Germany (not like the UK) and seem much more expensive than back home.
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Taxis are very much a thing in Germany! Just not in the relatively rural area where EP is located, where the local companies operating obviously rinse tourists in the region almost exclusively for the resort.

If you're in a group of six or more, having EP arrange its own taxi service from Basel or Baden is cost-effective.... Just about.
 
velocikieran said:
North East England. Direct flights from my local airport to Basel would take a lot of the faff out of travelling.
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We usually go from Manchester to Basel from the north east. Flight times seem to change so much day to day and week to week though with easyJet...the midday/early afternoon times are really handy (midday/early afternoon) you can easily get bus to Basel then train to Rust to be there in a couple of hours from landing.
 
Sam said:
  • Staffing issues: That perennial post-Covid EP bugbear, staffing, still seems to be affecting the park. On the first day I walked from Voltron to Blue Fire just after opening and was unable to get a coffee before Kaffi Hús as nearly all the little F&B outlets now seem to open at 11, when most of them used to open at 9 on the dot. Magellan Lounge, the upstairs at O'Mackeys and Bar Colosseo were all shut for the whole of my trip (the latter is a particular shame, given what a flagship space it is). The Italian Show was also cancelled all week – I assume a staffing issue, though I'm not sure. What they clearly have done is prioritise the rides over everything else, which is the right decision. But seeing all the construction over at Silver Lake on the new hotel made me feel uneasy: every year they seem to be adding developments that need dozens if not hundreds of new staff. But if they're struggling to find enough staff as it is, how are they going to avoid these new venues being mothballed?
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Just a quick one on this RE the show in Italy. It was scheduled to end mid-August for the switch over to Spook Me/Spook Me 2 which started this weekend. Not sure why they had the show cancelled sign outside the theatre! I was also disappointed that Magellan Lounge was shut for all of my visit, especially as it had been open a lot more of the last couple of years. Bar Colosseo remains a mystery as to why it is closed so much but I was pleased to see Buena Vista open. We did get the upstairs of O'Mackeys but this was over a weeked.

Speaking of O'Makceys, RIP O'Hara.s Pale Ale. A great shame that they not longer have this on tap.

I was at EP for the best part of 4 days and the park was superb as ever. Operations remain ridiculous. This was the first time I have seen Voltron running 7 trains and that queue just shifts! I reckon it is under 45 minutes with a full queue line.

EDventure has improved since I first rode it back in April. Having targets worth different amount of points (as opposed to everything being 100 points) does make the ride more enjoyable. I still think it's a poor addition, but at least now it is somewhat fun.

The developments at Silver Lake City are quite frankly astonishing! I cannot wait to see it when all complete next year. Having a bar to go to in the evening there makes a huge difference, and Wild Horse Bar is lovely. Helped by the fact there was live music whilst we were there.
 
Thanks for your bus thoughts, everyone!

The weird thing about the bad bus service (which everyone seems to unanimously agree on) is that it isn't a 'hardware' problem. There is a bus. It goes between Ringsheim and the park regularly. It's even timed to the train arrival times.

It's more of a 'software' problem. And by that I mean the problems are around information design (this is the main problem – confusion about where exactly it departs from), confusing timetables, ticketing (it should be free to reduce hassle) and branding.

What's so frustrating about that is that those are the relatively easy things to fix. The bus already exists and runs! They just need to put a bit of thought (and a bit of money on EP's part) into it. It wouldn't be a difficult or expensive problem to sort out properly.

At the risk of sounding very egotistical, I'd be interested in hearing people's views on some of the other points I raised (if anyone else has any! Might just be me :)) – those being the quality of the shows, and the self-aggrandisement.

  • Self-aggrandisement: I've always loved the ridiculousness of EP and the flamboyance of the Mack family: the 'wall of Roland' in the hotels, the pomp, the pageantry, the pure showbusiness of it all. But on this trip (and maybe this relates to it being the 50th), I felt like the self-aggrandisement was getting a bit much sometimes. For the first time at EP, I found myself feeling bored or even a little irritated by seeing yet another photo of the Mack family or a display board trumpeting their achievements. I don't mind, and have always slyly enjoyed, a little bit of this sort of thing. But it feels like it's getting out-of-hand and they're in danger of coming across as arrogant, or even frankly, dislikeable. When I'm queueing for Silver Star do I really need to see a looping video of Roland hanging out with his pal the Prince of Monaco? Whatever happened to 'show not tell'? You've already built the greatest theme park to have ever existed, you don't need to tell us all the time!

  • The shows: I'm not a big show person, so am not the expert here. But the ice show this year, ('THE RACE - Ed vs. Nachtkrabb') was probably the worst I've seen. It just felt tired. I also wonder if some of the top-tier talent has left, because it felt like there weren't as many impressive tricks as there used to be, and twice, skaters fell over while attempting them. The crowd didn't seem particularly impressed either, with just a smattering of applause at the end. It didn't help that the show was yet another ad for the animated film thingy, and skaters dressed as mascots are a little clumsy and ungainly. The Spain show ('The Legend of Zorro') was a lot better but nothing that'll blow you away. I wonder if it's time for a bit of a rethink of the shows, which are undoubtedly dated ("tits and teeth", as one person on here describes them). Watching the ice show, it's as if Cirque du Soleil never happened. It's all a bit artless and 1980s, and feels like it needs an injection of new life. As Soleil itself shows (at Disney, no less!) you can take these things in a more artistic, experimental, even avant-garde direction and still be family-focused and accessible. And maybe it's time to just ditch the 'ice' part entirely...?
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It might go with the self-aggrandisement but I'd be surprised if anyone likes the attempt to shoehorn their own IPs into things. Snorri Touren worked, Yomis and now Eddventure much less so. Somebody needs to tell them no and to stop wasting enormous amounts of money on attempted forays into media.
 
Sam said:
At the risk of sounding very egotistical, I'd be interested in hearing people's views on some of the other points I raised (if anyone else has any! Might just be me :)) – those being the quality of the shows, and the self-aggrandisement.
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Sam, love, I do agree on the bragging front. The near constant references were getting tiring even before the 50th Anniversary material rolled out, and you can't really go anywhere without seeing someone somewhere. On one of our last visits, we discovered the Italy coffee shop by Mario's Pizza has photos of Roland meeting one of the Popes. Michael's in the ruddy Schloss queue too. There's also a plank of wood in a Hotel Kronasar display case by Bar Erikkson that has Roland's face burnt onto it, like he's that Jesus on toast meme.

The Eis Show was fine, I thought it was cute for what it was worth and surprised the story even held on for that long. We only went to Zorro because we hadn't been to the Spanish Arena for several years, and the new roof was in that meant more lighting and special effects, gutted for the Alcazar guests who would've been able to have seen it from their room windows though. Cheese and I also made an effort to see the Big Moments - The Celebration Show in Italy too, which did all the usual cabaret acts with acrobats, a magician, Ornella etc, and that was alright. I admire the camp value in each EP show I've seen but it would be nice to have me say "WOW (sincere)" rather than "WOW (joking)" for once.

Oh, and fun fact, I learnt in the latest 'history' book that our favourite animatronic Jurgen Mack is responsible for the Eis Show so we can blame him.
 
Sam said:
At the risk of sounding very egotistical, I'd be interested in hearing people's views on some of the other points I raised (if anyone else has any! Might just be me :)) – those being the quality of the shows, and the self-aggrandisement.
Click to expand...
In terms of the shows, I agree that this year's ice show is one of their poorest. It was fine, and there were some cool moment (I liked how they pulled of the race scene) but for too much of the show it felt like very little was going on and there were not enough 'wow' moments. Maybe they thought that in previous shows they've gone away from the story too often so wanted a show that did stick to it. A shame as the ice show at EP is usually very good!

The Spanish arena show I thought was good. I wasn't sure about adding a roof to the arena but that actually works really well and creates a very different atmosphere in the arena. Some impressive stunts with the horses and a story that was easy to follow for those not fluent in German.

I also saw the Big Moments show in the Italian theatre earlier this year and thought that was excellent. I always enjoy the variety show the most at EP, and this one was mixed in with some lovely singing by Ornella et al. Sure it was cheesy at times but EP shows often are!

Obviously Spook Me and Spook Me 2 have just started again, and I suspect that these have been taking up a lot of attention for those in the entertainment department. Both shows are insanely popular (there was a huge queue for the re-launch Spook Me last Saturday up to an hour before the show) and EP clearly take great pride in them.

In terms of the self-aggrandisement, I agree to an extent but it is something I've always quite liked about EP and just laugh about. They have always been that way, are they showing it off more at the moment? Perhaps. The Colosseo show was quite something, with Raise Me Up playing to images of Roland in the background - I cannot dispute that he does raise me up! I sometimes wonder if we see these things more because we are acutely aware of the Macks and are, to an extent, looking out for it. Not in cases like the El Andaluz corridor where you'd have to be blind to miss all of the photos, but in some of the more isolated cases shall we say.
 
Its not a recent thing. There was the Ice Show where the initial plot revolved around Roland's IAAPA Key (given to the current chairman or whatever role he had at the time) being stolen.

That was hilarious.


Bus wise I think just needs more clarity on the routes and order of destination. Some go to the hotels, others don't but you don't really know without getting on.
 
The cheesiness of the Mack family has never really bothered me. Their whole shtick is completely and totally over the top but the currently active Macks have to be what, the 9th or 10th generation of the family to be directly involved in the amusement business? And they're still personally involved in operating and expanding what many people consider to be the greatest independent theme park on the planet. You'd have to be a little different to succeed in that role and if that manifests as this sort of self-aggrandisement then I consider it to be a completely acceptable (and mostly pretty funny) side effect more than anything else.
 
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