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Europa Park | Voltron | Mack Rides Stryker Coaster | 2024

I think no one should be suprised by Voltron having a prominent sponsor. Europa has done sponsoring deals for major attractions for way over a decade now (maybe even 2), given the inflation it makes lots of sense that they'd continue with Voltron.
However, I think there are different ways of sponsoring. One that ties in with the attraction and just appears to be a brand existing within that attraction. The other one is an invasive one, adding little to nothing to the theme and maybe even butchering the name.

With Europa being a theme park (and one of the better themed at that), the latter option just doesn't feel right for me. Cars have little to no tie in with the story-line of the attraction, and Rimac has nothing to do with the kind of car which would be reasonable for that time frame. I might be wrong, and we see some fictional vintage cars with Rimac branding, but it doesn't look like that at this point in time.
They already did a better job on some attractions, e.g. Silver Star, Voletarium and especially the Capri Sun at Arthur - which was, funnily enough, a huge discussion point for german fans because they felt it was too invasive. I will never understand what they didn't like about a Capri Sun being thrown away amongst all the other trash being shown. In my opinion, they could've slapped the whole scene with brands and it would have fit the narrative.
 
Melons said:
Ride sponsorships have been around for a while and the majority of the time are barely noticed in my opinion. I doubt they would make them egregious because they do want customers to return to the park.
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I think you’re right that they’re barely noticed, and also I imagine they can be pretty egregious and not have any real impact on customer visits unless the parks cheapen overall experience. Again, thinking of sports, nearly every stadium in the professional leagues has a sponsor these days, with names being as ugly as things like Guaranteed Rate Field. And people still go to the games, especially when the teams are good.
 
Peter Immelmann said:
But to cap it all off, they cooperated with Nordstream/Gazprom. When I visited in 2017 I actually did not (and hence never rode) Blue fire. When approaching the coaster in the early afternoon I saw a 80mins wait and was thinking whether I'd do it right away or later that day. But then I saw that sponsorship and literally just left the park. I will probably come back to ride Voltron and finally get a ride on Blue fire but I'll probably never become a fan of this park even though they do a lot of things right.
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Wow such a big deal, a Russian gas company having a sponsorship for a roller coaster. I can't believe you payed a massive fee for Europa, (a place I have always wanted to visit but probably won't) just because of a gas company advertising (and let's all bear in in mind that when the sponsorship was active, Russia was just a country, that yes had problems, but was cooperating with the rest of the world for the most part and hosting the World Cup, an international event). I wonder how rich and out of touch you have to be to leave a park just because of a sponsorship.
 
MagicMountainFan said:
Wow such a big deal, a Russian gas company having a sponsorship for a roller coaster. I can't believe you payed a massive fee for Europa, (a place I have always wanted to visit but probably won't) just because of a gas company advertising (and let's all bear in in mind that when the sponsorship was active, Russia was just a country, that yes had problems, but was cooperating with the rest of the world for the most part and hosting the World Cup, an international event). I wonder how rich and out of touch you have to be to leave a park just because of a sponsorship.
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Everyone is perfectly within their right to leave/not visit parks because of their ethics and beliefs, to say otherwise is a bit... dumb?

Whilst I wouldn't have personally walked out because of the sponsorship after already handing over the entry fee, each to their own. Also I think you're underplaying the past actions of Russia a little bit, there's a lot more to it. But this isn't the place for that discussion. I personally won't visit Saudi Arabia/Dubai for personal reasons, does that make people like myself "out of touch"?

VonRolland said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1690296094809321472
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This looks so fab! The tower looks taller than I'd imaged too. I'm unsure about the concept art from inside the show building at the moment, as the shapes/design of the interior doesn't look to match the stylings of the period hydroelectric plant.
 
Ethan said:
Everyone is perfectly within their right to leave/not visit parks because of their ethics and beliefs, to say otherwise is a bit... dumb?

Whilst I wouldn't have personally walked out because of the sponsorship after already handing over the entry fee, each to their own. Also I think you're underplaying the past actions of Russia a little bit, there's a lot more to it. But this isn't the place for that discussion. I personally won't visit Saudi Arabia/Dubai for personal reasons, does that make people like myself "out of touch"?


This looks so fab! The tower looks taller than I'd imaged too. I'm unsure about the concept art from inside the show building at the moment, as the shapes/design of the interior doesn't look to match the stylings of the period hydroelectric plant.
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I'm not saying that it's perfectly fine to have a gazprom sponsorship and if that was your reason to not enter Europa Park, then fine. The only thing I have a problem with is leaving a park that you are privileged to be able to afford over a minor detail that most don't pay attention to! Their morals must also not be so mighty if they are willing to visit again for a roller coaster. This is still the same park that agreed to the deal, so from the point of view of Peter Immelman it seems logical that they would still be opposed going to the park for the fact that Europa would still have the sponsorship if it wasn't for the war.
 
MagicMountainFan said:
I'm not saying that it's perfectly fine to have a gazprom sponsorship and if that was your reason to not enter Europa Park, then fine. The only thing I have a problem with is leaving a park that you are privileged to be able to afford over a minor detail that most don't pay attention to! Their morals must also not be so mighty if they are willing to visit again for a roller coaster. This is still the same park that agreed to the deal, so from the point of view of Peter Immelman it seems logical that they would still be opposed going to the park for the fact that Europa would still have the sponsorship if it wasn't for the war.
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So following your logic, if I were at a comedy show and I walked out half way through because I wasn't comfortable with the jokes being said, I should feel bad because I'm "privileged" to be able to afford the seats?

Nope, sorry. Not how the world works. Sadly there's not really such thing as truly ethical consumption under capitalism, it's just a question of where you choose to draw the line personally.
 
Come on, there is a big difference when listening to a guy tell uncomfortable jokes as the only activity compared to a massive theme park with different rides not related to Gazprom. The only problem that seems the arise is the ethics of the park, which Peter Immelman says is not stopping them from coming back. It seems that they were not so upset at Europa, it's not like it was traumatic, as they are going to go back after leaving early last time. I'm fine if you want to skip Europa because of their former partnership, I don't care as much as some others do, but I find it pointless to leave the entire park over a minor part of the ride just to come back. Like I have said before, Gazprom would still be the sponsor if it wasn't for the war, so the ethics aren't necessarily better now then back then
 
It's one of these discussions. A moral dilemma of riding a roller coaster that was previously themed to Iceland and gas extraction sponsored by a Russian energy company in a topic about a Nikola Tesla themed roller coaster sponsored by a Croatian supercar manufacturer. Then sprinkle in some privilege and capitalism in the whole thing.
 
During my first visit to Europa, I went into the little Gazprom building because I knew it had the Wodan model. Had no idea what Gazprom was, but I saw they were selling Shalke kits (because they were sponsored by Gazprom) and I thought that was really random and cool as this was my first time in Europe and I was eating up every cultural difference I laid my eyes on.

That’s all. That’s my diffuser story.
 
@MagicMountainFan: I'm trying to wrap my head around why it's such big deal for you to leave a park early and why you keep on emphasizing that it's a privilege to be able to visit Europa. TBO, I don't get it. Maybe that's what you call "out of touch". I'd say, I'm pretty much in touch with what I want. And if I feel like I want to leave the park early because some not-so-appealing aspects of it I do it. Period. That being said, I fully respect if you act differently. I just reported what I did. And if that pinch of proudness that you may have seen shining through is too much for you, well that's something you have to deal with.

Regarding privileges. I'm aware that I'm privileged being born into a middle-class family in a relatively rich country. And one can argue about the moral duties that come with it. But staying at a park till closing just because one has payed admission for it definitely does not belong to it.
 
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@Niles It's not from start to finish! According to the construction permits, we know that there is an 'effect element' just before the launch. Considering the configuration, it's quite clear that it's designed to be a free fall / drop element. Additionally, there haven't been any renderings of the conveyor belt for loading and unloading, which is expected to set a new industry standard in terms of capacity.

In fact, the only 'new/change' in this video is the inclusion of the 'sponsor/name,' which appears to be perceived quite negatively, at least among the majority of fans in Germany.
 
@ChrisCoaster ok I will edit as I forgot about that first little bit.

The sponsor/name is not the only change, the video released in April (see here) would show some on-ride then cut to off-ride then back and so on, so this is different in that its a continuous on-ride which I have really wanted to see since they released that original one.
 
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I'm actually really looking forward to how operations will look like on it. I do hope they set new standards in dispatch times for this kind of coaster (of course without compromising safety) and I'm curious of what "tricks" they will use to optimize operations.

As for the sponsorship, I don't really care about this one. As people have said before, most people will just say "Voltron", it's a company from the country the area is themed to and it has at least some connection to electricity. As long as it doesn't interfere too much with the overall atmosphere, it's fine for me. The only sponsorship that actually always bothered me even way before the war was indeed Gazprom, because it didn't make sense for the area and I've always been a bit suspicious of them.

I think to draw a definitive conclusion about the sponsorship, you'll need to see it yourself to determine whether the sponsorship is intrusive or somewhat naturally integrated.

At the end of the day, no sponsorships would probably mean higher ticket prices or smaller coasters. That's why sponsorships are the lesser evil for me as long as it's not sponsored by war crimes.
 
The first part of the turntable has arrived on site today
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And Europa Park have shared some new images of the coaster and theming
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1700983960598417905
 
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