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Europa Park Discussion Thread


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I just came back from Europa Park yesterday, and I had a lot and lot of amazing times on Wodan Timbur Coaster, it's nice, he got one of the best q-line ever, I bring you back a full HD vidéo of what you can find during the queue and some off-ride shot.

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I've not been on many woodies but I can tell you that the first drop could be compared to Tonnerre De Zeus for the intensity, and became force less for the rest of the layout, instead of that it's at the moment the funniest wooden I've ridden, as the train stops you want another ride, and the whole layout is interisting, best queue line ever (not only talking about woodies)! A very cool ride, perfectly fit Europa's skyline and type of coasters.

(I hope everyone understood what I would be meaning

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I think you captured Wodan...especially the indoor bits...VERY well...thanks !!!

 

(Besindes : The weather forecast says that FINALLY it will be getting warm here in Germany...cause since Wodan opened it was quite cold here continuously...so here`s hoping for the first REALLY fast rides on Wodan )

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I've not been on many woodies but I can tell you that the first drop could be compared to Tonnerre De Zeus for the intensity, and became force less for the rest of the layout, instead of that it's at the moment the funniest wooden I've ridden, as the train stops you want another ride, and the whole layout is interisting, best queue line ever (not only talking about woodies)! A very cool ride, perfectly fit Europa's skyline and type of coasters.

(I hope everyone understood what I would be meaning

 

Understood it very well! Thank you for the report. I think I will read it in a French accent now

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, after about 100 rides on "Wodan" on about 20 different days...there`s something I`d like to say.

 

I think Wodan is really depending on good speeds. The layout just isn`t THAT spectacular...so the ride doesn`t deliver all the time.

 

Wodan is now open for about 6 weeks and today we reached about 30 C* (degrees) for the first time...and Wodan is still not as fast as it was during those first testruns on steel wheels...but it`s close now. It`s starts a bit lame in the morning...but that changes the later it gets.

 

As far as I know by now about the half of the german coaster enthusiasts say that Wodan is the best ride in the park...and people seem to be VERY satisfied with Wodan now...and this is alot diffrerent from what I heard in the beginning.

 

Yet STILL Wodan is no airtime machine at all...but the faster it gets...the "wilder" it becomes. I think it went from "good" to "very good"...but it`s not OMFG amazing...and I guess it will stay like that.

 

My advice for you all is...try to ride it at least once in the dark if possible...the lightning-package is awesome...Wodan in the dark is hands-down the best thing you can experience at Europa...had it once a week ago...and it was STUNNING

 

Greeds...George "ask Roland for nightrides" T.

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Hi,

 

Just returned from a 3 day trip to Europapark.

 

My thoughts on Wodan: the placing is beautiful between atlantica supersplash and Blue fire.

Beautiful theming on the outside with the building and the gate.

The waitingline is also fantastic. Had plenty of time to admire it (between 40 and 70 minutes last monday/tuesday).

 

The ride itself is........ok.

 

The first drop is great, especially going through the tunnel gives a real feeling of good speed.

The second 'drop' with the second tunnel is the best part for me. Really speeding through the tunnel and the extreme banking just before the fly-through.......loved it.

 

The camelback just after the fly-through was the big disappointment for me. It really kills the speed at that moment and after that hill it's just...... over with all the fun. From there on it's just an average ride till you hit the brakes.

 

Comparing it to the other CGI coasters I've ridden it's my least favorite, together with Gwazi(BGT).

It doesn't mean that I don't like them, but they aren't great in my opinion.

Troy(Toverland) is just a little bit better for me, and I'm sorry but.......George and the dragon(Efteling)is still my CGI number 1.

It isn't that fast or high, but it's just a lot more fun to ride compared to Wodan.

 

Summarized: fantastic coaster to look at and wait in line for, and a good ride.......until you arrive at the camelback.....

 

Paul

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  • 3 weeks later...
Well...it had this "Go there for several days or forget it" tone...and all I wanna say is that it`s MUCH better to be there for one day that NOT to be there

 

I just went on Saturday after taking this advice - loved the park (LOVED! ADORED! WANT MORE!) and am so glad I went for that day, but if I get a chance will come back for at least 2 days. I got in all the coasters and major rides, but saw no shows, and missed so much more! (Not to mention hurrying through meals).

 

SO GOOD!

 

And thanks for the advice in your TR GeorgeT! Hugely helpful! I'll post my own as soon as I can!

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And thanks for the advice in your TR GeorgeT! Hugely helpful! I'll post my own as soon as I can!

 

Sooo nice to hear that...thanks for giving me feedback !

GeorgeT

 

You are more than welcome! It's a huge treat to be able to read reports from regulars before visiting a new park for the first time - I always feel MUCH better prepared and get a lot more out of my visit.

 

You have a great, GREAT home park!

 

And to echo many folks here regarding Wodan:

 

-placement in between Atlantica and Blue Fire is fantastic (and Wodan is a great backdrop to that whole area - I love how Blue Fire has to turn away at one point from a potential collision with Wodan!)

-HANDS DOWN the best queue for a wooden coaster in the world. Period.

-The queue can be argued to be the best coaster queue in the world. Debate whether Dueling Dragons famous queue is actually better or not... with it having been Potterized, I'm giving the edge to Wodan. This is no small achievement for Europa Park!

-They seem to be having some teething problems - ride started and shut down twice between 9am opening and 10am... so I had extra time to admire the queue!

-My first ride of the day was very "meh" after the first couple elements... speed just died on it, rendering the second half of the course nice, but not exciting.

-My second (and last) ride around 7pm (extended hours) after a nice warm day in the upper 20's © was COMPLETELY different

-Although it seems to end a little soon (short? Plus no final signature memorable kick) the trains FLEW through the whole course, and was quite wild

-That said, it was butter smooth, quiet, no rattle, no jerking, and not a ton of force after the first pull up out of the initial drop

-In other words, a PERFECT coaster if you are aiming at a wide audience - much like Blue Fire is AMAZING without being abusive or intimidating

-If Wodan's consistency improves, I think this will be a fantastic addition to the park!

 

Very glad to have had a chance to ride it so early in Wodan's life!

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-My first ride of the day was very "meh" after the first couple elements... speed just died on it, rendering the second half of the course nice, but not exciting.

-My second (and last) ride around 7pm (extended hours) after a nice warm day in the upper 20's © was COMPLETELY different

-Although it seems to end a little soon (short? Plus no final signature memorable kick) the trains FLEW through the whole course, and was quite wild

 

Yep...Wodan "needs" that warm up procedure. That`s why I totally hope that TPR will have evening ERT on Wodan here in June

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone who has been to Europa knows about that amazing song on Euro-Mir. Well, my fellow TPR people, especially the ones who were just on the Europe trip, I present to you....THE EURO-MIR MUSIC VIDEO! I'm dead serious. This isn't some fan-made thing set to the music. It is a legitimate video made with the song by the park featuring cosmonauts riding the coaster.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just got to Germany yesterday and spent the afternoon at Europa. Crowds were fairly heavy, but this park moves people through rides like CP does, so even massive queues were under an hour wait. Blue Fire was better than expected and Wodan was MUCH better than expected. Yes, there's very little airtime, but that doesn't take away from how much FUN that ride is.

Even Silver Star, which had disappointed me its opening season, was giving great rides.

 

Wasn't planning to go to Europa yesterday after the long drive from Paris, was just going to wait till today, but I needed some good park feelings after the crap that is Disney Paris. That is one really sub-standard park by Disney standards and Disney Studios is just crap, even by non-Disney standards. At least Space Mountain didn't beat me up this time, and RnRC was actually pretty good.

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I sense there to be a future

 

TPR Lighthouse Takeover,

 

next tour that hits Europa Park, lol!

 

 

 

 

 

(Although it IS hard to beat the Colosseo Hotel. )

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Just got to Germany yesterday and spent the afternoon at Europa. Crowds were fairly heavy, but this park moves people through rides like CP does, so even massive queues were under an hour wait. Blue Fire was better than expected and Wodan was MUCH better than expected. Yes, there's very little airtime, but that doesn't take away from how much FUN that ride is.

Even Silver Star, which had disappointed me its opening season, was giving great rides.

 

Sooo happy to hear that my homepark did not dissapoint

 

Still hoping for more reviews of those who shared the Europe trip

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Spent most of the day at Europa Park today. Got there right at opening and knocked out Pegasus, Poseidon, Matterhorn Blitz, and Schweizer Bobbahn while everyone else ran to Wodan. It was raining, but not heavily, and since I got two rides each on Wodan and Blue Fire yesterday, I wanted to get in as much stuff as I could before repeating anything.

Matterhorn Blitz is a fairly uneventful mouse that becomes a must-do simply because of the lift system.

Scweizer is a decent bobsled, but if bob's your thing head to Heide instead... or even Parc Asterix.

The park itself looked fantastic with everything in bloom and even the rain couldn't dampen the beauty of it.

Got in another ride on Blue Fire and I gotta say that I wish more parks would install these trains on their steelies. They have all of the necessary safety features without being intrusive or uncomfortable. Also, they allow insanely fast loading/unloading. I have never seen a standard style coaster that moves a line faster than this one... with the possible exception of Silver Star, but it holds nearly twice as many per train!

 

Got in three more rides on Wodan. I've read the previous ho-hum reports and I honestly wasn't expecting that much from it. I was wrong. Firstly, let me add to the kudos on the queue line - not just the themed parts, but also the bits that snake under and through the structure. It might be ( structurally) the most beautiful wood coaster I've ever seen.

And the ride? Maybe it was just because of the light rain, but this thing was hauling serious azz. Direction changes were intense, the second half of the ride was almost as good as the first half, and that little pop of airtime in the middle of the banked turn/drop before the station flythrough was a legit OMGWTF moment. Apparently, it doesn't always run this well according to the other reports on here. Pity.

Here's an odd thing: after five rides (one front seat, one near the back, and two in the middle), I think that GCI has done something that I thought impossible - they made a wood coaster that gives the best rides to the middle of the train. Seriously. I've always thought that riding in the middle of the train is like kissing your sister: it's not completely unpleasant, but what's the point? Wodan, however, thrilled me best just slightly forward of dead center in the train. Weird.

 

Going back to the subject of moving the queue lines like Blue Fire and Silver Star... I was watching the loading/unloading process and was asking myself, "why don't any parks in the US move queues like this? Cedar Point does a good job, but even they aren't this efficient." After some observations, I think I know why:

[1] American parks usually allow you to choose your seat. People get distracted talking with their friends and/or don't pay attention. By having an attendant at the front of the queue telling you which row to enter, the line keeps moving.

[2] Euro guests understand that the train needs to GO and don't have a "they'll wait for me" attitude. When Euro guests put their backpacks in the cubbies, they hurry over, toss the bag, then hurry back to the seat. In the US, unfortuneately, it's often "social hour" at the cubbies while people are putting away their things. There's no hurry.

[3] Redundant safety checks? Not so much at Europa. The Silver Star (and probably Wodan and Blue Fire as well) trains have indicators on each seat position that let the ride ops know that the bar is down and locked sufficiently. No need to come by and tug on each restraint, a look at the light and a look at the rider to make sure the bar is down far enough is all they do. All clear and dispatch. US parks usually require that each restraint be hand-checked by a ride op before dispatch.

[4] Riders are used to pulling down their own restraints in Europa Park. By the time the ride ops walk the train, everything is pretty much done already. US ride ops spend half their time buckling someone in who was afraid they might do it wrong or something.

[5] Europa Park has ADULTS for ride ops. Actual grown-ups! I didn't see a single pimply-faced high schooler working a ride. These are folks who have had other jobs before, understand that it actually is a job (not just a hangout with a paycheck) and that they have to do it well. There were some ride ops in their late teens and early 20s, but a good number of them were 35+ and a few seniors on the flat rides.

 

That said, there is one beef I have with Euro Parks vs US ones: smoking. I often felt that I and my partner were the only adults in the whole park who weren't smoking. Some of the queues forbid it, but everywhere else there was a noxious nicotine cloud. Disney was even worse. Sadly, I don't see this changing any time soon... there are even cigarette vending machines along the walkway from the parking lot to the front gate. (sigh)

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Apparently, it doesn't always run this well according to the other reports on here. Pity.

(sigh)

 

No. It becomes better over the time continously. There are always people who dislike a ride...and maybe every coaster has a "bad day"...but the "older" Wodan is...the more positive reviews it is getting.

 

Honesty...about every...let`s say two weeks...I feel an improvement. It`s STILL getting faster. After running so "meh" in the beginning I really didn`t expect Wodan to get that good. So happy to hear that it did not dissapoint. Rounds up Europas line up soooo well !

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^^ nice report... really nice to hear that you enjoyed the park as much as i do. About Wodan, like Georg said... it was a little bit of a "let down" in the first weeks, but the last time i rode it, it gets better and better... but it was fun all the time. One day a guy sat next to me and the whole ride he was laughing like hell... and really it is that much fun. you just have to laugh or smile while riding. Wodan is not thrilling or intense but a lot of fun till the final brakes. But i have to admit i was always trying to get in the last rows... So i never rode it in the front, after reading that in the front(up to the middle) it seems to be better in some reviews, i definitly have to give it a try.

About the fast operations... yeah EP ist fantastic and i sometimes think the operators make a battle who gets more people through the lines per hour as fast as possible.

They manage to get really extrem crowds through lines even on crowded days. And yes... we Europeans hurry in the station. Maybe it's because we don`t want to be blamed that a train has to wait for us... it is kind of embarrassing to us, if others have to wait because of slow behavior and of course we are germans

But when i read the reviews about the new Mack Manta in SeaWorld i realized that the operators seems to be as fast as on BlueFire... They even counted how many they get through in one hour... That`s intresting because like you mentioned, it seems that Macks-Launcher can pull through a massive amount of people not only on BlueFire. Like you said, it has fast moving lines, nearly as fast as on SilverStar. So nice to hear that you recognized the same things on this coaster type... And "yes".... the Bluefire trains are the best i have ever riden

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