After the Futuroscope near the French city of Poitiers quickly developed into one of the most successful theme parks in the country, the Grévin & Cie Group planned a similarly oriented park in 1993, where the theme “Man and Nature” was to be dealt with in various pavilions (similar to a world exhibition). It was not until 13 years later, and now under the Compagnie des Alpes, that the Bioscope near the French city of Mulhouse was put into reality with the help of public funds (which brought the park into criticism quite early on). Unfortunately, the number of visitors did not meet expectations, so that after only six years CdA sold the park to Aerophile SAS, a manufacturer of captive balloons and other observation flights. They redesigned the park around the stories of the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, whose great-nephew and estate administrator first gave them the idea. Since the summer of 2014, visitors have been able to experience the world of the little prince up close in the Parc du Petit Prince.
The Parc du Petit Prince describes itself as the world’s first and only flying park, which is probably mainly due to the two captive balloons and the Aérobar. Interestingly, this was usually done by the simplest means, e.g. the impact crater in the centre of the park, around which the Parc du Petit Prince is arranged in several circles, was supplemented by the asteroid B-612, i.e. the home of the little prince.
Les Chaises Volantes and Courrier Sud
We now start our round in a clockwise direction, where we are immediately greeted by the wave swinger Les Chaises Volantes from Zierer. This is the first classic ride was the first flat ride of the park and was installed here for the reopening of the park. Directly next to it is the Courrier Sud, an interactive walkthrough where you have to answer various questions by standing on the corresponding field on the ground or, later on, by using your hands. In Bioscope’s time, this attraction was known as the Planète Party, which describes the actual game inside a little better. A great game!
If you follow the paths, you will soon find yourself in a short cul-de-sac, where you will find the Volcano, a covered children’s playground with various bouncy castles, but also this year’s novelty Le Serpent and the Petit Train station.
Le Serpent
The ride on the roller coaster Le Serpent begins with a small right turn, after which the 9m high lift hill is quickly climbed. After a short straight line at a lofty height, the train plunges down a right turn. After a flat hill there is now a wide left turn, which crosses under the lift towards the end. This is followed by a slightly undulating right turn, where you enter an oversized tree trunk. You leave the tree trunk under hissing of a snake and immediately find yourself in the braking section of the roller coaster. After another short right turn the station follows. However, for the time being you only cross the station. In the following second session you will get to know the snake that gives the roller coaster its name and all kinds of water mist.
Aérobar du Buveur
As the two captive balloons had to stay on the ground because of the strong wind, we only had the Aérobar du Buveur, i.e. the air bar of the drunkard, left to observe the park from above. This is a very interestingly constructed observation tower, where the passengers sit around a table with dangling feet. As an interesting gimmick, you can and should take drinks and food to the top, but there is no obligation to do so.
Métamorphose
In the former Bioscope Pavilion Métamorphose, during a film screening, you can observe the various stages of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. There are also several butterfly houses in the immediate vicinity. On the wide meadows at the rear of the park, the park also has several animal enclosures and a dovecote. The animals are presented at regular intervals, but have plenty of room to retreat if necessary.
Planète Sous-Marine 4D
The Planète Sous-Marine 4D features an interactive theatre by the manufacturer Alterface, similar to the Desperados ride at the Danish amusement park Bakken, where you can sit on moving vehicles and shoot at the screen with pistols. Interestingly, the original film has already been reworked slightly to take into account the characters from the Petit Prince universe, but the realisation is not yet 100% ideal.
Le Petit Prince et la Cigogne and L’Aviateur vous raconte
The neighbouring Petit Théâtre hosts two puppet shows during the season. Le Petit Prince et la Cigogne focuses on the park’s younger audience, while L’Aviateur vous raconte is also dedicated to older audiences.
La Tyrolienne and Le Petit Prince 3D
Past the cable car roller coaster La Tyrolienne, which was still in maintenance at the time of our visit, we were drawn into the park’s huge 3D cinema, where the worth seeing film Le Petit Prince 3D (among others also in German) is shown. Together with the main character of the park and his best friend the fox, you travel around different planets in search of his rose.
Atlantique Sud
Next to the cinema hall, the log flume Atlantique Sud by the French manufacturer Soquet is currently under construction. This is characterised by a single, but quite high shot and promises a wet and cheerful ride.
Labyrinthe de la Fontaine
Right next to it is a rose garden, as well as the maze Labyrinthe de la Fontaine, in which you can not only lose your way mercilessly later on in the tour, but also get the fountain at the end of the path running by entering a solution word. The individual components of the solution can be found under the statues of each person from the corresponding universe. Here it is recommended to have actually read the little prince at some point.
The small fun house Vol de nuit, the children’s carousel Aérousel, and the trampoline hall Trampoline Park in the entrance building sometimes complete the park’s offer. And this is, without exaggerating, simply great.
Pictures Parc du Petit Prince
Conclusion Parc du Petit Prince
The Parc du Petit Prince is an extremely professional amusement park, where you can look forward to the future with justifiable anticipation. At least we had a very successful afternoon here, where we even had a very short time to get everything done in time, as there seems to be another surprise at every corner. The entrance fee of the park is very fair, so a visit is recommended without any restrictions, but you should spend a little more time here and if necessary read the book before, it’s worth it!
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After our more or less racy toboggan ride on the Pradaschier, we headed back downhill to Chur, where we took a lunch and discount-finding break in a pyramid-shaped Mc-Donald’s-Ibis hotel combination on the way to our next destination, the Alpamare Pfäffikon. Interestingly, the discount on the voucher on the back of the receipt was less than the discount on the website of the water park itself. Strengthened and equipped with e-tickets, we went directly to the bath, where we immediately received the chip wristbands for the lockers at the cash desk.
In 1970, the wave pool and later Alpamare water park in Bad Tölz, Bavaria, celebrated its premiere and quickly developed into a nationwide crowd puller. This was followed in 1977 by the sister park in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, as an additional leisure facility to the Seedamm-Center next door, which was built in 1974. As in Bad Tölz, the bath initially consisted of a wave pool, wellness area and two thermal pools, before it was continuously expanded from 1985 onwards and the first larger slides were added to the swimming pool.
Funnily enough, the Alpamare has practically developed downhill over the years: Three of the eleven water slides are located in the upper area near the Rio Mare river pool – Alpabob, Wildwasser and Mini Canyon. Most of these slides are located in a hall – sometimes they lead out of the building, but then they are completely covered, so that on these three slides you never actually get outside. They end on a level about ten metres below. From there, the starting point of seven further slides that overcome a height difference of approximately 17 m is located, the Alpa Canyons. These slides run over a hill and are partly open. Thus, one gets some fresh air even in the winter time. The longest slide, Balla Balla, overcomes the biggest difference in height: it starts on the top level and ends where the drop-offs of the Alpa Canyons are. These differences in height, which are quite remarkable in relation to the length of the slides, allow for exceptionally fast and wild runs with one drop after the other. What makes the slides generally very violent but also demands top physical performance from the swimmers: the many stairs.
Alpabob
It all started with the Alpabob in 1986, a Crazy River slide by the manufacturer Klarer, which runs over several levels with intermediate pools and offers some nice slide sections. The blue main slide was (at that time) joined by three more slide starts, the Mini Canyon and whitewater.
Mini Canyon
The Bodyslide Mini Canyon has always been known only as a depot slide, as it leads directly to the final pool of the Alpabob, where the slide tubes are stored. The 72m long slide is not very spectacular, but the numerous S-curves and jumps make the whole thing a surprisingly swinging experience with the right sliding technique.
Wildwasser
The neighbouring Wildwasser slide offers an interesting and historically significant alternative possibility to slide into the Alpabob: in the past it consisted of two separate and parallel tracks, which merged in a rather idiosyncratic plop run-up manoeuvre directly onto a narrowing Crazy River slide. According to Daniel’s tales, this unhealthy combination of hops and subsequent pinball check only survived the fewest without bruises. What at that time incited to numerous repetitive rides has nowadays lost a lot of its attraction, because the initial white half-shell slide profile has meanwhile been extended by a few meters, so that one now slides relatively unspectacularly into the arcane intermediate pool or rather into the secret love grotto. This hidden corner in the Alpamare is actually the biggest attraction of the otherwise very boring slide due to the tubes in bodyslide width – because very few swimmers ever find it. After a short shot, the track leads over a very slow stream section finally into the second last intermediate pool of the Alpamare.
Balla Balla
Via the former access of the right whitewater lane you enter the wonderfully wacky Proslide Balla Balla since 1999. The slide can be used either head first or in a conservative supine position. For the time being the slide leads you down the slope parallel to the whitewater slide. On a somewhat steeper straight, you now increase your speed quickly before you swing up in several consecutive S-curves. After 111m you leave the closed tube section and are immediately confronted with the cold ambient air. While constantly shouting out the outside temperature, “Cold, cold, cold!”, you pass a downward helix, where in former times balls were said to have flown around your ears. Through a car wash portal, one makes a short change of direction, which is also followed by a curve through an oversized water tap. A short right bend follows with a subsequent jump, which leads into a wrongly signposted left helix. After a rather abrupt swerve, you end up in the run-out pool of this 261m long themed water slide. The biggest disadvantage of this grandiose slide are the steps and the rather unpredictable waiting times due to the slow traffic light switching time and the remote start, if you want to use a slide mat.
Cobra
The legendary tube slide Cobra is probably without exaggeration one of the most thrilling thrill slides in Switzerland, and is definitely one of the most extreme water slides in the classic non-turboslide profile, so to speak the Bakken Tornado among slides. It starts quite harmlessly and quickly develops into absolute madness, as you almost lie down in a racy S-curve before descending a borderline violent steep helix, which presses you into the sliding surface with tremendous pressure and accelerates you to an almost inhuman speed. With this speed you fly over the following jump, which is about five meters high and also quite steep, whereby the speed rush increases even more into insane spheres. With this now truly beyond good and bad speed, you now shoot through an extremely dangerous S-curve combination, in which you swing out so violently that you almost end up lying on your face. Absolutely nothing for weak nerves or douchbags! The last little jump before the run-out pool is guaranteed to be done in RMC style – with airtime in a full 90 degree lateral angle. Accordingly painful you rush into the run where you can hardly believe what this beast has just done to you.
The Alpamare is well aware of the cult status of its Cobra, as the new construction, also by Klarer in 2013, not only retained the very heavy layout 1:1, but even returned to the original plans from 1990: Over the years, the old, blue Cobra has been given some defusing tube segments in a slightly darker blue, which softened excessive rocking movements in the last part and also flattened the last jump. What is considered aggravation by Tuberides is in fact only a return to the original state from the opening year. Whether this is a good or a bad move, it remains to be seen – Daniel even prefers the variant with the changed blue segments due to a rounder speed retention and less risk of injury – but you definitely have to admit that a different water park might have presented a completely different layout. In this respect, the Alpamare can in any case be credited with fidelity to its history and courage to be fierce.
Cresta Canyon
Daniel likes to refer to the tube slide Cresta Canyon, built in 1990, as the airtime slide of the Alpamares; no wonder considering that the slide provides certain moments of weightlessness right at the beginning of the slide. After the start of the slide, the track leads directly into the first jump, which after a minimalist left bend immediately leads into a surprisingly high drop. This is followed by a terribly tight helix, which is driven through with a lot of pressure and gives you fear and anxiety during the drop. An abrupt change of direction lets you swing up in the following helix before you go down the third jump. After another bend you reach the run-out pool.
Thriller
The Black Hole called Thriller, built by Proslide in 1998, may be ridden using double or triple tubes and replaced the red Bodyslide Grand Canyon, which had been here until then and was almost even more violent than the Cobra. It caused many an accident, especially with a 7-meter fall directly into a super narrow right helix with a separately edged splash water rim. Today’s thriller slide is a lot safer, but in its own way quite untamed in terms of layout. Right at the beginning there are some very tight changes of direction in more or less complete darkness – you don’t see them coming at all and are thrown wildly from one to the other sloping position accordingly. After a somewhat calmer middle part with water curtains and a little bit wider curves, the final is a huge drop, which lets you surf over the water surface of the drop-off pool. This pool should not be shorter in any case, as you get so fast that you can regularly watch how the sliders roll almost over the edge behind it.
Ice Express
The Ice Express, opened in 2008, is a 158m long bodyslide on which you can also slide head first with a mat. It essentially retains the course of its predecessor Niagara Canyon, which was here at the time, with the main difference that, unlike its alternating open and closed predecessor, it now runs almost continuously as a closed tube. But not quite: After the first helix, the slide has always been buried underground in the slope – the Ice Express adapted this very well to its theme, so that one rushes through a veritable ice cave with penguin figures and purple strobe flashes. More jumps and tight helices complete the layout – especially on the mat in prone position an intense pleasure. The unbelievably tight final curve before the last jump sends the sliders up to the edge once more by force – this shows an advantage of having designed the slide as a classic tubular slide for the new construction, as the old version, which had the tunnel roof mounted just beyond the edge of the half shell, offered a not to be despised accident potential. Daniel would actually have liked it best if the slide had been provided with the now existing classic continuous splash water rim at such places during the new construction, but still kept the open sections. But even here you can be happy, as the original and great layout has not been changed. My personal favourite in the Alpamare.
Double Bob Splash Pipe
The Alpamare manages like no other water park to make existing slides look like an absolute insider tip by clever positioning. The Crazy River slide Double Bob Splash Pipe, built in 1991, which you can rush down in double tyres is such a slide. In general one hopes for a good steering skill of the pilot to have a smooth ride; but this is anything but easy. After the start, the boat leads you down approximately a straight line in alternating contact between the two bands. After a fast turn, the first jump follows, whereupon a helix combination in form of a figure of eight is added, in which the contact with the side-bands is also not missing. After a short curve over a triple-down at full speed, an ultimate laughing flash hits you. This is followed by a turn and a short right/left turn, just before you find your way back into the bath via a final helix. If Lightwater Valley’s roller coaster The Ultimate was a water slide, it would be the Double Bob Splash Pipe – or in other words, the mad hatter’s wet dream. The 175m slide length guarantees in every respect an extra-long and extremely rugged sliding experience.
King Cone
The latest full-value slide in the Alpamare is the 2012 retrofitted King Cone, a Cone Slide by Klarer. The 153m long track is designed in the Magic Tube profile and offers a total of three sloping mini cones, in which you swing around quite considerably and turn backwards, before you are released into the next slide sections by quite idiosyncratically constructed steering measures. The special feature: Apart from the use with single or double tubes, which is usually allowed on similar installations, you can also slide head first on a speed mat, which gives the rocking experience in the cones a unique and peculiar gain. It gets really weird when you exit the last cone backwards and the mat rolls away underneath you after the last fall into the run-out.
Tornado
On the same side of the slope is the super-crater slide called Tornado, built in 2004 by the manufacturer Van Edgom. You build up a considerable speed on a very long straight line before you are led over a rather narrow curve into the large funnel, where you now make your rounds before you reach the tunnel entrance in the middle of the oversized bowl. As all slides in the Alpamare are also operated in winter, the outdoor fun can be a real test of courage; at least we were lucky, the temperature was only slightly negative. A short shot through two waterfalls leads you into the run-out pool of the slide.
Beckenwelt and Rio Mare
When the endless climbing of stairs and the sliding marathon in the Alpamare, which is generally quite exhausting when there is absolutely no crowd, push you to the limits, it is best to go to the Beckenwelt on the entrance level. In the wave pool you can let off steam in pleasantly oldschoolish and thus powerful waves. The Alpa-Therme next door invites you to enjoy all kinds of bubbling pleasures or a Kneipp-style contrast bath in the cold water pool. The iodine-brine thermal spring, which is unique in Switzerland, with its strange greenish-yellowish-brownish-reddish shimmering foaming bath water in the evening hours, offers a similarly relaxing bathing pleasure, although at 36 degrees, the temperature is much warmer; extremely beneficial for skin and nose. In addition, the Rio Mare flow pool is open every half hour to play driftwood through the 100-metre-long stream channel. The intensity of the water jets on the level “strong”, which are run at :45, is known nationwide – in this respect sensitive body parts such as ears or shoulders should be kept as far away from the pool edge as possible.
Conclusion Alpamare
As the first bath of its kind, the Alpamare is synonymous with every water park in Switzerland. It is a bath steeped in history, and a number of changes have been made to it over the years, whether through the addition of new slides or structural changes to the existing structure. In general, like hardly any other swimming pool, the people here have always shown courage for new things and tried out a lot. You can see this in the slides, which is why Pfäffikon is home to one of the most interesting public baths in Europe, which also stands out internationally. One could criticize the horrendous entrance fee, but we are here in Switzerland – it is normal – and if you are honest, it is worth paying for.
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Switzerland is expensive; to my own amazement, it is not only expensive, but very expensive. Of course, this is the case all over the country and the local society can easily finance this with their corresponding salary, but for tourists the whole thing looks a bit different. For those who feel like it, for 28 CHF, thus approximately 26€, they can dare a trip on the toboggan run Rodelbahn Pradaschier (including the chair lift ride) or for approximately the same price, they can have a four hours swim in an water park and/or have a regular meal in a restaurant.
Hooked by the review of the summer tobogganing veteran Martin Spies, we had no other choice but to race down the Pradaschier at least once. Well, if only one could do that. Modernised to the latest safety system of the manufacturer and thus equipped with automatic distance holders and brake swords that are available throughout the track and in which the magnetic brake engages as required, this is really not so easy to do anymore. But before you come to this conclusion, you have to climb the mountain and get into one of the bobsleighs. The fate of a boy from North Rhine-Westphalia who wanted to race down this 3 km long splendid Alpine Coaster with his cousin from Switzerland showed us that the whole thing can be more difficult than expected. Since you really can’t complain about additional weight in the bobsled, I was very happy to take the boy with me. A stroke of luck, because Daniel had to crawl a considerable distance behind his sneaking cousin despite a considerable time interval between him and the boy was given, while the two of us had completely free run.
The ride on the Rodelbahn Pradaschier toboggan run begins with a steep left-hand bend, which quickly increases your speed. After a short right turn you pass the first smaller jump before the track turns into two serpentine curves. On the following straight another jump follows immediately, before a short left bend leads into another hairpin bend. This is followed by three consecutive descents, whereupon a turning curve joins in immediately. On a steeply sloping straight you could build up a lot of speed, which would then, after another turn, take your bottom several centimetres out of the seat over several smaller jumps. But the modernisation of the layout only becomes really bad after the next three hairpin bends, followed by a quite big jump, where you are noticeably slowed down in order to keep the lateral forces to a minimum in the following curve. So full throttle is no fun anymore and unfortunately there were moments like this again and again on the whole track, which results in a really strange acceleration curve; so a harmonic ride is not possible anymore.
We continue in a right turn and once again several smaller jumps. We keep the serpentine course for the time being, whereby this is loosened up by numerous hills from time to time, over a total of seven curves, before we approach the absolute highlight of the course after a short left-hand bend, a genuine quadruple-down seven years before Dollywood’s Lightning Rod. The smile on the face of the passengers during this airtime orgy can hardly be described, as this descent is so unexpected and merciless. It doesn’t bother me that the next three hairpin bends are rather shallow, after all they are for recreation. Full speed, or what ever the counterpart in the throttled condition of the course is, the course leads over another jump into the 19th curve on this track. A small S-curve then leads beautifully into the next one, whereupon the serpentine course of the track is slowly broken up. With more corners and edges and an increased number of jumps, the bobsled now leads the rider through seven more corners before the track becomes more and more straight. But after a short dive into the woods, you encounter three more hairpin bends. Before you get closer to the old patterns, the further course leads you down into the valley parallel to the chair lift. This is further loosened up by several jumps. The end of the ride is now within sight.
The track of the Rodelbahn Pradaschier is great, really. All in all, the course offers a lot of serpentines, but in return it is more than 3km long. The quadruple-down is marvellous and a surprising highlight without equal, but unfortunately the rest of the track suffers from the structural changes to the track, as well as to the bobsleighs. So it is a worsening improvement, which is not worth the high fare for riding. However, you should not forget that the price/performance ratio in this country is at a different level than in Germany and other European countries anyway, and therefore almost everything is far too expensive.
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