Thanks! I had no idea, this makes sense 
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I went again on CanCan using the Virtual Line. It was even better the second time! I decided to use my next VL for Arthur - I got a slot 2 hours away.
I noticed there was a ride called ‘Madame Freundenreich Curiosités’ right next to CanCan with a 1 minute wait (this means walk on). I had no idea what to expect, but thought ‘Why not?’ and I am happy I did. It was a dark ride, there were some dinosaurs baking cupcakes and a birthday party for a T-Rex. Very cute in a weird way.
I am usually not a fan of dark rides, but I think it is more of a cost/benefit thing - I never feel like they are worth the wait. But there are so many rides in this park that a lot of them run bellow capacity, so some dark rides end up being ‘free’ - you just walk on, see what they are about, and leave.
It was super sunny and over 30C (I had good luck with weather 
) so I decided to go on a wet ride. The park has 3 circle-around-a-bit-then-drop-on-water rides.
Atlantica SuperSplash:
Tirol log Flume (which goes through the same cave as Alpenexpress):
Poseidon:
Poseidon seemed to have the more interesting theme with the smallest drop (I don’t even go on Splash because the drop is too big), so I decided to go for it.
I managed to find Greece. While looking for Poseidon I went by Atlantis, which was a walk on - very similar to Buzz’s, but with worse theming (why am I shooting lasers at fish?). I also found Kassandra, which uses optical illusions to simulate going upside down. After failing to find the ride’s entrance for a little longer, I just stopped and looked at it:
Looking at that drop, my courage was gone 
But there was yet another water ride I could try, so I made new plans.
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My next step was Fjord Rafting, on Scandinavia. Very similar to Kali River Rapids, themed after Scandinavian fables. It’s one of the few rides in the park not made by Mack (it is a Intamin ride, just like KRR). Although I prefer the theme here, the ride is a bit older then KRR and it shows - the lift hill is the very last thing on the ride, so it is a bit anticlimactic.
This was first real line I faced on the park. I waited around 35 minutes. The whole queue was outside, so I didn’t worry so much, but I was not very happy with either mask compliance nor distancing. I made a point of visibly following the stickers (with exaggerated motions and all) and after 2 minutes the couple behind me understood what I was doing and started doing the same
As soon and the first drop of cold water hit me I remembered I don’t really like wet rides 
I was only hit by one splash, so it wasn’t so bad. Let’s see how long the lesson lasts.
I grabbed some lunch, went on Arthur (VL) and walked around Ireland, which was the Children’s area.
IIUC the concept is that parents sit at the pub while children run around the playground and rides.
Since I was there, I went on the Ba-a-a coaster:
At some point I went on Euro-Tower, which is an observation ride. It slowly goes up, spins 360o so you can see all around, and then goes down. It provided a nice view without triggering my fear of heights.
I finished my day with a final ride on Arthur (VL). I could have gone on one more ride before the park closed (6pm), but I decided to save some energy for day 2.
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Thanks for the trip report!
Trip Advisor just updated their Travelers Choice -Top 25 Amusement Parks in the world.
Europa-Park is # 9:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Attractions
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Super-interesting to read this trip report. Thanks for writing it! Loved the detail, the photos and the videos. Great post!
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Thanks for this report! Looks like a great park.
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thanks for sharing your trip! great photos! it looks like a lovely park.
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Day 2
I woke up feeling very mature and proud of myself for adding an extra day - 5 years ago I would have tried to fit everything into one day, now I am enjoying going slowly
My goal was to walk around, look at the pretty things, repeat some rides and maybe try a bigger coaster.
I arrived at 8am and sat by the entrance for a while drinking my cappuccino and admiring the view.
As soon as I noticed they were letting people in, I entered the park and went straight to the Voletarium, so I could look at the queue without anyone else inside:
By the time I left the wait was already 20 minutes, so I grabbed a timed ticket and moved on to walk around the park.
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My personal top 5 now is:
- Disneyland (the original in California)
- Europa Park
- Animal Kingdom
- Universal Studios
- Disney Hollywood Studios
So far I have been to 9 of the top 25 of that list. 4 out of the top 5 or 9 out of the top 15, I think the last one sounds better
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Instead of organizing things chronologically I will organize day 2 by region, because I no longer remember when I did what 
Germany
I went 2 more times to the Voletarium - when I came back with my timed ticket an employee recognized I was returning (again) and gave me an extra FP 
Balthasar Castle was built on 1442 and is now home to a restaurant on the far back of the park. As far as 15th century castles go this one is nothing special, but it is surrounded by pretty gardens
Although the restaurant looked appealing, nothing on the menu worked with my set of dietary restrictions, so I ate elsewhere.
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Italy
A very cute plaza, some restaurants and a couple of attractions
The only ride I tried there was Ghost Castle, which is a very creepy Haunted Mansion
Greece
Probably my favorite region, this land is themed like a Greek Island.
I went on Pegasus (a YoungStar Mack coaster) - very similar to flight of the hippogriff (Hollywood’s version of FotH uses a YoungStar coaster). It was the ride I rope dropped - I was alone on the first train for the day (Yay for rope dropping non-headliners). I was able to ride a second time immediately without getting off.
Pegasus (Onride) Video Europa Park Rust 2019 - YouTube
Although there were some authentic options around, I decided I wanted waffles for breakfast, and they were delicious 
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The more I see your pictures, the more I want to go back. I just love the countries theme so much!
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Wow, is Europa-Park absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for posting this report (with pictures!)
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Iceland
A quiet fishing village with 2 randomly placed gigantic coasters, Iceland had some of the best and worst parts of Europa Park for me
Blue fire - one of the park’s 2 megacoasters -
was an obvious NO for my scared self:
But Wodan was intriguing:
I spent quite some time analysing it from afar and trying to judge how bad the drop would be, before deciding to try it out.
- The drop is worse than it looks - there is airtime and you feel your stomach moving away from your body
- Everything after the drop is amazingly good. Super smooth (which I found shocking, this is a wooden rollercoaster going at 100km/h), fast and just pure fun
I like it enough that I decided to go a second time. The first time I rode using the Virtual Line, but after checking out the queue I decided I feel comfortable waiting on it (all outside, you crisscross bellow the coaster). I faced a 40 minutes wait for it.
The second time was not so good. Since I was expecting the drop to be awful, it was much more noticeable, and I had more time to dread it coming. It was still amazing post-drop.
There is a nice Viking theme, with statues and Nordic mythology details spread around the queue.
But there is no story. The ride doesn’t represent anything. You are not flying on the back of a Pegasus, or running around Paris, or visiting a space station. It felt like a missed opportunity, it seems possible that with not that much extra work a workable story could be found.
Besides Wodan, I also went to Whale Adventures - Northern Lights. You get on a boat with water guns and travel around a river and a cave. I thought the concept had potential - their projection technology should be able to come up with pretty Aurora effects inside the cave. Unfortunately, they went with a screen showing a video of the aurora, so not cool. But it was fun to play with the water guns - it was 30C and kids kept asking to be soaked
The only thing I wanted to do that I ended up not doing because of lines was on Iceland - the build your own Magnum ice cream store 
It always had a > 30 minutes line 
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The more I read the more desperate I am to go!!
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Thank you for this report! I was an exchange student in Mainz in 2001 and we went here but I have only very vague memories of Astrid and Obelisk!
I had no idea that it was this large or beautiful! My in-laws live about an hour away so this will DEFINITELY get added to our next trip! (I.e. whenever they will let us back in!)
You had me at pub and playground!
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Well if you hadn’t already sold this park to me, this definitely did it lol
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Some lands were basically repeats
France
I used the Virtual line to go 2 times on CanCan, and walked around a bit.
I was amazed by how efficient the operation is. As soon as a train leaves the next one arrives. They spread disinfectant, next group goes.
Arthur
VL for one extra ride, plus enjoying the river area
Austria
I went once more on the Alpenexpress (5 minutes wait). After realizing it didn’t really make sense to create such an intricate dark ride portion for just 5 seconds, I discovered you can walk around the diamond mine! 
Very pretty, but I have no good pictures! The best ones I took are:
I didn’t even get the dragon’s head.
Switzerland
One run on the bobsled (10 minutes wait) + walking around the (other) river area. There are a lot of rivers and bodies of water on this park
These are the same buildings from the French area, their backs are Swiss
There is also a wild mouse coaster (very similar to Goofy’s at DCA, or a non-spinning primeval whirl) themed as a Matterhorn expedition, that I skipped.
Russia
I went on Euro-Mir while it was still a walk on in the morning. Again I ended up in the first row seat 
! I was even more scared of heights the second time, but I almost didn’t feel the initial drop.
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wow, I have to say I’m surprised how awesome it looks!
I’ve been there as a kid, probably 25 years ago, and have almost no recollection of it. I imagine it has grown a lot since then too.
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Following along.
It’s hard though.
I get downright enraged, however, that NOTHING fun is open in my state and the governor has limited us to so few areas we are allowed to visit without a quarantine. I am probably going to give myself an ulcer.
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