The team behind the magic of Europa-Park

In 1975, Europa-Park opened its gates for the first time, welcoming 250,000 guests in its first season.

In 2025, the family-run park welcomed more than seven million visitors in a single year for the first time, breaking previous records and reinforcing its position as Germany’s leading theme park and one of the most visited destinations in Europe.

Over those fifty years, Europa-Park has grown far beyond a single theme park, now encompassing the water world Rulantica, the immersive dining experience Eatrenalin and six themed resort hotels.

Throughout this expansion, a commitment to quality and storytelling has remained at the heart of the experience. Behind that consistency is a dedicated team of creatives, craftspeople and designers, charged with turning bold visions into reality.

Europa-Park has recently unified its creative disciplines within a new structure: the show producing and theming department.

Sitting between the Mack family’s vision and the realities of daily operations, this team plays a crucial role in bringing new experiences to life across the resort.

A new structure for a more complex park

The new department is helmed by Ann-Kathrin Mack, managing partner, who brings together a broad range of technical and creative disciplines under one roof, building on the foundations established by director of Mack Solutions Charles Botta.

Together with head of show producing and theming Christof Zimmermann and deputy head of show producing and theming Bunyarit Hoff, who lead key areas within the team, they are shaping a department designed to match the resort's growing complexity as it looks towards its next 50 years.

Four teams have been brought together under the department of show producing and theming: show producing and integration; scenic decoration and visual atmosphere; animatronics, mechanics and effects; and creative build, sculpting and figures.

Those units represent the expertise that Europa-Park has in-house, but until now were acting as independent departments.

The animatronics, mechanics and effects team, led by Jasmin Dietrich, is responsible for around 1,600 figures across the resort, balancing the daily challenges of maintaining existing figures while developing new ones.

Over the past eight years, much of this work has moved in-house, and in 2025, the park debuted the first in a new line of full-character animatronics built by Mack Rides and developed in collaboration with Dietrich’s team.

For the Grand Prix Edventure ride, the Ed Euromaus animatronic was built by Mack Rides, with Dietrich’s team closely involved in its development, resulting in a figure capable of fluid, realistic movements that bring the character to life.

“I’m very excited about these changes and what will be possible in the future because of this,” says Dietrich.

Alongside them sits the creative build, sculpting, and figures team, led by Gerd Dörflinger, which creates new theming elements for the park and keeps existing ones looking fresh throughout the season.

Working closely with the animatronics team, the sculptors ensure that all elements of the park look their best, as well as working with external vendors to ensure that everything meets the resort's standards.

Bringing disciplines together

“We started to help these teams maintain the attractions… not the rides, but the scenery, the theming, the decoration, so it made sense to bring these specialists together,” says Zimmermann, explaining the natural fit of bringing these teams together.

By bringing these different disciplines together, the goal is to make the process of creating new experiences and attractions more efficient, adopting a collaborative approach to the whole design, build, and maintain process.

With the resort’s scale growing every year, it is more important than ever that all aspects of the team are involved from the outset of a project, allowing for faster iteration and an expansion of in-house capabilities.

“We are translators. We translate the design into reality, we translate safety into reality, and we translate the overall concept into reality,” says Hoff, highlighting the role the team plays between creative intent and the practical demands of operating the resort.

From idea to reality

That role of translator begins long before a guest ever steps into a new hotel, restaurant or attraction.

The show producing and theming team are part of the core project group from the very first meetings, working alongside the Mack Family, ride engineers, and operations to test what’s possible within budget, schedule, and material constraints.

“With new projects, we are in the core team from the beginning,” says Zimmermann “If you miss an important meeting early on, you can’t give a real cost estimate, and you can’t say what’s possible or not.

“We want to tell the truth, not something that is a fantasy.”

A recent example of this was during the creation of the new Wild West-themed expansion, Silver Lake City, where the department was involved not only in the expansion's look and feel but also in the everyday realities of operations.

“In the restaurant, we had to talk with the F&B department about how we can clean the floors, which materials to use for the benches, so they can be removed easily. We translate all of that so the final product is what it should be.”

This kind of process has made the show producing and theming team familiar faces across all areas of the resort. “We have to collaborate with almost everyone in the park, because in the end, we are creating the product for the park and those who work here.”

This early collaboration has been the key to success across all experiences guests enjoy at the resort, ensuring that the vision from the outset stays on track and more closely matches the experiences that ultimately open to the public.

Authenticity and research

At Europa-Park, the inspiration for the lands, attractions and hotels is, for the most part, drawn from real-world places, most often locations visitors are familiar with, with European countries making up the majority of the themed areas across the resort.

For the show producing and theming team, this requires a high level of detail and commitment to creating spaces that feel authentic to the real thing.

This process often starts with travel and an almost forensic level of observation and attention to detail.

“We have to travel there. We have to touch it,” says Zimmermann “How does it feel? How does the wood feel? How did they really build these places?”

This hands-on research has shaped projects across the resort. For Silver Lake City, the team travelled to Almería, Spain, a popular filming location for westerns, to study how to bring a similar cinematic style back to their own version of the Old West.

Designing places that feel real

The creation of Voltron demanded a similar approach, with research into the museums and architecture within Croatia.

With the resort attracting many Croatian visitors, the team had to ensure that the land matched the architecture, heritage, and visual language guests would expect, creating a land that feels both rooted in the real place and heightened beyond it.

The challenge, Zimmermann explained, especially in Silver Lake City, is that a theme park must go one step further than a film set. “If it’s perfect for the movies, we have to make it one or two steps better…because here you can get close, you can touch it.”

What reads well on screen or looks good behind museum glass can feel flat in person. The team deepens colours, exaggerates details, and creates layers that can withstand scrutiny at a few centimetres.

At the same time, every creative decision must withstand the realities of a working resort. The weather in the Black Forest is less forgiving than in Almería, and the scenery must endure thousands of hands and maintenance cycles.

“We can’t build it like a movie set. It has to last many years. We have to use special wood, special paint, special materials,” says Zimmermann.

The team experiments with durable materials and construction methods that allow elements to be repaired and maintained without losing their character.

This blend of research and pragmatic design has become a core part of the team's approach to creating new attractions: designing spaces that feel and look authentic not only on opening day, but decades later.

Nostalgia vs. reinvention

Creating entirely new experiences for guests is just one aspect of the work that the show producing and theming team does at Europa-Park. Another, perhaps more sensitive, area lies in refurbishing the spaces guests know and love.

Few creative tensions are as universal as the push and pull between nostalgia and reinvention, and over the past decade, the team has navigated this with attractions like Geisterschloss and Piraten in Batavia.

Show producers Patrick Lauer and Daniel Knigge shared what it takes to update these beloved attractions, and how to balance the old with the new.

One of Lauer’s highlights since joining the team is Piraten in Batavia, a boat ride that was rebuilt at the resort following a fire in 2018. He described the speed of early decision-making as a strength of the resort's family-led model.

Work began on site just days after the incident, while discussions were already underway as to what would come next. The choice made was not to recreate the attraction as it was, but to preserve what guests loved about it while refreshing the narrative and bringing new innovative elements to the experience.

“The family wants to save the spirit of the ride, but wants to implement new stuff, new visuals, new experiences and new curiosities, that’s the main thing,” says Lauer.

Subtle nods to the past

This philosophy is reflected in what the team chooses to carry forward. In Piraten in Batavia, surviving elements from the old ride were incorporated into the updated version.

Knigge highlighted the battle scene on the ride, where guests can see a small boat of survivors made up of animatronics that made it through the fire, now serving as a quiet nod to the attraction's past.

When reimagining Geisterschloss, which reopened at the park in 2024, elements of the old attraction were also preserved, notably the old entrance sign, which has been relocated to be within the ride. Knigge admitted that he’s not sure if any guests have spotted it yet, but that’s almost the point.

These decisions are affectionate ways the team can honour old attractions and reward repeat visitors. “It’s not just about saving money but to create easter eggs for fans.”

These easter eggs go beyond reusing elements of old attractions. They’re also a signature to the creatives, whether it's hiding names within set elements or acting as models for attraction media.

“It's quite fun for us to do as creatives. And for other industry colleagues coming to visit, I bet they like them,” adds Lauer.

For the show producing and theming team, the goal is not to freeze the attractions in time, but to keep them relevant for new generations of visitors.

Preserving elements whilst introducing fresh ideas allows the park to modernise its classic rides without losing the character that made them popular in the first place.

Seasonal transformation & agile creativity

For a resort the size of Europa-Park, operational and creative agility are key to running things smoothly. With the new structure, the team is well poised to take on these challenges. One area where this really shows is in the transformation of the park from Halloween to Winter.

Historically, Europa-Park would close each year between Halloween and the winter season. In 2020, the park introduced HalloWinter, a strategic bridge between seasons that has transformed what was once a quiet gap in the calendar into a popular time to visit.

“People know that we're busy changing the park from Halloween to winter,” says Zimmermann “There are still pumpkins, as the park is being decorated with Christmas trees”.

Much of this transformation is carried out by the park's operational services department, with show producing and theming team supporting with additional props and elements, highlighting the teams' cross-collaborative strength.

When visiting the park during the winter season, guests can experience many of the attractions with seasonal overlays in unexpected places.

Zimmermann shared how a conversation with Roland Mack about the Natural History Museum’s dinosaur receiving a seasonal festive jumper led to a seasonal overlay being added to the dark ride Madame Freudenreich Curiosités:

“They gave their original real T-Rex a sweater and Mr. Mack saw it in the newspaper and said, "I want I want this, too”. And we made it within one week.” says Zimmermann.

This past season, even more dinosaurs within the ride could be seen sporting jumpers. It now also features an indoor snow effect, demonstrating the team's ability to act quickly when implementing ideas that will delight guests.

Designing for all ages

Behind every decision the show producing and theming team make sits a simple question: who is this experience for?

At Europa-Park, the answer is rarely a single audience. As laid out in its philosophy - “Zeit gemeinsam erleben” - the resort has always been built around the idea of families spending time together, and this shapes how new lands and refurbishments are conceived.

Standing in the Croatian Plaza outside Voltron Nevera, you can see how this attitude to design plays out in practice. While the coaster itself is aimed at thrill-seekers, the surrounding area was designed for all ages to enjoy.

Benches overlook the track, cafes surround the plaza, and a Tesla animatronic show provides a moment for those who choose not to ride.

Rather than treating non-riders as an afterthought, the team set out to create an area that works cohesively for all guests, with intense thrills for some and a relaxed atmosphere for others.

That same approach runs through much of the team’s recent work. Hoff described how, even outside the park, hotels and spaces are designed to provide places where the whole family can spend time.

“Even outside of the Park in Silver Lake City, we built the restaurant, but it's not only that the parents can have fun there,” he says.

“We built an accompanying playground so that the parents can have a slow moment together and the children can go play. That shared moment is something that comes across in everything we do”

This multigenerational mindset has been a key part of the resort's success over its 50-year history. With many guests growing up visiting the park, Europa-Park can grow with them and continue to meet their changing demographic needs

Looking ahead

With the new show producing and theming structure now firmly in place, the team is already focused on the next chapter. Work is underway on the Monaco-themed area opening this year, set to transform the area surrounding Silver Star into the newest European-themed land for the park.

Elsewhere, plans are coming together for a brand new roller coaster. Whilst details are firmly under wraps about what this ride might be, the new coaster will replace the current Mack Rides spinning coaster, Euro Mir.

This addition will also see an entire overhaul of the surrounding land.

For the team hard at work creating these experiences, the aim is to ensure that the park’s creative capabilities continue to match its ambition.

By bringing show producing, decoration, animatronics, and creative build under one roof, Europa-Park has given itself the tools to respond faster, think more holistically and keep expertise in-house.

As the resort moves beyond its 50th anniversary, the challenge is an exciting one: to keep evolving whilst staying true to the spirit that guests have loved for generations.

If the work of the show producing and theming team is any indication, Europa-Park is well prepared for the next 50 years.