The European themed resort lineup is amazing and I will always be grateful for the incredible trips I've been able to have to some of these places. I could not rank these for the life of me, so here are '5 of the best' European Theme Parks I've been to!
Alton Towers, Stoke-On-Trent
Easily the UK's best theme park, Alton Towers has been dominating the UK Theme Park scene for the last 40 years. The amount of thrill coasters they managed to build over the late 90's - early 2010's is pretty impressive. Smiler is my personal favourite coaster, but Oblivion, Wicker Man & Nemesis all rank highly for me too.
The park has been slightly lacking in investment since 2019 but with planning permission in for a new indoor attraction, rumours surrounding SW9 and the reopening of both Duel & Nemesis after redevelopment, the park's future is looking bright.
Walibi Belgium, Wavre
A new-for-me park this season, Walibi Belgium was a massive surprise. The park used to be owned by Six Flags and their European repuation isn't the best so to see the positive investment this park has had since it its split from Six Flags. It's sister, Walibi Holland still isn't quite there with the cohesive theming but i'm sure it will get there. The highlights are easily Kondaa, Popcorn Revenge & Challenge of Tutankhamon. Their level of attention to detail throughout the queuelines and main ride segments of these is incredible!
Disneyland Paris, Paris
It took many years for me to finally cave to the horrendous disney prices and visit Disneyland Paris. It was well worth the trip. You could tell this fact this resort gets the obscene amount of money put into it that it does. The dark ride collection is just *chef's kiss* , I mean Tower of Terror, Star Tours and Phantom Manor in one resort 😍! Some rides were bigger let downs than others (I'm looking at you ratatouille 😠) but I think a lot of that is the fact Disney has a huge reputation that it can't always live up to.
The fact this park is almost completely made of IP's does make it feel incredibly different to many others with their own original storylines but I think theming a ride to an already existing universe makes the theming and storytelling aspects much easier, and leaves us with incredible attractions like Tower of Terror, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast and Pirates of the Caribbean.
PortAventura Resort, Salou
Probably my favourite European resort up until this year, PortAventura seems to have the perfect ratio of Coasters : Flat Rides : Dark Rides : Water Rides. Everything there just feels such high quality. Red Force, Shambhala, Street Mission, Hurukan Condor and Silver River Flume are all world-class in their respective categories.
The park is a perfect summer destination with incredible on site hotels and a fabulous waterpark. I could easily spend another week at this resort
Efteling, Kaatsheuvel
I went to Efteling many years ago and it wasn't until summer when I finally returned. I'm so glad I did! The coasters have incredible physical and pre-show storytelling and the dark rides are stunning. The park's theme is so cohesive with the Fairytale themes on coasters and even walkthroughs like the Fairytale forest.
Overall, these parks are amazing! I'm so looking forward to visiting a few new ones this year like Phantasialand & Europa Park. What is your favourite European theme park? Are you visiting any new parks this year? Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you next time!
Cleo x
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