AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Europa-Park: The blockbuster day
It’s rare I write a trip report for a visit to what has become Europe’s largest theme park after Disneyland Paris. As a frequent visitor, I never tend to feel it necessary or warranted as my views on the resort are well documented. Yet tonight, I feel compelled to share my experiences of Europa-Park from yesterday, Saturday 1st November 2014.
For many theme parks in Europe, yesterday was the final Saturday of the summer season. Indeed, this was the case for Europa-Park – which has in fact just closed its doors for the final time before the winter season begins in a little less than 3 weeks. The final week of the season, known as ‘Festival Week’ at Europa-Park, tends to be a busy one. The park bring in major concerts free of charge every night for park guests, a medieval market, Horror Nights for thrill seekers in the evening, a spooky night time Halloween parade and a fair bit more. Yesterday, however, saw something I have never seen before. According to the owners of our hotel and friends in the know, Europa-Park welcomed 55,000 people into the theme park.
Never before have I seen the queues of Silver Star, Eurosat and the creperie merge into one and never before have I seen the closing time extended to 9.30pm. Indeed, Europa-Park was open yesterday for 12 ½ hours and the biggest rollercoasters didn’t shut down until after 10.00pm.
The park was a hive of activity. I will explain some of the things that began to creak under the pressure later. But one thing that didn’t creak under the strain? Rides. You might think that queues must have been beyond belief – but no. Aside from a small number, queues remained satisfactory. Eurosat hit 45 minutes. Silver Star hit 50 minutes. Pegasus hit 30 minutes. Such are the throughputs and such is the absence of any form of fastrack, the queuelines still move swiftly and this is why Europa-Park managed it yesterday. Certainly, some queues were long – Blue Fire briefly tipped over 100 minutes and Wodan was similar. Arthur, the new ride, was consistently around 80-90 minutes all day. Those aside, however, and the picture was fairly rosy – with no other ride going beyond 1 hour all day. Such was the operation that even with a capacity crowd – we managed the following rides during the day:
Europa-Park were quick to react. An extra DJ Bobo concert was added. Small concessionary food and drink outlets sprang up. The moment that the park revealed it was closing at 9.30pm – an exceptionally rare occurrence, it became clear that they were exceptionally busy. We heard that the entrance to the park had been closed to further guests (although can’t officially verify this).
Of course, in spite of the way the park handled the occasion, it did creak in a few areas – as any park would. Food and beverage queues were long – especially during the lunch peak. We waited some time for service at the Rock café in Germany. Tables were in short supply. Pathways – especially around Greece, Italy and France were solid with people. Some queue lines simply weren’t long enough to cope with the number of guests in them. But watching the spectacle unfold was truly amazing. And of course, by the last hour or two? Queuelines began to die down. The waiting time for Wodan at 9.30pm was only 25 minutes.
So, in summary – impressive. Possibly insane. Of course, I would never recommend you go to Europa-Park on these sorts of days because of course, the pathways were very busy and some queues did get very long during the day. But when you read of the horror stories at some other parks around the UK and Europe (naming no names here) – you realise just watch the absence of fastrack, a flexible approach to closing times and a focus on throughputs can do to improve your day.
I am glad to have seen the park in this way. What’s the moral? Even at capacity – Eurosat, 40 minutes.
Cheers, Roland!
It’s rare I write a trip report for a visit to what has become Europe’s largest theme park after Disneyland Paris. As a frequent visitor, I never tend to feel it necessary or warranted as my views on the resort are well documented. Yet tonight, I feel compelled to share my experiences of Europa-Park from yesterday, Saturday 1st November 2014.
For many theme parks in Europe, yesterday was the final Saturday of the summer season. Indeed, this was the case for Europa-Park – which has in fact just closed its doors for the final time before the winter season begins in a little less than 3 weeks. The final week of the season, known as ‘Festival Week’ at Europa-Park, tends to be a busy one. The park bring in major concerts free of charge every night for park guests, a medieval market, Horror Nights for thrill seekers in the evening, a spooky night time Halloween parade and a fair bit more. Yesterday, however, saw something I have never seen before. According to the owners of our hotel and friends in the know, Europa-Park welcomed 55,000 people into the theme park.
Never before have I seen the queues of Silver Star, Eurosat and the creperie merge into one and never before have I seen the closing time extended to 9.30pm. Indeed, Europa-Park was open yesterday for 12 ½ hours and the biggest rollercoasters didn’t shut down until after 10.00pm.
The park was a hive of activity. I will explain some of the things that began to creak under the pressure later. But one thing that didn’t creak under the strain? Rides. You might think that queues must have been beyond belief – but no. Aside from a small number, queues remained satisfactory. Eurosat hit 45 minutes. Silver Star hit 50 minutes. Pegasus hit 30 minutes. Such are the throughputs and such is the absence of any form of fastrack, the queuelines still move swiftly and this is why Europa-Park managed it yesterday. Certainly, some queues were long – Blue Fire briefly tipped over 100 minutes and Wodan was similar. Arthur, the new ride, was consistently around 80-90 minutes all day. Those aside, however, and the picture was fairly rosy – with no other ride going beyond 1 hour all day. Such was the operation that even with a capacity crowd – we managed the following rides during the day:
- Pegasus x 3
- Poseidon
- Euro-Mir
- Crazy Taxi
- Fjord Rafting
- Blue Fire
- Wodan x 2
- Alpenexpress
- Tyrol Log Flume
- Columbus Dinghy
- Feria Swing
- Arthur x 2
- Silver Star
- Eurosat
- Jungfrau-Gleterscherflieger
- Universe of Energy
- The Secret of Balthasar Castle 4D
- Brothers Grimm Library
Europa-Park were quick to react. An extra DJ Bobo concert was added. Small concessionary food and drink outlets sprang up. The moment that the park revealed it was closing at 9.30pm – an exceptionally rare occurrence, it became clear that they were exceptionally busy. We heard that the entrance to the park had been closed to further guests (although can’t officially verify this).
Of course, in spite of the way the park handled the occasion, it did creak in a few areas – as any park would. Food and beverage queues were long – especially during the lunch peak. We waited some time for service at the Rock café in Germany. Tables were in short supply. Pathways – especially around Greece, Italy and France were solid with people. Some queue lines simply weren’t long enough to cope with the number of guests in them. But watching the spectacle unfold was truly amazing. And of course, by the last hour or two? Queuelines began to die down. The waiting time for Wodan at 9.30pm was only 25 minutes.
So, in summary – impressive. Possibly insane. Of course, I would never recommend you go to Europa-Park on these sorts of days because of course, the pathways were very busy and some queues did get very long during the day. But when you read of the horror stories at some other parks around the UK and Europe (naming no names here) – you realise just watch the absence of fastrack, a flexible approach to closing times and a focus on throughputs can do to improve your day.
I am glad to have seen the park in this way. What’s the moral? Even at capacity – Eurosat, 40 minutes.
Cheers, Roland!
