Europa Park Discussion Thread

[GeorgeT]

Little "update" on Wodan :

 

Wodan is running on different wheels this season. While it started last season on polyurethane wheels Europa Park changed to a harder kind of plastic to lower their maintenance costs.

 

The effect is that Wodan became rougher (especially in the middle area of the train AFAIK), louder AND a lot faster !!!

 

Oh boy....the difference compared to last year is huge. If you´re interested to compare...then have a look at this !

 

This is Wodan in 2012 when TPR visited Europa Park...watch at sec. 5:15 the pacing in the final curves :

 

 

And this is what I filmed today. Sorry I had problems uploading this on Youtube....so I used Dropbox for these two AVI video-sequences :

 

From a distance : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31071856/WODAN.V1.25.04.13.AVI

 

Closer : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31071856/WODAN.V2.25.04.13.AVI

 

I have to admit it`s NOT smooth anymore, no, but the intensity ist just WOW

 

Greeds...GeorgeT

 

(EDIT : Sorry for the poor quality of the video )

[jmicha]

^Wow, you're right, that looks a LOT faster through that final bit. Interesting how much difference a change in wheels can make in terms of pacing. Thanks for the cool video comparison.

[GeorgeT]

You`re welcome !

 

I guess the higher speed is a mix of running for a few month more (so more "breaking in") AND the new wheels !

 

Having ridden it today I have to say Wodan is clearly the most intense coaster now at Europa IMHO.

 

Amazing...I just hope it`s not falling into pieces

[Aveko]

wrong information - sorry guys

Edited May 2, 2013 by Aveko

[Ramius]

The pictures show only the original model for the movie.

[matteocrepaldi]

I knew there was something really different in Wodan this year! It was a lot more insane and it had some very unexpected airtime! As I spoke with someone from the press office she told me that steel wheels are still in the plans but she didn't mentioned new wheels. Good to know!

[thomas2]

Guys I need your advice. I'm looking to go to EP in the first week of june (4th and 5th), but would like to estimate the crowds to see how much time I should spend in the park.

 

According to the EP calendar there are no school holidays in Germany, France or Switzerland on these dates, but because EP is very popular I fear it might be still crowded on these off-days. Does anyone have an idea what I should expect crowd-wise??

[SharkTums]

^You should be fine, I would spend both those days at the park and overnight at one of the resort hotels to get the full experience.

[FreeFaller]

^ Totally right, Elissa!

^^But if you want to save some money wrebbit, try the ''Pension Sigg''. It's across from the main entrance! It's true that there aren't any school holidays, BUT french school people always have Wednesdays off! So expect some crowds on June, 5!

[thomas2]

Thank you for the tips. I will stay at El Andaluz this time.

I had no idea in France you have the entire wednesday off. In Belgium wednesday is half a school day. What kind of crowds should I expect then on june 5th? I cannot go on other days as I will also make a stop at Holiday park on thursday, which is also close to the border...

 

It's been quite some years since I last went to Europa park, but what are the coasters that have the least capacity (ie which ones should I try to clear in the morning during the half hour hotel guests get "for free")? Silver Star, Euromir, Eurosat, Altantica have enough capacity so that I shouldn't bother, but what about Wodan and Blue Fire?

 

Thanks again for the tips!

[FreeFaller]

^When visiting the park as a normal park guest I would recommend you going to Silver Star firstly. Then hit Pegasus and Poseidon and walk to Euro Mir! Take the monorail to Island and ride Wodan and Blue Fire. Then you can decide if you wether take a ride on Atlantica or not. Think about going to the front area of the park since people will now come to the back. There you can hit, Mattherhorn, Eurosat and Schweizer Bobbahn!

 

As a hotel guest you could go to the front at first as well! I would also recommend you to do the single rider line at Wodan. If they aren't standing to the last steps of the stairs it will be worth doing it.

Hope that I could help you!

[Toasty82]

It's been quite some years since I last went to Europa park, but what are the coasters that have the least capacity ?

 

Matterhorn-Blitz 960 pph

Pegasus 1000 pph

Alpenexpress 1050 pph

Schweizer Bobbahn 1220 pph

Wodan 1250 pph

Atlantica SuperSplash 1400 pph

Eurosat 1600 pph

Euro-Mir 1600 pph

Poseidon 1600 pph

Silver Star 1620 pph

Blue Fire 1720 pph

[Kooky]

^^ sorry but i won`t do it this way... the most people do the same as you said. So if you come from the hotel use the early time to ride wodan 1-2 times till the crowds arrive, maybe you take a ride on bluefire,too. But BlueFire is a people eater, like SilverStar and they really push the crowds trough them (and if i remember right, than the hotel guests can go into the area for Wodan and Bluefire half an hour before the official park opening). The longest waiting times i had, were often on Poseidon (watercoaster) and the wild-mouse "Matterhorn-Blitz"... The older coasters are most time have a good capacity,too. So EuroSat and EuroMir oftenhave fast moving crowds and not the longest lines. Maybe sometimes the "SchweizerBobbahn" has slow moving lines, but i think on the Tuesday you will have no problem to ride all of them.

 

Like mentioned on wednesday there are normally more french people and the park will be more packed, but i think it will be ok. It is not so crowded compared to days were we germans have holidays . And you should look on signs... the park will change their closing time according to the amount of people which are in the park. So even on the fullest days with long lines i got all major rides done and some of them a secound time. So i think you will have enough time (2 days are perfect) and little - up to middle crowds.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Kooky

[FreeFaller]

^we never had any problems by doing it the way I recommended

[GeorgeT]

Sorry Kooky....but I have to say that starting with Wodan is NOT (!) a good advice...because Wodan is so much slower in the morning !

 

If you want a good ride on Wodan then you have to wait until the (late) afternoon or early evening...the later, the better. The difference is HUGE !

[Kooky]

^ he is a hotel guest... so you wouldn`t start with wodan in the morning and don`t use the extra riding time before opening. Sure it will run better in the evening. But isn`t it the same with all the coasters i know that wodan has the most difference but you can ride it in the evening again. So i think the most of my suggestions would fit... sure you can ride silverstar directly in the morning but than you have to walk with the crowds back again. My suggestion but not "the way it meant to be rided"

[filipv]

I have made some pictures of the development for the new attraction at Europapark in 2014

[FreeFaller]

I'm not a moderator but I think you can post it in the official Europa Park thread as well nevertheless, nice pictures!

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44765

[vuurvogel]

Europa Park just released teaser trailers in German and French for their new 2014 ride

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

[_koppen]

Source

[Kooky]

there are a massive amount of pics from the press conference from http://www.coasterfriends.de/forum/4583-2014-neuheit-thematisierte-familienachterbahn-arthur-ride-europa-park-11.html :

 

 

and a lot of artworks:

 

and mayn more pics from http://www.chris-space.net/?incvar=ep_2014.htm

 

 

by the way... the arrows seem to show the direction in which the spinning seats are facing

 

[SharkTums]

Have they announced an opening day for this area/ride next year?

[Kooky]

^ If i remember right, EuropaPark always builds their rides so that they are ready to open with the beginning of the new season. So i think it will open together with the park on the Easter weekend (the first week of april). But when i look on the building progress maybe they can open it earlier... for example with the start of the winter-season in november/december. And of course it would be great addition for the cold months

[Kooky]

the pics are all mixed up, but i trie to explain: EuropaPark is building a complete new indoor area, themed after the "the Minimoys" movies. It is a big hall extremly themed and with many attractions inside. The main attraction is a inverted powered coaster/darkride with stadium seated trains which has controlled rotatable seats so that everyone can see what is going on. In the movies there is a mini (steam punk like) world and the main actors were shrunken to the size of them.

The ride seems to follow a story and seems to get some nice effects and scenes. The ride will be a mixture of darkride and (powered-)coaster parts.

And they build some more kids attractions in it: a little family free fall tower, a carousel and a big kids play area with slides.

 

If you don´t know the movies here is a trailer of the first one:

 

and here are some facts of the ride:

the area is called "Das Königreich der Minimoys" (The Kingdom of the Minimoys)

 

facts of the area:

- Die aufwändigste und größte Indoor-Attraktion des Europa-Park (the most complex and biggest indoor attractioon of the EP)

- Nachbau der Original Filmkulisse aus Luc Bessons Kino-Erfolg „Arthur und die Minimoys“ (replica of the original movie set)

- Grundfläche 3.500 m² (->base area)

- Indoor-Volumen 40.000 m³

- 15 Meter hohe Kuppel (dome with 15m height)

- Shop

- Gastronomie

- Klatschmohn Free Fall Tower, 10 Meter hoch

- Mul-Mul Karussell

- Großes Rutschenparadies (big slide-paradies)

- Spielecke (Playground)

 

 

Arthur - die Attraktion (Arthur - the ride)

 

- Weltneuheit aus dem Hause MACK Rides (Worlds first of this type from Mack rides)

- Ab 4 Jahren und 100 cm Körpergröße fahrbar (children need be 4 years old and 100cm big)

- Flug durch sieben fantastische Königreiche (Flight through seven fantastic kingdoms)

- Dynamische Fahrt mit verschiedenen Geschwindigkeiten (dynamic ride with variable speed)

- Zahlreiche High-Tech Spezialeffekte (many hi-tech specialFX)

- Inverted Ride: Wagen hängen unter der Schiene

- Wagen können sich drehen (rotateble trains)

- 550 Meter lange Schienenstrecke (ride lenght of 550 meters)

- Dark Ride

- In- und Outdoorstrecke (Ride though in- and outdoor areas)

 

Hope that helps

[cfc]

I vaguely remember the trailer for this movie. The plans for the new section of Europa look great, and the "dark ride/coaster" combo is intriguing.