Efteling

Baron Hooghmoed, Prime comes before the fall!

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Preface

No other amusement park made it so easy this year to visit the park as easy as Efteling. In order to promote his new roller coaster Baron 1898, the park gave me, as many other people, a free ticket out of the blue. Therefore, in the middle of October – shortly before the ticket expired – on a very rainy day, I took a trip to the Dutch village of Kaatsheuvel.

Efteling

The Efteling amusement park originated as a fairytale forest in 1952, but originally as a nature park in the 1930s, where a total of 10 fairy tales were told. Under the direction of the artist Anton Pieck, after whom the central square with a few smaller carousels in the Marerijk area is named, the fairy tale forest grew steadily and – unlike most other theme parks – never lost its importance. Beside the talking tree Sprookjesboom, which tells the children the fairy tales of Sprookjesbos in Dutch, you will find some bizarre and very interesting things, such as the Indian water lilies or the flying fakir. Especially with smaller children you can easily spend most of the time in the park in this area.

Droomvlucht

However, the most popular and most visited attraction in the Efteling since 1993 has been the Droomvlucht dark ride, which takes you past larger scenes of fairies, elves, trolls and other fairy-tale creatures in suspended gondolas. Although the dream flight, as the English name suggests, could hardly be more cheesy and superimposed, the ride through the dream scenes is definitely fun and the descent taking place in a 1080° helix is truly unusual.

Villa Volta

Next to the Ravelijn show, for which translations are available, there is the prototype of all modern Mad House attractions, the Villa Volta. The story of the Bokkenrijders, a band of robbers from the 18th century, is presented. Hugo van den Loosche Duynen is the aged landlord of the villa, who robbed a deserted, but richly stocked abbey with his gang and was cursed by a suddenly appearing woman and since then cannot find his peace anywhere. Only a person with a clear conscience can release his spell, which is why Hugo invited volunteers to his house.

A Mad House is a ride in which a gondola, with two rows opposite each other, in a rotating drum is swivelled about 30° to both sides. The rotating, highly decorated drum gives the impression of turning upside down in a room, the pivoting of the passenger carrier underlines this by the generated accelerations. The event is accompanied by suitable music and lighting, and if necessary by various other effects. The Villa Volta is not only the pioneer of this type of attraction, but also one of its best examples.

Volk van Laaf

In the village of the people of Laaf you can watch the Laaf during their daily life or take a monorail tour through the colonnades of the houses. The people of Laaf are reminiscent of Holle Bolle Gijs, who can be found throughout the park. These are talking garbage cans that say “paper here!” and encourage the little guests of the park to throw their garbage into the gullets of the never-full inhabitants of the park.

Monsieur Cannibale

Monsieur Cannibale also likes to eat one with pleasure, although it is only a teacup ride in which you sit in some bigger cooking pots instead of cups. The ride is not so interesting because of the heavy to turn gondolas, but the catchy tune of the song of the same name by Sacha Distel certainly contributes to it.

Carnaval Festival

The best you can do in the Reizenrijk is to travel, therefore a ride in the cars of the Carnaval Festival dark ride should not be missed. Accompanied by a merciless catchy tune, you accompany the jester Jokie on his always cheerful journey around the world, whereby the clichés of the corresponding countries were excellently staged. Carnaval Festival does not need to shy from the comparison with Disneyland Parks’ role model It’s a small World, as the ride offers everything a good dark ride needs to offer and in my opinion is even a bit better, as it is much less annoying.

Vogel Rok

Located next door is the dark roller coaster Vogel Rok, which immerses you in the world of the stories of 1001 Nights, at least in the stories of Sindbad the Seafarer. After the train has left the station it passes a short gradient within a right turn, whereupon the lifthill of the ride follows. Accompanied by laser effects we climb to the top of the lift and then immediately enter the main drop of the ride. With a slope of 55°, the train now races towards the ground in a left-hand bend. The height difference of 21m results in a speed of 67 km/h, which is kept constant in a very wide left turn close to the ground. Shortly thereafter the train shoots up and approaches the ground again in a slightly smaller radius. In the following valley we change direction. A curvy hill, past one of the name-giving birds, later we pass through an uphill helix, at the end of which we are eaten by a snake. Then, we pass a block brake before racing towards the ground in a left turn. The track then increases in height before the radius of the curve narrows down into a downward helix. The train now moves off the ground one last time and dives into a tunnel of lights. After that the brakes are reached and immediately after another right turn there is the station, which is usually approached with the loud music of the onboard sound system.

Vogel Rok is a great roller coaster of the type MK-900 by the Dutch manufacturer Vekoma, which delivers a short but thoroughly thrilling yet always harmonious ride. It is amazing how fast you can accumulate your laps on this coaster, if you stay a while when the park is less busy.

Gondoletta and Pagode

For those who like it a little more relaxed, the boat trip Gondoletta is the perfect choice. For 20 minutes the extra long Tow-Boat Ride of the company Intamin takes you across the entire lake and it is quite big. Since this year, in addition to the obligatory feeding of birds and the resulting siege of countless water birds, you have a really great view of the roller coaster Baron 1898. A similarly interesting view is guaranteed from the observation ride Pagode, a Flying Island also from the manufacturer Intamin, which brings you to a height of 45m without any tower structure. This happens basically by an oversized lever at whose end the passenger gondola is suspended and at whose other end the oversized counterweight is located.

Halve Maen, D’Oude Tuffer and Polka Marina

The swinging ship Halve Maen, which is currently the highest ship swing in Europe, can also be classified as a relaxing ride. Next to it you will find the vintage car ride D’oude Tuffer, which allows its cars to travel the long distance with rapid pace. Equally interesting, although only due to the outwardly inclined curves, is the Polka Marina ride by Vekoma, which always makes me smile.

Python

However, the things you are interested in in the Ruigrijk area are certainly not flat rides of the area, rather the roller coasters that reign this corner of the park. The first one was the Python steel roller coaster in 1981, which carried its passengers not only through one loop, but two consecutive loops. In fact Python was the highest steel roller coaster in Europe at that time and with its four inversions the most exciting roller coaster on the continent. Just as exciting as the coaster Carolina Cyclone of the American amusement park Carowinds, which was the first roller coaster worldwide to entertain its passengers with four turn-overs a year before. Efteling was therefore thinking big even back then!

The train leaves the station on a small gradient, followed by a left turn. Shortly after the train enters the lift chain, which brings it to 29m. A small slope and another 180° left turn follow before the train races down the main shot. Then the train passes through a powerful valley and enters the first loop, whereupon the game repeats itself in a second loop. On a straight incline the train gains some height and immediately throws itself into a curve. This leads the train to the starting position of the corkscrews, into which one enters at a remarkable angle. While the carriages screw their way through the corkscrews, the world is upside down two more times. After a small hill an upward spiral follows. Immediately afterwards the braking track is reached.

Python is a great roller coaster of an older design, which doesn’t have to hide itself due to its truly intense performance, especially in the evening. After the original Arrow trains, as well as the second train generation of the manufacturer Vekoma and trains of the manufacturer KumbaK had been used on the track, modern trains of the fourth train generation by Vekoma now enrich the the ride. Unfortunately I could not test them during the current visit, but the KumbaK trains gave a solid impression during a past visit.

Joris en de Draak

Wooden roller coasters have a long tradition in Efteling, dating back to 1991 when Pegasus, an absolutely boring and slowed down roller coaster for children, was built in the park. It was the first wooden roller coaster in the Netherlands. A year after its removal, Efteling build Joris en de Draak. This ride introduced two more wooden roller coasters of the popular manufacturer Great Coaster International (GCI) to the park. The background story is dedicated to the patron saint of the English, the dragon slaughterer Georg. The layout is divided into two tracks, Vuur and Water, both of which are duelling each other whilst showing different but somewhat balanced riding characteristics.

Both sides start parallel to each other, but a few meters apart, with a small gradient out of the station to which the lift hill is immediately added. Once at the top, both sides make an S-curve and a turn mirror-inverted to each other, so that the sides meet in the middle and thus deliver a race during the first drop. The trains then shoot through the first valley, which is immediately followed by a triple up, i.e. a triple combination of hills that always leads upwards. In the following right turn the sides lose each other.

With a double down, Water is showing its wild side right at the beginning of its independence. In a bumpy curve you fight your way to the right side of the course to cross more hills along the lake. In the same manner the train now makes a turn to the left.

Meanwhile Vuur also passes under its opponent in a double-down. In a flattened right bend you cross the truss of the lift hill whereupon a drop takes place immediately above the sidewalk. With a short look at the Vliegende Hollander a left turn is initiated. Over several hills one makes one’s way over the lake, whereby these are not so frequently present as on Water. A smooth right curve, which serves as a turn, follows. Thereupon both sides run next to each other again.

After a short straigth section, a smaller slope follows, to which a rather wild combination of right-left curves is attached, whereby both sides can show track sections inclined to the wrong direction. Soon the finish is reached and the winner of the race will be announced at the brake track. Afterwards you pass through the maintenance house and two left turns to the respective station, where you enter under fanfare or loud booing.

Joris en de Draak offers two good wooden roller coasters, but the rides are quite different and therefore not quite the same. Water offers the apparently wilder ride, because it is going over smaller hills and also the curves seem a little more daring, while Vuur is more careful with its gradients and therefore a little more efficient to tear his passengers back and forth. I can hardly explain why I preferred Water during my last visit in Efteling, as it was Vuur who convinced me more this time.

Vliegende Hollander

On the other side of the lake there is the Vliegende Hollander, a water roller coaster with a moving history. By this I don’t mean the problematic manufacturing process of the installation, where even another company was called in to solve the initial problems, but the story of Willem van der Decken, the captain of the Dutchman, a ship of the United East India Company. Due to his greed, the captain is more and more subject to piracy and even storms and holidays, when it was forbidden to set sail, didn’t stop him. “I will sail, storm or not, Easter or not. I will sail, even until Judgement Day,” said Willem, drawing a curse on him. Damned for eternity to sail the seven seas of the world, the Flying Dutchman races across the sea as a ghost ship with his black hull and burning sails.

The journey begins in a 17th century seaport. After leaving the station you can see in the first scene how your own boat sets sail. Fog is coming up and is getting denser, only a lamp at the bow gives some light. A storm comes up and with it the Flying Dutchman shows itself to the passengers. Through the hull one enters the interior of the ghost ship. A surprising drop follows and thereupon a rise, in which one is held immediately by a brake. Here Willem van der Decken shows his true face, whereupon the lift chain grabs and brings the boat to a height of about 22m. Immediately a steep turn follows out of the building towards the ground and through a fog-flooded building. A camelback is attached and shortly afterwards a horseshoe, i.e. an elevated turn, which you pass through with a considerable cross slope.  A short ascent leads to a block brake. This is followed by a small drop and a long bend, which then turns into a shot into the water basin. After the watering, the boat is transported back to the station by circulating chains.

The Vliegende Hollander offers an almost perfect mix of a dark ride and a water roller coaster, which was skillfully staged. The part in front of the lift hill is so atmospheric that you could almost skip the ending. But this one also does a good job, even if the finish could be wetter.

Baron 1898

On a highly atmospheric path, which also provides some nice insights into the roller coaster part of the water coaster, you can walk to this year’s novelty, the Dive Coaster Baron 1898. Even from far away, the appearance is convincing by its industrial charm and the framework structure, which carries the lift, as well as the first drop. The Rijksmijn winding tower transports the miners down into the shaft, where they are to mine as much gold as possible on behalf of Baron Hooghmoed. But the Witte Wieven, white women in Dutch folklore, who watch over the gold, want to prevent this. Gustave Hooghmoed doesn’t listen to the warning, so he urges the miners to climb into the mine. With a fearless “Glück Auf!” he says goodbye to his workers.

After boarding the train and lowering of the floor, the train starts moving towards the next room. In a musical way the Witte Wieven reappears. This time, it is not just a simple warning and they announce the sabotage of the descent, as pride comes before the fall. At a fast pace we climb the steep lift, which brings us to the starting height of 30m. Arrived at the top, a small section continues straight ahead whereupon we are pushed over the edge. Now we are held in this position for a few seconds until a bell rings and releases the train. From here we descend the vertical drop into a fog-flooded tunnel. The 37.5m difference in altitude produce a speed of about 90 km/h. At top speed we now enter the first inversion, an Immelmann with a relatively late rotation around its own axis. With a lot of power we pass through the following valley before we turn upside down in a Zero-G Roll. A short straight section later the train increases in height in a helix and immediately decreases in a small drop, whereby the transition takes place a little rough. After another hill we take a right turn, which releases us into the braking track. This is followed by the return to the station.

The exit from the station is via a gallery, which leads into a narrow corridor and, after a long staircase, releases the miner from the building. Funnily enough, an employee handed a CD with the Baron 1898 remix by DJ Hardwell as a personal souvenir. On the way back home the CD was heard almost continuously, although the connection to the Baron 1898 was not really clear. It’s just a nice song, which serves ideally as background music and an even nicer little gift from the amusement park.

The Baron 1898 is without exaggeration the best designed dive coaster in the world. Although it is only a compact version of this type of roller coaster, the ride in combination with the lush design and the worth seeing implementation of the storyline is a truly first-class roller coaster. The used baggage system, in connection with the tickets for the two shafts and the corresponding rows, works very well, so that from my point of view there is hardly any potential for improvement.

Piraña

One of the first major attractions of the amusement park is the Rapid River Piraña, opened in 1983, which was also the first of its kind in Europe. The ride in the round-boats along the concrete canal, which has some rapids and other elements, is good and can easily get you wet. There is also a possibility to get the passangers wet from the outside of the ride that can be used free of charge, but which can soak you with a bit of bad luck.

Spookslot

The Spookslot is one of the most famous and oldest attractions of the Efteling amusement park, although you should not expect a classic ghost train when you enter the haunted castle, although the outward appearance and the design of the queue make you expect a dark ride. Instead, you will find yourself in a larger room with several standing rows and watch a show worth seeing with countless mechanical figures.

Panda Droom

The ancient 3D film Panda Vision at the 4D cinema Panda Droom in the immediate vicinity is not quite as worth seeing. Anyhow, the special effects are rather special and should not be missed. In contrast to the many other venues in which this film was shown, the film was created especially for the Efteling in cooperation with the WWF, which is why animal welfare is far more important here through a preshow and further information options in the exit area.

Bob

In 1984 a truly new roller coaster concept from Intamin opened in the USA and, as so often the case, found its way to the Efteling a year later. The idea of a roller coaster with gondolas running free in a canal instead of on rails is not new since the flying turns of the 30’s, but the gondolas of the Swiss Bobsleigh pass through steep ascents and descents.

The ride in the Bobbaan, better known as Bob, begins on a straight out of the station. After a left turn you reach the lifthill, which brings you to a height of 20m. A steep left turn takes you downhill. The following valley is driven through with an absurd force, with the first change of direction taking place immediately. A swinging S-curve combination leads you up into the first block brake. Once again we descend in a steep left turn and get stoked by the high forces in the next valley. After a right turn, a left turn leads into the next block brake and also here the change of direction takes place in a powerful way. Also this block brake is left in the usual way. As we already have experienced before, the next valley is passed with a lot of momentum before a simple right helix leads us upwards. The car now crosses the last block brake and crashes towards the ground one last time, however this time in a right turn. A last change of direction, but not so brute, follows. After this turn the brakes follow and shortly after we reach the station.

Bob is a unique roller coaster, at least in Europe, although the American models now also have an exotic status. In comparison to the bobsleigh runs of the manufacturer Mack, which are better known in this country, the Swiss Bob can distinguish itself above all through its smooth running and the more adventurous course with its brilliant dynamics. The ride is simply fun and produces a permanent grin in my face which is why I always like getting on Bob again and again.

Fata Morgana

In a similar way I am very satisfied with the dark ride Fata Morgana, which convinces or better said overwhelms me with its oriental design. Although the ride was put into operation in 1986, it seems very modern and timeless with its human-like mechanical figures. The individual scenes are well equipped and very detailed, whereby the journey does not become boring even after several times. In addition, there is a continuous storyline with single moments of tension.

Aquanura

Every evening Aquanura, one of the biggest water shows in the world, takes place directly at the lake. It picks up the songs and rides that were experienced during the day and processes them with water, light and fire effects. During the day this is quite impressive, but at night it is definitely better.

Pictures Efteling

Conclusion Efteling

Efteling has always been a great amusement park, but it’s funny how often I forget about it, otherwise I would have visited the park more often. The park has so much to offer and with Baron 1898 and Aquanura even more, which is why I would like to call Efteling the best amusement park in Europe and not just because the park gave me the admission and a CD out of the blue. Despite the terrible weather, the park managed to entertain us very well, although our ride in the first row of Baron 1898 was by no means pleasant. With this year’s novelty everything has been done right, so I am looking forward to future projects from the park.

 

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Efteling

Rémy’s totally crazy adventure in Paris

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Walt Disney Studios Park

I make no secret of the fact that I always liked the Walt Disney Studios Park more than the amusement park next door. After all, the park appeals to a much more adult audience, and moreover it offers a wonderful leitmotif with the theme of movies. Now it is unfortunate that movie parks all over Europe usually do not act as such and at best only attract attention with cartoon characters, but here in Paris this would be much more difficult. Of course there are some exceptions, but most of them are not theme parks or are located in Italy. Nevertheless the Walt Disney Studios Park manages to create a homage to the film and thus manages to entertain you wonderfully.

Although my last visit was almost five years ago and not much had changed in that time, it seemed to me that the park had doubled in size. On the one hand, this is due to the well-known extensions, like the Toy Story themed area, which was still under construction at that time, and the small themed area around the Pixar film Ratatouille, but also because nothing was closed this time.

Due to Rémy and his family, the Walt Disney Studios Park is admittedly much more frequented, so that not much remains of the once countless rides on the Rock n Roller Coaster, as well as visits to the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Provided you don’t want to miss any of the other sights in this park. The word sight fits much better than just the word attraction, after all it is not only the rides, as in most other amusement parks in Europe, but especially the shows that you should not miss, at least as a first-time visitor. And it can’t hurt as an already knowledgeable park visitor to watch one or the other show again to refresh his own image.

Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular

While I was less satisfied with the stunt show with the much too long name Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular at the last visit, it could entertain me much better now. Although the in-between scene with Lightning McQueen and the bad guy with the “very” secret weapon as an odd gap-filler is not much more exciting than Herbie.  On the other hand, the other stunts were more than enjoyable, especially since they were not underlaid with the usual embarrassing story like in most other parks.

Studios Tram Tour

The Studios Tram Tour next door may not be a real show, but what happens during the first stopover is really worth seeing and interesting at the same time. Already at the entrance to the Disaster Canyon one notices the huge pumps that transport the required amount of water. What follows now is first and foremost very impressive, at least from a technical point of view, because the cars are shaken a little to and fro over movable floor plates, a hell of a lot of fire breaks out, which is then extinguished with significantly more water. This is certainly not a cheap pleasure, but unfortunately it is the only highlight of the tour, because after that we go all the way back past the props of rather unknown films. On the way to the other turning point you drive along the set of Reign of Fire and are entertained again with a little fire. If the film had been successful, the scene would certainly have been much more impressive, since it is better known. This is followed by the way back to the station.

The Studio Tram Tour is clearly too short as a studio tour of the Walt Disney Studios Park. Unfortunately, the film sets and props you pass by are mostly not worth mentioning and only Catastrophe Canyon is convincing. Fortunately the actual tour seems to be much longer than the now demolished original of the Hollywood Studios in Orlando.

Viewed from a distance, the tour offers another gimmick, because the backdrop including the Hollywood lettering looks impressively large. In fact, the structure consists of several smaller individual fragments, which only create the necessary depth due to the spatial separation from each other.

Armageddon – les effets speciaux

Armageddon – les effets speciaux is just as tricky, because what would a blockbuster movie be without its special effects? In principle probably too boring for most cinema-goers, which is why here you get to know a little about the history of its creation, until you then interactively participate in the pre-show or enjoy it as others do. Another film with one of the main actors of the film later, yes this show is very long, you finally get into the main show. A few insignificant effects later, finally a lot of fire shoots out of the middle of the room and the visitors can leave the show warmed up.

Cinémagique

After the homage to the special effects, we go straight to the homage to the film par excellence, namely Cinémagique, where the enemy of every cinema-goer suddenly finds himself in the film, crossing one genre after another. The film sequences shown in the process generate a rather long list of references and will certainly look very familiar to many visitors. The interplay between theatre and cinema also enhances the show and makes the simple story all the more entertaining.

Animagique

The black light show Animagique in the studio next door could actually be just as entertainingm if the show would at least focus on the Disney classics. Instead, a very child-friendly show, starring Donald Duck, is offered, which, thanks to the catchy melodies, the constant clapping of the audience and the necessary dark lighting, is more likely to put you to sleep than entertain you. A characteristic I have so far only ascribed to Europa Park, but there the shows are usually rather bad than good, Animagique admittedly has at least a few interesting scenes and an interesting concept. By the way, even more annoying than the song of the same name at the end of the show is the sound effects just before the show, which is why you should enter the building just before the show.

The Art of Disney Animation

At The Art of Disney Animation you get to know a little bit about the steps of creating an animated film. After a small preshow, in which a successful cut together of the different Disney and Pixar films is shown, you get into the main show where Mushu, the dragon from the Mulan films, takes the leading role. Through headphones you can now listen to the show in your own language, which results in Otto as the dubbing voice in the German version, or the best Frikandel joke ever in Dutch. Although this show always has the insipid aftertaste of a promotional event, at least the trailer of the current film of the Disney Animation Studios is always shown, I like the show very much.

Stitch live!

Stitch live! is similar, even though this type of interactive show outside the Dungeons by Merlin Entertainment is far too rare in Europe. Even though the show is designed for children, it provides the right amount of flat humour, especially for older viewers. The joy you feel when a person of the innocent group you have brought along is the victim of the show, before they take you instead, is just as satisfying as the proper portion of shame when only the staff makes a fool of themselves. It’s just a pity that Movie Magic hasn’t been available at Movie Park Germany for several years now.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith

Friends of good music and good roller coasters will find what they are looking for in the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith as the laser and music supported ride through the tangle of tracks within the sound stages of halls 8 and 9 is more than successful. After visiting the Tour de Force Records, you will be welcomed by the US rock band Aerosmith, after which you will wait a few minutes parallel to the launch track until you can finally get into the limousine.

Depending on the train, the experience on this roller coaster is always different. For each train, not only the lighting effects change throughout the ride, but also the associated soundtrack. Provided there is no emergency stop because someone thinks it’s great to record a shaky video of the ride with a selfiestick. Then you have a wonderful sound for the first seconds before you stand on the same spot for minutes and finally the ride takes place without sound and synchronised light show. I also didn’t find it funny when my life went in slow motion for a short moment, as a camera flew only a few centimetres past my head during the roll overs on in on the Vampire roller coaster in Walibi Belgium. Sure, it was a headchopper par excellence, but one you can do without, as well as the shaky onrides of various self-horny social media victims.

The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is and will remain an all-round successful roller coaster, which I still have trouble to let go of my list of favourites. However, the ride is very much dependent on its music, because despite the more comfortable trains, the indoor ride loses its fun as soon as it doesn’t sound, while the outdoor ride Xpress from the Dutch amusement park Walibi Holland always shows itself as a solid roller coaster and in the meantime, combined with the additional title Platform 13, additional effects can be seen as soon as you enter the queue.

Tower of Terror

The Hollywood Tower Hotel is undoubtedly the most famous Disney hotel, at least among amusement park enthusiasts and those who want to become one. Although the story of the Tower of Terror is told every time as an episode of the Twilight Zone in the hotel’s own library, many connoisseurs of the hotel are unaware that “Disney’s Tower of Terror” is also an entertaining film about the events of the evening in question.

After leaving the library, you will find yourself in the engine room, where the three service lifts are located, as the actual guest lift has understandably been out of service since that night. Once in the lift, the events of that time seem to be repeated. From the starting position the guest carrier moves backwards and is coupled with the lift technology. Once set in motion, the lift rises a few metres and stops in front of a mirror that makes you disappear. One floor down, you meet the passengers of the lift accident of yesteryear, they disappear, the corridor becomes dark and shortly afterwards you see them crash again before you crash yourself. Although you should know it, this rather small drop is always very surprising.  Much quicker than before, you now climb up to get some fresh air and enjoy the view before you hit the ground again. The same play continues a little bit more powerfully, before it goes up again to the top for the final fall.

The Tower of Terror is certainly the most elaborate vertical dark ride of our time, especially since it is not a pure freefall tower compared to the ABC Rides Towers of the Dungeons or meanwhile also other Merlin Entertainment attractions, but still offers the same forces. The ride itself is outstanding, even if the last drop always falls out of the pattern. Only the storyline with the Twilight Zone is annoying during repeat rides.

Crush’s Coaster

Comparably annoying is the waiting time on Crush’s Coaster, which is now a little slower due to the addition of a single rider line without any real benefit. Here you should ask yourself before the ride, if you’re riding alone, if you want to spend most of the waiting time in the fresh air or inside the always very warm and stuffy hall. Although the idea of a single rider line on a spinning coaster is not wrong, it shows that almost all people willing to ride are mostly two or four persons and therefore the single rider line moves forward very slowly, while you are always moving in the normal queue. Of course there is an exception, namely in the English amusement park Alton Towers in the rain, because for some strange reason the cars are loaded with only three people.

The ride is similar to a ride of the spinning racer during the evening hours, only that with this ride the rotation is already released after the lift and the track has been extended by a few meters. On this section, before the already known layout, you leave the building after a small lift for a short time in order to do a small darkride part in the interior. Although the ride is quite good it is not worth waiting more than an hour for it, especially since the Walt Disney Studios Park now offers a lot more.

Toy Story Playland

For example the Toy Story Playland with its music express Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin that offers an even more duller driving programme than the Flipper VolPaiute from the Spanish amusement park Port Aventura that is known to do its rounds in maintenance mode, the not very nice to look at Parachute Tower Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, and the Intamin Half Pipe RC Racer.

RC Racer

Although there are not too many similarities, the RC Racer can at best be described as an oversized boat swing with a terrible capacity. Although there weren’t really many people in the queue, one waits here for half an eternity, hardly imagining what it would look like in the main season with a full waiting area. And yet the ride offers nothing exciting at all, because as soon as it has started to be a little bit of fun, it ends again. Well, this is similar to Halve Maen from the Dutch amusement park Efteling, but that ride is at least an oversized boat swing of enormous capacity.

Ratatouille L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Remy

While the Toy Story Playland is not particularly conspicuous for its rides, the area that has been available since last year is all the more attractive because we are in Paris, the city of love and above all of rats. Even if Paris is not the cleanest city, it is mainly about the rat Rémy and his family, known from the Pixar movie Ratatouille. Although it sounds like rat and patootie, it is a more than successful animated film and with Ratatouille L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Remy it has been given a worthy dark ride.

Due to time constraints we always used the Single Rider Line, because if we had to wait beyond the 75 minutes in the normal queue, we probably could have made only one single ride. On the other hand, the rows of seats for three people each have created ideal conditions for single riders, because even if this waiting area would be full, you would never be able to wait here for more than 20 minutes.

The ride

The station is located on the roofs of Paris and we are allowed to play rats. But before I act as a critic, in the sense of Anton Ego, there is a summary of the trip. After the cars have left their starting position, it seems as if they are driving around randomly. Shortly after that, however, they all drive along a narrower corridor. On the roof of the Gusteau’s, Rémy is pondering the current evening menu in his own restaurant and, oh, what a miracle, it will probably be ratatouille – a simple peasant dish served to critic Anton Ego just before the restaurant had to close.

Rémy crashes through the skylight and we slide along happily. A short tour through the kitchen of the restaurant follows, where the young cook Linguini, who actually should be a chef, helps us to escape unrecognised. The path now leads us through the pantry of the restaurant where Emile, Rémy’s brother, once again fills his stomach with grapes. Linguini is also able to successfully cover up the renewed route through the kitchen, before we are discovered in the restaurant’s dining room by Chef Skinner. Although Linguini helps us to escape quickly, Maître Skinner is always on our heels, but before he can grab us by the hand he prefers to reach into a mouse trap. We finally get to the kitchen of the restaurant La Ratatouille, which is the model for the restaurant Chez Rémy. After a small champagne shower we reach the other rats, whereupon we arrive at the final stop of our journey.

Conclusion Ratatouille L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy

Despite the admittedly very loose adaptation of the film, Ratatouille L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy is an extremely successful dark ride, where even after the tenth ride you would always find new details. The dynamic of the ride is as exciting as the picture, which is very sharp from all sides and which, depending on the position in front of the screens, always looks different and therefore reveals new details. Just as interesting is the point in time when you see a scene, because this way you see either a little prelude or a little postlude. It is also a significant difference if you are sitting in the first or second row of each car, because the perception of the individual scenes can differ enormously, only in the scene with the champagne cork it is an advantage if you sit in the front row, because this effect is very surprising.

So you shouldn’t miss Rémy’s totally crazy adventure, and it’s also the reason why you should definitely spend your visit to Disneyland Resort Paris in the Walt Disney Studios Park, because nowhere else in Europe you will be as well entertained on a dark ride as here.

Pictures Walt Disney Studios Park

Conclusion Walt Disney Studios Park

The Walt Disney Studios Park can convince a little bit more than the park already did because of its new perspective, mainly created by Rémy and his family. It would be nice to see if the park will be extended in the next years, so a visit to San Fransokyo in the near future would be an event I would be looking forward to years before.

 

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Walt Disney Studios Park

Paris (2015)

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What does a student do shortly before his or her exams, where he or she sits in the State Library almost every day until it closes? Right, book his holiday! A destination was quickly found, as the range of offers in February is quite manageable within Europe and the budget is not exactly high. A trip to Efteling before the opening of the Baron 1898 is also not worthwhile. If you look at the prices on the German website of Disneyland Resort Paris the budget would be used up after just one day, but there are also much reduced packages on the other websites, like on the French one. Travelling alone is not exactly cheap either, which is why I quickly asked Dominik one evening before the booking deadline. Even more spontaneously, Julian joined us around noon the following day, but we couldn’t persuade Jan to join us, as an exam unfortunately prevented this.

Lucky coincidences then made me book a flight with Air France, otherwise the return flight with Germanwings – which were of course more expensive – would have been much more adventurous. For price reasons, however, I had to postpone my arrival by one day, so that I had an extra day in Paris. I used this day to visit the Theatre Mogador near the Galeries Lafayette, where I watched the musical Bal des Vampires (Tanz der Vampire in French).

Since the musical was not to start until the evening and my hotel room was not to be ready until the afternoon, I took a little tour of the Parisian sights. I started at the cathedral Notre-Dame, where under the watchful eyes of the French military someone actually tried to steal my backpack, which was packed to the brim – the lady wouldn’t have got far with the 12kg without being shot, but it was worth a try. I continued along the river Saine for some kilometres. Passing the Place de la Concorde and the Grand Palais I went a little bit over the Champs-Élysées to see the Arc de Triomphe from inside. The ascent to the museum level of the Arc de Triomphe is just as interesting as the view from the viewing platform to the large avenues. From my point of view, this is the most beautiful and also the widest view of Paris. Simply marvellous!

In a good mood I went to the hotel. Slightly hungry I quickly headed to a Subway where I ordered the Sub du Jour. Since the prices are similar to those in Germany, the sandwich makers are a clear recommendation for a visit to Paris, at least if you have to watch your budget. Well strengthened I went on to the theatre. Although I was a bit afraid not to understand everything, I was blown away by the show. All the actors were simply brilliant and Stéphane Métro is my Count von Krolock.

The next morning, after a slight delay of the ICE train, I met Dominik and Julian at the Gare de l’Est. With them we went over to the Gare du Nord, where we took the RER to Marne-la-Vallée Chessy.

 

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Île-de-France