Europa-Park is the largest theme park in Germany and second most popular theme park resort in Europe. Having over 4.2 million visitors in 2009, it is the most popular seasonal theme park in the world and is only behind Disneyland Paris (which opens year-round) in Europe. Europa-Park is located in Rust, in the south-west of Germany between Freiburg and Strasbourg, France. Indeed, Europa-Park is just 3km from the French border. It is usually open from just before Easter until the beginning of November (summer season) and from the end of November to the second week in January (winter season).

The park is split into fifteen different areas, mostly named after European countries or regions. The park mascot is a grey mouse named “Euromaus” although there are over a dozen other characters that “live” at the park.

Europa-Park is run by the Mack family which have produced vehicles since 1780, circus wagons since 1880 and rollercoasters since 1921. The park was opened in 1975 to act as a showcase for many of their different ride models – for example, the Wild Mouse roller coaster. The amusement ride company is now called MACK Rides. This explains why the park has two of their water coaster models (one a Super Splash model) and is home to the one-of-a-kind Euro-Mir (although Mack do now produce an updated, more compact version of their spinning coaster). One of the few rides that goes against this rule is the Silver Star hyper coaster, designed by B&M of Switzerland. This is presumably because Mack doesn’t yet offer a hyper coaster model, although they are now developing taller and faster rollercoasters.

The park is home to ten roller coasters, the oldest being the Alpenexpress Mine Train, where a powered coaster speeds through a diamond mine, – and the newest coaster being Blue Fire which sees the trains navigate a short dark ride inside an Energy Research complex before being launched at 100 km/h (60 mph) through various twists, loops, tunnels and hills. Europa-Park has very high capacity rollercoasters and attractions and the park can accommodate up to approx. 50,000 guests per day.

Along with the park and rides, Europa-Park is also a major resort. It boasts four hotels, a guest house, Tipi Village and campsite. The largest hotel is called Colosseo which includes a re-creation of a Roman colosseum.

Across the park, there are many shows performed on a daily basis, such as an Ice Show in Greece, a Gladiator Arena Show in Spain, an Acrobatics Show in an Italian Theatre and a fully re-created Globe Theatre, based on that of William Shakespeare. In addition, there are several smaller theatres and outdoor stages, street artists and a daily parade. The Magic 4D Cinema also opens during the evening and shows current blockbusters