Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022

[Matt N]

26th April 2022 (Travel)
Hi guys. Today was a very exciting day; the start of my first ever trip to Europa Park! This might possibly be my most significant theme park trip in some time, and it’s quite a significant change in tune compared to the bulk of my recent trips, with a number of new experiences in store for me; my first time travelling abroad post-COVID, my first time at Europa Park, my first time in Germany full stop… I could go on, as there are so many firsts for me this trip! So join me over the next 5 days as I visit Europa Park, a major bucket list park I have legitimately wanted to visit for the past 7 or 8 years, for the very first time!

This was only our travel day, so I haven’t set foot into the park itself yet, but I’ve already gotten some glimpses of what Europa Park Resort has to offer. So let me start today from the very beginning.

Interestingly, today started out with the longest single leg of the trip there; a 3 hour drive from Gloucestershire to London Stansted. The drive actually felt quicker than expected given it was 3 hours, and my dad said it was very easy, so I guess that’s all you can ask for, really!

After that, we went into Stansted itself, where check-in & security were surprisingly quick; we were through it all very quickly compared to what I always remembered Manchester/Gatwick being like, which is always good! It felt very weird being back in an airport… the last time I flew abroad was to Florida in April 2019, so after the few years we’ve all had, it felt almost surreal being back travelling abroad again, with surprisingly few differences compared to pre-COVID! It was exciting, though; even though an airport in itself is perhaps not the most pleasurable of experiences, being in an airport preparing for a foreign holiday does give you a certain buzz that I can’t quite put my finger on, particularly when your destination is a park you’ve spent years dreaming of visiting!

After a wait of around an hour in Stansted’s departure lounge, we headed to our gate and boarded our plane to Baden-Baden:

This flight was my first ever Ryanair flight, which I’m led to believe is somewhat of a rite of passage for any theme park enthusiast, and I’ve got to say, it was quite good! The seats were perfectly comfortable, the flight was short (only 1h 25m); what more can you really ask for?

After getting off our flight, we headed through immigration in Baden-Baden, which was fairly quick, and that’s when it hit home that Europa Park really was well within my reach:

Wow, seeing that was exciting! After that, we got our hire car and headed down to Europa Park itself from Baden-Baden airport, which my dad described as a surprisingly easy drive. It took around 45 minutes, and I must say, I was stunned by quite how convenient Europa is to reach from the motorway; when people described it as being in a town/village, I was expecting something like Alton Towers, where you wind your way through all kinds of country lanes and villages for miles on end once you leave the motorway, but it was literally a case of “exit the motorway… wow, there’s Europa!” in an almost America-style fashion! I was also surprised at how much Europa Park dominates Rust; I was anticipating it being a case of Europa Park being in the middle of a large town that engulfed it, but it’s almost more like Rust is an add-on to Europa Park, which I found very interesting!

Then, we headed onto the resort itself. I have to say, first impressions are very good; the hotels are stunningly themed, and they’re all very grand in scale! My first view of a Europa Park hotel was the lobby for El Andaluz, where we checked in, and I must say, it’s stunning:

We’re staying in a Standard Room Plus in Hotel Castillo Alcazar, and the room is very nicely themed, as well as surprisingly big. The park view is also fantastic, and gives Blackpool’s similar park view a run for its money for sure:

After getting settled into our room, we decided to take a stroll around the Europa resort and see what some of the other hotels had to offer.

We firstly stopped at Hotel Colosseo, where we loitered around the piazza for a bit:

And then we went up to the top of the Colosseum replica, where I got some views of the piazza from above:

As well as Rulantica:

And also some of the surrounding Black Forest area; EP is surprisingly rural and in a surprisingly nice forest setting for such a huge resort:

After that, we strolled past Hotel Bell Rock:

And finally, we ended up walking past Colosseo again and going back to El Andaluz:

After our little stroll around, we headed into the Castillo Restaurant in Hotel Castillo Alcazar for an evening meal, which it must be said was very nice; the restaurant is also very nicely themed. I didn’t take any photos of the restaurant, but my mum did catch a photo of the very nice corridor leading up to it, which is very well themed indeed, and certainly sets the tone for the restaurant:

Finally, I caught a few photos of the stunning night time view from out of our window; Europa really does look stunning at night:

So, that was the first day of our trip! Apologies that this was a bit of a boring report today; I hope the next few days’ worth of reports are a bit more interesting, seeing as we’re going to be in the park itself on tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. I’m incredibly excited; I can’t wait to see what Europa has to offer after years of wanting to go! What I’ve seen of the resort so far certainly bodes well for what I’ll think of the park, as it’s all very nice!

Tomorrow, we’ll be stepping into the park for the first time… I can’t wait!

 

[Howie]

Blimey Matt, this is... today!
At what point did you have time to sit down and write this? Your dedication is admirable, young sir.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[James F]

Oh I'm looking forward to this one!

 

[Matt N]

Blimey Matt, this is... today!
At what point did you have time to sit down and write this? Your dedication is admirable, young sir.
Enjoy your trip!

I wrote a fair bit of the initial stages (Stansted & flight) on my phone while in the car between Baden-Baden airport and Europa Park (BT’s data policy allowing me to use foreign data on my existing plan was a godsend for this, and I could get very good 4G signal from “o2-de” once we exited Baden-Baden airport), I wrote a bit when we initially arrived in the room, as we didn’t set out on our walk straight away, and I wrote the final bit after we got back from our evening meal at Restaurant Castillo.

I’ve always maintained a “write it on the day, get it out of the way” mentality with my trip reports; I’m not typically a procrastinator with my reports, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get these reports out on the day the visit being written about happened on (or if not on the day, as soon as possible after, although I’m confident that I could get each report out on the day ). I like to write reports while the thoughts and the way we did things are still fresh in my mind, so provided all goes well, my thoughts on Day 1 from Europa Park should be up tomorrow night, my thoughts from Day 2 should be up on Thursday night and so on.

 

[Nitefly]

I’m very jealous of this trip! You’ll have a great time no doubt - I look forward to reading.

 

[Sandman]

^ Likewise, I am jealous (I write this whilst sat procrastinating at work )

A nice, wordy start in typical Matt N fashion. Love it.

Hope you are enjoying your first park day today, and I’m more than ready to feast on your initial impressions within the coming days (or more likely coming hours!)

 

[Matt N]

27th April 2022 (Europa Park Day 1)
Today, our first day in the park finally arrived! It’s a day I had dreamed about for ages, and quite literally dreamed about within the last few months… although unlike in my dreams, no vloggers stopping me from boarding rides or university staff with cricket bats were here to ruin it for me (if you don’t know what I mean, check out the theme park dreams thread)! And it was a very exciting day for sure… let me get straight to the good stuff!

We did not go into the park for ERT this morning, instead opting for a more relaxed start to the day. We headed into Europa at a little after 9:30am through the hotel guest entrance, which was very quick and easy:

After getting into the park, we initially considered starting with Alpenexpress Enzian, but we could not find the entrance, so we instead decided to start with a nearby ride that we were all hotly ancitipating…
Wodan Timbur Coaster
Wodan was on an advertised 40 minute queue, so we decided to join it. I was very excited to ride Wodan; Wicker Man was my #3 prior to visiting Europa, so I naturally had high expectations for its bigger, badder cousin. The queue for Wodan is an attraction in itself, with very elaborate theming throughout, and we also had the bonus of it only being 20 minutes as opposed to the advertised 40, which is always good! So, how was the ride? Well, we rode in row 8, and I thought it was absolutely phenomenal; the pacing was truly relentless like no other ride I’ve ever ridden, and every bit of the ride felt like it was trying to fling you out of the seat in some way, including some very unexpected moments of airtime! Interestingly, I thought it encapsulated elements from all 3 of the modern wooden coasters I’ve done previously (Wicker Man, Mine Blower and Megafobia); the initial sequence of elements reminded me a lot of Megafobia with the sustained air on the way down the first drop and the big turnaround directly after, while the fun twists and turns, the relative smoothness and the comfy trains reminded me a lot of Wicker Man, and the awesome little pops of air at the end reminded me a lot of Mine Blower. And it integrated all of these elements wonderfully to make it an absolutely phenomenal wooden roller coaster; Wodan definitely became my favourite wooden roller coaster I’ve ridden (yes, I concede that I definitely liked it more than Wicker Man), and it has definitely blazed its way into my top 3 for sure! My parents loved the ride, too:

After Wodan, we headed to the other major roller coaster in Iceland…
Blue Fire
Blue Fire was on an advertised 20 minute wait, so we decided to give it a go. Seeing as Icon was my #2 prior to visiting Europa, I was very interested to ride the prototype Mack launch coaster. Many had told me that Blue Fire was superior to Icon, so I was interested to see what I thought to it given my Icon love. The wait took a tad longer than 20 minutes due to a breakdown, but that certainly wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the ride team; trains were being hammered out, and as I later found would be the case with every ride at Europa, the queue moved very quickly, and the boarding/checking process took very little time at all; they don’t mess around! So, how was Blue Fire? Well, I thought it was a very fun ride; it was smooth, the inversions were nice (particularly the first and last ones; the last one is challenging for my favourite inversion), there were some nice transitions and it was overall a nice, fun coaster! However… I did think it was lacking a little something relative to Icon. I can’t quite put my finger on what, but I wasn’t getting quite the same wow feeling that I get from a ride on Icon. It could be that it’s not the most airtime-y ride, and I do enjoy airtime on this style of coaster, so I was missing a little air on there, but I’m not sure that was entirely it; while it was a terrific coaster, I did think it was missing that little spark to make it a true 10/10 tier ride for me. That’s not to say that Blue Fire isn’t a great ride, though; I thoroughly enjoyed myself on it, and it still makes my top 10! Neither of my parents seemed overly keen, though; my mum said it was “sick-making”, and said she isn’t riding again this trip, while my dad said that it felt slow for a ride of 62mph:

After Blue Fire, we decided to wander for a bit and see where the path took us. It took us to Scandinavia, and Fjord-Rafting was initially considered as our next ride, but we then made the conservative decision to leave the water rides for a hotter day on our trip (tomorrow and Friday are due to be hotter), so we instead chose to ride…
Snorri Touren
I didn’t actually know how long the queue for Snorri Touren was, but I thought it looked intriguing, so we joined the queue. For such a hidden away attraction, I thought the queue was very nicely themed, with lots to look at and odd appearances from an octopus who I’m guessing is Snorri (?). So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was a fun little ride for what it was, with some nice theming, a catchy soundtrack, good projection mapping, and a rather surprising and clever section that almost resembled a simulator-style ride, which I thought was interesting! Overall, I thought it was a fun and intriguing ride, and my parents seemed to agree:

After Snorri Touren, we decided to head to another dark ride that I knew a little more about…
Piraten in Batavia
Piraten in Batavia was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so we joined it. We thought the queue looked rather big from the outside, as it was spilling out of the building into the plaza, but it turned out that the sign was right, as the queue moved at a very fast pace and took no longer than advertised, perhaps even slightly less! The queue was also incredibly well themed, with some surprisingly massive rooms and lots to look at, which is always good! So, how was the ride? Well, I didn’t know too much about it other than that it was similar to Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney and replaced an older attraction of the same premise, so I went in (relatively) blind aside from people telling me it was brilliant. And I must say, I thought it was a truly excellent dark ride, and perhaps controversially, I’d take it over its Disney source material any day of the week (well, the WDW version). There was lots of theming to look at throughout, the scenes were really excellent (with some being surprisingly grand in scale), and other tools such as smells and projection mapping were also used very effectively in there; I thought it was a fantastic dark ride, and it seemed to be a hit with my parents too:

After Piraten in Batavia, we headed to our next roller coaster, which was very nearby…
Euro Mir
Euro Mir was on an advertised 15 minute wait, so we decided to give it a go. The ride looks very impressive from off-ride, with the huge glass buildings and the big rocket giving it a very strong presence within the surrounding area. The ride also has an… interesting indoor queue, with some fun UV lighting and a soundtrack that is bound to be stuck in one’s head after riding (as is the case with a surprising number of Europa’s rides)! So, how was Euro Mir? Well, I was interested to see what I thought to it, as it seems quite marmite; I’ve noticed that people seem to either really like it or not think much to it at all. And sadly, me and my parents all fell quite comfortably into the latter camp. Europa had certainly been buttering us the right way up to this point, so I hate to say it, but… oh dear. This was genuinely horrible, and I don’t think any of us enjoyed it at all. I thought it was quite a strange coaster, with an interesting start with some controlled spinning and a very long lift hill given the height, which was intriguing. The aerial turns were OK, providing some nice views of the park… but that’s where the ride went hugely downhill, both literally and figuratively. Interestingly, it didn’t spin at all in the main thrilling body of the coaster, so nausea wasn’t really an issue, but whenever it sped up or turned, it got horrifically rough. Me and my mum were facing forwards, and we got bashed around a hell of a lot (particularly our shins/knees, getting bashed against the hard side of the car), but my dad, who was facing backwards, seemed to get the brunt of the bashing, with him saying that it really hurt his shins. Granted, Euro Mir is a fairly forceful coaster for a ride of its type, and it’s certainly novel, so I probably shouldn’t be so harsh, but none of us especially enjoyed it at all:

After Euro Mir, we wandered into the Great Britain section of the park, where we had a spot of lunch in the sports bar before having a little stroll around the Great Britain area while working out where to go next:

I’ve got to say, Europa is the perfect park for just strolling around; it’s truly beautiful throughout, and never feels too busy given that it gets over 5 million guests per year!

After a brief stroll through Britain, we stumbled into Switzerland, where we boarded our next attraction:
Schweizer Bobbahn
Schweizer Bobbahn had a 15 minute advertised queue, so we joined it. I was interested to ride Schweizer Bobbahn; I’d remembered really liking Avalanche at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, so I was hopeful for quite a fun little coaster. So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was rather good fun myself, with some nice helixes and turns! I didn’t think it quite stacked up to Avalanche, though; it didn’t seem quite as fast, and it had a slight rattle in some of the more forceful sections that I don’t remember Avalanche having, which detracted ever so slightly. Nevertheless, I thought it was a fun little coaster for what it was, and certainly something I enjoyed:

After Schweizer Bobbahn, we headed to do the other coaster in Switzerland…
Matterhorn Blitz
Matterhorn Blitz had an advertised 20 minute queue, so we decided to join it and give it a go. The queue felt like one of the longest queues of the day, however; Matterhorn Blitz is not the highest capacity ride at Europa, and the ride did appear quite popular. It was a fairly nicely themed queue, though, with a very nicely themed indoor section at the end, although I’ll digress that I found some of the animatronics a tad disconcerting! Putting aside the queue, though; how was the ride? Well, I thought the elevator lift was really interesting, and it was relatively smooth for a wild mouse, as well as well themed, but I don’t generally rate wild mouse coasters that highly, so saying it’s my favourite wild mouse coaster is damning with faint praise a tad. With that being said, though, I did like the theme, and it certainly looks pretty; this style of ride just isn’t really my thing, so I’m not sure I was ever going to rate it super highly:

After Matterhorn Blitz, we took a stroll and found ourselves in Greece, where we got in line for…
Abenteuer Atlantis
I thought Abenteuer Atlantis looked intriguing, and it was on a 1 minute advertised queue, so we decided to join it and give ourselves a brief respite from coastering. The queue board certainly wasn’t lying; we literally waltzed straight on, and interestingly, we boarded entirely by ourselves, with seemingly no host there at all! So, how was Abenteuer Atlantis? Well, I thought it was a fun little interactive dark ride, with some excellent theming and animatronics and an overall fun vibe; I really liked it, and my mum and dad seemed to as well. Mum & dad scored well, with them getting scores in the 20,000-30,000 ballpark, but being as shocking at interactive dark rides as I am, I got a truly abysmal 701; I have very poor aim, so I never score particularly well on these. Nevertheless, we all found it a fun little ride:

After Abenteuer Atlantis, we initially pondered riding Pegasus, but we were instead drawn to a somewhat more anticipated coaster located right next to it…
Silver Star
Silver Star was on an advertised 15 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. One thing I must say about Silver Star is that I think it is quite possibly one of the fastest moving queues I have ever stood in; we were initially doubtful about whether it would actually take 15 minutes, as the queue looked quite large, but the sign wasn’t wrong, perhaps even a little pessimistic; we reached the station in around 10 minutes. I was going into Silver Star with very mixed expectations and feelings. My pre-Europa #1 was also a B&M Hyper Coaster (Mako at SeaWorld Orlando), so I had high expectations for SS, but I also had somewhat low expectations too, as it never seems to get very positive press; it appears to have marmite status among Europa’s coasters at best, with a fair percentage of people not rating it very highly at all while another percentage likes it, but doesn’t love it. As such, I was wondering whether to expect a pretty rough coaster lacking in airtime more akin to The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, as a number of reviews had implied Silver Star to be quite rough and severely lacking in airtime. I was excited to ride Silver Star, but also quite nervous as well. Would the B&M Hyper experience live up to my glorious memories of Mako from 6 years earlier now that I’ve ridden considerably more rides?

Well, I shouldn’t have worried. Unlike the similarly marmite Euro Mir, me and my parents fell firmly into the “love it” category with this ride, and I thought it was truly spectacular! I was a tad skeptical about how our first ride would be, as we were seated in row 5 (slap bang in the middle… not usually the best spot on airtime coasters) but it was absolutely breathtaking! The first drop provided stunning sustained floater, and it bought all of those glorious Mako memories flooding back. Each successive hill had glorious sustained air for seconds and seconds, and I thought the ride was pretty smooth and comfortable too (admittedly not quite the same wonderful level of glass smoothness as 2016 Mako, but that’s to be expected given that Mako was brand new when I rode it, while SS is 20 years old). The ending was excellent too; we got properly yanked off the MCBR with a phenomenal and surprisingly abrupt jolt of airtime, with each successive hill in the post-MCBR section being similar, and the s-bend rode pretty well too! Overall, I was truly blown away by Silver Star, and my parents appeared to be too; they both raved about the experience:

After an epic ride on Silver Star, we headed to the other roller coaster in France…
Cancan Coaster
Cancan Coaster was on a 25 minute advertised queue, so we decided to give it a go. As with many rides at Europa, this had a beautiful queue, with tons to look at, and it moved quickly too; what more can you ask for? So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was really good fun, and definitely a surprising one; the ride was very smooth, and packed surprising pace throughout, with some really fun turns being packed in there too. I also thought the theming was very fun and whimsical, and I did like having the can can playing to you while you were riding! Overall, I thought Cancan was great fun; definitely one we all enjoyed:

After Cancan Coaster, we decided to relax for a bit and sit down in the town square in France to watch the fountain show for 10 minutes or so:

I must say, Europa’s France section is beautiful; it had a very nice atmosphere, and was lovely to spend time in! The fountain show was quite a fun watch, too!

After our sit down, we decided to spice things up with another random ride we stumbled across…
Madame Freudenreich’s Curiosities
I thought Madame Freudenreich’s Curiosities looked intriguing, so we decided to give it a go. As with Abenteuer Atlantis earlier, the queue was walk-on, which is always a bonus! So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was quite a fun little ride! Certainly quirky for sure, but it was certainly a fun little detour, with some fun animatronics, a fun storyline, and surprisingly excellent theming:

After Madame Freudenreich’s, we decided to take a gradual stroll down to Deutsche Allee, Europa’s very nice entrance area:

We didn’t just stroll down to EP’s entrance area for the sake of it, however. While in the area, we took a ride on…
Voletarium
Voletarium was on a mere 5 minute advertised queue, so we decided to give it a go. The queue for Voletarium is almost an attraction in itself; it’s absolutely stunning, with some huge rooms and tons to look at! However, we didn’t get a lot of time to look at anything, as we practically waltzed straight onto the ride! So, how was Voletarium? Well, I thought it was a really nice ride, with some good cinematography, nice smells and some nice special effects on the side; definitely a good fun dark ride:

After Voletarium, we took a bit of a stroll through the gardens area by Europa’s entrance, as in all honesty, we weren’t really sure where we were going at this point:

We eventually found ourselves in Austria, where we briefly sat down to look at the fountains:

After our brief sit down, we headed over to ride…
Alpenexpress Enzian
Alpenexpress had a 15 minute advertised queue, so we joined it. VR was in operation on this ride, but on our train, there were no VR riders, so we managed to score a ride towards the back of the train; always a bonus with these powered coasters! So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was really good fun, with two surprisingly fast helixes; it’s probably up there with Alton Towers’ Runaway Mine Train as one of my favourite powered coasters:

After Alpenexpress, we decided to gradually stroll back over to Iceland to take a second ride on Wodan. I was seated in row 7 for this ride, and it was just as phenomenal as earlier; in fact, it was possibly a tad faster, and I was genuinely somewhat worried for my unzipped jacket’s life over some of the airtime hills!

After that, I split off from my parents to go for one final ride on Silver Star. You don’t think of EP as being overly big, but the walk from Iceland to France is surprisingly hefty! In terms of my second ride on Silver Star; I scored the back row, and it was even more phenomenal than earlier! Even with the trim brakes biting somewhat, every hill had a truly phenomenal yank of airtime over it, and the ride was absolutely exquisite from start to finish!

You may notice that I have thus far steered clear of doing a direct comparison between Silver Star and Mako. So, has Silver Star dethroned Mako as my number 1 coaster? My answer is… not quite, but there’s phenomenally little in it; that verdict was not reached easily, and my rides on Silver Star today certainly had me second guessing Mako’s #1 placement more than any other ride has since Mako. It was a very tough decision, but I ultimately decided to keep Mako on top because while Silver Star is absolutely spectacular, I don’t think any individual element on it had quite the same wow factor as elements like Mako’s sublime first drop and first camelback hill, from memory, and while still very smooth and comfortable for the most part, Silver Star doesn’t ride quite as exquisitely as Mako did in 2016, and Mako’s completely glass smooth ride was one of the things I loved about it. I know that those sound like very pedantic reasons, but when two rides are both that good and it’s the top spot being fought for, I’m afraid that it has to be pedantry that ultimately decides which ride comes out on top. Nonetheless, Silver Star is a phenomenal coaster that truly took my breath away, and that back row ride in particular certainly had Mako quaking in its boots!

After a glorious ride on Silver Star, I met back up with my parents, and we headed out of the park for the day:

After that, we headed to Hotel Colosseo for a lovely meal in Pizzeria de Romantica before heading back to our room, saying goodnight to Europa Park for the day:

So in conclusion, we had a wonderful first day in Europa Park! The park is absolutely stunning, with stunning rides and stunning theming; it’s certainly a phenomenally well rounded park, in my view, and I can’t wait to see the rest of what it has to offer over the next 2 days!

I’m aware that our schedule was quite intense today (I was possibly further down the rabbit hole of “new park stress” than I’d have perhaps liked), so we agreed that we’re going to have a more relaxed day tomorrow, with some shows scattered in alongside rides we haven’t done yet (including water rides and the remaining 4 coaster credits), as well as rerides on our favourites.

Thanks for reading (apologies for the length; if you read it all, you deserve a medal!), and I hope you enjoyed my report; I’ll be back tomorrow with day 2!

 

[TilenB]

Great report, Matt! We're in the park too these two days (yesterday and today) and we were having great time there as well. We didn't think Silver Star was quite as its best yesterday, but hopefully they'll ease on the trims a bit in the coming days.

You have to get a ride on Wodan later in the day too! We thought it was fine in the morning, but it was absolutely hauling right before the park's closing!

 

[Matt N]

Great report, Matt! We're in the park too these two days (yesterday and today) and we were having great time there as well. We didn't think Silver Star was quite as its best yesterday, but hopefully they'll ease on the trims a bit in the coming days.

You have to get a ride on Wodan later in the day too! We thought it was fine in the morning, but it was absolutely hauling right before the park's closing!

I may well have walked past you, then! Come to think of it, I do remember a group of people who sounded like enthusiasts walking into the Silver Star queue directly behind us at about 2:20pm (from my photos, it was about that time that we joined the Silver Star queue), and they rode in the same train as us on our first ride (but I noticed that they made a beeline for the back rather than the row 5 we opted for). I could hear them talking about drop towers, and I heard “Speed at Oakwood” mentioned as well, so that was my inference, anyway. Would that have been your group? If so, then we may have gotten much closer to each other than either of us had imagined!

Wow; if yesterday was Silver Star at its worst, then what on earth must it be like at its best? There was sublime sustained airtime over every hill on both of my rides yesterday, and in the back row in particular, it was really yanking me out of the seat for sustained periods!

We did actually ride Wodan pretty late on in the day yesterday (less than an hour before park close), and I did notice it felt faster (I was fearing for my unzipped jacket’s life over some of the airtime moments!), but I rode Silver Star directly after, and that remains top dog in Europa Park for me! Wodan is a fab ride, though; a very close second in Europa for me and my overall #3!

 

[Howie]

That sounds like an altogether successful first day, Matt. Good work, team 'N'!
See? Didn't we all tell you that everything would be ok?
Now, today then - relax, explore, enjoy.
Tomorrow - mop up + rerides. Easy!
And take lots of photos.

 

[TilenB]

Come to think of it, I do remember a group of people who sounded like enthusiasts walking into the Silver Star queue directly behind us at about 2:20pm (from my photos, it was about that time that we joined the Silver Star queue), and they rode in the same train as us on our first ride (but I noticed that they made a beeline for the back rather than the row 5 we opted for). I could hear them talking about drop towers, and I heard “Speed at Oakwood” mentioned as well, so that was my inference, anyway. Would that have been your group?

Hah, I think we were just on Silver Star at that time, but I don't think it was us you saw in the queueline, but James seems to disagree with me. Looking at your photos, I think we did walk past your parents later in the day when you split up.

As for Silver Star, it could be possible that it was running better later in the day, especially in the back. At least that was my experience on it back in 2016 - sluggish in the front midday and running great in the back at the end of the day.

 

[Serena]

Great report so far @Matt N - good to hear you and your family are having a lovely time!

If you're watching shows today, make sure to watch the Ice Show - it's fantastic!

I agree with you that Icon is better than Blue Fire and Blue Fire does just feel like a little something is missing. Silver Star is a top ten ride for me - glad you enjoyed it too! Make sure you get a front row ride while you're there for some great sustainer floater airtime.

 

[James F]

Awesome report Matt! Silver Star has always been a solid hyper in my view. You may or may not know this, but you can walkthrough that indoor section of the alpenexpress. I would recommend it if you have the time. It's one of many smaller hidden things to do around the park.

Sent from my SM-A217F using Tapatalk

 

[Matt N]

28th April 2022 (Europa Park Day 2)
Day 2 today! I know I said that we were planning to have a more relaxed day today, but we had more left to do rides-wise than we’d previously anticipated, and if I’m being honest, I am quite naturally drawn to rides compared to Europa’s other stuff, so I’ll digress that that did go out of the window somewhat as the day went on. It wasn’t quite as intense as yesterday, however; there were less coasters involved, and my parents said it felt more relaxed than yesterday.

We did oversleep slightly, and my parents weren’t feeling ready to enter the park early, so I did enter the park on my own at a little before 10am. As with yesterday, I was compelled to start on…
Wodan Timbur Coaster
Wodan was on an advertised 20 minute queue time, so I decided to give it a go. The queue ended up being a bit longer than advertised, taking around 35-40 minutes. So, how was the ride? Well, I was seated in row 9, and it was just as phenomenal as yesterday, being blisteringly fast and packed with airtime:

After an awesome ride on Wodan, I decided to have another try of the other coaster in Iceland…
Blue Fire
Blue Fire was on an advertised 30 minute queue time, so I decided to give it a go. Interestingly, the ride once again had a brief breakdown while I was in the queue, but it must be said that it was resolved very quickly; only one empty train cycled and then people were back on it! Operations were also phenomenal; for some idea, 20-seat trains were launching before the train in front had even hit the final brake run, which is really quite nuts! So, how was the ride? Well, I was seated in row 8, and it was similar to yesterday; a very good, fun ride with some nice inversions and hangtime:

After Blue Fire, my parents entered the park, and we headed together to ride…
Arthur
Arthur was on a 35 minute advertised queue time, so we decided to give it a go seeing as we hadn’t done it yesterday. The queue for this was quite long compared to other rides in the park, and it took a little longer than 35 minutes (perhaps closer to 45 minutes to an hour), but it was very well themed (although that is admittedly the case for most queue lines at EP)! So, how was the ride? Well, I must say it was a very pleasant surprise! I went in anticipating quite a tame, kiddified ride, but I’ve got to say that it was really quite a fun dark ride roller coaster; the dark ride portion was brilliant, with some great scenes, and the coaster element was more thrilling and more substantial than expected! Overall, Arthur was a really fun attraction that we all thoroughly enjoyed; certainly a pleasant surprise:

After Arthur, we sauntered around the Austrian lake for a bit before riding…
Josefina’s Magical Imperial Journey
Josefina’s was nearby, it had a very minimal queue, and my mum had expressed desire to ride it, so we decided to give it a go. I’ll admit that this was slightly different to what I was expecting from having viewed the Austrian lake yesterday; I thought riders had water cannons to shoot passers-by with, but it turns out that that was a completely different ride! Anyway, how was Josefina’s Imperial Journey? Well, I thought it was a really nice attraction; nothing too thrilling for sure, but a very nice way to relax for a few minutes, with wonderful scenery and some really cool fountains! Overall, we really enjoyed Josefina’s, and it was certainly a nice little ride for what it was:

After our ride on Josefina’s, we decided to trek over to Greece to have a go on…
Pegasus
Pegasus was on an advertised 25 minute wait, so we decided to give it a go. This was one of the 4 credits I was missing, and the only non-water coaster remaining at that point, so I was intrigued to try it. I did notice that Pegasus appeared to be one of the lower capacity Europa coasters; with only one train of 18 riders, it wasn’t throttling people through at quite the same rate as the others, so the queue ended up perhaps being longer per the amount of people in the queue than some of the park’s other rides. That’s not to say that it was at all slow, mind you; as is usual in Europa, the staff certainly didn’t hang about when the ride was parked, and the train appeared to be sent in very little time at all; great job, guys! Anyway, how was the ride? Well, it was quite a pleasant surprise! I was expecting something akin to a Vekoma Rollerskater like Hippogriff, but the actual ride was very fun, very smooth and a fair bit more thrilling than expected; it reminded me more of Thirteen’s outdoor section, with perhaps even a tad more punch than that, and on the back row (where we were seated), it had a surprisingly fun pop of airtime on the drop, as well as in one other area that I remember! Overall, I thought Pegasus was a very fun ride, and definitely a pleasant surprise:

After Pegasus, we decided to tackle the other Greek roller coaster, and our first water ride…
Poseidon
Poseidon was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. This was our first water ride of the trip, so I was interested to see what it was like. Before getting onto the ride itself, I must talk about a rather embarrassing moment that occurred in the queue. I was taking photographs with my phone, and I was prepping to take a photograph of a boat splashing down the first drop. However, I didn’t realise that the queue was designed in such a way that the waves could come over into it, so as such, I got caught off-guard and got surprisingly drenched! My phone was fine, but things certainly got off to a pretty wet start on Poseidon! It must be said that the queue and general area are stunningly themed; I think the whole bit around Poseidon is a truly stunning vista within Europa, and the queue is fantastic! So, how was the ride? Well I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan at all. I was intrigued to see how the coaster sections rode on Poseidon, as my only previous experience with a Mack Water Coaster was Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, whose coaster section is not especially extensive, but I’m sad to say that I didn’t especially enjoy the coaster bits of Poseidon. It was similar to Euro Mir in that it seemed to get hideously rough whenever it sped up or turned (although perhaps slightly less bad than Euro Mir), and I was bashed around like hell. And even on the straight bits, it seemed to vibrate in a rather uncomfortable way that hurt my bottom a bit (I know that sounds weird, but that’s what I genuinely felt). Wetness-wise, I got pretty soaked; my trousers were soaking wet through! However, we’re not talking anywhere near a Valhalla level soaking or anything; it was still within the comfortable realm of wetness, so I’d say it delivered as a water ride. Overall, while Poseidon looks beautiful, I wasn’t really a fan of its on-ride experience; it was too rough for me, I’m afraid:

After Poseidon, we had a bit of a sit down in France with some delicious baked goods; we had pretzels from the boulangerie, and they were delicious!

After that, we walked for a bit, and headed onto…
Piccolo Mondo
Piccolo Mondo was on a walk-on queue, so we decided to give it a go; it was a new dark ride that I thought looked intriguing. So, how was it? Well, I thought it was quite good fun; it was certainly quirky, but it had quite a fun vibe about it, and it had lots of fun animatronics and scenes! All in all, definitely a fun little ride:

After Piccolo Mondo, we decided to try the other dark ride in Italy…
Geisterschloss
Geisterschloss also had a very small queue, so we decided to give it a whirl. I’d heard that this was very similar to Disney’s Haunted Mansion, which I really liked, so I was interested to give it a try. So, how was it? Well, I can definitely see the similarities between HM and Geisterschloss (not least the stretching room pre-show, which was almost an exact replica of its Disney inspiration), but it was surprisingly dark and gory in comparison to Haunted Mansion, with a lot of heads being cut off and dead bodies. It also appeared more reliant on jumpscares than HM, and while it was a nice dark ride, I’m not sure I liked it quite as much as its Disney sibling:

After Geisterschloss, we cut through an alleyway to get nearer to the entrance of…
Silver Star
Silver Star was on an advertised 15 minute queue, so we decided to give it a ride. As with yesterday’s rides, the queue moved at phenomenal pace, and I’m not sure it even took 15 minutes! So, how was the ride? Well, we were seated in row 7, and it was just as phenomenal as yesterday, being packed full of awesome airtime:

After Silver Star, we sauntered steadily over to Portugal to do our final new coaster, and our next water ride…
Atlantica SuperSplash
Atlantica was on an advertised 35 minute wait, so we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, this was somewhat understated, and it ended up taking close to an hour all in, which was the longest queue of the trip so far. That’s not through the fault of the ride team, however; the queue still moved fast, and there are many theme parks where I’d be thrilled with an hour’s wait, so I guess Europa has just spoiled me over the last 2 days! So, how was the ride? Well, it was perfectly all right, but not something I was particularly thrilled with or something I’d rush to do again unless it had a short queue. The main drop was quite good, and the airtime hill was a fun moment too, but the ride didn’t do an awful lot, and I thought the coaster functionality didn’t really serve much purpose; it just kind of existed, and it didn’t really add a lot to the ride for me. Don’t get me wrong, Atlantica wasn’t a bad ride by any means, and I did get pretty wet on it, so it certainly served its purpose as a water ride, but it wasn’t a favourite of mine, and I think my parents agreed. It looks beautiful, however, and is very well themed:

After Atlantica, we sat down for a few minutes before deciding to do another water ride while we were still wet…
Fjord-Rafting
Fjord-Rafting was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. We were going to do this yesterday, so I was intrigued to see what it was like now that we’d vowed to do water rides today. So, how was it? Well, I thought it was a very enjoyable rapids ride; there were loads of good waves, loads of good effects, some really nice theming, and it was overall a really good, fun rapids that was decently wet while still being within the realms of fun! I definitely liked this rapids a lot! (I apologise, as I realise I forgot to photograph Fjord-Rafting…)

After a fun ride on Fjord-Rafting, I split off from my parents; they went to the paddle steamer in France for some drinks, while I had one last ride on each of the big 3.

I initially started with Silver Star, where I scored a back row ride; it was absolutely sublime, with tons of phenomenal airtime!

I then trekked over to Iceland, where I joined a 25 minute queue for Blue Fire. I scored a back row ride on this too, and similarly to earlier, it was good fun!

I then finished the day with a ride on Wodan. I was seated in row 9, and this was possibly the most fast-paced Wodan ride yet; the ride felt absolutely unstoppable!

Having done the big 3 in quick succession, and having done multiple rides on each now, I am definitely noticing a hierarchy emerging in terms of how I rank them. Silver Star is top dog (a truly spectacular ride that is packed with fun and infectiously rerideable!), Wodan is a very close second to Silver Star (absolutely relentless, and so much fun!), and Blue Fire is a more distant third (still an excellent coaster, but lacking a certain something to take it into that truly top tier alongside Silver Star and Wodan. Nevertheless, the last inversion is truly excellent, and the ride is certainly great fun!).

After my rides on the big 3, I headed back to our hotel, where I met back up with my parents to close off the day with a lovely evening meal in Restaurant Castillo.

So, that was day 2! We had a great day today, and I thoroughly enjoyed ticking off more attractions we hadn’t done, including some slightly different ones compared to the rather coaster-heavy first day!

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed my report from day 2! Day 3 will be coming tomorrow, and my mum has already strategised a plan of action for us tomorrow that involves ERT and getting on some of the remaining rides we haven’t done, as well as rerides on our favourites and possibly a show or two as well!

 

[Nick13]

Great report so far, this is making me miss Europa Park!

Dont forget to take a ride on Ba-a-a-Express tomorrow

 

[Furiustobaco]

I'm glad you're seeming to enjoy the Europa magic Matt! Ngl reading this report makes me wanna go back so bad. I haven't been since 2019, and i am missing it so much.

I find your placements on their top three interesting. For me i generally change Silver Star and Blue Fire around every trip though honestly Silver Star for me personally always seems to really deliver or let me down. I agree on Wodan though, it is a such a fast paced and wild coaster peppered with so many pops of airtime and it easily is the king of the park.

I think Blue Fire as a whole is more of a graceful ride with a few execellent moments. I think Mack have came a long way with the model.

And Euro-Mir.. Yeah i love Euro-Mir, but honestly i could totally understand why someone would dislike it. It has a pretty stupid long lift hill, it it is jolty. But honestly if you face backwards for the final helix that ride is probably the most forceful ride in the park. I personally like it for the rave spiral lift, and that ending moment that has a 50/50 chance to rip your face off with positive G's.

I agree with you on Poseidon- i love the ride, the way it looks. I do think the second main drop is really fun though, it is just the main coaster section (that horribly jolty turn). That was 2019 anyway. Same sentiment for A S S (Alantica), it is a great water ride but really barely a credit and only really fun riding on a sunny day.

I'm glad you enjoyed Arthur- personally for me its ride that always makes me smile. Its just so charming. Picollo Mondo and the Dinosaur Dark ride in Europa have the same effect on me. Its just incredibly charming. I feel like a kid again. Enjoy your third day! Europa honestly is such a lovely park and writing this out makes me wanna go back lol

 

[Hixee]

Man, what great Europa weather! Exactly the sort of thing you want to be able to kick back and really enjoy the park.

It's fine to say that Euro-Mir and Poseidon are trash - you are allowed to have a negative opinion - but I've very glad you've dethroned boring-Wickerman in favour of excellent-Wodan.

I'm loving this report so far. Keep it up.

 

[Smithy]

So jealous - I'd forgotten just how good (and huge) Europa Park was.

 

[Nitefly]

I’m not sure about anyone else but I’m reading this trip report like:

 

[Matt N]

29th April 2022: Europa Park Day 3
Today was the final day of Europa Park awesomeness! We started a bit earlier today, opting to head in for ERT, and my mum had actually looked at the map and jotted down a plan of action for today, so we certainly had no shortage of things to do!

My mum and I headed on into Europa at slightly after 8:30am this morning, with my dad joining us a touch later. As with both of the previous days, we used the hotel entrance, accessed via El Andaluz:

The first ride in our plan of action was…
Alpenexpress
Alpenexpress was first on our action plan, and it had a walk-on queue, so we decided to give it a go. So, how was it? Well, we were seated in row 7, and it was a really good, fun powered coaster, just like it was on Wednesday. One thing I forgot to mention about this that I found really interesting is that they do not do physical restraint checks; they must clearly have a lot of trust in their ride system. That’s not an issue by any means, but I certainly found it interesting:

After that, my dad wasn’t quite ready yet, so we had another ride on Alpenexpress while waiting for him to arrive. We were seated in row 10, and it was again great fun!

After that, my dad arrived, and we headed over to Holland to ride…
Piraten in Batavia
Piraten in Batavia was on a walk-on queue, so we decided to give it a go. After enjoying it yesterday, we were keen to do it again during ERT this morning. So, how was it? Well, it was still an excellent dark ride; I was noticing all kinds of details I didn’t notice the first time, and as an overall package, I’ll concede that it’s absolutely spectacular, with so many different types of effects and theming blended together seamlessly. I don’t think it’s quite my favourite dark ride I’ve ever done (many of the Universal Orlando ones are still something else entirely), but it’s certainly in the upper echelons of the dark rides I’ve ridden. If I ranked dark rides, it would certainly be top 10 material, and I have no qualms about saying that of what I’ve done (Europa, the UK and Florida), it is easily my favourite dark ride outside the state of Florida. A really rather magical ride that I’ve been thoroughly impressed with both times I’ve ridden:

We actually broke down on Piraten in Batavia, however. As such, we were stuck in the ending scene for around 15-20 minutes. I’ll admit that it was very interesting being stuck on the boat within the restaurant scene; the restaurant was totally empty, which made it rather eerie!

After getting off Piraten in Batavia, our plan next saw us heading to…
Blue Fire
Blue Fire was on a mere 5 minute queue, so me and my dad decided to give it a go (mum declined, as she didn’t like it on Tuesday). As it turned out, 5 minutes was a slight overstatement, as me and my dad literally had a one train wait; always a bonus! So, how was Blue Fire? Well, we were seated in row 6, and it was really good fun, with some nice hangtime, a smooth ride, and that last inversion still being rather brilliant! However, I did notice that while the ride overall is very smooth, there are 1 or 2 slightly weird transitions on Blue Fire that did hurt my head a touch; hardly a deal breaker, but definitely something I noticed and something that detracted ever so slightly for me. Nonetheless, Blue Fire was a fun ride that I really enjoyed:

After Blue Fire, we tackled the other roller coaster in Iceland…
Wodan Timbur Coaster
Wodan was on an advertised 30 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. It ultimately ended up feeling like it may have been a little longer than 30 minutes, but I wasn’t 100% sure. So, how was the ride? Well, we scored our first back row Wodan ride of the trip (the only one of the big 3 I hadn’t scored back row on), and it was phenomenal! However, I don’t think sitting directly on the back made an awful lot of difference on Wodan compared to something like Wicker Man, where it elevates the ride by a surprising amount; the back felt very similar to the other rides I had. Still, it was exceptional, and we all loved it:

After Wodan, we ambled steadily over to a new ride we hadn’t done yet…
Fluch der Kassandra
Fluch der Kassandra was on our hit list for today, and it was on a mere 5 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. One thing I immediately noticed as soon as we entered the ride is that unlike the other 2 Madhouses I’ve done (Hex and Haunted House Monster Party), the ride had no pre-show whatsoever; you were batched straight onto the ride. I think I was able to grasp the basic gist of the story, however. So, how was the ride? Well, it was perfectly OK, but I’d definitely say it was the weakest of the 3 Madhouses I’ve done, personally. Rightly or wrongly, I did feel that the lack of any pre-show took a little something away for me, and the ride itself didn’t seem quite as fun as the other 2 Madhouses I’ve done. It also seemed a bit more sickly than the other 2, which I found interesting. However, it was still a fun ride, and I did like certain little touches in there; for instance, the little “surprises” in the seating later on in the ride definitely caught me off guard and were a very nice touch:

After Fluch der Kassandra, we headed a short distance to another re-ride from the previous 2 days…
Silver Star
Silver Star was on an advertised 20 minute queue time, so we decided to give it a go. From the outside, the queue looked quite long, so we were thought it would take longer than 20 minutes. However, with Silver Star being the throughput machine that it is, the ride well and truly proved us wrong, with the queue ending up at 20 minutes or possibly even slightly less! The throughput on Silver Star really is something to behold; most of Europa’s throughputs are pretty high, but Silver Star’s seems to be on a whole different level! Me and my mum were discussing it in the queue, and I think that that 15-20 minute queue had enough people in it that it would probably be close to an hour on a ride at any of the major UK parks; truly a testament to both B&M’s efficient design and Europa’s efficient operations! So, how was the ride? Well, we were seated in row 4, and it was excellent as always, however I was pretty stapled in, so I didn’t get quite as much airtime as on previous rides. Still, it was a phenomenal ride that I absolutely loved!
(I apologise, as I realise I took no picture of Silver Star on this ride…)

After our ride on Silver Star, we fancied a change in tempo to something a touch more relaxing…
Euro Tower
Euro Tower was on a mere 5 minute wait, so we decided to give it a go. I was keen to get on this, as I was hoping to get some good aerial photographs of the park, particularly of some of the bits that are somewhat harder to photograph from ground level (for instance, Silver Star… I wanted to have some better photos of the ride than repeated photos of the entrance). So, how was it? Well, I thought it was a really nice, relaxing ride, and it offered some excellent viewpoints; here are some of the photos I took:

After a relaxing ride on Euro Tower, we headed to Great Britain for something completely different…
Abraka-Shakespeare: Reloaded
We fancied trying a show, as we had not watched any yet. As such, we went to the 11:45am showing of this magic show in the Globe Theatre. I must say, the Globe Theatre is a surprisingly phenomenal replica of the true thing, and it did feel very British! Anyway, how was the show? Well, I won’t deny that from an objective standpoint, it was a very impressive show; some of the illusions were very impressive, and the overall production value was excellent! However, it did reinforce my previous belief that shows aren’t really my thing, so as such, I decided after this to opt out of watching the Spanish horse show with my parents later on. That’s nothing against the show we watched, as I thought it was rather impressive, but they’re not really my kind of thing on the whole:

After the show, we sat down in France to eat some lunch. We once again ate from the boulangerie, but we tried some baguettes this time, and they were once again delicious!

After eating lunch, I noticed that Silver Star was on a mere 10 minute queue. I couldn’t miss an open goal like that (My favourite ride in the park is a stone’s throw away and on a 10 minute queue? Get me in line!), so I dashed off alone and had a quick ride. I was seated in row 8, and it was phenomenal, with considerably more airtime than the earlier ride:

After my awesome ride on Silver Star, I met back up with my parents, and we headed to ride…
Cancan Coaster
Cancan was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. The queue was distinctly shorter than it had been on Wednesday, which was a definite bonus; we were on quickly! So, how was the ride? Well, I really enjoyed it! I noticed many new details within the queue and ride that I hadn’t noticed on the previous ride, and the coaster itself was great fun and surprisingly thrilling as it had been the first time! Yes, this ride might not be big 3 level, but I think it’s a terrifically fun coaster, and the themed experience aspect of it is beautifully crafted from start to finish; everything has been thought about, and it’s absolutely seamless, and so well done as a themed attraction! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Cancan Coaster, and my parents seemed to as well:

After Cancan Coaster, we had a brief sit down to watch the fountains in France before heading to a different area to ride…
Volo da Vinci
Volo da Vinci was on a 10 minute advertised queue time, so we decided to give it a go. The queue took slightly longer than 10 minutes (more like 15-20), but I have to say that I was very impressed with the queue from a design standpoint. It’s very well themed, and this leads me on to a wider overall point I’ve been noticing over the last 3 days; Europa’s smaller attractions have almost as much effort put into them as their larger attractions, which I’ll admit really surprised me. When you see something like Volo da Vinci, or a smaller dark ride like Snorri Touren or Madame Freudenreich’s, having such a well designed and in-depth queue, I’ll admit it is a very pleasant surprise, and does make even the most mundane of attractions feel that little bit more special! So, how was the ride? Well, I thought it was a nice little ride for what it was! You got really good views, and the pedalling aspect was quite novel:

After Volo da Vinci, we strolled through Germany for a bit, and decided to try something else slightly different…
Marionetten Bootsfahrt
We noticed that this ride (I apologise, as I’ve probably butchered the spelling…) had no queue whatsoever, and we thought it looked intriguing, so we decided to give it a go. I never even knew this ride existed prior to stumbling across it on our stroll, so it was a surprising one to discover! So, how was it? Well, I’ll admit it was rather weird, and slightly unnerving, but something about it was weirdly charming, and I thought it was a nice little ride to relax on:

After the puppet boat ride, we decided to try another more relaxing ride…
Panorama-Bahn
Panorama-Bahn had no queue, and we noticed it was convenient for getting towards another ride we wanted to do, so we decided to give it a go. Anyway, how was it? Well, I thought it was a nice little train ride, with some very nice views of Europa’s various different areas:

(I apologise, as I notice I didn’t take any photos on the ride…)

We got off Panorama-Bahn in Great Britain, and from there, we decided to take a stroll through Austria and the wonderfully charming fairytale section in order to get over to…
Arthur
Arthur was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so we decided to give it a go. We really enjoyed this yesterday, so were keen to give it another ride today. The queue was distinctly shorter than it had been the previous day, which was a definite bonus! So, how was the ride? Well, it was just as brilliant as it had been yesterday; the theming is incredibly well done throughout, and the coaster sections have surprising vigour! Yes, it might not be big 3 level, but it’s a really fun attraction that never fails to put a smile on your face:

After Arthur, it was not far off being time for the Spanish horse show, so my parents headed over to Spain to watch that while I split off to do a few more rides.

I examined the queue times, and my first port of call was Silver Star. I did this not once, but twice in a row, and on my first ride, I decided to queue up for the front row. I was unsure how it would ride up front, as some elements did seem like they’d benefit from being ridden at the back, but I’ve got to say that it was still absolutely phenomenal, and possibly my strongest ride on Silver Star yet at that point! You really got pushed over the big camelback hills in the first half in such wonderful fashion, with some truly sublime sustained floater, and even some of the elements I thought would be more suited to the back, such as the second half and the first drop, were still truly excellent! And surprisingly, it was similar to a launch coaster in that the sense of speed felt heightened up front; even though Silver Star doesn’t look overly fast from off-ride, it feels phenomenally fast when you’re on the front!

I initially thought that the front was my favourite row on Silver Star, but my second ride was on row 8 and it was equally sublime, so then I started second guessing myself! You know a ride is good when you can’t decide your favourite row!

After that, I went for a second ride on Cancan, on an advertised 15 minute queue. It was just as fun as earlier on, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

After that, I then went back to Silver Star, and I enjoyed a further 2 rides. My one ride was in row 4, and my other ride was in row 6, and both were absolutely exceptional! I also got a certain sense of personal satisfaction because that took my ride tally on Silver Star for today to 6 rides, which took the record for the most rides I’ve had on one roller coaster in a single park day; the previous record holder was Swarm, where I had 5 rides on it in September 2021.

Those were my last rides on Silver Star of the trip; they certainly ended my rides on that coaster on a high! However, I need to talk a little more about it before I move on. I have to say that the ride has grown on me over the course of my 3 days in Europa; it is truly sublime, the airtime is something else, it’s smooth and comfortable, it keeps its pace throughout, and I love it to bits! I also had plenty of rides on it over the last 3 days (10 in total), and that 10th ride had exactly the same impact as the first; every ride I had on Silver Star had me in complete shock and fits of laughter, and every ride gave me a true euphoric feeling of wanting to run straight back round. My rides on it today in particular made me grow very attached to it in a way I can’t quite explain, and as I was floating down the first drop and camelback hills, and being ejected off the MCBR, I was having truly scary thoughts. I was thinking to myself “is Mako really better than this?”. Yes, Mako is ever so slightly smoother than Silver Star, and the shock I had upon first experiencing that immense first drop and those phenomenal airtime hills will live with me forever and always make it a special ride, as well as one that ranks highly, but it’s been absolutely years now since I rode Mako (and I only rode 3 times, at that), and I have to say, Silver Star’s raw greatness was truly having an impact on me. I love how it keeps its pace and phenomenal airtime right to the end, and I love how every airtime moment is phenomenally impactful in its own special way, and I love how smooth and rerideable it is, and getting in the queue to ride it was truly making me feel a palpable buzz. I found it hard to tear myself away after my 6th ride; I could have kept going until ride close!

With that in mind; I have had a change of heart. Mako’s had a good 6 years at number 1, and it’s still an epic ride, but until I ride it again, I think it’s been narrowly surpassed. Silver Star is my new number 1 roller coaster.

Sorry about that… that bombshell sounded far better in my head than it looks on the screen…

Anyway, back to my Europa day.

After leaving Silver Star, I headed over to Iceland. However, I decided to have a slight change of tempo on the way and try something new…
Schlittenfahrt Schneefloecken
Schlittenfahrt Schneefloecken was walk on, and I hadn’t done it yet, so I decided to give it a whirl. I believe this is the ride that enthusiasts refer to as “Bench” (correct me if I’m wrong), so I was interested to give it a go. So, how was it? Well, it was slightly unnerving riding it on my own, but it was a perfectly charming little ride, if not anything earth-shattering:

After Schlittenfahrt Schneefloecken, I ended my day with a ride on Wodan. I was seated in row 6, and it was phenomenal; it’s perhaps the most unhinged roller coaster I’ve ever been on, but it maintains immense rerideability!

After that, I left the park for the last time this trip:

I then met up with my parents again, and we headed to Hotel Colosseo for a delicious evening meal in Antica Roma, the Italian buffet restaurant:

After that, the day came to a close.

So all in all, I had a phenomenal final day at Europa! It was quite a different day to the first 2 in many ways, but still equally fulfilling, and I was very satisfied! As well as my “ride count on one roller coaster in a day” record being broken on Silver Star, I also broke my overall ride count record; I make my total count for the day to be 21 (previous record was 16), and if you need a reminder, I did the following rides:

• Silver Star x6
• Wodan x2
• Cancan x2
• Alpenexpress x2
• Blue Fire x1
• Piraten in Batavia x1
• Fluch der Kassandra x1
• Euro Tower x1
• Volo da Vinci x1
• Marionetten Bootfahrt x1
• Panorama-Bahn x1
• Arthur x1
• Schlittenfahrt Schneefloecken x1

I was very satisfied with that, personally!

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow, we’re going to be spending a few hours exploring the Europa Park hotel resort, so my summary will probably be somewhat briefer tomorrow, but keep your eyes peeled for a report all the same!