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Robb & Elissa's 2005 Europe Trip - Need some advice!


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Hi everybody!

xzmarcozx said me about your next trip to Europe..! We can reserve you a very special treatment in Mirabilandia (what about riding Katun or other main rides without queuing each time?).. There is only a problem.. all this would be possible only before June 19...

Let us know!

Andrea

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don't know if they already gave you this info but hey yust skip this one then (otherwise i have to read 6 full pages, lazy )

 

Question #1:

 

Overall there won't be to much of a crowd.

Only the last week of June when some schools close early (or plan school trips to fill that week)

could give some turnup.

 

Question #2:

"Day 4: Bobejaaland, then drive 4 hours to hotel near Walibi World"

Depending on stops that would surelly take less than 4 hours (or you should stop every 30 min.)

Other possibility is that the hotel isn't "near Walibi World" but like an hour driving.

 

Question #3:

Is about realistic, but don't know for sure if there are much traffic jams in Denmark at mornings.

(in Belgium,Netherlands,France, driving between 7.30 - 9 am can give big traffic problems)

 

 

Question #13:

 

It's the first vacation day it will probably be crowded

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...

Question #2:

"Day 4: Bobejaaland, then drive 4 hours to hotel near Walibi World"

Depending on stops that would surelly take less than 4 hours (or you should stop every 30 min.)

Other possibility is that the hotel isn't "near Walibi World" but like an hour ...

Don't know which hotel for Walibi World you picked, but maybe, you'd like to camp out that night? There is a campground called 'Rivieracamping' down the road from Walibi World... Also, Walibi World used to have their own 'bungalow-park' (don't know if that's an English word). They now use it for the summer-workers, but maybe they're still offering overnight stays in those cottages next to the park! Who wouldn't want to sleep below a Vekoma boomie???

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Spain is definitely on our list of places to hit. We're thinking about doing one of those Med Sea cruises that starts or ends in Barcelona and doing the Spain parks from there.

 

Elissa "it's all about the Intamin Invert that rolls back!" Alvey

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BDG already gave some really good advice, as did the other ones!

I'm gonna give you my answers! So here’s my advice :

 

Question #1 - Since we are traveling during the last three weeks of June, we are assuming that parks shouldn't be that crowded. Is this a correct assumption? When we did our Europe trip in 2002, we were there during the last 2 weeks of July and the parks were *PACKED*. We're hoping by going a bit earlier, we won't see as many crowds. When do schools officially get out for the summer?

 

It shouldn't be to crowded! Schools are still running and lot's of European students have examinations --> no time for theme parks (I'm one of these students )

 

Question #2 - Are the drive times that we have posted accurate? We're going by our maps and mapquest and trying to be a little conservative. But do they look correct or are there drives that we should plan shorter or longer, for example, these in particular:

 

About the drives:

-From Bobbejaanland it's more like a two hour drive to Walibi World

-You can save time if you go from Klotten to Walibi Lorraine (2 hour drive) first and then go from Lorraine to Holiday Park (2 hour drive)! You'll save about four hours by doing so... but I don't know if it's more convenient to you and if it fits in the itinerary

 

Question #3 - How long realistically will it take to get from Walibi World to Farup? The maps we have say it should take about 8 hours. Is this realistic? Should we budget less time, more time, or is this about right?

 

I would rather take ten hours for this drive (considering you need to take a stop and maybe some unexpected delays during this long drive)

 

 

Question #4 - On the drive from Liseberg to Tivoli, we know we have to go over a really big bridge. Any idea of common backups or tolls over that bridge?

 

This bridge should be free EDIT: Shadowforce corected me! The bridge isn't free! I mixed the brige up with the one that connects the mainland of Denmark with Funen...

 

Question #5 - On Day 10, when we take the ferry, does anyone think we need to make reservations for this one? It goes about every 30 minutes, and it seems like we should be ok without them, we just want to make sure.

 

I don't think reservations are needed! We have lots of ferry lines in Europe that go every 30 minutes, and I never had to make a reservation for one of them... But if it makes you feel safer, make the reservation, it won't do no harm!

 

Question #6 - Also on Day 10, is it realistic to be able to hit Hansa park? How much time should we budget for Bon Bon Land? Is it a park we can see in 3 hours or less? And how long would we need at Hansa Park?

 

If I were you I'd just go to Hansa and drop BonBonLand! BonBonLand is a fun park with really offensive stuff ! But Hansa has more fun rides (the Eurofighter at Bobbejaanland is also considered to be better than the one at BonBon...)! I think it should be do-able to combine them! But how many hours you'll need for Hansa depends on what you want to do and what you are prepared for to skip

 

Hansa rides

 

Question #7 - On Day 11, would it be possible to hit Fort Fun after Heide Park? Does anyone know what time Fort Fun would close on a Friday night in late June? More specifically, we're actually not concerned about the coasters at Fort Fun, we just want to ride the Alpine Coaster! But we also don't want to sacrifice too much time at Heide. Any idea of how long it would take to drive from Heide to Fort Fun?

 

It’s about a 3 hour drive from Heide to Fort Fun! Fort Fun has really nice scenery, but no special rides… I think it’s better to stay a little longer in Heide, rather than spending another €21 just for riding the Alpine Coaster and getting more exhausted then you’ll already be

 

Question #8 - On Day 12, we plan on hitting WBMW then Toverland. Is this realistic? We're planning on leaving WBMW by 3pm to get to Toverland by 4pm, which should give us 2 hours at that park.

 

Should work! But also, be selective on your rides in WBMW (Movie Park)! Even when the park is not crowded it I’ll take you till four PM before you’ve ridden everything…

Toverland is certainly do-able in two hours without rushing (most of the rides are for kids anyway)!

 

Question #9 - On Day 13, we are planning on leaving Phantasialand at 2:30pm in order to get to Klotten park. Is one hour drive from Phantasialand to Klotten correct? And is 5 hours at Phantasialand enough?

 

Phantasialand opens at 9 AM, but rides don’t open until 10 AM! So you’ll have less than 5 hours! Phantasialand isn’t very big, but it has lots of very unique rides! Considering you want to ride lots of them you won’t have enough with 4 hours! Especially the Winjas coasters (some of the most unique coasters in the world) have very long waiting lines (up to 45 minutes sometimes)! And I think you want to ride them both! I can advise you doing it because they’re very different from eachother (hint: first ride Fear and then Force)!

Klotten is indeed one hour drive from Phantasialand, but Klotten is more an animal/nature park with one coaster then a real amusement park! If you do plan on visiting Klotten, skip the darkrides at Phantasialand!

 

Question #10 - On Day 14 when we are at Holiday, we are considering trying to also hit Tripsdrill, but we're not sure if that's realistic. How long does the drive take between Tripsdrill and Holiday Park?

 

Tripsdrill is about one hour and 15 minutes drive from Holiday Park and is really worth visiting! I’d sujest you spend half the day at Holiday and half the day at Tripsdrill!

 

Question #11 - We have a LOOOONG drive between Europa and Mirabilandia. We've estimated 8 hours, and we're going to split it up because we want a full day at Europa. Is 8 hours accurate? Do the tunnels get congested, are the roads through Switzerland difficult to drive? How busy do you think Mirabilandia will be on a weekday at the end of June?

 

The roads in Switzerland are very good! Waiting lines may occur for some big tunnels (e.g. gotthardtunnel)! But I don’t think you have to cross one of those extremely long tunnels!

8 hours is also a little short for this big drive! I’d rather go for 9 to 10 hours!

I’m not to familiar with the “busyness” in Mirabilandia at the end of June, but it shouldn’t be to crowdy! Though the park is located in a very popular tourist region, the mob won’t arrive before the 14th of july!

 

Question #12 - Same question as #11, but between Gardaland and Walibi Rhone-Alps? Is 6 hours about right?

 

A 6 hour drive is realistic!

 

Question #13 - We will be at Asterix on the first Monday of July. I have been to this park about 10 times now and it's ALWAYS packed!!! Any idea if we can expect yet another crowded day on a Monday in early July?

 

Parc Astérix is known to be always packed! Only in October it isn’t crowdy!

Even I never had the privilege to see the park uncrowdy (and I live only 3 hours away from the park and visit it quiet often)!

 

Question #14 - We are in the process of booking hotels. We are going to stay at the Liseberg hotel, Phantasialand hotel, Europa Park hotel, and on property at Disneyland Paris. All other nights we are looking for 'motels' that are right off the motorway and easy to get to. Any suggestions?

 

One of the things Europe misses is good motels! We have Formule 1 and Etap Hotel, but there not as good as for example a Motel 6! Besides you’ll mostly find F1 and Etap in France and not in other countrys… I think you better look for small independent hotels that are not to expensive (those hotels are often great fun )! Another option is Novotel (bit more expensive) which you can find in most big cities or at the side of motorways!

 

Question #15 - What can we expect on the overnight ferry we are taking? It is pretty straightforward? Is it "nice?" Are we actually going to get any sleep?

 

Never took that ferry, so I’m not gonna give you false hope !

 

Question #16 - Bonus parks! Can you think of any other 'small' parks that we should consider hitting, even if it's just for a 'credit run' that are "on the way" of our current route. We don't want to go out of our way, since as you can see our schedule is already insane!

 

Making it more insane than it already is ???? Well you can try to stop by “Slagharen” when you go from Walibi World to Farup! Although I don’t think its worth it… And well, right next to Movie park you have “Schloß Beck Freizeitpark” (one credit but not a special park), and like already mentioned “CentrO”

 

Question #17 - Any traveling fairs that you know of that are going on near the parks we are planning to hit? Like I said we'll be in Europe the last 3 weeks of June through July 5th. So if there is a German fair going on the last week of June near a park we're visiting, we might be able to hit that!

 

I know the “Sinksenfoor” will be in Antwerp (about 30km from Bobbejaanland) during your stay in Belgium! Sinksenfoor features some big and fun rides, but it’s not such a big fair like you’ll find them in Germany!

 

 

I hope this information is usefull to you! And I whish you guys a very good stay at Europe !

 

PS: next time pass by Spain, better parks and better coasters ! And it might be interesting in your case to by a Star Parks season pass, which provides entrance at Movie park Germany, Walibi Belgium, Walibi Lorainne, Walibi World and Walibi Rhône Alpes (+Bellwaerde Park and Walibi Aquitaine) (I bought mine for 49 euros (very economical )!

Edited by T-Bô
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First of all, Oresundsbroen is not free. You have to pay something along the lines of 50 $ to get across with a normal car. I'd still suggest the Helsingor-Helsingborg line, I just found out that it actually only takes about 15 minutes sailing over. The only setback is that you have to rely on a public service system to get you across.

 

Secondly, how could you drop Bonbonland? This is the number 1 politically uncorrect park out there! And it has a neat selection of fairly good rides, along with a large collection of other, fun rides. Hansa Park has only the Scwartzkopf and perhaps the wild mouse speaking for its case. The place also is a wee bit run down compared to most danish parks.

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Day 1: Leave LAX 6pm

Day 2: Arrive CDG 2pm, then drive 3 hours, stay at hotel near Brussles

Wouldn't it be easier if you fly directly to Brussels?

Day 3: Walibi Belgium (just correcting )(Six Flags Belgium), stay at hotel near Brussles

Day 4: Bobbejaanland, then drive 4 hours to hotel near Walibi World

Day 5: Walibi World (Six Flags Holland), then drive 4 hours - stay at hotel somewhere near Germany/Denmark border.

Day 6: Drive 4 Hours, Farup Sommerland, take overnight ferry from Fredericshavn to Oslo

Day 7: Tusenfryd, then drive 6 hours to hotel near Liseberg

Day 8: Liseberg, then drive 4 hours to hotel near Tivoli

Day 9: Tivoli & Bakken, stay at Tivoli hotel

Day 10: Bon Bon Land, then take ferry to Puttgarden. Try to visit Hansa Park, then drive 4 hours to hotel near Heide.

Day 11: Heide Park, then drive 4 hours to hotel near WBMW

Day 12: Movie Park Germany (WBMW) then drive 1 Hour to Toverland, then drive 3 hours to hotel near Phantasialand

Day 13: Phantasialand, then drive 1 hour to Klotten Park, then drive 3 hours to hotel near Holiday Park

Day 14: Holiday Park then drive 2 Hours to hotel near Europa

Day 15: Europa Park, then drive 6 Hours to hotel in Verona

Day 16: Drive 3 hours to Mirabilandia, then drive 3 hours to hotel near Gardaland

Day 17: Gardaland, Movie Park/Aqualand then drive 6 hours to hotel near Walibi Rhone-Alps

Day 18: Walibi Rhone-Alps, then drive 4 Hours to Nigloland, then drive 3 Hours to hotel near Walibi Lorraine

Day 19: Walibi Lorraine , then drive 3 Hours to Disneyland Paris, stay at Disneyland Paris

Day 20: Disneyland Paris/Disney Studios Paris, stay at Disneyland Paris

Day 21: Parc Asterix, then Disneyland Paris, stay at Disneyland Paris

Day 22: Leave CDG

 

Now on to the questions.¨

 

Question #1 - Since we are traveling during the last three weeks of June, we are assuming that parks shouldn't be that crowded. Is this a correct assumption? When we did our Europe trip in 2002, we were there during the last 2 weeks of July and the parks were *PACKED*. We're hoping by going a bit earlier, we won't see as many crowds. When do schools officially get out for the summer?

 

In Belgium, the parks are crowded the last week of June. Some days, some parks are even more crowded the last week of June, than in July

 

 

Question #5 - On Day 10, when we take the ferry, does anyone think we need to make reservations for this one? It goes about every 30 minutes, and it seems like we should be ok without them, we just want to make sure.

I don't think it's necessary to make reservations

 

Question #11 - Do the tunnels get congested, are the roads through Switzerland difficult to drive?

 

A lot depends on the current weather conditions, but in general the roads in Switzerland are good to drive. But you have to know that Switzerland is not a part of the European Union, so you have to pass along the customs authorities, and it's possible that you lose some time there.

 

 

Question #14 - We are in the process of booking hotels. We are going to stay at the Liseberg hotel, Phantasialand hotel, Europa Park hotel, and on property at Disneyland Paris. All other nights we are looking for 'motels' that are right off the motorway and easy to get to. Any suggestions?

 

I don't think that there are many motels in Belgium, so I can't help you with that.

 

Question #15 - What can we expect on the overnight ferry we are taking? It is pretty straightforward? Is it "nice?" Arekind of e actually going to get any sleep?

 

Europe is kind of civilised, so it's not like you are have got to take a rusted ferry. The quality is rather good

 

 

Some tips in Belgium

 

-Don't drive too fast! The fines are very high and when you don't live in Belgium you have to pay them immediatly. You don't want that to happen because it will cost you a lot of money that you better spend in the parks!

 

-When you're in Belgium, try some several types of beer. In Bobbejaanland, in the saloon in the western village, they have rather wide offer of Belgian beers.

 

-You can also buy some of the worlds best chocolate here! In Brussels there are a a lot of shops, but I can recommend Leonidas, they're very good!

 

-If you need more information about Bobbejaanland you can always find that on http://www.bjlfansite.be, but that's all in Dutch so i don't think you will understand . Or http://www.tpv.be is also a very good site. Or you can always consult http://www.bobbejaanland.be orhttp://www.walibi.be (official sites).

 

If you want more info about Bobbejaanland or Walibi Belgium, or Belgum in general, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a good trip!

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Wouldn't it be easier if you fly directly to Brussels?

 

The only two flights from the USA to Brussels are from Chicago O'Hare and New York JFK! So I don't think that's the best solution for them!

And the flights between Paris and Brussels are cancelled scince the TGV/Thalys has gained a big popularity!

 

And the distance between CDG and BRU isn't that big to do it by car !

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You have got to get Warner Brother Movie World Madrid in there.

Best European park on the continent.

Other then that, I think Toverland can be done in less then two hours, besides the vekoma motorbike, there's only a small small junior coaster and a little flume.

It is my experience that june is very calm, until about the 20-24 th of june, when the exams are done and the school and or personal trips begin. Then it's packed.

Best period here in Europe is second half of August and everything after that.

 

On the motels: contact the guys at www.pretparken.be They do a lot of European trips and probably know a couple of good ones.

 

Have fun

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Forgot one tip: Buy a starparks subscription card. You get unlimited access to one park ( will be the park were you buy it: walibi belgium) and free ticket to the other walibi's and movieworld germany. This way you'll save about 100 euro's.

 

Bobbejaanland also has a weird ride opening schedule, email the park, or just ask a belgian like myself for the best attack plan, otherwise you'll walk around waiting for half an hour.

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Question #8 - On Day 12, we plan on hitting WBMW then Toverland. Is this realistic? We're planning on leaving WBMW by 3pm to get to Toverland by 4pm, which should give us 2 hours at that park.

 

This one might not work. You’ll be in high traffic around that time and 1 hour might be a bit tight. (pretty sure).

 

If you need any info on Disneyland Resort Paris…. You can always let me know… I am a DLRP addict or just check our website http://www.dlp.info/Guide/

 

With Bobbejaanland only 20 minutes from my house. Any info needed. Let me know too…

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