Sunday bus services: eurgh. The day started far too early, catching a train from Vienna to Eisenstadt. It turned out the only way to get to the park for opening would be to get a bus to the park at 9am, with rides opening at 10am. Dumped my bags in a locker at the main station (€2 - good value for station lockers), hopped aboard and enjoyed a scenic and relaxed journey in a mostly empty train.

The Neusiedlersee area is an understated kind of pretty

After realising we were on the same bus, I met up with Tilen, and we wandered around the park for the hour before the rides opened.

Super whimsical joy

There’s something very pleasing about how round this tree is

Continuing the theme of fiberglass pigs from Prater, this one dispenses ice cream

Casual Copyright Infringement is usually an indicator of poor quality, but this is an exception

We grabbed a quick ride on the slides, because they were there

Soon enough, the others turned up and we spent the day slowly sauntering around the park. A great asset that the park has in its favour is how interactive and explorable it is. For example, it’s got some of those mechanical water toy areas.

Nearby is a dragon cave, where you can experience being sneezed on by a mythical creature So this is where Pete’s Dragon ended up after Disney

Kanonen to Familypark: you heard it here first!

Some people did the kiddie log flume. And when I say some people, I mean I did the kiddie log flume

I say the non-riders missed out on a well themed masterpiece

Familypark has two creds. Götterblitz is your standard family sit-down, but it’s a high quality family sit-down, with some good scenery, and a comfortable ride.

More interactive stuff that us goons love: Bloody enthusiasts stealing the kids’ play areas

My kind of selfie

Owain realises he’s slightly too tall to relax on this hammock

Familypark understands the reality of babies (changing area sign)

The left back of the park contains the uniquely well themed flats (and a faux-Dippin Dots stall that was popular amongst the goons). For example, here’s a Sky Fly themed to a da Vinci flying machine.

I’m really getting the hang of spinning these, which is bad for nausea

And here’s a controlled tower ride, themed to a Maypole.

Bushes in queues make everything better

The group worked its way back over to the other side of the park for the other cred. I sat out the slides, since they’d been done.

Funny how the race order matches up with the order of how relaxed each person is

The slide also has goats. You can spend money to buy goat food

Unfortunately, to buy food token, you must make it past the guard wasp

The second cred, Rattenmühle (Rat Mill), is a Gerstlauer Bobsled.

This artwork is fab!

It’s not my favourite of the bobsleds, but it’s smooth and bouncy. Perfect for a family park like Familypark.

Some people went round for a reride, but not before somebody found a tunnel to crawl through by the exit. It’s the little things that make this park.

Tilen looks like that kid embarrassed by his dorky parents

And, apart from a few animals, that’s most of the park. It’s got a sizeable range of kiddie rides, which of course, none of us had any part in riding.

He’s not with us

I do not know who this is

In true European tradition, Familypark also has a fairytale forest. Unfortunately, I’ve been to Efteling, and every other place I’ve visited looks cheap and nasty in comparison.

I could research European fairytales to find out what’s going on here, or leave it with no context

I honestly don’t know what’s gone on here. Nor would I like to find out

Oh god, he’s looking at me, act natural

Just one other sizeable ride on the way out: a leaning mini drop tower. Pleasantly airtime filled.

And that’s Familypark. Quick stop off at the Butterfly on the way out…

Whoosh (I don’t count these)

We made an early exit around 3pm, not having any reason to stick around. I needed to make my way over to a midpoint stopover at Linz, about halway between Vienna and Munich.

A strange observation in Linz: most places were shut, because Sundays and Austria. However, I did find two places where you could buy ice cream at 8pm in April. Not sure how much there was here. I was just here for a bed.

Main shopping street

…R

Back to regularly scheduled solo traveling next: staying in Munich for two nights and ticking off some local parks.