Over Easter weekend this year I spent 2 days at Europa Park. After flying out late on the Friday we arrived at the hotel at around 10:30pm. When you drive into Rust at night, the skyline is dominated by Silver Star's lift hill which is lit up. Depending on where you drive to you can also see Blue Fire lit all in blue, it's very beautiful! We stayed in a Guesthouse called "Hotel Kosel", located 5 minutes walk from the park which I'd highly recommend. It's very convenient for Europa Park visits. We then headed to bed to get some sleep before the start of our Europa Park days...
Day 1
We started our day off at Wodan after arriving at the park shortly before the back areas were open to regular guests. It was only a 10-15 minute queue, however there was a 5 minute delay before we were able to board. I believe I rode on Row 9, and I think this first ride was my most enjoyable ride on Wodan throughout the trip. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Wodan was a lot smoother but still had the kick you find on wooden coasters. The queueline is heavily themed and very immersive too, this is an amazing "experience" ride. As for the coaster itself, it’s very good. Wodan is very intense and fast paced, and rivals the intensity of Nemesis. The first drop is amazing, it feels very steep and you get some great airtime on the back rows. Throughout Wodan you mostly get ejector airtime but there are some great floater airtime moments too! There are lots of laterals but Wodan isn’t really painful at all, it’s definitely fun laterals. You dive in and out of various tunnels too which makes the ride experience even more interesting. Wodan is an amazing ride and my favourite wooden coaster so far, it is currently my 4th favourite coaster worldwide and my top wooden coaster.
Next, we moved onto Blue Fire, the park’s stunning Mack mega. The queue for Blue Fire was also 15-20 minutes long and there were was a minute or so delay (I think they were putting an extra train on?). My first ride was on row 9.
Blue Fire is honestly amazing. The hangtime on the banked top hat type element is epic, improved by the Mack mega trains. The ride isn’t too intense but you do pull some good Gs at times, especially coming out of the overbank. The inversions are great, the heartline roll especially has this peculiar feeling of being ejected towards the ground (which I loved). The ride also stays interesting until the end, which I’m glad for as many rides just kind of meander through the end of their layouts. The landscaping is lovely too and having the queue go through Gazprom: World of Energy is a neat idea. Finally, the onride music is perfect, IMA did a great job on it. Blue Fire is now my number 1 coaster worldwide, I love how well done it all is and it’s just a beautiful ride!
Following my ride on Blue Fire, I decided to head towards Euro-Mir. Euro-Mir had a slow queue (I think there was some kind of breakdown? We weren’t informed to be honest.). I think I queued at least 40 minutes. The ride itself starts with the spiral lift hill which is cool and really well done in my opinion. The switchbacks allow for some nice views of Europa Park and the first drop is pretty great. After that I was backwards for the rest of the ride and it got quite uncomfortable! The final turn is very intense, perhaps too intense going backwards. Overall, Euro-Mir is my favourite spinning coaster but I imagine it would be more pleasant going forward in the end section!
After Euro-Mir, we took a few pics then headed towards Pegasus for my first ever VR coaster! However, various people cut in the line, extending the already slow wait and Pegasus decided to break down for a good 20 minutes just before we got on. Convenient, eh? Anyway, once we finally got on Pegasus I was fairly impressed with the VR. It makes a small coaster seem much bigger than it really is, but I thought the graphics were a bit grainy at times. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Alpenexpress seemed to have much better graphics. Either way, Pegasus VR is a fun thing to try if you’re at Europa Park and a nice addition, even if the throughput is diabolical.
After Pegasus we grabbed a quick lunch near the lake before heading onto Alpenexpress. We rode it twice, once with the VR and once without. Alpenexpress is hands down my favourite mine train due to the amazing indoor section and theming. Also, the VR is very good (much better than on Pegasus) and I liked how it didn’t feel repetitive, despite the fact you basically navigate the same course twice. The graphics also felt higher quality than on Pegasus, not too sure why though. I must say though that the queue moves very slowly as Mack mine trains have low capacity anyway.
After finishing the two VR coasters, we hit the final big ride: Silver Star. The queue for Silver Star moves incredibly fast, similar to Blue Fire, and the ops are so, so efficient! Silver Star is the only one of the big 3 where you get a choice on which row you sit in, I rode twice during my visit and both were on the back row. The station music isn’t as impressive as Wodan and Blue Fire but it’s pretty damn catchy! Silver Star is not as forceful as other B&Ms like Nemesis, even Air to a degree in my opinion, but the airtime is amazing! One the first hill you get something like 4 seconds of floater air, and this is continued throughout. It also features some great ejector in the second half. Silver Star is also just about the smoothest coaster I’ve ever ridden, its buttery smooth. I think Silver Star is not quite as good as Wodan because I personally prefer more intense rides, but they are both great for different reasons. I rate Silver Star about 6 or 7 overall in my Top 10.
Euro-Tower was quite nearby, so that was what I rode next. It offers beautiful views of Europa Park and it’s a lovely attraction to take a break from the coasters. After that I went on Universe of Energy of energy, EP’s dinosaur themed dark ride, which is surprisingly quite good. The animatronics were all pretty decent, and it has a good ambience.
Our next ride was Matterhorn Blitz. I think this is probably the best wild-mouse out there, and I thought the lift hill was quite unique. It isn’t too painful either which pleasantly surprised me. Like everything at Europa Park, it’s also well themed. I waited around 35 minutes for Matterhorn Blitz, which is a bit too long for this type of ride in my opinion. Once Blitz was done, I rode the nearby Schweiser Bobbahn. It’s not as good of a layout as Avalanche at Blackpool (the only other bobsled I’ve done) but is, once again, extremely well themed and fits the area perfectly.
I end the day doing a reride of Wodan but not Blue Fire, as it broke down at around 5:00 and didn’t operate until the next day. This ride was a bit rougher and wilder than the last but still very fun. I concluded my first day on the Monorail, where I mostly took photos of rides and the parade.
Day 2
Day 2 started off with a front row ride on Blue Fire, which was back up and running. However, it was raining quite heavily and it felt like I was being I was being hit with bullets during the launch :P Seeing as was raining so heavily I thought it would be wise to do some of Europa Park’s great dark rides.
First up from the dark rides was “Piraten of Batavia”. I honestly loved this ride! The first drop is good (I honestly thought I could’ve got wet!) and all the effects seemed to be working. Even if it’s a Pirates of the Caribbean rip off, it’s a fun ride and worth doing if you have the time! Next, I watched the Historama Dome show which was very enjoyable despite me not understanding a word of what they were saying! :P After that, I rode “Atlantis Adventure” (which is a pretty nice shooting dark ride, I personally prefer Duel though) then “Kassandra’s Curse”. Kassandra is a good madhouse and much more disorienting than the other one I have ridden, Hex, but the story is nowhere near as well expressed as on Hex.
The only major thrill coaster we were yet to tackle was Eurosat, so that’s where we went next. For its age, Eurosat is a pretty good coaster. The lift hill is infuriatingly long, and at least Euro-Mir entertains you during that time. Eurosat gets progressively faster throughout the ride, so it’s interesting until the end. It’s a miracle they fit such a twisted layout in such a small space too! Anyway, Eurosat is a solid coaster. One more ride on Silver Star (back row) then it was time for lunch.
We ate at FoodLoop. FoodLoop is a really unique eatery and I can’t wait to get one at my home park, Alton Towers. The food is pretty good and reasonably priced too, I managed to beat the queues by arriving before 12:00.
After lunch I took a quick ride on the train then rode Arthur, which only had a 15 minute wait. Arthur is a very good ride, the theming is high quality and the coaster section is pretty good. I loved how high you get off the ground on the indoor section and can look at everyone far below.
Next up was “Wiener Wellenfleiger”, a fun little wave swinger then a reride on Alpenexpress before I watched the “Celebrate EP” show. After that, I did a few more small rides like “Geisterschloss” (the haunted house, which is pretty good and the first part is almost scary) and Jungle Rafts before I hit Blue Fire for two rides more and Wodan one final time.
Overall, Europa Park is an amazing, beautiful and varied park which I would love to visit again sometime in the future. But, until then, I’ve made myself lots of great Europa Park memories to last!
Pictures:
Final ride count:
Blue Fire – 4
Wodan Timbur Coaster – 3
Silver Star - 2
Alpenexpress – 2
Abenteur Atlantis – 1
Alpenexpress VR – 1
Arthur – The Ride – 1
Euro-Mir – 1
EuroSat – 1
Euro-Tower - 1
Europa Park Historama – 1
Fluch Der Kassandra – 1
Geisterschloss – 1
Jungle Rafts – 1
Matterhorn Blitz – 1
Monorail – 1
Pegasus VR – 1
Piraten in Batavia – 1
Schweiser Bobbahn – 1
Train – 1
Universum der Energie – 1
Wiener Wellenflieger – 1
Thanks for reading! - NemesisRider
