milst1 Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Cheryl and I celebrate *both* of our birthdays *and* our wedding anniversary within a 5 day period in early April. The anniversary fell on the weekend so we booked for Paris and went on a credit hunt around the City of Lights. CDG from the Hilton. My license expired on my birthday and I forgot the temporary, so Cheryl's driving this time while I navigate. First stop, Parc Asterix! My kind of Gaul! And the line jumping begins! It's opening day! First stop is Vol D'Icare, or Flight of Icarus. Nicely themed. It's a Zierer Hornet, which you may not have heard of, because there are only 2 of them. Two car trains. I think someone is getting a boob credit. Ahh, Spring! Nice family ride. Nice boat ride. Heide Park has the same model. Across the lagoon lie our next two targets. First up, Tonnerre de Zeus! This is definitely a decent woodie. Non-stop action. One of the better CCI's. Uh, thanks Zeus! Next stop, Goudurix, a Vekoma looper/corkscrew/batwing headbanger. Queue wasn't bad. It was a really nice day. We did not have any interest in riding this again. French food is amazing. Next was the tiny little Zierer Tivoli... ...Les Ronde des Rondins. It's hidden away pretty well but rcdb has good notes on how to find the thing. Don't confuse that Zierer Tivoli with Periferix... ...which is *also* a Zierer Tivoli, but the medium instead of the small. Finally we have La Trace du Hourra... ...which is apparently the only Mack Bobsled that isn't themed as a bobsled. And the only Mack bobsled without white track. A little bit of Asterix shopping. Now we drive into Paris, park, and walk a few blocks. And if you park at the VINCI lot and take le petit train to Jardin d'Acclimatations, you get a discount! Here comes the train. Which takes you to the groovy little park. There was live music, public art, pony rides, and even a little market set up to promote tourism to former French colonies. There are a bunch of kiddy flats, and then there's this Reverchon junior spinning mouse. And this French-built non-powered dragon coaster called, appropriately, "Dragon". Vive La France! We're back on the road. Unfortunately, this roadblock thing prevents direct motoring down the Champs d'Elysee. Paris Marathon is the next day. Cheryl's actually run it before. Stinkiest. Marathon. Ever. You probably can't guess where we're headed because this ticket was printed in Dutch. You guessed! Bienvenue! We're here to score one new credit. It's over here in the new Toy Story Playland section. I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but I would have preferred a major new attraction to the 3 off-the-shelf-rides-with-custom-theming they chose instead. RC Racer is an Intamin Halfpipe. Gorgeous landscaping in the queue area. Note cigarette in hand of teenager. Despite signage. Of course we saw this at other French parks too, but we have higher expectations at certain parks. Cute theming, but it's sparse. You've Got A Friend in Me plays over and over. Unfortunately I didn't get any actual vehicle photos. Let me tell you, even though it's a "minor" attraction in my eyes, they set up a queue-length for a "major" attraction. Even with the short ride cycle (much shorter than I'd experienced on Itamin halfpipes at Elitch or NickU@MoA) and 4 more riders than the standard ride layout that has two 8-seat circles, it's a very slow and boring queue for a 1 minute ride. We waited at least 50 minutes and the queue area was filled to about 1/3 of its capacity. Toy Story Playland also has Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin... ...and Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop. Ooh La La! Do they sell these in the parks back in the States? On to our 4th park of the day, Disneyland Park Paris. Unfortunately we're not staying in the beautiful pink Disneyland Hotel shown here...one night was €500, or US$720! This is why we're here, 5th Anniversary Dinner! I was shooting for something like Blue Bayou at Disneyland Anaheim, but... ...actually this was the full character dining experience. Cheryl with Belle and The Artist Formerly Known as Beast. We also saw Perla, Suzy, Sleeping Beauty, and Tiana. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. It's Day 2, and we've driven aboout 2 1/2 hours from Disneyland Paris to Parc du Bocasse. A new park for the TPR Park Index perhaps? We're out in the French countryside. Looks like a Disk-O. And other flats. Then there was this, Apiland. I see the beekeeping suits and I remember the word "apiary". They had beekeeping tools on display. I thought they might have bees behind glass, but it was just empty hives and honey and stuff like that. A local culture walkthrough? No, it was actually a dark ride! A bizarre and long dark ride. Every scene had these little bee kids. There were dozens and dozens of them, like...like a swarm! Apiland even had a credit. It was fairly elaborate and went on for scene after scene after scene. Interesting home made dark ride. On to the credits. One was an L&T Junior coaster called "Speedy Gonzales". The other was the French-built (Soquet) Train de Mine, which was actually a lot of fun and not rough. Train de Mine station, train, and ride op. Other than the kiddie flats, obligatory 4D adventure, and pirate theming, there was this small water park section. I've noticed that many if not most European parks require bikini swimsuits for men. WTF? Au revoir, Parc du Bocasse! We're back on the road to our final park... The attraction park for the whole family... Parc Saint Paul! Get here early or you'll have trouble finding parking. It was a bit like Knoebel's because of the picnic pavillions and the green woodsy setting, but also like Adventureland in Long Island for the general ride quality. There's a Wacky Worm. Wild Train is built by the Russian company, Pax. Formule 1 is another Pax ride. It's basically a wild mouse with tilted track but themed to Forumla 1 racing. There was also a tiger tamer show and you could see the tigers pacing around in cages behind the tent. We resolved to get the credits done quickly before the tigers escaped. There is also this Zamperla spinning mouse. Mini Mouse Cartoon, a Zamperla mini mouse, was the final credit of the trip. Didn't get to hear this baby going, unfortunately. It's really a decent park. And that's the end...of this report! Six parks and sixteen credits in two days in France. Au Revoir!
SharkTums Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Oh man, we'll have to go to that one park just for the Bee Themed Dark Ride! It would be KT's new #1 Attraction!
Philrad71 Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Other than the kiddie flats, obligatory 4D adventure, and pirate theming, there was this small water park section. I've noticed that many if not most European parks require bikini swimsuits for men. WTF? Â Maybe the sign means that all men are supposed to wear Zeus panties in the water park! Â Â Great report!
cfc Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Good stuff, Martin--thanks for the report. Nice to know that if you want a mouse on your crotch, Paris Disney has you covered.
larrygator Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 (edited) Martin - you kill me when you go to a new park and take/post limited pictures. Â I added the new park to the Park Index and congrats on the birthdays and another year together. Â BTW - looks like Zeus has some new briefs, I think they used to be polka dot. Edited April 16, 2011 by larrygator
milst1 Posted April 17, 2011 Author Posted April 17, 2011 Martin - you kill me when you go to a new park and take/post limited pictures. Â I added the new park to the Park Index and congrats on the birthdays and another year together. Â BTW - looks like Zeus has some new briefs, I think they used to be polka dot. Â Yes Larry, I do it to drive you mad! Ha ha ha ha! Sorry, already such a long TR. You can find a number of additional photos with labels starting at http://bit.ly/eVjPWy Thanks for the warm wishes. Â And thanks for the comments everyone. Elissa, Apiland could be a TPR kids classic. Unfortunately the pacing leaves something to be desired so the magic is gone after the first 15 minutes. Just kidding, it's not that long. I leave you with shocking video containing several bad "bee" puns.
gisco Posted April 18, 2011 Posted April 18, 2011 I think TPR would have a blast at these parks but I think I will have to pass on going to the water park! Yikes, Robb in a bikini!
Dragon Khan Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 Oh man, we'll have to go to that one park just for the Bee Themed Dark Ride! It would be KT's new #1 Attraction! Elissa, be sure you don't miss Plopsaland, then. I think TPR hasn't been to this park yet. So, in addition to Anubis, there's the all new Maya the Bee indoor kid zone opening next June !!!
milst1 Posted April 28, 2011 Author Posted April 28, 2011 Ooh, we've run across a honey museum near Janfusun Fancyworld here in Taiwan!
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