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Europa Park May/June 24

IanB

IanB

TS Member
We are visiting Europa Park over May half term (27th -31st May). What was supposed to be a quick flying visit has turned in to something a little bigger due to Voltron not opening at the start of the season. We are now stopping in the camp resort for the first part and leave on Friday 24th May, and don't get home until Sunday 2nd June.

Inspired by @Poisson post a few years ago, and his and @Leigh recent trip to Hasenhorn, we are planning to visit Steinwasen Park one day during the week. Would you both agree that it is best to do this little adventure when the weather is best? Is there anywhere nice to go for food? Is there anything I need to consider when driving here? We currently plan to do this on 27th, but could switch days if the weather does not look great.

We have Rulantica booked for the 29th, and then we have Hotel Castillo booked for Friday night, so we can pack the tent away, and just have a relaxing day at the hotels. (With myself and Annabelle having resort passes, we might sneak on park for the morning before going for a swim in the afternoon).

We are checking out of the hotel on Saturday morning, and are planning to visit another park. This is where we are after some advice, as I am not sure which park to visit. Our Eurotunnel ticket on the way home is booked for 18:36 on Sunday, so it is possible we could drive to a park on Saturday and stop over near by, and then spend the day in park before driving home on Sunday, or we drive to a nearby park Saturday morning, and then spend Sunday driving home. We have considered the following parks:
  1. Tripsdrill
  2. Holiday Park
  3. Phantasialand
  4. Plopsland
  5. Parc Astérix
  6. Walygator

I think my preference is Tripsdrill or Plopsland, as they look the best family parks, but as I have never been to any of the parks on the list, I thought I would ask as there could also be something I have missed or overlooked. Any hotels nearby that people could recommend would also be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I know most people are avoiding half term to keep the costs down, but if anyone is at Europa Park during this week, it would be great to catch up one afternoon, or in the evening at one of the bars.
 
Given your itinerary I'd be inclined to suggest something a little closer to Europa-Park than the Eurotunnel - Plopsa and Parc Asterix would be viable options for the Sunday - with Saturday becoming your driving day - but given your Eurotunnel crossing is booked for 18.30 that would probably mean leaving either park before ride close which would be a shame - especially at Asterix which can get very busy at weekends.

I'd be inclined to suggest Tripsdrill as it's only a couple of hours from Europa-Park and you could have a full day there on Saturday. It's a pretty weird place, but is very charming and has a good selection of coasters most of which are suitable for children over 1.2m, and lots of other quirky support rides - the soup pots track ride was a suprising highlight. There is also an animal park which I think is included with your ticket and can be accessed via a land train although we didn't have time to do both in the end.

Obviously Phantasialand is a top-tier park but personally I think it warrants more than a stopover on the way back from another park. It's a long drive from EP so realistically you wouldn't be arriving there until lunchtime on Saturday and then you'd probably need to be on park on the Sunday as well to have time to fit everything in. It's also not as suitable for a family trip as the best rides in the park (FLY, Taron, Black Mamba) are only accessible when you hit 1.3m (in fact Black Mamba is 1.4m), which might mean having to split up the family group a bit more.

Holiday Park is fine, but other than Expedition GeForce there are no real draws, and I'd personally be waiting until they get their Mack Extreme Spinner in 2026.

I haven't heard great things about Walygator, in fact we drove straight past it on our trip last May, so I'd bin that one off until you want to do a 'Misery Trip' style mop-up tour when you have already done all the decent parks.
 
Plopsaland is also a bit of a one-ride park as well - outside of RTH (which is admittedly great) there’s not a lot else there beyond an OK Gerst Euro-Fighter and a pretty poor GCI woodie. RTH is also infuriating as they can and do operate it on 1 train even on peak days for “cost-saving reasons”…

I would be inclined to suggest Bellewaerde, actually - it’s not far from Calais and offers an objectively far more pleasant atmosphere than Plopsa does. Ride hardware isn’t quite as thrilling but it’s just a really nice place to be, and you have Ypres just down the road which is a place you definitely want to visit. Also the topple tower is a very novel experience! 😂
 
Leigh said:
I would be inclined to suggest Bellewaerde, actually - it’s not far from Calais and offers an objectively far more pleasant atmosphere than Plopsa does. Ride hardware isn’t quite as thrilling but it’s just a really nice place to be, and you have Ypres just down the road which is a place you definitely want to visit. Also the topple tower is a very novel experience! 😂
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And you've got that strange rapids ride/water slide/drop ride thing opening this year too!
 
Hi. I did Holiday Park, Tripsdrill and EuropaPark last year with a stop off in Todtnau to ride the Hasenhorn Coaster. Don't know if my trip report is of any help?

Germany Trip September 2023

During September 2023 we undertook a week long trip to Germany visiting three parks and trying to squeeze in a few beers along the way. Inspiration for the trip was based around a similar one taken by @pluk way back in 2016. 09/09/2023 Travel day. We flew into Karlsruhe / Baden Baden (FKB)...
towersstreet.com towersstreet.com
 
I’d take Tripsdrill over any of the other parks you mentioned. It’s in a beautiful setting and is really charming, unique and rather idiosyncratic. The (relatively) new invert is a brilliant ride and I also really rate Karacho.
 
In terms of food at Steinwasen, it was a bit so-so to be honest. We went for the currywurst from the cafe thing and it was more like tomatowurst, although plenty edible.

The Hassenhorn operates in most weather, but if it is very bad rain (like the morning we went) they restrict it to single riders over 1.5m I think? You’ll get a good run in the rain but not a comfortable one! There’s also a hot dog grill thing just opposite the chair lift entrance that looked decent, although it wasn’t open in the morning we were there, plus some other options like pizza in the town itself although I can’t speak to how good they are. Worst case if you’re desperate there’s a PENNY supermarket on the other side of the main road for snacks and drinks.
 
I'd recommend pick a decent looking weather day, doorstep the Hasenhorn for opening (10am I believe) and then head to Steinwasen. It's a half day with both combined, we did Hasenhorn, Steinwasen, Gutach, Funny-World and had 2 hours in EP on the same day.

IanB said:
We have considered the following parks:
  1. Tripsdrill - Doable on the Saturday with an early start but has no capacity so would avoid in holidays
  2. Holiday Park - Half day park, would be my Saturday recommendation as it is right direction. Park is meh, EGF is amazing.
  3. Phantasialand - You need at least a full day, I'd recommend 1.5 days. Wouldn't recommend for this idea.
  4. Plopsaland - Good idea for Sunday, parking is extortionate as a warning. Ops crap, same with Holiday Park
  5. Parc Astérix - Haven't visited
  6. Walygator - Haven't visited.
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As @Leigh said, Bellewaerde is a lovely little park if you fancied smashing all the driving out Saturday and do half a day. Menin Gate service is moving and well worth witnessing.
 
Trick with the parking at Plopsa is to park in the station P+R car park next door and either get the tram 1 stop or just walk the 200m or so to the entrance. The coast tram is also a pretty fun attraction in its own right.
 
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