I use the Griswold system to rate a park and it's rides. This ranges from +5 for good to -3 for bad. 0 means I like a ride, but only just.

The Park

Pay-One-Price: +4

This was my second trip to Germany in four weeks, and having sampled and enjoyed the immaculate Heide Park, I was looking forward to this one, having been assured that it was better; "the best park in Europe" came up more than once. As I soon realised, such a description actually didn't describe the park that accurately at all.

Because it's better than that. This park simply has everything you could want. Firstly, the ride selection is very good, with plenty to do for all age groups. Some enthusiasts may point out the lack of any coasters with inversions, but as you'll read later, this soon becomes a non-issue. The food and merchandise is plentiful, well-priced and you can have it delivered to your room if you stay at the parks on-site hotel.

By far the most impressive aspect of the park, however, is the theming and landscaping. It is simply stunning, and so utterly convincing that you are instantly transported to wherever the park wished you to be. This is especiually true in the individual country areas, especially Greece, Spain and France - you could have been teleported to the real places. As for the rides, what may have been average attractions are transformed into excellent ones. Coasters, water rides, flat rides - the same applies to all.

Not a penny has been spared anywhere; every flowerbed is immaculate, every blade of grass freshly mowed, every fountain working. The smaller touches are great too; next to the Tom Sawyer jungle-river ride, the toilets had "Tarzan" and "Jane" on the doors instead of "men" and "women". If the park had a large area of path, they put in an artificial stream, or a flowerbed, or a statue, to break up the area and make it more aesthetically pleasing. How many other parks leave areas such as this to become acres of wind-swept concrete? Other things, such as having circus-type stilt walkers and unicyclists in the park and restaurants, also made for a happy and jovial atmnosphere.

I could go on and on. The number and variety of shows, restaurants serving very authentic country-specific food. All combine to make the DM43 (£14) admission well worth it. The park has recently broken the 3 million annual visitor barrier, making it the most popular park in Germany. With the addition next year of Silverstar, the park's new 240 foot-tall hyper-coaster, this fantastic park looks set to continue it's success.

The Coasters

Euro-Mir

Type: Steel, Twister
Features: Partially Enclosed, Theming, Back-to-Back Cars, Spinning Cars
Manufacturer: Mack
Opened: 1997
Inversions: 0
Ride Time: 2m 20s
Max Speed: 45 mph/ 73 kph
Highest Drop: 70 ft/ 21m

Rating: +3

This coaster gains points initially for it's seating; two pairs of seats are placed back-to-back on the car. Add to that the fact that the car spins at selected points throughout the ride, and you get two very different types of ride in one, depending whether you end up facing forwards or backwards at various points during the ride. Also, you get to see the expressions on the faces of the people sitting in the car opposite you - which is always a useful diversion, especially if they are not having a good time!

The spiral lift hill leads to a series of wild mouse-style hairpins, these deliver moderate laterals and one of the spinnning parts of the ride is here. The first drop curves down and right (or left if taken backwards), and a second spinning section and a couple more drops follow. The best part of the ride occurs in the second half; several helixes close to the ground deliver fairly strong G's, and in typical German style, other parts of the track and theming get extremely close to the train. The fact that it isn't too rough, and that the park run an impressive seven trains (therefore giving it an extremely high capacity), also help to earn this good coaster a high rating.

Eurosat

Type: Steel, Twister
Features: Enclosed, Theming
Manufacturer: Mack
Opened: 1989
Inversions: 0
Ride Time: 3m 5s
Max Speed: 37 mph/ 60 kph
Highest Drop: 50 ft/ 15m

Rating: +3

This enclosed roller coaster puts most other rides of the same type to shame. Black Hole, Space Invader, even Space Mountain to a certain extent, eat your heart out! Another slow spiral lift hill leads to a great series of drops, twists, and turns which deliver good G's without being too rough. The turns are also in both directions; which is good as some coasters, notably Space Mountain at Disneyland all turn in one direction, which does get a touch tedious. The planetary theming near the end of the ride is similar to the Space Invader at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, but far more convincing; it is what the latter ride has tried to achieve but failed miserably.

A spinning tunnel and strobe lighting disorient you just enough to to make the final cuple of seconds before the brakes a dizzying experience. The park have also managed to make you believe you have stopped far more harshly than you have. I braced myself for the brakes, but nothing happened even though it appeared I'd practically screeched to a halt. I liked this, and it made for a good and unexpected end to a very good coaster.

Matterhorn Blitz

Type: Steel, Wild Mouse
Features: Partially Enclosed, Theming, Mine Cars, Vertical Lift
Manufacturer: Mack
Opened: 1999
Inversions: 0
Ride Time: 1m 20s
Max Speed: 37 mph/ 60 kph
Highest Drop: 40 ft/ 12m

Rating: +1

It's not often that a coaster introduces me to a brand new term of coaster phraseology, but that's exactly what happened here! Instead of having a conventional lift hill, the car travels forwards out of the station, is lifted vertically upwards to it's maximum height of 50 feet, and deposited neatly at the top, ready for it's journey. Unfortunately, this is arguably the most exciting part of the ride. I'm not sure what was wrong, but it didn't seem like a wild mouse should. The drops were fairly mediocre and the turns a touch too slow to deliver the slamming laterals that this type of ride is noted for. It was also shorter than other wild mouse coasters. However, the theming was excellent, and that saves the ride from a worse rating.

Schweizer Bobbahn

Type: Steel, Bobsled
Features: Theming
Manufacturer: Mack
Opened: 1985
Inversions: 0
Ride Time: 1m 5s
Max Speed: 31 mph/ 50 kph
Highest Drop: N/A

Rating: +1

This bobsled coaster is another that is on the short side. After ascending the lift hill and traversing a rather boring stretch of flat track, the train descends it's small first drop, before climbing up again - this dip is a rare feature on a bobsled ride. Three small helixes follow, taken at a good rate of speed, before the train enters the brake run. And that's it! Whilst the station is well-themed, and the helixes are good, there are too few of them and the ride is too short in general to warrant anything other than average status.

Other Rides

As I've already mentioned, the park has a great collection of other rides, all beautifully themed. The Poseidon (+2) is a water coaster-type ride, with a couple of good drops on conventional coaster track and a couple more log-flume style ones into water. I was debating whether to include it as a coaster, but decided not to, as there are sections when the boats are pushed along by flowing water. The park also has the Wildwasserbahn log flume (+2), which is too short but well themed, and the Fjord Rafting river rapids (+1), which is better near the end than at the start. There is also a powered coaster, Alpine Express (+2), which, again, is excellently themed and delivers surprisingly strong laterals during the two circuits round the track that constitute a ride.

There is also the Dino Ride (+1), a trip through a dinosaur-filled landscape which would have got a higher rating but for the bizarre energy and electricity pre-show which bore no relationship whatsoever to the dinosaur part of the ride. We all thought we had entered the wrong attraction by mistake. The Ghost Castle (+2) is better, a scary trip through a haunted castle reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. By far the best gentle ride, however, is the stupendous Pirates of Batavia (+4), which is similar to, but better than, the Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. It has literally thousands of moving figures, all in perfect working order, as well as projections onto screens of water mist, fountains, and music, all of which combine to create a wonderful four-minute ride. Fabulous.

There are almost certainly other rides I have left off, or forgotten about. There is simply so much to admire. I also haven't yet described the park's hotel, a huge medieval castle building, which again is so authentically themed that you are convinced you've been transported about 300 years back in time. Indeed, the park as a whole has managed to achieve the almost unreachable standard of rivalling Disney parks for theming. When the previously mentioned Silverstar hyper-coaster opens in 2002, Europa Park will probably be about as close as you can get to the perfect park. A fantasic and unmissable day out.

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Andy Rathe