Phantasialand, Bruhl near Cologne and Smokey's Digger Camp 3 Nights
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Holiday Park, Hassloch
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Strasbourg, France and Etap Hotel 1 Night
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Europa-Park, Rust near Strasbourg, TipiDorf 2 Nights and Hotel Colosseo 1 Night

I am wondering, if, any members who will be 18+ by August 2007, would be interested in doing a trip over to Germany and/or France, to do some parks?

It's only an idea, but I have organised group trips abroad before, and would be interested to know whether there would be any interest for a 4 or 5 day excursion to a selection of European parks. These may include Holiday Park, Heide Park, Phantasialand, Europa Park plus perhaps the Paris parks too, and Mirabilandia may even be considered - staying in budget accomodation along the way and using budget flights. It can be done for less than £300 (as I found out in June) - and basically people would book their own flights, but the accomodation and connecting travel would be paid for through a central organiser.

On such a trip, you'd possibly be able to sample (if you haven't before) the likes of Expedition Ge Force, Winjas, Black Mamba, Colorado Adventure, Silver Star, Poseidon, Euro Mir, Katun - some of the worlds premier rides! Not forgetting the German's fantastic approach to theming and magic. Obviously which parks we would do would depend on costs, time and ease of transport.

Anyone finds this intriguing, let me know in this thread and i'll see what I can come up with.

I say 18+ because it's international, sorry.[/b]

Bloomin' 'eck Astro I'm just in the middle of trying to organise something for next year. I'm working on around April time at the moment for a friend and I to go to maybe Europa and Port Aventura but French and German parks seems like a good idea as well. I could probably cope with going a bit later if there's someone who actually knows what they're doing organising it (i.e you ) but I'd be up for it.

I would've thought there would be a bit more interest but ho hum never mind.

I'd be up for it definately, and you seem to be the best person to organise it Astro! Have to start saving now probably. Would love to visit some foreign theme parks!

If it can be done for around the £300 mark I would be seriously impressed as well! I've only been concentrating on Europa and Port Aventura and I've been coming up with around £300-£400 with those alone.

Wow, sudden surge of interest!

yes, it can easily be done for under £300. If we went for 6 days, it could be done for less.

For example:

2 nights B&B in Europa Park's Tipi's, with 1 day on park = £50 per person

Flights can be done for as little as £50 both ways (going out one way and coming back another)

Other German parks only cost around £20 to get in, with Paris parks more akin to UK prices.

Train travel is very cost effective IF booked in advance through Rail Europe or the relative country's rail services (DB in Germany, SNCF in France)

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Let me have an investigate and i'll let you know what I can find out.

What parks would people prefer? Personally EP is a must, and i'd love to do Phantasialand as I have never been. After that, i have no idea? Any thoughts? Holiday/Heide or Asterix/DLP or other?

Even a weekend trip to just ONE park could cost from as little as £100 if you get cheap flights.

Possible dates: Easter 2007, July 2007, August 2007.

Well any of the date you've mentioned is fine by me Astro.

Length of stay I'm not too bothered about. Since you knwo what you're doing, whatever you think is the best length to go for.

Park-wise, I think Phantasialand is a must just for Black Mamba alone. Europa is a definite as well. After that, whatever parks you think would be best!

I'd like to do Holiday World and Heide Park. Also Disney Paris as I've never been to a Disney Park. Oh what they hey, do them all

How far in advance do you rekon we would have to book? I dont wanna miss out on this

Well, I booked my stuff for June in January/February time, so we have plenty of time to discuss and work stuff out.

Europa
Phantasia
Heide
Holiday
Disney

And if you are in Paris, may aswell do Asterix?

Thing is, thats 6 parks. There is quite a lot of distance between the parks, so it may become tricky and expensive travelling between them all, not to mention time consuming. I know Europa to Phantasia is only a couple of hours by train, but it's Paris that i'm thinking is a way off

I'll have an investigate and see what sort of prices we are talking for some of the parks I haven't been to, and let you know!

First bit of good news: Like Europa, Phantasia also have a camp resort, which costs 13euro a night. So a trip including at least those two parks could be very cost effective.



Will have a proper search over the weekend and post back.

Well I think Europa, Phantasia land plus Holiday Park should be definites for the trip. I think I agree with Astro that the French parks are going to bump up the cost a fair bit. Since the French parks are a little closer together (I think) perhaps it might be best organising a separate trip further down the line for these and just concentrate on the German ones at first?

I suppose if you've got the time, we could get costings for both options and see where it gets us!

Just checked out the Geography of Holiday Park, as I wasn't sure. And it's good news! Holiday Park is also in the west of Germany, like EP and Phantasialand. Holiday Park looks about 1/2 way between EP and PL. So those three would be definites on any trip.



Looks like both Europa Park and Phantasialand, per night including entry and breakfast would cost approx. £40 staying in the Camp Resort at both parks.

Right i have been having a look around, to gather some prices for different things.

If we were to fly in to Cologne/Bonn and do Phantasialand -- Holiday Park -- Europa Park we could, do the following:

Train from Cologne to Bruhl. takes approx. 30 minutes. About 10 Euro (£7). Phantasialand, Bruhl. 2 nights accomodation, 1 day on park =
approx. 65Euro inc. breakfast (£42). Stay in Indian Camp Village. Phantasialand is open 9am-6pm daily. Rides include Black Mamba, Winjas, Temple of the Night Hawk and Colorado Adventure!

Train from Bruhl to Hassloch, takes approx. 3 hours. Cost approx. 50euro (£35) for train. Hassloch. Overnight accom and entry to Holiday Park from 48 Euro (£34). 2 nights in Hassloch? Rides include Expedition Ge Force!

Train from Hasslock to Ringsheim, takes approx. 2 hours and costs approx. 40 Euro (£28). Europa Park. 2 nights accomodation, 1 day on park = 70Euro inc. breakfast (£45). Stay in Tipi Village. EP is open 9am-6pm daily. Rides include Silver Star, Euro Mir, Poseidon, Atlantica.

Train from Ringsheim to Basel for plane home. takles approx. 1 hour. Approx. 10 Euro (£7)

The trains in Germany seem more expensive than trains in France, but there would be nothing we could do about that. Basically, the total cost for all the above would be, very roughly £200 + flights - flights cost from £40 return. This would include 2 nights in Phantasialand's Indian Resort with 1 day on park and breakfasts, train to Holiday Park. Two nights accomodation near Holiday Park with 1 day on park. Train to Europa Park with 2 nights in Tipi's and 1 day on park with breakfasts and a train to Basel for the plane home.

Adding any one of Heide Park, Asterix or Disneyland would add vast costs. If there were a few of us, there may be a mini group price on the trains which could save some more money.

Thoughts?

Sounds fantastic Astro! I am definately up for a trip like this. Sounds fantastic what you have fond out already. Perhaps finding out how much extra it would be to add a few days on to visit Disney or Heide Park would be great too for those (like me) who wouldnt mind visiting them

Heide Park (Soltau) is approx. 5 hours by train from Koln, as i just checked. The trains cost approx. 60 Euro (£40).

For the Paris parks, you can get from Strasbourg (near Europa) to Paris for 25 Euro (£16), in 4 hours by French trains - notice how much cheaper! Then you have Asterix and DLP in Paris, which cost about £25-£30 to get in, plus Paris accomodation.

Mwuaha, that'll be me, and I'm definately up for it