Europe Part 2 - Parc Asterix - May 12, 2008

Below are just some of the photos from this part. See all of them with high-res versions at Flickr.

65 Park Asterix photos - CLICK HERE.



Getting down to the real stuff now. My flight left Philadelphia a little after 6 PM, and after the time change, arrived at Charles de Gaulle near Paris after 7 AM Monday morning. I couldn't sleep any on the flight. My first exposure to Europe was to be Parc Asterix, a regional park themed to a French comic book that doesn't really draw many English speaking tourists, and therefore has no English speaking signs or announcements or seemingly English speaking employees. Not that they are obligated to, but it was an interesting challenge on arrival. After waiting in this massive line at opening, I found out though hand gestures that the ticket I bought at the airport needed to be exchanged at the ticket window for a ticket into the park. So, I got to wait in line twice.



This is the centerpiece of the park, and I believe it is part of a water ride. Parc Asterix is very nice, and like many parks in Europe, very well themed.



The first ride of the day was Vol D'Icare, a Zierer coaster. I figured it would be good to go ahead and get this one since capacity might be low. They crank these things through fast, though. The line, however, was pretty long already even with the park just opening.



As I would find with many coasters in Europe, blocking brakes are very rarely used to trim; not at all on this coaster. It was pretty out of control.



Across the water was a coaster that I was not sure I even wanted to ride; some people call Goudrix the worst coaster in the world.



First, however, was Tonnerre de Zeus, a coaster that I have been hearing about for many years. It has been ranked #1 in the world a number of times, but fell off in recent polls for reasons that I do not know. This guy is probably happy because he got to the ride early before the lines started building. I waited nearly two hours to ride this coaster, and this was probably the most crowded I have ever seen an amusement park. Even on a Monday, lines were absurd at Parc Asterix.



You get a good Zeus upskirt shot as you walk under him and into the queue (which was stretched out of the entrance and down the midway).



The station is very nicely themed. Unfortunately, it didn't sound like the coaster was maintained too well. It was squeeling like crazy and the final brakes were hitting so hard that the whole track shook really violently. Also, the back car in one train was closed off. My expectations were not incredibly high.



I had plenty of time to watch the final leg of the coaster as I waited in line for two hours. Thankfully, the queue was in the trees and heavily shaded on what was a strangely hot day in France.



My low expectations were completely unnecessary. This coaster was flat out awesome; I was already wowed midway through the ride. Even after a two hour wait (not that I really factor that in), this is one of my favorite coasters, probably top top 5.



To me, this ride was in some ways a more relentless version of The Legend at Holiday World, and this was at noon! It just never lets up. Definitely the best ride of the entire trip.



The required proof that I did in fact make it there.



I headed for Goudrix, but then decided that given the ridiculous crowds, I would pass it up, and ride it later if I still had time. If not, all the better for my well being.



This restaurant looked pretty funny, but even the line for it was huge.



Even though I wanted to hit all the coasters, I decided to go ahead and wait for Transdemonium, the park's dark ride.



There's an elaborate queue for it, which was of course completely full.



This ride was awesome. I expected a regular dark ride, but this thing is borderline roller coaster. I have no doubt that many of you credit whores would count it. In fact, I might say that if Blazing Fury at Dollywood and Fire in the Hole at Silver Dollar City are coasters, then this ride is. I use RCDB for my guide, though, and don't really care that much about counting them anymore (I didn't even look for the junior coaster at Parc Asterix), so I'll leave it off.



There's a small indoor section of the park that is kind of interesting.



They had one of these things, which I do enjoy, but there was no time with the crowds to do anything but the coasters and the dark ride.



All of the water rides looked pretty good.



Hidden back in the trees is Periferix, and in a very refreshing moment, I found that there was no line.



It's a pretty fun little ride, and you get two laps.



I don't even want to know how long the wait was for this, especially with the abnormal heat.



What I do know is that the line for Trace Du Hourra, the bobsled, was out its entrance.



After Tonnerre de Zeus, this was the ride I was looking forward to most at Parc Asterix, so I was willing to wait. It is the coolest looking bobsled, and may be the biggest; I have never seen one this massive.



The wait actually was not too terrible; they absolutely crank trains through this thing. I don't know how many they were running, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least 5.



The lift seems twice as high as the average bobsled coaster.



This thing picks up tremendous speed, and completely flies through some of the turns. It was somewhat terrifying.



I believe this is the ride that uses the mountain in the center of the park. The line was stretching way down the midway; it must have been hours.



Having done the dark ride and the other coasters with the exception of the kiddie (never saw it), there was only one thing left to do...



At least now I've already done the park so it can't ruin my day.



Quite frankly, it's not near as bad as I expected from the hype. But it is pretty bad.



No single part of it is really any worse than the crappy Arrow and Vekoma loopers out there, but it's a long ride with 7 inversions, so it just keeps going and going, beating you relentlessly. Better than Vortex at Kings Island, though, I think.



To give you some idea of how much I liked Tonnerre de Zeus, let me say that the 2 hours I waited that morning was the longest I had ever waited to ride something at an amusement park. Yet, with two hours to go until park closing, I decided to do it again.



I may never be here again, so I figured I might as well ride it a second time. This is a rare moment where the expected wait time on the sign is actually underestimated. It was close to 2 hours again.



The second ride was a little bumpier than the first, but still awesome.



It's great to see one of these older CCIs still running well. Europe does not have that many great wooden coasters, but this is certainly one.



A fun park, and a good way to start the trip. I would like to return some day when it is not so crowded, but I've been told that it is usually fairly packed. In 8 hours in the park I only got 7 rides. Exhausted, it was time for a flight to Belfast and sleep for the first time in many many hours.

Next Up - Ireland



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