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Trip Planning: Information, advice and questions!

I love night time at the Europa Park bars, such a great atmosphere in each and every one. For me, europa has quickly become my holiday destination of choice. Not only are the resort hotels just a wonderful place to be, but what an amazing theme park too.

Last week I was spoilt for choice in terms of choice of bar. In the end, I did a bit of everything, spent some time in bar Colosseo, dinner at the silver lake saloon, several trips to the Buena Vista club and spent late into the night at Spirit of St louis. That's part of the magic of Europa park, the sheer variety and choice, this extends to food on and off park too.

I also believe that Europa Park is one of the most beautiful parks to walk around, even if you aren't going from ride to ride.

For me, all aspects of EP shine above PA. Although I am not adverse to another visit to PA.

Everyone has their own favourite though.
 
So a quick question for all you lucky people with EP annual passes. Do you receive the quarterly special offer vouchers for the pass in the post? I only ask because I've never received anything.
 
I do.... and I throw them out, since they are never for anything worth having.
 
I do to, but same as Diogo. They are interesting only on some very rare occasions.
 
Please be aware that following the Brexit vote, costs given in £ at the start of this topic have risen by approximately 8.5%.

Thank you.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
Hi all, great thread really useful!

I have officially given up on Merlin and their awful way of running parks, my MAP has expired and won't be renewed so I thought another trip to Europa is in order in 2017!

We last went in Sep 2015 for two days and the longest we waited for anything was about 20mins. This time we are looking at going on a Sunday & Monday at the end of June, can anyone that has been at that time of year give me an idea on how long the queues are likely to be for the coasters?

We will be staying at Elzpark again which was great last time, unfortunately my budget just can't stretch to on the onsite hotels, can you still visit the bars in the evening? If so is it much of a walk back to Elzpark?

Thanks for any help you can give.
 
AT86 said:
unfortunately my budget just can't stretch to on the onsite hotels, can you still visit the bars in the evening? If so is it much of a walk back to Elzpark?
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Yep, all the bars are for public use, and it's a 20-25 minute walk from Elzpark either way. :)
 
In term of waiting times June is not that bad. It starts to get busy, but with the park's throughput there is no worries. Sunday might be busy, depending of course of the weather, but unlikely to be as busy as a day in August or July. And Monday should be perfectly fine.

As said Bars and the whole resort restaurants are for public use. You can book a table at any restaurant without sleeping at the resort.
 
"We're pleased to say that Ryanair will be returning to Strasbourg in 2017 with twice weekly flights between London Stansted and the French city. Strasbourg is the closest airport to Europa-Park, with frequent and low cost travel connections available to the resort!"

EuropaStreet Facebook

YAY!
 
Just a shame Stansted's a pain in the arse to get to if you don't live anywhere near London. :p
 
Quick question about Horror Nights. I'll be going for a weekend so plan to do Horror Nights on the Saturday. Should I buy the park entry/Horror Nights combo and an additional separate day ticket or buy the 2 day ticket and Horror Nights separately?
 
Matt. said:
Quick question about Horror Nights. I'll be going for a weekend so plan to do Horror Nights on the Saturday. Should I buy the park entry/Horror Nights combo and an additional separate day ticket or buy the 2 day ticket and Horror Nights separately?
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Buy a 2 day ticket + Horror Nights separately.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
Buy a 2 day ticket + Horror Nights separately.

:)
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Thanks Dan! Unfortunately the event ticket was sold out for the date I wanted - so had to get the combo anyway!

I'm going 29th - 30th October, so am expecting it to be busy, but just how busy would you estimate it gets during those dates?

Also how do the mazes work, is it hands-on-shoulders jobs like in the UK? How many are batched into groups etc.?

Thanks!
 
The 29th and 30th, I regret to inform you, but the 29th will be the busiest day of the year.

The park is already scheduled to close at 8.30pm AT THE EARLIEST on both day, therefore it could easily extend to 9.00pm or 9.30pm - especially on the 29th! There are likely to be 60,000 people in the park on the Saturday. The Sunday will be quieter however still busy.

Given that these will be the busiest days of the year, I would expect queues as follows (based on my own visit on the equivalent day 2 years ago):

Silver Star: Max. 60 min
Blue Fire: Max. 120 min
Wodan: Max. 120 min
Arthur: Max 100 min
Euro Mir: Max 60 min
Eurosat: Max 40 min

Some rides, including most dark rides, will be under 20 minutes, even if the queue rack appears full. Remember - rides such as Silver Star and Eurosat physically won't have a queue more than the above, as there simply isn't anywhere for the queue to go.

Get Arthur done at 9:00am if you can - get into the park ASAP. Main gates will open at 8.30am and be ready for rope drop at 9.00am. Queues before 9.30am will remain short, so consider which rides you want to do.

Food outlets will be VERY BUSY between 12 and 3pm.

As for Horror Nights - it will also be sold out, very busy. Expect 45-60 minute queues for most mazes. Personally, I find Horror Nights tedious when it is full - but get there AT OPENING and try and whip round the mazes as fast as possible as they won't have queues for the first 30 minutes after opening. Batching tends to be in 12-15's, but the mazes are not as good as, say Alton Towers, and groups often meet part-way round (a la Universal). There is a fastrack ticket... but it's a rip off.

Sorry if all the above is not what you wanted to hear.

On the plus side - EP is a park actually able to cope with such numbers, but it'll still feel packed. You can marvel at the throughputs, I guess!
 
AstroDan said:
The 29th and 30th, I regret to inform you, but the 29th will be the busiest day of the year.

The park is already scheduled to close at 8.30pm AT THE EARLIEST on both day, therefore it could easily extend to 9.00pm or 9.30pm - especially on the 29th! There are likely to be 60,000 people in the park on the Saturday. The Sunday will be quieter however still busy.

Given that these will be the busiest days of the year, I would expect queues as follows (based on my own visit on the equivalent day 2 years ago):

Silver Star: Max. 60 min
Blue Fire: Max. 120 min
Wodan: Max. 120 min
Arthur: Max 100 min
Euro Mir: Max 60 min
Eurosat: Max 40 min

Some rides, including most dark rides, will be under 20 minutes, even if the queue rack appears full. Remember - rides such as Silver Star and Eurosat physically won't have a queue more than the above, as there simply isn't anywhere for the queue to go.

Get Arthur done at 9:00am if you can - get into the park ASAP. Main gates will open at 8.30am and be ready for rope drop at 9.00am. Queues before 9.30am will remain short, so consider which rides you want to do.

Food outlets will be VERY BUSY between 12 and 3pm.

As for Horror Nights - it will also be sold out, very busy. Expect 45-60 minute queues for most mazes. Personally, I find Horror Nights tedious when it is full - but get there AT OPENING and try and whip round the mazes as fast as possible as they won't have queues for the first 30 minutes after opening. Batching tends to be in 12-15's, but the mazes are not as good as, say Alton Towers, and groups often meet part-way round (a la Universal). There is a fastrack ticket... but it's a rip off.

Sorry if all the above is not what you wanted to hear.

On the plus side - EP is a park actually able to cope with such numbers, but it'll still feel packed. You can marvel at the throughputs, I guess!
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Thanks for such a detailed reply. Very helpful. I assumed it would be busy and I guess the queue times aren't bad when you consider how long queues will be at Towers or somewhere like DLP during peak!
 
Absolutely - you'll only get hour + queues on a small number of rides. Rides like Poseidon, Fjord Rafting and Atlantica depend on the weather.

Also - with a late ride close, you'll get on a few rides in the dark. But remember - due to noise restrictions, the Silver Star queue closes at 8.00pm regardless of whether the rest of the park opens later - so join the queue by then! Rides in Greece, plus Matterhorn Blitz, will close around 6.30pm too - because those rides then re-open for Horror Nights ticket holders only.

:)
 
When would you more experienced trip planners say is the best time to start booking flights and off-resort accommodation for a trip in early August? :)
 
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