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Fruitful France (Wood Express) - Part 4: Dennatelle

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Oh no, it's me again. I'll try not to bore you too much.

Had these parks on the cards for what feels like forever now, but never quite got round to it. They were always toeing the line between too much of an arse to drive and not worth the hassle to fly.
Even after making the effort and getting up at 4am (nutters), life was against us as 90% of the roads on the way to the Chunnel were closed. Made it there 1 minute later than ‘check-in’ but were lucky enough to keep the time slot.
Many hours later…

Day 1 – Walygator

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Car park was surprisingly empty, though I do believe it never gets that busy here. Figured it should be an easy job and headed for food rather than creds. Queued more for the food than any of the rides and then took about 20 minutes to get a signal on the payment card reader, but the staff were friendly, so no harm done. Croissants for breakfast. Baguette for lunch. Doing them proud.

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Rides then. Started strong on the ol’ Family Coaster. Classic wacky worm but with the Walygator face and a rotting apple on it. Effort.

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Less effort went into the big boy it seems. Temperatures in the high 30s and no roof on the station wasn’t the best of combinations, but there was never more than a trains worth of queue.

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This was my first ‘big’ invert and you can definitely feel the difference in the way it’s all spaced out. Rather than the consistent flurry of forces there’s pauses, strange transitions, extended straights while it sorts itself out for the next element. Was weird, but I kinda liked it. Adds a bit of character.

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Elements themselves were great. Forceful loop, air-time out of the zero-G, hugely snappy (but never punchy) cobra and corkscrews, and a killer helix to finish (which hilariously makes every single person in the train shout in unison). I imagine the lack of mid course braking helps that second half a lot. Great stuff.

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Bog standard Vekoma looping thing was bog standard. The layout that inspired so many Chinese classics.

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Which leaves L’Anaconda. Expected one of two things going into this, either gonna be horribly rough or horribly boring. Managed to not quite achieve either.

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The layout is pointless, but it bounced along in a mostly rhythmic and amusing fashion. On the more pronounced moments I could feel my heart bouncing up and down, but I’ve felt worse. Locals love it for whatever reason and it got a round of applause on return. Normally that’s saved for something particularly special, but who am I to judge.

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I lied about the food queue being the longest. The water rides were hugely popular given the weather, but the queues were a good excuse for a bit of shade.

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Dinosaur rapids is a weird one. Only ride I’ve seen other than Valhalla that has 2 different types of boat in service. Layout was decent fun and the typical waterfall section was probably the most wet in recent memory with the boat actually ploughing into it, rather than teasing along side it.
The Jurassic Park theme was playing here in full force, but there weren’t that many dinosaurs. It’s only Walygator, we’ll let em off.

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Speaking of Valhalla.

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Log flume was somewhat shorted than expected, comprising of a single drop.

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Managed to last until the end of the day (without even noticing) by spacing out the intense laps on Monster and didn’t mind the park as a whole, as it has a certain crummy charm about it. They were announcing the progress of the French team in their world cup game while people were on the rides, to the sounds of cheers or groans, so they know how to crowd please.

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Spotted this on the way out, which I thought was a very nice touch. Got a bit of a museum going on with some park history.

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B&M wheel, not for sale.

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I remember him.

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Walibi Schtroumpf. Gotta be the best Walibi name.

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Many people were gathering outside the park and sweating profusely in preparation for a semi-marathon.
The car at this point, perhaps falsely, reported the outside temperature at 50 degrees as we got back in for another couple of hours drive.
Who were the real nutters here?
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
After a tricky night of finding everything closed (in the usual French fashion) and a quick burst of driving down the wrong side of the road, set off a little earlier the next morning to hunt down some breakfast. Ended up with some Pain of Chocolats. Still doing it right.

Day 2 – Nigloland

The sight of the 5th tallest drop tower in the world amongst some trees soon greeted us and we were amongst the first 50 cars or so to arrive at the car park. Was expecting it to get busier throughout the day, but it was all far too easy.

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World’s most lax bag check followed and we joined the crowd that had just been let in the park, all powering along the main pathway. They eventually all dispersed around us (not sure where to), leaving us with a virtually empty queue for Alpina Blitz. That works.

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I’m being spoiled by the number of these Mack trains I’ve sat in this season, they always feel so homely. Being a bit biased, I wanted this to be better than the Intamin almost-equivalent, but it never quite matched the ferocity of Piraten, who seems to be a particularly special beast.

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Was very happy to learn that it has its slight variations, so at least you get a somewhat different experience out of it.

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And it is of course still extremely good, for me the best ride in the country by some margin, combining comfort with a punchy mix of strong air timeses.

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Also wonderfully photogenic and nicely 'styled'. ;)

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Well I do feel like lazing around in the shade too.
But what else do they have on offer?

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Got your standard Mack mouse. This one is offensively smooth, almost to the point where it loses its fun.

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Got your standard Wacky Worm. Can't go wrong there.

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Cute little hedgehog ride with a hint of a dark ride section.

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Big wheel. Can't see a huge amount of the park from up there as it's so well... vegetated?

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Just the big boys.

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Was rather looking forward to Spatiale Experience as well. Big fan of Eurosat. Nervous about the current situation.

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The spirit lives on in the smaller brother here. Hasn't quite got the musicality, but it rides like a beast and is a lot of fun.

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Also got rather excited for this thing. Big fan of drop towers. And since when do they have pseudo lap bars? It's also massive and does give you your observational spin (for those who can bear to look), which is an added bonus.

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The drop itself was a tad underwhelming force-wise, as the big ones often are, but it goes on for an age. Got a bit stapled on both attempts which may have hindered things a little.

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Haunted Mansion was great. Fair amount of Disney inspiration going on, but still decent quality. Absolutely love the cars, which are just like an ornamental bench on top of a platform. They're very 'open' and give a rather good spin too.

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Euro-spited themselves here by having a new for 2018 declaration already on the map.

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Powered mine train was a thing. Bonus points for the log flume interaction. Minus points for teasing the log flume, which had the only massive queue all day.

Really liked the park overall.
Nice atmosphere, not overly busy.
Well kept, looks nice - the castle and Swiss areas are simple but effective.
Efficient operations, lots of fancy bag holders actually in use (Asterix...) and a couple of smart turnstyles that count down the correct number of people per batch.
Water jets scattered around to keep people cool.
Good ride selection.
Decent food.
Free parking.
No complaints at all really.

Good for you Nigloland.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
The drop itself was a tad underwhelming force-wise, as the big ones often are, but it goes on for an age.
The length of the drop is amazing. I love how late the brakes kick in.

Minus points for teasing the log flume, which had the only massive queue all day.
Also minus points for the klaxon in the station. That was vile.

Nigloland was great - I too really enjoyed my day there. Glad you liked it too.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Was gonna hold off a little longer, but the chunnel wouldn't have it. Another obnoxiously early start and battling with closed roads, but for a worthy cause. There's new wood on the horizon.

Day 1 - Parc Saint Paul

Walked away from this place less than a year ago thinking it was a good little park, but probably won't be back. Then they had to be awesome and throw this thing up out of the blue.

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Look at the colour of it. Doesn't get much newer than that.

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They havent had the chance to put up a sign yet.

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Wasn't open first thing as they were still hammering some wood onto the lift hill.

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And then taking a small group of people with EGF, cedar point and the wrong coaster crate shirts for a backstage tour + ERT. Ugh, enthusiasts.

Sadly Wild Train was down all day (the train has gone walkies), so took some time to reacquaint ourselves with Formule 1.

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Pax you crazy beasts. Without the other one in direct comparison, this was a lot better than I remembered. Ridiculous air time in the big drop and the stupid bunny hill and rides way smoother than it should.

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Log flume was something different to try. The dinosaur craze continues.

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Also did this haunted walkthrough thing, hoping it would be a ride or something. Highlight was a piece of vibrating floor. Reminded me of Lost Gravity. Good times.

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The French were being cheeky and slithering in past a fence earlier than the posted opening time, so we assumed it was all ready.

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Gravity you crazy beasts. How can you pack so much into so little. Not being much of a fan of Twister, I assumed they were a go big or go home company, but turns out they really are my boys when it comes to wood.

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13, not that I like to count them, moments of very decent air time. Well paced with a good bit of variety, all out of 49ft. And the station is like halfway up, so it coulda done more.
*Insert derogatory Wicker Man comment here*

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Trains are cute, no-belt baby Timberliners, it was weird for me to not see them in red. They seem to always be red. Except that one that's blue. And the one they copied this from.

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This place never seems to get particularly busy, and they were operating very well for 1 train of 12 people, so got plenty of goes out of it with a consistent 10-15 minute queue. Back row was the place to be, just for the extra bonus in the first drop really.

Brilliant investment for the price. Well done PSP.

So what else can we find around here?

A million cars covered in bike racks and stickers were driving recklessly in the opposite direction while a local town ground to a halt, so we got stuck in the Tour de France on the way to the next parc. All part of the culture.

Parc du Bocasse

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Celebrating 50 years with Parc du Bocasse seemed like a bit of laugh. Was quite a nice place actually. Reminded me of that RCT park with the bridge over the road, mainly because it has a bridge over the road.

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Minimal dinosaur effort on the first cred. Zamperla version that does spin. Not bad.
I say this every time now, but still never got better than Brighton Pier.

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Never managed to get a Soquet before, so this was my first. Fairly inoffensive thing, kinda like a small French Jet Coaster, but nowhere near as cool.
The V-shaped track and half-arse 45 degree up/side-stop wheels kinda bug me.

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That leaves Gonzales. DC rivals colour with a legit IP.

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The twisty air time hill looked like it could rival Alpina Blitz, but only managed about as much as Shambhala.

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Gave the tower a crack as it seemed relatively big and didn't recognise who made it. Was surprisingly decent. 3 rounds of 3 upwards shots, the first of each providing a bit of tingle (I'll leave it to your imagination as to where).

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Spotted what looked like a gem on the way in. Is that a... a Hafema log flume? My boys when it comes to water.

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Apparently not, it's a Soquet, very suspiciously similar to Mami Wata (if that means anything to you). What's all this about the Chinese when the French are at it as well.

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It does a Tidal Wave to the exit path, soaking the unsuspecting, or in the case of a hot day, the ready and willing.

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Couple more dinosaurs than the cred here.

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Dinosaurs crashed a plane.

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Or something about time travel? My stamps don't quite last that long.

One of the staff guys at the ride was either from Parkfan or calling me a park fan (apologies for me being massively confused and tired at this point).
I assumed the former (but without actually knowing that was a thing) and I kept saying no as if I wasn't the latter.
Conversation ended with "Kärnan - great ride" with a thumbs up and a nod, so all was well.

This feels like a very name drop entry. Sorry to that guy who doesn't like things being compared with other things in trip reports.

Up next: Reverchon vs Zamperla Spinners. The showdown continues.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
This particular crawl was meant to happen last year, but it turned into something better(?) in the same area.
Better late than never.

Day 2 - Dennlys Parc

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Not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Tiny little place with Spanish pop music everywhere, had a fair bit of charm.

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Got extra excited for a bit as I had forgotten what this is, but damn, it's a Moebius. Sends you round both sides in one cycle, so no quandaries about half a cred or anything.
Couple of rough turns, but nothing too serious. The main drops and hills weren't bad, but it ain't no Pax.

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Can it get worse? The 'worst custom steel rollercoaster in the world' - Mitch Hawker 2013.

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What? How? Same inoffensiveness as the Soquet yesterday. Does pretty much nothing.

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And we'll finish off the coasters with pretty much nothing. At least it's an obscure manufacturer for the list. Only 2 Gosettos in the world.

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Did one of those Desperado 4D screen shoothing things with the little horses as they're quite fun. Must have done too many now, victory came quite easily.

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Got one of those discount rapids things. Was a laugh.

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That looks like the same tower as yesterday. Eh, might as well.
No tingle from this bad boy though. Pure ejector at the top of each main burst. They're running it hard. Highlight of the park for sure.

That was all rather easy. Next?

Bagatelle

Bit of a weird entrance to this place. Bag check before a pink tunnel under the road, then some big metal entrance gates and many confused people.

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Excellent once you get inside though. First thing you come to is a Wacky Worm on tarmac. Beautiful.

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Was expecting some at least some moderate crowding on a summer weekend, but maybe football is good for something. Walked straight on to Gaz Express.

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The Soquet Aquatrax, potentially their finest achievement. 2 helixes of doom, one moment of violent air time in the back and some tasty fire effects. Who could ask for more?

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Famous Jack. Doesn't sound like a cred, but here we are. Reverchon failed to beat Zamperla today.

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The last couple of areas had seemed quite nice, but now we've stumbled onto concrete wasteland with an Invertigo on it. It's like they know not to try and glam it up.

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With their Paris Metro air gates.

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Oh no, Invertigo. My very first. Got somewhat nervous about how terrible it could be. Sign even says 'side impacts' (or lateral chocolate), so that's reassuring.

Restraints are super hench, like El Condor already touching your ears hench, so that's reassuring.

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It's fine. No problem at all. Not as intense as a regular Boomerang, and smoother than most of them. Might still be a spark of Liseberg magic left in it.

Can't find the last cred now.

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Oh there it is, baby Soquet. That'll do.

Again that was all rather easy, time for a baguette and to see what else they have.

Like Bocasse, they were also celebrating some sort of anniversary, by splashing out on a new(?) film for their simluator thing. This was beyond confusing, starting with what felt like a circus horror walkthrough, expecting a preshow in a punch and judy box, nope, expecting a preshow in a room with screens inside giant 3D glasses, nope, straight on the ride, no glasses, simulators are decorated with bones. Pop music playing. Hold the red bar.
Rollercoaster on the moon!
Well that was a thing.

Disaster struck. Somehow my drink had leaked absolutely everywhere in my bag. An actual swimming pool of it, just stewing in the bottom.
Everything got affected, everything. All smells rather fruity now, but also a tad sticky and I've had to order a new passport. Volvic you heartless bastards.

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Log flume had a bit of pace to it. Drier than my bag though.

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Is that a... a Hafema rapids? Assume it's a Soquet again, but it's got the crazy whirlpool thing, just with less enjoyable wall collision. This became the trip of surprisingly good water rides. Drier than my bag though.

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Who needs one log flume when you can have 2? Smaller than the first, but a more intense drop for its size. Drier than my bag though.

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Had another go on Gaz Express and some kid in front decided to stick his hand/head in the Aquatrax. I got SOAKED by this, but still drier than my bag.

And that was it. Place was turning into a ghost town due to that sports thing and we had a Chunnel to catch. Assume everyone in the terminal was British as there was no reaction to the result. Delayed as always. People moaning as always. Burger King broken as always. That's enough of that for one year.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Hey, some reports about my home country :D Good reads as usual. Agree with you about Alpina being the best coaster in France!

And then taking a small group of people with EGF, cedar point and the wrong coaster crate shirts for a backstage tour + ERT. Ugh, enthusiasts.

Seems like you went to PSP the same day as CoastersWorld.fr!
 

vaugc002

Mega Poster
I just discovered this thread of your TRs - thanks for sharing all this/ taking the time to write it up btw!
Looks like a really well-planned trip, hoovering up the creds of Northern(ish) France.
The drop towers look pretty amazing, and I love how consistently green these parks are
 
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