Soaring over Europe Trivia Quiz

When Europa Park opened in 1975, it did not actually feature any European lands. The first such land only came into existence with the 1982 season when an expansion added Italy, featuring a Ghost Castle (now "Castello dei Medici"), a small fairy tale dark ride (now "Piccolo Mondo") as well as a variety theater and an electronic bird show, both of which still exist unchanged today.

A scenic suspended monorail ride called Volo da Vinci and an open air show stage were added to the area later.

The second country to receive a full representation were the Netherlands whose signature attraction is the "Pirates in Batavia" dark boat ride, which, in spite of its East Asian theme, integrates into the Dutch theme as the story does depart in the Netherlands.

The area also contains the "Koffie Kopjes" teacup ride, the "Flying Dutchman" stormship, a "Red Baron" plane carousel for children and a kiddie bumper car.

The England area of the park is a bit of a weirdly shaped catch-all section featuring the Globe Theatre (a show building with live acts) and a collection of small rides: "Crazy Taxi" is a demolition derby, "London Bus" a kiddie magic carpet ride, "Silverstone Track" a petrol-powered slow go-kart track and the "British Carousel" is a 19th century historic carousel (which happens to be of German origin). Finally, "Arena of Football" is a bumper car ride whose cars are shaped like soccer boots, with a large gymnastics ball on the field that riders can kick around with their cars. The park train also has a stop here.

The area was officially dedicated as England in 1988, but had had English themed elements for several years before that.

Opened in 1989, the main attractions of the French area are the "Euro Tower", a 75 meter observation tower and "Eurosat Can Can Coaster", an indoor coaster based on the Moulin Rouge. The latter also features a separate virtual reality experience based on the "Phantom of the Opera" musical.

Beneath Can Can Coaster, "Madame Freudenreich's Curiosités" is a revamp of an old, very dark, dinosaur ride, now taking place in an Alsatian garden with a decent dose of kitsch.

France also contains a cinema that is used for a 4D movie (typically about 15 mins long) during the day and to screen feature films in the evenings after park closing time.

The Austrian area was delinated in 1992 to encompass three existing attractions: The log flume (renamed as "Tyrol log flume"), a powered coaster "Alpenexpress" and a chain swing carousel. In 2022, the area was expanded to include a formerly African-themed "Adventureland" section, complete with a redecoration of the raft ride to a romantic "Josephina's Magical Imperial Journey" and the repainting of the African Queen steamboats to a Danube steamer. Both of the latter attractions had been opening day features of the park and have undergone several rethemings over the 50 years since.

Also in 1992, the park expanded to a previously unused area which was to become Scandinavia. This area features "Fjord Rafting", a whitewater raft ride and "Vindjammer", a large swinging ship as well as a shopping and restaurant street. When the latter was destroyed by fire in 2018, the rebuilding added a small underground "Snorri Touren" dark ride which is themed to Europa Park's Rulantica water park and its mascot Snorri, a "sixtopus" (an octopus with only six legs).

While the Swiss Bob Run, a freewheeling bobsled coaster, had been operating since 1985, it was only in 1993 that the area received full theming as Switzerland. Two additional rides, "Jungfrau Gletscherflieger", a plane carousel and "Matterhorn Blitz", a wild mouse coaster with a unique vertical elevator instead of a lifthill, were added in 1999.

The Spanish area, opened in 1994 together with the first hotel of the park, is rather small, with only two spinning rides, both stormship variants: "Columbus Boats" features boats that can be rotated by the riders so they can face inwards or backwards and "Feria Swing" has swinging gondolas. The park train and "EP Express" peoplemover also stop here.

A large section of the Spanish area is taken up by the arena, where riding stunt shows are being performed. The arena received a roof for the 2025 season so shows will no longer have to be cancelled in inclement weather.

In spite of featuring many of the oldest rides in the park, Germany was only given its own named section in 1996 when the entrance was moved outward to create a "main street" shopping section now also containing the "Voletarium" flying theater. The other rides are two small boat rides, one themed to elves and one to string puppets depicting fairy tales, a vintage car ride and a small open ride based around scenes of the Jim Knopf movie. One of the main draws of this area is the landscaping and gardening with huge numbers of colorful flowers. The area also includes a historic castle and its park with an old rose garden.

Both the park train and the "EP Express" peoplemover stop in this area, close to the main entrance.

The Russian area was inaugurated 1998, one year after its signature attraction "Euro-Mir", a spinning roller coaster winding around five blue mirrored towers. A full-size replica of the actual former Mir space station is located in this section and can be walked through by visitors. The area also contains a park train stop and a small "Snowflake" dark ride with wooden puppets based on a Russian folk tale.

A "Lada track" - a small car ride for children is located in the same area as the Silverstone Track, but since it has its entrance on the Russian side, so it is listed as a Russia ride on park maps.

Greece was added to the park in 2000 with a water roller coaster named "Poseidon". This ride alternates free-floating boat sections with coaster track and has two separate lifthills. The "Pegasus" family coaster, the "Atlantis Adventure" shooter ride/game and the "Cassandra's Curse" madhouse are also located here, as well as the show building for the park's ice skating show.

Portugal, while large in area, only has one ride: 2005's "Atlantica Supersplash", a different kind of water roller coaster with less coaster track than Poseidon that includes two turntables and a backward section before a very wet splashdown. High diving shows are often performed in a basin located in the middle of Atlantica's track.

In winter, Atlantica is one of the two water rides that close down (Fjord Rafting does as well). To prevent the country from "disappearing" in that time, a large traveling Ferris wheel is brought in during that time and set up over Atlantica's return canal.

Iceland, built in 2009, marks one of Europa Park's biggest and most ambitions expansion projects. It started with "Blue Fire", a launched coaster with four inversions (a huge vertical loop, two corkscrews in opposing directions and a slow heartline roll with extensive hangtime just before the end.

In 2012, "Wodan Timburcoaster", a very fast and winding classical wooden coaster with tight turns and intense bunny hops was added. Wodan's track layout intersects with that of both Atlantica and Blue Fire.

Beyond the two thrill rides, Iceland also features "Whale Tours", originally a splash battle where visitors drenched each other, but reworked to an interactive attraction where shooting at targets triggers effects and animatronics. In some places, it is still possible to successfully take aim at other boats, however.

The park monorail also has a stop here.

The original fairy tale forest of the park, an opening day attraction, received a major upgrade in 2013 and one year later, the Minimoy Kingdom, based on Luc Besson's "Arthur" films was added. The latter features three rides: "Arthur", a powered roller coaster / dark ride hybrid with suspended, rotating seats, "Poppy Towers", two mini-freefall towers and a small, bumpy carousel ride.

The fairy tale forest itself includes only one ride - "Wichtelhausen", a tracked ride for small children with curt trolls - and a cinema showing a short (roughly 10 minute) film with a few extra effects.

Luxembourg, dedicated in 2016, is a central plaza of the park which hosts the main show stop of the daily parade as well as some eateries and information boards. Its conical gold and blue signature building contains a monorail stop, an interactive 3D shooter ride "Grand Prix EDventure" themed to the park mascot's first feature film and a unique restaurant that uses roller coaster rails to deliver food and drinks to each table and is notorious for very long waits to get in.

The Ireland area had existed for several years as "World of Children" but was expanded and made into a country in 2016. It has the most rides of any area at seven: "Dancing Dighie" is a rocking boat, "Sheep Rock" a small, tame boat carousel, "Mac Donald's Tractor Fun" a tracked ride through an animatronic farm, "Spinning Dragons", a teacup-like ride, "Baa-a-a Express", a kiddie coaster with a sheep theme, a tower tow ride and a paddle boat ride. Apart from the paddle boats, all of its rides can be enjoyed by grown-ups as well.

Liechtenstein was added as a country in 2023 and is the smallest park area by far, containing only one ride: a gentle spinning balloon ride which had to be moved from its original location in Greece to make room for the Croatia expansion.

Prior to 2024, Europa Park was known to be on the tame side when it came to roller coasters. This changed radically with "Voltron Nevera", a seven-inversion monster of a launch coaster. The ride begins on an effect track that vibrates and jumps up and down before launching almost vertically into the first inversion. At the midpoint of the track, the coaster trains are being rotated on a turntable and experience a backward launch into a spire before being shot forward into the second section. The coaster includes two long zero-g moments, one in inverted position and one in 90° horizontal position. A conveyor belt station allows for a 16-rider train to run every 36 seconds.

The only attraction in Croatia is the "Dome of Dreams", a 360° cinema to be enjoyed while lying down on large pillows, showing an 8-minute film of Croatian landscapes with a little bit of story.

During the 2025 season, it was announced that, from 2026 on, the Formula 1 themed "Silver Star" hypercoaster (previously assigned to France) would get its own country section, aptly named after Monaco, home to the famous Monte Carlo Formula 1 race. Part of the transformation was already done in 2025, however, with Silver Star's waiting hall receiving a Monaco exhibit in addition to a temporary "50 years of Europa Park" display.

Silver Star is the highest (73 meters) and fastest (130 kph) coaster in the park. Most of its track is located outside the actual park area, bisecting the main parking. Visitors pass under the coaster both when driving into the parking lot and when walking to the main entrance.