Last week I embarked on my first European rollercoastour through France and Germany, hitting up Disneyland Paris, Parc Asterix, Phantasialand and Europa Park.
The first park I visited was Disneyland Paris, where it costs a whopping 15 euro to park in a car park lined with a not-so-magical sight of armed guards. Before even arriving at the park, it seemed that this version of Disneyland was awkwardly juxtaposed within it's Paris location. Paris is an opulent city and full of historical culture; and unlike Florida, there is little reference at Paris' airport to the existence of Disneyland and very few signs on the roads of how to get there. Put simply, the plastic-cheese of Disney doesn't sit well among this mature-Brie of a city.
Nevertheless, I had finally managed to find Disneyland, hidden away in the outskirts like a guilty little secret.
Hit up the more-recently developed Studios park first; which features a fun enclosed spinning coaster 'Crush's Coaster', the debatably cred-worthy 'RC Racer' and the well-themed 'Rock n' Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith.'
Rock n' Rollercoaster, despite having an entertaining queue line full of Argos guitars signed by rock stars who would never touch such rubbish in a million years; was the least thrilling launch coaster I have experienced. Loved the use of mixing desks as ride control desks though!
RC Racer looks like a coaster version of a pirate ship, and offers similar sensations of airtime. It looks like a short, average ride when watching from the queue; but on ride it's a great laugh with lots of floater air at the top. Recommended!
Crush's Coaster appeared to be the most popular in the park, with a queue triple the length of the other rides. It starts off gently meandering; then climbs high indoors into a sweet swoopy drop and horseshoe. The momentum then gradually dwindles out in a series of turns before the end. A good family coaster.
Whilst these coasters were enjoyable enough, I have to say that the Disney signature drop-tower ride "Tower of Terror" is better than any of the coasters at this park. (Which is saying a lot for me, as I'm not a huge fan of flat-rides) A fun, unpredictable jaunt in an elevator,well-themed and pretty darn scary when its' doors open at the top!
Watched a 'Stars and Cars' parade, but it mostly went over my head as I've only seen Toy Story and the Lion King.
Then headed over to Magic Kingdom; where everything is just 'not-as-good-as Florida's' apart from the awesome Space Mountain: Mission 2.
Indiana Jones et Le Temple Du Peril is an Intamin which looks and feels exactly the same as the sea-side favourite Pinfari TL-59 coaster. It has some pretty cool themeing, but was a ride experience too dull and familiar for me to get excited about.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had the loudest lift hill I've ever heard; and lacked the surprise little dips and out of control feeling of the Florida version. Star Tours was quite a fun simulator ride in which would benefit from English subtitles, or something to at least aid non-French speaking riders in understanding it's story line better. I ha no clue what was going on, just that we were tumbling around in space and that handsome Han Solo didn't make an appearance to rescue us
Space Mountain: Mission 2 was a walk on, thankfully because it's queue line themeing is a tad dull. The restraints are typical neck-chopper Vekoma OTHRs, but I leaned forward for the ride and this seemed to minimalise the bashing around. I get heart palpitations after strong launches so have had to give up riding Intamin Rockets etc; but the Space Mountain: Mission 2 launch was just right for me - just a cool push off into possibly the smoothest Vekoma I have ever ridden. Great theme inside the dome, loved the music, the inability to see the track, the intensity maintained through-out the ride. A fantastic coaster.
After staying in a depressing but cheap 'Premiere Class' hotel, which had no windows, paper thin walls, a shower that flooded the room and a room door which didn't shut properly; we drove across to Germany to Phantasialand.
Phantasialand I had previously visited when I was 11 in 1999, and a lot has changed since then. Now there are loads more buildings and huge themeing structures in the park, more zones within the park, several new attractions. And one of the best B+M inverts I have EVER ridden - the wonderful, face-melting 'Black Mamba.'
The attention to detail paid on the African-themed Black Mamba is incredible. You don't get to see a lot of the coaster before riding as the track burrows within it's rocky landscape and darts in and out of spiked walls and caves. The station is dark with moody green and blue lighting; then the lights go out as a train dispatches and some pounding African drums kick in as it files out of the station. An inspired touch.
The actual coaster is an intensely paced ride with some amazing, noticeable points of weightlessness on the inversions. It felt pretty different to all other earlier models of B+M Inverts I've ridden, in that it was less jerky coming out of the corkscrews, a lot more smooth around the helix's, a featured a more floaty first drop. All in all, Black Mamba is one brilliant coaster.
Colorado Adventure I remember loving when I visited in 1999, and had probably anticipating re-riding it too much because it felt like a bit of a let down once I did. It just didn't feel as wild as I recalled it being. Still an enjoyable family ride though.
Tellingly, all coasters were a walk-on, apart from Winja's, which had a 45 minute queue time. The coaster (quelle surprise for a Maurer) seemed wrought with problems, especially with its elevator lift system. Dispatching cars took forever; and once we finally got on, our car got stuck on the lift section. Resulting in our car being left dangling facing forward, not connected with the rest of the track for a few minutes, then being repeatedly lowered and raised again, only to keep stopping at a half way point in the lift. By the time it got going I was already fed up with the silly ride. 'Winjas Fear' was the first track I tried, which has a forward facing track tilt, a bit like a see-saw. It all seemed a bit gimmicky, and wasn't particularly thrilling. Fear has a nice horseshoe in the dark though. 'Winjas Force' begins similarly but has smaller drops; and the track tilt section tilts sideways into a curve this time. Equally as gimmicky, not the best example of a Maurer spinning coaster (that title has to go to Dragons Fury at Chessington i.m.o)
Phantasia's new attraction 'Maus au Chocolate' was a fun, enclosed 3D ride where you fire balls of chocolate out of whipped cream guns at mice on a screen. Like with Dual at AT, I got a better score when I had no idea what I was doing. The shop next to Maus Au Chocolate sold Kinder Ice Cream with bits of Kinder Egg in it at 2 euros for 2 scoops. Good value for a theme park, and utterly delicious!
They also had a crazy river rapids ride which involved going up to the top of a tower and spinning round a whirlpool, one of the best rapids rides I've been on.
After a tasty steak dinner in Koln and another night in a cheap budget hotel, we drove down to Europa Park (right passed Holiday Park, which I'm gutted we didn't have time for)
I had high expectations for Europa and was pretty disappointed. Sure, it's massive and there's so much there to do; but coaster-wise it did seem a bit like quantity over quality.
The park was heaving, which was surprising for an off-peak, term time day. Crowds and queues everywhere; found the park hard to navigate. The entrances to rides were not always obvious, and the different zones of the park lacked distinction between each other. Are we in Russia or Switzerland? Who knows?!
My fave coaster in Europa was Wodan Timbur Coaster. It had amazing themeing, beautiful indoor queue sections, a great first drop and a decent pace throughout.
Silver Star comes a close second just for it's ejector air though.
Didn't ride Blue Fire as the launch looked too intense for me. The rest of the coasters were all totally average. Euro-Sat and Euro-Mir were rough in places, Poseidon and Super Splash were fun; but overall, nothing I rode at Europa Park was particularly remarkable.
On a busy day, you have to be really on it just to get all the coasters done. By the end, my legs hurt from a lack of sitting down, and I felt annoyed that we hadn't even had the time to enjoy the multitudes of shows and other rides that the park has to offer. Definitely a 2-day park.
Last but not least was Parc Asterix, which gets major bias-points from me for being themed around a series of books I loved as a child. If you are into Asterix, this is the place to go, the merchandise is expensive but great and the park is themed perfectly.
Coaster-wise it has several family coasters, plus one shocking, one fairly decent and one amazing big coaster.
The shocking coaster was Goudurix, a good-looking Vekoma with 7 neck-chopping inversions. In fairness, the track is pretty smooth but the transitions of the inversions, particularly the butterfly inversion, causes some serious banging around. On a fairly busy Saturday, this was the only ride with no queue; probably because it is a headache-inducing mess of track.
The fairly decent coaster was Tonnerre De Zeus, a woody with a cool first drop into a tunnel. It has a few rough patches but overall is a fun wooden coaster, it's no match against Megafobia or Wodan though.
If OzIris hadn't been at Parc Asterix, I would have been pretty disappointed with the coaster selection there. It amazing to think they went so long with just Goudurix and T.D.Z. in there line up of big attractions. But OzIris is SO awesome, it makes up for everything this park lacks in the ride department. As a long-time Nemesis fan-girl, I am shocked to say I suddenly have a new favourite B+M invert. But OzIris is really that good.
The first drop is unlike any I have experienced on a B+M invert, so steep and twisted, it's lush and picks up a huge momentum in a flash. Then the dive loop is a total beauty, followed by a vertical loop, two amazing Zero-G rolls and all sorts of breathtaking, floaty-weightless sensations. The dive into the misty underground tunnel is fantastic; I've never been on an B+M invert that takes every single one of it's elements so well, it's a lengthy ride but it leaves you refreshed and exhilarated after riding, rather than wobbly. Highly recommended.
There is also a dolphin show, a well-themed Vekoma Madhouse and plenty of fun attractions such as ghost trains and log flumes. The food is pricey and crap, but overall Parc Asterix is a really fun park with a good mix of attractions.
...And now I am home. Writing this essay. Congrats if you got to the end of it
The first park I visited was Disneyland Paris, where it costs a whopping 15 euro to park in a car park lined with a not-so-magical sight of armed guards. Before even arriving at the park, it seemed that this version of Disneyland was awkwardly juxtaposed within it's Paris location. Paris is an opulent city and full of historical culture; and unlike Florida, there is little reference at Paris' airport to the existence of Disneyland and very few signs on the roads of how to get there. Put simply, the plastic-cheese of Disney doesn't sit well among this mature-Brie of a city.
Nevertheless, I had finally managed to find Disneyland, hidden away in the outskirts like a guilty little secret.
Hit up the more-recently developed Studios park first; which features a fun enclosed spinning coaster 'Crush's Coaster', the debatably cred-worthy 'RC Racer' and the well-themed 'Rock n' Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith.'
Rock n' Rollercoaster, despite having an entertaining queue line full of Argos guitars signed by rock stars who would never touch such rubbish in a million years; was the least thrilling launch coaster I have experienced. Loved the use of mixing desks as ride control desks though!
RC Racer looks like a coaster version of a pirate ship, and offers similar sensations of airtime. It looks like a short, average ride when watching from the queue; but on ride it's a great laugh with lots of floater air at the top. Recommended!
Crush's Coaster appeared to be the most popular in the park, with a queue triple the length of the other rides. It starts off gently meandering; then climbs high indoors into a sweet swoopy drop and horseshoe. The momentum then gradually dwindles out in a series of turns before the end. A good family coaster.
Whilst these coasters were enjoyable enough, I have to say that the Disney signature drop-tower ride "Tower of Terror" is better than any of the coasters at this park. (Which is saying a lot for me, as I'm not a huge fan of flat-rides) A fun, unpredictable jaunt in an elevator,well-themed and pretty darn scary when its' doors open at the top!
Watched a 'Stars and Cars' parade, but it mostly went over my head as I've only seen Toy Story and the Lion King.
Then headed over to Magic Kingdom; where everything is just 'not-as-good-as Florida's' apart from the awesome Space Mountain: Mission 2.
Indiana Jones et Le Temple Du Peril is an Intamin which looks and feels exactly the same as the sea-side favourite Pinfari TL-59 coaster. It has some pretty cool themeing, but was a ride experience too dull and familiar for me to get excited about.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had the loudest lift hill I've ever heard; and lacked the surprise little dips and out of control feeling of the Florida version. Star Tours was quite a fun simulator ride in which would benefit from English subtitles, or something to at least aid non-French speaking riders in understanding it's story line better. I ha no clue what was going on, just that we were tumbling around in space and that handsome Han Solo didn't make an appearance to rescue us
Space Mountain: Mission 2 was a walk on, thankfully because it's queue line themeing is a tad dull. The restraints are typical neck-chopper Vekoma OTHRs, but I leaned forward for the ride and this seemed to minimalise the bashing around. I get heart palpitations after strong launches so have had to give up riding Intamin Rockets etc; but the Space Mountain: Mission 2 launch was just right for me - just a cool push off into possibly the smoothest Vekoma I have ever ridden. Great theme inside the dome, loved the music, the inability to see the track, the intensity maintained through-out the ride. A fantastic coaster.
After staying in a depressing but cheap 'Premiere Class' hotel, which had no windows, paper thin walls, a shower that flooded the room and a room door which didn't shut properly; we drove across to Germany to Phantasialand.
Phantasialand I had previously visited when I was 11 in 1999, and a lot has changed since then. Now there are loads more buildings and huge themeing structures in the park, more zones within the park, several new attractions. And one of the best B+M inverts I have EVER ridden - the wonderful, face-melting 'Black Mamba.'
The attention to detail paid on the African-themed Black Mamba is incredible. You don't get to see a lot of the coaster before riding as the track burrows within it's rocky landscape and darts in and out of spiked walls and caves. The station is dark with moody green and blue lighting; then the lights go out as a train dispatches and some pounding African drums kick in as it files out of the station. An inspired touch.
The actual coaster is an intensely paced ride with some amazing, noticeable points of weightlessness on the inversions. It felt pretty different to all other earlier models of B+M Inverts I've ridden, in that it was less jerky coming out of the corkscrews, a lot more smooth around the helix's, a featured a more floaty first drop. All in all, Black Mamba is one brilliant coaster.
Colorado Adventure I remember loving when I visited in 1999, and had probably anticipating re-riding it too much because it felt like a bit of a let down once I did. It just didn't feel as wild as I recalled it being. Still an enjoyable family ride though.
Tellingly, all coasters were a walk-on, apart from Winja's, which had a 45 minute queue time. The coaster (quelle surprise for a Maurer) seemed wrought with problems, especially with its elevator lift system. Dispatching cars took forever; and once we finally got on, our car got stuck on the lift section. Resulting in our car being left dangling facing forward, not connected with the rest of the track for a few minutes, then being repeatedly lowered and raised again, only to keep stopping at a half way point in the lift. By the time it got going I was already fed up with the silly ride. 'Winjas Fear' was the first track I tried, which has a forward facing track tilt, a bit like a see-saw. It all seemed a bit gimmicky, and wasn't particularly thrilling. Fear has a nice horseshoe in the dark though. 'Winjas Force' begins similarly but has smaller drops; and the track tilt section tilts sideways into a curve this time. Equally as gimmicky, not the best example of a Maurer spinning coaster (that title has to go to Dragons Fury at Chessington i.m.o)
Phantasia's new attraction 'Maus au Chocolate' was a fun, enclosed 3D ride where you fire balls of chocolate out of whipped cream guns at mice on a screen. Like with Dual at AT, I got a better score when I had no idea what I was doing. The shop next to Maus Au Chocolate sold Kinder Ice Cream with bits of Kinder Egg in it at 2 euros for 2 scoops. Good value for a theme park, and utterly delicious!
They also had a crazy river rapids ride which involved going up to the top of a tower and spinning round a whirlpool, one of the best rapids rides I've been on.
After a tasty steak dinner in Koln and another night in a cheap budget hotel, we drove down to Europa Park (right passed Holiday Park, which I'm gutted we didn't have time for)
I had high expectations for Europa and was pretty disappointed. Sure, it's massive and there's so much there to do; but coaster-wise it did seem a bit like quantity over quality.
The park was heaving, which was surprising for an off-peak, term time day. Crowds and queues everywhere; found the park hard to navigate. The entrances to rides were not always obvious, and the different zones of the park lacked distinction between each other. Are we in Russia or Switzerland? Who knows?!
My fave coaster in Europa was Wodan Timbur Coaster. It had amazing themeing, beautiful indoor queue sections, a great first drop and a decent pace throughout.
Silver Star comes a close second just for it's ejector air though.
Didn't ride Blue Fire as the launch looked too intense for me. The rest of the coasters were all totally average. Euro-Sat and Euro-Mir were rough in places, Poseidon and Super Splash were fun; but overall, nothing I rode at Europa Park was particularly remarkable.
On a busy day, you have to be really on it just to get all the coasters done. By the end, my legs hurt from a lack of sitting down, and I felt annoyed that we hadn't even had the time to enjoy the multitudes of shows and other rides that the park has to offer. Definitely a 2-day park.
Last but not least was Parc Asterix, which gets major bias-points from me for being themed around a series of books I loved as a child. If you are into Asterix, this is the place to go, the merchandise is expensive but great and the park is themed perfectly.
Coaster-wise it has several family coasters, plus one shocking, one fairly decent and one amazing big coaster.
The shocking coaster was Goudurix, a good-looking Vekoma with 7 neck-chopping inversions. In fairness, the track is pretty smooth but the transitions of the inversions, particularly the butterfly inversion, causes some serious banging around. On a fairly busy Saturday, this was the only ride with no queue; probably because it is a headache-inducing mess of track.
The fairly decent coaster was Tonnerre De Zeus, a woody with a cool first drop into a tunnel. It has a few rough patches but overall is a fun wooden coaster, it's no match against Megafobia or Wodan though.
If OzIris hadn't been at Parc Asterix, I would have been pretty disappointed with the coaster selection there. It amazing to think they went so long with just Goudurix and T.D.Z. in there line up of big attractions. But OzIris is SO awesome, it makes up for everything this park lacks in the ride department. As a long-time Nemesis fan-girl, I am shocked to say I suddenly have a new favourite B+M invert. But OzIris is really that good.
The first drop is unlike any I have experienced on a B+M invert, so steep and twisted, it's lush and picks up a huge momentum in a flash. Then the dive loop is a total beauty, followed by a vertical loop, two amazing Zero-G rolls and all sorts of breathtaking, floaty-weightless sensations. The dive into the misty underground tunnel is fantastic; I've never been on an B+M invert that takes every single one of it's elements so well, it's a lengthy ride but it leaves you refreshed and exhilarated after riding, rather than wobbly. Highly recommended.
There is also a dolphin show, a well-themed Vekoma Madhouse and plenty of fun attractions such as ghost trains and log flumes. The food is pricey and crap, but overall Parc Asterix is a really fun park with a good mix of attractions.
...And now I am home. Writing this essay. Congrats if you got to the end of it
