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[2026] Europa-Park General Discussion

The park goes from strength to strength with a record setting attendance!

Europa-Park has set a new visitor record in 2025. The German amusement park received more than seven million visitors for the first time last year. With this, Europa-Park takes a clear lead over Efteling, the Dutch competitor.

"In the summer of 1975, 250,000 visitors came to Europa-Park," Mack said. "Fifty years later, we are excited to welcome seven million guests, a new record with which we have exceeded all our expectations for this special year."

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Europa-Park loopt verder uit op de Efteling: zeven miljoen bezoekers in jubileumjaar

Europa-Park heeft in 2025 een nieuw bezoekersrecord gevestigd. Het Duitse attractiepark ontving het afgelopen jaar voor het eerst meer dan zeven...
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Bowser said:
Cool little video showing how many people operate Voltron alone!

*Insert obligatory Merlin dig*


From: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTqdaCVjavf/


If you can’t watch and want to guess:

15!
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I believe that the minimum number of positions required on Voltron is 11 as opposed to the 15 shown here.

This video shows two staff in the queue line, one of whom is sweeping and the other standing by a chain, neither of whom were there when I was at the park last week. It also shows someone standing outside the building which I’ve also not seen before. There was also someone in the video standing by the boxes at the exit where you post back the cards; a position which I’ve also never seen manned.

I expect, based on the anecdotal evidence from my friend who used to work on another ride at EP, that these extra four people provide break relief for lunch cover, toilet breaks etc. and that they rotate regularly.

The actual reality on Voltron is that you will see 11 staff actually working on the ride. Although I’m happy to be corrected if there’s something I’ve missed.

It’s interesting that you mention Merlin (albeit tongue in cheek) since Swarm actually required a minimum of 10 staff to run in its opening year. This has of course since been reduced, with the closure of the bag room and removal of the station batch positions.
 
The park have just announced a “pre-opening date” which seems… odd? There’s a disclaimer that not all rides and shows may be available:

www.europapark.de

Europa-Park Pre-Opening

The excitement is building and anticipation is reaching fever pitch: for everyone who can hardly wait to visit Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park will be opening its doors
www.europapark.de www.europapark.de
 
Bowser said:
The park have just announced a “pre-opening date” which seems… odd? There’s a disclaimer that not all rides and shows may be available:

www.europapark.de

Europa-Park Pre-Opening

The excitement is building and anticipation is reaching fever pitch: for everyone who can hardly wait to visit Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park will be opening its doors
www.europapark.de www.europapark.de
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They always do a pre-opening, it's nothing new. It's essentially a preview before the official season opening.
 
Quite honestly, I would be shocked if Europa-Park DIDN'T have a Pre Opening, complete with its own Pre Opening Ceremony hosted by the Macks atop the Alexanderplatz station balcony with a Pre Opening Key, Deutsche Allee lined with entertainers, balloons and a red carpet alongside a commemorative Pre Opening video uploaded a day later that someone would inevitably share in this topic.
 
Bowser said:
The park have just announced a “pre-opening date” which seems… odd? There’s a disclaimer that not all rides and shows may be available:

www.europapark.de

Europa-Park Pre-Opening

The excitement is building and anticipation is reaching fever pitch: for everyone who can hardly wait to visit Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park will be opening its doors
www.europapark.de www.europapark.de
Click to expand...
Thanks. I never knew they did a pre opening event to be fair.
 
Bowser said:
Thanks to new legislation due to pass soon, smoking will soon be banned in the park... one of the few theme parks where it is still allowed it seems!

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Roken in Europa-Park waarschijnlijk aan banden: Duits rookbeleid zet pretpark op scherp

In Europa-Park mag nu nog bijna overal gerookt worden, maar daar komt binnenkort hoogstwaarschijnlijk verandering in. Het attractiepark in...
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Great! Now can they crack on and do the same in the hotel bars? I know the main bars have been smoke-free for some years now but if they could outlaw it in the designated “smoking rooms” that’d be a welcome addition of indoor capacity without having to come out smelling of cigarettes.
 
Buena Vista and Roland’s Koch Lodge allow smoking throughout. It’d be great to see the disappear, but then I’m not a smoker.
 
Major news for the resort this week as BW Federal Council have voted to massively strengthen the Smoker Protection Laws.

It is likely that from the start of the 2026 season, smoking will be banned across the whole resort with exception to designated smoking areas (away from main thoroughfares) and specific rooms within bars.

This also applies to vaping.

Going back to my earliest visits to EP in 2004, the amount of smoking has always been a bone of contention. It has reduced over time but it is still a major issue especially for those visiting with young children.
 
AstroDan said:
Major news for the resort this week as BW Federal Council have voted to massively strengthen the Smoker Protection Laws.

It is likely that from the start of the 2026 season, smoking will be banned across the whole resort with exception to designated smoking areas (away from main thoroughfares) and specific rooms within bars.

This also applies to vaping.

Going back to my earliest visits to EP in 2004, the amount of smoking has always been a bone of contention. It has reduced over time but it is still a major issue especially for those visiting with young children.
Click to expand...

So still smoking rooms in bars? It was mentioned on our last visit how much extra capacity Bar St Louis would have if it ditched the smoking room.

Current laws allow for small bars, such as Roland’s Lodge can be smoking, not really read up on the latest plans but the above would suggest this would no longer be allowed? Great if that’s the case,

One thing I have noticed on my last few visits, whilst smoking around the park in general has reduced a lot over the last few years, the smell of certain hemp like substances has somewhat overshadowed that.
 
A question about Voletarium.

Is the footage based on "real life"?

Flight of the SkyLion at Legoland is one of my sons favourite rides but i think a big part of that is the fantasy setting. If this is more soaring over locations i'm wondering if he will find it as exhilarating? We'll hopefully do it regardless but with so many rides in the park and his low tolerance for long days just wondering where on the priority list to put it, especially with so many world class coasters.
 
Bowser said:
A question about Voletarium.

Is the footage based on "real life"?
Click to expand...

The locations are all based on real life: German castles, icebergs, the Eiffel Tower, things of this nature. Not sure if this will still exist next season but in 2025 there was a new ending advertising the Ed Euromaus racing movie. Exciting but a completely different tone and vibe compared to the rest of the ride preceding it.

Voletarium is a pretty classic "fly over landmarks you recognise" flying theatre. It wouldn't really crack my top 10 or 15 rides at EP but I would recommend it if the queue is short. It's also a pretty nice break from a day of intense coasters.
 
Llama said:
The locations are all based on real life: German castles, icebergs, the Eiffel Tower, things of this nature. Not sure if this will still exist next season but in 2025 there was a new ending advertising the Ed Euromaus racing movie. Exciting but a completely different tone and vibe compared to the rest of the ride preceding it.
Click to expand...

I hated this! I can tolerate the Mack's incessant product placement, but that final sequence was so much more disorienting and intense than the rest of the ride, which is otherwise built on swooping feelings of relaxation. I hope it disappears now that Grand Prix of Europe has been released and dominated the international box office.

The queue for Voletarium is genuinely beautiful. I wouldn't miss it, especially in the mid-afternoon, when the ride's position at the very entrance to the park means it'll be more of a leisurely stroll.
 
I second the above, Voletarium's queue is absolutely beautiful and it's worth riding for that alone. Just bear in mind though that it is the slowest moving queue in the park, due to the nature of the ride system.
 
Seems the park are building yet another hotel!

The German theme park Europa-Park is making behind-the-scenes preparations for the construction of a new themed hotel. A new hotel complex is planned for construction alongside the Rulantica water world and the existing four-star Hotel Krønasår. A zoning plan amendment is required for the project.

Europa-Park has submitted a request to the authorities for this purpose. This is evident from a publication by the municipality of Rust, where the amusement park resort is located. There is apparently a need for urgency: they are talking about an "accelerated inner-city procedure ," without an environmental impact assessment and without the early involvement of other authorities.

There will be an opportunity for local residents to comment. The intention is to publicly discuss the zoning amendment next week, on Wednesday, February 25th, with a regional cooperation body. This will take place at the so-called Zweckverband Tourismus, Dienstleistungen, Freizeit Ringsheim/Rust.


By amending the zoning plan, Europa-Park creates the legal conditions for the construction of an additional hotel. The new hotel is planned to be built north of Rulantica and east of Krønasår, adjacent to Ritterstraße and right next to the Rulantica parking lot. Currently, there is still a green area there.

Krønasår opened in 2019 with 276 rooms and 28 suites. The new plan assumes an additional hotel with a maximum of 350 rooms. Existing regulations regarding building height and building volume remain unchanged. No information has yet been released about the architecture, theme, investment amount, or the intended opening year.

0216lfijaslkee3.jpg



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Europa-Park heeft plannen voor nieuw themahotel naast waterwereld Rulantica: bestemmingsplan aangepast

Het Duitse attractiepark Europa-Park treft achter de schermen voorbereidingen voor de bouw van een nieuw themahotel. Naast waterwereld Rulantica en...
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Bowser said:
A question about Voletarium.

Is the footage based on "real life"?

Flight of the SkyLion at Legoland is one of my sons favourite rides but i think a big part of that is the fantasy setting. If this is more soaring over locations i'm wondering if he will find it as exhilarating? We'll hopefully do it regardless but with so many rides in the park and his low tolerance for long days just wondering where on the priority list to put it, especially with so many world class coasters.
Click to expand...
Last time I visited (2024), the park gates open at 8am and the main park opening at 9am. However Voletarium is just inside the park entrance and opened at around half 8am with a number of other rides in that area. So when we arrived for our second day we queued for it to open, rode it, and was back out waiting for the rope drop at 9am.
 
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