Paris to Plopsa - April 2024

[NemesisRider]

Intro

One of my friends from university running the Paris marathon provided the ideal excuse for a group holiday. Being the shameless cred whore that I am, I added in a few diversions in search of new coasters to add to the count.

My story begins in Beauvais – cheap flights from Manchester made this a sensible first overnight stop, especially with the next morning’s CDG flights being poorly timed. This gave me a perfect excuse to visit Parc Saint Paul, located a mere 20 minutes drive away-

Oh, it’s shut on the night of my stay and the day after? Very well. In that case, my next shot at getting some new coasters is a little more central.

Day 1 - Jardin D'Acclimitation

The journey from Beauvais to Jardin D'Acclimitation was reasonably simple in the end - 15 minute bus from the Airbnb to the SNCF station, a little over 1 hour on the TER to Gare Du Nord, a quick stop to drop my suitcase and buy a metro day-ticket in Gare L'Est, then about 30 minutes on the metro to Les Sablons.

I arrived a little after opening at 10am to find a slightly drizzly and absolutely dead park. Determined to make this quick, I headed to the main point of interest, Speed Rockets. I’d long admired this Gerstlauer bobsled coaster for it’s cute stylisation but had little expectations of any substantial force. After 8 rides across the day, these expectations were proved totally correct. My favourite section was the little twisty hills and turns after the block brake, where it manages to muster a little intensity, but I’d give an honourable mention to the floaty banked-dive-thing after the 2nd lift. However, the setting with lots of trees and lovely Parisien buildings off to the side was arguably the best part of the ride.




Onto cred 2 – Souris Mechanique. This Reverchon spinner was short in stature, a little less violent than its larger brethen and surprisingly awkward to photograph. Whilst this will stand out more in my memory than a standard Reverchon spinner, I think the layout is definitely worse, as I failed to get any major spinning for more than a few moments.



Currently Jardin D’Acclimitation has a big, enticing looking construction site. In 2025, a decent-sized family coaster will be soon replacing one of their now defunct Soquet “Dragon Chinois”. Said coaster was originally intended for 2024, so as a stopgap they’ve brought in a glorified kiddie coaster called Fils Du Dragon. Assuming it’s only here for 1 season, they’ve done a decent job on the presentation, but it is clearly temporary. Ride experience was pretty forgettable. At least it looks nice.



The other Soquet, Machine de Vapeur, had it’s train in bits in the station. Apparently, this is an ongoing thing, so potential visitors beware.

Creds run, time to have a go at some of the other attractions. First stop was a shooting static screen-based ride at Le Kinetorium. The building’s façade is beautifully styled, as with much of the park, but I found the screens a little unresponsive and I honestly don’t care much for this format of attraction. The next ride I did was a sledding themed VR attraction which used a motion platform as well as the VR video – it was decently well executed, but clearly intended for younger audiences. Lastly, I gave the Enchanted River boat ride a spin, before heading back for a few more laps on Speed Rockets.



Jardin’s line-up is decent for a family park, with a good range of aesthetically pleasing family flat rides, though I found it had little to offer thrill-seekers. At 39 euros for entry on a weekday, I thought it was really quite expensive for what it is, but I suspect this is simply a symptom of being in central Paris. That said, the gardens were lovely for a wander, and it felt genuinely quite tranquil despite the bustling city being nearby. They also have a variety of animals, including birds at the aviary and goats at a petting zoo/farm thing. I'm sure this could be a whole day attraction if you're visiting with younger kids or family, but from an enthusiast's POV you can probably do most of the interesting bits in <2 hrs.

 

[NemesisRider]

Day 2 - Foire du Trône

On Paris marathon day, one of the non-runners in my group had selected a few ideal points on the route to cheer our runner on. Upon arriving at the first stop (about the 10k mark), our exit from the subway was greeted by a large sign with what appeared to be a photoshopped version of Colossus at Thorpe Park. This turned out to be an advert for the Foire du Trône. Paris’ seasonal Spring fair which is running a little earlier this year due to the Olympics. After a brief speedwalk around the site to confirm there were, in fact, coasters bigger than a Wacky Worm, I was sold. Later in the day, as my other friends returned to the Airbnb – our runner now decidedly less energetic – I headed back to the fair.

Coaster number 1, and the main reason I happily dealt with the hour or so extra metro travel to return, was King. With it’s bright red track and big sweeping curves, it’s an impressive looking travelling coaster, and you’d be entirely reasonable in feeling excited to ride. Unfortunately, King looks significantly better than it rides. Closer inspection reveals that those sweeping curves in fact offer old Arrow Dynamics level banking, and that the trains are burdened with unnecessary OSTRs. Even closer inspection (via riding, of course) also reveals it is very rough and not even especially exciting in return. Glad to say I’ve ridden it, but it’s firmly a one-and-done.




Second on the list, and adjacent to King, was Infernal Toboggan. This resembled a Pinfari but turned out to be made by an entirely different company. I was braced for a horribly rough ride and was surprised to find it mercifully smooth, if uneventful and repetitive in its layout.



Time to embarrass myself on a coaster intended for 5-year-olds. Speedy Gonzalez was slightly jank but did at least attempt to do something. I was sent around for 5 laps to ensure I felt suitable amounts of shame for my cred-whoring tendencies, as confused onlookers doubtless wondered what compelled this 21-year-old man to ride such a tragic attraction on his own.



I had little expectations for Crazy Mouse, a standard Reverchon spinner. I was pleasantly surprised onride as I quickly discovered that this coaster seemingly does not use its trims. It spent the first half flinging me around unbanked corners, then the second violently spinning me, as I clung onto the restraint. Luckily, it’s violence fell firmly into the “fun” category and not the “GBH” category, and it became my favourite of the model I’ve ridden so far.



Taxi Driver looked like another Pinfari, but actually was one unlike my earlier acquisition. This felt like a shorter but slightly more dynamic Infernal Toboggan, but remained stuck on the “inoffensive but forgettable” end of coasters I’ve ridden.



To round it off, a little more shame on a Wacky Worm, La Pomme. The ticket seller gave me a look best described as completely withering. +1.



Foire du Trône is very much a funfair and so less my personal bag. The rides mainly suck, though I’d happily ride the Mouse again. Overall, it was a nice unexpected +6 for my count, and a less nice unexpected -31 euros for my bank account. I'd say it's definitely worth a look if you're in the Paris area soon and want some extra creds, albeit not exactly the classiest park experience.

 

[NemesisRider]

Day 3 - Plopsaland De Panne (AKA: Everything Goes Wrong)

From the genesis of the trip, I knew that directly before or after my time in Paris would be ideal for hitting a more substantial park. As my Plopsaland annual pass was set to expire a week after the trip, I felt that it would be simply rude not to return. I convinced one of my friends to join me, and thus the plan was set in motion.

My visit to Plopsa in 2024 was, as you might expect, not my first rodeo. My first time at the park was in September 2022, where I pleaded with a fellow enthusiast to do a quick stop in De Panne enroute home from Walibi Belgium, albeit sadly just to look at the rides from outside the closed park. But come December 2022, we both returned with a vengeance for a nailbiting and very cold stop in De Panne enroute home from Phantasialand Wintertraum. Most of our day at Plopsa was spent either hoping for the weather to become slightly less cold or waiting for any rides to open. Despite temperatures barely cracking 6 degrees C, all coasters did briefly open, and I successfully completed the cred run. However, The Ride to Happiness was open barely more than 2 hours, and it was clearly running much slower than normal. Despite this slight letdown, in April 2023, I returned to Plopsa to briefly escape the misery of university exam revision and give the Ride to Happiness a second try. So great was my faith in the attraction that I bought my aforementioned Plopsa annual pass, with hopes of being able to return at some point(s) later in the year if I was sufficiently impressed. This time, everything worked out – the weather played ball, ride availability was good, and The Ride to Happiness became my first new number 1 coaster in 5 years. In short, despite having known the park for less than 2 years, we have a storied history. Flash forward to 2024, and I was excited to get back.

Our journey to De Panne was simple enough: Eurostar from Paris to Brussels, then direct train from Brussels to De Panne. However, on our first night, we witnessed one hell of a lightning storm – a bad omen for the day to come. I awoke to a forecast of nearly 40km/h winds all day, surely enough to close RTH and basically anything else worth riding more than once.

“Well, that’s not good, is it?”



We diligently turned up at the park just after opening and queued an unreasonably long time to get my friend’s discounted ticket. (I wish they could make passholder friends and family tickets available online, but I digress.) A ticket salesperson said that various attractions would be down due to the wind, and that RTH was guaranteed to be closed all day. After some pondering, we decided to go ahead anyway, with the hope that should worst come to worst we might be able to plead at Guest Services for a ticket revalidation the next morning.

We then proceeded to go on a tour of Plopsa’s finest family rides and filler attractions, starting with new addition Bumba’s World Voyage. I was pleasantly surprised by this – whilst I am clearly not the intended audience, I like the style it’s done in, and it seems expectedly popular with kids and their families. Over a loop of the park, we rode the disko (it’s fine), #LikeMeCoaster (best enjoyed ironically), Draak (fun but lacking some of the jank fun a mine train enjoys), and the jet skis. Despite our prayers, the staff outside RTH were resolute that the ride would not be opening today.

As we sat eating lunch in Majaland, finally sheltered from the wind, we accepted that our plans had been foiled and that there would be no extra happiness to be gained from staying until park close. So, we mopped up the last few family rides, begged unsuccessfully to get my friend’s ticket revalidated at Customer Services, and headed back to the Airbnb in poor spirits. We’d try again tomorrow, despite the cost, but we could hopefully salvage something.

Back at the Airbnb, I was composing a heart wrenching email to their helpdesk about revalidating my friend’s ticket (the man at the desk insisted there was nothing he could do, and this was our best shot) when I checked Plopsaland’s queue times to see whether Heidi at least managed to open. Further inspection revealed that, with only 2 hours left in the day, Plopsaland had got their 3 biggest coasters open after all.

“Oh, you pricks.”



After a lightning-fast supermarket stop and a short tram journey, I was back at the park. With a little over an hour til close, I was on a solo mission with one main goal – get on The Sodding Ride to Happiness. Once inside the park I was delighted to see it was running, albeit temporarily paused whilst they added a second train to deal with the now substantial queue. A quick courtesy ride on Heidi, then it was time to get back on my no.1, despite all the chaos the day had thrown at me.



Much ink has already been spilled about The Ride to Happiness. Yet, even after 3 Plopsaland trips, I still feel I lack the words to adequately explain how brilliant it is. The spinning makes every ride feel different, whilst impressively avoiding some of the most nauseating sensations I dislike in the Maurer spinners. The layout is choreographed damn nearly perfectly, with the breakneck pace only broken to give you a brief (necessary) breather before the second launch. The airtime is utterly sensational, especially on the top hat and the final two hills. Perhaps most crucial of all, the fantastic onride audio adds a whole new dimension of depth – though disappointingly a handful of seats did seem to have the speakers not working. It is the full package; a brilliant ride system and a well-executed theme, backed up by a park who are clearly serious in ensuring it stays running at its best. The family-oriented nature of the park also seems to lead to minimal queues and easy rerides, which is frankly unexpected for a ride of this quality. Sure, I’ve found it a bit of a diva when it comes to reliable operation, but who cares when it's this good?



I left the park once again after a handful of RTH rides, including a double lap on the penultimate train of the day (thanks ride op!). It’s moments like this that make this hobby – when everything looks like it’s falling apart, then the stars finally align for a few perfect rides. In the queue for my final spin on RTH, I even met a British family who were on a massive European theme park adventure themselves who had too fallen in love with the coaster. A sign of good taste, if you ask me.

Day 4 (AKA: Everything Works Out) and Epilogue

We returned to Plopsa the next morning to allow my friend to get a few rides on the biggest coasters. 1 courtesy lap was given to Anubis and Heide, which were both running well. Then, of course, 7 laps on RTH. At 2pm, we said our goodbyes to De Panne and began our return to the UK via Brussels.

And thus, another trip concludes. 2 new parks, +9 creds, and a dramatic return to an old favourite. Whilst this was a lot more pedestrian than my last foreign trip, it is always fun to remind myself that we in the UK have such amazing rides (as well as plenty of less amazing ones...) comparatively close by on the continent.