What's new

Ranking the Europa Park Dark Rides

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Thought this would be an interesting one as with so many middle of the pack dark rides the lists will vary a lot. I'm also interested to see where Snorri Touren fits in for those who have ridden it. Here's my thoughts.

1. Arthur - I mean, how could it not be? The only truly modern dark ride at Europa and it's really good. I'm a big fan of the ride system too and find it satisfying watching the trains move continuously through the station.

2. Geisterschloss - Big drop in quality but for me this is the best of the rest. It feels dated in places but the amount of scenes and details and animatronics crammed into the tiny show building is amazing. When you compare it to something like the one at Phantasialand which feels sparse and slow they've done a lot with the ride system to make Geisterschloss feel so punchy.

3. Piccolo Mondo - It's a short basic dark ride but something about it really resonates with me. Like most Europa dark rides the scenes are detailed and I always come off this one feeling happy.

4. Madame Freudenreich Curiosités - Really cute ride. Another infectiously happy one with lots of adorable antics to look at and a lovely soundtrack. The reason it's a bit lower down the list is because other than the kitchen it feels like you're just seeing different parts of one big room rather than lots of different scenes.

5. OG Pirates in Batavia - Struggling to remember this as it was a few years ago I rode it. I liked the tropical take on the Pirate theme which differentiated it slightly from similar rides but it seemed a bit long and slow. I think the sets and animatronics weren't quite detailed and interesting enough to justify how slowly you passed by them. Still a fun ride though.

6. Atlantis Adventure - Another solid dark ride but it feels like one of the older ones despite being built in 2007. I think the UV doesn't help. At most other family parks this could be a headliner dark ride but at Europa it doesn't quite cut it.

7. Snowflake Sleigh Ride - Pretty poor. How it's lasted as long as it has without a refurb is beyond me.
 

cookie

Giga Poster
1. Arthur - One of the best dark rides I've been on, in all honesty. It's a really fun and unique experience and a real surprise considering I had no idea what to really expect from it.

2. OG Batavia - I was so sad when this burned down. It's a Pirates wannabe, but I had a lot of fun with it, and the short lines even on a busy day made it an easy choice when you wanted something a bit more scenic and relaxing (and an escape from the summer heat). I'm very excited to see the new version.

3. Atlantis Adventure - It was fine for a shooter dark ride. I liked the setting and the theming, plus even on a busy day the line was pretty short.

4. Universe of Energy pre-refurb - I had a laugh from how goofy the dinosaurs were even when they were supposed to look intimidating. The ride system was very dated and creaky though.

5. Geisterschloss - Pretty unabashed Haunted Mansion wannabe that kinda just throw a whole bunch of random horror scenes at you without much in the way of atmosphere. I kinda liked Geister Rikscha at Phantasialand more, honestly, even if it's much more dated. At least it had a more unique setting and focused more on the atmosphere than in your face scares.
 
Last edited:

JammyH

Hyper Poster
Are we including voletarium in this as that's definitely my favourite dark ride in the park! After that, has to be Arthur, as that's pretty amazing.

Aside from those two, the others kind of just form a blur in my head as don't remember any of them being particularly stand-out. I liked Abenteuer Atlantis and OG pirates in Batavia however didn't think either of them were exceptional. Am yet to do madame Freudenreich so will see how I find that and also the new pirates in Batavia when it opens this summer.
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Arthur - Obviously. Fun, unique, lots of nice surprises along the way.

Madame Freudenreich Curiosités - Just such a cute, humorous, insanely weird unique concept with infectiously joyful music. Hoping its a good sign of things to come with reworking other old dark rides.

Snorri Touren - I love almost everything about it. The music, atmosphere, queueline, sets and lighting. Its a delightful, humorous and fun attraction. The Trolldal scene with its catchy party song in particular is great. Just looses out slightly due to the weird Vagstycke scene which is oddly sinster and the atmosphere is out of place with every other scene, and the media dome bit is just awkwardly tacked onto the end with some poor quality graphics.

Piccolo Mondo - This is where the quality in the list starts to drop off. It is tacky as hell but still I do have a enjoy it; especially for the catchy music, and its wtf factor resulting in many confused first time riders faces in the ORPs.

Atlantis Adventure - Not that good. Rather forgettable and just shoot random UV stuff pointlessly. Not really a fan of such types of shooter rides, give me Maus or Popcorn Revenge anyday.

Geisterschloss - Pretty much going to echo cookie's sentiments on it. Its meant to be a Haunted Mansion ripoff but it even fails at doing that with lots of 'seaside amusements Ghost Train' esque horror scenes from various time periods, and characters from Mack Media's flop Happy Family film, randomly thrown in. Just no consistency or coherent theme. I would happily see it bulldozed asap.

Sleigh Ride Snowflake - Just how or why this exists or who thought is was a good idea I will never know...
 

chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
Geisterschloss - Pretty much going to echo cookie's sentiments on it. Its meant to be a Haunted Mansion ripoff but it even fails at doing that with lots of 'seaside amusements Ghost Train' esque horror scenes from various time periods, and characters from Mack Media's flop Happy Family film, randomly thrown in. Just no consistency or coherent theme. I would happily see it bulldozed asap.

SACRILEGE! Geisterschloss is fabulously random and idiosyncratic, a relic of classic 80s dark rides, which unlike other rides from this era at other parks is still given some love!
Agree to the Happy Family cartoon characters - but the rest is retro-fab!
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
I sooo need to get back to Europa. Spent 5 whole days there once, did the park from top to bottom and yet I have no idea, apart from OG Pirates, what any of these rides are.
Mind you, it was 14 years ago when I last went. ?
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
1. Arthur. Europa's best dark ride by a wide margin. It's probably one of my top 3 dark rides to be fair. It's got a great mix of theming, storytelling, set-pieces, music, all tied together with a fab ride concept... a very comfortable experience with a number of memorable moments.

2. Geisterschloss. I kinda disagree with cookie's opinion here. Geisterschloss is far better than Geister Rikscha, which is an absolute snoozefest. Geister has all the hallmarks of an old school, tacky seaside ghost train... which I love. Whilst the technology is old and predictable, I feel as though there's a decent amount to look at if you enjoy the more traditional style of ghost train.

The rest of the dark rides are rather forgettable to be honest. Unfortunately my only visit to Europa was after the Pirates in Batavia fire so unfortunately I never managed to experience that.
 
Top