These are great days for theme parks, at home and abroad. Universal Studios has announced plans to transform Bedfordshire, England, into a 700-acre movie fan’s utopia. The original Legoland is now easier to reach with new flights from London Gatwick to Billund, Denmark. And Efteling in the Netherlands is opening its first fully-fledged hotel within the theme park this summer. In many others, you’ll notice more creativity and technical wizardry, more commitment to sustainability and healthier food options, and an overwhelming focus on quality over quantity. More whizz-bang-pop, basically.
But there’s one European theme park — a colossus in roller coaster terms — that most Brits haven’t even heard of. Europa-Park is located in Rust, Germany, almost at the triangulation point between Freiburg im Breisgau, Strasbourg and Basel, and, this year, it’s celebrating its 50th birthday. Come for the anniversary on 12 July, and the gates will be open for 24 hours.
Read more: We swapped Disneyland Paris for a cheaper Dutch theme park – and my kids preferred it
Theme park newbies might scoff at the thought of going anywhere else apart from Europe’s most-visited theme park — that’s Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, for the uninitiated — but enter into the spirit of post-Brexit travel and there’s something for every mood in the Baden-Württemberg borderlands.
If you don’t fancy the Grimm Brothers’ vibe of the fairy tale Germany area (which includes a flying theatre), there’s France to explore with a Moulin Rouge-themed can-can coaster. Switzerland boasts a bobsled run, while in Iceland, there is a Norse saga wooden coaster. And there are 16 other areas of attractions to explore. Portugal has a water ride that winds through a Conquistador-era temple before climbing above a panorama of noodling rides and then plunging off a heart-stopping 30m drop. Croatia, the park’s newest area, which opened last year, has Voltron Nevera, a steel jumble of inversions and corkscrews that takes as its premise Nikola Tesla’s hair-raising electricity experiments. A mussed-up hairdo is guaranteed.
Read more: Inside the Disneyland Paris hotel, complete with £9,000 a night Frozen suite
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…