First European Cred Trip

[silenthillXD]

How exciting! So it's looking like next year i'll finally be visiting my first major European theme park for a cred run! Got a couple of ideas so far as to where to go, but I am fishing for suggestions from all you guys who're likely much more experienced than I am.

At the moment I am considering:

. Port Aventura
. Liseberg
. Europa Park
. Phantasialand
. Heide Park

There's a couple of things I am looking for in each park

. How good are the creds?
. How good are the drop towers/flats?
. How easy is the park to get to via public transport?
. Are there any other nearby parks to any of these that are worth going to?

Basically if you guys were me, which would you pick? I am kinda tempted by PA and Liseberg the most, but I want to avoid missing out on Ferrari Land, so it's looking more like Liseberg. Are Helix and Balder as good as the hype?

Also that being said if there are any euro lives next year at any of these parks, I may be tempted!

 

[ThomVD]

I'll give advice from my experience. Obviously it's all an opinion and you might think otherwise, but here I go.

Liseberg
Absolutely lovely park, beautiful and a great atmosphere and location. Obviously Helix is fantastic, but I won't go in depth for that. Lisebergbanan and Balder are great backup rides. Don't fall for the Balder hype though, it's a very hit/miss coaster and it's best to go in with low expectations. I personally don't think it deserves the hype. Kanonen is alright, nothing special but not bad either. The rest is +2.

Mechanica and Uppswinget are both great flats and well worth your time. The rest is a bit mediocre though. Atmosfear was very disappointing when I rode it. Decent theming, a good build-up, great view, but it just lacks force. One of the weakest drop towers I've done. The other towers will be gone by next season. The water rides are both of very high quality and definitely worth doing.

The park is very easy to get to with public transport. From the Göteborg central station you can walk to Brunnsparken (nearby bus/tram stop) and take the tram to Liseberg, which takes like 20 mins. As for nearby parks, you can take a 3-hour train from Göteborg to Stockholm and visit Gröna Lund. It's a very unique and beautiful park with some great rides. I personally prefer the park itself over Liseberg but the latter has better rides. Gröna Lund has an amazing drop tower and S&S combo tower though.

Phantasialand
Probably the best park of the bunch, but I can't confirm yet until I've visited the others . Black Mamba is definitely the standout coaster and a great and beautifully themed invert. Colorado and Winjas are both very good and two standouts in their coaster type. Night Hawk is not on the same quality but not a bad coaster. Obviously Taron will also be something if you visit next season!

Phantasialand only has two main flats, but they are both AMAZING. Talocan is pretty much the perfect top spin. There is not a single thing any other top spin I've done does better. Mystery Castle is not the most forceful drop tower, but a very unique take on the ride type and probably my fave along with the Gröna Lund towers. Again, Phantasialand has two fantastic water rides.

Going there by public transport is not as easy as the Swedish parks, but it's not hard either. There is a train from Köln that stops at Brühl. Then you can take the Phantasialand bus (€3 retour) to the park and back. As for nearby parks, There is Efteling and Toverland which are both great parks, but might be a little out of your range? Definitely worth a visit though, especially Efteling.

Europa Park
A massive and gorgeous park, nice atmosphere, and LOADS of rides. They have three standout coasters. Silver Star, when I rode it, was amazing with fantastic floater airtime on every hill. Easily the best ride of the park. Blue Fire is great, but Helix definitely overshadows it and I think it will move down in my rankings when I re-ride it this weekend. Wodan was good but nothing amazing. The other coasters range from decent to meh.

The water rides are nothing special and they don't even have any proper thrill flats. Dark ride-wise, it's nothing great either. It's definitely a park with more quantity than quality, but a brilliant park nonetheless. No comment on public transport, I'll have to see for myself this weekend. Tripsdrill is closeby which is low on quantity of major rides but is one of the most beautiful parks I've visited.

 

[JoshC.]

Really would echo Thom's comment about trying to combine Phantasialand with Toverland and Efteling. I did those 3 parks in 3 days a couple of months ago and it really was phenomenal. I was going by car though, which made the transport side of things a bit easier. Apparently Toverland is a nightmare to get to by public transport, so might not be the best idea. But yeah, if it's possible to get to either of those parks with Phantasialand, do it!

The others are ones I'm considering visiting next year, so can't comment (but am interested to see what others suggest )

 

[silenthillXD]

Oooh, thanks for the reply! Yeah Liseberg looks fantastic! If it's that easy to get to, and if Grona Lund is easy to get too aswell, that's really rather tempting! Bla Taget looks fantasic, insane, twister and jetline all look brilliant too! Thanks for the advice with Balder!

Phantasia looks great too! I love my B&M Inverts, they are amazing, but yeah I think I am more of a wood fan, which seems to be the only thing missing at Phantasialand. Shame it's not as easy to get to on public transport, but may end up leaving that for another year.

And yeah, that's what I have heard about Europa, it looks great, but not amazing. The theming is mindblowing, but the rides appear to be not as good as other models.

 

[ThomVD]

Gröna Lund is as easy to get to as Liseberg, because it's in the middle of Stockholm. You can take the subway from the train station to Slussen and then take the ferry from there straight to the park. I personally prefer to walk towards Slussen and then take the ferry. It's a lot more scenic . You could even walk towards the park from the train station within 45 mins.

Phantasialand doesn't have wood, but if you do Toverland and Efteling on the same trip, you get to do two great woodies. Both Swedish woodies are also great though. PortAventura is not exactly known for good woodies and Wodan is not that special either. And don't let public transport scare you away from Phantasia, it's not as easy as the city parks, but it's still pretty easy.

 

[DelPiero]

Do Liseberg and Gröna Lund Tim.

Phantasialand is utterly amazing in every way but for public transport you are limited to get to other parks.

The transport links for Sweden will work out better for you and Liseberg really is fab. As well as the others comments they have a really amazing haunt in the hotel thing. I know you love haunts so that should swing it for you. Plus helix <3
Gröna Lund is decent, a few good rides and will round out the trip well.

Someone may be able to comment on public transport to kolmarden, as if it's possible, you HAVE to go for wildfire.

 

[Colossus]

I have only done Phantasialand, Liseberg and Europa Park and they are all outstanding.

Phantasialand has some phenomenal rides Black Mamba is one of the best inverts, Chiapas is one of the best water rides in the world, The Winjas is the best in its ride type without doubt.
There will also be Taron, not to mention all the other rides, and the park as a whole is just stunningly beautiful, its my personal favorite park of all.
As for public transport I'm not too sure as I hired a car, however, according to google maps if you can get to Bruhl its only an 8 minute drive away if you can get a taxi? Or it is apparently a 51 minute walk? If no alternative was available I would undertake that challenge.

Europa again is a really nice place to be, it is visually amazing, there's all sorts going on.
Of all the rides there Silver Star and Blue Fire (although not as good as Helix) are both brilliant coasters, Wodan I personally weren't impressed with, but that's just me. There's a couple of real nice quirky rides such as Arthur and Matterhorn Blitz, everything else I thought was a bit meh.
But a beautiful park and well worth a visit, how you could do it by public transport though I wouldn't know, the park is in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure there's plenty of people here that have done it though and could advise you better on that.

So Liseberg, again absolutely beautiful, I really like the coasters there, Lisebergbanen and Kanonen are decent enough, Balder I think is really good and Helix really don't need an introduction.
There are some decent other rides there also, Liseberg is just really chilled out, I'm hoping to go back next year.
Public transport is not an issue, getting around Goteborg is so easy its unreal, trams are everywhere, Korsvägen is outside the front door and is served my multiple lines going in all directions, you can get to Goteborg station in no time.

Its obviously up to you, but I would personally choose Liseberg as its by far the easiest public transport wise, there's also plenty of other things to do in Goteborg, and you can jump on the train and head to Stockholm for Gröna Lund.
It would eradicate the stress of having to mess about with trying to get to places not easily accessible by public transport.

 

[TilenB]

There's a bus every 30 minutes that connects Phantasialand and the station in Brühl. Return ticket costs 3€, so deffo a better option than a taxi.

 

[gavin]

Europa is fine by public transport, though to listen to some people you'd swear it was the middle of the Amazon f**king Jungle.

There's a bus stop right outside the park with regular buses to the nearest train station - forgot the name of the station right now.

It's only a minor station - more like a bus stop - but trains in Germany are generally excellent, so you'll be able to connect to anywhere pretty easily.

 

[Dar]

^Ringsheim, I think?

 

[gavin]

That's the one.

It's a tiny station, but has regular trains to connect it to anywhere else and the bus to the park takes about 10 minutes from what I remember.

Really not difficult.

 

[zazobo]

I've only done PA and Europa. Both were FAB. Although I'd say Europa was more of a resort destination where you would need a couple of days, PA is probably doable in a day providing you're willing to pay extra for queue passes! Shambhala is worth going to PA for alone.

 

[silenthillXD]

Do Liseberg and Gröna Lund Tim.

Phantasialand is utterly amazing in every way but for public transport you are limited to get to other parks.

The transport links for Sweden will work out better for you and Liseberg really is fab. As well as the others comments they have a really amazing haunt in the hotel thing. I know you love haunts so that should swing it for you. Plus helix <3
Gröna Lund is decent, a few good rides and will round out the trip well.

Someone may be able to comment on public transport to kolmarden, as if it's possible, you HAVE to go for wildfire.

Thanks! Ha yeah think that's my plan to do! Liseberg and Grona Lund look amazing and if I can fit in Kolmarden that would just be amazing! Either way, it will give me enough new creds to make a decent top 5!

Must admit though, I am starting to think about Europa for their Halloween event.

 

[silenthillXD]

Do Liseberg and Gröna Lund Tim.

Phantasialand is utterly amazing in every way but for public transport you are limited to get to other parks.

The transport links for Sweden will work out better for you and Liseberg really is fab. As well as the others comments they have a really amazing haunt in the hotel thing. I know you love haunts so that should swing it for you. Plus helix <3
Gröna Lund is decent, a few good rides and will round out the trip well.

Someone may be able to comment on public transport to kolmarden, as if it's possible, you HAVE to go for wildfire.

Thanks! Ha yeah think that's my plan to do! Liseberg and Grona Lund look amazing and if I can fit in Kolmarden that would just be amazing! Either way, it will give me enough new creds to make a decent top 5!

Must admit though, I am starting to think about Europa for their Halloween event.