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This. The park did NOT want it to end this way after the intense refurb. They tried their best but it just wasn't to be in the end. I have never ridden Excalibur because unfortunately neither covering my entire body in scopolamine patches and/or swallowing a case of dramamine would allow me to experience this without disasterous "Sandlot" level effects to myself and those around me; however I do recognize the historic rarity of this type of ride and sorry for all the fans of it, and would be fans who wanted to ride but never got the chance.

If they take it down the same way SFOT took down theirs, there'd at least be a one-way topple tower good for one ride... any takers?

. . . continued: Day 11: Parc Astérix (part II): Astérix himself was doing walk-around meet and greet, but had quite the line at the moment, so settled for a pic near him. . and we continued on the coaster my group headed to next was "Pegase Express". . . a Gerstlauer multilple wheel launched coaster with a number of surprises up it's sleeve (which I won't spoil here, as the first time I rode it, it completely surprised me!). it's a long coaster, so you can't really see the layout from inside the park. theming is to a Greek Gods transportation station.. . the ride is so long, it was operating, I think 4 trains at the same time. this is an interesting pic. . hmmm. . where does the track go??? (as I said.. surprises up it's sleeve) from the exit ramp, you can see some of the layout - and how it interacts with the parks river rapids ride. and yes. .that is ALL the queue line for this coaster! thank goodness for skip the line passes wheee! The group I spent most of the day at Parc Astérix hanging out with. I think this pic is courtesy of AJ or possibly Andy? fun "travel" theming all thruout the ride queue, even to the exit. we started to make our way towards the area of the park where lunch was going to be, as it was getting close to that time. what was over here that we could ride while waiting? A pretty decent Madhouse (tho heard that they weren't doing the Pre-show since Covid, so probably why it wasn't as good as I had heard the raves about it. it was fun, but not really a standout among the Madhouses I'd gotten to ride on this trip). since in the area where we were shortly meeting for lunch, our cycle happened to include a bunch more of the TPR folks on the trip. we all rode as a big happy family. . . giant Astérix facing the front entrance to the park. . . but what was this? finally. . a full size Carousel. and a heavily themed one at that. . to Astérix & Obelix. with rocking carriages, galloping horses. . and a giant Obelix. OH MY SWEET LORD. you can ride inside Obelix' butt. He's holding himself open for you! the rest of the carousel is gorgeous as well. . .loved this "swinging" chair option. . but (t) when it was our turn? I bee-lined it for the Obelix butt option! I almost pissed myself with glee. . not only do you ride in his butt? but it SPINS like a teacup. Yup. we crammed all 5 of us in the butt so we could get it spinning chill bert, in da butt. . . we spent the whole ride spinning and laughing like loons. and posed for a pic the ride op. graciously took for me. but (t) we needed the "proctology" pic too - SHOW ME THE FINGER! (tho Andrew didn't want to play along). thanks to Andy for taking the pic for me sufficiently dizzy, but still having a little time before lunch meetup, we did a quick lap around the area and I wandered to the edge of the lagoon to snap a pic of the mobile bar in operation (seen here at the top of the tower it lifts up to) Who lives in a pineapple under the sea??? apparently a healthy eating option restaurant. (not what I was planning on eating today tho) I don't really remember what was in this heavily themed section here. . was it a dark ride? i know we walked thru it a couple of times. . and I have pics from inside where there is theming and shops. did we ride something here? quickly enough it was time for meetup, so we hightailed it back to the Circus restaurant area. here we are listening to the servers/hosts explaining how everything works. it's a buffet, but it's pretty spread out, and you order drinks (alcoholic or otherwise) before going to get food. Round one. . . mostly cold stuff. YUMMY escargot. hey, when in France. . . round 2, the hot stuff. (luckily I'd had a VERY light breakfast and really was pretty hungry by this point. . as if you couldn't tell) Round 3: desert. that bowl of chocolate is from the chocolate fountain they had in the circus tent buffet. nothing was super sweet.. but my favorite thing was the custard pastry at the bottom. After lunch, those who wanted to join the backstage tour for Toutatis had a little bit of time until we met up over by the Bobsleds. the Bobsleds, Trace Du Hourra, are a Mack bobsled. which is super interesting in that it's unpainted/rust color. I asked about that during the tour, and was told they leave it rust color to represent the color of the earth, as you are following the trail the cavemen took. so it's actually theming that it's unpainted. I found that rather interesting. it was one of only two "coasters" we hadn't yet been on today. . . oh, and they accepted the Skip the lines. So we hopped on for a ride. the meetup for the tour was right around the corner from it. . so perfect timing. we headed over that way. . and after we were issued safety vests and (I think) signed the waiver, the park reps lead the group of us backstage, and onto the Toutatis construction site. Twisty!!! from back here you can see the main entrance Astérix high up on his perch. that's important, because the direction from the park is that the spike aspect of the coaster can NOT be higher than Astérix sits. . he has to be the highest point in the park. so how did they get around that and keep the height of the spike? they dug a deep hole, and put the spike down into it, so keeps the height, but starts underground basically. . . sooooo twisty!! and the bobsled nearby really is gonna interact with it fantastically. . . if was able to get these kind of shots while walking around the construction site? it's gonna be amazing from the queue line, and while on the actual ride when it's open. from the layout? I think this will be my favorite part of the ride, if I'm ever able to get back and ride it. work being done on the queue-line. Looking at pics of it now, it's incredible how this turned into what is currently there for the queue! they told us at least 1, and possibly two, flat rides would be joining the coaster in this new section of the park. you can see here how the spike is coming up from "underground" (ie: in a trench) to keep the height. yes, we were able to get REALLY close to the coaster. really close I'd never seen this before and found this so interesting as well. this is how they check "clearance". . they run this do-hicky down the track and make sure it doesn't hit any trees or blockages. and pic courtesy of our tour guide (or maybe Elissa since I don't see her in the pic). . but the group of us who went back stage to check out Toutatis. HUGE thank you to Parc Astérix, and to Robb & Elissa for this incredible opportunity. it really was so amazing. after our tour, we all split back up to make the most of the rest of our day, prior to meet up at park close for more Tonnarre 2 Zeus riding the gang I was hanging out with headed back to Oziris for another ride. and then took a ride on that inflatable raft ride that I talked about when we walked by the entrance this morning in part 1. we saw from nearby that Gourdurix had opened back up. . . so despite my brain screaming "NOOOOO". . we went over that way and took 1 ride on it. why just one? oh. . awful. just awful. very glad I had Aspirin with me. . janky and shaky, and bangs the hell out of you. literally the ONLY good thing I can say about it? because I rode this today? much later that night, when James and I got on Indiana Jones over at Disneyland Paris, that ride didn't seem to bad. Because it wasn't even close to the worst thing we'd ridden all day. So it made Indiana Jones adventure seem like a better coaster. it has that going for it. LOL. . but yeah. 1-and-done. and look. . NOBODY in that front car looks "happy" to have ridden. after that ride on Goudurix, I really needed a hug. Luckily, Astérix was out and about again, and with no line, he was perfectly happy to give me a hug! we even took a group shot. and I think I have individual pics of each of us with Astérix. . so if you were with me and I didn't share the pic, hit me up, and I'll check to see if I have one I can send of you. ABSOLUTELY zero recollection of what this is. perhaps that dark ride in the castle? if I didn't imagine that? lots of props out and about to pose with too.. so of course I was in heaven. . to be concluded. .

Day 11: Parc Astérix (part I): we got up and ate breakfast, and then got ready to head down to the bus for 8am departure for Parc Astérix. I realized I hadn't taken any pics of the IBIS Airport hotel on the 1st night (or at least thought I didn't. . I didn't bother to go back and check). . so snapped some quick pics before we left the room. James ready to go for the day, and showing off the beds in the room. small, but functional shower tho it was like an airplane bathroom. I guess appropriate for an Airport hotel our view - facing away from the runways, but we had a view of the train station (not that it mattered today, as we were taking a bus to the park) a shortish drive, and we were pulling into the empty lot for Parc Astérix. we were getting there a bit before opening, as Robb had arranged for us to meet up with the Park reps at the onsite hotel, and we were going to be doing some pre-opening rides on the newly refurbished "Tonnerre 2 Zeus" - the park's massive wooden coaster. A lengthy years long refurb that altered the layout, added more airtime hills, and reversed the final car of the train so the seats face backwards! speaking of Tonnerre 2 Zeus. . here it is coming into view, as we go around the back of the park to the hotel. and here we are at the entrance to the Parks Hotel/Resort. the theming is really heavy here - which was an indicator to me of how heavily themed the park itself was going to be (and let me say here. . it did NOT disappoint. Disney Level (or more in some places) level of theming in this park). this is the interior courtyard of the hotel! (yeah) while we were waiting for the park reps to meet us. . some of the Astérix characters (the King and Queen?) came out to meet hotel guests. (and us, since we were there. . . so did I get in line for a picture?). duh! of COURSE I did. and I felt so thin too! (thanks to Andy for taking this for me) Eventually our guides arrived, and we headed into the park via the hotel entrance - which comes in right under Goudurix - an absolutely gorgous, and infamously awful, Vekoma. it SURE is pretty tho, looks are completely deceiving we were running a bit behind schedule, so the park was already getting ready to open to guests in the next 30 minutes, and several rides started testing, including Goudurix, so was able to get some nice pics with the train. this is a fairly new attraction, I believe. . it's a lifting sky-bar. you sit under the hat at a circular bar, and it lifts up to the top. I didn't do this, but some of the group did partake and said it was fun, with a great view. and before we knew it, we were in front of Tonnerre 2 Zeus, with it's famous queue-line . . that you enter between the legs of Zeus hmmm. . but it didn't seem to be running yet? we patiently waited, and judging from these pics, either others from the Hotel entrance had come in shortly after us, or the park had opened and people were starting to make their way over to T2Z. (I think it's this 2nd one). while the park was trying to get the coaster going, I continued to snap pics. remember I noted the queue famously goes thru Zeus' legs? yeah. . they put panties on him. Pink panties with yellow duckies! BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAAA I honestly can not recall if we were able to get the morning ride in on Tonnerre 2 Zeus, as I think they were having maintenance issues. But I really DO think we weren't able to get the morning planned rides, and as a "we're so sorry" the park reps decided to lead the TPR group to several of the other coasters, to let us cut in and get rides as the park had just opened to the public. Our guide bypassed Goudurix (which had stopped testing strangely, so maybe it too wasn't ready to open yet), and brought us further back into the park. but again look how beautiful it is: along the way, I noted the fantastic theming all over the place. this is Thor's throne. I love me a throne, so of course stopped for a pic. This is the face one makes when the entire throne starts vibrating your butt. . . and then starts pouring out smoke. . . LOL awww.. a little baby carousel, that no way would my fat ass fit on. but snapped a pic as we went by. wowza. . so many nicely themed areas! another carousel. . this one more normal sized, but still rather small (I can't recall if this one ever operated the day we were there. . I'm guessing no, as I don't have any pics riding it) this giant themed structure is a restaurant. the buffet where we would be eating lunch later in the day, actually. and this seemed to be a show/ride experience that appeared to have been shut down, but since it fit in with the Bazzar theme of the area, they just left it up. or maybe it was just off season (tho middle of Summer, as we were there in late June) look back at the restaurant from the other side. Oxygenarium was an inflatable raft ride. . it reminded me very much of the Penguin's Blizzard Falls ride that Astroworld used to have. (you sit in a giant blow up raft, and it's a water ride, but no one gets wet really). I rode this later in the day, and it was . . ok. looks like it would be way more exciting than it was. . but I mean, look how exciting it appears from the queue line! we were headed over here to the Egyptian area. . . as the Park Reps were gonna give us a ride on Oziris - the parks Suspended B&M. think Montu, but with heavy Egyptian theming thruout the area. the park reps brought us thru the exit line, and we took advantage of the "never in America" fluffy fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo (ie: locker) system. yup. you just dump your stuff into a luggage cart at the load station, then they just wheel the cart into the exit queue so anyone can grab anything they want out of the carts sitting there filled with stuff. (I mean.. not even an operator on that side watching the bags) I guess Europeans are just more willing to follow basic human decency and not steal each others crap? regardless. . I thought it was interesting that's how they handle it. the ride itself is great tho. . intense in all the "right" spots, and was fun. tho again, it really reminded me of Montu. the area looks fantastic. While still in the Egypt section, after our ride on Oziris, we were walked over to take a ride on SOS Numerobis - a Zierer family coaster. whee! it's another one of those with the really long trains.. .I think 18 rows? the park had been open for a little bit, but before we were cut loose in the park, the Reps wanted to take us over to one more ride. So we left Egypt and followed him. this looked like a fun Shoot the Chutes ride so stopped and took some pics of the splash down. (when riding it later, we realized it's not JUST a shoot the chutes. . . it's a full on boat ride thru a hidden area up top in the foliage, with a really great last drop). passing under more theming! loved this park. and we passed by a TON of rides, that I would come back to later, with a group of folks and we'd ride. we'd made a giant loop of the park. . so got a nice view across the central lake area of where we'd come in behind Goudurix. if this show was running during our visit, I don't recall it. this is the sign for the park's Flying Carpet ride - Cheval De Troie (I don't recall riding it, so maybe wasn't operating?) our final ride with the VIP treatment from the Park Reps as "Vol D'lcare" which is a bobsleigh type coaster, that appeared to be themed to the story of Icarus. it was a fun little coaster, and it was April's 300th! I'm guessing I have to thank Elissa for this pic. Look how happy I am! (or maybe I'm just happy that Myself and Andrew got our own seats, and Ian/Daved & Jere/James had to share rows in the car behind us :p) while waiting for the rest of the group to cycle thru, snapped some pics of the "monster" ride next to Vol D'lcare. Again, really nicely themed. We all gathered at the entrance, Elissa told us when / where to meet for lunch, and we were surprised by an option to do a behind the scenes tour of the new coaster (just about to open I believe, but under construction when we were there), the newest Intamin, "Toutatis" Anyone that was interested was welcome to join the tour after lunch - and TPR was the first "outside" group of folks that would be able to see the coaster up close. thru Robb's magic, we got a bonus from the park of some evening rides on Tonnerre 2 Zeus, as well as several skip passes each to ride it during the day - to help make up for the late start to the morning. and with that, we were let loose in the park. . heading over towards Tonnerre 2 Zeus to see it's status, we were greeted by this line - yeah. . remember the ENTRANCE to the queue is under the Zeus statue. we certainly didn't want to be "ugly Americans" and use skip passes - certainly not as a group at the same time - so we decided we'd ride some other things first. and tho we KNEW it was awful. . . it was a first time park for me (and others) and I really wanted to ride ALL the coasters. so we headed over to Gourdurix. only to find it closed for technical issues! the park op was a great sport so posed for a picture for me that I could share with the rest of the TPR group on the trip: and our reaction to discovering it was closed, after we had made a good faith effort to ride it Since we were over on this side of the park, and we all really wanted to ride it. . we headed back over to Tonnerre 2 Zeus and saw the line, while really long still, was no longer spilling out under the queue entrance. So went ahead and got in line using our skip passes bringing us right up to the station. originally we had gotten only 1 pass each that allowed for a back car ride (an upcharge for the reverse queue, I believe). . but the operators told us the skip passes would allow us to sit anywhere, including the back row (so I did end up getting a couple of back row rides). here's how the train looks in the station, from the wait for back row. . with back car flipped backwards after our rides, we noticed behind us were more TPR folks, including Robb & Elissa. (that Robb is filming, tells me my memory isn't so bad.. we must not have gotten to ride in the morning, otherwise he would have filmed at that time. (and that guy on the left with the camera? - that's the park rep group that has the camera on him. . so yes, he absolutely had permission to film on this coaster, people) the line never really got any shorter than this thruout the day. . but thanks to the skip passes, we got a number of rides in rather quickly before going elsewhere in the park to ride lots of other things. Front row was great too. here's Ryan & Jere enjoying it. Andrew and Ian in the back row. Myself and Jon in the back. I DID really like the ride facing backwards. it was fun, and not knowing where you are going was great. But I honestly did prefer it facing forwards. In the forwards position, you *really* feel the 90 degree turns, and the drop into the tunnel. Something you don't really notice when facing backwards - probably because you're hanging on for dear life, and laughing the whole way. one final ride for the moment. . . this time waiting for Front row. From the station queue: Whee! Ian and I on our front row ride. (unfortunately, when riding backwards, the camera can't get a pic. . LOL). you can see how much we loved this coaster. Great job by the park. . from what I understand? the coaster had gotten a bit rough. this refurb was really great! and they even left one of the old trains, on an old section of the original track (remember the refurb changed the ride layout a bit. . so this section of old track, with the old train, is just sitting there in the middle of the coaster! it's freaky when you pass it!). pic from a still from Robb's video but that's only the 2nd greatest thing about this coaster. the 1st greatest thing? yes, you can actually buy a pair of Zeus' pink panties with the duckies on it at the photo / gift shop. to be continued. . .

I know I'm late here but just been catching up. You always impress me with how thorough your trip reports are, I'm way too lazy to devote the time and effort I know goes into these. I am truly hoping it's been therapeutic to work on this. While I haven't ridden Ride to Happiness yet, if it was one of your favorites you really have to meet Joel and I at SDC sometime to ride Time Traveler. While it's my understanding that RtH is more intense they are the exact same ride vehicles and steampunk theme. TT doesn't have the slow roll out of the station but the station exit is pretty awesome in a different way! Also, small point of geography order. That was the North Sea you were enjoying on the coast of Belgium not the Atlantic Ocean. Sorry. It's the former teacher in me. I. Cannot. Control. It. You know I love you beyond words!!

FITH still has the water features. FITH is also several years older. DW removed the water years ago. That means the ride has not deteriorated at much/fast as FITH. I think it has many years left.

As someone who used to work as a ride op on the parachute drop... Standalone drop tower, please. Oh no, wait, someone resurrect the Topple Tower but make it 200 feet tall!

I mean I'm sure it's hard to find replacement parts when you're the last of your ride type within North America lol. It made it 40 years, rides have life cycles. Would've been nice to have it had been announced ahead of time for last rides, but there also could've very well been circumstances preventing that.

Nothing in the park for Valentines Day at least that I saw, although it was so freaking busy I might have missed something >< Will do a better report later

Lol thanks for the tip! Will take advantage!

Sorry, that was a different thread I guess. Yeah, rent an unnecessary locker and then buy a single use line skip. As-of a few weeks ago it did not work for Ice Breaker. Don't bother asking employees for help, none of them know that this is a thing. This should not surprise anyone because... SeaWorld. lol

Xcalibur 100% is NOT an original ride to Six Flags St. Louis. It moved here in the early 2000's from SF Great Adv where it had a totally different name.

Grew up near Dollywood and finally did the 10 hour drive to SDC to ride FITH last year with all the rumors. Something I've always wanted to ride. Might do it again now that it's official. (full disclosure, Flooded Mine was the #2 reason since ours shut down long ago)

Something from Skyline.

So it will have been closed, refurbished, reopened, and removed all in the time it has taken to sand a primer some wooden horses. What kind of 100 rider per hour capacity ride are they going to get to replace it in a couple years?

Several parks nearby could definetly buy it. Calaway Park 2 hours south in Calgary could definetly erect it. PNE Playland in Vancouver or La Ronde for god's sake in the spot they used to have the corkscrew coaster, just to name a few Canadian parks! Of course several US parks should try to get their hand on it. It's a very good roller coaster. Too good to be scrapped. Been INDOORS 37 years!!

I have an impossible time believing that Six Flags would buy a fourth Nitro train. There is absolutely no reason to run more than two during Holiday in the Park, and they run three for the rest of the season without issue. My guess is that the 30,000 lb shipment is either a replacement lift drive and other parts for Green Lantern which was scheduled to be open for HITP but broken for the entire event (lol good) or 30,000 Nitro operations manuals with minimum temperature guidelines that they can use in the Holiday in the Park fire pits next season. As for the name, it’s dumb but I also don’t care. Just paint it… holy shit does it ever need it.

April 1st, eh?