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Theme Parks in Europe

Santa07

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Santa07 Experienced

Santa07

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So there's a small chance that I might get to go to Europe over the next two years, and wanted to get advice on what the best parks are to go to over there. Will probably be around France & Germany for the most part. Not sure if it'll be in Summer or Winter yet - so are there any parks that have a good winter season (ie most of the rides open during December)? Chances are I'll only be able to get to one or two - so I would like to know your opinions on which are the 'must-see' parks.

Thanks in advance.

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DaptoFunlandGuy Veteran

DaptoFunlandGuy

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I know nothing about whats open seasonally, and have never been - but I would assume Disney Paris is open (*duh) and i'll always vote for a disney park on a trip itinerary. I can't judge having never been, but i'd go regardless of what some might say about it in comparison to others.

A friend recently did Parc Asterix and had good things to say too.

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Santa07 Experienced

Santa07

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8 minutes ago, YLFATEEKS said:

Guten Tag @Santa07 Ich würde lieber im Sommer gehen. Im Winter gefrieren Sie Ihre Nüsse weg

 

G'day @Santa07 I would rather go in summer.  In winter you are going to freeze your nuts off.

 

Yeah it's a matter of weather vs price/crowds

Also parks that I've thought about are:

- Europa Park
- Phantasialand
- Heide Park (possibly a little out of the way, although we haven't decided exactly where we'd want to go)
- Disney (not sure if we're going to be going into Paris since I've done it before and have no intentions to go back)
- Parc Asterix (see above)
- Holiday Park (would really only be to ride GeForce if I went)
- Movie Park Germany (I guess it's not up there with some of the big parks like Europa, but it seems to have some decent rides)
- Port Aventura (a fair bit out of the way - same reason why I haven't put any of the other big Spanish parks)
- Mirabilandia (Italy isn't on the cards at the moment, although this is still at the back of my mind in case we do decide to go there)
- Gardaland (as above)
- Energylandia (a very low chance of this one happening, but putting it down anyways especially since their hyper opens up before I go)

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Gazza Veteran

Gazza

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What about Efteling and Toverland?

Possibly Walibi too?

A good way to plan is coast2coaster.net then shift the slider to parks with more than 3 or so coasters, and that should get you the major ones.

I think you would definitely do Europa, never heard a bad thing, and it is voted #1 park in the world.

If you're in France, Nigloland ive heard is Decent.

Portaventura isnt that far out of the way, only 80km via train from Barcelona.

Have you considered any parks in Scandinavia?

In Germany, add Hansa Park and Tripsdrill to the list of potentials.

If you're in Rome there's Rainbow Magicland and Cincetta World, which both have good coasters.

In Spain there's parque de attractiones and Parque Warner.

If i had to pick two, it'd be Europa and Phantasialand.

 

 

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troll under the coaster Explorer

troll under the coaster

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From a winter trip a few years ago, most of the parks were closed in Jan onwards (some had christmas openings).

Efteling and Disney were the only ones open.

Having said that, I really enjoyed Efteling (especially the open bonfires in the communal areas) and Disney is something I always enjoy.

Efteling only had 1 ride closed when I was there (sadly) and the toboggan ride is dependent on the weather on the day but they did have an ice-skating rink set up.

 

 

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AllegroCrab Contributor

AllegroCrab

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Well I'm currently on a European trip right now. I managed to get to two parks, being Port Aventura and Paris Disney (three if you count Brighton Pier and 4 if you count Disney as two parks.) I would have loved to go to more but it really is the worst time of year for parks, perhaps another time I'll have a choice as to when I can travel.

What I will say is that you should definitely find a way to get to PortAventura. Shambhala was absolutely incredible, Dragon Khan was a nice and intense B&M Looper, and this year they are opening up their new Ferrari section which has a coaster that will be 367ft tall and go 180km/h, breaking Shambhala's own European records. So you have one of the best B&Ms in Europe in Dragon Khan, one of the best Hypers in the world in Shambhala, and the two fastest/tallest coasters in Europe all at one park. There's also some great racing woodies and a mine train coaster with 3 lift hills. I feel like PortAventura gets overlooked when it is probably the best park for coasters in Europe. It's worth the price of admission just for Shambhala honestly.

As for Paris Disney, it is open all year and you should definitely go, especially if you've never been to a Disney park before, it was absolutely brilliant and I'm so glad I went. I have also been to Alton Towers years ago, Nemesis is a coaster unlike any other you will ever ride in the world. Alton Towers has a lot to owe to their height restrictions for that one.

Edited by AllegroCrab
Got my coaster stats from a Daily Mail article.
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Santa07 Experienced

Santa07

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Thanks for the advice everyone. No-one else I'm travelling with really wants to go to Spain, which is why PortAventura is a bit hard to get to - I've heard nothing but top notch reviews on Shambhala though and the park is definitely in the top three that I want to visit (along with Europa and Phantasialand). Looking at some of the parks' winter seasons, Disney's is obviously fine to visit, and Phantasialand open almost all their rides during the winter by the looks of things which is nice (even Chiapas seems to stay open during the season). Europa keeps a few of their rides shut which is a pain - from what I've read Blue Fire only opens when the weather/temperature is permitting, and Silver Star and all their water rides remain shut all winter.

I would definitely prefer to visit sometime other than winter or summer, but unfortunately University semesters forbid that. I've had people told me that winter is too cold and you run the risk of getting snowed into places, but I've also heard that Summer is nearly impossible to get around in because of traffic on all the roads.

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red dragin Community Regular

red dragin

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June, the traffic was alright. September/October was ok but starting to get cold like Brisbane winters. 

Use PT and walking in the cities, you'll counter act all the weight you might gain from the food. Planes/trains to travel the big distances.

Drove around Germany, France, North Italy and the UK. Italian drivers are a bit crazy and German Autobahns are awesome but not for P platers, they have a very high requirement to get you licence over there so it's nothing to have cars pass you at 200kph when the recommended Max speed is 130kph.

Paris Disney is a must, Big thunder mountain runs out of fast pass very early. 

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pushbutton Experienced

pushbutton

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27 minutes ago, pin142 said:

Alton Towers does have a monorail

It's by far the biggest and best monorail system I've ever seen anywhere in the world. I lost track of how many monorail trains there are (tried to count the other ones I saw while I was on one of them, but just couldn't see enough of them to work out the total. Definitely at least 6 though).

What's more (although I'd never do this) you technically don't even have to have a ticket for the theme park to use the monorail! If you lived nearby you could simply park your car (in a section of the carpark you don't have to pay to park in) then get on the monorail and ride for as long as you liked for free!

You'd get a superb view of the theme park, and a pretty decent overview of where most of the other attractions are (including the 2 hotels, waterpark, chalets, castle, adventure golf, and the amazing gardens).

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pushbutton Experienced

pushbutton

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10 minutes ago, pin142 said:

After reading this it sounds like the monorail is an attraction in its own right

https://towersstreet.com/theme-park/ride/monorail/

It is indeed and the various different recordings (different ones on each train) are highly entertaining as well!

Mind you, it's Alton Towers. Even the toilets are entertaining there (seriously)!

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djmcbell Explorer

djmcbell

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I went to PortAventura nearly 10 years ago, and it was a great park - so long as the crowds are right (they do have plenty of school groups going there, which made waits for Dragon Khan very long).

Disneyland Paris, I thought, was pretty darn good. I liked a few of the rides there more than their Florida counterparts (Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor, Pirates). Just make sure to check which rides are open and which are down for refurbishment/maintenance (there are a few sites which have calendars for this, as Disneyland Paris announces them in advance - try Googling dlrpmagic).

And if you're going to the UK (though it doesn't sound like you are), forget Alton Towers and do Blackpool Pleasure Beach! Blackpool itself is completely awful, full of tat shops and capsule vending machines selling edible underwear (I used to live there), but the Pleasure Beach is completely brilliant. AND - it has a monorail (which I don't think is going any more).

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downunder Contributor

downunder

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I've been to a lot of the Scandinavian Parks, the standouts for me were Liseberg in Gothenberg and Gronalund in Stockholm (loved this city).Haven't been to Kolmarden where Wildfire is, but who knows if that coaster will open again. Copenhagen has nice parks in Tivoli (in the middle of town) and Bakken (a bit further out).

Hansa Park in Northern Germany is well worth a visit. I concur on Europa and Phantasialand, Heide is nice too. Holiday Park is worth it for GeForce, but pray it's open (my last "ride" involved an evac).

 

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Santa07 Experienced

Santa07

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17 hours ago, Gazza said:

Curious, but what is the cost difference between winter and summer?

Over 50% expensive in summer from what I've read, flights seem to be pretty cheap in winter from what I've seen

Two questions

Is Ferrari World any good if we were to stop over in Abu Dhabi?

If you were to pick, PortAventura or Disney Paris?

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