Europa-Park — Attraction in Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Ettenheim

Such a mixed bag on this one......it would entirely be a 5* review without a few little things that have knocked that one star off.

First of all their new ride Voltron that opened in April is incredible, hands down the best roller coaster I have been on.

We went as a family 2 families totalling 9 people children between ages of 6 & 15 - there is definitely something there for everyone. It's a bit of a strange concept to any other theme park where some rides have age restrictions as well as height restrictions so sometimes it's not as straight forward as ticking off the ones you can do.

So positives: Amazing layout, we walked thousands of steps as you do, but despite the amount of walking because of the layout you never feel like you're walking far. We were lucky with queue times I think as we went when it was torrential rain on and off all day so the longest we queued was 30 minutes for a ride which meant we got to cover so much in one day of the rides we did have to queue a bot longer for the layout is great, lots of interesting things to look at and keep you entertained whilst waiting. However I would say if you're going on a nice weather day and want to see shows too, 1 day would not be enough. We managed 20 rides but we didn't see any shows etc etc.

Negatives: The expense in there, we took a picnic and had water flasks but we ran out and could not see any water fountains to refill our bottles. 3 x small bottles of water came to €12.15 this is terribly expensive and goes past the oh its a theme park expect high prices (we've not long done Efteling where it was very reasonable on that front). 1 x coke was €4.20 for example, we felt it was overly expensive .

We paid extra for the VR headset ride (€4) each and and 5 out of the 9 didn't work, it's like the movie was loaded backwards. We told staff at the end of the ride and they seemed quite cross and mad almost like they didn't believe us. Had we have not paid extra for this element we would've left it, but they said we would go again on the next ride. Miscommunication meant they filled the next ride and we had to wait again. The 2nd time round my husbands didn't work again but after the last time we all decided to move on.

When it's works it's a great concept but they are temperamental in our experience and obviously an expensive bit of kit so you are spoken to sternly and a bit child like. I'm sorry to say staff wise this was pretty much the theme of the day.

When you've been used to Disney and Efteling where people seem happy and create an atmosphere and seem to be enjoying their jobs this is just not the case at Europa Park. Apart from 1 or 2 members of staff the rest looked miserable and we're very rude on occasion. We didn't let it dampen our spirits or ruin our day but for the expense and staff it gets a star knocked off.

Parking on the day was simple and easy enough, scan QR code in exit (we had pre paid the parking with the tickets). The app isn't as intuitive or as good as the Disney or Efteling app, but did show queue times which is always helpful. All the vitual queue ride tickets were gone very early in the morning.

One very last strange thing is the opening times, it says open until at least 6pm, then the day you get there it tells you what time it actually closes, our day it closed at 7pm (couldn't tell you why or how it's decided but it seems v.early and also weird how you have to wait till part way through the day).

Glad we went, not sure I'd go back as we did what we wanted to do - the kids loved it. P.s. Arthur was a great ride for all the family...

Me, As an adrenaline seeker, places like Disneyland or Universal Studios didn't work out much for me. So, after a long research and debate between Efteling and Europa Park, I chose to go to Europa from Hamburg (just for 1 day) was all the travel worth it?

One-word answer - OH YEAH!!!

Detailed description ahead,

Be wise and buy your tickets priorly by a day or 2; also, choose your rides beforehand so that you don't waste time on planning and roaming all around the park during your visit.

For all thrill seekers, the following rides are a MUST-TRY.

Bluefire megacoaster (Iceland) - One of the top 3 roller coasters in this park; those 3 are the best and without any of these, a trip to Europa isn't complete. Hell of a ride, as it glides to 100 km/h in a matter of seconds, it turns, rotates, revolves, tipsy-curvy tracks, upside down the next second almost 4 times, WOAHH, Adrenaline rush!!!

WODAN timburcoaster (Iceland) - The 2nd one in the top 3 which gives the thrill from the sounds of the coaster running on a complete wooden frame. That sound scares you but also takes you at a high speed with many turns (almost had neck pain from it)

Silver Star (France) - The best ride in Europa Park and fortunately this was the 1st and the last ride I took while entering and exiting the park. At a speed of 130 km/hr and a centrifugal force of 4G, you experience both weightlessness and a high leap from such a height. Had tears in my eyes while getting down from it. BEST EVER ROLLER COASTER I've been on, HIGHEST adrenaline rush!!!

Atlantica super-splash (Portugal) - A splashy water ride from the coaster and sent down at around 80 km/h, WHEEEEE into the water

Alpenexpress (Austria) - A moderate roller coaster that can be done with family; not much of a thrill but can try once with the VR though, GOOD

Euro-mir (Russia) - A rotating coaster that rolls down the track while the seats spin at 360 degrees; moderate speed but tumbles as it goes down on the track, WOWW!!!

Eurosat - CanCan coaster (France) - Went in with zero expectations since didn't check the videos beforehand. Also, the ride was inside the dome so I didn't know what we were signing up for but then as the ride took us to the top, it was a EEEE YEAH feeling!! It spiraled down the dark dome with cancan music and colorful lights; as the coaster got faster, it was windy (though inside the dome) and pumped up our adrenaline

If you're traveling from Offenberg, you could catch the train and it is a short ride of 20 mins to Ringsheim. A Europa-park bus stands by at the station to drop you at the amusement park. Since the park opens by 9 AM, make sure you plan well ahead to reach in time since you might be caught up in queues outside every ride. There are separate queues for solo riders and also front-row riders (if applicable), WORTH IT. Also, there are food carts everywhere so you won't get hungry.

Noteworthy things - Friendly staff greeting everyone with a smile, highly organized and efficient when it came to riding rules, disciplined, and extremely clean. Their entrance fee too is economical and unlike a few parks, they don't have the express pass which is good. Recommended to install the Europa Park app to check for live waiting times for the rides at the click of a button. THE PERFECT PARK for people of...

Having bipolar disorder and anxiety, I get anxious around crowds/lines so I’m not really a fan of amusement parks, but I made an exception for Europa Park for 3 reasons:

Germans are great at organizing lines so I knew it would be manageable. They have an app that tells us the waiting times and distances of the ride. We mostly chose no waiting time to 15mins waiting time. They aren’t trying to sell me on a franchise. Things are more affordable here than Disney. Bringing your own food and drinks is allowed and the price of the food is more affordable than Disney Parks.

BONUS: they allow dogs so we took ours with us. We had to take him back to the hotel (Bell Rock Is the nearest) coz at a certain point it was just too hot for the dog.

EP is so well made. The attention to detail and humor is incredible. Even the places we line up in have so much detail that it doesn’t feel like a long wait at all.

I understand why EP is considered the best amusement park in Europe. It’s beautiful! I love that the themes are countries and it was so facinating to see aspects of places we’ve already traveled to.

If you stay in one of their resorts you can go in 30mins before the public. It’s also worth it because there is a special entrance. We aren’t early risers so we went after breakfast at around 10am then just stayed til closing where there are also less people.

They are very strict with their height minimum and will take out an unforgiving ruler that won’t allow for cheating. My 8yo son was 1cm below 130cm and they wouldn’t let him on the Blue Fire. Bummer.

I liked that there are a lot of food and drink options throughout this the park. The most interesting was the one in Bamboe Baai which overlooks the end of the Pirates of Batavia ride. The beef rice topping is unbelievably delicious!

There are 1 or 2 rides where you will get wet but if you stay in the hotel it’s not a problem. And if it’s a hot day it’s quite nice too. Just dress appropriately- not something that might become see through if it gets wet.

For those with children too you g to go on, they have the BABY SWITCH so that the other parent who stays with the baby can ride when you are done without lining up again. Very smart!

Since the park is big there are trains that go around that can drop you in other parts of the park. The stops are pretty elaborate too! During closing at 7pm they aren’t as strict coz their last rides are at 7pm. Some restaurants close early though. Apparently Spain stays open for resort guests too with a fun water area so we made sure to dress our son in board shorts so he can enjoy this before we headed back...