Nicole and I love a good weekend trip, but recently, we haven’t been able to go on too many because of a lot of stress and life happening. A while ago, we saw on social media that Europa Park hosts a special event during Halloween called Traumatica. Since Nicole is a huge fan of scary, spooky things and costumes, we thought this festival of fear was the perfect excuse for a much-needed weekend getaway. We bought our tickets, and with our newly purchased car, we felt ready for a spontaneous road trip.
However, things immediately went wrong.
The Mechanical Meltdown and the Electric Car Hustle
Just two days before our planned trip, our freshly bought car. The one we bought just two weeks ago. Flashed a terrifying message on the dashboard: “Stop! Motor can be destroyed.”
On Friday, we rushed to a garage that was able to read the error message. They delivered the bad news: it was not a minor issue. The timing chain is partially broken or at least in a very bad state. We knew instantly that driving our own car for a two-hour trip was out of the question. We had exactly four hours left before we had to leave.
In the past weeks, when we didn’t have a car, we had occasionally rented an electric car from Swiss E-Car. The process had always been pretty smooth: reserve on the app, go to the car, open it, drive. Easy. We checked the app, and thankfully, there was a car available in our region, but it came at a price: renting the car until the next day cost us an additional 90 Swiss francs. We decided to commit.
I rushed to pick up the electric car instantly after work. At first, everything looked fine, but then I noticed the battery was left at only 24%. We couldn’t drive 160 kilometers on 24% battery! I called the support, who couldn’t find a replacement car but promised a partial refund (which, knowing how things work here, I will surely have to follow up on, as in Switzerland nothing goes without you pressuring people until they are doing their job). We packed our things, took the car to a nearby charging station, and waited a full hour until the car was fully charged. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we were able to go to Rust, Germany.
Traumatica Review: Fear, Fun, and Incredible Detail
We arrived at around 7:45 PM, even though the event at Traumatica had started at 7:00 PM. Finally arrived at the entrance at 8:10 PM, we determined to leave the stress behind us and enjoy the shows.
We started by walking around and searching for food, as we hadn’t eaten since lunch. Quickly we found the food stands, but the queue was long. We had to wait about 20 minutes for our burrito.
Then, we were finally ready for the first attraction: the Tarot House. There, we had to wait around 50 minutes to enter, but it was totally worth it. It was creepy, scary, and super well-made with incredible attention to detail. The costumes, the designs, and the decorations were perfect. It was our first attraction, and it stayed my favorite one until the end.
There were many more attractions, like “The Hill,” which was set up like a haunted forest. It wasn’t always scary, but you never knew when something would jump out at you, keeping us constantly on edge.
Another Event was the VR Area . This was my first time trying VR, and starting with a creepy, scary one was probably the best way to get initiated!
Something else that stood out was the costumed actors walking around, trying to scare you from time to time. People who love horror really get to enjoy Traumatica to their fullest.
The main problem was the waiting times. For each attraction, we had to wait between 40 to 60 minutes, which is simply too much when the event only runs until 11:30 PM. While we still enjoyed the festival immensely, we would highly suggest buying the Shorter Pass. With that additional pass, you can skip the waiting lines and see all the attractions without rushing through the night.
The Full Europa Park Weekend Experience
At around midnight, we were back in our hotel, the perfect base for our stay. The “Hotel Am Park” was literally only a two-minute walk from the Europa Park entrance and was the ideal location for our weekend trip.
While eating breakfast, we debated whether it was worth staying at Europa Park itself today, as we had to return the Swiss E-Car by 5:00 PM. Luckily, we were easily able to extend our rental time via the Swiss E-Car app, giving us a little more time to enjoy the park.
This was Nicole’s first time ever in an amusement park like that, and she really enjoyed it. She loved how it was set up with different areas themed after European countries. We aren’t crazy into rollercoasters, but we still did a few. We skipped the intense ones like Bluefire and Silver Star because the queues were too long to enjoy more of the park’s atmosphere.
What I forgot to mention was that it was freezing cold. We definitely should have packed our gloves! We tried to warm up with hot drinks. Nicole even tried an Irish coffee with Whiskey while I stayed with a hot chocolate.
For the first time in a long time, I was able to finally forget all the stress, all the anxiety, and all the depression that surrounds us at the moment. It was a well-deserved and very much needed escape for two days. I can only suggest you do that when you are feeling mentally drowned. This kind of relief is essential.
Have you been to Europa Park? How was your experience there? Which region (country) was your favorite, and which attraction did you like the most? Let us know in the comments!
