Fastracks at Europa Park, Holiday Park and Phantasialand

[andrus]

Hello there!

I'm going to southern Germany over the easter hollidays to visit Europa Park, Holiday Park and Phantasialand.

I partly wonder how long the queues are there this time a year? But I guess they are hefty hence it will be both the opening weekend of the parks as well as it's easter holiday.

That's why I also wonder if the three parks has some form of fast track passes? I have looked on their webpages but couldn't find any info...

Thanks for all answeres!

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

None of the parks have fast-track... (Unless it's changed since 2008)...

That's all I got really, since I've never been during Easter...

 

[pitchnoir]

I can only give help in regards to Phantasialand.

I went to Phantasialand a month or so after Black Mamba had opened, so we are talking a while back. But me and now the ex decided to grab fast passes or well quick passes as they are called in Phantasialand. so going on that i presume they still have them, seeing as i cannot see a reason for them to take them away.

I have a shi*e memorey as it is but if i remember correctly, you could use the fast passes for mystery castle, river quest, and black mamba and also maybe even winjas but dont quote me on that!!!

actually just found this http://www.phantasialand.de/eng/Park/Offers/Quick-Pass it gives all info on quick passes and for what rides etc always good to look on the main website :wink:

 

[andrus]

Thanks! I used an online translator and from what I understand the quick passes are only valid four times? But they are quite cheap at 15 euros so I guess you could buy more than one! (only bad thing is that they aint valid for front row on Black Mamba.. )

Do you guys also know the averege waiting time for the major rides like Expedition Geforce, Blue Fire, Silver Star and Black Mamba?

Off topic: Nice picture NI! I saw them in Malmö a couple of weeks ago and they did a really good performance (as always)!! Rammstein ftw! cool)

 

[Ollie]

When I went two years ago GeForce was about 15 minutes, Silver Star was around 45 minutes and Black Mamba was about 20 minutes.
And that was during the summer.
Not been on Blue Fire yet but Europa Park can get pretty busy and I'm not sure what throughput is like on it.

 

[pitchnoir]

Yah you can buy at the gate (quick passes) and also around the park (if i remember correctly!!! lol)

In regards to average waiting time, as ollie said your looking at 20 minutes or so. Also dont worry about it saying you cannot use for the front line, they are pretty good ride ops and 9 times out of 10 they will usually let you ride front seat, may have to wait for another train, but worth the extra little wait in my opinion :wink:

To be honest though the ride that has the longest wait usually is Winjas so grab that one at the start of the day then MJ mine train (that always tickles me lol) mystery castle and then river quest

also I agree Rammstein for the win and also combichrist :wink:

 

[ECG]

I can't tell you about crowds over Easter, but they were letting Quick Passers on the front row of Black Mamba when we were there last summer.
Exp. GeForce only had about a 10-20 minute wait throughout the day, but the blue fire queue was never less than 90 minutes over the two days we spent at Europa Park.

 

[caffeine_demon]

I think the fastpass at phantasialand is automatically for the front row on mamba (great coaster)

Fastpass shouldn't be necessary at holiday park - even though egf has a slow throughput, only other worthwhile ride is the tower

At europa park- get on the mouse, and bobsleigh first thing as most of the other rides have pretty good throughput - max wait otherwise will be silver star and probs blue fire

 

[andrus]

So I'm back in sweden again and had a great time over in germany :--D thanks everybody for the help!

The queues were non existent almost all the time. Longest queue on the entire trip was at winjas, phantasialand, were we had to wait up to 20 min. Other than that all the rides were walk on except for front row (up to ~15 min on BF, SS, EGF and BM).

Best coaster on the trip was Black Mamba, what an awesome coaster!! Biggest let down was Expedition GeForce, it severely lacked airtime and did run very slow.. Biggest surprise was on the other hand Silver Star which had great airtime in the fron seats (all the other seats were rubbish though )!

Favourite park had to be Europa Park hence the vast amount of attractions and things to do, and all the attention to detail the park had! I'll come back with an entire trip report (in the right section of CF) when I get some time over!

 

[Anonymous]

^ Screw Silver Star, how was blue fire??

Anyway it was nice to hear that you had a great time, trip report maybe?

 

[andrus]

Gazprom the ride was all right (I found it very funny that Blue Fire was sponsored by such a controvesial company!) The main good thing about the coaster is the restraints. It's very nice to go through loops etc and still have the freedom of only a lapbar.

The coaster itself is a little bit too forceless for my taste. But I guess that's why it is such a big hit at Europa Park. Everybody can ride it, even fairly young children (height restrictions are only 130 cm).

The launch is weak and the following top hat is taken too slowly, you almost feel like you're gonna fall down sideways while you're at the top.. The following loop provides some nice hang time wich is a lot more thrilling with these kind of restraints than OTSR.

Then we have the crazy right turn which is one of the few intense bits of the coaster. The turn is banked 90 degrees but barely turns at all so you get thrown up in a strange way, awesome! After that it's the mid course brakes where you get some nice air time in the front (only the 2-3 first seats).

Next up is the horse shoe element with a couple of forceless corkscrews but yet thrilling because of the restraints who allows your body to fly around. The turn in the horse shoe on the other side has som great g-forces!

The "air time hill" through the loop is slow and do not provide any air time that I could feel. The following helix is sadly really weak as well. Then follows the best element of the coaster :--D the amazing heartline/inline roll! It looks like a heart line roll but feels more like an inline hence you get thrown out of your seat and are only hold by the lapbar. You feel a combination of "oh my god I'm gonna fall out and die" and "damn this is so awesome"!

In total the coaster is nice because of the restraints, the headchopper effects from the rocks, the otherwise great theming including the preshow, cuz it's smooth and in that it feels "different" (not the same old B&M/Intamin recreations that has been done to death). The bad things are that it is a bit slow and forceless, and that it is too short and low compared to the really big mega loopers like Dragon Khan.

Anyway I still enjoyed the coaster a lot!! And belive it will become a big hit for Mack since it appeals to such a wide audience. But I do still rank Dragon Khan as my favourite mega looper!


Edit
I just talk to my GF (whom I travelled with) and we came forward to the following ranking of the coasters we rode at the trip:
1) Black Mamba
2) Silver Star
3) Winjas
4) Blue Fire/Expedition GeForce
5) Eurosat/Michael Jackson the Thrill Ride
6) The rest...