EUROPA-PARK

'Europa Park' is the second most popular theme park in Europe, after Disneyland Paris. It is open from April to October and in December and early January. It's located in Rust, south-west Germany, between Freiburg and Strasbourg. Its mascot is a grey mouse named "Euromaus" whose friends include Europhant, an elephant. It is split into fourteen different areas, typically named after European countries or regions.
Europa Park is unusual in that it is run by the Mack family which has produced vehicles since 1780, circus waggons since 1880 and rollercoasters since 1921. The park was opened in 1975 to act as a showcase for many of their different ride models - for example, the Wild Mouse roller coaster. The amusement ride company is now called ''. This explains why the park has two of their water coaster models (one a Super Splash model) and is home to the one-of-a-kind Euro-Mir. One of the few rides that goes against this rule is the relatively new Silver Star, designed by B&M of Switzerland. This is presumably because Mack doesn't offer a hyper coaster model.
The park is home to nine roller coasters, the oldest being the Alpenxpress Mine Train where one travels at speed through a diamond cave with fire and smoke and the newest being Pegasus, a family coaster which opened in 2006.
Along with the park and rides, there are countless shows on offer every day. These include an Ice Show, a Gladiator Show, an Acrobatics Show in an Itlianate Theatre, a fully re-created Globe Theatre where guests can see a light-hearted take on Shakespeare plus many more. The 4D Cinema also opens during the evening and guests can pay a small fee to watch a current blockbuster.
In 2007, the park introduced a new interactive dark ride, Atlantis Adventure, in the Greek-themed area. It is expected that the theming company Hoffman will be involved in this new ride as for other Europa Park rides in the past. A fourth hotel will also be built at the resort over the coming year. This will be in the theme of a Portuguese monastery and will be located in the Portugal area next to the Castillio Alcasar hotel.
In 2007, the park also introduced 'Terenzi Horror Nights' based on an idea by popstar Marc Terenzi. ^[1] The idea is to bring the American idea of Halloween to Germany.
Aside from the park, Europa Park is a major resort, boasting 4 hotels - all of which are either 4 Star or 4 Star Superior class. The largest hotel, Colosseo, offers a breathtaking recreation of a Roman colosseum and stunning design, artwork and layout. There is also a Guest House, budget-price Tipi Village, Golf Course and Evening Shows are available with some packages. Stays at the resort start range from £10 per person in the Tipi Village to over £200 per person in some of the more deluxe accommodation.
The Theme Park offers:

Contents

Adventure Land

Children's World

Germany

Russia

Italy

France

Scandinavia

Portugal

Spain

Holland

Switzerland

Greece

England

Austria

External links

Adventure Land

Essentially the area that comprises everything besides Europe.

★ Jungle Rafts

★ Mississippi Steamer

★ Dwarf City

★ Fairy Tale Alley

Children's World

★ Giant Slide Labyrinth

★ Viking Boat Ride

★ Viking Ship

★ Dino Merry-Go-Round

Germany

★ Elf Ride - A dark ride

★ Vintage Cars - A car ride

★ Panorama Train - Also has stations in other areas

★ EP-Express - A monorail. Also has stations in Greece, Spain and Hotel Colosseo

★ Castle Pavilon

★ Magical Garden

Russia

★ ''Euro Mir'' - A one-of-a-kind, high-speed, Mack steel track spinning coaster, based around Russian Space Missions. The spinning is controlled and only happens during some parts of the ride. The ride features indoor dark-ride elements, back-to-back seating, an indoor spiral lifthill, a techno soundtrack, and one of the longest ride times of any roller coaster. The Mir space station training module is located above the outdoor queue for the ride.

★ Mir Space Station - A walk-through of the Mir training module

★ Sleigh Ride Snowflake - A dark ride

★ Lada Autodrom - A car ride

★ Radio Telescope

Italy

★ Ciao Bambini - A dark ride

★ Ghost Castle - A spooky dark ride

★ Mack Exhibition - A gallery of Mack ride models and Europe Park's history

France

★ ''EuroSat'' - Indoor coaster themed around space travel. Located inside a large geodesic sphere structure, similar to Spaceship Earth at Epcot. The ride itself is similar to Space Mountain, except that the train is made up of many more cars, and it features a spiral lift hill. The ride's techno soundtrack was composed by Stark Fader, with "In A Second Orbit" being the song that plays during the ride and "Sat Race" being the song in the gift shop.

★ ''Silver Star'' - Megacoaster and Europe's highest and second fastest roller coaster. Built by Bolliger and Mabillard of Switzerland. One of the few non-Mack rides featured at the park, presumably because Mack doesn't feature a hyper coaster model. The ride is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. Within the ride's hall there is a coffee shop, a gift shop, and a small-size museum that features a full scale replica of a Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 car.

★ Old 99 with Circus Parade

★ Puppet Boat Ride

★ Universe of Energy - A dark ride

★ Euro-Tower - An observaton tower

★ 4-D Cinema: Pandavision

Scandinavia

★ Fjord-Rafting - A rapids ride

★ Sunken City "Vineta" - A small walk-through indoor display

★ Vindjammer - A swinging ship ride

★ Rocky Bridge and Cable Ferry

★ Norwegian Stave Church

★ Andersen's Fairy Tale Tower

Portugal

★ Atlantica SuperSplash - High-speed water ride themed around Portugal. The boats are a higher capacity than Poseidon, and it doesn't feature any high speed turns as on Poseidon, but still has enough time on the coaster track that it can be considered a coaster.

★ Casa Da Aventura

Spain

★ Columbus Dinghy - A spinning ride

★ Adventure Playground

★ Feria Swing

Holland

★ Rocking Bridge and Chute

★ Pirates of Batavia - An indoor themed boat ride, very similar to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. It was opended in 1987.

★ Red Baron - A spinning ride

★ Peter Pan - A spinning ride

★ Monorail

★ Mini Scooter - A kiddie bumper car ride

★ Koffiekopjes - A spinning coffee cup ride

★ Bouncy House

★ Ball Pool

★ Windmill

Switzerland

★ Matterhorn Blitz - Wild mouse featuring the largest drop of any wild mouse in the world and a rocking vertical lift. Themed around a Swiss Farmhouse.

★ Swiss Bob Run - Bobsleigh coaster. One of the few ones of this model to feature a large drop.

★ Balloon Ride

★ Jungfrau-Gletscherflieger - A spinning ride

Greece

★ Cassandra's Curse - A madhouse type indoor illusion ride

★ Pegasus - Family coaster based around the Flying Horse

★ Poseidon - High-speed water coaster with incredibly detailed theming, such as the Trojan Horse, and the station being located inside a Grecian temple.

★ Atlantis Adventure - Interactive dark ride

★ Greek Vilage Mykonos

England

★ Silverstone Race Track - A car ride

★ The British Carousel

★ Baron William's Mystery Hall - A walkthrough attraction

★ Arena of Football - A football themed bumper car ride

Austria

★ Alpenexpress - Powered partially indoor coaster which includes a trip inside the Cave of Diamonds. Makes two trips through its relatively short course during each cycle.

★ Silvretta Nova Wave Swinger - A swing ride

★ Tirol Log Flume

★ Magic World of Diamonds - A walkthrough attraction

External links

★ Europa Park (Official Site)

★ Europa Park (Official Site)

★ Park location via Google Maps

★ UK web site for Europa Park Breaks

★ Terenzi Horror Nights Site