Last week I turned 26. To celebrate / commiserate my ageing I went to several theme parks in Europe (like all sophisticated grown ups do.)
Landed in Paris at noon, drove 10 mins down the motorway and bang – welcome to Parc Asterix! I was worried I wouldn't be able to fit in much in an afternoon, but luckily the park stayed open until 7pm. The queues were pretty large for most of their coasters, apart from Gouderix, which was a walk-on, of course.
So, feeling slightly masochistic, I headed to Gouderix first. It looks awesome as you approach it from the lake.
It has plenty of snazzy inversions.
But, as I remember from my previous visit to Parc Asterix, this coaster is rough. Rough with a capital V. For Vekoma.
So, here came this first of many surprises on this trip... Gouderix was great! It had shiny new trains that glided along the track. The problematic butterfly inversion didn’t jolt my spine. My head didn’t bash the restraints once. In fact, the whole coaster was smooth, fast and forceful – finally, it rides as well as it looks.
They should re-name it Gooderix.
Then the dolphin show started, so I went over to Oz’Iris and the queue had dropped to 15 mins – yay! Oz’ Iris has been my number one coaster since I rode it in 2012. It doesn’t photograph as well as Gouderix.
But it does have a lovely drop into a misty tunnel <3
I’m not sure it’s my number one coaster anymore though.
First ride in the back row was great; the first half is a blur of dive loops after that wonderfully steep drop. The second half is the fun, swoopy half – a lovely zero G, and plenty of diving towards the ground.
But it just didn’t leave me thinking “wow” this time.
Maybe it’s because my coaster count has doubled since I last rode it and I’ve become harder to please. I re-rode it immediately in the second row. I find it a much better coaster towards the front of the train, because there you can take in the elements a bit more.
It is still a fantastic coaster and one of the most unique B+M inverts in my opinion. Just perhaps not worthy of my top spot anymore.
Rode some water rides - Le Grand Splatch was fun, whilst Menhir Express is still SUCH A CRED! Then I took a look around their new area for 2014 – The Forrest of Idefix.
It’s a wonderful kiddie area, themed around the mischievous dog from the comics. There are little Idefix’s dotted around in various hiding places.
Merlin have been left reeling that The Forrest of Idefix have claimed the world record of ‘Smallest Log Flume.’
Just an ordinary log....?
Nope, it’s actually a tunnel slide!
There’s a big adventure playground and some other kiddie rides like a crazy house and a mini drop tower. Overall it’s a great area for children, and a nice addition to the park. A costume character of Idefix wandering around would have been the icing on top of the Forrest Gateau though. (Why haven’t they done this?!)
Next up was the Madhouse. I’d not ridden this one before, and the pre-shows blew me away.
First, they take your photo and impose it onto a funny animation of a Roman Legionnaire. Then you get a speech from an animatronic Caesar in a room with a moving floor. Next, you enter a room where the walls cascade with waterfalls, bubbles float down from the ceiling and fountains of water criss-cross over your head. It was really magical <3
The madhouse itself has screens all over the room, even on the ceiling. It’s themed to a boat that gets tipped underwater by Obelix. The ride cycle is very short. There’s more rocking back and forth motions to create the ‘being at sea’ vibe, than the illusion of flipping right over. It was an interesting take on the madhouse compared to the usual spooky varieties; but the screens did make it pretty sickly.
Visited the ‘Meet Your Favourite Characters’ area, which is very well themed to the Gaul Village from the Asterix books. You can go inside Asterix and Obelix’s house, and the hut where Getafix brews his potions! As a massive Asterix fan, this was one of my fave things about the park because it’s done so well. They’ve paid so much attention to detail with this area, it’s like stepping into the pages of the comics.
Met Asterix and Fulliautomatix!
Gauls just wanna have fun, after all!
Was disappointed that Obelix didn’t make an appearance though
Rode Trace Du Hourra – arguably the best Mack Bobsled ever made? Then the Ghost Train, which is awful. But I love the entrance to the area it resides in.
Then came the second big surprise of the day, in the wooden form of Tonnerre De Zeus.
Last time I rode it, I thought it was ok – a fairly decent wooden coaster, but I didn’t, err, pine to re-ride it.
It was basically a completely different coaster this time. You know that crazy, out-of-control feeling of a great woodie tearing around the track? Well, Tonnerre De Zeus was the epitome of that this day.
It was just so flipping fast and awesome, I couldn't believe it. Airtime on every hill, amazing first drop, slightly rough on the turns but in a good way. It was one of the best rides I've ever had on a roller coaster. I don’t know if they've done something to it over the closed season..?
Either way, it was a great ride to finish a fab day on.
Day Two: Nigloland
Initially, what struck me about Nigloland was how pretty the park is.
Ooooh!
Aaaah!
...etc!
The ghost train looked spooktacular from the outside
The indoor queue had a great soundtrack, that sounded like it was straight from an old hammer horror film. The ride system is cute little two-seater benches that spin, a bit like a smaller version of the Cat in the Hat ride at I.o.A.
Unfortunately, the ride was rubbish. Firstly, it had no soundtrack. Why do so many ghost trains not bother with this hugely important element?! A bit of music makes such a difference in creating atmosphere in a dark ride. Plus, it covers any noises created by the animatronics. Not that covering noises would have helped when you could see all the strings on the bats flapping from the ceiling.
Oh well, time to ride something less disappointing in the form of Alpina Blitz – the parks new Mack mega coaster.
It’s the blitz.
The wooden station is subtly pretty. The restraints are comfy and liberating. The lift hill is nice and fast, so it kicks you down that first drop. In places, I’d say it’s more forceful than Piraten and it's just as re-rideable too.
If I’m nit picking, the all-over royal blue colour of Alpina Blitz is rather bland. I think it would have looked much better with a white track and blue trains. Much more Alpina-y. There’s no themeing outside of the station, either.
Re-rode Alpina several times seen as it had a short queue, before mopping up the rest of the parks Meh-ds (mediocre creds).
There’s a Schwarzkopf (hey, I just spelled that without even looking it up – goon milestone!) bobsled. It’s called ‘Bobsled’ - how do Nigloland dream up these imaginative concepts?!
It bruised the hell out of my knees. It was one of the worst, roughest coasters I’ve ridden. Think of all the knee-bashing pain of The Ultimate, without the je ne sais quoi that makes The Ultimate fun.
Spatiale Expérience, the indoor coaster was next. It's a spiral lift Mack with a space theme, just like Eurosat at Europa Park. It was the most exciting of the 5 dull creds at Nigloland, because it was quite fast and had a few unexpected twists and turns.
Then, imagine my surprise when I saw that Nigloland have one of those ultra rare Mack Mice! Just what the coaster world needs - more hairpin turns and dull layouts. Their one's called called Schlitt Express. Remove the 'chl' from that, and you have an accurate description of the coaster.
Found this cute little hedgehog ride next to it, though!
Had a look at the park's dinosaur area, which features some cool animatronic dinosaurs and uses the Jurrassic Park music (don't think Universal would be too happy about that!)
This one was the best dino that I saur
Then I wandered over to the Wild West area on the other side of the park, which is home to the Mine Train, log flume, disk-o coaster and a horrible animal show.
The log flume has a backdrop of dense forrestry, which makes it look awesome.
The mine train is like a crap version of the one at Alton Towers, it doesn't really do anything.
The disk-o coaster is called Grizzly, it has a bear on top and is pretty fab.
The adjoining "show" of a real grizzly bear in chains being made to perform in front of an audience really upset me. It's making me angry just typing about it. I didn't watch it, but knowing such cruelty was happening was enough to ruin my day. I am aware that the laws for animal performances are less restrictive in France, but I just can't believe they'd have something so cruel and old fashioned in the name of entertainment. Disgusting.
It was on that sour note that I left Nigloland. Putting all animal-rights-bias aside, Nigloland isn't *that* great. It's basically just one good coaster, a handful of average creds and some pretty scenery. Which is passable for a first time visit, but left me with no desire to return there.
In building a major coaster like Alpina Blitz, I assume the park is trying to make more of a name for itself; however I think they've got a lot more work to do before Nigloland could be considered in the same league as the major theme parks of Europe.
Day 3: Plopsaland
When I booked this trip ages ago, I planned on going back to Disneyland on this day, as I assumed Ratatouie would be open. It isn't, and Disney have hiked up their ticket prices this year. I figured out that it would cost less to drive from Paris to Belgium and go to Plopsaland, than it would to spend one day at Disneyland.
So I went to Plopsaland. What a great decision that was! It's a wonderful park, with a giant door at the entrance gate!
It has a cred that goes through a washing machine!
It's a Vekoma rollerskater, with a capital V - for Very Well Themed!
There were loads of baby pygmy goats in the kiddie farm area.
They took a liking to chewing my shoelaces, so adorable <3
I was really excited about riding Anubis, like the Gerstlauer fan girl I am.
It did not disapoint; what a brilliant rolling launch coaster! Loved the pop of airtime at the top of the top hat. It also had a fab detailed queue line, and a great layout; I was really impressed. Plus, the park was empty so they let me ride it three times in a row
Plopsaland is also home to one of the sketchiest roller coasters of all time. It's up there with Steeplechase at BPB for WTF-ness. It's called 'Vleermuis' - a suspended 'Batflyer' style coaster, where you kinda straddle the seat like you would on Steeplechase.
It doesn't have a lift hill, but the tiny piece of track you dangle from at the start of get's lifted up high then connects with the flimsy-looking, single-rail coaster. As if that wasn't nerve shredding enough, it then swings like 60's party around the corners til you hit the harsh brakes at the bottom. Terrifying!
There was a super cute duck ride to calm my jangled nerves
It was probably manufactured by Bolliger and Mallard.
Plus loads of other quirky flats, a spinny one where you had to pedal to go higher and one of those ones where you can steer the vehicle to make waves.
Wickieland, the parks new area for 2014 has the best entrance ever.
You enter beneath the hump of their new disk-o coaster!
The new area boasts a splash battle, several playgrounds and the disk-o, all superbly themed to what I assume is a kids cartoon about Vikings?
More excellent themeing came in the form of the park's huge indoor area; which hosts slides, a spinning drop tower like Magma at Paultons, a rockin' tug and plenty of other kiddie flat rides. The area is dark with atmopsheric lighting coming from giant flower lamps, one wall has a glowing moon painted on, and a beautful flat ride themed to Lillies gliding around beneath it.
It was so magical. The spinning drop tower was themed to a giant sunflower. I went on it and got scared, as even the small drop towers freak me out!
The low lighting made it quite difficult to capture this area in a photo though
After some lunch, I rode the water coaster, which has a lift system and drops you out of an awesome tower building. It was short, not very wet, but unique.
The mine train 'Draak' was also well-themed, as you queue up for it in a castle. But the coaster was just another average Mack mine train. It's neighbouring log flume is possibly the best log flume I've ever ridden though.
Awesome height, double-drop finale, great themeing - you could say it flumed me away!
The day just sped past at Plopsaland, as it always does at a great theme park. The only thing this lovely park is missing is a ghost train. Finished up riding Anubis a couple more times, then headed back to Paris.
The next day I visited Parc De Felines, which is a zoo that consists entirely of different types of cats. Would recommend it to anyone who likes cats! (But if you only like creds, uhh, probably not)
Then it was time to head home, +1 in age, + 12 on my coaster count
Landed in Paris at noon, drove 10 mins down the motorway and bang – welcome to Parc Asterix! I was worried I wouldn't be able to fit in much in an afternoon, but luckily the park stayed open until 7pm. The queues were pretty large for most of their coasters, apart from Gouderix, which was a walk-on, of course.
So, feeling slightly masochistic, I headed to Gouderix first. It looks awesome as you approach it from the lake.
It has plenty of snazzy inversions.
But, as I remember from my previous visit to Parc Asterix, this coaster is rough. Rough with a capital V. For Vekoma.
So, here came this first of many surprises on this trip... Gouderix was great! It had shiny new trains that glided along the track. The problematic butterfly inversion didn’t jolt my spine. My head didn’t bash the restraints once. In fact, the whole coaster was smooth, fast and forceful – finally, it rides as well as it looks.
They should re-name it Gooderix.
Then the dolphin show started, so I went over to Oz’Iris and the queue had dropped to 15 mins – yay! Oz’ Iris has been my number one coaster since I rode it in 2012. It doesn’t photograph as well as Gouderix.
But it does have a lovely drop into a misty tunnel <3
I’m not sure it’s my number one coaster anymore though.
First ride in the back row was great; the first half is a blur of dive loops after that wonderfully steep drop. The second half is the fun, swoopy half – a lovely zero G, and plenty of diving towards the ground.
But it just didn’t leave me thinking “wow” this time.
Maybe it’s because my coaster count has doubled since I last rode it and I’ve become harder to please. I re-rode it immediately in the second row. I find it a much better coaster towards the front of the train, because there you can take in the elements a bit more.
It is still a fantastic coaster and one of the most unique B+M inverts in my opinion. Just perhaps not worthy of my top spot anymore.
Rode some water rides - Le Grand Splatch was fun, whilst Menhir Express is still SUCH A CRED! Then I took a look around their new area for 2014 – The Forrest of Idefix.
It’s a wonderful kiddie area, themed around the mischievous dog from the comics. There are little Idefix’s dotted around in various hiding places.
Merlin have been left reeling that The Forrest of Idefix have claimed the world record of ‘Smallest Log Flume.’
Just an ordinary log....?
Nope, it’s actually a tunnel slide!
There’s a big adventure playground and some other kiddie rides like a crazy house and a mini drop tower. Overall it’s a great area for children, and a nice addition to the park. A costume character of Idefix wandering around would have been the icing on top of the Forrest Gateau though. (Why haven’t they done this?!)
Next up was the Madhouse. I’d not ridden this one before, and the pre-shows blew me away.
First, they take your photo and impose it onto a funny animation of a Roman Legionnaire. Then you get a speech from an animatronic Caesar in a room with a moving floor. Next, you enter a room where the walls cascade with waterfalls, bubbles float down from the ceiling and fountains of water criss-cross over your head. It was really magical <3
The madhouse itself has screens all over the room, even on the ceiling. It’s themed to a boat that gets tipped underwater by Obelix. The ride cycle is very short. There’s more rocking back and forth motions to create the ‘being at sea’ vibe, than the illusion of flipping right over. It was an interesting take on the madhouse compared to the usual spooky varieties; but the screens did make it pretty sickly.
Visited the ‘Meet Your Favourite Characters’ area, which is very well themed to the Gaul Village from the Asterix books. You can go inside Asterix and Obelix’s house, and the hut where Getafix brews his potions! As a massive Asterix fan, this was one of my fave things about the park because it’s done so well. They’ve paid so much attention to detail with this area, it’s like stepping into the pages of the comics.
Met Asterix and Fulliautomatix!
Gauls just wanna have fun, after all!
Was disappointed that Obelix didn’t make an appearance though
Rode Trace Du Hourra – arguably the best Mack Bobsled ever made? Then the Ghost Train, which is awful. But I love the entrance to the area it resides in.
Then came the second big surprise of the day, in the wooden form of Tonnerre De Zeus.
Last time I rode it, I thought it was ok – a fairly decent wooden coaster, but I didn’t, err, pine to re-ride it.
It was basically a completely different coaster this time. You know that crazy, out-of-control feeling of a great woodie tearing around the track? Well, Tonnerre De Zeus was the epitome of that this day.
It was just so flipping fast and awesome, I couldn't believe it. Airtime on every hill, amazing first drop, slightly rough on the turns but in a good way. It was one of the best rides I've ever had on a roller coaster. I don’t know if they've done something to it over the closed season..?
Either way, it was a great ride to finish a fab day on.
Day Two: Nigloland
Initially, what struck me about Nigloland was how pretty the park is.
Ooooh!
Aaaah!
...etc!
The ghost train looked spooktacular from the outside
The indoor queue had a great soundtrack, that sounded like it was straight from an old hammer horror film. The ride system is cute little two-seater benches that spin, a bit like a smaller version of the Cat in the Hat ride at I.o.A.
Unfortunately, the ride was rubbish. Firstly, it had no soundtrack. Why do so many ghost trains not bother with this hugely important element?! A bit of music makes such a difference in creating atmosphere in a dark ride. Plus, it covers any noises created by the animatronics. Not that covering noises would have helped when you could see all the strings on the bats flapping from the ceiling.
Oh well, time to ride something less disappointing in the form of Alpina Blitz – the parks new Mack mega coaster.
It’s the blitz.
The wooden station is subtly pretty. The restraints are comfy and liberating. The lift hill is nice and fast, so it kicks you down that first drop. In places, I’d say it’s more forceful than Piraten and it's just as re-rideable too.
If I’m nit picking, the all-over royal blue colour of Alpina Blitz is rather bland. I think it would have looked much better with a white track and blue trains. Much more Alpina-y. There’s no themeing outside of the station, either.
Re-rode Alpina several times seen as it had a short queue, before mopping up the rest of the parks Meh-ds (mediocre creds).
There’s a Schwarzkopf (hey, I just spelled that without even looking it up – goon milestone!) bobsled. It’s called ‘Bobsled’ - how do Nigloland dream up these imaginative concepts?!
It bruised the hell out of my knees. It was one of the worst, roughest coasters I’ve ridden. Think of all the knee-bashing pain of The Ultimate, without the je ne sais quoi that makes The Ultimate fun.
Spatiale Expérience, the indoor coaster was next. It's a spiral lift Mack with a space theme, just like Eurosat at Europa Park. It was the most exciting of the 5 dull creds at Nigloland, because it was quite fast and had a few unexpected twists and turns.
Then, imagine my surprise when I saw that Nigloland have one of those ultra rare Mack Mice! Just what the coaster world needs - more hairpin turns and dull layouts. Their one's called called Schlitt Express. Remove the 'chl' from that, and you have an accurate description of the coaster.
Found this cute little hedgehog ride next to it, though!
Had a look at the park's dinosaur area, which features some cool animatronic dinosaurs and uses the Jurrassic Park music (don't think Universal would be too happy about that!)
This one was the best dino that I saur
Then I wandered over to the Wild West area on the other side of the park, which is home to the Mine Train, log flume, disk-o coaster and a horrible animal show.
The log flume has a backdrop of dense forrestry, which makes it look awesome.
The mine train is like a crap version of the one at Alton Towers, it doesn't really do anything.
The disk-o coaster is called Grizzly, it has a bear on top and is pretty fab.
The adjoining "show" of a real grizzly bear in chains being made to perform in front of an audience really upset me. It's making me angry just typing about it. I didn't watch it, but knowing such cruelty was happening was enough to ruin my day. I am aware that the laws for animal performances are less restrictive in France, but I just can't believe they'd have something so cruel and old fashioned in the name of entertainment. Disgusting.
It was on that sour note that I left Nigloland. Putting all animal-rights-bias aside, Nigloland isn't *that* great. It's basically just one good coaster, a handful of average creds and some pretty scenery. Which is passable for a first time visit, but left me with no desire to return there.
In building a major coaster like Alpina Blitz, I assume the park is trying to make more of a name for itself; however I think they've got a lot more work to do before Nigloland could be considered in the same league as the major theme parks of Europe.
Day 3: Plopsaland
When I booked this trip ages ago, I planned on going back to Disneyland on this day, as I assumed Ratatouie would be open. It isn't, and Disney have hiked up their ticket prices this year. I figured out that it would cost less to drive from Paris to Belgium and go to Plopsaland, than it would to spend one day at Disneyland.
So I went to Plopsaland. What a great decision that was! It's a wonderful park, with a giant door at the entrance gate!
It has a cred that goes through a washing machine!
It's a Vekoma rollerskater, with a capital V - for Very Well Themed!
There were loads of baby pygmy goats in the kiddie farm area.
They took a liking to chewing my shoelaces, so adorable <3
I was really excited about riding Anubis, like the Gerstlauer fan girl I am.
It did not disapoint; what a brilliant rolling launch coaster! Loved the pop of airtime at the top of the top hat. It also had a fab detailed queue line, and a great layout; I was really impressed. Plus, the park was empty so they let me ride it three times in a row
Plopsaland is also home to one of the sketchiest roller coasters of all time. It's up there with Steeplechase at BPB for WTF-ness. It's called 'Vleermuis' - a suspended 'Batflyer' style coaster, where you kinda straddle the seat like you would on Steeplechase.
It doesn't have a lift hill, but the tiny piece of track you dangle from at the start of get's lifted up high then connects with the flimsy-looking, single-rail coaster. As if that wasn't nerve shredding enough, it then swings like 60's party around the corners til you hit the harsh brakes at the bottom. Terrifying!
There was a super cute duck ride to calm my jangled nerves
It was probably manufactured by Bolliger and Mallard.
Plus loads of other quirky flats, a spinny one where you had to pedal to go higher and one of those ones where you can steer the vehicle to make waves.
Wickieland, the parks new area for 2014 has the best entrance ever.
You enter beneath the hump of their new disk-o coaster!
The new area boasts a splash battle, several playgrounds and the disk-o, all superbly themed to what I assume is a kids cartoon about Vikings?
More excellent themeing came in the form of the park's huge indoor area; which hosts slides, a spinning drop tower like Magma at Paultons, a rockin' tug and plenty of other kiddie flat rides. The area is dark with atmopsheric lighting coming from giant flower lamps, one wall has a glowing moon painted on, and a beautful flat ride themed to Lillies gliding around beneath it.
It was so magical. The spinning drop tower was themed to a giant sunflower. I went on it and got scared, as even the small drop towers freak me out!
The low lighting made it quite difficult to capture this area in a photo though
After some lunch, I rode the water coaster, which has a lift system and drops you out of an awesome tower building. It was short, not very wet, but unique.
The mine train 'Draak' was also well-themed, as you queue up for it in a castle. But the coaster was just another average Mack mine train. It's neighbouring log flume is possibly the best log flume I've ever ridden though.
Awesome height, double-drop finale, great themeing - you could say it flumed me away!
The day just sped past at Plopsaland, as it always does at a great theme park. The only thing this lovely park is missing is a ghost train. Finished up riding Anubis a couple more times, then headed back to Paris.
The next day I visited Parc De Felines, which is a zoo that consists entirely of different types of cats. Would recommend it to anyone who likes cats! (But if you only like creds, uhh, probably not)
Then it was time to head home, +1 in age, + 12 on my coaster count
