OMG, the Best Amusement Park Isn’t Disney!?

Europa Wins This Year’s Travel Award

Recently several online news feeds ran stories about the Best Amusement Park in the World for 2019. What they portrayed as the shocking part of the story was that the best park wasn’t a Disney park. It is Europa-Park in Rust, Germany. Europa-Park isn’t a new park that has burst onto the scene beating all rivals, it’s been around since 1975. The award Europa-Park just received is the “Golden Ticket” award presented by Amusement Today, a monthly trade magazine that caters to the amusement park industry. The award was based on the results of surveys given out to “experienced and well-traveled amusement enthusiasts”. Probably not a very large survey, but at least they should know what they’re talking about. Finally, it should be noted that a Disney or Universal park has never won the Golden Ticket title of best park. They tend to gravitate towards parks that hit s sweet spot of being big enough to have a lot to offer, but not be an international conglomerate. (Think Cedar Point, Dollywood, and the like).

What is Europa-Park?

Europa-Park is a mid-sized park in Rust, a small town near Germany’s border with France. The closest city of any size is Strasbourg. The park has a European theme with sections based around various countries (Austria, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain, and Switzerland). It also has areas themed after lore and fairy tales such as Grimm’s Enchanted Forest. While each area pays homage to a country, the theming is sometimes loose (France has a dinosaur themed ride). While my description may imply a mashup of ideas, the park is charming and offers a lot of variety. In addition to lower key attractions, the park has 13 roller coasters, a flight simulator, and they will soon be opening a water park. Their main claim to fame is live entertainment. They are said to have more hours of live entertainment than any park in the World. Currently the parks annual attendance is about 5.7 million, but this is sure to go up with all the attention they’re currently getting.

Europa-Park

Euro-Park Bears Similarity to More Well-Known Other Parks

The Park’s European village theme may sound similar in concept to Disney’s Epcot. The fact that there is a geodesic dome in the park that looks like a smaller version of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth further reinforces the similarity. They also happen to have a spinning coffee cup ride, a haunted castle ride, a monorail, and a Pirates in Batavia ride. (The original pirates ride burned down in 2018 but will reopen in 2020). Did I mention that the mascot of Europa-Park is a mouse? As you can see, the park has borrowed a lot from Disney. But, at a more manageable scale and less fully immersive experience. It is safe to say that Europa-Park won’t be nipping at Disney’s or Universal’s heels anytime soon. But, for theme park enthusiasts it offers a change of pace with easy access to all the rest that Germany, France and Switzerland have to offer.

If your perfect vacation includes a theme park, contact Purple Light Vacations. We would love to help you plan your dream trip to Europa-Park, any of Disney’s parks, Universal Studios’ parks, Six Flags, Knott’s Berry Farm, Beto Carrero, Cedar Point, Bush Gardens, Sanrio Puroland, or any of the dozens of other fantastic theme parks around the World. We often obtain discounts on these tickets and can pass them onto you!

Purple Light Vacations provides you with the knowledge, insight and personalized service to make your vacation all you want it to be at no additional cost. We help you travel in the know wherever you go. To get started, fill out this quick form or call 619.324.1444 (ext. 3).