Last Sunday we took the girls to Europa Park. Its a huge amusement park in Germany about 2 hours drive from Zurich. Really big (i think bigger than Euro Disney) and very nice. Its divided into sections each based on a different European country. Each section is done up with the theme of that country, the rides are based on popular things from that country and the cuisine is from that country. For eg in the England section, the rides were names Crazy taxis, Big Ben and football cars and there were a couple of pubs where you could have your lunch.
We reached there at 10 in the morning (after waking up at 6:45, getting the girls ready and us out of the house by 7:45 am) and there was already a huge crowd there. After looking at the map we quickly realised there was no way we could cover the whole place in one day so we just decided to do however much we could. We went on some kiddie rides in Italy and France (that sounds so funny doesn't it!) and then i was captivated by the Silver Bullet (11 years plus). I had to ride it. It was a huge roller coaster, which takes you many metres high up and drops you, and your stomach, down suddenly. Its fast, thrilling and lots of fun. Only the hubby has no stomach for huge rollercoaster and anyway someone had to be with the girls, so i queued up alone and the hubby said he would take the girls to the mini rollercoaster in Greece. The ride was amazing, and when i was done I asked the hubby where he was and he said he was taking the girls for their second run of Pegasus, the mini roller coaster in Greece.
When i reached there i realised it was for 4 years plus and A was only 3 and a 1/2. She met the height criteria and the hubby just coolly said she was 4. And after the ride started he had second thoughs (too late!!) because it was super fast and quite scary. He got a little grief (just a bit, because i wouldv'e done the same since she met the height criteria) from me about A being put in a risky situation,and I really thank God, nothing happened to her, but we shamelessly proceeded to go on the roller coaster again with the girls- them in front and us behind. We have a lovely picture at the scariest moment- A looks terrified, S's cap covers her face but she's gripping the front rod and back seat tightly and the hubby and I look weird! When we asked A she said she loved the ride and when we went a third time with S friend in the evening she was so excited.
After Greece, we went to England where there were many kiddie (3 or 4+) rides for the girls and they suddenly got very hungry so we ended up eating at the worst place possible there. They had fish nuggets and we had burgers but they were too oily, and when we met up with our friends later they told us about he lovely tapas lunch they had in Spain. And we later stumbled upon lovely Greek restaurants. Never mind!
After lunch we went to the Children's play area where the girls freaked out on huge slides, and even managed to do some boating on their own. I was a bit worried about sending A out on a boat on her own, but she did fine! Next was the Enchanted Forest which had many cottages set up on the Grimms fairy tales. We visited Sleeping Beauty's castle, Red Riding Hood's grandmother's cottage, rung the bell for Rapunzel to let her hair down and even took part in an adventure to find a missing magic book. Lots of fun.
In Spain we went on the flying chairs, ashamed to admit I ended up getting RGed by the crowd (I thought they would follow rules but the singles line kids ran into the double chairs) and S had to sit on a single chair behind me instead of us sitting safely in a double chair. My heart was in my mouth throughout the ride, but it was ok. S had a safety chain and I told her to hold the rails safely. A was safe with the hubby on a double seat-he had no problems running in front of the others!
We met up with S best friend M from school's family after that and redid the Pegasus roller coaster ride. Its amazing how S and A changed after meeting M. Just before they had both been fighting to sit on the stroller, after they met M, S wanted to walk holding M's hand and A wanted to walk holding S hand! Again fighting over that too. As for their mum and dad, forgotten in the excitement of meeting their friend!
We finished the Pegasus ride again, and by this time it was very warm. It was a hot sunny day, we'd been out in the sun since 10 am and by around 4 pm we were quite exhausted. We did a couple more kiddie rides (bumper cars, flying cars etc etc)- mainly it was the hubby with S and her friend M with her had since A had gone off to sleep in the stroller and I was chatting the M's mom. The highlight for them after the Pegasus boat was the rocking ship. They also wanted to go on the Rapids ride but that had a 1/2 hour wait so we decided to skip it and take them to the indoor play area in Portugal.
Around 7 pm we decided to call it quits for the day. We picked up pizza from Italy (i just love the way that sounds!) and it was 9:30 pm by the time we got back home. S slept throughout in the car and also back home.
A fun day out. Maybe next time we stay overnight at the hotel there because the park is too big to cover in one day and I missed out on some of the exciting roller coasters!
We reached there at 10 in the morning (after waking up at 6:45, getting the girls ready and us out of the house by 7:45 am) and there was already a huge crowd there. After looking at the map we quickly realised there was no way we could cover the whole place in one day so we just decided to do however much we could. We went on some kiddie rides in Italy and France (that sounds so funny doesn't it!) and then i was captivated by the Silver Bullet (11 years plus). I had to ride it. It was a huge roller coaster, which takes you many metres high up and drops you, and your stomach, down suddenly. Its fast, thrilling and lots of fun. Only the hubby has no stomach for huge rollercoaster and anyway someone had to be with the girls, so i queued up alone and the hubby said he would take the girls to the mini rollercoaster in Greece. The ride was amazing, and when i was done I asked the hubby where he was and he said he was taking the girls for their second run of Pegasus, the mini roller coaster in Greece.
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| View of Silver Bullet from the waiting line! |
When i reached there i realised it was for 4 years plus and A was only 3 and a 1/2. She met the height criteria and the hubby just coolly said she was 4. And after the ride started he had second thoughs (too late!!) because it was super fast and quite scary. He got a little grief (just a bit, because i wouldv'e done the same since she met the height criteria) from me about A being put in a risky situation,and I really thank God, nothing happened to her, but we shamelessly proceeded to go on the roller coaster again with the girls- them in front and us behind. We have a lovely picture at the scariest moment- A looks terrified, S's cap covers her face but she's gripping the front rod and back seat tightly and the hubby and I look weird! When we asked A she said she loved the ride and when we went a third time with S friend in the evening she was so excited.
After Greece, we went to England where there were many kiddie (3 or 4+) rides for the girls and they suddenly got very hungry so we ended up eating at the worst place possible there. They had fish nuggets and we had burgers but they were too oily, and when we met up with our friends later they told us about he lovely tapas lunch they had in Spain. And we later stumbled upon lovely Greek restaurants. Never mind!
After lunch we went to the Children's play area where the girls freaked out on huge slides, and even managed to do some boating on their own. I was a bit worried about sending A out on a boat on her own, but she did fine! Next was the Enchanted Forest which had many cottages set up on the Grimms fairy tales. We visited Sleeping Beauty's castle, Red Riding Hood's grandmother's cottage, rung the bell for Rapunzel to let her hair down and even took part in an adventure to find a missing magic book. Lots of fun.
In Spain we went on the flying chairs, ashamed to admit I ended up getting RGed by the crowd (I thought they would follow rules but the singles line kids ran into the double chairs) and S had to sit on a single chair behind me instead of us sitting safely in a double chair. My heart was in my mouth throughout the ride, but it was ok. S had a safety chain and I told her to hold the rails safely. A was safe with the hubby on a double seat-he had no problems running in front of the others!
We met up with S best friend M from school's family after that and redid the Pegasus roller coaster ride. Its amazing how S and A changed after meeting M. Just before they had both been fighting to sit on the stroller, after they met M, S wanted to walk holding M's hand and A wanted to walk holding S hand! Again fighting over that too. As for their mum and dad, forgotten in the excitement of meeting their friend!
We finished the Pegasus ride again, and by this time it was very warm. It was a hot sunny day, we'd been out in the sun since 10 am and by around 4 pm we were quite exhausted. We did a couple more kiddie rides (bumper cars, flying cars etc etc)- mainly it was the hubby with S and her friend M with her had since A had gone off to sleep in the stroller and I was chatting the M's mom. The highlight for them after the Pegasus boat was the rocking ship. They also wanted to go on the Rapids ride but that had a 1/2 hour wait so we decided to skip it and take them to the indoor play area in Portugal.
Around 7 pm we decided to call it quits for the day. We picked up pizza from Italy (i just love the way that sounds!) and it was 9:30 pm by the time we got back home. S slept throughout in the car and also back home.
A fun day out. Maybe next time we stay overnight at the hotel there because the park is too big to cover in one day and I missed out on some of the exciting roller coasters!
1 comment:
It all sounds so exciting!
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