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Trip to Europe in May 2013

Edward M

Edward M

Strata Poster
I am going to Europe for 10 days this May and am going to be in London and Paris. I was hoping to go a little bit away from London or Paris. I thought I could go to a theme park. I was looking to go anywhere from UK to Germany. I don't think I could go to Spain or Italy though. I hope to use public transport like a train to get there. I am mainly looking for a park with thrilling rides. I want to ride roller coasters that are full of airtime or just plain insane fun. My favorite rides are El Toro, Maverick, and Millennium Force if that helps :--D . Please help!!!!
 
Luckily there's a bridge from the UK to Germany... ;)

Ahem.

In ten days you'll struggle to get too far from either Paris or London. It's a days journey from Paris to outside of France "somewhere" using public transport. If you add in a plane, you're looking at half a day lost somewhere just with check in, getting to and from the airport, etc. Though you can get from most "London" airports to pretty much anywhere in an hour or so's flight. So to do a German park like Europa, you could probably get in a full park day and a couple of part days over three days.

The obvious choices are Thorpe, Parc Asterix and Disney Paris though. Although not Disney if you only want rides. Thorpe is really close to London and easy to get to, and Asterix I think is a pretty easy train journey from Paris. You could be at both within an hour or two, have a full day at the park and back.
 
Yh, Asterix just fly to Charles de Gaulle and then go to the train station at the airport. There there's an information desk where you can buy shuttle and park tickets, buses come every half an hour to take you to the park. Easy.

Disney has its own station so that's easy to do too.

Europa is a bit of a pig to do in a day, especially on a budget, but can be done if you don't mind skipping a few things, but I'd highly recommend a couple of full days there.

Thorpe is easy from central London. Find your way to Vauxhall station on the Underground and then get an overground train from there to Staines. From there you get the chat bus straight to Thorpe.
 
These are all great suggestions, but I was maybe looking to go somewhere in Germany like Europa Park or Holiday Park. I just don't know if it could work out. I am very willing to take 2 days away to go. I have found a route to Europa that works out from Paris. Which is better though?
 
From France I would suggest Europa just because it's faster, and Europa is also bigger and better than Holiday Park.
 
I have always wanted to try Expedition GeForce. Is it worth it? Also, is it better than all of Europa?
 
I haven't been to Holiday Park, but I wouldn't make that much of an effort for one potentially great coaster over less effort for an all round great park experience.
 
Do you think I could do it in a day though? My family is, well, not quite the theme park type so we are hoping to spend time in Switzerland before going north to Germany. I think I will go to Europa for its convienient location. I might post a topic about Europa in a day because I really do want to ride the best of Europa.
 
Just a bit of advice regarding Asterix. If you're in Paris already, there's no need to head back to the airport to get the train/bus.

Park shuttles run from the bus station under the Louvre (head down into the shopping centre and follow the bus signs), which is really, really central. I popped in the day before and bought the bus ticket from the automated machine just to make sure. If you're visiting Paris you'll be going to the Louvre at some point, so perhaps just grab the bus ticket while you're there.
 
If you want to do the park thoroughly (which I would recommend) then no, Europa cannot be done in a day. I think your best bet here is Asterix to be honest.

Oh, and with the bus thing that Gavin suggested from the Louvre, if you choose to do that make sure the trains are running for the time you need to get to the bus station. When I went our bus was at 9 but the train line to the Louvre station didn't open until 10, so that was fun (and hence how I discovered the airport shuttle haha).
 
I've been looking into it and I think I might just go to Asterix or Thorpe. I might make my way out to Alton Towers.
 
^^ I was thinking that if he's in Paris anyway, then the trains are irrelevant. If you're traveling into Paris specificly for Asterix, then yeah, but I'm getting the impression that he's in Paris for sightseeing anyway and wants to do a park day as part of that. In that case, the Louvre shuttle bus is an easy walk from anywhere around central Paris, or the metro will be open if you're slightly further out.
 
Alton is possible from London, but expect an early morning, late return, a lot of expense and to miss out on the first couple of hours. You're better travelling up the day before and staying locally, then having a full day and heading back to London.

If you stop in Alton village, it's a gorgeous area. Or if you want, Uttoxeter has a soulless set of little estates with hotels in, surrounded by cheap convenience stores and McDonalds.
 
I might head to Alton because it is a simple trip and very doable. The obvious reasons are Nemesis and Smiler. Is Asterix or Thorpe better? They sure would be simpler to get to. By the way, I am going to London and Paris specifically for sightseeing. These are only trips on the side.
 
^I don't think Thorpe and Asterix are really comparable to be honest; they're very different styles of park. Apart from both having a B&M invert, the ride selections are generally very different at both.

Or did you mean are they better than Alton Towers? The answer to that is no, frankly. Even without Smiler, I'd rate Alton as much, much better than either of the other two.
 
Thorpe is better for rides than Asterix. Others will say different but if I had the choice I would pick Thorpe.
 
^Yes.

Thorpe is pretty much like a thousand parks in the USA - fairly bland with a **** load of rides crammed into it. Coming from the USA, you will have seen it all before.

Not so with Alton Towers.
 
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