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First major trip abroad to a theme park?

JAMMY_Jaunts

JAMMY_Jaunts

TS Member
EDIT: I'm a noob. Can a moderator please move this to Other Parks & Attractions Trip Planning. Many Thanks

Hey everyone.

So far in my life I have only ever been abroad twice, both times on school trips and as such have not really had much of a travelling experience (although the trip to CERN was mega cool). I have recently decided that I want to take a mini-holiday (2,3 or 4 days) with some friends abroad with the main objective being to visit a theme park. However, I just simply cannot choose where or which park. There are many parks throughout Europe that are constantly rated very highly and I want to visit one of these that will offer best value for money as well as a great experience. Can any of you help me choose by giving some of the pros and cons of various European parks.

My thoughts so far have been of Liseberg (it seems like a great park with a good balance of thrill rides and gentle rides and high rated coasters), Europa Park (a lot of praise is given to the place), Phantasialand & Heide Park.

Many Thanks
 
Avoid Europa Park until you have visited several other European parks.

I find once you visit Europa Park, its difficult to justify visiting other parks if you can only visit one a year.

Ian
 
I have only been to Europa park but I loved it! Its amazing compared to the UK parks. Really well themed and the rides are great. Loved the whole experience. The hotels are expensive but amazing and I found the rooms at Bell rock a good size. There were three adults in our and there was plenty of space.


As for actual tips for arranging a holiday. Plenty of research, spreadsheets for costing up the different places and the different ways to getting to where you want to go.
If you are arranging with friends, make sure you get money off them before paying any deposits or anything like that. I know they might be friends but people have a nasty habbit of saying that they will do something then at the last second drop out, leaving you out of pocket.
Its not nice to say don't trust your friends but really when it comes to money and expensive things like holidays that can't be unbooked then you need to be careful.
 
I've visited all but Heide (which is owned by Merlin anyway so probably not the best place to get the true European experience).

Liseberg was my first (bar Disney) and it's a great park to start with. Only an hours flight from Stansted and most people in Sweden speak English. The park is well presented but not themed so if you are choosing Liseberg it'll be for the rides (which are highly rated).

Phantasialand is a rather odd park, there are a few stand out rides but also a few that don't necessarily work but that depends on what interests you. I can link you to my review but it is a long read. Size wise it's similar to Thorpe so only a park you'd spend a few days at like Liseberg.

Now Europa Park Is massive, I've visited 3 times now and despite spending the last 3 days there still feel like there's stuff I've missed. I would echo IanB that once you've visited Europa the standard is set quite high for when you do visit any other parks. Also If you want the true Europa experience I recommend splashing out and staying at the resort, value for money wise I feel it's worth it (never once felt ripped off) but it's not going to be cheap. The park is also the hardest to get to so not only do you need 3 days at the park you'll probably take a day to get there and back. Until last week I'd only ever visited as part of a bigger trip into Germany.

I hope that helps :)
 
Of the parks you mention, I've been to Phannyland and EP, with Liseberg coming up in two months. :)

While I can see where Ian is coming from with his advice, I would have to disagree, though for basically the same reason (that EP is the best park in the world). I think you'd be missing out by putting it off. Although it has been unquestionably my favourite park since the first day I stepped foot in it, it hasn't lessened my ability to enjoy other European parks.

I'd say it's more that a first visit to EP is the start of a lifelong love affair. And you'll want to keep going back again and again, but you can balance that with exploring new parks. But always with that bedrock of quality that regular trips to EP offers. If you're taking friends who aren't theme park geeks, then I really think that they'd get more out of EP than the others you mention. There is more of a range of different rides suitable for different people, plus the shows.

Phantasialand is an absolutely superb park, but you mentioned that you wanted to go for two to four days. At Phantasia, you run the risk of being bored by the end of the second day. I haven't been obviously, but I imagine the other two parks are no more than two day parks. :)
 
If you're looking for a mini-holiday then I can only echo what Sam has said above. EP is without doubt the best park for an actual holiday. It offers you everything bundled up into one neat package, and you can easily do a few days there and still have reason to return.

If you have a driver with your group it also positions you well for a day trip to Holiday Park for the incredible EGF. Personally I'd say the 1:15 or so drive is worth it for that alone :p There's also the Hassenhorn Rodelbahn in the other direction if you're looking for something a bit different in terms of thrill.

Whilst Phantasialand is my favorite park and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone I would perhaps say hold off on it for your first trip if you're looking for an actual holiday and not just a park visit (Unless you plan to tie it in with Europa). It is a beautiful park with some of the best example of rides in their class, but it doesn't really have that complete resort feeling that Europa has, and like Sam says two days is enough if you want to be able to do absolutely everything (shows and all) without rushing around. Any more, especially on your first trip where you may conclude you don't like the place, would be overkill.

4 days at EP with a possible day off for Holiday Park should be a good starter trip for you. Enough time for you to do the majority of attractions and enjoy some relaxing leisure time, without having to rush to get around everything. At an absolute minimum I'd say you want 2 days at Europa, but from my personal experience 3 would probably be better for your first trip.
 
If you want the best in Europe then it's got to be EP. It is a brilliant park and can keep you busy for days.

However if you want a more relaxing holiday in the sun I would recommend PortAventura. I spent four or five days there last year and it was really nice. You have a couple of top class coasters, a beautifully themed park and the lovely Spanish weather. We had a great time both on park and just relaxing around the hotel pools. It can also be done quite cheaply. It's no Europa Park but it is worth considering.

:)
 
If you could possibly push it to five days and someone in your group can drive a hire car, then an option could emerge to do two days at EP, an hour's drive to Holiday Park for a day, then another two hours to Phantasia for two days there. Or three days at EP, and a day each at HoPa and Phantasia. Might be a bit too much theme parking though!
 
If you want to avoid EP for now, I'm going to be radical and and say try Asterix. As long as you can go when it's not too busy it's a great park. Except for the locals, who are second only to Thorpe.
 
Oooh no. I wouldn't take friends abroad to Parc Asterix unless I wanted to lose them.
 
Asterix? No.

Gardaland and Parque Warner are also good but only really 1 to 1 1/2 day parks.

For a proper break, go to Europa. Strasbourg, Freiburg and the Black Forest are nearby too!
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone, the response was great. :D After much deliberation, we have decided to travel to Liseberg this year due to the addition of Helix and plan a full blown week long holiday at Europa Park for next year as I know most people here recommend a good length of time for the park.

We are hoping to travel to Liseberg from 12th - 15th August while spending the 13th and 14th at the park itself. We really hope the park is not too busy with it being Swedish school holidays however with Liseberg's track record of throughputs we are sure we'll be fine. I would've loved to come along to the TS meet at Liseberg for my first meet on the 15th, 16th and 17th of August however work on the Saturday will not allow it as unfortunately all of the holidays are booked up.

Once again, thanks for the great advice and hopefully Liseberg will not disappoint. Also, have a great time to anyone who will be at the park for the few days after myself and friends for the meet. I'm sure you'll have a great time. :)
 
JAMMYD778 said:
We really hope the park is not too busy with it being Swedish school holidays however with Liseberg's track record of throughputs we are sure we'll be fine.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard they don't have a great track record :neutral:

Still, 2 days at a smaller park like Liseberg should definitely be enough, even during the holidays. :)
 
Apparently they're great on everything except Helix, which is incredibly slow. I'm sure @DiogoJ42 can elaborate :p
 
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