Disneyland Paris and Parc Asterix

Going to visit these two parks with my family after this weekend...
I've been to Disneyland many times, but I'm still looking forward to riding their great rides.
But most of all, its Tonnere de Zeus that I look forward to, I've never ridden a CCI so far! [peakhill]
Just hope the wheater's not too bad... I'll post a report as soon as I get home[:D]

[Coasterkidmwm]

I've heard the Bobsled coaster there is very very cool, have fun with Goudurix.

Yeah, its called trace du hourra and looks great. Something different from these always-white bobsleds.

I will ride goudurix, though I doubt I'll do it more than once. [;)]

You've never been on a CCI? Trust me, you don't know what you're missing. "The Villain" at Geauga Lake is one of my all-time favorite coasters, and it isn't even one of CCI's best, like Tonnere De Zeus. Nobody does a better job of capturing the crazy randomness and wild g forces of a great coaster than CCI. You'll never look at wood coasters the same way again [;)]. I gurantee it.

Not to many CCI's near where I live bud [;)]
Oh yeah, I've read alot about their rides already... can't wait!
So, look here for the trip report on wednesday.

edit: just found out that "bud" is a girl.[;)] Sorry, you don't expect to meet a female here every day... welcome!

So, here?????????s the start of my trip report!

Sunday was the beginning of the three-day trip with my parents and my brother.
We left home at about 4am already for a 2,5 hours drive, then we went on with the TGV. I was feeling way sick, so the journey was not too pleasant, but I got better as the day progressed.

We were right on time to get into the Walt Disney Studios opening at 10am. The first thing we saw when coming in was the fassade of tower of terror. It looks really frightening and construction seems to be coming along nicely????????? I wonder why it won't open until 2008.

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Me and my brother directly headed to rock?????????n?????????rollercoaster to launch into a great time. We queued 10 minutes only and then found out that they now let you choose where to sit, which wasn't the case before ????????? I was very glad about that, not because of r?????????n?????????r, but I hoped it would be like this on Big thunder Mountain as well.
We took a front seat ride on aerosmith?????????s vekoma LSM. It was a good ride as always, very harmonic and flowing, but there was a big flaw this time: The music was barely audible in the trains. I thought it might have been a speaker malfunction in the front car of that train first, but as my brother didn't want to ride again right away, we went on to the Cyberspace Mountain.
Have you heard of that? I think it's quite unique, and could be what we NL gamers dream of: A coaster simulator where you can program your own tracks! This is how it works in short:
You insert your park ticket in a special machine where you can build your ride. It will be very surrealistic and in one of three space worlds. You can choose around 30, 50 or 70 mph as average speed, and then construct your ride out of 12 ?????????normal????????? elements selectable by buttons, and some special elements that are shown on screen depending on where your track is at the moment. There are weird loop combos, scenery interactions, even different jumps where the train leaves the track, performs a sick element, and lands on track again.
After 10?????????000 feet, you?????????re done. The track is saved on your ticket and rated on intensity: one to five. My brother didn't want to come with me this time, so needless to say, I programmed an intensity five track. You then give it to a ride OP and get into a round, 2-seat simulator. This washing machine-like thing can twist 360 degrees in all directions.

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My ride had three jumps, one on which the train spins backwards vertically, one that is a zero-g roll without rails, and one where the train spins horizontally, which felt the most weird, but cool. About 10 inversions were featured which are really intense because the simulator actually inverts you multiple times for some single ones of them to produce the right g-forces. But the most insane element was the ?????????Outer spiral?????????, a tight helix which is outwardly banked, I think around 60 degrees.[xx(] That?????????s straaange sustained negative g?????????s. What the machine can't seem to simulate is airtime, which I knew already????????? also, everything does feel really unreal-istic, mainly because the g?????????s don't flow like on real rollercoasters, but just sustain in the same force for some time. Still it's a fun experience, and I've never been as close to feeling nausea on a rollercoaster as after this ride.

Cyberspace Mountain: 8/10

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After a short lunch break, we watched the GREAT stunt show and Armageddon, which is way too loud, but other than that, not very spectacular. What I love everytime I watch it is Cinemagique; this wonder-ful humoristic and well-made short film gets better the more movies you know. The studio tram tour is great as well, but I won't describe these non-coaster attractions too much as they?????????re mostly about surprise effects, but still very re-rideable.
Finally, I went on Rock?????????n?????????Rollercoaster again two times. This time I sat in the middle, then in the back. I was really disappointed that, even with my head constantly leaned back, the music was still not nearly as loud as it had been on my last visit ????????? maybe the coaster?????????s got a bit louder, but they have certainly tuned the music volume down because of some reasons. This is a shame, as Armageddon is still twice as loud. Still I like that layout a lot, not very intense, but the rollover is my favorite inversion combo so far, and I love the fact that the ride has some really nice lateral g?????????s for a steelie near the end. The ending may look lame (when watching a POV of superman-the ride), but the laterals there are quite fun [;)] Also, I got one of the best songs on my last ride, a medley of Lovin????????? in elevator and Walk this way. Yay![:D]

Rock?????????n?????????Rollercoaster: 8/10 (10/10 if the music was louder?????????)

We left the park at about 5pm. You can't really pass a whole day there when there's not much queuing, as there are just too few attractions, but it's still a nice park.

Sorry my time is limited tonight, I'll report parc asterix and Disneyland tomorrow.
I may upload some pics if I get the time to edit them and find out how to upload here, I honestly don't know by now?????????

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it a bit.

Parc Asterix

Me and my brother wanted to warm up with the widely visible bobsled ?????????trace du hourra?????????, but they had technical problems there. So I hurried to get a front seat ride on tonnerre de zeus almost without any queueing. Off course, I was expecting a lot of my first CCI ride.
I was pleased to fit into the comfortable trains easily, and the ride was indeed great. What I liked the best was the steep drops that come directly out of unfinished turn transitions. Everything flowed greatly and the visuals were perfect, but honestly, it was not nearly as intense as I would?????????ve thought after what I've read. Still I was far from being disappointed and directly headed for a backseat ride. By now, the queue had increased to about 30 minutes wait even if there were not too many people, as they were running only ONE train...
The second ride was completely different. If the first one couldn't match my expectations, this time it was about twice as strong as I could've imagined. The air, which was inferior to colossos on the first ride, was now reeeally good, I almost had problems taking my arms back down on the first drop before rocketing into the tunnel which looked way too tight to keep them up in the air. The laterals were much more forceful this time as well, especially on one instance, where you are brutally thrown to the side on a only about 10 degree turn on a seemingly straight bunny hill descent. The ending was great too, it looked like loosing speed in the POV, but the laterals in the final 3/4 Helix were the strongest sustained ones of the ride. I was amazed because of the amount of structural trembling, I'm sure the track waved back and forth about 5 inches when hitting the brakes?????????
What a rush! Might be that the thunder just had to warm up a bit in its first minutes of the day????????? It is now my favorite coaster by far. I know it's hard to compare, but I liked it better than any steelie as well, including EGF.

Tonnere de Zeus: 10/10

Be sure not to miss the new attraction Transdemonium when visiting the park. I think they made not enough publicity for it, as there never was a queue, but it is a special kind of Haunted mansion that is as good as disney?????????s, though much more original, including accelerations, great effects and much more.
There's also a good dolphin show at parc asterix.

I was glad to see a proper three train operation on trace du hourra, and even better, they easily allow you to sit in a car alone. That?????????s great as it would?????????ve been very narrow for me and my brother, both over 6????????? tall, to share one of those ?????????bobs?????????.
The ride was outstanding as well. Great queue theming, and the smoothest and best bobsled I've ridden. The turns provide good positives, from the start high up in the air right until the end between water, rocks and theming. The best was a large helix that tightens up as it rides DOWNwards (see pic below), ensuring sustained heavy g?????????s. The only reason Trace doesn't get a ten from me is that the ending, while still great, is not as furious as that helix. I took two great rides here.

Trace du Hourra: 9/10

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We then rode Peripherix, one of the most beautifully situated kiddie coasters if seen, all surrounded by these birch trees (as most of the park BTW). 4/5

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Be sure to try the great pizza of Caius pizzarium if you ever get to parc asterix!

Goudurix opened in the afternoon because that ?????????shining star????????? of the park doesn't operate below 11 degrees Celsius. I went for it and was really annoyed about seeing a one train operation there as well, the queue was a wasted 30 minutes. Though there was no max height, I simply didn't fit into these trains. But as I was squeezed in already, I decided to try ????????? I was seating in the middle to get as few pumps as possible.
I think the ride was not THAT bad. Vekoma really shouldn?????????t have tried the more complicated elements, but the loop and corks were fun [;)] The pacing and g?????????s seemed good to me as well, though it's hard to tell because I'm too tall for the train. It was rough, but rideable in the middle. Total lack of theming is what stinks and doesn't fit with the other rides of parc asterix.

Goudurix: 4/10

The family coaster Vol d?????????Icare is nicely themed and an ok ride, but the layout sucks as there is a lot of pre-braking for some laaame banked turns as an ending. The beginning was quite fun though. But trains are very uncomfortable and the ride is quite rough. 3/8

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We then went back to Transdemonium, and finally Tonnerre again. I took some pics this time when queueing, but the main part of the ride is hidden between a lot of trees. While this is nice for some shots, I wanted to get more of the coaster, so I went out of the queue, crossed the wood and got onto a road that looked public to me. Well it wasn't: after only about a minute, I was told to go back by about four park guys [;)] just enough time to get a shot of the first drop. Here is it, along with a few others I made before that:

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Ah, a classic[^]:
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I guess I was tired after all my day?????????s rides, as this time the thunder seemed no less than brutal to me (that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it[devilish]).

It was one of my best park stays ever, and we were so lucky it didn't rain, like the forecast had told.

I appreciate any comments!

Tomorrow, I'll type our last day: a pleasant calm stay at Disneyland with some surprisingly good coastering????????? [:D]

Seems like you had a great day. I have been wanting to go to Parc Asterix for a long time now. Maybe next year. Have a nice day at Disneyland tomorrow! Hopefully it isn't as crowded as when I was there a few years ago.

They have a cyberspace mountain at Dinsey Quest in downtown disney I was on it like more then 7 times its a pretty fun ride. Sounds like you had dun pad

Just for reference about your first ride on Tonnere... wood coasters almost never ride as good in the morning.

When I went on The Raven for the first time, I dissed it because it felt too slow. That was in the morning. Then, when I came back in the afternoon, it was a completely different ride. It went from being a fun ride through the woods to being an insane rush with intense airtime, ridiculous speed, and a complete out-of-control rush. That;s the rule of thumb. Never diss any wood coaster until you've ridden it in the late afternoon or night.

Thanks for the replies guys! Yeah cjd I've heard of that, that's what I meant with the coaster having to warm up. But I never thought it would be such an extreme difference! Why is it anyway, is it the actual temperature of the rails or the oil on them, or more the supports that are hard and eventually get more ?????????elastic?????????? Or something else? The description of your raven rides pretty much fits with the experiences I've had on tonnerre, except that my first ride was fun already.

Ok, here we go:

Disneyland Resort Paris

This day got started with little Peter Pan?????????s flight. My parents love that attraction, and so did I as a child, so we decided to give it a go as the queue was not yet long.
We then went on to frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountainall together. As the queue was 40 minutes already, we took a fast-pass before queueing so we could easily ride again later. My mum didn't take one, as she thought one ride?????????s enough for her????????? In that way, I could later use her ticket to get an extra fastpass somewhere else.
The ride OP?????????s were still telling people where to sit, but I thought I didn't queue for a lame front seat ride and asked if me and my brother could go to the rear. Surprisingly, they let us [;)] And it was a good decision: I hadn?????????t remembered the coaster to be THIS good, as we had rarely ridden it in the very back. Really, this minetrain is all it has to be. Each turn pulls either enough positives or laterals to be fun, and there are even 4-5 moments of airtime. Well, it's a bit strange air as it ejects you just as much forwards as upwards, but it's a hell lot of fun, especially when combined with headchoppin????????? rocks. The scenery is higher Disney level, meaning some of the best, and the greatest is still the last tunnel crossing beneath the lake, where the trains reach 40 mph on a shallow rumbling drop with a great sensation of speed. I love coasters on which the ending is the best of the whole ride!

Big Thunder Mountain: 10/10

I went on to Indiana Jones, and my brother seemed to be brave today as he joined me. We queued a 30 minutes or so. The line is well-themed here as well, even if not just as beautiful as on BTM. I was curious how the ride would be because I loved it as a kid and had waited for it to be turned back forwards for a very long time (backwards was nothing but rough and crappy). The trains were a lot better for me than Goudurix?????????, but still uncomfortable as the headrest was actually on the height of my neck. I enjoyed the ride a lot and thought it builds up excitement very well, with drops getting faster and a long straight section of track leading into the great drop-turn into the loop. As we sat in the back, that inversion started out quite mildly, but the heavy g?????????s hit us on the exit. That was great, as well as the following helix, but that's where the fun stopped a bit. A brake slowed the train down quite excessively after that, and the final two turns were still taken at an ok speed, but very anti-climatic. The roughness was not very bad IMO, a smooth ride wouldn't fit with the scenery, would it? Many complain about the ride?????????s shortness, but I think the layout would be just great ????????? if that brake after the helix was not there?????????!

Indiana Jones et le temple du peril: 7/10

Before we went on to Phantom Manor, I went to discoveryland to get my extra fastpass for Space Mountain. There, I saw waaay too many people, I have never been in any park this packed. What caught my eye also was that ugly Buzz Lightyear poop, which hurt me even more as they have built it where the Visionarium once stood.[:(!] That was one of my favorite attractions before, and fitting so well into the theme of Discoveryland! The only reason that kept me from hating Disney for this is that they turned Indiana Jones????????? trains back and changed the Space Mountain to Mission 2 ????????? another great news as I would see later.
Phantom Manor was good as always, the queue line was completely filled but was a lot faster than the last time. I took this BTM shot while queueing:
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Then, we had lunch at Walt?????????s. It's always part of the pleasure for my family to get good food. The pasta was average, but the dessert some of the best????????? I had to hurry up after that and got into space mountain right at the end of my fastpass time. I was a bit worried because I had eaten quite much for directly coasting upside down. But there was no problem then[;)]
Space Mountain had let down the last time I've visited the park, less smoke effect and music synchronizazion etc. I was glad to see its former glory now restored, here?????????s the cannon launching a train as it appears now:

Here is about when the launch occurs.
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Can you see the train? the first car has almost cleared the ramp already.
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On the ride, I was very positively surprised. Before, they had a lift hill that took you almost to the top of the cannon, where the launch started, and it was very weak. Now, the launch starts at the very bottom and is really enjoyable, about as strong as rock?????????n?????????rollercoaster?????????s. [launch] The new lighting effects are mostly in the second half of the track, and they really add a lot to the ride, mostly they?????????re special kind of light tunnels. The ride itself is actually well-laid out, I especially like the steep twisted drops that give some nice smooth kind of feeling, not yet floater air, but almost. The best part of the ride is a triple down that is constantly turning rightwards while dropping deeper and deeper, giving a nice sensation of speed and leading into the corkscrew. The headrest was at the right height for me this time, the OTSR hurt my shoulder a bit, but as my head was way above it I got no headbanging this time! [approve]

Space Mountain: Mission 2: 8/10

The day was rounded up by Star Tours, the Disney Railroad on which I took the following Indy pic, Pirates of the Carribean (all great attractions) and another Space Mountain ride with my brother.

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A great trip overall! [:D]

Nice to hear you had a nice day. Seems like the crowds was at the same size as when I was there. I haven't been there yet, but I don't think the revamp of Space mountain looks that good. I realy loved the Jules Verne theme of the old one, and imo the launch was fantastic. Ok it was veak, but the build up with the music building up was so great. Anyways I shouldn't judge the new version before I've tried it[;)]

I definitely agree that the THEME was a lot better before. I don't quite like the new one as good as the old one in its good days. But, last time I was there, the old one had no smoke effect anymore, and the music build up somewhat didn't work as well, the launch just happened suddenly with no build up at all[V] The best would've been IMO to keep the old theme, but make the smoke and music work again AND make the launch longer - I somewhat can't enjoy the building up of a launch that I know will pack no punch... But I assure you, even if it's more modern, the new effects are really fun. I guess for the GP, theme doesn't count as much. Visionarium's removal (this is the Jules Verne 360-degree film) is another sad example for this. Anyway, thanks for the comment.

I was there in 2000, and then the effects and the music was working great. It felt like you sat on that launch forever waiting. But if they kept the old theme and made the launch longer that would have been a great solution.

I think this whole retheming thing was just an exscuse for not building a new coaster. They needed a new attraction, or something to draw people. So they did this, and advertised it almost as it was a new coaster. Cheap way to draw crowds[;)]

^fully agreed. I guess it was also cheaper to put Buzz Lightyear's into the Visionariums building than to make a new building for it... It sucks, but works: never queued for visionarium, but now the people wait 75 minutes for that laser blast stuff; I wouldn't even have tried it without queueing. But what else should Disney do? They have a 100 millions deficite each year after all.