Mickey De Gaul (France - May 2012)

[Will]

And so, the Live that was not to be finally reaches its end, and because I'm lazy and have today off work, I seem to be one of the first people to get on here, and might as well try to do a bit of writing before the memories fade away entirely. I've even taken a handful of pictures for the first time in ages, but my camera's being a bit of a burden, so I'll sort those later. It was a strange trip to say the least - not likely to go down as one of the all time greats, but nevertheless far from lacking in moments of brilliance and hysterical laughter.

Of course, it was with neither of these things that my contingent of the group kicked off from Cantebury Travelodge at Gross o'clock on Saturday morning. The ferry crossing was not an enjoyable one, so I'll skip straight to the first park of the trip - Parc Saint Paul. I'll be honest - first impressions weren't good, aside from the one car in the car park reversing backwards and forwards at high speed through an impressively deep puddle - he looked like he was having a whale of a time!

Three recurring themes began to establish themselves at this point - bloody awful toilets, unappetising food and equally undesirable weather that on nearly every occasion we just avoided - on the entire trip, we'd only meet with heavy downpours whilst in the car. Regardless, all these things were overlooked as our park visit kicked off with easily the most terrifying attraction of the trip - the best way to describe it is a self-propelled zipwire which continued for an entire coaster layout, featuring a frankly upsetting amount of spinning; I was unsure whether I loved it or hated it and had to ride a further twice to make up my mind ... to be honest, I remain undecided!
Other notable attractions included a generic spin 'n' spew (where I was cruelly reacquainted with the principles of gravity after foolishly sitting on Neal's left) some brilliantly mental dodgems which a lot of people enjoyed so much they had 2 or 3 rides, Richard particularly unwilling to be separated from his tasteful pastel pink car ('NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER!) whilst I was appreciative of the amount of Formula 1 based theming, which also infected the unimaginatively named Wild Mouse. The two 'pax creds' were deserving of insanity accolades based on banking alone - Formule 1 was perhaps a little too brutal in parts, but the red Wild Train has firmly sealed itself as my all time favourite 'family' coaster - I can say with all sincerity that based not only on enjoyability but on airtime that I'd take it over Stealth, Rita or any number of [oddly] popular British attractions any day - riding like something that wouldn't be out of place in Bakken, Wild Train reminded me of everything coasters are supposed to be about - to the extent that Neal and myself ran back round for countless rerides, much to the ire of staff and other CFers alike.

The dinosaur theming on the surprisingly good log flume was impressive as well - Sue particularly enjoyed it, but I wasn't keen on the unexpected DROWNING I received on EVERY drop, even from the back of the boat. I think it made Marc's day though The final two coasters were the world's most boring Reverchon spinner (which, it can safely be said did NOT do exactly what it said on the tin) and an equally forgettable Wacky Worm. Well - I say forgettable, but I reckon Neal's legs would disagree with me after the impressive contortionist act he had to pull off in order to gain a +1 he'd later claim vehemently not to care about Anyway, with credit whoring and praising (and subesequent sectioning) of Wild Mine's designer suitably complete, it was time to move on. Destination: Paris.

I'll be brutally honest - through the fault of absolutely nobody, the journey to Paris was not an enjoyable one, particulary from the station onwards - the fact that I'd only eaten a crepe and an Asda sandwich all day, coupled with minimal sleep was beginning to catch up with me, so I may have become a little grouchy - indeed much of the evening could be fairly described as fraught - but this, unlike the +3 that was Jardon d'Acc...frenchplacethatIcan'tspell is now unimportant. Sad to say that aside from the effort that was finding the park entrance, then to work out the right number of ride tickets and somehow acquire them - my memories are a little fuzzy. There were children who liked to walk into me, and others getting involved with fish shaped kites(??) as well as pheasants in cages, and an angry peacock NOT in a cage. It was a strange place, as Neal pointed out when attempting non-goony POVs on the day's second Reverchon spinner (this one did at least remember to spin AND lacked the loathsome ending section) and the smaller family coaster. The final coaster was another Bakken style mine train of insanity with equally illogical theming - it wasn't bad, to be honest.

In fact, it'd be fair to say that the Jardin itself wasn't bad - on a different day, I might have been tempted to investigate further, but like Tivoli Gardens 3 years ago, it seemed the heavens were about to open, and most of us were in serious need of a relax - via the excitement of an RCT pinball machine and yet another grotesque toilet, we agreed to head back to the hotel And for its part, the hotel - less than 10 minutes drive from Parc Asterix, meaning a GLORIOUS amount of time in bed as well as the best showers I've had in a VERY long time, greeted us with a choice of the inevitable golden arches or more upmarket cuisine - for my part, I've rarely been so pleased to see the former, though Marc seemed to have fun and games explaining that he wanted 2 meals - not 5.
Content yet exhausted, all that was left (besides the deepening mystery of Neal's inseparability from his phone) to do was crawl into what seemed like the most comfortable top bunk in the all time history of top bunks. A long day had drawn to a close, and Zeus and Oz Iris awaited

...

I just closed this tab, and had a mini heart attack. Firefox, oh how I love thee. Nevertheless, I've decided this can be split. Partly because I'm too lazy to type it all at once!

 

[peep]

Yay a Will Trip report. Was a good read, shame about the weather and the state of the loos on your trip. I'm intrigued to see what you think about Asterix and Disney.

 

[marc]

I will do a trip report this weekend.

Out of Wills thoughts the only 2 things that were a theme were dirty toilets and food I actually thought we were lucky with the weather .

Everyone seems interested with the thoughts on Asterix. Not many agreed with me on the trip but I was not impressed with the hype it gets. Maybe I am not a fan of woodies but I thought Zeus was totally over rated and have been on better. Oz was so lame 3 rows in from the back but front row was fun but no better than Inferno which was a shame. Its new though and needs to bed in, did not notice the mid course though so thats good. Oz though has the best zero G roll though that I have ever experienced, really felt like I was floating. The 1st drop was great as well from the front row.

Lets just be clear Zeus is ok its not a bad coaster, but I got no air time apart from the 1st drop when sat at the back. But it is fast and does not let up. I sort of put it level with Grand National.

It was a fun day though and the park is nice, very well themed in areas and very clean.

The rides are not themed though, I thought when people said great theming I thought they meant the rides are so I think this is why I was let down.

 

[Gavin]

Annoyed.

The only reason I didn't come on this was because of a concert on the Friday night. It got canceled at the last minute, but too late to do anything about it at that point.

Bollocks.

 

[Will]

Out of Will's thoughts the only 2 things that were a theme were dirty toilets and food I actually thought we were lucky with the weather

Yeah, that's what I said - or at least what I was trying to say - we DID meet with grim weather from time to time, but it was always seen from beneath a car windscreen, never really got rained on in a park.
...

Saturday

As I mentioned, the Parc Asterix day began at an entirely more acceptable hour - there was chance to get ready at a leisurely pace for a change, and even an opportunity for free espressos thanks to the awesome staff. Following that, there was the short drive to the park, during which time Richard still managed to cause his trademark panic, mayhem, havoc and pandemonium on the French toll road of WHY.

Collecting tickets and getting into the park was a surprisingly stress-free process, and soon enough, Neal was leading the way to Zeus. Zeus, for its part, had decided that its favourite number of trains was 1, causing a frustrating wait, although getting the second to back car, with a joyfully loose restraint (until the first hill got involved!). What did I think of the ride? Difficult to say, but I think I’m ultimately going to side with Marc and say that much as I enjoyed the relentless speed and utter chaos that was the layout, a wooden coaster needs more airtime and maybe slightly less aggression – I spent a lot of time removing myself from the side of the carriage! It’s better than Grand National, obviously, but I’d put it in company with Troy and Balder, rather than Colossos and Megafobia – and even with a damp track, it seemed to drag a little first thing in the morning.

Next, Sue wanted to ride the magic carpet, for some reason – and also wanted to have a tickling fight with me in the queue. It wasn’t pretty. Neither was the ride to be honest, the tickling had distracted me from the fact that it was a magic carpet and my stomach hates those – even more so when the restraint is at Richard & Owain level – not sure ejector is a strong enough word!!

Then, much to everyone’s excitement, Rach arrived and, hearing dulcet Birmingham tones, we made our way back to the exit to meet her. After an early morning, Rach looked a little broken, so we decided to start her day gently. “LOL J/K” Goudirix. Between Neal, Richard and Mitch Hawker voters, I’d heard a LOT about this ride, very little of it good, but I’d have to say, it looked particularly intimidating. Nevertheless, deciding that you only live once, I bravely opted for a seat towards the back. This was a mistake – other than trying desperately to cushion my head against blow after merciless blow, I remember very little of the next couple of minutes – suffice to say, before two inversions were over, my vision had gone. Other than Typhoon at Bobbejaanland this time last year, it’s a LONG time since I’ve seen grey on a coaster, but Goudirix made it happen. All the same, while I was in no hurry to go anywhere near the thing again, you can’t fault the coaster for having character. Just for… not being what you’d call a smooth operator!

I’m struggling a little now – from hereon in, I have very little idea of what order we did things in, so… just bare with me if I cock up. All I know is that exploring commenced, and I wanted to ride Oz Iris – with it being a B&M invert and all, it’s basically what I’d wanted since we drove tantalisingly close to the park the previous evening, and now we were closer still.

And yet the waiting persisted – Sue and others wanted to ride Oxygenarium, while Mark and Rich were basically inhaling obscene quantities of sugar. Other than the obvious Dream Theater references, I wasn’t overjoyed by the ride, despite its obvious superiority over Storm Surge, and the vast improvement lying sideways on the seat in order to keep your feet clear of the burgeoning LAKE in the bottom of the boat made to it!

Only NOW would be make the way towards Oz Iris, and, in conjunction with my usual policies – a B&M meant NOT waiting for people to finish smoking before entering the queue line. Probably including myself. The queue line itself was quite impressive, taking in views of the coaster that weren’t available from elsewhere in the park then exploring a well themed (the people who are accusing Asterix of not being themed, you can’t deny the area around Oz Iris was good looking, even if I AM perhaps wearing my B&M blinkers!) indoor section. Perhaps the best feature of the queue line was that it was short, and I was soon seated on the second to back row and awaiting something truly special. And to be fair, for the first hundred metres or so, something special WAS delivered, the first drop was fast, forceful and intense, while the first inversion packed ALL the punch we’ve come to expect from an invert. And then, without warning, it stopped – for a while I thought I was having some kind of out of body experience before eventually realising: no, this is completely and utterly forceless. And STILL, I don’t get why. I can’t fault the layout, I love the fact that it does different things from what we normally expect, and I can’t very well bleat that it’s too smooth either, but that’s moreorless how it felt. In some ways, it’s very good, yet in others, it’s a total disappointment – I’m told I need to ride at the front, but the concept of an invert being best at the front makes NO sense to me…

Unsettled by this, I wanted to ride again, but first there were more credits to be mopped up, starting with the tedious kiddie coaster next door to Oz. I have a perhaps irritational dislike of this ride type – as I mentioned the previous day, there are some family coasters that I perhaps enjoy a little too much (looking at you Drakke, Pegasus etc.) but the Zierers and Tivolis of this world really wind me up. Richard kept me entertained during the ride discussing which our least favourite were (bloody Plopsaland...) and making rather tasteless remarks about them. And typing that has reminded me of Sue’s goon spreadsheet. Oh Sue. When will you learn?

Next up was the bobsled. The bobsled looked a lot bigger than they usually do, and thus I was intrigued – alas the queue was ALSO big, and horror of horrors, we’d left BOTH packets (all Stunt Fall aside, the SAVIOURS of the anti-Eurotrip of 2010) of Top Trumps in Richard’s car. The solution to boredom was obvious – tear up Sue’s goon spreadsheet and make our own cards on the back, and as for the category, it didn’t take long for us to use ourselves, scored on height, goon factor, burden factor, volume, mystery and [credit] whore rating (for which one card earned an unenviable 666). Anyway, those who were there already know this, and those who weren’t probably think it’s a boring story – to be completely honest, it WAS more fun to make than to play – 16 wasn’t nearly enough cards, but the hell that was unleashed if you were unlucky enough to find either Rach or AJ in your hand perhaps made up for it!

But I digress – I was meant to be telling you about the ride. Yet again, I made a severe mistake with riding positioning, opting for the back carriage with Richard, who’d had a lot of sugar earlier and spent the ride trying to make me as uncomfortable as possible – taking advantage of the fact that the restraint dropped another click each time I laughed uncontrollably. All discomfort aside though, that was probably my second favourite bobsled behind Heide’s – as I said, it’s a lot taller than usual, so the banking and outright speed surprised me quite a lot – in short, it continued the theme of laughing fits on rides. And awkward T-Rexes.

It was supposed to be time for food now, but I was outvoted in favour of water rides – starting with the Log Flume. The best thing I can say for Asterix’s water rides is that either their throughput is excellent or nobody rides them – whatever the reason, the queues were minimal. Again, the Log Flume was fun, but delivered a slightly unexpected level of wetness, particularly after Richard making the rookie error of sticking his head out to the side in order to check on the splash – and thus being spited in the face by it. Heh-heh-heh.

I *think* ‘Le Grand Splatch’, as the website informs me it’s called followed, and here, Richard decided to have his revenge – it didn’t help that I was feeling invincible after surviving the Flume relatively dry and thus my coat strategy wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been – suffice to say the clothes that I’d left at the bottom of the bag got hung on the bathroom door once we got to the hotel. I’d have got away with it too, had Richard not decided to SHOVE me into the edge seat. Then again, I guess there was the ugly incident with the wet leaf and the trousers, so maybe we’re equal. Conclusively, the signs in the station were fun to read phonetically, even if none of us REALLY understood what they were trying to say!

There were also Rapids. Neal told us that he had no recollection of Asterix having rapids after his trip 2 years ago, and to be honest, it’s not difficult to see why. Neither **** nor boring can truly do them justice – it was basically several minutes of NOTHING, so aside from the amusement caused by Mark and Marc raging at them, and the [very] occasional splash, nothing about them deserves to have any more text devoted to it.

I’d say much the same about the VERY small kiddie credit (la Ronde des Rondins?) that we mopped up slightly before the rapids. In fact, the kindest thing I can say is that it was a +1 and at least we weren’t subjected to too many demeaning laps!!

Then it was finally time for lunch, which caused a fair amount of confusion for those of us who don’t speak French if we can avoid it. Ending up in the chicken and pizza shop spawned in ‘… in the chicken and pizza shop’ game, though it’s likely that only Rach and Richard will understand that! Similarly, its testament to how different French cherry coke is from English that the bottle was placed in my bag, and I’m still struggling to drink it as I type now, having run out of the real thing. The food was… well, it was good enough, it did what generic park fast food is supposed to do.

Lunch was followed by the haunted swing – the real name of which I have NO idea of, but the queue was at least reasonable. I really liked the first pre-show where riders faces were shopped onto French warriors in order to populate the army, but owing to the ride’s large capacity, this took a VERY long time. The next room was very much lost in translation and had an unfortunate habit of rotating – the one after that was equally antisocial, leading to wet floors for a reason that again I didn’t work out thanks to the language barrier. I’d guess it’s just because they can. I’ve just read this back to myself and realised how much it sounds like I’m moaning, but I’m afraid I’m going to carry on – again, I really like and was surprised by the fact that you CAN do slightly different things with the haunted swing than the generic room revolution and there were definite differences between a vault with a branch and the French warship, but alas those differences included TV screens and octopuses, both of which I could have done without.

And now I have REALLY no idea what happened next – I’d guess it was around 2:30, and we had another aimless wandering session, ending in me drinking Red Bull and Owain getting lost in the toilet (if it's any consolation, my insides still hate me a bit. I blame ice cream and Disney nuggets of WHY). Actually, this was one of my highlights of the day, though again, only Richard was around to appreciate it, as the large platform in front of us was unexpectedly populated by an attractive pair of French teenage girls. I have genuinely no idea what they were actually doing, but, coupled with the fact that they’d climbed onto a stage to do it, it looked particularly interesting to the casual observer. Unfortunately, after around 10 minutes of this, they cottoned on to our presence, and said something strange in French. I put my tongue back in, and beat a hasty retreat. Anyway, I’m going to guess that we went back to Zeus now, for Rach to get the cred and decide upon a verdict; and while it was my intention to ride with her, I forget if it ended up happening – either way, even with a second train happily added to the track, our seat wasn’t ideal. The ride was a hell of a lot better in the afternoon though, but still nothing world beating – just Will beating!!

Following Zeus, there was one more credit to mop up – the outdoor Black Hole type thing around the corner – once again, I don’t remember a lot about that, except that having to ‘queer up’ to ride ended in yet more discomfort at my end – though not nearly as much as Rach experienced whilst being rear-ended by Neal. Nobody needs that in their lives!

Oz Iris also got a re-ride, in fact, it clearly deserved it more than Zeus did, and was improved almost as much by a second ride, though as I mentioned earlier, it seems I wanted the front seat for the best experience. I did manage to find more force along the way second time around though, and appreciated the splashdown and zero-g more as a consequence. There was much faffing now, as myself, Sue and Owain had been too lazy to queue for the front (and Sue had been distracted by pulling the station apart, squeeing at rocks and singing ‘Put a piece of pumice in your ear’. Sue is broken.) Annoyingly, the queue was too long to re-ride, so we played the waiting game.

Around 5:15, the group split for the final time, as Neal and Kim opted for some Zeus whorage, while the rest of us went for a wander to see what we could find. Things we could find included a bin that was fun to rotate, some giant shoes for Mark to stand in while getting involved in some slightly awkward roleplay with yours truly, a confusing show which we inadvertently walked through the middle of, a slide that me and Richard both got stuck in at the same time, a climbing wall and a number of shops that DIDN’T sell cigarettes. As you can imagine, a list like that killed a decent amount of time, before Rich and Sue came up with the idea of hiring a pedalo. Always the one to enjoy depriving couples of their private time, and thinking this sounded entirely too hilarious to miss, I paid a Euro or two to join in. Money well spent – although I don’t like life jackets, it turns out Sue likes being driven backwards into GIANT model ducks even less, and Parc Asterix pedaloe staff aren’t huge fans of me either – but what can I say, assorted Titanic injokes were being made for some reason, thus retribution had to be swift, and the most easily available featured ducks! Other activities included scaring the natives and attempting to ground the boat, but whilst Sue and Rich may have spent some of the ride plotting a camping, canoeing and… everything else beginning with C holiday for later in the year, I think it’s fair to say we have radically differing views on watersports!

Zeus had closed, meaning even Neal had made his way back towards the entrance (though it would be a LONG time before anyone could extract him from the numerous tat shops) and so one final ride of amusement had brought the day to a close, and now with added Rach, it was time to fire up Luca, Javier and Olivier and point ourselves in the general direction of Paris – our next stop, confusing one way streets and utterly illogical junctions aside, was to be Vallee d’Europe.

On arrival here, the hotel receptionist looked far from thrilled to see us, perhaps because many of us thought toilets took priority over checking in; whilst the Asterix facilities were acceptable, it was a relief to find a clean one! After finding our rooms, we had a short while to sort our lives and have the inevitable walking vs. train argument before going towards ‘Downtown Disney’ in search of food.

Now I’m sorry, but this area is a bit of a **** – it might has well have big signs up saying ‘Haha, you’re TRAPPED, poor unfortunates, now spend MONEY!’ but whilst outside wasn’t pretty, inside the Rainforest Café where myself, Rach, Sue, Rich, Owain and Kim eventually opted to eat was a very different story. I admit it, I walked in sulking having wanted to go to the steak house, but my mood was lifted as soon as I saw a massive tropical marine fish tank, with a THREADFIN BUTTERFLYFISH in it <3 To improve matters, we were sitting next to another. But that wasn’t the true highlight – that came at the end of the meal when myself, Sue and Richard decided to end the day in the most gluttonous way possible – our main courses had vanished in 2 or 3 minutes without touching the sides, therefore, bring on the Volcano! I look forward to seeing Sue’s picture of the dessert which initially seemed like the best 8 Euros I’d spent on the trip on anything that didn’t end in ine, but by the end had become a slightly unusual form of self-mutilation. I entered the Rainforest Café with my belt on its 7th notch, and exited on number 6, content, but slightly nauseous. I’ll also say with pride at this point that me and Sue did ‘beat’ Richard and Owain, but as Homer Simpson teaches us, ‘it’s not whether you win or lose, but how drunk you get’. And to be fair, 2009 at Bakken showed us that Richard can outeat even morbidly obese Will, so at my current size, I didn’t really stand a chance. Man vs. food indeed.

Relatively pleased with the way life was now going, but perhaps not so keen to see any more of Disney at the upsetting time Mark wanted us back to collect the tickets the following morning, it was time to head back to the hotel. On something of a sugar high, Richard’s company remained amusing for the evening – until unconsciousness actually consumed him, and he began snoring with his mouth closed, making a noise a little like a horse. I guess it’s as well he wasn’t staying with Neal, but that my friends, is another story for another time.

I’ll write a report for Disney soon, but that was effort and I need to sort my life out and try to stop being ‘holiday Will’ now…

 

[Ben]

I will do a trip report this weekend.

Out of Wills thoughts the only 2 things that were a theme were dirty toilets and food I actually thought we were lucky with the weather .

Everyone seems interested with the thoughts on Asterix. Not many agreed with me on the trip but I was not impressed with the hype it gets. Maybe I am not a fan of woodies but I thought Zeus was totally over rated and have been on better. Oz was so lame 3 rows in from the back but front row was fun but no better than Inferno which was a shame. Its new though and needs to bed in, did not notice the mid course though so thats good. Oz though has the best zero G roll though that I have ever experienced, really felt like I was floating. The 1st drop was great as well from the front row.

Lets just be clear Zeus is ok its not a bad coaster, but I got no air time apart from the 1st drop when sat at the back. But it is fast and does not let up. I sort of put it level with Grand National.

It was a fun day though and the park is nice, very well themed in areas and very clean.

The rides are not themed though, I thought when people said great theming I thought they meant the rides are so I think this is why I was let down.

Not been on Oz, obv, but, I agree totally with everything else.

So over-rated is Asterix <//3 Especially Zeus. Urgh.

I need to go back though, three creds there now <//3

 

[marc]

I missed a cred I did not do that hanging one on Parc Saint Paul so now I will have to go back

Its not on RCDB but on coaster counter.

Yes Will that 5 Big Mac meal part was funny but not at the same time. I just don't get how he did not understand the word 2 and me holding up 2 fingers. I really did struggle in anywhere but Disney.

 

[Martyn B]

Just noticed there's a cred at Mer de Sabler, which is a stones throw from Asterix. Did you go there?

 

[marc]

Nope we did not go there, tbh did not have time anyway.

 

[Will]

Will that 5 Big Mac meal part was funny but not at the same time. I just don't get how he did not understand the word 2 and me holding up 2 fingers. I really did struggle in anywhere but Disney.

Haha, to be fair, the last time someone stuck 2 fingers up at me, I'm pretty sure it's not a Big Mac they were after. And I'm not even French

 

[peep]

The rides are not themed though, I thought when people said great theming I thought they meant the rides are so I think this is why I was let down.

You didn't go on Cesar did you? You wouldn't say that if you had.

I think with coasters like Zeus it's all down to personal preference. Most seem to love pure air time machines where I prefer a coaster to do something at decent speed, I think that's what I loved about it (I'll re-kindle my thoughts on it this weekend ) oh and the first drop when sitting at the back is pure epicness.

Still, really interesting to hear what everyone has to say about two of my fav theme parks.

 

[Will]

Some photos for you, as I don't have time to sort them properly on Facebook right now...

St. Paul
Firstly, Neal and Rich enjoying the dodgems entirely too much...

I didn't just like this for the obvious reason, you HAD to be that desperate in order to brave Saint Paul's toilets!

Richard likes slides:

This train is wild, and belongs to the surprise package of the trip:

Parc Asterix
If you're wondering, I DID like Asterix, but it's not one of my favourites... This coaster looks nice; isn't.

Oh Force, where for art thou? Nom nom nom nevertheless.

THERE it is… <3

And here, maybe?

or maybe not. Clearly I’m neither tall nor loud enough for THAT cred!

This one’s better anyway.

I do not want that, or an earworm of a song in my ear, thanks, Sue…

The Log Flume broke. Heh-heh-heh.

Then we went to Disneyland, apparently. I only took one really generic picture there.

 

[marc]

The rides are not themed though, I thought when people said great theming I thought they meant the rides are so I think this is why I was let down.

You didn't go on Cesar did you? You wouldn't say that if you had.

I think with coasters like Zeus it's all down to personal preference. Most seem to love pure air time machines where I prefer a coaster to do something at decent speed, I think that's what I loved about it (I'll re-kindle my thoughts on it this weekend ) oh and the first drop when sitting at the back is pure epicness.

Still, really interesting to hear what everyone has to say about two of my fav theme parks.

Yes we went on that, was great until the ride happened lol. The water room was really good and the picture part but let down by a ride that just felt rushed.

As I said the park was far to hyped up and thats what let it down. For me the theming was all on the surface and nothing was behind it. Tbh its themed like Chessington.

 

[Mark]

Hmmm, well to be honest, what with Wills fantabulously accurate and descriptive trip report there is very little point in repeating it.

However, I will give my thoughts of the parks.

Parc Saint Paul reminded me a lot of Paultons. A quaint little park that is normally sufferable with a decent group of CFers. I could imagine CF having a lot of fun there. Would I return? Like Paultons... not unless they get something epic.

Jardin was very nice. It reminded me of Liseberg in the sense that it is a nice scenic park with rides, albeit kiddie creds in this instance. It is the sort of park I would like to have a small amble round looking at all the other non-ride related stuffs.

Park Asterix. After many year it was time to return to a park that I hadn't visited in many years, in fact, since the early days of my time on CF. To be honest, my opinion of the park or its coasters has not changed all that much. Everything looks very nice on the surface. The theming appears to all be there. However, I am not sure whether a themed station constitutes a full themed coaster. The only coaster that really achieves that is Oz Iris and even then there are areas of flight over gravel. I assume the theming is yet to be finished as it still looked rather mid construction.

To just chime in on the Zeus thing. I have never rated it particularly highly and have always favoured Megaphobia. However, as I told the group, I was willing to give it another go. Don't get me wrong, it really maintains a fantastic pace and is certainly forceful but for me, it is missing something but I have no idea what.

Overall, I really like Parc Asterix but I don't necessarily rate it as highly as some others do.

Since Will is in the mode of storyteller I will allow him to continue before I go onto DLP...

 

[nadroJ]

I'm glad there's been something written about the Asterix water rides, they've always seemed to have quite an impressive line-up.

Can't say I'm surprised about the reviews of the coasters at Asterix, it's the same general consensus over the internet (apart from Neal of course haha).

I know I keep saying it but I'm sooooo jealous of everyone who got to go on this trip! Can't wait to read the Disney reports;]

Also, impromptu trump cards? Can anyone like, scan them in or even remember what they had on them? I'm intrigued =]

 

[marc]

I'm also looking forward to reading the Disney reviews from people as we split from the group for a time on both days and never really spoke about it in detail, apart from the dirty toilets and food lol.

 

[kimahri]

I would like to do a report but even after 14 hours of sleep and a massive plate of Mince and Dumplings reviving me a bit from lack of stamina and terrible, not Kim safe, food (such as **** snails!) I'm still completely wrecked...

Did really enjoy the trip though. Tower of Terror was AMAAAAAZING.

 

[nadroJ]

Pfft, the Tower of Terror in Paris is rubbish compared to the Orlando one.

 

[Ian]

I loved Zeus, but that was probably because it made Tanya's tits fall out of her top when we rode it.

Lovely report!

 

[marc]

^I thought it was Zeus that done that, I said just before we rode it lol.

I am trying to think of how to start a report but walked into so much **** today at work it feels like I never went. Will think and do one at the weekend but will miss out the 1st day as I just never got into it.