Tour Europe in 50 Rides (Leg 1) Quiz

Answer: Fairy Tale Forest

In the early years of the park, the panoramic train was simply a circle tour without any places to hop on or off except for the main station. In the 1980s, a station in the Fairy Tale Forest was added, but as the park developed further, it was abandoned in favor of the current England and Spain stations.

The picture was taken during a nighttime ride in the winter season. It looks at the Wichtelhausen (gnome town) ride for small kids. The abandoned station comes shortly after that point; it is decorated with some fairy tale props today.

Tip: This quiz skips the new flying theater ride "Voletarium" because due to obvious copyright restrictions, I couldn't take a photo while on the ride. It's however a must-do ride in the same vein as Disney's "Soaring". Get a time ticket when you enter the park (it gives you a return time when you can ride without any significant wait, like a Fastpass) or, even better, arrive about 20 to 30 minutes before the official park opening time: the ride opens early!

Answer: The pixies are female, the gnomes are male

Most depictions of elves using both the sprites and the gnomes have the slender, dragonfly-winged flying ones as the females while the males are sturdier and far less beautiful gnome-like creatures sometimes even resembling small trolls. Europa-Park's Elf ride is no different here. You can also see the same pattern in the dream flight (Droomvlucht) dark ride located at the Dutch theme park Efteling.

For nature lovers, the first, outdoor, part of the ride still features colorful flower fields maintained all year long, even in the winter season. The croaking frogs located at various places along the ride were already part of the older flower ride.

Tip: I hope you grabbed a park map upon entering. Even if you can navigate the park blindly, you still need to at least look at the cover - it will tell you how busy the park is expected to be. Green is the least busy, yellow is moderate, orange is pretty busy and red is very full. Each of the four color schemes has its own show schedule - shows that run only twice on a "green" day might see three or even four performances on a busier day. Yesterday's schedule might be completely wrong, so be sure you have the correct one with you.

Answer: There is limited steering, but speed is constant

Like its later petrol-driven cousin, this ride has a functional steering wheel along with a guide track - if you do not steer or veer too far from the proper path, the ride will take over with a bump. Completing a full lap without hitting the guide is surprisingly difficult - and sometimes impossible, depending on how badly your ride vehicle is misaligned.

The ride is popular both with small kids (they get to drive a car) and visitors coming back to the park decades after their first visit (it reminds them of those early days).

Tip: Like all of the classic early rides, this one is most fun if taken in the dark during the winter season. The many lights just add a level of beauty you don't get during the day.

Answer: There won't be much of a ride - you need to pull yourself up the tower

I hope the "tow tower" name and the cable in the image gave it away: this isn't a ride for the lazy. If you want any more than to slowly rotate a few centimeters above the ground, you have to do the work. The seats are counterbalanced, so you won't have to be an Olympic class weightlifter to succeed, but going up and down can be a bit of a workout. Enjoy the view over the Irish area from a height of 9 meters (27 feet).

Tip: Ireland features two children's shows; their target audience is mainly preschoolers.

Answer: Sheep

Ireland without sheep, that would be like, I don't know. A theme park without roller coasters, maybe? It would certainly be lacking something. This incredible coaster - with a drop of about five feet - does three laps on the short track. On busy days, it will also help teach your kids to another "real coaster" fact: Coasters have long lines! In spite of the not so spectacular layout, waits can approach 15 to 20 minutes - of also due to coaster enthusiasts and kissing teenagers taking up quite a few of the seats.

If the "Ireland without" beginning of the previous sentence made you think "Guinness", you can be helped too. There's an Irish pub in the area as well where you can have a cold one while your kids are riding with your significant other. Just don't forget to swap after the second, third or fourth ride (depending just how often your little ones want to repeat it).

Tip: If you come with kids, this won't have to be their only coaster for that long. They need to be 90 cm (36") and 3 years for this one; at 100 cm (40") and 4 years, they can already ride the much more spectacular Pegasus and Arthur as well.

Answer: Teacup rides

Spinning Dragons uses the same ride mechanics as a teacup ride - three small platforms rotating in the opposite direction of the main one, resulting in a cloverleaf pattern of motion. Unlike the cups in a teacup ride, the dragon gondolas are fixed on their platforms, so there is no third rotational axis for the rider to control - the experience is the same as the one you get if you avoid spinning the cup on a real teacup.

Tip: If riding as an adult with a small child, seat the child to your right (inside); the centrifugal forces primarily act towards the left.

Answer: The cars whirl around in a figure eight pattern

This often overlooked little ride from 2008 is actually quite fun. Accompanied by the theme music to "Miss Marple", these black taxis spin around and experience near misses while moving in a figure eight shape. As each car can also spin around on its mounting point, the effect can be pretty intense for what seems to be a harmless kiddie ride (and rarely has any lines).

Tip: Put the heavier persons in the rear seats - the ride experience will be more intense.

Answer: Yes

The British Carousel is much older than 1945 as it actually dates from 1900. However, it is not British but homegrown - it was built by the ancestors of the Mack family that own and operate the park. Like most carousels of the period it offers some horses that move up and down while others are stationary; in addition, there are two rocking gondolas with four seats each. To protect it from bad weather, the carousel resides in an open pavilion.

Tip: England also has one show, a musical revue with live singing, playing in the Globe Theater. The current incarnation is heavy on 1950s rock and roll. If you want to see it, arrive a few minutes early as you'll want a ground floor seat - the balconies don't give a great view.

Answer: A large gymnastic ball on the field that can be kicked into two goals

Yes, in this ride you get to play some actual football! Having the ball on the field adds a whole new level to the ride although, depending on the other riders, you sometimes want to ignore it because there is just one big clump of cars around it and no one there gets to do anything while everyone tries to touch the ball at least once in the two minutes.

When the ride first opened in 2006, there was just the ball and riders treated the entrance and exit staircases as goals. The park later added actual goals and if you hit them, there will actually be a "Toor, Toor, Toooooor" ("Goaaaaaaal") yell .

Tip: If you want to go for a goal without using cheating and your hands, you practically can't do without help. Goals only count above a certain height and you can't get the ball far enough off the ground while "dribbling". Your only real chance is to catch a ball coming from the front or side and run into it while it's already bouncing. I have just one goal to my name so far, it came on about my 45th ride. Yes, I do visit the park that often; thanks for asking. :)

Answer: Bugatti

The original Bugatti track was renamed for Silverstone in 1988 when the English themed area formally opened. At the time, it inherited the previously unaffiliated track as well as the carousel, both of which were renamed to fit their new country theme.

The Silverstone track is one of two attractions to actually intertwine with another attraction set in a different country. In this case it's the Lada Autodrom, an electric version of the same ride for small kids, which has its entrance located in the adjacent Russian area. The Silverstone track actually bridges over the Lada track; it has several ramps to make it more interesting.

Tip: If you want to ride this, an early morning dash or a casual late attempt give you the best chances. It's a low capacity ride and lines can grow to 30 minutes. Like for all of the classics, the best experience is a winter season night ride.