Slackjawedyokel
TS Member
Hi, this is a first post so will probably be a bit long. Will put a TLDR section at the bottom.
First, a bit off background. I've always lived in the far top right corner of England and theme parks didn't figure large in our childhood days. a couple of trips to Lightwater Valley on the bus (Soopa Loop and The Rat!), and outings to Mirapolis and Parc Asterix on the French Exchange but that was about it.
A few decades(!) later and, following my 'sensible' university/hardworking/child rearing years, I've had a re-awakening of my love for theme parks. I'm now husband to a wonderful wife and dad to two fantastic kids (10 and 13yo now) and, wouldn't you know it, my kids have realised that they are also rollercoaster aficionados.
Living where we do, pretty much any theme park is a bit of an expedition. Flamingoland is possible as a day trip, but only with about 6hrs driving for the round trip. for this reason (and the same issues often quoted with UK theme parks) I've been focusing more on European theme parks.
In the past couple of years, I've taken my family to:
Plopsaland (The RTH - just wow. Currently my favourite and it was so quiet we could sit-on for multiple rides).
Flamingoland (Not the best day out. Weather didn't help but Sik was down all day and my kids aren't tall enough for Velocity. Kumali was good, but the whole place had a bit of a tired, unloved feel and looked like it could do with a good spruce-up).
The Efteling for 3 nights. (Fantastical. We're still humming the ride theme tunes. Dance Macabre and Baron were the stand-outs for us).
Alton Towers. (An enjoyable weekend at the end of last season, but very expensive and ride-ops weren't always what they should've been. My 10yo was single-ridering The Smiler by the end to get more rides in
)
Unfortunately my wife does not share my and our kids' enthusiasm for theme park rides. Past inner-ear and neck issues mean she's very risk-averse about such things. Max and Moritz and Dance Macabre at Efteling were her limit. Conversely, our kids seem to think that anything less than the most extreme rides are 'for little kids'; I have to pretty much drag them onto things like the Runaway Mine Train at AT.
Later this year I have a significant birthday and I've decided to celebrate by taking my family to EP. It will be during October, so Traumatica will also be an option. Flights run Fridays and Mondays- I don't think 3 days will be long enough so we're going for a full week- 6 days on site. As it's a treat, we're pushing the boat out and booking onsite hotels.
I've already booked the bare bones of the holiday. Flights. Hotel Kronasar 3 nights. Hotel Bell Rock 4 nights. 2 days in Rulantica. 3 days at EP. Dinner at Eatrenalin (particularly looking forward to that!). I'm thinking that my very understanding wife will spend some time in the various hotel spas and pools while the kids and I indulge our coaster passions. Will maybe also have time for a day out somewhere to get a bit of local culture; Freiburg perhaps.
TLDR: What I haven't yet sorted out is transport to/from Basel airport. Our flights in/out are at sensible, middle of the day times so public transport is possible but it appears to take at least 4 stages (bus to Basel SBB, Train, Train, Bus/taxi to hotel). Will be travelling as light as possible but that still means probably 4 large cabin bags to negotiate, so the logistics might not be too much fun with kids in tow.
Taxis seem to cost from around 250Euro/trip booked in advance. Just wondering - is that likely to be much less if we just rock up and take our chances?
Car rental would also be an option, and the headline figures seem quite cheap but maybe the price you end up paying isn't so attractive with hidden fees, insurance etc? I'm also wondering whether its an easy process to hire a car in France/ Switzerland and drive it into Germany.
What would be the best option for us? I'm not averse to throwing a bit of money at a problem to make it go away, but the jaunt is already quite expensive so if money could be better spent elsewhere then I'd rather do that.
Thanks.
First, a bit off background. I've always lived in the far top right corner of England and theme parks didn't figure large in our childhood days. a couple of trips to Lightwater Valley on the bus (Soopa Loop and The Rat!), and outings to Mirapolis and Parc Asterix on the French Exchange but that was about it.
A few decades(!) later and, following my 'sensible' university/hardworking/child rearing years, I've had a re-awakening of my love for theme parks. I'm now husband to a wonderful wife and dad to two fantastic kids (10 and 13yo now) and, wouldn't you know it, my kids have realised that they are also rollercoaster aficionados.
Living where we do, pretty much any theme park is a bit of an expedition. Flamingoland is possible as a day trip, but only with about 6hrs driving for the round trip. for this reason (and the same issues often quoted with UK theme parks) I've been focusing more on European theme parks.
In the past couple of years, I've taken my family to:
Plopsaland (The RTH - just wow. Currently my favourite and it was so quiet we could sit-on for multiple rides).
Flamingoland (Not the best day out. Weather didn't help but Sik was down all day and my kids aren't tall enough for Velocity. Kumali was good, but the whole place had a bit of a tired, unloved feel and looked like it could do with a good spruce-up).
The Efteling for 3 nights. (Fantastical. We're still humming the ride theme tunes. Dance Macabre and Baron were the stand-outs for us).
Alton Towers. (An enjoyable weekend at the end of last season, but very expensive and ride-ops weren't always what they should've been. My 10yo was single-ridering The Smiler by the end to get more rides in
)Unfortunately my wife does not share my and our kids' enthusiasm for theme park rides. Past inner-ear and neck issues mean she's very risk-averse about such things. Max and Moritz and Dance Macabre at Efteling were her limit. Conversely, our kids seem to think that anything less than the most extreme rides are 'for little kids'; I have to pretty much drag them onto things like the Runaway Mine Train at AT.
Later this year I have a significant birthday and I've decided to celebrate by taking my family to EP. It will be during October, so Traumatica will also be an option. Flights run Fridays and Mondays- I don't think 3 days will be long enough so we're going for a full week- 6 days on site. As it's a treat, we're pushing the boat out and booking onsite hotels.
I've already booked the bare bones of the holiday. Flights. Hotel Kronasar 3 nights. Hotel Bell Rock 4 nights. 2 days in Rulantica. 3 days at EP. Dinner at Eatrenalin (particularly looking forward to that!). I'm thinking that my very understanding wife will spend some time in the various hotel spas and pools while the kids and I indulge our coaster passions. Will maybe also have time for a day out somewhere to get a bit of local culture; Freiburg perhaps.
TLDR: What I haven't yet sorted out is transport to/from Basel airport. Our flights in/out are at sensible, middle of the day times so public transport is possible but it appears to take at least 4 stages (bus to Basel SBB, Train, Train, Bus/taxi to hotel). Will be travelling as light as possible but that still means probably 4 large cabin bags to negotiate, so the logistics might not be too much fun with kids in tow.
Taxis seem to cost from around 250Euro/trip booked in advance. Just wondering - is that likely to be much less if we just rock up and take our chances?
Car rental would also be an option, and the headline figures seem quite cheap but maybe the price you end up paying isn't so attractive with hidden fees, insurance etc? I'm also wondering whether its an easy process to hire a car in France/ Switzerland and drive it into Germany.
What would be the best option for us? I'm not averse to throwing a bit of money at a problem to make it go away, but the jaunt is already quite expensive so if money could be better spent elsewhere then I'd rather do that.
Thanks.
