The Official "TPR Europe Trip 2008" Thread!

[funkybadger]

 

We ate there 2 or 3 times and although it was crazy, the food was good, the counter people were nice and once you got to the counter the food was there in about a minute. The key was to go in the lines directly up the middle. It also helped if you had 4 in your group and you all knew what the others wanted.

 

To be honest it is actually one of the things I will always remember about this trip.

 

Rich "One menu golden please" Bitner

 

For someone who criticizes others for not being adventurous in food choices, you ate at Mickey D's quite a bit.

 

I know! Sad, isn't it? We ate more McDonald's on this trip than on ANY other trip we've taken. EVER. (Especially after watching Supersize Me!) Some days we were tired or in a hurry and McD's was close by (pre-Europe NYC days). Others there was really nothing else available, like when we were always going to the airport to eat. Sometimes, it was the most affordable thing we could find, so even though I'll never consider McD's food to be great cuisine, it is decent, and left us full.

 

I've made up for it by cooking quite a bit at home, and of course Thai is on the menu frequently! The grill has been used a couple times (mmm, veggie kabobs and steak), and the wok is coming out tomorrow.

[ginzo]

But... it has all this stuff on it, like... stuff. It's too decorated.

 

Have you seen it in person?

[Ryancrash]

Pizza Burger, pfffft!

 

Croque Monsters were the way to go, if you wanted to just inject cholesterol into your bloodstream.

 

OK, it is really called a Croque Monsieur, but calling it a Croque Monster was much more fun.

 

I ate quite a few croque monsieurs on this trip (mostly on the pre-tour days I spent in Paris). These things were delicious! (And probably about 3000 calories each...) Can't believe I never had these before. Wonder if I can find them somewhere here in New York.

 

I'm happy to say I only ate at McDonald's once on this trip - the nite at the Ibis Hotel near CDG, when we took the trip to the airport. McDonald's is all fine and dandy, but I can get this in the U.S. anytime. Yeah it's cheap and convenient, but it's nothing special. If I'm in a foreign country, I'd much rather try something different, something I don't see at home everyday. My taste buds need to know that they're on vacation, too.

 

And as for the McDonald's at Disneyland Paris, the idea of waiting forty-five minutes for FAST FOOD is really beyond my comprehension. No thank you.

 

I missed out on the pizza burger experience - but a few of us ate at the Blue Lagoon restaurant (the one inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride). The food was actually really good, and the portions were much larger than I expected. And unlike McDonald's, it wasn't crowded at all - I'd say the place was less than half full. However, the service was still really slow.

 

I was kinda hoping Disneyland Paris would have the curry popcorn, like they had in Japan. At Tokyo Disney, there were these curry popcorn stands all over the park, and it smelled soooooo good. Unfortunately, there were always at least 200 people in line at each stand, and we didn't feel like waiting. To this day, I still haven't tried that popcorn.

[window]

We ate there 2 or 3 times and although it was crazy, the food was good

 

This is McDonalds we're talking about here? Cheap, fast, tasty, but not good food!

 

The pizza burger looked very 'interesting' though

[Moose]

I think I ate at Mcdonalds once, in the CDG airport when I was freaking out about my lack of working ATM card. My chicken sandwhich was, well, interesting. So interesting I never ate at another EuroMickeyD's.

 

I am much more of a Try the local stuff kind of guy anyway. Mmmmm... Bratwurst.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

I do believe I have a new 'worst' coaster to put at the bottom of my Mitch list this year!!! I had last been on the 'new Space Mountain' at Disney in 2005. It was bad and I swore I'd never ride it again. Fast forward to this year and I somehow got suckered into riding again. I had to take so much Advil!!! Worse than Gouderix, worse than Fujin Rajin II, just terrible.

 

Elissa- can you (or anyone familiar with this ride) explain what its faults are? As I've never been to DLPR, all I have to work off are photos of a very phallic looking cannon that shoots trains into the mountain.

 

I've never come across photos or video that illustrate the ride's layout, experience, etc. Also never come across "lights on" footage that is out there on the web for other enclosed coasters. All I know is the initial "launch" (if you can call it that) and a mid course tire driven lift hill.

 

I guess this ride has always intrigued me a bit as it was a custom one-off. What's the root of the evil- poor layout? poor track fabrication? lousy trains? harsh transitions?

 

Is the ride up to typical Disney standards capacity-wise? I think I saw a BTMRR/Screamin' style double loading station that tells me they can run 4-5 trains...

 

-Mark

[TPDave]

I don't remember if the painful bit were transitions or elements (it was probably both!) but I *think* the elements were pretty bad.

 

I think the ride would be bad (but not appalling) if you could see where you were going and were therefore able to brace for some incredibly painful elements. The fact that I had no idea what was going on and was being thrown around everywhere in an uncomfortable train made it a very bad ride experience.

 

I don't think the problems come down to one single issue (that would be far too easy!), but bad track fabrication and poor train design come to mind.

[cfc]

Eurosat at Europa was a better ride than S&M at Disney (although the latter had better "special effects"). I actually rode it twice, sick puppy that I am--once in front and once in back. Oddly enough, the front seat gave the worst ride.

[ginzo]

Eurosat at Europa was a better ride than S&M at Disney (although the latter had better "special effects"). I actually rode it twice, sick puppy that I am--once in front and once in back. Oddly enough, the front seat gave the worst ride.

 

Eurosat was like 100x better than DLP Space Mountain. Eurosat may have been the best Space Mountain-type ride I've been on. That train FLIES!!!

[Absimilliard]

I do believe I have a new 'worst' coaster to put at the bottom of my Mitch list this year!!! I had last been on the 'new Space Mountain' at Disney in 2005. It was bad and I swore I'd never ride it again. Fast forward to this year and I somehow got suckered into riding again. I had to take so much Advil!!! Worse than Gouderix, worse than Fujin Rajin II, just terrible.

 

Elissa- can you (or anyone familiar with this ride) explain what its faults are? As I've never been to DLPR, all I have to work off are photos of a very phallic looking cannon that shoots trains into the mountain.

 

I've never come across photos or video that illustrate the ride's layout, experience, etc. Also never come across "lights on" footage that is out there on the web for other enclosed coasters. All I know is the initial "launch" (if you can call it that) and a mid course tire driven lift hill.

 

I guess this ride has always intrigued me a bit as it was a custom one-off. What's the root of the evil- poor layout? poor track fabrication? lousy trains? harsh transitions?

 

Is the ride up to typical Disney standards capacity-wise? I think I saw a BTMRR/Screamin' style double loading station that tells me they can run 4-5 trains...

 

-Mark

 

I worked on the ride before and know a few current cast members working on it right now, so I'm pretty familiar with the ride.

 

The ride's layout is actually very simple once you see it with the lights... You go out of the station, take right turn into a drop into the cannon. Right now, the current Mission 2 launch sequence launches you from the bottom of the cannon, which cut capacity by removing the ability to run 5 trains.

 

Once you're launched, you crest the top of the cannon then do a drop on the left, dropping down to where the base of the mountain stop. You do a full circle around the mountain, going up and down the side before dropping under the waiting line and into the sidewinder. After the awesome sidewinder, you're then tossed into a 3/4 rising helix to the right. At this point, the train is shuffling like crazy and the pain is incredible. You then enter the block brakes

 

You're lightly trimmed, go through a melting meteorite and turn to the right. You follow the side of the wall before diving under the stairs in the waiting line. A non-standard Vekoma Corkscrew (in that its snap and is not just a regular motion like the rest...) follows and then, a really rough right turn (over the waiting line) brings you into the B lift.

 

The B lift is tire driven, fast and silent. You see blowing supernova and then a tight drop on the drop, a sharp turn (ouch), a nice hill (the spark trench) brings you into the "Tongue". What's the tongue? Its basically Vekoma's take on the Arrow Cutback (Drachen Fire). You then have a rough transition into the ending helix, in a trench at the bottom of the ride. You then go up into the "Electro de Velocitor", which is the themed brake run! You're loudly stopped and then pull into one of the station.

 

Before Mission 2... The ride could run 5 trains, on a 36 seconds dispatch interval. We pulled 2350-2375 guests an hour!

 

As for the roughness, it comes from a few problems... Initially, the track was PERFECT. No bumps, shuffling, etc. Sadly, after 5 years of 361 days a year, 12-16 hours a day operation, the 6 trains died! After investigating, Disney found out that the trains were originally built for the "larger" Space Mountain (as in a mountain 10% bigger with wider turns and transitions, but reduced to the current size after budget cuts) and so, had to replace them. What they did to save some money is that they got brand new chassis from Vekoma, large blocks of steel with little welds and mobile parts. They mounted the new chassis on the old cars. Within a few months, Disney had to literally rebuild and change the axles and wheel supports, as the new chassis are a lot heavier than the old ones...

 

In 2001, the ride was still kinda rideable... Soon after, the ride become unrideable as the new heavy trains just worn the track and eventually, management decided to stop 5 trains operations and the "Mission 2" rehab involved rebuilding each train (again!), removing some of the effects, adding some, change the music and moving the launch to the bottom of the cannon.

 

One side effect of changing the launch was that instead of lasting 6 months, the steel cable for the catapult only last 3-4 months now.

 

So, the guilty parties in this case are the heavy trains and the layout that is too tight and "intense" on the trains.

[SharkTums]

Mark, did you ride the Outer Limits Coasters when they still had the OTSR's? Yeah, that's what it's like. Your head is a pinball going back and forth, every once in a while there's a brief respite, often followed by a giant smack.

 

The way the trains run, I'm not convinced that being able to see the layout would help that much. Like others have said you need to try one of the hard core Vekoma brace positions (either Turtle your head and get the hell away from that restraint) or slam your head to one side and fight to keep it against one side of the restraint.

 

It's just a rough as hell Vekoma. I would almost accept it at another park, but I can't believe that Disney would allow people to ride that, it's just that terrible.

[ginzo]

^Kind of sad that Disney is focusing their efforts on rehabbing Florida's Space Mountain when Paris's needs work far more desperately. Seems like they need to scrap the entire ride system and start over.

[Ryancrash]

Your head is a pinball going back and forth, every once in a while there's a brief respite, often followed by a giant smack.

 

A perfect description of Space Mountain Mission 2! I couldn't have summed it up any better. I rode it in the front and the back (WHAT was I thinking?) and I honestly can't say which was a worse experience - they were both horrible. I understand that this was once a good coaster - I really wish I could have ridden it back then.

 

It's sad when parks don't take care of their coasters. SM:M2 is just screaming for some rehab work. WTF? It's not like Disney couldn't afford to fix it up a bit. They certainly seem to be doing enough business and making enough money. Are they not aware that there is a real problem with this coaster? Or do they just not give a damn?

 

SM:M2 was certainly one of the worst rides of the trip, worse than Anaconda, worse than some of the SLCs, maybe even worse than Goudurix. OUCH!!

[Absimilliard]

^Kind of sad that Disney is focusing their efforts on rehabbing Florida's Space Mountain when Paris's needs work far more desperately. Seems like they need to scrap the entire ride system and start over.

 

Unfortunately, the Walt Disney Company has little to no control over what Euro Disney SCA (the company that owns DLP) do with their budgets and decisions! For example, they were supposed to do like all the other resorts and add Jack Sparrow to their Pirates... but the budget was cut and it has never been a priority since.

 

In 2005, when Space Mountain was closed for a few months to allow the "Mission 2" makeover, they had the opportunity to replace track. The ride at that point already needed it... They also promised brand new trains. What Euro Disney gave them the money to do? Silver paint over the old trains and that's it!

 

Based on the Indiana Jones coaster at DLP, I would not expect any track change or major rehab on Space Mountain until something bad happens. Don't look too closely at the Indiana Jones coaster loop... It was originally a "temporary", "5 years ride until we can build Space Mountain". Well, the "5 years ride" celebrated its 15th birthday this year!

 

Did you enjoy Crush Coaster? Hope you got the credit as after ONE year of operation, some outside consultant came in, looked at the state of the ride and judged that the ride has already aged 5-10 years! That's what you get you get for buying a portable model, running it year round with 14-15 cars! The sad thing is that Imagineering charged Euro Disney 60 millions euros (close to 100 millions $!) for the Toon Studios expansion.

[crashandburn]

hey guy's it's me ARAM not arem your official TPR Midwest Trip REPRESENT

 

you now guy's Robb left something out

 

the part were he got BITCHSLAPPED by my girl who was also there

 

more info will follow

[Nrthwnd]

^^

 

Well, at least all of us (yes?) on the tour got that credit (Crush), so I guess we won't have to worry about wear and tear on it, for future riding.

 

But interesting to find that out, now.

[IwantRevenge]

Did you enjoy Crush Coaster? Hope you got the credit as after ONE year of operation, some outside consultant came in, looked at the state of the ride and judged that the ride has already aged 5-10 years! That's what you get you get for buying a portable model, running it year round with 14-15 cars! The sad thing is that Imagineering charged Euro Disney 60 millions euros (close to 100 millions $!) for the Toon Studios expansion.

 

so the ride operated and is now SBNO?

[fdelhomez]

Is anyone having some news about the new ride of 2009, what i would be, is there any inversions, I know that it would be launch in 2.5 sec but I don't know the speed reach at this time, anyone help, lol, please

[fdelhomez]

Is anyone having some news about the new ride of 2009, what i would be, is there any inversions, I know that it would be launch in 2.5 sec but I don't know the speed reach at this time, anyone help, lol, please

 

Sorry, I was asking this for Europa Park and not Disneyland Resort Paris!

[HerBlackWings]

Personally, I'm concerned with the lack of Jeff Johnson pics in this thread.

 

We all need "material", if you get my drift.

[garrett.matthews]

I love a good quality log flume! It is soo much fun knowing that there isn't really a SET track you bump along the sides, and the best part is NO SEATBELTS WHICH MAKE YOU FEEL TOTALY VULNERABLE!! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

The theming at this part is tricked out! Everyone enjoys theming. It sets the rider in the mood, and gets everyone excited. More theme parks should do more theming. I mean JUST rollercoasters are great and everything, but take the same rollercoasters and have them going in and out of walls, THAT'S INTENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fdelhomez]

This park just look amazing, I'm going over it next summer, I'm gonna go also to Holiday Park, soon I will ride EGF, better late than never!

[Mechanic]

I really enjoy the pictures and commentary. I'm sure I will find the little tidbits that I pick up from reading the TPR TRs very valuable when I can someday make a trip to some of these great places you visit. I just really can't get enough of all the awesome photos. This picture in particular had me cracking up:

 

Sieg Heil, say what?

 

[ihani]

But... it has all this stuff on it, like... stuff. It's too decorated.

 

Have you seen it in person?

 

Um. No.

[Nrthwnd]

^

The DisneyParis Space Mountain was originally "based" on Jules Verne's From The Earth To The Moon, when scientists thought (and tried in the book and subsequent film) that shooting a capsule from a gigantic cannon (named The Columbiade) would do the trick. That's the cannon on the side of the mountain, shooting would-be astronauts into space. It smokes steam too, lol!

 

Discoveryland in DLPR was all based on the idea of "tomorrow" from the perspective of past storytellers and idealists, like Verne and H.G. Wells.

 

So the "motif" of the land is basically (or used to be when the park orginally opened in 1992) mainly Victorian design with scrolls and filigree... stuff. When it worked at the beginning, that's when the imagineers started re-thinking other Tomorrowlands, like WDW's and DL's.

 

It does look like a lot in the photos, but it is something to see in person and when all the night lighting works, really beautiful at night with the neon and floodlighting, especially on the mountain.