Solid Gold Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Guten Tag! I just purchased my ticket to go to Germany this summer to visit my sister in Siegen, and I will be arriving on May 21st in Frankfurt and will be staying until June 5th. The second week of my trip (approx May 29th- June 5th) will be devoted to culture and family fun in and around the area, but in the first week I am hoping to visit some wonderful German theme parks. This is a preliminary thread asking for advice on how to travel, and for people to travel with. I would love to do a semi-rigorous trip to 6 or 7 of the big hitters of the area, hopefully meeting with some locals with a car. I'm college-aged, doesn't really matter to me who I'm traveling with, I don't drink or smoke but can tolerate either. Parks I want to visit for sure: Europa Park, Holiday Park, Phantasialand. Other potentials: Nurburgring, Tripsdrill, Klotten and I'd absolutely be open to heading further north towards Toverland, Bobbejaanland, Walibi World, Efteling and others in the area (A dream trip would be the first three and the last four listed). Thanks for any and all help, I hope that I can find someone to make this happen! If you have any questions or advice I will be on here quite a bit in the coming days, I'm very excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplf Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 If you're in Germany, I wouldn't go up to Belgium to visit Walibi/Bobbejaanland, cause you find better thrillrides in Germany than the once in Walibi and you will find the typical Bobbejaanland-atmosphere in the smaller German parks as well. I personally think Walibi World is quite a let-down besides Goliath (which is an amazing ride). I'd pick Toverland over Walibi World any time cause it's cheaper, the operations are better, the atmosphere is better, it has Troy, and it's just perfect to have an amazing afternoon. No need to spend the whole day in Toverland though. Try to spend 2 days in Europa park, and enjoy the rides as well as the overall atmosphere without having to hurry. Their campsite is rather cheap and they also have some bed & breakfast rooms. In the nearby city Rust you can also book a cheap B&B. The 23th and 24th of May are holidays and are some of the busiest days during the themeparkseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Although I like trains, this trip is probably best done by car. Some notes on driving in Germany: -Get an International Driving Permit (IDP) from AAA. You can get fined for driving without an IDP in Germany. -If you rent a car, pay extra for the collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance. This will give you full coverage in case something bad happens. -If you can't drive a manual, learn how before you go. Automatic transmission cars cost approximately 2x as much to rent in Germany. -The left lane in the autobahn is for passing only. Don't be a stupid American and block the passing lane. -Although there is technically no speed limit on the autobahn, there is a suggested speed limit. I think it's 130 km/hr. If you drive over the suggested speed limit, your insurance policy will not cover you if you wreck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Der Dongt Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Well, that's not the whole deal. There are speed limits in quite a few areas, some are only during daytime. The sings say what the speed limit is, the suggested speed is always 120 km/h. If there is a speed limit it's usually 123 or 130 km/h. I really would like to do some parks with you but I am traveling the US in May and June! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 ^Did they change the autobahn advisory speed recently? I just checked like 20 different websites and they're all still saying it's 130 km/hr. But I wasn't checking official government websites. 120 seems like a pretty darn low cut off for the autobahn. A few states in the US even have higher speed limits than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jive Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 -If you rent a car, pay extra for the collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance. This will give you full coverage in case something bad happens. My wife and I are heading to Germany for a couple of weeks in May/June and we found a much better deal for collision coverage through our current insurance provider. It's basically $70 for the add on policy and the coverage offered by the rental company was going to be $9/day ($135 for the whole trip). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Der Dongt Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Ok, I checked it and you're right, the advisory is 130. Well, that's what you get from not caring about it, if there is no speed limit, I just hit the gas pedal The left lane is for passing only and it is illegal to pass on the right lane. I noticed that traffic over here in germany is basically a lot more aggressive than it is in the usa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 ^US traffic depends on where you're driving. Places like LA and Chicago have more aggressive drivers. In my experience, Italians are the worst drivers. They'll run you down with their Vespas for having the nerve to walk on the sidewalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 oh wow, yeah, I'd say German drivers drive faster, but not what I'd call more aggressive. They seem to be better at following the rules of the road, whereas American drivers will swerve in and out of traffic, with one hand on the wheel and the other on the phone, all while neither signaling nor leaving enough space on either end. I felt the autobahns were a much safer environment than the American roads I'm used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hattuchili Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 ^^ You are right, the suggested speed limit is 130 km/h (appr. 81 mph). But there are still enough highways without any speed limit. It is always advisable to take a careful look at the signs, cause on some highways are speed limits at certain times, like between 8am - 8pm a 120 km/h. However, in total the police is not as strict as in the USA, especially with foreigners. --Soren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Gold Posted February 24, 2010 Author Share Posted February 24, 2010 Thanks everyone for all the replies! I see that Whit Monday is on the 24th. Why do parks become crowded on that day, is it like July 4th in the states? Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to do car rental unless I can rope a friend or two from the states to go with me on the trip, since spending 400 on the rental and a hundred plus more for gas money would be out of budget for me. If I go that route I'll definitely have to get someone to go with, and I don't think I have any buddies who would come. I'd love love love to see if I can partner up with any locals, if it can't be done, I'll probably have to cut down my trip to a train ride down for two days at Europa and maybe one or two other parks the same way. Anyone know anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinschroder Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Sorry I missed this thread so far! If you do end up travelling by train, it's very easy to get to many of the major German parks - details below. Germany is really well set up for public transport! I notice you missed off Heide Park from your list - worth considering, I'd say; Colossos is very good! Europa Park - easy by train; a short-ish bus ride away from Rinsheim train station Holiday Park - easy by train; a short bus ride away from Haßloch (Pfalz) train station Phantasialand - easy by train; a short-ish bus ride away from Brühl train station Heide Park - an hour from Hamburg ZOB (Bus terminal) by a special bus, but do-able! For all of your train needs, check bahn.de for details (and they an option to view in English too). You can even search with the destination as the themepark and it'll give you the bus route details in addition to the train details (although watch the connections it suggests to you). Of course, all of the bus details will be on the park websites. By the way, if you're going to try and do Nurburgring by train / bus, this is trickier. There are some buses to and from Koblenz - but I seem to remember these are only on certain days (such as Saturday). Best to do this one by car, if at all. And obviously check ahead that RingRacer is actually running before you make firm plans to visit, unless you really like Formula 1! As far as I know, there's no news on RingRacer opening yet... Good luck! Sounds like you're almost going to be replicating this year's TPR Europe trip without Italy*. Robin *PS - there are still spots open on that trip... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplf Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Thanks everyone for all the replies! I see that Whit Monday is on the 24th. Why do parks become crowded on that day, is it like July 4th in the states? Well, most people have a 'longer' weekend from 23-25 May, because the Monday is an official holiday. So a lot of people will do a short trip to the sea, or to a themepark or anything like that. I was in Europa Park this year on this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and especially the Sunday was REALLY crowded (40.000). The weather was amazing too, so that might have had something to do with it. All the waiting lines were full. However, if one park is able to manage huge crowds, it's Europa Park, but still we had quite a few 1 hour+ waiting times. IF you visit a themepark in that weekend, do NOT visit Phantasialand, cause they have some really slow lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 There are some buses to and from Koblenz - but I seem to remember these are only on certain days (such as Saturday). Best to do this one by car, if at all. If you're using trains, you can get to Klotten from by way of Koblenz. Just take the train to Cochem (not Klotten), walk through town, and take the chairlift up to the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Gold Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 New Question! If I were to travel by train alone, how adventurous can I be in scheduling parks? Are trains sufficient in order to visit a park a day? Even crazier, two parks in one day? (like a Klotten/Ringracer combo, neither seems like a full day park) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 ^You might be able to squeeze in two of the smaller German parks in a day if they're close enough. You'll need to carefully check the train schedules and the park operating schedules. Remember that you need to allow time to get from the train station to the park. At Holiday Park, for example, you'll need to take a bus from the train station to the park. Stuff like that eats up some time. I would give a full day to the larger German parks: Phantasialand, Heide Park, and Europa Park. And you could easily spend 2 days at Europa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinschroder Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 ^^ With RingRacer, it's the public transport that's going to let you down... the buses I researched last year (but never took because RingRacer kept exploding) arrived in the morning, and then departed late afternoon. That may have changed, but you'll need to do some careful research! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplf Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 New Question! If I were to travel by train alone, how adventurous can I be in scheduling parks? Are trains sufficient in order to visit a park a day? Even crazier, two parks in one day? (like a Klotten/Ringracer combo, neither seems like a full day park) I'd ne-ver do that, just cause your day would be really stressy with all those 'deadlines'. And most trains ride on time (or kind of), but buses can be quite a hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Gold Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 The trip is here, I've got my schedule, but I could use some help here on one part. I have a Eurail pass valid for six days. May 22: Arrive Frankfurt 7:20 AM, get to Toverland by noon. May 23: Heide-Park May 24: Walibi World May 25: Amsterdam (Night train to Offenburg) May 26: Europa-Park May 27: Phantasialand (final train to Siegen, where my sister is living). The whole schedule works well, except for the bit from Toverland to Heide-Park. I can't figure out how to get to Heide before noon from any city, using public transport. Do I need to go straight to their resort the night before (what's their cheapest accommodation if so, non-camping)? Their bus schedule is in german on a pdf and I can't make sense of it. Not doing Efteling because the sight of Jooris not open yet would sadden me deeply (I LOVED Lightning Racers, Bobbenjaanland would be my substitute if Heide doesn't work, Tripsdrill doesn't have any GREAT coasters, and Holiday Park, well you should know why I'm not going there. Any other parks are too lame or far away if one only has six days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groteslurf Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 I believe you that the schedule works well but probably since I'm not used to use public transport, your schedule is really bizar. You're zigzagging through Germany and Holland, and doing a LOT of extra miles. For example Toverland and WW are about 140 kms away from each other. but you're going up to Heidepark some 400 kms after Toverland and then going down again another 400 kms to WW. Then from Amsterdam you're going to EP which must be some 700 kms and then go back another 300 kms or something to Phantasialand. Ok, if the nighttrain goes to Offenburg and you will get a good night sleep on the train, and since your sister is living in Siegen, I can understand you're going to EP before Phantasialand. But I would be surprised if you can't find a better schedule for your first 3 parks, saving a lot of traveltime. But again, I'm not used to travel by train so I can be completely wrong in my assumptions. For Heidepark, they have an excellent hotelsection on their website and it's also in English. In any case, enjoy your Europe trip !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinschroder Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 The Hamburg ZOB (Bus station) has a service that runs to Heide Park in the morning, and then back in the evening... did you investigate Hamburg? All the best, Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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