Mack Rides

1780s–1950s

Mack Rides traces its roots back to 1780 when Paul Mack, a young entrepreneur, started building carriages and stagecoaches. The Mack Company began building organ wagons and caravans for traveling showmen in 1880 commencing the company's involvement in the amusement industry. The first wooden roller coaster was built in 1921, the first car ride in 1936 and the first wooden bobsled ride in 1951. By 1952 Mack Rides started increasing its exports of rides into the U.S. market.^[2]

1950s–present

Franz Mack

Europa-Park is run by the Mack family. Franz Mack (1921–2010) in 1958 took over the family firm, Mack GmbH & Co (now Mack Rides), together with his brothers. Together with his son Roland (b. 1949) he visited the United States in 1972 and was inspired to open a theme park in Germany, as an exhibition site for his company's products.

At first the park was planned to be located in Breisach. It was named "Europa-Park" after Breisach's nearby Europaweiher, a small artificial lake which commemorates a historical pilot poll in Breisach held in 1950, in which 95.6% of voters were in favour of European unification. The Breisach site was deemed unsuitable because of flooding hazard, and the project was moved some 30 km further north, where the Macks bought the park of the historical Balthasar castle in Rust.

The park opened in 1975 with an area of 16 hectares. It counted 250,000 visitors in the first year, 700,000 in the second, passing the million mark in 1978.