MackMan
Mega Poster
I a few months ago decided to do my first solo trip to Europa Park. I am no stranger to Europa and Rust and decided I wanted try the park during winter. I had been twice in 2024, first time missing Voltron by two weeks, second time was park at capacity. I honestly felt a bit unlucky to be honest with timings, so I thought maybe it would be a good time to get some re-rides and enjoy the park at my own pace. It was roughly a day trip and meant to be a really fun experience. Europa Park was my number one theme park, until this day.
Okay disclaimers, this is not all EP's fault but I thought for the money I was charged (around £50) it was an awful guest experience. The park were facing some slightly strong winds that day, but it honestly did not feel like that strong to be honest, maybe after Pleasure Beach a few weeks before any wind felt mild. Anyway it still managed to derail my day at a park that I thought really went out of their way to accommodate their guests.
So closures and things that were not open: Voltron, Euro-Mir, Blue Fire, Wodan, Silver Star, Poseidon, Euro-Tower. Supersplash and Fjord are down during this time anyway but still missed, even in slightly cooler temps. I found a lot of the shows empty, nothing in the arena (maybe too cold but still kind of empty), I believe the globe theatre also has nothing inside it. Obviously Europa used to have a brilliant theatre with a grand show in the Italian section, which I haven't checked out in a while but on walking to it, it seems as though it is now an upcharge. The park had a lot of food places shut and atmosphere was pathetic. I know Europa are notoriously tight but no way of a discounted return or much of anything other than "get over it". If you charged a reasonable amount like Alton do for their lineup of rides in Winter, I would be a lot more forgiving. But at £50 roughly i expect a day's worth of stuff, and the park just had not much to do. Maybe because I have been here before I am not as entertained by the dark ride collection, it is good but barring like three of them, a lot of them are kind of average. Flat rides don't exist lol.
So yeah Hallowinter I would strongly recommend not doing. Just visit in Summer and prepare to queue for a little longer. Weather is a luck based thing but if you are coming from another country, probably best not to book a trip which might be fully spoiled by some strong winds. Most of Spain/Portugal are also being transformed for Christmas so the back section is ugly. It lacks the charm of either Christmas or Halloween, you have barely any shows if not any, and you are paying full price for a half baked event.
Sorry for the rant but if you are considering avoiding the summer months to lap Voltron in November, don't. I learned that lesson hard. If you have £50 get 3 rides on Olympia Looping idk.
For positives, I like the new ghost castle. I think it fixes a LOT of the originals problems. Alpen Express I honestly think is kind of meh compared to its original version to be honest. I think the removing of the diamond section though maybe completely needed does drain the fun of what made it good? Now it is something that I would call average. The theming used to be so magical but now I like wouldn't rave about it. They rebuilt it in such a good timeframe but sadly RMT at Alton probably is better now.
But yeah after visiting In winter I would probably say the park is not as flawless as I thought. Phantasialand and Cedar Point probably rank as better overall experiences for me. Maybe unfair comparison. But yeah hopefully they close in November next year. I think this awkward gap between Halloween/Christmas doesn't really work and the park atmosphere was neither spooky or festive.
Okay disclaimers, this is not all EP's fault but I thought for the money I was charged (around £50) it was an awful guest experience. The park were facing some slightly strong winds that day, but it honestly did not feel like that strong to be honest, maybe after Pleasure Beach a few weeks before any wind felt mild. Anyway it still managed to derail my day at a park that I thought really went out of their way to accommodate their guests.
So closures and things that were not open: Voltron, Euro-Mir, Blue Fire, Wodan, Silver Star, Poseidon, Euro-Tower. Supersplash and Fjord are down during this time anyway but still missed, even in slightly cooler temps. I found a lot of the shows empty, nothing in the arena (maybe too cold but still kind of empty), I believe the globe theatre also has nothing inside it. Obviously Europa used to have a brilliant theatre with a grand show in the Italian section, which I haven't checked out in a while but on walking to it, it seems as though it is now an upcharge. The park had a lot of food places shut and atmosphere was pathetic. I know Europa are notoriously tight but no way of a discounted return or much of anything other than "get over it". If you charged a reasonable amount like Alton do for their lineup of rides in Winter, I would be a lot more forgiving. But at £50 roughly i expect a day's worth of stuff, and the park just had not much to do. Maybe because I have been here before I am not as entertained by the dark ride collection, it is good but barring like three of them, a lot of them are kind of average. Flat rides don't exist lol.
So yeah Hallowinter I would strongly recommend not doing. Just visit in Summer and prepare to queue for a little longer. Weather is a luck based thing but if you are coming from another country, probably best not to book a trip which might be fully spoiled by some strong winds. Most of Spain/Portugal are also being transformed for Christmas so the back section is ugly. It lacks the charm of either Christmas or Halloween, you have barely any shows if not any, and you are paying full price for a half baked event.
Sorry for the rant but if you are considering avoiding the summer months to lap Voltron in November, don't. I learned that lesson hard. If you have £50 get 3 rides on Olympia Looping idk.
For positives, I like the new ghost castle. I think it fixes a LOT of the originals problems. Alpen Express I honestly think is kind of meh compared to its original version to be honest. I think the removing of the diamond section though maybe completely needed does drain the fun of what made it good? Now it is something that I would call average. The theming used to be so magical but now I like wouldn't rave about it. They rebuilt it in such a good timeframe but sadly RMT at Alton probably is better now.
But yeah after visiting In winter I would probably say the park is not as flawless as I thought. Phantasialand and Cedar Point probably rank as better overall experiences for me. Maybe unfair comparison. But yeah hopefully they close in November next year. I think this awkward gap between Halloween/Christmas doesn't really work and the park atmosphere was neither spooky or festive.