While Europa Park has a strong collection of headline attractions, now led by Voltron, what makes it one of the best theme parks in the world are its supporting attractions and exceptional theming. From smaller coasters to flat rides to water rides to dark rides to shows, there were far more things to do than we could possibly get to in nearly two full days in the park. As its name suggests, Europa Park is a celebration of the many countries that form the continent. It’s a bit like EPCOT’s World Showcase with individual country lands containing attractions, restaurants, and buildings that represent the distinct styles of the various cultures and countries. However, the individual lands/countries are packed very close to each other with minimal transitions. What I found interesting was that so many of the individual countries were instantly recognizable as you walked between them, but Europa Park doesn’t rely on iconic buildings and landmarks or even signs/banners to identify each country as you see in EPCOT. Instead, designers rely on subtle architectural cues, building materials, and styles to relay the country you’ve just entered.
One of my favorite lands in Europa Park is Switzerland, which is represented as an Alpine village with log buildings.
This land features two roller coasters and a flat ride as well as an excellent restaurant that serves raclette, a Swiss specialty with freshly melted cheese scraped onto bread, potatoes, or spaetzle.
Swiss Bob Run is a Mack bobsled coaster that is very similar to Reptilian (formerly Avalanche) at Kings Dominion. While Europa Park’s bobsled coaster isn’t as tall or fast as the one at KD, I actually liked it better because of its theming and exciting layout that is far more akin to an actual bobsled run. There are trees and snow-capped buildings along the course to emphasize the setting, and the coaster finishes with some great high banking turns that were unexpected given that its maximum speed is 10 MPH slower than Reptilian.
The other coaster in Switzerland is Matterhorn Blitz, which is a pretty standard wild mouse coaster.
The one difference here is that trains go up a tilting elevator lift, which is a bit unique, but doesn’t make up for the otherwise mediocre layout. Designers did do an excellent job with the theming in the queue and station area, but aside from a quick dive through a ski lodge and the exterior of the tower surrounding the elevator lift, there’s not a lot of theming along the course of this coaster.
The other ride in Switzerland is Jungfrau Glacier Flight. This is a flat ride where guests board planes that spin around the central support in addition to a circular pattern with three other planes. Each plane is mounted to the mechanism with a hydraulic shock that allows it to swing out further when it reaches the apex of each rotation. For a flat ride, this was a lot of fun, but the airplane theming didn’t quite make sense in the middle of the Swiss village. In addition to the great theming in the Switzerland area, we were lucky to be visiting on Swiss heritage day, which included special exhibitions like a chainsaw artist, marching band, and other cultural presentations.
The other land that I felt had excellent theming was Scandinavia. This area draws inspiration from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, and having just driven through 2 of those countries, I could definitely see the likeness. The land even has a Norwegian stave church very much like the one in EPCOT, though this one here actually functions as a non-denominational place of worship.
There are three rides in Scandinavia: Vinjammer (swinging boat ride), Fjord Rafting (whitewater raft ride), and Snorri Tourin (dark ride). We ultimately skipped Vinjammer because it’s a pretty standard flat ride, but we did ride the other two attractions. Fjord Rafting is a typical raft ride but thankfully didn’t get you as soaked as other rides of this type.
There’s also a lot of story elements along the course including a cave section with trolls and other animatronic figures. Oddly enough, there is an animatronic-based scene near the queue that appears to have been copied from Universal’s Jaws attractions complete with fire and water effects, but minus Bruce.
I’d say this is a middle of the road version of this type of ride but is worth the typical 20-30 minute waits (we managed to hit this earlier in the day with just a five-minute line) on warm summer afternoons. Snorri Tourin is a cute dark ride themed after the characters from the adjacent Rulantica waterpark. Guests ride in small cars through a series of scenes reminiscent of Disney’s Little Mermaid attraction. However, near the end of the ride, vehicles are diverted into individual screen-based rooms where the vehicles lock into special tracks that allow them to sway and move like a simulator attraction. The approximately twenty second scene really elevated the attraction in my view and makes it a worthy detour if you can find it (the entrance is well marked, but the attraction is actually underground, beneath the main part of the Scandinavia area).
Aside from Fjord Rafting, there are other ways to cool off on a warm day. For some reason, Europa Park has two different water coasters. Poseidon is located in the Greece area of the park and has a decidedly mythological theme. The ride vehicles and system here are very similar to Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, but all of the track is outside.
The coaster portion of the ride has a lot more twists and turns than your typical water coaster, and the final drop has a double dip feature that generates a good splash (though more for guests watching than those on the boat on our experience on the ride). I liked the theming in the queue and surrounding Greece area, but having almost the entire ride outside created a disconnect from a storytelling standpoint. The other water coaster is located in the Portugal area and is called Atlantica SuperSplash.
The area surrounding the entrance to the ride and the queue itself are extremely well themed with a massive pirate ship doubling as a bar anchoring the space, but this water coaster is fairly bare-bones in theming when compared to Poseidon.
I happened to time my ride just as the Rotorno dos Pirates (high dive show) was starting (a really good show, though the performance we watched ended just prior to the finale due to weather).
The stage for this show is near the splashdown lagoon, and the performers interacted with our boat as we slowly floated back to the station. The boats on Atlantica are double the size of those on Poseidon, so the splash is significantly larger, but the layout of the ride is otherwise forgettable with a backwards drop from the top of the lift to the top of the main hill and then dropping into the splashdown lagoon (almost identical to Journey to Atlantis at Sea World San Antonio). If you had to pick between Atlantica and Poseidon, I’d definitely choose Poseidon unless you really wanted to get soaked.
Whale Adventures: Northern Lights is a Mack splash battle attraction located in Iceland near Wodan.
This is another well-themed water ride with an indoor section containing a few animatronics and an outdoor section where guests can shoot at various targets (and guests in adjacent boats as well as onlookers) using water cannons mounted at each seat. Most of the targets trigger some type of effect if you are able to hit them, which makes up for the limited places along the course where you can actually hit other people. The main drawback I find with these types of rides is that it can really tire you out cranking the pump that powers the water cannon, and the wetness of the attraction can be highly variable because it’s based on the accuracy and aggressiveness of other guests. These types of rides seem like a great idea when they’re installed, but they quickly loose their luster. Europa Park’s version is probably the best one I’ve ridden, but that’s not really saying much.
The final water ride is Tirol Log Flume located in the Austria section of the park.
This is a fun little log flume with good theming featuring rocky canyons and a cave section where you find the heart of the mountain. The excellent theming doesn’t really make up for the short course and tiny drops compared to most American log flumes. However, this was the ride that got us the wettest, so keep that in mind!
In addition to the headlining Pirates in Batavia, Europa Park also contains a number of smaller dark rides (including the previously mention Snorri Tourin). Castello de Medici is the park’s answer to Disney’s Haunted Mansion and has clearly borrowed a few tricks and ideas from the classic attraction. The ride is located in the Italy section of the park and has a Carnival theme with a pretty elaborate queue complete with a “stretch room”. The tone here is definitely a lot darker than you would find in a Disney park, but a lot of the effects and ideas are the same. There are even hitchhiking ghosts, though it appeared that not every vehicle gets a ghost to go home with them. I applaud Europa Park for loading this attraction with animatronics and effects, and giving the Haunted Mansion concept a darker, more sinister feel.
Sleigh Ride Snowflake is another dark ride located in the Russian section of the park that feels like what a Frozen dark ride would have looked like 50 years ago. This ride is decidedly antiquated with outdated animatronic figures with limited motions, aged special effects, and a disjointed story. If the ride wasn’t so short, I might recommend this as a good place to take a nap on a hot day, but you’re only on the ride for about 2 minutes.
Speaking of the Russian area of the park, there is a roller coaster here called Euro Mir, named after the former Soviet space station.
The coaster features spinning cars with pairs of guests seated back to back and an on-board soundtrack that plays a song straight out of a 90’s European dance club. However, for some reason the front car of the train doesn’t spin as much as the rest – I’m not sure why. Trains reach the top of the coaster through an interior spiral lift, and as the train reaches the top, cosmonauts and satellites slowly come into view. Once you reach the top and exit the building, the train takes a slow and boring path around mirrored towers as the cars spin.
The only thing exciting about this part of the coaster is the soundtrack that should at least get your head to bob a little bit. After the leisurely stroll around the top section of track, the coaster finally kicks into gear with a few dives, turns, and a finishing helix. Perhaps this was revolutionary back in 1997 when the coaster opened but given the roughness, riding this felt more like a novelty than an actual enjoyable ride.
Another coaster with an indoor spiral lift is Eurosat – CanCan Coaster.
When you first approach this coaster located in the France area of the park, you might think you’re going to board Spaceship Earth, because this ride is located inside a massive geodesic sphere, though this one is not completely elevated off the ground like the one in EPCOT. Eurosat takes guests back to turn-of-the-century Paris with an entrance designed to look like the famous Moulin Rouge. The queue is intricately themed with lots of props and decorations to emphasize the theme.
The coaster is completely enclosed and starts with that spiral lift that brings the train to the top of the sphere, rising above iconic Paris landmarks like Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower. Once at the top, trains negotiate twists and turns past the moon, stars, clouds, and balloons before bringing you back to the stage where you’re welcomed by the coaster’s namesake song and dance. Guests can also ride Eurosat with VR through a separate entrance and boarding platform (and after paying an additional charge). However, I though the coaster was excellent without needing a VR overlay, and is one of the better fully enclosed roller coasters I’ve ridden (though below Disneyland’s Space Mountain and Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind).
Another attraction that will remind guests of EPCOT will undoubtedly be the Voletarium, which is a flying theater ride similar to Soarin’. Instead of lifting seats in front of the massive screen, each group of seats turns to face the screen (identical to the flying theater attraction at Legoland Billund).
Voletarium’s movie takes riders around to Europe’s most iconic landmarks with mesmerizing cinematography. While Soarin’ Over California is the gold standard for this type of ride, I preferred this film to the "Soarin' Around the World" movie that has far too many fake-looking digital effects. The only issue I had with this attraction is its location near the front entrance to the park, which is not near any other attractions within Europa Park.
Due to afternoon thunderstorms both days we visited and needing to leave before the park closed on our second day, we weren’t able to ride every single attraction. Europa Park has over 100 attractions and shows, so we would have needed at least another full day to experience everything the park has to offer. Some other notable attractions we experienced were Elf Ride, a cute slow-moving boat attraction,
Jim Button – Journey Through Morrowland, where guests ride in small train engines around a track decorated with scenes from the popular book series,
and Casandra’s Curse, a plussed version of a “Madhouse” attraction with some unexpected surprises.
Europa Park is a cornucopia of themed entertainment that has a seemingly never-ending array of attractions and things to do. I would almost liken it to an all-you-can-eat buffet of attractions. The layout of the park is a bit haphazard with no transitions between all of the different countries. It can all be a bit overwhelming, especially if you have limited time to visit. I did feel that there were areas of the park, particularly along the back side (Ireland, England, and Fairytale Forest) where the feel was more laid back, while other areas have multiple attractions tightly packed.
It does allow the park to appeal to guests of varying tastes, with plenty of high energy rides to fill the appetite of thrill seekers, ample small attractions and playgrounds for the little ones to satisfy families, and a good number of slower moving, but richly themed attractions to appeal to older guests and those who might not want to go pedal to the metal. Europa Park has a lot of everything for everyone.
After two weeks and over 1,800 miles of driving through five countries, we had visited five excellent European theme parks. I was really surprised by how much fun Liseberg was, how charming the Efteling was, how impressive the theming was at Phantasialand, and how massive Europa Park was. Of the coasters we rode, Helix, Valkyria, Baron, F.L.Y., Taron, and Voltron were all world class and single-handedly worthy of making a trip to their respective parks for coaster fans. There were lots of other great attractions and experiences that we had along the way too.
I think I would be torn between Phantasialand and Europa Park for which one would be my favorite. If it were not for Voltron, Europa Park would probably be a tick below Phantasialand, but the new coaster gives Europa Park an absolute must ride attraction that puts the parks neck and neck in my view. I do think both German parks are on par with destination parks from Disney, Universal, and United Parks in Florida and California. I still prefer Disneyland and Islands of Adventure to Phantasialand and Europa Park, but it’s a tight race.
In general, operations at the parks we visited were excellent, the parks were clean, and communicating in foreign countries was not as difficult as we had expected. Our experiences in all of the parks were far more pleasant than many American parks with easy to use mobile aps, limited (but easy to use) virtual queues, and reasonable lines despite moderate crowds. The smoking in the two German parks was annoying, but for the most part, guests followed the posted rules, were courteous, and we didn’t observe any line cutting, something that has become an epidemic in many American parks. The biggest thing I really appreciated about operations at all of the parks we visited was how accommodating attractions were for guests with small bags and other loose articles (though accommodating guests with mobility issues is another story). Aside from Valkyria at Liseberg, there wasn’t a single attraction we encountered that required guests to pay for a locker to store loose articles. Many of the larger coasters either had bins in the station with discrete storage for each train (meaning guests riding other trains could not even access your stuff while you were on the ride) or had sophisticated electronic locker systems that were free for guests to use. Many of the storage bins in the stations had mechanical doors that opened and closed automatically, so it left ride ops free to handle other aspects of the load/unload process. American parks could definitely learn a thing or two about managing load platforms and being more customer friendly.
One final thing I felt was pretty shocking about all of the European parks we went to (along with those we considered but didn’t actually visit) was that their admission prices were incredibly affordable. Single day admissions were all less than $75, and while that’s on par or a little more expensive than many US regional parks, the quality of the European Parks match what you would find at Disney and Universal parks, where you could pay twice as much (or more) for a single day of admission. There were a couple of parks that offered paid line-skipping services, but based on what we observed, there were few guests using them, so standby lines were not significantly impacted.
All in all, it was an amazing experience at all of the parks, and we can’t wait to start planning our next foreign adventure.
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Links to Russell's complete European trip report:
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