the getAwayZ Podcast
Real travel stories and practical guides for exploring Europe the way people actually travel.
Welcome to the getAwayZ. We’re Erin and Lisa, friends and roommates who moved from the U.S. to Europe in 2017. Since then, we’ve spent years traveling across the continent, mostly by car, figuring out what’s worth your time and what isn’t.
Sometimes that travel includes Erin’s teenage son and Lisa’s dog, Rex. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, we talk honestly about where to stay, what to skip, what to eat and drink, when to go and what you need to plan ahead for.
Whether you’re planning a trip to Europe or thinking about living abroad, the getAwayZ shares realistic, practical advice based on real experience.
the getAwayZ Podcast
Europe’s Best Theme Parks: Thrills, Haunted Rides and Hidden Gems
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In this episode of The Getawayz Podcast, Erin, Lisa, and Dylan dive into their favorite theme parks across Europe. fFom haunted houses and flying rollercoasters to charming fairytale forests and a secret swan ride. Whether you love the adrenaline of FLY at Phantasialand, the storybook magic of Efteling, or the wild vertical drop at Ferrari Land, we've got something for every type of theme park fan. Plus: where to bring your dog, where to stay, what to eat and the one park that made everyone clap at the end.
Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. Hi, Aaron.
SPEAKER_01And I'm Dylan.
SPEAKER_02And this is the Getaways Podcast. I'm so excited to talk about today's topic. Yeah, we brought Dylan in because this is one of his favorite things.
SPEAKER_01Of course, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you want to tell us what it is, Dylan?
SPEAKER_01Uh European theme parks.
SPEAKER_04And what's cool is that we all have very different taste at a theme park, right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Dylan, you're all about what?
SPEAKER_01I like the speed adrenaline and all that stuff, you know?
SPEAKER_03Right. And I like the creepy haunted houses and the ones that the lame stuff. Yeah, I like the slow stuff. I used to like roller coasters and then I had a baby, and then all of a sudden I'm terrified of them.
SPEAKER_04And I'm kind of in the middle because I love a good roller coaster, but I also love like a little kids' rides sometimes.
SPEAKER_03I love little kids' rides. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_04All right. So we've actually been to quite a few. Should we just start by listing them all off?
SPEAKER_03Do you want me to just say them and then you guys can talk about what you loved? Sure. All right. So let's start with Effling here in the Netherlands.
SPEAKER_04Right, which is about an hour outside of Amsterdam. I don't know if there's a train though. Do you have to drive?
SPEAKER_03I think you might have to, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. All right, Dylan. What were your favorites about Eftham?
SPEAKER_01I mean, it was pretty fun. A lot of good stuff there.
SPEAKER_04Like what?
SPEAKER_01The dropper was good, the one that goes straight down, Red Baron.
SPEAKER_04Red Baron, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And what about the um the male one?
SPEAKER_03Symbolica? Symbolica.
SPEAKER_01Oh, symbolica.
SPEAKER_03So you liked the Baron 1898, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was cool. It went straight down, which I liked, but it was also quite short. It was short.
SPEAKER_03And that one at the inn that we did at the inn, the haunted wood, was called Dance Macrob.
SPEAKER_01That was really fun, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that was brand new.
SPEAKER_04That was brand new. And that one had a longer line than anywhere else, but we it was not crowded either time that we've been there.
SPEAKER_03But it was cool. Yeah. Because you sit in like seats, and so you think that you're just seeing like a a visual show that has some 4D stuff, but it is it is way more than that.
SPEAKER_04It's really fun. And they do the music really nicely, and you're you're yeah, it's that's highly recommend.
SPEAKER_03And we we like the food there. It's it's really inexpensive and it's they've got a nice selection.
SPEAKER_04It's really tasty.
SPEAKER_03But my favorite part is the storybook aspects to it, like the nursery rhyme. And that like uh part that part in the middle where you walk through the fairy tales. That's that's my favorite part of the part. No, I love that. So Dylan, what's your what do you like in there?
SPEAKER_01I mean, there's a lot of good stuff in there. I really like this uh the trash cans they have at the end. This big fat kid that sucks up all the trash and like tells you, that was delicious. But what was your favorite part?
SPEAKER_03I like where you put the coin in and the donkey poops out a gold nugget, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, it's a golden coin.
SPEAKER_03The golden coin.
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of weird stuff at this park, but it's all like just sort of charming and storybook. And I mean, in the fairy tales, what's so funny about them is most of them are so dark. Yeah. But it's still, and they have like these little places where you read what the actual nursery rhyme is or fairy tale is, and then there's the display, but and it's all in this little forest in the middle of the theme park. Like it's really Dutch, but really, really cool.
SPEAKER_03But I think they're all Grimm's fair. Like it's Rapunzel, it's Brumpel Stilt skin, little red riding. It's all ones people know.
SPEAKER_01It's the origins of them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And and in America, we didn't always learn the like really dark.
SPEAKER_01One thing I remember I really liked was the uh secret ride that like I didn't even know about at the very back of it.
SPEAKER_03The swan?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. At the very, very back, you have to go from like some sketchy door, not even open to the public, and then you get to this tiny little ride where it's one small loop where you sit on a swan, and that's it.
SPEAKER_03And we were the only ones there that knew about it. Which we just happened to find.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. It's definitely a cool, interesting. And the the legend is that that's where Disney, Walt Disney got his inspiration. Don't know if that's true or not.
SPEAKER_03Well, the Dutch legend, because then the Denmark legend is is Tivoli and Copenhagen.
SPEAKER_04So it's So, but you can see where their inspiration could come from there because it's very fairy tale theme, very storybooky.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree with that.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so let's move on to Garda Land in Italy.
SPEAKER_04Which is Italy's biggest amusement park, right? Right near Lake Garda in kind of the north of Italy.
SPEAKER_03And it has a lot more roller coasters than Eftling.
SPEAKER_04Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_03But it's still a good mix of family and roller coaster.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. And they have playgrounds too for little, little kids and I mean sort of all ages too, right?
SPEAKER_03And and what I can say about Garda Land, it is in Italy, so the food is so good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, food's really good. It's a little more pricey than something like Eftling, for sure. But I really like it. It's fun. I don't know if I prefer it more than Efteling, though.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't know. It's also been a while since we've been to Garda Land, but I I mean I love Efteling.
SPEAKER_03What was that ride you loved and you got the sweatshirt from it?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I don't really remember a lot of rides. It's just been a while.
SPEAKER_04It was the one it was kind of up on the hill. Was it the Raptor roller coaster?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, definitely the Raptor.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They have a pigland, which is uh good for the little ones, you know?
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, and we did it when you were not so little, because it's super cute. And we like that pancake area. Remember, you would like serve breakfast?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04That was it was a lot of cute stuff there. Um, and when we say that it's a little bit more do you say it was more expensive than a little bit, not that much though. But in general, with the exception of Euro Disney, all of the parks are nowhere near Disneyland prices. They are all admission is not never but that was also a few years ago. No a person.
SPEAKER_03I think, including Paris Disney, is it was fifty-four a person when we went.
SPEAKER_04Well, and but it's just definitely not as expensive here, right? I mean definitely not a family of four could go for a substantially less. I mean, it's affordable here for a special occasion.
SPEAKER_03And the food is reasonable. I loved going to Gardenland because they also have the safari like separate from it, but they've got the safari park.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, that whole area is like perfect for a family vacation.
SPEAKER_03And now you're on the lake, so yeah, it's perfect.
SPEAKER_04Okay, the next one, which I think this might be Lisa's favorite, is Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, which we talked a little bit about on our Copenhagen Denmark episode, but um, but we can dive in a little deeper now.
SPEAKER_01I love Tivoli. I haven't been there in a while, though, have we?
SPEAKER_04It's been like a year or two.
SPEAKER_01Did we do that big spinning ride?
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_01We did?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the one that yeah, we went on it a few times. Right by the front.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that was good.
SPEAKER_04But Tivoli is the oldest theme park in the world, and it is so cool, and they celebrate holidays with the best decorations, and it's just a it's a smaller park and a little bit more sort of classic, and you know, like the gardens are all beautiful, there's music all the time, there's the holidays are celebrated in a big way. Um, the rides are a little bit smaller, right?
SPEAKER_03A little bit. Yeah, the roller coaster is not like a big theme theme park, big roller coaster, but it's good. And the one you guys like was called Tic Tac. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, I remember that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's definitely more of like um a theme park than like a roller coaster park, I would say. Because it's it really heavily leaves into its themes and it's like enjoyment factor. They still have some good rides, but I wouldn't say like if you're like an adrenaline junkie, that's why you should go there. Yeah, exactly. I just prefer the experience and like going to all these little shops and like all the little culture and eating all the food. But um, you know, it's uh not like anything that blows your skirt away with uh roller coasters.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's the the thrill rides are are definitely not on par with some of the places we'll talk about in a minute.
SPEAKER_01Especially the next one.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, I mean it's it's definitely worth it. It's it's almost like a if you guys know Southern California, it's almost like a smaller knots berry farm in a certain way because it feels very like family-owned and like a little bit smaller rides, a little bit more conceptually themed instead of thrill.
SPEAKER_03I agree.
SPEAKER_01I agree as well.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So now we're gonna move on to one that's gonna be at least you're gonna be able to envision what it is. We're gonna move on to Disneyland Paris, which we went for my birthday one year.
SPEAKER_04Which happened to be Halloween. So we went to a special event because they had a Halloween party, and so it was really cool because you could go in after a certain time, and then they only sold a certain number of tickets. So the lines were not bad at all. And um, and it was a little Halloween party.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was really cool. We got uh front row seats of Space Mountain, which is really nice.
SPEAKER_04The best, yeah. Um, but they do have a lot of similar rides to the California Disneyland. I don't know if the same is true as Orlando, Dylan. Is that true?
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean, yeah, they share some similarities, but there's also some really unique ones. I wouldn't say there's more comparison, because of course this Orlando has a lot more, but there's still some really good ones there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's much smaller than Orlando, but and uh and California and California. But it was fun. You guys really loved we all loved the roller coaster, the Aerosmith roller coaster.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I will say it's gone. It is? Yes, they've replaced it with uh Avengers Assemble. So it's probably the exact same roller coaster, but instead of being Aerosmith music and like the lights, it's gonna be more Avenger style.
SPEAKER_00Wait, they replaced the DARP?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that was my favorite. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03My guess is it's the same roller coaster, though. It's just different theme now. Right, right. So do do the Avengers assemble if you go.
SPEAKER_04But you get all the like, you know, you get all the fun of Disneyland there at Euro Disney. Um, it's just a little smaller. And um, and yeah, probably the it's about an hour outside of Paris too, right? Yeah. So um, so yeah, you just kind of want to plan, maybe stay out there if you're gonna do that so that you don't have to go back and forth. But um, but definitely worth a visit.
SPEAKER_03Oh, definitely. I would I'd go back because just because it is only$50 a person and it's easy. Okay, the next one, I think this is probably by far Dylan's favorite amusement park we've been to so far in Europe is Fantasialand in Germany. Dylan, you want to talk about this?
SPEAKER_01I mean, if you want fast rides, this is where you go. They I think they have a little bit of everything. I think this might be the perfect theme park, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03It is a great theme park. And the best, well, not the best part, but the best part I think probably for Lisa is the dogs are allowed to go.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So oh yeah, it's nice. Yeah, Rex was sitting out waiting for us at every at every ride.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's perfect because since I don't ride roller coasters anymore, I got to stay with him. And since Lisa doesn't like like the fun housey type rides or scary so much, she got to be with him during those. And the food there was so good. Yeah. Curry worst.
SPEAKER_04We had curry worst, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It was good.
SPEAKER_03So, Dylan, tell us what you love about uh Fantasialand.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna start off by talking about like the different themed areas, which I think is really cool. Every area has a completely different theme, it's really cool, it's really unique. I like the way they do it, but um going into it, I think the rides have the craziest variety, some of the best variety too. I mean, there's these insanely fast rides like Tarot, this double accelerator ride, I think it's the fastest in the world for double accelerators. It's crazy. It stops in the middle and then it goes like two times as fast. It's great. And the lines for them aren't bad.
SPEAKER_03And we were there in September because we went for Dylan's birthday, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I don't think it's ever gonna be that busy. Maybe certain times, but like when we went, it wasn't that bad. Um, again, on adrenaline rides, they have stuff like fly, which you fly like forward with your like stomach hanging towards the floor. It's really cool. Lisa really likes that.
SPEAKER_04I love that ride. That's my favorite because it legitimately feels like you're flying because you're going right over like people walking beneath you in the in the park. It's so cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And um, what else is there? Oh, yeah, there's a lot of different variety, which I think is cool.
SPEAKER_03They had good fun houses there.
SPEAKER_01They had some really good fun houses, like proper carnival feeling ones.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And also they had this like weird VR ride.
SPEAKER_03Oh, they did have a VR ride.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which was cool because it wasn't that fast-paced, but it was also like a very cool experience because it was the first time I've ever rode something like that. Yeah. Because it's not like you sit in a room with VR and it just simulates it. It's like actually riding a roller coaster while having a VR headset on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was weird and fun. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They had a bunch of good stuff there. Did we see any of the shows?
SPEAKER_03We did not.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but there's also a bunch of shows, a lot of good stuff for kids as well. There's just this whole obstacle course area.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was cool. I like that.
SPEAKER_01Was it above water?
SPEAKER_03It was above water.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so maybe don't do that in winter, but in summer, yeah. It's great.
SPEAKER_03Uh, what I like about the amusement park is they have several themed hotels right like as part of the park. Like one's a big steampunk hotel. Steampunk. And we went to the af was it the African-themed hotel we went to and had our meal.
SPEAKER_01I thought it was the Chinese one.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm not sure what the actual theme of the restaurant was, but the or the hotel, but the restaurant had a table of every country's kind of food.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was like it was like five different countries' foods with uh like a buffet kind of thing. It was so it was cool. It was good. Dylan's birthday, it was good. It was a little on the pricey side the dinner. See, but it was all you can eat, and there was a lot to choose from.
SPEAKER_04So, and the buffet was like quality food, like it felt like it wasn't just filler food, like there was actual real quality. Like they had sushi in the Japanese section that had real fish, and you know, there was quite a bit of variety and all interesting and kind of fun to like pretend to jump from country to country as you're progressing in your meal. Yeah, it was fun.
SPEAKER_01Anyways, I cannot recommend this park enough. If you want to go to any theme park in Europe, you gotta go here.
SPEAKER_04And there are a few. We actually stayed in an Airbnb nearby. Um, so if you can't get into the hotel, there is one that allows dogs, that allows dogs, I should say. But um, but if you can't stay on the actual property, there are options outside Airbnb's and other hotels that are close by.
SPEAKER_03And it's about a 30-minute drive from Cologne. So there's plenty of places to stay in Cologne. And if you're there for uh Christmas markets, I'm sure that the park is decorated amazing at Christmas time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So the last amusement park that we've been to in Europe so far is Port Aventura in Spain. Woo-oh. Which again, we went for Dylan's birthday.
SPEAKER_04And it's close to Barcelona. We flew into Barcelona and then drove, what was it like half an hour, 45 minutes to the park? Yes. And we stayed in a hotel on the property. Correct. Which I don't know that I would recommend.
SPEAKER_03If you're if you if you're family with young children, maybe, because they have great activities for them. Dylan was a little older.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And the hotel, yeah, I would I would have stayed somewhere else, I think.
SPEAKER_04The room wasn't fantastic, but it certainly served its purpose, and to be able to walk to the parks was nice.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was a little dirty. Yeah. Okay, but Dylan, you want to talk about the rides because they have some good rides there too.
SPEAKER_01Do have some good rides. I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of rides, but the rides they did have was really good. I would say there was only like around like five main rides you should look out for. Roller coasters. Roller coasters, I mean. I mean, if you're gonna go here, you've gotta go to Shembaya. It's this humongous roller coaster that goes straight up and straight down a lot of times. It's like this big track, it's crazy, and it's really fast and thrilling. I love that one.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that was a good one.
SPEAKER_03They have great water rides there.
SPEAKER_04Well, then there's a water park connected too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then there, and then right across from there is Ferrari Land, which has Dylan's favorite ride, which do you wanna Yeah, it's gotta be the Red Force, you know, the one that goes straight up, straight down.
SPEAKER_01Sounds a little boring, but it's fast.
SPEAKER_04It is not boring. I will say that. There is no way.
SPEAKER_01Um, fastest in Europe, I think.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Not the world. The world goes to Ferrari Land in Dubai.
SPEAKER_03Correct.
SPEAKER_01But Fastest in Europe is still a pretty big achievement.
SPEAKER_03Shocking. I did not ride this one.
SPEAKER_01And it's the first time I've ever been a roller coaster and people are clapping at the end.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, that was literally the greatest thing is that we got to the bottom and we were all kind of like, oh my gosh, and like great, and everyone just started cheering and clapping like we had made some like miraculous accomplishment.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I was on the ground and it looks really scary, so I can't even imagine.
SPEAKER_01Because then you also at the very top, you hang for a few seconds. So you look in like down this humongous view, and like you could see the parking lot, you could see the whole area around it, and you're like, wow, and straight down.
SPEAKER_04And you are incredibly high. Yeah, it's high. High. Yeah. No, I mean, I I really liked that park. That was the first one we went to, right? Wasn't that the first park we went to in Europe?
SPEAKER_03Oh, it was, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I thought we went to Garda Lynn first.
SPEAKER_03No, I think it was, I think it was here because were we in Florence when we went to the first one we've been to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So it was a really, I mean, it's a really good park. And like I said, with the Ferrari land, with the water park, there's, you know, you could easily spend two or three days there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree. They have they have the Ferrari simulators too in Ferrari Land. Yeah, it's good. And it's also since it is close to Barcelona and in Spain, it's close to beaches. It's like it's a great, it's a great destination. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so those are all the ones we've been to. Are there any that we want to still try to see?
SPEAKER_04Europa Park, right?
SPEAKER_03We've been trying to go there for years.
SPEAKER_04Years and years.
SPEAKER_03Maybe this summer though.
SPEAKER_04Why haven't we been able to?
SPEAKER_03Well, we were gonna go last summer, but we had a bad experience at the hotel, so we just ditched it and went to Switzerland. And then a lot of times it's sold out or really it the only other times we're near it is around Christmas time and it's always sold out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But we are driving down to southern Italy. He won't be with us, so we'll have to maybe come on the way home.
SPEAKER_03Driving back, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Isn't it quite expensive, your oak park?
SPEAKER_03Isn't it about the same? Probably maybe$50,$50 or$60 a person.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But it's huge. And they've got a huge, huge water park because our friends in Torino used to go quite a bit. And so they'd go in the winter, and that water park is indoors and it's huge.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we have to hit there at some point soon.
SPEAKER_03There's one in Sweden that people talk about called Leisburg. Um, if we ever get to Sweden, we should go there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's definitely on the to-do list to get to Sweden soon.
SPEAKER_03And then I've heard about Wallaby in Belgium. Have you guys heard about Wallaby in the never heard of it? Never. Well, I know it because they're supposed to have like an incredibly good, like almost um Halloween horror nights at Universal there. They're supposed to be really good with Halloween. Um, and they have a lot of roller coasters. Nice. And then there's one other one that I want to try to get to for Dylan called Um Alton Towers in the UK.
SPEAKER_01I've heard of that one for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's supposed to be haunted.
SPEAKER_04Maybe Rex and I will stay home for that one. That's the one with that one ride crashed, right?
SPEAKER_03Oh. That's cheery. Maybe I should take it off our list. Well, at least and I did go to one other amusement park.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that one that was closed?
SPEAKER_03In Copenhagen. That was so creepy. Creepy and haunted.
SPEAKER_04Which one?
SPEAKER_03When we went to the deer park, you came out and you went through this. I don't even think it was an abandoned. I just think No, it was open at night. Yeah, just creepy as could be. Weird. They like clowns at this point. Yeah. Okay. Well, so that's that is our recap of European theme parks. I think you won't be disappointed if you go to any of them. And you also won't be poor. You definitely won't be poor, and you'll pretty much be well fed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So, all right, cool. Well, let us know if you have any places that you want to hear about. But don't forget to like, subscribe, and give us a review.
SPEAKER_03And check out our website, www.thegetawayswithaZ.com. And we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.