Europe Part 5 - Europa Park - May 18, 2008

Below are just some of the photos from this part. See all of them with high-res versions at Flickr.

171 Europa Park photos - CLICK HERE.



Having adjusted to using the trains in Germany, I cut it way too close getting to the station, and missed the first train toward Europa Park. The second train never showed up. I later deduced from a sign that it does not run on the weekend.



An hour later, I was finally on my way. Obviously I did not get to the park by opening as planned, but luckily it would not matter on this day. This was the park that I expected the worst crowds at (it being a Sunday), but crowds were very light all day.



I could tell immediately that this park was going to be awesome.



First ride of the day... not Eurosat. It was having some technical problems.



First ride of the day... the big one in the back; Silver Star. I expected it to be incredibly boring; I've heard nothing but bad things about it. I thought it was really fun, though. One of the weaker B&M hypers for sure, but the first drop was great and some of the other hills had some good airtime. Really cool station and theming as well.



Coaster #2: Pegasus. This was one of the best family coasters ever. According to RCDB it hits 40 MPH at some point. I believe it.



The last thing I wanted on this trip was to get absolutely drenched. Luckily, both of the park's water coasters are fairly dry.



Poseidon was great. Whereas most of the 'water coasters' I've been on leave some room for debate on how much of a coaster they are, the coaster parts of this ride are long and really fun.



The number of dark rides in this place is absolutely ridiculous. There's no way I could have come close to doing everything if the park was remotely crowded (I still didn't do everything). This haunted swing, Cassandra's Curse, wasn't very special except for one effect: at one point during the ride a ball or something rolls under the seat cushions down the benches under everyone, which absolutely freaks out the entire room. That's one area I don't expect to be violated on a ride.



Matterhorn Blitz is the park's Wild Mouse. It's the standard Mack mouse, but it's incredibly well themed and...



Has an elevator lift. It tilts on the way up which is kind of scary.



Busch, Disney, Universal, Herschend... They're all pretty much ruined by the beauty of this park.



There are nearly 200 pictures in the Flickr gallery because it was just hard to stop taking them. This place is ridiculously nice.



I would basically point to Europa Park as the model for how every amusement park should be designed, maintained, and operated. It's only flaw is a lack of a wooden coaster.



Okay, one more flaw. This train is pathetic. The tracks are well integrated and go all over the park, but there are these tiny little trains running on them.



Mack uses this park to showcase their coasters and rides. What they apparently haven't realized is that they should be in the business of building and running amusement parks, because they do it better than pretty much anybody.



Even their powered coaster is awesome. It just ain't right.



You get the standard helixes and such, but also...



The coaster goes flying into this building.



GAP shoutout in the front seat. There's all this crazy theming and glowing stuff inside this building, called the Magic World of Diamonds. The log flume goes in the building as well, and you can walk through it too.



Everybody is always happy here.



Atlantica Supersplash is the other water coaster. It's a bit more straightforward. There's one dip at the top in between two turntables.



The drop is good.



At the bottom is a great airtime hill.



The splash is big, but I did not get very wet.



I didn't ride this, but can probably assume that it was great.



I'm pretty sure that when the Mack family decided to build this park, they said "Let's make the nicest park ever, and we'll stock it with the best versions of our ride types. Also, just for good measure, let's show Disney that we can do all their rides too." Of course, when this park was built, there was no Disney in Europe, so Europa Park filled the void. I mean, cmon. Even their mascot is named "Euromaus". Pirates of Batavia is a (really really good) ripoff of Pirates of the Caribbean.



It even has the restaurant inside.



Even if there were a ton of people in the park, they really crank people through the rides. Almost all of the dark rides are continuously moving, and very few of the rides have lapbar checks.



Next was Euro Mir, a ride that I had been aware of for many years from interesting pictures.



This coaster is a blast, and truly bizarre. The climb to the top is a giant spiral lift inside the biggest tower, encircling this spinning tube with a cosmonaut at the top all while strobe lights go off and techno music blares. It's the world's weirdest rave, and then after that, a roller coaster.



I didn't really understand this coaster before I rode it.



I still don't think I do.



It is truly one of a kind.



Germany was the most dog friendly country I've ever seen. You could bring them everywhere, including amusement parks. Or maybe that was just Europa Park, because it rocks.



Schweizer Bobbahn was fun; pretty much the standard Mack bobsled, but really well themed.



James Bond was running the Sleigh Ride Snowflake (that's translated) dark ride.



While some of the dark rides were really well done, some of them were just weird.



I couldn't walk by Euro Mir without taking another ride.



The last coaster I needed to ride was Eurosat.



This was kind of a combination of Disney ride rip-offs. The coaster is inside the giant Epcot-ish ball that you probably noticed, and the coaster itself is clearly inspired by Space Mountain. However, like some of the other Disney inspired rides in this park, it's actually better than the original. This may be my favorite ride in the park. Like Euro Mir, there is a really long lift hill with techno music blaring. On this one, it is absolutely pitch black; you can't see your hand in front of your face. Suddenly there is a countdown from 10, and then all hell breaks loose with a wild ride through all these crazy effects and lights and blind turns.



I headed outside the park to get some looks at Silver Star, which truly is a parking lot coaster. The first drop has this shield on the side to cut down on noise for the neighbors in Rust.



The roof of this walkway is completely covered with solar panels. These people think of everything. BUILD A PARK IN AMERICA.



Most of the rides in this park are family friendly, and even Silver Star is a slightly tamer hyper coaster. The people seemed to really love Silver Star, so it is no surprised that the park announced just today (as I am writing this trip report) that their major expansion next year will include what appears to be a launched looping coaster. It will be the first looping coaster in the park, and will join Silver Star as the only other coaster not designed by Mack. EDIT (6/30/09): While reading through this, I noticed an error. Mack did in fact design the new coaster, which is called Blue Fire, and (unsurprisingly) looks awesome.



This was supposed to be the It's A Small World ripoff I think.



The skytower gives some good views of the park. Of course there is a skytower because the park has every ride you could want.



The town of Rust is literally right up against the edge of the park.



The park seems massive, but really does not take up a huge area from what I could tell. They do a great job of cramming a lot of rides in without making anything seem cramped.



Mack has set up a museum in the park to showcase some of their history, including models of many of the rides.



I guess at some point maybe they did actually have a wooden coaster.



This model was my favorite; it's the interior of Eurosat.



Here is Euro Mir.



I'll conclude by mentioning the weather. I suspect the park was not crowded because the weather forecast called for storms all day long. I can't complain, because aside from a drizzle here and there, the rain held off all day. About an hour before closing, the bottom fell out of the sky. The midways became rivers fairly quickly, and while I didn't get wet on the two water coasters, I was soaked through to the bone after sprinting out of the park. The train got me again, as the next train was cancelled due to maintenance. There were signs about this, but it took me a good 45 minutes to notice because I can't read German. I was wet and exhausted, but as I said, I can't complain, because up until the end the day was wonderful. Knoebels long run as my favorite amusement park has ended, and I don't say that just because this park is in Germany and most of you haven't been to it. I'm not one of those people. This place really is amazing.

Next Up - Switzerland



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