Believe it or not, I'm still writing about a trip I took in 2006! This is the tenth post in this long-running series. Here are links to the previous installments.
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 1, getting there
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 2, Budapest, Vidámpark
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 3, Prater Park, Vienna
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 4, Salzburg and Essen
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 5, Schloß Beck, Moviepark
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 6, Phantasialand
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 7, Oktoberfest itself
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 8, Skyline Park and a return to Oktoberfest
Okcoasterfest 2006 part 9, Stuttgart Fair and a preview of Europa Park
The next day of our trip was to be spent entirely at Europa Park. I had been there once before on an American Coaster Enthusiasts trip, but was all the more eager to return. At that time I hadn't felt like I'd had a chance to really experience the park to its fullest. We'd had to leave well before closing time, causing me to have to rush through things that I would have liked to savor. I had come away not as impressed with the park as some others had been, but was eager to give it another chance. This time I was not at all disappointed. It was easily the best park of the trip, and the day we were there was perhaps only surpassed by Oktoberfest experience itself. Unfortunately it was not as good for Janna, who got a cold that progressed through the day, but even she enjoyed the park very much.
During my usual morning rituals I tried to get the BBC on the TV. I'd had it on only the night before, but couldn't find it now. It turned out they only showed that channel sporadically.
European showers can often be an adventure. Often there is little to prevent water from getting all over the floor. In this case, the shower stall looked like it would cause the same problem, but I managed not to get things too wet. Perhaps I was just getting used to the European way. The other interesting thing about the shower was that it had separate knobs for temperature and pressure, and the temperature knob was labeled in degrees Celsius.
The hotel's breakfast was excellent. I had lox with sour cream, salami and other meats, emmentaler cheese, sausage, poached eggs, and fresh tomato. They had an interesting way of absorbing bacon grease, by putting the bacon atop pieces of bread. They had loose leaf Earl Grey tea--my favorite variety--so I was very happy with both what I ate and drank.
We entered the park at about 9:15. The hotel is located toward the rear of the park and had its own entrance. However we were more interested in the attractions nearer the main entrance. That's where most of the coasters were, and in particular we wanted to get a few out of the way that we thought were liable to have long lines due to low capacity. Once we got those out of the way we could spend the rest of the day doing what we chose without having to worry that we'd have to wait in a long line for something we'd missed.
Hence we found ourselves walking most of the length of the park. Even so this wasn't unrewarding as we were happy to take in various bits of scenery as we went. In many parks it's an inconvenience to walk from one place to another. In Europa Park because of all the elaborate scenery it's a treat. We passed by a small lake near the back of the park that I didn't remember well from my prior visit. There were some fountains with nozzles that would spray in various patterns, activated by buttons we could press, and we entertained ourselves with these for a while--just one of the many little touches we liked about the park.
They were in the midst of adding Halloween decorations throughout the park, which appeared to be nearly as elaborate as the permanent theming. We saw some things that hadn't been there the day before, and a man in the process of painting a sign. There were animal figures made from gourds, a sleigh drawn by skeletal horses, and many other season-appropriate decorations.
We passed through the Russian section of the park and lingered for a while. Near the Euro-Mir coaster was an actual Mir training capsule, purchased from Russia, which we could walk through. I had only meant to peek in, but when everybody else followed me, we spent more time there.
We finally came to the first coaster we'd ride, Matterhorn Blitz. This was a Wild Mouse ride, a style that we were very familiar with, with many sharp curves and only a few drops and hills. However it was themed more elaborately than the vast majority of Wild Mouse rides. As we walked through the queue we encountered various scenes from a farm, presumably meant to be a depiction of Swiss pastoral life. I recall that in one, there was real water pouring from a pig slop bucket. I walked so quickly through the queue that I didn't get much of a chance to savor the other details. Though there was a 10 minute wait, we spent most of it in the station itself, past the more interesting parts of the queue, one drawback to trying to get on the ride as quickly as possible!
The other distinctive feature of this ride is the way the cars make it to the top. Most coasters use a slow climb up a hill, while a few exceptions have a fast launch system. Matterhorn Blitz has neither. Instead, a segment of track is lifted by an elevator system from the bottom to the top. This is not completely unheard of--we'd already ridden other such rides on the trip--but Matterhorn Blitz's elevator was still interesting in that it had two segments of track alternating position, unlike the single elevator lift systems we'd seen before. The elevator is mostly hidden from view before you ride, so it can take you by surprise. Once you know about it it's interesting to watch as much of it as you can. As we were lifted up (and to avoid the other piece of the track, tilted a bit to the side) I heard a rooster crow. I don't know if this was incidental, or if it happened at the beginning of every ride as part of the theming. The rest of the ride was about what I'd expect for that style of ride. From the top of the lift I got a good view of Euro-Mir. For some reason I hadn't noticed how bright the colors of its cars were until that point.
Our next ride was on another coaster near the front of the park, an indoor ride called Euro-Sat. It was located inside a big geodesic sphere, much like Spaceship Earth at Epcot, but while Spaceship Earth is very much a scenic ride, Euro-Sat is a thrill ride, not quite to the level of larger coasters, but definitely meant to boost the adrenaline.
If it had been our first visit to the park we might not even have noticed the Spaceship Earth resemblance, since the dome had been covered to make it look like a big pumpkin. None of us liked this change at all. To all of us it just looked tacky, one of the few things we disliked that day. There also was a new logo for the ride, a cartoon version of the dome with sharp teeth. I also didn't like this. To me the ride was better with its original 70's vibe: the geodesic dome, a rotating sign outside, a robot figure at the entrance, and even an escalator to get in.
There was a 15 minute line for our ride, part of it outside. We had to endure many smokers, a reminder we were in Europe! When we returned to the area later in the day we saw no line outside, so it must have been at least 5 minutes shorter and maybe no wait at all. Our strategy for covering the low capacity rides early probably didn't quite work as intended.
As for the ride itself, it's not very large (though the trip up the lift takes a long time) or very fast. At the top there was a recording of manic laughter that I didn't recall from my prior trip, then a series of turns, mostly in the same direction. There were a few green lasers, flashing light tunnels, and fake asteroids to add some visual elements. These effects were fun, but if not for them and the overall element of darkness it would have been pretty mild indeed. I don't mind mild rides, but didn't care for the uncomfortable seats of Euro-Sat. They recalled to me a comment that a friend had made about the uncomfortable ride on our prior trip, "It's cool but I hate it!"
We moved on to the park's largest coaster (and I believe still the largest in Europe), Silver Star. Those of us who had been to Europa Park before remembered looking forward to it greatly on our first trip. It had many things going for it, tall and fast, many hills promising lots of out of your seat "airtime", open seats and restraints, and a good manufacturer--B&M of Switzerland. In 2002 we'd found ourselves disappointed, as it did not deliver on all of its promises, particularly in the airtime department. For that reason we came in this time with lowered expectations; our lack of enthusiasm even carried over to Greg, who hadn't ridden before.
Silver Star is themed after racing. Its queue begins in a cavernous building with views of motor sports memorabilia, videos, and so forth. There's even a motor sports bar and racing-themed restrooms, plus an X-Box display (that hadn't been there in 2002). In the station there were "Christmas tree" lights that lit up before each dispatch. One of my favorite memories of the ride from the prior trip was the cheesy song that they had playing in the station, with its lyrics "Ride, Ride, Silver Star" sung in a sort of 50's rock harmony. The volume was much lower this time, which I regretted.
Those of us who had formerly been disappointed joked that we "couldn't believe we had to wait for this", but in the end it only took us 5 minutes to get into the station and then a short wait to get on the train.
Our fellow passengers were interesting. One was wearing an outfit that made me think of "Sergeant Pepper's". Later we'd see a band playing in uniform; I suspect he was from this band. Another tried to take his camcorder on the ride but the operator give him a very dirty look and prevented him from doing so.
Silver Star has interesting "lap pillow" restraints that, together with the seats that keep riders feet off the floor, lead to an enhanced sense of vulnerability. In 2002 there was an additional cable to be attached to the restraint to insure it was held down and that it was down far enough to secure riders. It was gone for our 2006 trip. I didn't miss it; it always seemed to be redundant to me. Another change, though one that didn't make that much of a difference, was that there was a wall along one side of the first drop. We weren't sure what this was for; perhaps to reduce noise. From the top of the lift one can also see a walkway from the parking lot that is covered by solar panels, a good way to provide shade and obtain energy at the same time.
The ride itself was night and day better than it had been in 2002. It seemed much faster, but more importantly it had more of the delightful airtime we'd been expecting on our first rides. There was a "mid-course" brake halfway through ride, which took us all by surprise; we thought there was another hill coming instead of this flat section of track. Even after the brake slowed us down there were a few good moments of the ride left, most notably a quick S-turn just before the end. Greg was impressed and had no idea why the rest of us been so down on the ride before. But we all knew it had improved drastically.
Pegasus was our next coaster, new to us but not one of great significance. It was a "family" coaster--one of mild thrills, but that can be ridden by adults as well as kids. As with everything in Europa Park, it was highly themed, with a train that looked like a chariot (with a kind of rattan appearance), dispatched with the sound of neighing horses. We had a bit of confusion in the station as a party was loaded from the exit side, delaying us for a bit though we'd vainly tried to find seats they wouldn't choose. The coaster was not totally inconsequential, with an interesting drop into a tunnel formed of Greek columns. More entertaining to me was the view from the line of several other Europa coasters.
We were not yet done with our coaster tour of the park. The next one for us to ride was the nearby Poseidon. This is a so-called "water coaster", combining some elements of a roller coaster with others of a flume ride. Some consider it a dubious coaster "credit", but I count it because the vehicle does ride on hills and turns on dry track during parts of the ride. Of course the vehicle also looks like a boat and rides on water at other points, so it's very much a hybrid. It at least does have more of a feel of a coaster than Atlantica Supersplash did. In fact it's a little odd that they added Supersplash after already having Poseidon installed. Tim and Janna were not interested in getting wet and had already ridden the ride on our last trip anyway. Greg, however, wanted to ride it since he hadn't ever done so. I also like to ride any coaster at any park I visit, whether I've been on it before or not, so I joined Greg.
There wasn't much of a line so we passed quickly through the heavily themed queue into the station. The theming included such elaborate touches as a giant trident stuck through the ceiling but we were too busy with the boarding process to take much of it in. We initially lined up for the second seat from the back. We were invited there by two girls who were waiting to ride with some people in line for another seat. However everybody's plans were screwed up when a pair of kids from the back seat line barged into the boat ahead of us. We weren't able to argue without knowing the language better, but some people nearer the front of the car saw our problem and pointed out two single seats for us to take. I wound up in the front seat next to a man who looked somewhat like Borat. I think Greg was directly behind me.
Poseidon begins with a slow trip through a water channel with some more Greek mythic theming, again mostly lost on me. We then climbed a lift hill leading to the first, coaster-like part of the ride. There are several dry turning drops here before a splashdown landing. The guy sitting next to me kept sticking his elbow into me, cutting down my enjoyment somewhat. Next we climbed a second lift (interestingly, unlike most coasters, more than one boat is allowed on the lift at once), then into the final splashdown, this time much more like a flume ride than a coaster. A bit of water splashed over the side and onto my leg. I dislike it when this happens; I like a good spray of water from a wet ride, but not to have any part of my clothes drenched. However apparently we were fortunate that the guest-operated geysers were unattended when we splashed down, or else we would have gotten wetter.
The Greek section of the park seemed a bit like a maze; Greg and I had trouble finding our way out to rejoin our friends. Once back together we moved from Greece to Switzerland for our final coaster on the tour, the Scwheizer Bobbahn. It's an interesting variant on the roller coaster; rather than the train riding on a track, it runs within a U-shaped trough, much like a bobsled. The concept goes all the way back to Flying Turns rides in early coaster history, but this is a modern variant of the concept.
In fact, there are currently two modern manufacturers making such rides. The majority of those in the US are made by a company called Intamin. These rides have single cars that run through their trough, hence they are more like a true bobsled (though they run on wheels rather than sliding on ice). The other manufacturer is Mack, which has only one installation in the US of their ride (Avalanche at Kings Dominion in Virginia). However, their ride is at several European parks, including Europa (for reasons I'll get to later). Mack's version runs trains, not just single cars, and is generally regarded as more thrilling.
The Swiss area of Europa park is not large--in fact most of it is enclosed within the boundaries of the Schweizer Bobbahn itself, the Matterhorn Blitz queue being the rest--but it is perhaps one of the most charming themed areas in the park. We found ourselves walking through a brick square with a little stream running through it to get to the station. I loved this little touch and was secretly amused when a girl accidentally stepped in it (though I would have been less amused had I done so!). Within one of the helixes of the coasters there were also some (stationary) ski lift chairs that gave a great view of the trains as they went by. The entrance to the station was not easy to find; I wound up getting split up from the others, but they must have been lost too as I beat them up to the platform.
The ride was very pretty, winding around trees and through the Swiss theming (and I noticed that some parts of the trough were disguised by adding a wood trough surrounding the ride trough, a very clever touch), but not nearly the most thrilling of its type. It begins with an unusual shallow straight drop--most such rides are all tight turns. There is some good nonstop action during the thrilling part of the ride, but it is very short. It hits a brake and then takes a long, slow, meandering trip back to the station. Kings Dominion's ride is usually regarded (perhaps by well-traveled coaster snobs like myself) as less thrilling than the European installations, but I think it may be just a bit better than Scwheizer Bobbahn.
By that point we'd covered all the coasters in the park, but there were plenty of other things we wanted to see and do. There was one particular attraction, new since 2002, that we were all particularly interested in. Called Arena of Football, it was a bumper car ride, but with an innovative touch that we thought could be fun. The cars were shaped like sneakers, and there was a rubber ball on the floor that people could "kick" around. A whistle blew to signal the beginning and ending of the ride. Once, Tim and I managed to kick the ball through the entrance to the ride floor, possibly the closest thing we could come to scoring a "goal". Otherwise the ball got stuck a few times between empty cars they'd left out on the floor. As a bumper car ride it wasn't all that thrilling but the soccer aspect made it memorable and fun. There was one strange occurrence that happened to me that I've always been worried about but never had happen before that--I jammed my fingers on the steering wheel of my car during one bump. There was no lasting harm, the worst of the ache was gone in a day or two. It just goes to show that it's best to be careful, I guess!
Next we headed toward a few dark rides, located of a square across a long pool from Euro-Sat. The first was a kids' ride called Ciao Bambini. Janna had very fond memories of it from the 2002 trip, to the point that she was more eager to ride it than several of the coasters. I myself didn't recall it very well. In fact when we rode I found my memories of it had become confused with another kids' ride at a different park. I tried to film most of the ride this time. Without that record I still really wouldn't have very strong memories of it. Even with a video to watch, the only image that I clearly recollect was a tunnel made to look like we passed under lit arches with other blinking lights shaped like hearts. Throughout we got to hear a cutesy song, much like It's a Small World.
The other dark ride in the area was a haunted house ride called Geisterschloss. There was a short wait in a cylindrical room (which got very crowded with people) that had a ceiling that raised, creating a kind of "stretch" effect. Once again I remember little from the dark ride itself, except that there was a neat effect at one point where it sounded like there was a knocking on the backs of the cars. I can give painfully detailed descriptions of the coasters I ride, but for dark rides I'm useless!
Our next stop was the park museum, something I'd completely missed on my prior trip. The park has a special relationship with Mack Engineering (most of their rides are manufactured by a company called Mack, and some are prototype or showcase rides), as clearly outlined in the museum. There's even a Mack family tree painted on one wall. (There were also some faded stained glass windows.) There were several ride models, including a cutaway that showed the interior of the Euro-Sat dome, and a couple that I couldn't place--perhaps rides that were no longer there.
There were other historical pictures of the park. It had clearly come a long way since its beginnings in the 70's. The original park entrance looked far less elaborate than the one we'd seen.
Not only did the Mack family create rides; they also apparently were responsible for some of the themed food stands we'd seen in German fairs throughout the trip. We recognized a hamburger stand--which was in fact shaped like a hamburger--that we'd seen in Stuttgart. All in all the museum was an interesting stop, and an essential one for anyone interested in amusement park history.
It was time for lunch. While getting lost in the Greek section of the park Greg and I had seen a promising-looking place called Taverna Kykonos, so we went back there. At least there was some benefit to our having gotten lost! We had a bit of a wait in line, during which I had plenty of time to decide what to get. I got a gyro with fladebrot (flat bread), along with a Coke. The bread was actually somewhat odd, a bit doughier than pita that I was used to. The meat also was strange; I wondered if it might have been cubed chicken instead of the gyro meat I'd expected. It came with one tomato slice, and a kind of cabbage something like cole slaw. Janna got a plate called the Spezialitatenteller, which she wound up loving. It had a salad with little cuttlefish, a stuffed pepper, feta, and grape leaves. We sat at a small table in the interior, and I noticed a three-coaster view from there, of Pegasus, Poseidon, and Silver Star.
After lunch we hit the midway again, running almost immediately into a parade, with floats themed after the various areas of the park. It was an example of something that I really liked about Europa Park, that something always seemed to be happening. If it wasn't a parade, it was a performance of some other sort, such as a puppet show in the Russian area or a stilt-walker in the German area. American parks call it "streetmosphere", and strive for it but rarely succeed to the extent Europa Park has.
Once the parade had passed we did a few of the milder, scenic rides in the park. The observation tower wasn't all that interesting, but seemed almost obligatory to ride. Better was the garden boat ride that I called an "elf boat" in my notes. There was an indoor portion that I noted was scented, (Ciao Bambini had had a section like this, which was one of the reasons why Janna liked it so much). I remember little else except that the frog sounds in one section didn't sound quite right, but I generally find garden boat rides to be pleasant and wish the US had more of them. Nearby was another scenic boat ride with the somewhat unfortunate name of Marionetten Bootsfarht, which seemed to be a fairy tale ride acted out by marionettes. I don't recall that much of this ride either except that the displays seemed to be within clear gazebo-like enclosures, and the music had an odd synthesized sound to it.
By this point we were getting into parts of Europa Park that I'd never seen on my prior trip. In retrospect going through our photos of the park scenery, I wish we had taken more. There were so many great touches that weren't captured and hence I can't share. One thing that impressed me as I saw more of the park was how well they used water in their landscaping. Throughout the day I kept noticing water features almost everywhere I looked in the park. Now we found ourselves walking parallel to a relatively fast stream. There were some machines set up to generate flame and fog effects, perhaps as part of the holiday theming.
Along with the many water features, the park was full of well-groomed lush plantings (though one type of tiny flowers almost looked like they were painted in various tints rather than being naturally colored). Many European parks have this garden-like feel to them, much more so than most American parks, but Europa stood out even above these and we'd see even more later. On our prior trip I was so roller coaster-focused that I hadn't really paid attention to the scenic areas of the park. I was glad to be able to broaden my experience of the park; it made me appreciate it all the more.
We found ourselves in the England section of the park, one of the most impressive of all and again new to me. We walked through a small replica of Victoria Station, by an imitation Globe Theater, and a pub (the "Three Piglets").
We did not linger, but instead continued along, finding ourselves in a part of the park that seemed to be themed around folktales. There were several dioramas that would come to life when a button was pushed, all beginning with the same chiming sound. I remember Hansel and Gretel for sure; some of the others I could not recognize as easily. There was also a standard "Wave Swinger" ride, but shaped like a mushroom, with fountains bordering the edge.
This took us back to the rear of the park, where we'd started the day but had just passed through at the time. Now we set out to explore it more thoroughly. Here was one of the remaining rides we were most eager to get on, Alpenexpress. It is called a "powered coaster" because though it has a train that runs on a track (consisting of mostly turns and helices) it does not use gravity to operate, but has a motor that is running throughout. For this reason I (and most other enthusiasts) don't consider it a true coaster. It is a speedy and fun ride but does lack some of the thrills of a gravity ride. The highlight was a trip through a long indoor section containing many special effects, including a very impressive blast of fire. We were sent around for two circuits but even the second trip not sufficient to fully take in all the scenery because it was passed by so quickly.
Rather unexpectedly we had a chance to see these sights from a much more leisurely perspective. After our ride we wandered over toward a gift shop called Grotto. From there we could see that there was a tunnel leading to the cave the Alpenexpress passed through, but soon found that it was an exit from somewhere instead of an entrance. A little exploring found us the true entrance, through an attraction named Zauberwelt der Diamenten ("magical world of diamonds"). From here we could see a lot of the effects we'd missed on the ride, most impressively a big metal dragon. The log flume also passed through this cave; I imagine its slower pace would allow people to see such sights better but we never rode it. The entire experience reminded me yet again how much I'd missed on my prior visit to the park.
We next came upon a plaza in the Spanish are of the park. There we found a ride called Kolumbus Jollen. The generic name for this ride is Sea Storm, and it is one of my favorites, and all too hard to find. It is deceptively simple--little boats go around in a circle over an undulating floor, occasionally turning to the side or backwards to face each other during the ride. My first encounter with one of these was at Busch Gardens, but it's been long since removed so I was very glad to run into another of these.
These rides tend to have more elaborate decorations than most for some reason. This one was in an enclosure, the floor was made of cobblestones. I couldn't quite understand the significance of the celebrity posters, called the "Hall of Entertainment", around the outer wall, and "My Way" in Spanish playing on the stereo seemed a bit surreal. More true to the ride's theming were some stained glass windows. When it ran, the flashing lights on the central blue tarp between the ride sweeps gave the appearance of rippling water, another nice touch.
One of the nicest things about staying right at the park hotel was that we could exit and re-enter at any time. Being near the hotel at this point, we opted to do exactly this. As I recall we'd been having difficulty finding water inside the park so we made sure to get some while at the hotel. We were also able to get Coke made with sugar instead of corn syrup in glass bottles, a real treat! If we'd had more time to enjoy the park I'd have easily been open to the idea of relaxing in our rooms for a while, but time was growing short so we just did a quick freshen-up and went right back in.
We ventured into an area themed after Scandinavia. It formed a cul de sac with only one ride of significance--a rafting ride--so I had not visited it on the 2002 trip. None of us wanted to get soaked so we just observed the rafting ride rather than trying to get on it. We found a little tower off to one side that had a spiral staircase leading up to a platform with a bit of a park vista. We also saw an attraction called Vineta that looked like it was an automated show for people to stand around and watch. It may not have been operating correctly, as we couldn't really tell what was going on. The others soon got impatient and left, but I lingered a few second more to see if anything would happen. Nothing ever did, unfortunately.
The nearby Netherlands area had ate least one attraction of genuine interest to us. From my prior trip I recalled an elaborate boat ride called Piraten in Batavia, something of a version of Pirates of the Caribbean. It had been one of my favorite non-coaster attractions at the park (or indeed of my entire 2002 trip) so I was eager to try it again. It is a very "busy" ride, with action everywhere to be seen, but the standout is a waterfall with projections atop it. However on this visit didn't quite stand up to my memory of it, and when nobody else really commented about it after riding I wondered if they were also unimpressed.
As with so many other areas of the park, the Netherlands area was very attractive. The centerpiece "carousel" is really a tea cup ride (or coffee cup as the case may be) but still makes a pleasant focal point for the area. There is also a "coffee shop" but I suspect it's not quite like what you'd find under that name in Amsterdam! We didn't linger long, though, as there weren't really any other attractions there to interest us.
After repeating some of the coasters we liked best we explored a few more new-to-us areas of the park for the last part of the day. We walked through what appeared to be a French back street, with movie posters adorning the walls. There were some handprints on the concrete; I remember Freda from Abba having one of them. From here we wandered through the German area briefly. I don't remember it very well, but do remember there were some street performers, something I always like to see at a park.
One thing we made sure to go investigate was something called the Schloß that I'd seen on the map. Since this word meant "castle" and I hadn't seen any such thing on my prior trip, I expected to see an impressive attraction. I was disappointed to find the Schloß itself was only a restaurant, but in the area we also saw an extensive garden that was well worth walking through. On either side of the entry promenade were water fountains. They alternated between arch fountains and straight-up streams every so often. Whenever the type of fountain changed there was a bit of a flourish. Along some of these paths were cartons full of gourds, presumably Halloween decorations yet to be placed. I didn't see it myself but Greg claimed they were individually numbered, as though the park had specific plans for every single one.
After the promenade we came to what was called the Zaubergarten, which was a bit wilder looking. There was a river running through the area, and a weeping willow low over it. The creek was almost buried amongst the foliage; there were some misters and other water features that were almost hidden. Throughout the area the Blue Danube was playing over the speaker system.
Time was running out on our day. I wasn't interested in shopping, but the others were, so we spent the rest of the time in various souvenir stores. One, located in the Germany section, was actually several stores in a row, with connecting doorways between them so they could all be visited without going outside. Eventually we headed back to the monorail, which dropped us off at a stop near our hotel, outside the park.
After such a long day we rested up before dinner, meeting back up in the lobby for our dinner reservation at the Medici restaurant. To get to our tables we went through a long, dim corridor lit by candles. On the wall were some Roman coins; we wondered if they were real. Along the way we passed over a portion of glass floor yielding a view of a wine cellar beneath. We were seated in a brighter area, fortunately.
I had a red wine, called Bischoffingen Spätburgundert Trocken. It came in a decanter that looked something like a syrup container. In spite of the red wine I wound up having a fish dish--a tuna steak with lime vinaigrette. It was supposed to come with herb potatoes, but I never got any. Otherwise service was quite good. Janna had ravioli with tomato and olive, which I tasted and found very good indeed. As we ate we had a chance to look outside at the Colosseo plaza, where there was a dancing water fountain outside. After we finished eating we had the chance to watch the formal show. The background music was the Can Can, but with a beat. It seemed somewhat odd.
After dinner we just returned to our rooms after the long day. I had liked our room and its balcony, but this had one draback--it was noisy. We could shut out the noise of music from the bar and kids in the courtyard by shutting our window. However we couldn't shut out noise coming from the nearby stairwell and elevator. As best we could we tried to get to sleep somewhat early, before 11, anticipating an early start the next day.
All in all we had a fantastic day. Europa Park is a gem that most people in the US simply don't know about. In terms of quality of overall experience I consider them right up there with the Disney parks, in some ways even better. I marveled as I wrote this report how many areas of the park I saw this trip that I had missed on my prior visit, how impressed I was with those areas, and how often we still had to hurry through some of the less ride-centric areas just to get through the whole park. We had slightly over a full day to experience Europa Park (given that we'd had about an hour there before), and I was grateful for the time, yet regretted we didn't have yet more. I think two days might just barely be enough to fully experience the park. Because we were focused on the rides we didn't do justice to impressive areas like their English section which had no rides, but some intriguing restaurants and shows. If this park were in the US it would certainly be a yearly destination for me. I can't imagine ever getting tired of it.
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