Germany's Europa Park gets ready for 2011

January 24, 2011 at 2:55 PM · It makes me want to go...

January 24, 2011 at 3:56 PM · Did I see Epcot's Spaceship Earth or is it just my imagination?

January 24, 2011 at 4:24 PM · The park's Eurosat indoor roller coaster is housed within an Epcot-like geodesic dome. It's not a complete geosphere, as Spaceship Earth is, but it's got a Space Mountain-like roller coaster in it, so I'm good with it. :^)

January 24, 2011 at 6:44 PM · Europapark has a habit to copy Disney. The coaster that looks like spaceship earth from outside is good. Their Pirates in Batavia (not much different from Disney, just with a lower budget) is also good. Their Universe of Energy copy must be the most stupid Disney copy ever. Seems people dont like the Disney original very much based on rateings here in the first place. Well i do. Some genius Europapark decided to do a small Dinosaur dark ride and call it "Universum der Energie", without any pre film or dark ride elements that explains any connection between energy and Dinosaurs.

Tips, hum, dont know. Lots of good rides, good realistic themeing, nice park area with a small real cheatau, old trees and a river. No very outstanding or unique rides/shows. Just lots of good ones. The country themeing is much more realistic than at epcot. No plastic, no mix of the most extreme tourist stareotypes, rather real buildings. The park area seems very relevant. They got the load coasters on one side and the garden area with the cheatau at the opposite end. Its my fathers favourite theme park, ahead of Disneyland or those other major European parks other parks, which were not that much smaller back when we visited Europapark, they only started to get taht much ahead over the last 15 years. I think that has a lot to do with the park/river/cheatau area.

January 25, 2011 at 8:41 AM · This park looks pretty awesome! What it just me, or did this video have a 1990's cheesy corporate American video promotion feel to it?

January 25, 2011 at 8:50 AM · It is a good park and if you are ever in Europe I recommend a visit. Probably not worth going to on its own however. Try tie it in with Disneyland Resort Paris, or perhaps head to the UK and pay a visit to Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. All excellent parks..

European/UK Road Trip! Woo!

January 25, 2011 at 10:55 AM · I haven't been in years, but I do remember it being a great park. Better than Holiday Park, but Holiday Park was closer to Ramstein. :)

January 25, 2011 at 11:17 AM · Great park. Had tons of fun there when I went a few years back. And yes they do have a lot of elements that are essentially Disney copies. The rides are a ton of fun, and the park is a very family friendly park I might add, balancing a good amount of thrills for the older kids and some miler entertainment for the younger ones. You can easily get the park done in one day and the resorts are very nice. I would recommend if you do go tie it in with visiting a couple of other of Germany's theme parks. Legoland Germany is the closest to Europa Park if my memory serves me correctly. You can also easily visit some historic sites in Southern Germany such as Neuschwanstein, Munich, and Lake Constance (Bodensee).

In addition you have further north in Germany, Movie Park, which is very similar to a Universal Studios park and recently opened the worlds largest X-Men stunt show which was co-directed/written by J Michael Roddy who's work you might know from Universal Orlando. In addition there are Phantasialand and Heide-Park.

January 25, 2011 at 5:58 PM · As far as surrounding attractions are concerned, theres a lot to see within a 60 mile radius. Stuttgart, Karlsurhe, Basel, Schaffhausen, Rhine falls. Within 20 miles, theres Freiburg, Strasbourg and the black forrest.

Old churches, palaces and townhalls are not that different from each other and those arround the Europapark are better or the same levels as some much better known ones further away. A combination with Paris doesnt sound like good idea for a theme park fan, the trip just takes 4 hours with the new tgv line. Sine someone mentioned Neuschwanstein above, thats indeed a unique quality, just like Versaille.