European Theme Park Tips

[TarinMaria]

Still trying to work out how you can have any sort of opinion on atmosphere or staff when you've never been to a park...
I didn't love Phantasialand, for a few reasons, I actually wasn't thrilled with the ride line up (as I'm not a huge fan of water rides) and personally my mobility suffered there as there are some hills that really upset me.
Aside from that, I couldn't fault the atmosphere, it felt far more magical than any UK park, and the only places that really give me a magic feeling are Europa, Disney and Efteling, so that should tell you something.
The staff were efficient and friendly, one even giving us a huge laugh because we used the single rider queue for Taron as a two, and he deliberately split us up so we wouldn't be on the same train. It was actually hilarious.
PA is probably the closest to a Thorpe vibe I have ever gotten, due to terrible staff and operations.

[JoshC.]

11 hours ago, Mega-Lite said:

Can't recall another park that does it off the top of my head, certainty not 3 hours early and herding you out like sheep, maybe I need to go to Port Av to experience this?

 

I'm not sure about that, 2 trips in a row being left annoyed by the place, when in reality shouldn't your first trip to the park be enough of a judgement? I'll give her another go when the new thing opens, I'm not expecting anything to have changed though.

 

Plenty of parks across Europe have their advertised closed time as the time when rides will be stopped.  Efteling do exactly what Phantasia do and close queue lines ridiculously early or, worse, apparently stop running rides with people in the queue.  Movie Park Germany closed all their rides at random times to ensure everything was done by 6pm.  Liseberg were very sharp with their closing times too (especially for their games and food places!).  Maybe it's just the parks I've visited, but it's a common theme amongst many of the parks that they try to make sure most things are done by the close time.  And no one really seems to mind; it's almost expected.

 

It's a shame you've had bad experiences with Phantasia, and hopefully you'll get less awful experiences next time.  I'm sure I'd be thinking the same in your shoes to be honest.  But honestly, the park truly shone as something special when I've been there, and it just has this feel about it - it can't be properly described, and you don't really get 'it' until you visit.  Maybe you're just an angry German magnet?

 

 

9 hours ago, TarinMaria said:

Still trying to work out how you can have any sort of opinion on atmosphere or staff when you've never been to a park...
I didn't love Phantasialand, for a few reasons, I actually wasn't thrilled with the ride line up (as I'm not a huge fan of water rides) and personally my mobility suffered there as there are some hills that really upset me.

That's one thing which sticks in my memory actually - there's lots of hills and steps in main pathways around the park. I guess part of it is a necessary evil, what with the park being so compact and having so much on top of each other, but that doesn't help ease the pain.  It must be a killer for anyone with mobility issues or anyone pushing wheelchairs!

[TarinMaria]

That's one thing which sticks in my memory actually - there's lots of hills and steps in main pathways around the park. I guess part of it is a necessary evil, what with the park being so compact and having so much on top of each other, but that doesn't help ease the pain.  It must be a killer for anyone with mobility issues or anyone pushing wheelchairs!

Thanks, I had someone on Facebook trying to tell me that THERE ARE NO HILLS AT PHANTASIALAND! I would genuinely have had a lot more love for the place if I had found it easier to walk around, like Efteling for example.
It's not quite big leagues yet, but it's infinitely better than Thorpe, what an insult to Phantasialand!

[Mega-Lite]

Now that you mention it Baron, Efteling did indeed close Baron (lol) early to clear queue for close, Draak's queue closed with the park though.

 

Left Movie Park early to collect more creds so I'll take your word on that.

 

Liseberg both days I was there closed the Helix queue at park close time and after that I got a drink in Burger King and maps from the gift shop, maybe I got lucky?

 

It's just something that left me dry both times at Phantasia so it sticks in my mind, that and being chased by a golf kart!

[Benin]

It's a definite occurrence amongst the continent, and I think is mostly done to prevent 45/60+ minute queues still being processed come the end of the day... Given where the likes of Efteling and Phantasialand reside in extremely close proximity to neighbours, I wouldn't be surprised if it was part of keeping locals onside...

 

I've never been in Fantasyland when Disney close it off for Dreams/Illuminations, but the Mouse tends to work like clockwork on this sort of thing...

 

Whilst the quality of our parks aren't necessarily on par, we have been quite often spoilt on an operational side (well, until things have been cut to pieces, but general park hours such as midweek openings and keeping queues open after park close are often better than our European and American cousins)...