European Trip Park List

[tbo2]

What's your favourite park in Europe?

[SharkTums]

My personal favorite in Europe is Europa Park.

 

Honorable mentions to:

 

Alton Towers

Heide

Liseberg

Grona Lund

Mirabilandia

Hansa

 

 

Basically Europe (if you include the UK and Scandinavia) has a ton of amazing awesome parks, and even some parks that might not be amazing but have amazing rides!

[ginzo]

Europa is the best park in Europe. It delivers on every possible level: rides, food, theming, landscaping, great operations, first class on property hotels, etc.

 

However, if I were given the choice of spending a day at a single park in Europe it would probably be Liseberg.

 

Grona Lund, Blackpool, and Mirabilandia are also favorites of mine.

[larrygator]

Merging this with an existing topic where this was discussed last month.

[texcoaster]

I'm doing Europa and Disney in July, plus the two big Alpine coasters. Been to both parks before, but it's been a lot of years.

 

At Disney, DO NOT MISS Big Thunder Mtn RR. Easily the best version and way more fun than it ought to be.

Space Mountain was supposed to be getting a big makeover or something. Dunno much more, but I hope it's improved over the head banging craptastic thing it was back in 2005.

 

Europa is, as everyone else has said, a must-do. The surprise hit for me was EuroSat, although the other attractions are really good as well.

 

If you get to Heide Park, check out the wicked little bobsled there. Holy crap.

[tbo2]

Alot of people mention Heide Park but from the websites & reviews, Port Aventura seems to have more thrill rides and is a larger park. So how does port aventura compare to Heide Park?

[Werner]

Well i prefer Port Aventura over Heide Park. PA has better rides(according to me), better theming, and better shows

 

Overall: Port Aventura is the better park. And when it's up to me, Port Aventura is Europe's third best themepark! Right after Europa Park and Disneyland Paris!

[tbo2]

Cool. How would you say pa compares to Europa Park then? Pa seems to have more thrill rides & be bigger too but I hear Europa Parks good alot.

[SharkTums]

I would go to Europa Park several times before going to Port Aventura. I feel that Port Aventura is overrated. It's a nice park, but can be really terrible at times due to operations and clientel.

[tbo2]

That's a shame. They seem I have alot of good rides & good theming. I guess the poor operations is why people prefer Europa Park & Alton Towers.

[better_by_design]

Quick post - I'm "in the field" now as they say, and had a logistical question -

 

Basically this weekend I'm debating between trying to hit Europa Park (I'm going to be in the Munich area at the end of the week for work) or a couple of the Paris area parks (since I have to start my work week there on Tuesday).

 

My major concern is with the upcoming holiday weekend, every hotel at Europa Park is fully booked... as are all the Disney hotels. I'm sure there are alternatives around, but is it fair to say the parks will all be slammed and jam-packed and unenjoyable?

 

I haven't heard about Q-bots or other such line-skipping technologies at Europa or Parc Asterix, so am somewhat concerned.

 

The biggest thing is that I may be visiting both areas again in a couple months during non-holiday weekends.

 

Thoughts? Especially advice from the locals/regulars would be highly appreciated!

[SharkTums]

On a super busy day, you'll still have a good time at Europa. I shudder to think about being at Asterix or DLP on a crazy busy day.

[simon8899]

For Europa-Park you can also take a hotel in nearby city Freiburg.

 

From Freiburg there's a good connection by regional train and bus - both operated by german rail DB. The bus drops you directly at park gate and runs every 30 mins between train-station - Rust - and park. Even after park closure the bus operates several hours at 60 mins intervals to service the on-site hotels - so you can even have a nice dinner after visiting the park.

[Werner]

Cool. How would you say pa compares to Europa Park then? Pa seems to have more thrill rides & be bigger too but I hear Europa Parks good alot.

 

Europa Park is just TOP-notch! The rides are a little less thrill, but are still great fun! And operations are also great. Proberly up there with Disney in therms in capacity wise...

 

Still PA is a great park, but it's operations are just terrible. And you just need to beat the Spanish or join them line jumping!

 

My major concern is with the upcoming holiday weekend, every hotel at Europa Park is fully booked... as are all the Disney hotels. I'm sure there are alternatives around, but is it fair to say the parks will all be slammed and jam-packed and unenjoyable?

 

Well i'm going this Saterday too!

 

in Europa you don't have to worry about long lines. Lines are almost always moving, it's still the best operating park that i know!

[better_by_design]

Thanks for all the encouragement about Europa Park! I will endeavour to visit there this weekend then!

 

Assuming I survive a crazy work week leading up to it, and then potentially the German Autobahn, if I end up with the week with a car loan.

 

I really appreciate the quick advice from the TPR community and will report back!

[tbo2]

Would anyone say Parque Warner, Madrid is comparable to Port Aventura?

[BDG]

They're very different, but both are very good, "complete" parks.

[tbo2]

Do either of them compare to Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios, Florida?

[BDG]

Again very different parks.

 

Why the question(s) anyway?

[tbo2]

Got bored of theme parks in the uk.

[Werner]

I would say Port Aventura is the IoA of Europe and Parque Warner is the Universal Studios of Europe

 

Can't wait to visit both of them in a about 6 weeks!

[tbo2]

Thats what I thought too looking at the pictures but apparently Parque Warner is a lot cleaner. PA seems much larger than PArque Warner though. I'll probably visit both eventually but trying to decide which I should visit this year.