Trip Report: Holiday Park / Europa

[CGM]

Holiday Park

 

Okay, after weeks of grappling with different file types and formats, I've finally given up and decided that this is to be a photo and video-less trip report. Give me back the old fashioned tape camera over this new-fangled HDD whizzymajig any day.

 

So, I was on a family holiday and I had somehow managed to persuade my family to drive across France and stay in Germany for a week in order to go to Europa Park. However, whilst passing a leaflet rack in my hotel lobby I spotted a Holiday Park leaflet and discovered that it was no more than an hour up the road. After even more begging and pleading, we were soon on our way.

 

The park is very well hidden and it seems that they don't want you to find them either as there are no signs to the park on any major roads and despite the park having a bright red 180 ft coaster, you could still easily drive straight past it as it's surrounded by trees. We had to navigate using only the very crude map on the back of the leaflet but we found the park eventually.

 

The park is really nice with lots of beautiful landscaping and planting and some pretty good theming in places for such a small park. There was lots of entertainment around the park. I particluarly liked the water-ski stunt show which was very camp in places but still worth making time for if you can.

 

So, the reason for coming to Holiday Park was of course Expedition GeForce and it didn't dissapoint at all. I'm pleased to report that the trims were fully turned off and we were able to experience EGF at its full potential. I don't know what people are on about when they say that it's getting rough, it was silky smooth. Silverstar was rougher!

 

Anyway, Expedition GeForce is an absolute airtime machine. There's not one weak hill in the entire layout and the airtime just keeps getting stronger until you hit the brakes. Unlike other coasters, it doesn't matter where you sit, it's awesome in just about every seat.

 

But that's not even the best part, the highlight of the ride is the insane first drop which I doubt any other coaster in the world can match. Somehow, you're pinned to the lapbar all the way down until it bottoms out and then there's the insane twistyness that goes with it. If you can imagine driving a convertable off a cliff with lead weights strapped to one side, that's probably something like what it feels like, only you survive when you get to the bottom. Anyway, the point is that the drop's good.

 

what adds a lot to EGF is the fact that it really interacts with its surroundings. There's a lot of interaction with the rapids ride and you are constantly flying past treetops and over walkways. It's pretty much the perfect coaster, the only thing they could do to make it better would be the addition of a few tunnels and complete removal of the trims so that there's no danger that they could be turned on if I return. There's also the fact that they were running it Six Flags style which meant very slow-moving queues.

 

I had my doubts about EGF, but I'm now pretty confident that I've ridden the world's best coaster (well, the world's best steel coaster at least) as I can't see how SM:ROS can compare without the amazing setting or that twisted first drop. Needless to say that it's gone straight to my number one possition.

 

The rest of the park is made up of pretty minor attractions. The only other coaster at the park is a Vekoma Corkscrew and this one's a bad'n. Honestly, I thought that Alton's Model was bad but this one just isn't healthy. Even in the back car, the only thing that you can do after MCBR is keep your head braced so that you leave the ride with your ears intact. Definitely a "once only for the credit" coaster.

 

One thing that the park does have is a very good log flume with three drops, a reverse section and some really good dark ride sections. I'm still trying to decide whether I prefer this one or Terra Mitica's but it's definitely much better than most.

 

The only other attraction of note is the Starflyer which provides some great views over the Black Forest and of EGF but is nowhere near as good as the Tivoli one as it's not as high, the program's too short and the view isn't quite as good as the one over Copenhagen.

 

So overall, Holiday Park is a very nice park with a good atmosphere despite some moody looking staff and it's definitely worth the visit just for EGF.

 

 

Europa Park

 

The whole reason for coming to Germany was to visit Europa and it's one of the parks that I've always wanted to visit since becoming a coaster enthusiast. But to be quite honest, I can't see what all of the fuss is about.

 

Yes Europa is a very good park, one of the best in Europe but it's certainly not the "Best park in the world, better than Disney, it will change your life" park that everyone says it is. The theming is very detailed in places but to say that it's better than Disney is a bit much. It's not even the best themed non-Disney park I've been to. The park didn't feel particularly atmospheric either. I don't know really, the park feels more like a giant culture festival than a theme park. Everything seems a bit too tacky and artificial to be taken seriously.

 

However, that doesn't mean that I didn't have a good time, it is still an amazing park which I would recommend to anyone, just don't make it the only stop on your trip.

 

First of all, I have to mention the EP staff who are just fantastic. They always served with a smile and seemed to speak most major languages. The ride crews at Europa are simply awesome. Never before have I seen queues move so quickly. I reckon that they go through queues twice as quickly as most parks. You hardly ever stand still for more than a minute in a Europa Park queue.

 

As the park was so busy, they had extended the opening times until 8:00pm which is good because there would have been no way that I could have got all of the credits in otherwise.

 

The first thing we did was head for Silverstar and even before the official park opening time, the queue was out the door. However, with this being Europa Park the queue was zooming along and we were soon at the station.

 

I knew that Silverstar wasn't going to be up to EGF's standard but I thought that it would be a pretty good hyper anyway. But unfortunately Silverstar is one of those rides that looks awesome but in reality isn't. It does have a very good first drop and an intense twister section onto the final brakes but the rest of the layout is just forceless and dull. The only notable spot of airtime is coming off the MCBR.

 

It's mainly due to those infamous trim brakes. If those were on any harder, I'm sure that the train would stop on the hill. They're really not needed and if they toned them down just a bit, Silverstar could be awesome. As it is it's just dull. You honestly wouldn't know that you're riding a hyper, it feels more like a large kiddy coaster.

 

At the end of the day, I took a second ride on Silverstar and it has to be said that it improves vastly throughout the day. There was now good floater airtime all the way down the first hills and even ejector airtime off the helix and over the last hill. Because of this second ride, I only just rate it as the best coaster at Europa with Euromir not far behind but still, the coaster could be so much better if they just turned down those awful trims.

 

Next up was Matterhorn Blitz, a fun little wild mouse with a crazy elevator lift and some good head-choppers. This coaster also has an amazingly well themed queuline through a Swiss farm house.

 

After this, it was across to Schwiezer bobbahn which would be my first bobsled coaster. It's a pretty fun coaster with lots of gimmick factor and a good surprise helix at the end.

 

We did Euromir next which is a very good yet very weird coaster. The lifthill alone instantly makes this coaster legendary. Those who have ridden it will know why. Waving at yourself in the mirror towers is fun and the last section of drops and helixes is surprisingly intense. I was certainly caught off guard, and facing backwards too. There's also lots of tunnels and head-choppers to make things more interesting. A very fun coaster, more like this should definitely be built.

 

After riding the new shooting dark ride, it was over to Poseidon which had the longest queue of the day. Thankfully, the queueline theming was amazing so it gave us something to look at while we waited. The ride is okay, it's pretty fun but it's getting a bit on the rough side. I would say that you get slightly wet but hardly drenched which I would have prefered as it was a really hot day.

 

Next we went back round to Pegasus which is the park's newest coaster. A very fun little family coaster. The first drop has better airtime than Silverstar (well in the back seat anyway) and the rest of the layout is really twisted and smooth. A good family ride.

 

Eurosat was up next and it was not a particularly pleasant experience. You can't really appreciate the coaster as you're constantly being thrown left and right. The fact that you're in the dark only makes things worse. It's not Vekoma-esque painful roughness but it's not comfortable either. If you can imagine riding a ski-lift, in an earthquake, at night, then that's probably something like what it feels like. I say tear it down and build something that looks nicer. Epcot globes should be for Epcot only.

 

After the log flume and rapids ride, we went to ride the two "questionable credits" (I count them both) which are the powered coaster and Atlantica Supersplash. The powered coaster and log flume interact really well in a huge dark ride bit with lots of fire which makes them pretty cool but apart from that, neither were particularly amazing.

 

I much preferred Atlantica Supersplash to Poseidon. it was much smoother, the drop was more intense, the airtime hill had better airtime and it was quite a bit wetter too. It also has theming which is as good, if not better than Poseidon's and the queue seemed to be much shorter all day. So if you don't want to queue for Poseidon, I'd advise heading to Atlantica Supersplash instead.

 

After stopping by the Haunted Mansion rip-off dark ride, getting one last ride on Silverstar and getting some photos on the observation tower, we left the park.

 

Despite Europa not quite living up to expectations, it was still a very fun park with some excellent theming in places and a few decent coasters. A good park for the whole family. If you're ever in Germany, I'd highly recommend it

[coastermaniac1]

Good trip report, I really hope I can do both parks next summer but I have to persuade my parents which wont be easy. I have to find away to get from Europa to Holiday Park using public transport.

 

 

Glad you had a good time though, your so lucky you got EGF with the trims turned off. I sure hope it's like that if I go and shame about Silver Star, I hope the trims are not on hard when I ride it.

[devol4]

sounds like you had fun on your trip, i went to holiday park back in april and it was really empty, rode geforce 8 times,,,,, it was so empty we just had to open and close the lapbars, you could get off if you wanted to but we just stayed on the whole time.......

 

and i agree with you on the vekoma,,,, the kid 2 rows in front of us knocked out one of his teeth,,,, its a "do once in ur lifetime" credit....

 

been to europa too, didnt enjoy the silverstar that much, but Atlantica Superspash wasn't worth the hour long wait,,,,, Poseidon was a lot better, and longer for that matter....

 

plannin on goin back to HP tomarrow, its only 30 minutes from here XD