• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Trip Planning: Information, advice and questions!

Sorry, this is such a boring question.

But I've noticed the bus timetable for the Ringsheim-Rust bus is "valid from 11th December 2022".

Does anyone know if a new timetable will come in before the season starts, or is this the timetable for the whole 2023 season?

We'd ideally like to get the 09:32 train back to Paris when we go in April, but the bus gets in at 09:27 which is obviously cutting it very fine.

@CSLKenny do you know?
 
Sam said:
Sorry, this is such a boring question.

But I've noticed the bus timetable for the Ringsheim-Rust bus is "valid from 11th December 2022".

Does anyone know if a new timetable will come in before the season starts, or is this the timetable for the whole 2023 season?

We'd ideally like to get the 09:32 train back to Paris when we go in April, but the bus gets in at 09:27 which is obviously cutting it very fine.

@CSLKenny do you know?
Click to expand...
They’re the exact same times as last summer’s timetable, so you’re fairly unlikely to see any further ones added I’m afraid!

F2212C3E-EDF7-415D-9784-7F6D1FA897C1.jpeg
 
Sam said:
We'd ideally like to get the 09:32 train back to Paris when we go in April, but the bus gets in at 09:27 which is obviously cutting it very fine.
Click to expand...
The bus times from my experience have always been too close for comfort for the train departures they’re trying to marry up with. A bit of traffic and you’d be screwed, assuming it even arrives on time in the first place. I’ve never been affected by them myself (although several close calls) but aware others have.
 
Couple of queries as I'm attempting to plan a trip! Me and my partner are looking at going 12th - 16th of June (Mon - Fri) - does anyone know what those dates will be like for crowds? I've checked on queue-times.com and it seems reasonable (52-41%), but does anyone know if there any events or national holidays I should be aware of?

Also feedback on whether that's an unreasonably long trip would be great - for added context, we haven't been to EP before and we're planning on spending a day at the waterpark.
 
What I normally do is check the school calendars for Germany, France, and Switzerland, to see if children will be in school. And from a quick search, it looks like summer break in those three countries starts at the very end of June or in July, so you should be fine. Doesn't seem like there are any special holidays during that week either.

For the length of trip, it's up to your preferences, but there is so much to do and see at EP that four days in the main park and one at the waterpark would not feel like way too many to me, especially if you haven't been before. One day during the offseason is enough to knock out all the main attractions, but part of the joy of EP is simply hanging out there. One of the best parts of my last trip was an hour or two we spent leisurely having beers at the Biergarten, which wasn't a problem since we had multiple days in the park and enough time to chill since we'd done all the rides we wanted to.
 
I went on similar dates on my first ever trip in 2019z (going back for second time this summer) and park and queues where perfectly manageable. Queues move quickly at Europa and so much to do and ride. Managed to do all the major rides multiple times over the 3 days plus loads of the smaller rides/attractions, plus time just soaking up the atmosphere and eating/drinking etc.
 
It’s definitely not too long - you could do longer and not get bored between experiencing the shows, stopping for drinks and generally exploring. Crowd-wise it’s about average at that time of year.
 
I’ve been several times and like to have 5 nights there these days, with 3 days in the main park and 1 in Rulantica, and a night either side. Mon-Fri is not overkill at all.
 
Can anyone advise on visiting and expected crowds during the first week on August? We are planning to visit with our 3 year old who is tall (102 cm) and loves thrills. Our timing (due to a work conference) means that our visit would fall during the first week of August, which I believe is peak season. We are annual pass holders for Disney World and are used to the crowds there. Would the crowds be similar? Would we expect multi hour waits? We could try to rearrange and go during the last week of July, but then we would have to go over a weekend. Given how far we are traveling, we want to make sure we aren’t signing up for a nightmare. Any advice is appreciated!! Thank you!
 
Europa-Park is one of the world's best operated parks. There won't be multi hour waits. Most rides, especially dark rides, will barely have much wait at all.

In early August, the park is typically medium busy with ride close usually extended to 7 or 8pm, and queues of up to 1 hour on the likes of Blue Fire, Wodan and Arthur. Poseidon and Fjord Rafting will also be long if it's especially hot so I recommend these before 11am.

You'll be absolutely fine!
 
Massive thank you to everyone who replied to me - really helpful to hear that five days isn't overkill! I love having a nice relaxing wander and my partner does too, so it really sounds like five days will suit us nicely. Exciting to hear that the queues are nice and short too.
 
ProfRita said:
Can anyone advise on visiting and expected crowds during the first week on August? We are planning to visit with our 3 year old who is tall (102 cm) and loves thrills. Our timing (due to a work conference) means that our visit would fall during the first week of August, which I believe is peak season. We are annual pass holders for Disney World and are used to the crowds there. Would the crowds be similar? Would we expect multi hour waits? We could try to rearrange and go during the last week of July, but then we would have to go over a weekend. Given how far we are traveling, we want to make sure we aren’t signing up for a nightmare. Any advice is appreciated!! Thank you!
Click to expand...

It should not be a nightmare, especially when compared to Disney Word. It will be a bit crowded, but it is always possible to enjoy the park in August. Maximum waiting time for the big coasters will be 40-70 min depending on weather and day of the week. The most important thing is to start very early: Aim to be at the entrance at 8.30h at the latest (I assume you do not sleep in a park hotel?), calculating enough time for parking and walking to the entrance. Then you can already enter the park and ride several attractions like Voletarium and Volo da Vinci. Then you can position yourself strategically when the rest of the park opens at 9h. The time until about 10.30h is very valuable to use for the coasters because until then waiting times are mostly moderate.

First week of August and last week of July is not very much different. School holidays in that region start on July, 27th. More important is the day of the week. Saturday is normally the fullest, not recommended. Friday and Sunday are often the best options during school holidays.
 
We have booked to go to Europa Park in August. It says the opening time is until at least 6pm. What time do they usually open til in the summer? I had always read about European parks opening late so I am surprised by 6pm!

Do they usually have a fireworks / night time show in the summer? I’ve tried looking online but it’s not clear. Thank you.
 
They’ll extend depending upon how busy the park is. Busy days in the summer have traditionally seen closes extend until 9 or 9:30pm. Covid has cut some of those later closures down to 7 or 8pm. You can anticipate opening on busier days until at least 7pm still and possibly longer depending upon how well the park’s staffing issues have been resolved.

I’d recommend keeping track of the opening times in the weeks before your visit to get a better idea. You can do that by logging onto the Europa website or app after around 2pm to see that days closing time.

As for a nighttime show, there isn’t one in the traditional sense within the park. There is however a summer show at Hotel Colosseo around 9pm. It usually involves some acrobats, projection mapping on the colosseum and sometimes fountains, fire or some very limited fireworks.
 
Last edited:
LF22 said:
We have booked to go to Europa Park in August. It says the opening time is until at least 6pm. What time do they usually open til in the summer? I had always read about European parks opening late so I am surprised by 6pm!

Do they usually have a fireworks / night time show in the summer? I’ve tried looking online but it’s not clear. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Europa-Park cannot open late due to the village.

Instead they open early. You can get on rides at 8.30am.

 
I’m preparing for our trip to Europa on June 5th - self, wife and two boys 7/9. We’re thrill seekers and are very excited to break up our castle and cathedral trip with some awesome rides at Europa. My smallest is tall enough to ride everything except Blue Fire and Silver Star, but my oldest and I will definitely be on those. We’re staying two nights at Andaluz, with evening at Rulantica and one day at Europa.

We would like to hit all the major coasters at least once, and will be taking advantage of early entry, staying late and the virtual line. I’m hoping that a Monday in early June will enjoy low crowds, and we can have a few runs on some of the better rides.

Is there a preferred strategy for this park, or is it best to hop around based on wait times? Having just been to Disney World in November, I’m used to planing everything out based on strategy, but it seems like Europa doesn’t require all that. Obviously we’ll be doing Blue Fire and Wodan at early entry.

Thanks all!
 
I wouldn't say you need too much of a strategy at Europa-Park. Like you say, crowds should be fairly low when you're there but with only having one day on park you may need to be careful not to get too distracted by some of the many smaller rides that you would just do if you were there for say three days.

Obviously if you are going in for ERT then it's a good idea to start with Blue Fire, and maybe get Alpenexpress done then also. And you can then do Wodan once it opens at 9am. But do go back to Wodan later in the day when it has warmed up!

Something like Voletarium is best done in the middle of the day, it gets longest queues at the start and end of the day with it being by the park entrance. Queue for other rides will probably be fairly stable throughout most of the day, it is rare you see a 40 minute queue at say 12pm and then it's down to 10 minutes at 2pm. Things will ease off towards the end of the day though, especially on the less popular rides.

Be sure not to miss Pirates, it is an excellent dark ride and shouldn't have that long of a queue.

I hope that helps, and have a brilliant trip!
 
Unfortunately there are school holidays in southern Germany at this time, where traditionally it is very crowded in the park, so you chose a bad time. One week later would be much better, if you can still move it around. Otherwise expect a rather full park similar to summer holidays with waiting times of even more than 1 hour for the big coasters, depending on weather.

Try to use VL in the app to circumvent this as much as possible. And yes, under this circumstances I recommend strategy: first Blue fire at 8.30h, then Wodan, Matterhornblitz and/or Arthur, since both will have longer waiting times later. If it is warm day, do the water rides next: Poseidon, Fjord Rafting, Atlantica, Tiroler (they will start filling up after 10.30h). After that Voletarium, Silver Star and Cancan Coaster. And stay until the end and be at you favorite last ride 5 min before closing time (Wodan?).

Looking at waiting times in the app is good, but beware of too much running around from one end of the park to the other, that can be exhausting. If during the day all the big rides have very long waiting times, start strolling around and taking in the beautiful park, and you will see smaller rides with shorter waiting times that wait to be discovered. This way you will probably have a great day despite the crowds. And you could try single rider for Arther and Can-Can Coaster which is often a much shorter wait.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top