Europa Park: Aug Trip Report

[Marcus]

Hello first time commenter on the forums. I am just going to write up my thoughts and feelings of Europa Park after my visit to the park last summer, but before I do I would like to thank Astrodan for opening my eyes to Europa Park as myself and my family would of never of discovered the place if it wern't down to yourselves so thank you.

I wont bore you too much with declaring how great the park is as I am sure most of you already know and long discovered the park before I did, I just want to say how blown away I was by how much grander, well polished and efficiently run the park is (especially considering the mid-Aug visit time) compared to any park I have been to, its just stunning and the sense when I was leaving the park was that I was far from done with the place and it knew it, with so many layers of attractions, entertainment and stunning visuals that 2 days could not do it justice.

I shall shortly post my opinions on the rides if anybody is interested.

 

[Rob]

Glad to hear that Europa-Park did not let you down! Would be great to hear more about your experiences of the park, it really is a very special place.

 

[Marcus]

Alpine Express:
An incredible little junior coaster, greatly intertwined with the logflume. Much better than scorpian express and better than the runaway train (which I highly rate!)
Atlantic Super Splash:
I am sorry to say but we did not get round to riding atlantic super splash, a real shame as off ride it looked fantastic and we certainly had the weather for it, as if I didnt need reasons to return!
Arthur:
I went in thinking that this ride may not be my cup of tea as I was looking forward to the big boys at this point and wasn't really familier with the Arthur films, but boy was I wrong, this coaster is probably the best family coaster I have ever ridden, I just regret the fact we only had time to ride it once as it was so much fun with so much scenary around you, you can't take it all in, one of the trip highlights was as the ride enters the large hall area as you look down, some how we hadn't noticed the coaster above our heads when we entered there so it came as a great shock when you entered the hall were looking down upon everyone, that was something special.
BlueFire:
Bluefire is the smoothest coaster I have ever ridden, with some beauiful inversions, creates a very light and floaty feeling. I really enjoyed the lauch as it was a steady progression of speed as opposed to the UK intamin launchers which pack more of a punch but IMO both have their charms. Probably my favourite feature of bluefire would be its seats, which may sound weird but the lack of shoulder restraints made the ride incredible.

I have IMO a slightly unusual (but I am sure someone on here can relate) problem when riding most rides with tight shoulder restraints, the problem being I am no super giant at 6 foot 1, nor am I an Arnold Schwarzenegger build with an just average frame but the problem lies in the fact that my legs are rather short for the height, but my body is very long, meaning shoulder restraints can be a real problem sometimes, I very nearly had to do the walk of shame last year on ripsaw due to it, with the ride op in disbielf as they are looking for this protruding belly to be stopping the restraint when in fact its my shoulders, happens on any invert Ive been on with it, the worst on Ramisis Revenge but any shoulder restraints seem to not fit. I would really like to hear if anybody else has the same problem. Removing this problem on a fast paced coaster was exhilarating, it made the ride so much more enjoyable!

It easily cracks my top ten. The only minor critisism I can think of was the some what strange, british gas-estc themeing/ advertising in some of the quene but then again if that helps the park keep to the standard that it is I really can't complain.

Further opinions to come!

 

[Marcus]

Euro-Mir:
I couldn't help look slightly into the history of the part before coming. As I looked at when rides Had been installed I came to some sort of conclusion that Euro-mir had at one point been one of the parks largest attractions and felt it would of been one of the big boys in times gone by but with the rise of bluefire and wodan in more recent years that Euro-mir may sitting back enjoying a semi-retirement from having to be one of the big attractions so long so I expected less quenes for the ride and possibly a ride that was good but may be showing its age. Euro-mir was probably the busiest ride we queued for, I didn't feel it could be all down to its throughput so I thought it must still be very popular. I really liked the space theme and the ride experience was crazy, which I like! Where the track snakes around the towers it was very hard to eye up the ride before hand and be able to tell parts led where and it was virtually impossible once on it. Not sure if I prefer Bluefire or euro-mir as I remember getting off Euro-mir with a grin like a cheshire cat, it is so close between them for me, I guess the point that edges bluefire ahead for me is Euro-mir's lift hill, which I did infact enjoy it just seemed to go on a little to long (not sure if its longer than euro-sat's but it certainly felt longer due to the beedy staring eyes of the people opposite us.
Euro-Sat:
First thing to mention is I loved the music for eurosat, it was pretty awesome. The ride also had a very long lift hill but not so bad when someone isn't staring at you weirdly. It was very fast paced and felt frantic, I was scared to lift my arms up in fear of catching them on something which I am sure wouldnt happen but that was the effect the ride created for me. From what I remember from riding it (its been approaching 15 years since I rode it), it felt like a quicker, larger black hole, I am not sure what others think, but I loved it, wasn't really that rough IMO either. The light tunnel is very nice.
Matterhorn Blitz:
Now this is a tough one as I found trying to remember the ride hard from my one ride on it differcult, the lift hill was cool, along with the themeing in the queue, the squirrels on the front of the trains, the clever loading and unloading of two trains at a time, however for the ride experience other than being able to say the corners wern't as harsh as rattlesnakes, I can't say much else, it was good but nothing outstanding IMO and I kinda prefer rattlesnake due to how it is built into the ground although it could just be me being a freak. I very much want to re-ride this to see if my opinion stays the same.
Pegasus:
A nice little coaster tucked away underneath poseidon, alot of fun and seemed to go round faster than I thought it would, very cool front train, It may shock some people but I really think this gives 13 a run for its money as it has IMO (the drop doesn't do much for me) and I would probably say I prefer it, although everytime I seem to ride 13 its raining whilst everytime I have ridden Pegasus (twice) it was lovely and sunny and had hardly any queue.

 

[Marcus]

Swiss Bobsleigh:
This ride I found was better than I thought it would be, being the first type of this coaster I have ridden I didn't have much to go on when riding it. The theme of the swiss area could quite possibly be my favourite in the entire park it was truely fantastic. The ride experience was quicker than I thought especially on the helix. Certainly not the most thirlling ride in the park but it would tragic IMO opinion if it were to be removed as it feels very built into its area especially how the queue is winding underneath the ride.
Silver Star:
The ride you first spot approaching the park, it certainly looks stunning, and as you are walking to the entrance seeing silver stars trains shooting overhead really builds up the excitement levels. The Jurassic World stuff looked pretty cool, I am sure it isn't a perminant feature. With the Mercedes type theme I kind of wish they had gone one step more and made the trains race car themed as it seemed like silver star was one step off being a car themed coaster and adding a kind of adding a full race/ driving theme would of really set the ride up nicely. The ride experience gave the best views of the park (we didnt get round to the observation tower), the first drop felt pretty awesome, along with the part where you turn round at the far end, along with the very end. Camera seemed to be placed after the ride is all but finished which is different but I quite liked that as it was catching your first post-ride reactions. The rest of the ride was very smooth but not as great as it looked, far from a bad coaster but certainly not the best coaster in the park IMO with coasters that look less awesome giving a greater ride like euro-mir and poseidon (as an overall experience).
Poseidon:
This ride was superb, the themeing was top notch, the ride length was long and varied with some real thrills. It also did not get you as wet as other water rides which is both a possative and negative as normally not getting soaked is fine by me but it was a very hot day so a little more dampness wouldn't of hurt. A slight gripe would be the fact the ride seemed to hate us as it broke down both times we queued for it, not sure if we were unlucky for if poseidon is known for technical problems but it certainly costed us some time and the second breakdown we were pretty darn close to riding it in the end of the corridoor before turning left into the station so that was kinda annoying but what can you do. Also can anyone lay any light on the fact that someone had mangaged to draw a winky (putting it politely ) on the opersite side of the quene as you first walk into the inside quene section, I and the rest of my family were perplexed but found it very funny as it was in a location about 15 foot off the floor and about 10 foot away from the queue, basically there was no way someone could of drawn it without being very creative.~
Wodan:
riding wodan straight after blue fire I was thinking I wonder if all of europas parks create this weightless, smooth feeling on their coasters, wodan was the complete opposite of bluefire in the best way possible. First things first the themeing for the queue was great, best I have been in with the themeing seeming to escalate in grandness. Once on the ride I was quite pleased with the padded seating and as the train went out on its first little pre-lift hill it gave a very distinctive feeling, as although it was only a small drop with a turn till the lift hill it gave a warning of "this isn't going to be a tame ride"as even with that miniture drop it gave it alot of pace. Once up the lift hill the wolves are a really nice touch (fire was on) you then turn and descend into true pandemonium as the train seems to be almost ripping the track aparts as it rapidly races round as if our lives depended on getting away from where we were regardless of how we may feel about the rentless pace the ride is producing during the its frenzy to get away. It was an incredible coaster, once it was all finished I was speechless as I was trying to put my head back together to work out what had just happened.

I think going in with little to no anticipation of what the ride would ride like really increased my enjoyment of the ride. On the second day it had been raining steadly from the late afternoon into the evening, the rain seemed to add even more to the ride which it almost didn't seem possible as now the train moved even quicker it would seem and you had the added trouble of being able to see where the train was going due to not being able to fully open your eyes, this was probably the best experience I have ever had on a coaster and wodan now might just be my new favourite coaster although it is very tight at the top between wodan and nemesis, but in my current frame of mind wodan edges it.

Hope you guys have enjoyed reading these, I may right a little about a few other bits and bobs of the part but this is the bulk of it, for all those not sure if it is worth the trip, it really is and pictures don't capture the partks joyful atmosphire.

 

[GeorgeT]

Wow...now that`s a lot of praise for Europa`s coasters ! Nice to hear you love the park, too

And yes...some rides on Wodan are just ridiculously intense...my favourite coaster at Europa...with Blue Fire as a close second

 

[Marcus]

They are truly a lovely set of coasters, I think not going especting anything on most the coasters really helped as it was all very new and I did try to keep myself from looking at the rides too much before (unlike when I first went on swarm and 13). I will right a final part as an overall conclusion soon just about where we stayed, how we got there, the park in general and shows etc, hope you've enjoyed the read.

Wodan is great, I really need to ride more woodies now, which European ones would you recommend, planning a trip to Efteling and phantasialand in May so hopefully will get a few new coasters under my belt.

 

[Burbs]

Wodan is great, I really need to ride more woodies now, which European ones would you recommend

Despite not having been myself, I hear Troy at Toverland is outstanding, and some TS members who rode it last year consider it to be either on par or better than Wodan.

 

[Marcus]

Troy does look fantastic thank you for the recommendation.

May sound stupid but do woodies ride as differently to each other depending on manufacturer as steel coasters do?

I looked at toverland as an option, as I really want to goto phantasialand and as a second park in the area (so between the walibi parks, efteling and toverland Efteling seemed the best option).

 

[Mattmash]

I'd say they do ride differently depending on manufacturer, but Troy is a GCI the same as Wodan, just a little bit older. I've been to Toverland a few times and have to admit Troy has been progressively worse each time. On my last visit in Summer 2014 it was really quite rattly, although sure I read somewhere it had had some work done to it, so hopefully it's back to it's glorious best, as it is certainly comparable to Wodan when running well!

If you were to do Efteling and Phantasia it would be almost criminal not to do Toverland (assuming you're driving), as you pass really close to it anyway! It's not a massive park and can easily be done in a few hours if time is short!

 

[Cheese]

Definitely try and get to Toverland if you can. Troy is having at least some much needed retracking done at the moment, and was excellent on my visit last year anyway despite some vibration in places taking the shine off reriding it. Dwervelwind, the Mack spinning coaster is a delight too, and is interesting to compare with the Mack Mega Coaster ride system used for Blue Fire.

Joris en de Draak at Efteling is another (duelling) GCI. It's pleasant but much less fierce than Wodan and Troy, with lots of small, 'hoppy' direction changes that many GCI coasters appear to have.

Other highly regarded wooden coasters in Europe include Balder at Liseberg (an Intamin prefabricated woodie; slightly dull in the corners but great fun in a straight line!), Tonnere de Zeus at Parc Asterix (CCI and very variable from year to year apparently, so I was let down in 2014 unfortunately), Twister at Grona Lund (a small example of a rare for Europe Gravity Group woodie; one I'm yet to try), and our very own Megafobia by CCI at Oakwood, which is decent by day and can be phenomenal into the evening on a 10PM close day in August.

Plopsaland de Panne have a GCI opening this year which I believe is set to be a clone of White Lightning at Fun Spot in Florida. It looks like it could be a future addition to this shortlist.

CCI's Stampida at PortAventura is not an inherently great ride, but it may well become a pretty enjoyable one IF it gets fully retracked and preferably gains GCI trains instead of its present crummy Kumbak rolling stock. Right now it's one part of the problem with that park's questionable coaster lineup, but visiting over Christmas there were things to like about it even with only the first half or so redone. More work is taking place now, so it's one to watch.

RCCA (Roller Coaster Corporation of America) coasters should be avoided unless you really want to contrast woodies done well with woodies done terribly. Coaster Express at Parque Warner runs promising-looking Intamin prefab trains like Balder's, but delivers a hilariously dull and uncomfortable ride with no airtime to speak of. Bandit at Movie Park Germany rides similarly but is slightly less awful, with a hill or two at the back that can at least give a little bit of airtime. Both will happily try to shake you up like a racing driver's bottle of champagne.

 

[Danny]

Toverland is worth the visit for Blitz Bahn alone.

It's not a physically demanding park and a full day can be spent there when taken at a leisurely pace. Not to mention it's actually rather well presented, beautifully quirky and Troy is easily one hell of an outstanding ride. It's also not a million miles away from Efteling, so you can easily pair the duo up for a jaunt to the Netherlands.

 

[GeorgeT]

Some people still think that Colossos at Heide Park is Europe`s best woodie. At least it should be mentioned here

 

[Marcus]

Final part about a few last details of the trip. We flew from Stansted to Strasbourg (which I hear this route to europa is going which is a shame). We stayed in Strasbourg for three nights at the Ibis opposite the train station, arriving at night. We rented a car from the airport to get to and from the park (which was alot cheaper than when ever I have looked at renting a car near any other theme park for trips or even from the same airport since) , spending two days at the park and the final third day around the city.

The weather started well on the first day but seemed to change to wet midway through the second day, we had done most the water rides whilst it was hot and the only one left to do in the rain was the log flume which we didn't mind in the rain getting wet anyway.

We saw the parade due to being in the queue for a at the time broken down euro-mir on the right side of the queue to see the parade which had a great atmosphere about it. We also went to see the Ice show which we had planned to watch anyway but it worked out very well as the rain started to get very heavy at that point in time. We don't normally go see shows but had heard about how good the Europa shows were. The show was brilliant, perticularly the two gymnasts, I would really like to do more shows when whenever we get back out there.

The third day was spent in strasbourg enjoying the city, going on a boat tour which was really good (it had headsets with an english dub, performed by a irish man which gave some great infomation on the cities history) and went inside the cathedral which is beautiful and appsolutely massive (in coaster perspective its taller than Kingda Ka ).

A final story of the trip would be my mums driving. Wow.... It was not the best to say the least bless her, in hindsight we should of paid the extra for myself or my older brother to do the driving (my older brother was 24 and I was/ still am 21) but it seemed to add alot to the price of renting a car. Another problem being my mum now very used to driving an automatic having not driven a manual for about 15 years, but the same factor came up again as an automatic really ramped up the cost so we (myself and my brother) felt she would be alright with a manual as the wouldn't be that far with mainly motorways.

To say driving on the rightside of the road sitting on the left threw her off would be an understatement as she would drift off to the right side of the road until my brother would have to give her a warning that we were about to mount the curb. When looking for somewhere to park near the hotel was probably the worst as it was dark at this point, we nearly went down the wrong way down one ways, onto the tramline, into bus lanes it wasn't fun but we did finally park up.

Probably the strangest driving experience however came when returning from europa park the first day, as we were leaving europa park driving past the resort hotels mum decided (for no known reason as were following the sat nav which was telling us to go straight) we would turn left instead. This took us threw the town of Rust and as the sat nav recalculated it then appeared with an alarming sign showing where the icon for the next turning, it showed, a boat... Both my brother and I once realising this felt we needed to pull over to turn round however our mum was worked up about it and was scared to stop so we continued straight until the boat revealed its self...

We were bricking it at this point especially as we could see another boat just dissapearing off up the Rhine. We knew all we needed to do was cross the river but we had no idea where this boat was going. There was a queue of traffic behind us so there was no turning back we drove on and waiting in deadly silence. As it set off we were praying "please just go straight, please please!" Luck was on our side as it did!! When we drove off and excluding a few minor driving mishaps we got back to strasbourg alright!

Hope you lot have enjoyed the read, if anyone can let me know how I would really love to unload a few photo's.