Why is Europa Park such an unknown quantity in Britain?

[venny]

You’d imagine the village would be broadly supportive of the monorail extension. It’s got to take a lot of traffic off of the roads between the park, hotels and Rulantica. The bendy bus weaving through the narrow village streets just doesn’t seem like an appropriate or long term solution for moving people between the two centres.

 

[Craig]

Interestingly, there was an article in Badische Zeitung a few days ago with Ringsheim's mayor talking about encouraging more tourism. They're forming an alliance with Rust and the surrounding villages to try and encourage tourists to stay and experience things in the area beyond just Europa-Park. You can register for free to read the article, but I'll post an auto-translated version below:

The two-year dry spell at the Ringsheim tourism companies seems to have been overcome. This is the assessment at a meeting in the town hall.​

"We want to take money in hand to make the guest a larger offer beyond the local borders," said Mayor Weber at the meeting, at which only eight interested parties had appeared. The seven municipalities of Ettenheim, Mahlberg, Kappel-Grafenhausen, Ringsheim, Rust, Herbolzheim and Rheinhausen have joined forces beyond the district borders to form a core region Europa-Park adventure region. Coordination takes place in the municipality of Rust. Looking beyond one's own church tower is the goal with the hope that tourists will spend several days in the region beyond the amusement park.

The municipality has invested a lot​

The municipality of Ringsheim has invested a lot of money in recent years, 400,000 euros alone for the construction of the multimodal mobility hub at the station, where even more guests will be expected at the station in the future with the 49-euro ticket and the French TGV express train. The designation and artistic design of two hiking trails is intended to strengthen interest in the surrounding area. The Glückauf loop is intended to indicate the 30-year mining history in Ringsheim. The wine art trail and the Kaiserberg tour refer to the regional wine culture. Some art objects are already installed, others are to be added. The existing billboards in the village are no longer up-to-date and are to be dismantled or updated. The use of digital media is to be accelerated.

Considerations for a free bus transfer​

Considerations for a free bus transfer from Ringsheim Station to Rust depend on the financing. Pascal Weber wants to hold discussions with Deutsche Bahn, the bus companies and the parking management. A single trip by bus to Rust for 2.50 euros is simply too expensive, as one participant complained. Although the parking situation on the west and east side has improved, user fees should not be taboo in the long run. One participant pointed out the waste problem in this context: "This is always present." Rust is different from Ringsheim, said a holiday apartment owner. You have to rely more on personal contact with the guests, that is appreciated. "Ringsheim and the region have something to offer," says the summary. The gastronomic offer in Ringsheim is rather modest, it was noted. According to Weber, the construction of further hotels and restaurants is planned in the Leimenfeld I and II industrial estates. The fear that this would make holiday apartments empty was not shared.

Control of holiday apartments​

The mayor also informed about the implementation recently decided in the municipal council for the management of holiday apartments based on the models in Rust and Kappel-Grafenhausen. "We want that too," said Weber - namely the admissibility of holiday apartments depending on the location. He showed a graph in which districts regulations will be made in the next few years. There are no changes to existing apartments, provided that they are approved under building law, said the mayor. If you do not yet have a permit, you can apply for it retrospectively in a period of one year. "Tourism is the most important and strongest economic sector in Ringsheim," said Mayor Weber at the end of the event.

So a few interesting things in there. More hotels and an acceptance from Ringhseim that they need to expand restaurant options in the village to make it worthwhile to stay there. It's good they're getting a handle on controlling holiday apartments too, just as Rust (albeit perhaps belatedly) has done in recent years. It's essential to keep the balance of having a community in the village as well as catering to holiday makers.

The shuttle comments are interesting too. €2.50 is a fair whack for what is a relatively short journey and doesn't encourage people to leave their cars at home. Although the Holiday Inn Express has a shuttle it would be good to have one provided by the village/area for everyone, rather than just if you stay in a specific hotel. Gut feeling is that'll happen relatively soon, probably using an electric bus or something thanks to the relatively short distance.

Further down the line, my thought has been that the monorail would extend right the way across to Ringsheim at some point. However, I don't necessarily see that happening straight away. Gut feeling is we'll see an extension up the Kronosar as the first stage. Second stage would stretch up to a potential new parking area on the map Tim posted, which then frees up expansion space for the park. They'd perhaps then stop the Ringsheim shuttle at the new parking area a la Magic Kingdom style for guests to transport to hotels or the park instead of snaking through the village. Third stage, once rail expansion is firmed up, hotels are more numerous and better infrastructure is in place in Ringsheim would we perhaps see the final extension terminating there.

One thing we've got to remember though, is that all this investment into infrastructure has to be in exchange for an expansion to the park - they're not going to fork out the cash without the end result being an increase to guest figures. So with how shaky things have been post Covid with recruitment etc, I don't see a lot of this happening for a while yet. That's especially so now that the Croatia expansion is further delayed as well.

 

[Tim]

Exactly as Craig has said.

The more I look at maps of the area around Europa the more I realise they have amazing potential for both expansion and future transport links. And it's mainly because what they have is already good and even if it takes a while there are clear steps for how they can grow in stages.

If we compare to Walt Disney World (that was masterplanned from day one) only the Magic Kingdom, and EPCOT feel intentionally connected, with the Monorail seemingly becoming more redundant with every development and the skyliner awkwardly forced in to try and connect different parts of the resort. EP's Monorail however was only ever designed as an attraction in the park (was the hotel station originally there or added later?). But with good forward planning might turn out to be an incredible transport link.

 

[Gurkensalat]

There are plenty of regular EP vloggers in German (EPFan95 is my favorite, I've used his videos to practice learning the language) but none in English that I know of. For English vlogs the only ones I've seen are from international channels making the trip.

I like EPFan 95, too, he is believable, down to earth, very well informed on the park, not just a fanboy (also criticizes if necessary) and covers other parks as well. But I would NOT recommend to learn German using his vlogs, since he speaks with a strong local dialect from the region of Rust ("Cancan-Coaschter; Silver Schtar etc)

 

[Llama]

I like EPFan 95, too, he is believable, down to earth, very well informed on the park, not just a fanboy (also criticizes if necessary) and covers other parks as well. But I would NOT recommend to learn German using his vlogs, since he speaks with a strong local dialect from the region of Rust ("Cancan-Coaschter; Silver Schtar etc)

That's very true, and one of the reasons I like watching his videos for that purpose. I'm not going to emulate his pronunciation, but it is helpful to hear and become accustomed to different accents and dialects, since it's very possible I'll encounter them "in the wild." If I remember right he even has a joke video about how it's not Silver Star, it's "Silver Schtar"