Transcoaster Express 2002: Day 3

Day 3 - Europa Park

The Park

First of all, let me say this. Cancel your holiday at Disney. Drop all plans you have to visit Universal. Forget Alton and Thorpe. And book your trip to Europa Park right now! You won't regret it. Europa Park is simply breathtaking. I cannot do this park justice with a simple trip report and I find myself severely lacking in superlatives.

It's a park of several themed areas, each being a country of Europe. Yes, it's similar to World Showcase at Disney's Epcot, with each area having its own character, atmosphere, authentic cuisine and themed rides. However, Europa does it better. Germany, the home nation, takes pride of place as the first area you encounter after the park entrance. This area does not contain any rides but is a collection of buildings and shops, and the home of many costumed characters. Yes, it's similar to Disney's Main Street. However, it makes Disney look like an amateur.

Other areas of the park are intricately themed and decorated, and truly beautiful. Also managing to invoke the atmosphere of the individual countries very effectively although I suppose it's sometimes a stereotypical image. First, for your enjoyment, a couple of scenic pictures. One from Switzerland, and the other from the Netherlands.

Europa Park is owned and run by the Mack family, a major manufacturer of amusement attractions of all types. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of rides in the park are by Mack. It's often said that Europa Park acts as a showcase for Mack's rides, and that is certainly true. Here, you won't find just standard off-the-shelf rides, but customised and lengthier models, accompanied by the most exquisite, immaculate and immersive theming you're ever likely to find.

The Coasters

Well, it's hard to miss Silver Star. The newest coaster at the park, which not only is the tallest coaster in Europe (at 239ft) but has been built in the car park! Of course, the entrance to the ride is within the park itself, but the track heads away outside the park. Because of this, it's actually quite difficult to photograph. It's a B&M hyper coaster (sorry, speed coaster) and features the superbly designed and luxurious trains typical of this type of ride. Clam-shell lap restraints, raised seating, and no sides to the trains leaves you with a glorious sense of openness and freedom.

As soon as we got to the park first thing in the morning, we all raced to Silver Star. It was only just completing its test runs and we had to wait a little outside the station. Already, a huge queue had formed. Anticipation was enormous. We took our seats and soon we were on our way up the enormous lift hill. The first drop - oh my God! It's a long way down and a great sense of exhilaration. But it was obvious making the climb up the other side that it was not quite as smooth as it could be. It wasn't rough by any means, but with some noticeable vibration which for a brand new B&M is unforgiveable!

Some nice airtime over the apex of this hill. But note this is floating airtime. Certainly not the abrupt airtime that we had felt the day before on Expedition Ge-Force. I had taken care to leave about 3 inches gap when pulling down my lap restraint (which is not advisable on Expedition Ge-Force!) and so I felt the airtime pretty well. A disappointment on the next hill - trim brakes just before the apex. Then down again and up into an overbanked horseshoe turn, followed by another airtime hill - but trim brakes again. Up into the mid-course block brakes. By then, we knew what was coming. Yes, the brakes were full on and slowed the train to a crawl. A sharp dive off the block brakes should have resulted in stupendous airtime, but unfortunately it didn't because of the brakes.

Another hill into a powerful helix, then a couple more airtime hills and an S-curve section takes the train back into the station. My hands were frozen! It was first thing in the morning and very cold, and of course I'd had my hands in the air all the time. Many people were disappointed by Silver Star. The 3 sets of trim brakes did completely kill what could have been an unforgettable ride. I enjoyed it, I did find lots of airtime in it - but coming after the wham-bam impact of Expedition Ge-Force it did feel like a bit of an anti-climax. However, it's certainly in my top 10 list and would go much higher if they were to take the trim brakes off.

Next coaster on the agenda (well, it was right next door) was Poseidon. OK, is it a coaster or isn't it? It's a Mack Water Coaster, in other words it's a boat ride that sometimes floats in a channel of water like a flume ride and sometimes lifts itself out of the water and runs on rails like a coaster. Enthusiasts are divided on this matter, and certainly the earliest incarnations were very dubious. But in my mind there is no doubt that Poseidon can be classed as a coaster. Ignoring the flume sections, it has tracked lift hills, drops, and highly banked corners. And the coaster section probably accounts for most of the ride. See the pictures for yourself below!

Poseidon stands in the Greece area of the park, and this is where we got our first taste of how well themed the place is. The attention to detail is unbelievable. The station from the outside looks like a Greek temple. And it's not made of fibreglass either. We couldn't quite work out what the material was, but it was certainly very stone-like.

Internally, the decoration is breathtakingly beautiful. The remains of ancient murals line the marble walls - you'll also see various places where the bricks are lop-sided as though the building is on the point of collapse. There is a gaping hole at the far end through which the boats disappear, and it's surrounded by a representation of Medusa. The ride operators are dressed in long flowing capes and cloaks, and there are many maritime relics to be found.

The ride starts gently enough. The boat exits the station and floats serenely through a wrecked village scene. There are huge mirrors on either side so it seems like the area is massive. Then the boat engages onto a lift hill and is taken high above the ground out of the water. Now, prepare for the coaster section! The boat drops sharply into a helix, rises up into a section of block brakes, then drops into another helix. Round and round you go. Propelled out of the helix, the boat speeds through a highly banked S-curve section up a small hill, down the other side and.....SPLASH! Into the water again. This section is so much fun, it feels so good, and everybody is laughing. And Europa Park have got the splash just right. You don't get soaked, you hardly get wet at all, just a few drops of water to let you know you've landed in the water again. Great fun. The helix section is bit bumpy though and you will be jolted quite abruptly from side to side. But if you observe the track, you'll notice it's not really like modern coaster track but has more in common with a Mack or Intamin bobsled trough. In other words, the boat isn't fixed permanently to rails, but simply runs on top of rails in a trough with side-friction wheels to keep it on course. This probably accounts for the lack of smoothness.

The boat floats serenely around a lake for a minute or so, and then reaches another lift hill. A turnaround at the top, and then a massive straight drop into a tunnel. This drop is extremely well designed - it curves all the time and you get a surprising amount of airtime from it. The boat races through to the other side of the tunnel and then...you panic! You notice that the track ahead of you is being sprayed with water. You've only a fraction of a second to digest this as the boat flies through the mist and then drops with a massive splash into the lake again. Once again, this section is so much fun. And then you float gently back into the station.

The last picture above shows a general view of Poseidon, with silver Star in the background.

Incidentally, the walk from the exit of Poseidon takes you through the Greek village of Mykonos. The newest 'country' in the park, it is an outstanding piece of theming. It really takes you into the heart of the Mediterranean. Here you will find a tavern, and also the most elaborately themed public toilets I've ever seen! Lush colours and a very 'earthy' feel, together with a stone, erm, 'trough' that you stand in front of! I wanted to take a picture but thought it might look a bit funny...

Matterhorn Blitz was the next coaster on my list. Situated in the Swiss area of the park, it is a Mack Wild Mouse. By now, I'd started to expect something out of the ordinary, and I wasn't disappointed. The queue line takes the prospective riders through a series of Swiss houses with very elaborate tableaux and animatronics, culminating in a sort of stable scene with life-size cattle. Very over the top for just a wild mouse! The ride itself starts with a surprise - the single car moves forward and enters a vertical lift shaft, where it stops. The doors close behind you and the whole platform moves up the shaft vertically. The car also tilts gently from side to side as you go. At the top, the doors open and the car engages on the normal coaster track system and begins its wild journey. A mammoth first drop and then the usual series of sharp, flat bends and shallow but sudden drops along a largely unbraked course.

While in Switzerland, I also rode the Schweizer Bobbahn. This is a Mack Bobsled ride from 1985. This was the only disappointment really. It must have been quite an innovation when it first opened, but has now been overtaken by better things. What was unusual though was a very coaster-like straight drop - with a train that's not actually connected to the track and free-wheeling inside a trough, you wonder if it's going to stay on the track! Of course, it was very prettily themed, amongst a small Swiss village consisting of shops and cafes. However, Blackpool's Avalanche is a much better example of a Mack Bobsled. This ride was also the perfect demonstration of Europa Park's efficient ride operators and loading systems. An efficiency I've only seen before at Cedar Point. The air gates are opened before the previous riders have got out of their seats, you get into your seat and there are no operators walking up and down the the length of the train to check that everybody is in properly. Instead the brakes are released and the train starts rolling out of the station even before you've even pulled down your restraint! Effectively, a 15-second cycle time, absolutely amazing! That's not to say that the procedure is unsafe by not having operators checking the restraints. People are generally sensible enough to pull down their own restraints and they have quite a bit of time to do this while the train is rolling off. The operator can perform visual checks as each car passes the control booth on its way out and can easily hit the emergency stop button if something is not quite right.

Dominating the French quarter of the park is a giant, gleaming sphere. Very reminiscent of Spaceship Earth at Epcot. Inside, it contains a Mack indoor coaster by the name of Eurosat. With a space theme and a pounding techno soundtrack, it gets the heart pounding as you climb the circular lift hill. But this is no ordinary lift hill. It's a rotating drum around which the track winds, and there are protrusions on the drum that latch onto the train and pull it up as it goes. The main portion of the ride takes place in total darkness and is very wild. Some impossibly tight corners and some quite uncomfortable jerks too!

The final coaster in the park is Euro Mir, and what a strange beast this is. It's based in the Russian area of the park and is themed around the Mir Space Station. In fact, an actual Mir training module stands outside the entrance and you can walk around it. The coaster itself is a spinning coaster. No, that's not quite right. It rotates. It has a train of 4 round cars, with back-to-back seating (yes, that's right, one couple are facing backwards). It starts in pretty much the same way as Eurosat. A circular lift-hill system with the rotating drum in the centre pulls the train slowly to the top, to the accompaniment of tingle-inducing Euro-beat techno music. Every so often, the individual cars rotate 3 or 4 times on the way - this is very disorientating! This is the lift-off.

The train emerges into daylight at the top and starts on a slow but sure twisted journey around several massive mirrored towers. The track is very flat at this point, not much gradient on it, so it's a very gentle start. However, the cars are still rotating every so often. You can also see your own reflection in the towers. It's also very funny to watch the faces of the people in the car next to you - obviously with the back-to-back seating and the fact that the cars are rotating, you are facing other people at several points. This is the orbiting section of the space journey.

This section of the ride lasts about 2 minutes. And then the cars stop rotating and lock into position, and the train heads downwards in a swooping drop. Re-entry! The faces of the people travelling backwards are a picture! The train then enters the towers region again and performs a few more twists around them but this time slightly faster. A little more rotation reverses the positions of the riders and then the train drops again and into a series of very tight helixes.

These helixes can be quite violent. Although Mack make excellent rides, I don't think their track-bending skills are quite up to B&M standards, as Eurosat also proved! I remember the couple sitting opposite me (travelling backwards) holding their necks after a particularly nasty snap! However, this is a really fun and unusual ride and I enjoyed it a lot.

Other attractions

One of the most enchanting places in the park is the fairy tale grotto, a stunning alleyway of mosaic floors and goblins in little houses. This leads nicely into the Diamond Mine, a large dimly lit cave where you can wander round on wooden walkways, interrupted occasionally by the odd log floating through and a speeding mine train that sets off a fireball as it passes. Yes, two of the other attractions in the park meet and interact in this cave - The Tyrolean Torrent Slide (log flume) and the Alpenexpress (Mack powered mine train).

No park would be complete without a ghost train, but true to the Europa Park philosophy, Geisterschloss is no ordinary ghost train. An unnerving soundtrack and some very grotesque scenes ensure that it will make a lasting impact on your mind. There are a few more subtle scenes too (for example, the piano-playing lady, doomed to play that morose tune for ever) which although not scary in itself, leaves a haunting and disturbing image in the memory.

Pirates of Batavia is the usual pirate boat ride, but once again Europa Park make it something else. A sizeable drop at the start of the ride has a video projection on a wall of fine water mist at the bottom. Since the projection is of a huge set of iron gates, it looks like you're heading for doom! An astounding amount of animatronics are contained in the ride. Also, what I noticed a lot of in Europe is the rope-climbing trick. An animatronic figure climbs a normal rope in a very realistic manner. Variations on this theme appeared in Phantasialand, Efteling and Europa.

Fluch der Kassandra (Kassandra's Curse) is a modern style haunted swing, but unlike all the others that are popping up everywhere this one, of course, is by Mack and not Vekoma. The difference was very noticeable. The Mack version seems to move far more rapidly and abruptly, as opposed to the very elegant and smooth motion of the Vekoma Mad House. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. During the fast spinning section, I found it more effective and disorientating, but overall it just didn't have the subtlety of the Vekoma ones I've come to know and love. Needless to say though, the decoration of the room was superb and a catchy-but-unsettling soundtrack to match. The ride was also a bit hidden in a corner, past the exit of Posedion. Coupled with the rather understated building it's housed in (would you believe there was a ride in here?), I guess a lot of people would have missed it in the excitement of coming out of Poseidon.

Add to all this some more attractions like a rapids ride and pirate ship, together with landscaped gardens and truly beautiful buildings, and some hidden gems every so often like the sunken town of Vineta, a themed hotel that looks more like the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror than even Disney could achieve, and you have a park called Europa that can only be summed up in one word.....stunning.

Also visit the official Europa Park web site
And my 2004 trip to the park.

Transcoaster Express 2002

Day 3 - Europa Park

The Park

The Coasters

Other attractions

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