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Parc Asterix | Tonnerre 2 Zeus | Tonnerre de Zeus renovation | 2022

JoshC.

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Looopings are reporting that Tonnerre de Zeus is going to be renovated for the 2021, after having it confirmed directly to them from the park: https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/132...-Parc-Asterix-ombouw-naar-hybrid-coaster.html

One of the most intense wooden roller coasters in Europe will undergo an enormous renovation. Parc Astérix is going to renovate roller coaster Tonnerre de Zeus, confirms a spokeswoman for the French amusement park at Looopings. This raises the question whether the attraction will receive the same treatment as the old wooden roller coaster Robin Hood in Walibi Holland.

That roller coaster was transformed into Untamed a year ago : a hybrid coaster with wooden supports and a steel track, including inversions. The American company Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) was called in for this. Walibi Holland and Parc Astérix are both owned by the Compagnie des Alpes park group. Can RMC now also work in France?

"I can confirm that Tonnerre de Zeus will be renovated for the 2021 season," a spokeswoman for Parc Astérix told Looopings. "It is not yet possible to say which company will be involved in this."

Involved
RMC information officer Amy Garcia reacts surprised when we ask her about the project by telephone. "Where did you get this information?" , let them know. "I can neither confirm nor deny that we are involved in this project. We are not allowed to say anything about current projects until the park itself comes with an official announcement."

Tonnerre de Zeus, opened in 1997, was built by the now defunct manufacturer Custom Coasters International. The course is thirty meters high and more than 1200 meters long. During a ride, trains reach a top speed of 83.7 kilometers per hour.
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Probably best to take with a pinch of salt for now, and who knows whether this will actually end up being an RMC thing, but certainly something to keep an eye on.
 
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A third of Tonnerre de Zeus was already renovated for this year.

I'm expecting a GhostRider-style of rehab rather than a full RMC treatment. As Astérix awaits a big Intamin multi-launch, I don't see an I-Box coming to the park before 2025 at the VERY least. But hey, I'd love to be proven wrong :p
 
VikingsAf said:
With this I mean good woodie > good RMC and not any woodie > every RMC
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To be fair, even with the clarification that's crazy talk. Although I suppose the RMC woodies are pretty great...

I rode Zeus almost a decade ago, and I thought it was pants. Whilst I accept that that's probably a little out of date (and I'm a 'better' enthusiast than I was back then), I can't say I'd be awfully heartbroken if I never got the chance to ride it again.
 
Lofty said:
Yeah, due to the multi-launch happening, I just can't see this being an RMC, which in reality is a brand new coaster for a park and is marketed as so. I think if anything, it'll just be retracked and slightly reprofiled, much like Ghost Rider was.
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Either way, I find it weird that it's reported in 2019, to open in 2021. Usually that's RMC transformations if it's announced a year or two before opening, but GCI transformations aren't impossible either
 
Not necessarily, Ghost Rider was announced really far ahead. Plus, it's one of those things, it's not really an announcement more leaked rumours that are probably going to come to something. Most conversions only get announced a year or so prior to the ride opening, and just before the ride closes.
 
Lofty said:
Not necessarily, Ghost Rider was announced really far ahead. Plus, it's one of those things, it's not really an announcement more leaked rumours that are probably going to come to something. Most conversions only get announced a year or so prior to the ride opening, and just before the ride closes.
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That is true
 
I do/would not have considered Zeus an RMC prospect, the thrill is still there on a long fast ride.

Lets not reach a stage where anyone is disappointed RMC get called in! Wild tangent examples that would be acceptable are building one from the ground up or adding a second track looping around the current one, themed to one of the gods who tried to overthrow Zeus.
 
A year ago I would have read this and thought 'pah, ridiculous' but now we live in a post Flamingo Land 2020 world I'll take it with a pinch of salt and put it in the possible but unlikely pile.

Never rode TDZ but would happily take an RMC over it.
 
Put me firmly in the "let's hope this is a re-tracking, not a replacement" category.

I'm all for new RMC creations, and the replacement of really poor or bland wooden coasters with RMC versions, but I'm getting tired of this mentality of "lets replace a wooden coaster that used to be really good but is now getting really rough" with what's basically a hybrid steel multi-looper.

The woodies that are solid, but are just getting a bit rough around the edges need fixing (i.e. re-tracking and/or new trains), not replacing. Save the RMC work for new installs, and woodies that were never good to begin with.
 
MouseAT said:
Put me firmly in the "let's hope this is a re-tracking, not a replacement" category.

I'm all for new RMC creations, and the replacement of really poor or bland wooden coasters with RMC versions, but I'm getting tired of this mentality of "lets replace a wooden coaster that used to be really good but is now getting really rough" with what's basically a hybrid steel multi-looper.

The woodies that are solid, but are just getting a bit rough around the edges need fixing (i.e. re-tracking and/or new trains), not replacing. Save the RMC work for new installs, and woodies that were never good to begin with.
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I just totally agree ! I love Untamed @ WH, who is the only RMC I've ridden to this day, but Tonnerre de Zeus is a brilliant woodie !

Sure, it shows its age now, and it is too rough to be fully enjoyable, but if it comes back to its former glory, it will be a very good coaster, full of forces and airtimes !

And for me, having been to Parc Asterix more than 15 times, I think the park will have a better coaster list with a classic Zeus than a RMC Zeus. And I don't see why the park would have spent money on retracking the first parts this year, just to put it in the trash a few years later. My guess is that was the first step of a total refurbishment.

As for the trains, I don't know if they will be changed, but having Timberliners or Millenium Flyers trains instead of PTC would be great !
 
I’d consider Zeus a brutally good woodie. It’s rough as tits but in a fast, out of control, fun way similar to Bandit @ Moviepark, Hades @ mtolympus, and Legend and Raven @ holidayworld. I don’t think we’re at a point where we’re bored of RMC’s but I do think this will happen at some point in the future and we should be preserving the better woodies whilst we can. Imo Zeus is too good to be RMC’d and I’d rather see some worse coasters get the chop first. @MouseAT sums it up nicely!
 
Agreed with a lot of the comments so far. Zeus isn't the ride it once was because of all that's been built in the last 10 years or so, but it's still good fun in a beat-the-crap-out-of-you way.

And knowing how much capital the park are investing in the launched Intamin cred, I'd be staggered if they then had a similar amount for a RMC conversion as well.
 
It was a laugh when I did it, roughness wasn't really an issue it just didn't seem to do a whole lot. So I don't know what to think.

I'm not one to jump straight on the RMC it bandwagon, if there is indeed RMC money knocking around here - I'd rather the woodie remained as well as something new being put up as opposed to just replacing absolutely everything that isn't top notch.

I'd like to think there's potential there and that a retrack would restore some former glory in the way that GhostRider did (which I loved), but I don't know/remember where it would come from - was this ride ever actually good?
If it was, fix it.
If it wasn't, don't care, do what you like.
 
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