My first time visit to Europa Park 19 & 20 October

[ThomVD]

My friend and I had been wanting to visit Europa Park for over a year now. We found a full package deal on the internet, €200 for the journey (from the Netherlands to Europa Park), the tickets for 2 days, the hotel, dinner and breakfast every day and the bus ride from the hotel to the park. At 6:50 in the morning we went on the bus, ready for an amazing adventure!

My friend (left) and I (right) on our way to Germany.

After a long long bus trip we arrived at the hotel in the evening. The food was crap but nobody cared. Everybody was excited and I even heard some fellow coaster geeks talking and I couldn't help but to join the conversation and correct them wrong occasionally (one of them thought Blue Fire is an Intamin). It was awesome to go on a trip with several other strangers, and we did see some of them in the park occasionally. There were all kinds of people. Families, teenagers, older people, enthusiasts and non enthusiasts. Anyway, we went to bed, ready for the big day tomorrow.

FIRST DAY: PART 1

So the bus trip to Europa Park was quite spectacular. I love how we drove a circle around the park, so we could see a lot of the rides there. First the hotels (the lighthouse and Hotel Colosseo), then Wodan, Atlantica, Blue Fire, Euro Mir, Poseidon, Pegasus, Eurosat and of course the huge Silver Star. We arrived at 8:30, got our ticket and entered the main street. It was beautifully themed with halloween decoration and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" music playing. After a couple of minutes it suddenly got insanely crowded. I've never seen so many people waiting at the opening of a theme park before, the entire main street was full. At exactly 9:00 the gates opened...

We ran towards Blue Fire, which was my most anticipated coaster in the park. I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture, but we made up for that the second day. It said 1 minute queue time, so now was the best time to go on the front seat. Had to wait 5-10 minutes, but it was totally worth it. The trains are absolutely amazing. They're comfortable, provide a lot of freedom, the heart pulse thing was cool (although they didn't work on some seats, and they only work if you hold on, which I didn't during the entire ride). I also love how your feet don't touch the floor. The short dark ride part was a nice build up for the launch. The launch was great and smooth! It might not be very forceful, but since I had only been on Xpress in Walibi Holland, this one felt great to me. It also seemed to last pretty long. The first overbank gave a bit of floater airtime, which felt really nice with these restraints. Then the tunnel into the loop. Wow! Having only ridden Vekoma loops (and Black Mamba's, but that's an invert loop), this one felt so much better. It was less forceful, but so much more enjoyable and smooth. I loved the hangtime. Then there was a quick turn and going up to the MCBR actually gave some great airtime. The twisted horshoe roll was also great. All the inversions seriously feel amazing with these restraints. The hill through the loop also gave a bit of airtime, and what follows was the heartline roll. Words can't describe how amazing it was. That concluded the fantastic ride. My favorite coaster so far. Smooth and enjoyable. Sorry to make it so long , and I know most of you already know what the coaster is like, but I just had to write it down because I loved the ride so much. I promise the others won't be this long. tl;dr, Blue fire was incredible!

After that we moved on to Wodan. Already a 50 minute queue, crazy! Didn't mind waiting in line though. The queue was FANTASTICALLY themed. I'm always impressed with De Vliegende Hollander's queue line, but this one beats it. Amazing special effects, and just so much to look at. So then we got on the ride. As I totally adore Joris and Troy in the back seat I was really hoping to be able to sit there, but the ride op assigned us to the 8th row out of 12. Could be worse! Off we went. Not sure if there's supposed to be dispatch music (it seems like it on videos), but it didn't work this time, the lifthill didn't have any music either, shame. The first drop was amazing, just like the other two GCI's I've been on. Nice airtime. It's unbelievable how FAST this woodie is. Feels like the entire stucture is gonna collapse. Awesome! The hills had some nice airtime and the twists were so sudden that it kinda hurt my sides, but then it was over. It all went so fast. I feel like it's a bit too short and just doesn't do as much as Troy and Joris. Never been on Millennium Force, but from what I've seen and heard they kind of have the same thing. Great first drop, very fast during the entire ride, but they just don't do that much. Still enjoyed it a lot and like I said, the theming is incredible. tl;dr, great coaster, but a bit on the short side.

It was really warm so we saw that the queue for Atlantica was quite long. We decided to head to Euro Mir next. 60 minutes! It was a really crowded day, but we decided to just go for it since the rest would probably be long too. The line moved really fast though. The operations are absolutely amazing. It doesn't matter which coaster you looked at, you could always see a train passing by because they dispatch those things like crazy.

Euro Mir's queue looked really nice from the inside. We got on the front car. Then my first disappointment happened. The awesome lifthill music was replaced by some boring tune because of halloween . Also, the front car didn't spin, so it was just a really boring 4 minute lift. When we got on the top, I found the slow spinning to be pretty terrifying due to my fear of heights. It was fun though. We went backwards the first drop and the forces felt really weird. I enjoyed the rest of the ride. I've heard people say that it's rough, but I just don't get that. It actually felt really smooth. Maybe going backwards is rougher because of the sudden changes of direction? Fun ride!

Then we got hungry, so we got a nice german bratwurst + currywurst. We actually had to wait 15-20 minutes before we finally got our food. The currywurst in Phantasialand was nicer though. After that we passed by the dutch part with Piraten van Batavia, 15 minutes. I love dark rides so I had to try. It was nice, not as good as Fata Morgana in the Efteling, but it was very decent and I loved the little drop.

So then we saw Matterhorn Blitz was only 25 minutes so we decided to do that next. Unfortunately, the ride broke down after we had waited in the line for about 10 minutes. A lot of people left the line but we decided to risk waiting, and after about 15 minutes the ride worked again and we had moved forwards a bit because of the others leaving. The line moved extremely slow though. The last part was nicely themed. The ride itself was fun (it was my first wild mouse). The tilting lift was really cool, the drop quite big for a wild mouse, from what I've seen. The turns were nice and didn't really hurt. It was not really impressive, but just an enjoyable ride.

Next up was the greek part. It looked stunning! The theming and landscaping in the park is really well done. Every single queue in the park is heavily themed. Animatronics were everywhere. Anyway, Pegasus was a 15 minute wait, so we went on the back seat of that ride. Expecting it was a kiddie ride, I was actually quite surprised. In the back the first drop actually had airtime, there was another sudden pop somewhere in the middle during a small drop. The helices were also kinda forceful for a family coaster. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a bit short though.

When we left the area we somehow suddenly got in the queue of Poseidon without realising it, but we wanted to do the ride anyway. The queue was once again nicely themed and we waited about half an hour before we got on. The theming on the ride was also incredible. The ride itself was a little rough, but nothing bad. And then we saw a bunch of boats bumped onto each other and a boat stuck on the lifthill. Another break down. It was kind of hilarious though, as we were doing the wave while waiting for them to fix the ride. The sun was really warm though. After about 20 minutes the ride worked again (and everybody was cheering every time a boat went down the drop because the boats went up one by one). The last drop was really good with a bit of airtime. You don't really get wet though. There was a lady at the water cannon but she failed miserably.

Here's the little breakdown .

Then we finally decided to go on Silver Star. The queue time was 35 min so that wasn't too bad. The front line queue was pretty short so we just went for it. I didn't really have high expectations of this one since people keep saying it's tame and doesn't have much airtime. Going up I got a bit nervous. I really loved those B&M trains though, the lapbar is quite comfy. The first drop was absolutely incredible! It was so big, and fast. It blows Goliath's first drop away. So then we went up to the first hill, expecting a little bit of floating air. Boy was I surprised. I flew out of my seat, it was amazing! It felt very much the same as Goliath's first airtime hill, but with nicer restraints and higher up in the air. I didn't even feel the trims on the second hill, another hill full of amazing airtime. I love how you can stretch your legs forwards. That and the comfy lapbars are the reasons why I love the airtime on this coaster more than any other coaster I've been on, Goliath included. The overbank was pretty terrifying for me, since I was on the very left seat. Then there was some more airtime on the hill and up the MCBR. Then a helix, but another nice surprise was the exit of the helix. That was probably the nicest pop of air I've ever had. Then another hill and a really fun S-curve, into the brakes. Wow! What a great ride. The only thing Goliath has that Silver Star doesn't is the Stengel Dive (and the long and bland helices, that I don't even enjoy that much). Aside from that it's so much taller, faster, better, more comfortable, smoother and provides more airtime overall.

Next to Silver Star was Eurosat. Another 35 min wait, and once again the line moved really fast, and once again the inside part of the queue was nicely themed, and it had escalators! We went on the front seat once again, since we didn't have to wait longer for it. The ride was a little bit rough but oh so fun! Like Euro Mir, the ride had different music and also extra theming because of halloween, but I didn't mind it in this one. It was awesome. A lot of light effects and a very enjoyable, out of control coaster. I would like to experience the original Eurosat some day though, so I'll go back sometime when it isn't halloween.

The park was opened till 20:30, but unfortunately some lovely people didn't want to stay in the park too long because they didn't want to have dinner too late... So we left at 18:00. Quite frustrating. One family ruining the fun of all other 20-25 people. We had one hour left so we wanted to get Atlantica and Alpen Express done. Atlantica's queue was 40 minutes so we decided to save that for tomorrow. Alpen Express was only 10 mins so we did that one next, in the back seat. It started out kind of slow and tame, but when you entered the mines an ok ride changed into an awesome ride. It smelt great, it looked great, and suddenly we dived into the darkness and it actually felt really fast! Love how you get 2 rides.

When we left we saw the log flume and since me and my friends always have a lot of fun on flumes we went for that next. The queue was 15 mins, and instead of getting a log for just us two, they decided to put us both in one seat, with 4 others in the log, so it was really uncomfortable and cramped. The first drop was quite wet! The mine part was beautiful and the last drop was fun. After that we did the wave swinger fast because I always enjoy those things. Then we walked back through the fairytale forest where I saw a bit of the new for 2014 coaster, Arthur! We slowly walked back to the entrance. Leaving the park 2,5 hour early... bah.

That concludes day 1 . I'll do day 2 later. This is my first real trip report so don't be too hard on me . Thanks for reading!

 

[furie]

Great report. So good to read somebody with "limited" experience (if you don't mind me saying that?) writing a report of a park like Europa.

I loved Silver Star too, but we didn't get the amount of airtime you seemed to. Blue Fire is also a great coaster so agree there

Wodan, again, I completely agree with you. Nice and fast, but it didn't seem to do much. It was much better at the front though.

Can't wait for the next instalment.

 

[DelPiero]

Nice report with some great photos. I like the detail in which you've described the rides, as someone who is still to visit Europa it's good to read full descriptions.
I can't understand how one family could influence the whole group to leave early though.
Looking forward to day 2.

 

[Darren B]

Great trip report. I love how you've gone into specific details for each coaster, and I completely agree with you on all your views, except Blue Fire, it's a really good coaster (easily the second best in the park) but Silver Star beats it hands down for me. Also really glad you enjoyed Eurosat, we went as a group of 11 CFers and weren't expecting anything from the ride, but once we'd got off we were all a bit shocked as to how good it actually was. It was rough, but a nice rough, 4th best coaster in the park.

Anyways, can't wait for part 2.

 

[ThomVD]

Thanks guys! Glad you enjoyed reading it

Great report. So good to read somebody with "limited" experience (if you don't mind me saying that?) writing a report of a park like Europa.

I don't mind, because it's the truth . Only been to 5 parks so far, but I'm working on it! I'll write a trip report for the other new parks I'll visit too, as it might be interesting for you guys to see me grow from a newbie to (hopefully) a more experienced enthusiast :wink: .

I loved Silver Star too, but we didn't get the amount of airtime you seemed to.

Maybe I caught it on a good day, because most people I spoke to (including my friend) prefered it over Goliath and thought it had better airtime. The trims barely slowed down the train at all (at least I didn't feel it).

I can't understand how one family could influence the whole group to leave early though.

Yeah, it sucked. At first they wanted to leave at 16:45 but we managed to make it 18:00. Why would someone pay for a holiday just to stay in a crappy hotel half of the day .

I completely agree with you on all your views, except Blue Fire, it's a really good coaster (easily the second best in the park) but Silver Star beats it hands down for me.

It was really hard choosing between the two and my first ride on Silver Star was probably the highlight of the weekend (maybe because I wasn't hyping it as much as Blue fire), but I thought Blue Fire had a nicer variety (launch, airtime, inversions), while Silver Star was mostly just (fantastic) hills. Choosing between Blue Fire, Black Mamba and Silver Star for my top 3 was really really difficult. They're just all amazing in their own right. Black Mamba has stunning theming, Blue fire has amazing inversions and a launch (I love launches), and Silver Star has great airtime.

 

[ThomVD]

Alright, so time for day 2. This day we wanted to get the last two creds (Atlantica and the Bobsled coaster), and do the slower rides, the rapid, dark rides etc. and also re-ride our favorite rides. So when we were in the bus it suddenly started to rain... a lot. I didn't mind to be honest, as long as it would stop when we arrive at the park. After a very crowded day, it would be nice to have a quiet day. We arrived around 8:30 again, so we took some pics of the entrance area. It was still raining, but the mainstreet was also significantly less packed.

So when the gates opened we ran towards Blue Fire again (we once again took the long way around past Atlantica, while we found out later that there's also a path to Blue Fire from Scandinavia), because some other guys told us that it had a 85 minute queue in the afternoon the previous day, so we wanted to make sure we got our re-ride. Again front seat, again an amazing experience. I actually love how this one isn't too forceful so that you could basically re-ride it all day without getting a headache. It really is super re-ridable.

After that we went to Wodan for a front seat ride. Queue was about 20 minutes. The station is really nice with the animatronics moving their heads when you dispatch, but I prefer the great atmosphere of Joris's station. The music, the king's speech, the fanfare when the train dispatches, the cheering or boo-ing when a winning/losing train returns to the station. One of the reasons why I love that coaster. It has the nicest feel and personality of the three GCI's I've ridden, although Troy has a slightly better layout in my opinion(and wodan is the best themed one). Here you just get on and ride. Too bad the rain had gotten really nasty, and 100 km/h with rain is not really a nice feeling. Front seat was awesome, but I got too distracted by the needles flying in my face . We were completely soaked when we returned to the station.

After that our plan was to get a couple of re-rides on Blue Fire, and we decided to man up and stick with that plan, despite the rain. We went from Wodan's square through a path that I guess is either Blue Fire's old or extended queue line. You got some nice views of the ride so we took some pics. A 20 minute queue again. We went for the normal seats now and were lucky enough to get assigned to the back seat. We did have to wait for a couple of minutes because the rain had gotten too bad for the ride to operate. The back seat was fun, the first overbank and the loop were better in the back than front, but overall I thought the front was more enjoyable. It had more airtime, the launch was better and the view was nicer obviously. The rain didn't hurt as much as on Wodan.

After that it constantly rained so I couldn't make pics, so it's hard to remember what exactly we did. *grabs map*. I think we were desperate to find some indoor rides due to the rain. All the dark rides were at the other side of the park so we started walking there. We came across the tea cups ride which was themed for halloween, it was indoor so we went on that. It was actually really cool. There was music, fog and light effects and it gave a standard tea cups ride a really cool atmosphere.

Then we got on the Jurassic Park dark ride next to Eurosat, called "Universum der Energie". Of course it had a nice queue area and the dark itself was alright. A lot of big dino animatronics but nothing special about it. Then we wanted to go on the bob, because we hadn't done that before, and it isn't that fast so the rain wouldn't be a problem. It only had a 6 min queue so that was really nice! The coaster itself was probably the least exciting of all of them. I did enjoy it (I'm easily amused with coasters, I've never ridden one that I don't enjoy, even El Condor and the kiddie coasters are fun to me), but it was just slow and very short. The bob in the Efteling is way more enjoyable and more thrilling. It would be nicer with a significant other because you do sit close to each other in a cozy way, like in a log flume. We walked back and did Eurosat again, back seat this time. It was a 35 minute wait due to the rain and it being an indoor coaster. Once again a really awesome ride.

When we left the rain had stopped so we ran towards Silver Star because I wanted to re-ride that one. 15 minute queue, the day really was a lot more quiet than the previous one. We queued for front seat and prayed that there still wasn't any rain, but alas, when we got on it started to rain again. A lot. 127 km/h with a lot of rain isn't nice . The ride was good again, but I just got so distracted that I had no time to enjoy it much. When we got off we decided it was time to buy a poncho. Waste of €6, the rest of the day it stopped raining. Oh well.

Next it was time for the Greek part again. We wanted a re-ride on Poseidon because of the breakdown the previous day, and we just wanted to experience the ride without stopping for 15 minutes in the middle. First off we did Fluch der Kassandra, a mack madhouse. It was hilarious. The ride itself is pretty good, smaller than a vekoma madhouse but the room spins a lot more and faster, which was a nice change. But then it started. You basically get a butt massage with those chairs, and everybody was just constantly laughing. It was absolutely awesome. It really feels weird. Then we went for another run on Poseidon which was nice (5 minute queue), and after that we got on Pegasus again since it was a walk on and the ride is awesome.

We decided to explore and we took a path we hadn't seen before. When we realised it led to Poseidon's splash zone we ran away as fast as we could . We were hungry and wanted to try Foodloop. Had to wait for 10 mins in a queue but it was worth it. It was a really nice experience to see all the food flying above your head. We got some fries, and it was actually very very good! They only gave you a little bit of mayo and usually I don't like fries without mayo but this was really good, which is surprising since people told me Foodloop's food was pretty crappy. Maybe other meals are, but the fries were better than in the other place where we ate brat/currywurst.

Time to explore Scandinavia! It all looked really good, and we went in the shops to check some stuff out, but ended up buying nothing. Time for the river rapid now, fjord rafting. It was pretty good. Didn't really get wet, but the girl on the opposite side was soaked, so I guess we got lucky. There aren't that many elements, and it feels a bit short, but it is very well themed (like everything in Europa Park). It had a great cave with trolls, and the lift at the end of the ride was also heavily themed. Now it was time for the swinging ship. Hate how the entrance and exit are so far from each other, since when we left the rapid we were next to the exit, but the entrance is a 10 min walk further because water blocks you from walking right to it. The swinging ship was ok. I'm used to the massive ship in the efteling so this one was a joke basically. I do like how you can choose in which row you want to sit.

They must have made a nice profit with those poncho's.

Now it was finally time for Atlantica Supersplash, the last cred. A 5 minute queue this time (the previous day it was 7 times as much). The ride is incredibly themed with the Pirates of the Carribean theme in the station. The ride itself was fun, for as long as it lasted. The backwards dip wasn't really much, and the big drop is awesome, but the ride was way to short to impress me. Dive coasters are probably different due to the drop being a lot more impressive, but this was just a decent drop and a splash that didn't get us wet at all. The theming is the best thing of this ride.

Now it was time to get a backseat ride on Silver Star. The first drop was amazing in the back seat. Airtime all the way down the drop. The rest of the ride wasn't as good as the front. I just prefer getting airtime all over the hill instead of just down the drop. It was a great ride nonetheless. Now we wanted to some of the dark rides in Italy, so first we did Piccolo Mondo, which is an Italian themed small kiddie dark ride which was actually pretty decent. The music is extremely catchy. After that Geisterschloss, which was fantastic. I loved the dark humor and the atmosphere, probably my favorite dark ride in the park. We didn't really get the jump scares though, bad timing.

We walked through germany and did the elf boat ride, which was surprisingly nice and had beautiful music. It felt like an outdoor lesser version of droomvlucht in Efteling (my favorite dark ride ever). There was also a cave full of fairies and other beautiful stuff. Really nice. Now we got all the way to blue fire to get another ride (only 20 minute queue still). In front of us in the queue were two of the guys from the holiday full package thingy (it was the guy who thought BF is an intamin), so we got in the same train, in the middle, a row behind them. Another great ride, only 20 mins left so we ran for a last ride on Silver Star. Made it just in time, we didn't have time for the front row queue so I wanted to try and see if the second row would provide similar airtime, but it was my least favorite ride on silver star. For some reason it was suddenly bumpy in every valley (it was glass smooth in both the front and back seat) and I did get some airtime, but not nearly as much as my two front seat rides. It really is a front seat ride, so from now on I'll just queue for it, rather have an amazing ride for 15 mins extra queue time than a great ride somewhere else.

So that concludes my weekend. Europa Park is a fantastic park. Incredible theming everywhere in the park, great food, 2 world class coasters, a lot of great coasters, and the rest is decent. I don't think any coaster was below average. The dark rides were very decent. Both non coaster water rides were incredibly themed, but the rides itself were average. What the park really needs is a top notch non-coaster ride. Maybe a well themed drop tower? Or a world class dark ride? The coaster selection is fantastic so that's fine for now, but the others (dark rides, water rides, flat rides), while good, can be better. Anyway, the atmosphere and everything is also incredible. A top notch park.

I've been thinking about my favorite park for a while now, and it was really hard to decide between Phantasialand, Europa Park and Efteling. Toverland is great and Troy is one of my favorite coasters but it lacks great rides aside from that one (they have a lot of good stuff but aside from Troy, I don't think anything would be a reason to visit the park if it isn't close to where you live). The park is also too small to be really immersive, though they're working on it. Walibi is pretty average, it's not bad, but not really great either. So it comes down to the three I mentioned above, and while Europa and Phantasia have a better ride selection and argubly better theming (not saying they're prettier parks, but they are more heavily themed than efteling, while efteling is prettier in terms of landscaping and nature), but I think they do feel like a theme park. When I'm there I feel like I'm in a theme park, a fantastic one, but still a theme park. When I'm in Efteling, it feels like I'm somewhere else, in a different world. It has an atmosphere, a certain feeling of magic that I think the other parks can't rival. The moment I'm in the parking lot, walking on the big promenade towards the beautiful entrance, and I hear the music play, I get a feeling I don't get anywhere else. I forget about being a thrillseeker, about big adrenaline filled rides, and I just have an incredible magical day that I can't find anywhere else. Phantasialand did feel magical but in terms of experience it's a bit similar to Europa Park. That's why Efteling remains my favorite. I'll have to go to Disney to see if it has the same feeling.

Thanks for reading my trip report. :--D