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Trip Planning 2023/24: Information, advice and questions!

I'd imagine it's likely to be Saturday March 18th although I doubt it has been confirmed yet.

:)
 
Am I right in thinking that the "feel good weeks" only run during the closed season?

If so, the feel good weeks run up until 31st March, suggesting that the park will open on 1st April? Later than usual but could be for the new attraction perhaps?
 
I hadn't seen or heard about them but it looks like you could be right. Easter is later again next year so it could well be that the park opens on Saturday 1st April.

:)
 
The park normally opens a week before easter weekend. So it might even be the 8th. Can't tell the date yet, but yes the "feel good weeks" are only during closed season.
 
Looking to go to Europa in about a month, and it seems a shame to only hit that park after going all that way as I can stay out in Germany for about a week.
Wish I could stay a little longer and get up to Phantasialand and Movie park too, but think those will have to wait until a another time with a more Northerly stay.

Has anyone done Holiday Park and Tripsdrill in the same trip as Europa before, and if so did you do it using public transport? It all looks a bit of a mess to me trying to get between them all and the airport on buses and trains, but it also seems a shame to hire a car just to have it sitting in themepark carparks nearly all the time! It's looking like about £200 for a car for the week, that's probably going to be comparable to all the train and bus tickets (for two) anyway I would guess, so the car might be the better option?

Any experience or advice on trying this appreciated!
 
Funnily enough, that's exactly what I'm doing tomorrow.
Flying into Basel, hiring a car and spending the week at Collosseo hotel, Europa.
We intend to do Holidaypark and Tripsdrill as day visits.

That's no help to you at all, I just thought I'd mention it !
 
My funds don't stretch to a whole week at an on site Europa hotel!
Have a great time! Would love to hear how you got on when you get back.
 
Bit of a tip for anyone flying into Basel and hiring a car, there is a new EU regulation which makes it illegal for an EU resident to drive a hire car which is not registered in the EU within the EU itself. This sounds crazy but is is true (a quick Google search will give you more details).

Some car hire companies are not even aware of the regulation and others are either refusing people collection or charging for alternate cars. I also understand some companies are a lot more on top of this than others. Our original rental was with Enterprise who knew absolutely nothing thing about it whereas Avis were fully clued in.

To avoid any problems my tip would be to hire from the French side of Basel airport rather than the Swiss side. If you're then driving to EP you'll never actually enter Switzerland and won't have a problem.

Hopefully this will help anyone avoid any problems in advance as this is really not a well publicised issue.
 
Dar said:
Except if we leave the EU you won't be able to hire a car here and take it on holiday ;)
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That's the craziest part of the new ruling. It's only illegal to drive a hire car registered outside of the EU within the EU itself if you're an EU resident. If you're not an EU resident it's completely fine. So actually if we leAve the EU we'd be completely fine.

Didn't really mean to start a massive Brexit debate though, just wanted to make sure all you EP fans don't lose any valuable park time faffing with hire cars.
 
venny said:
Bit of a tip for anyone flying into Basel and hiring a car, there is a new EU regulation which makes it illegal for an EU resident to drive a hire car which is not registered in the EU within the EU itself. .
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We hired from Hertz on the Swiss side of the airport last week and told them we would be mainly driving in Germany and it didn't appear to be a problem. We also ended up deep in France after heading back from Holiday Park (you're truly lost when you end up in the wrong country!!).

pluk said:
My funds don't stretch to a whole week at an on site Europa hotel!
Have a great time! Would love to hear how you got on when you get back.
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Had a great time, Hotel Colosseo is a excellent place to stay, even the Mack family agree, they always seem to be there !
The park itself really does put anything in the UK to shame, Wodan is an fantastic woody and the rides run like clockwork.

However, and possibly slightly controversially , I'll take Portaventura over Europapark any day of the week. My two grown up sons I went with strongly disagree but that's my honest opinion.

Also if you're in the area, have a car and need to get away from the park for a while then head to Sinsheim Museum, the most amazing museum I have ever visited.
http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/
 
Mark-Cal said:
We hired from Hertz on the Swiss side of the airport last week and told them we would be mainly driving in Germany and it didn't appear to be a problem. We also ended up deep in France after heading back from Holiday Park (you're truly lost when you end up in the wrong country!!).
Click to expand...

Like I say some companies aren't even aware of the issue or do have legal cars. If you're in the wrong car though (even if the hire company know) I understand you're liable for fines stretching to €1,000s if you get across the border at all.
 
Burbs said:
How come? :p
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I honestly can't put my finger on it.

I've stayed in both, for a week in an on site hotel and both were my first visits but for some reason I'd had enough of EuropaPark before the week was out, but I could have stayed at Porta longer !

I think one of the plus points for Porta is the quickpass tickets that hotel guests can buy, fantastic value and it means if you have an urge to ride Shambhalla whilst lying round the hotel pool you can be there and back before your towel on the sun lounger has dried.
Although the queues move quickly in Europa it can still be 25-35 minutes in the day for Silver Star/Blue Fire so it made me want to ride less.

Also Porta stays open really late during the summer, riding Shammy at midnight really is awesome, but at Europa while we were there the rides closed at 1830 meaning there's much less to do in the evenings.

Of course it could just be that I turned 50 this year and maybe theme parks aren't as appealing to me anymore but I hope not !!
 
Less to do in the evenings...‽ You clearly didn't try the 5ltr pilsner keg at Silver Lake Saloon. ;)

Seriously though, EP has some of the most amazing bars I've ever been to, most of which are open 'til the early hours. When I went to PA, they had a single tiny cafe that closed at 22:00.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Less to do in the evenings...‽ You clearly didn't try the 5ltr pilsner keg at Silver Lake Saloon. ;)

Seriously though, EP has some of the most amazing bars I've ever been to, most of which are open 'til the early hours. When I went to PA, they had a single tiny cafe that closed at 22:00.
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That's true, there are some excellent bars. I think we tried most of them but ended up heading to the open air balcony at the castle most nights at opening time. The famous Europa Park theming is as evident in the hotels as it is in the park, but I loved the fact that some nights at Porta the whole place stayed open until midnight.

Nightly firework shows, water and light shows and the nightly parade. "Dent mees it!" as the announcer always said !
Don't get me wrong Europa Park is great and highly recommended, but for me Portaventura has the whole package, but of course that's purely my opinion.
 
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