Intamin

Casey Jr. – Le petit Train du Cirque

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Disneyland Park

Some years have passed since my last visit to Disneyland Park. During Easter 2010 we could do a lot of runs on all rides but the smallest roller coaster Casey Jr. – Le petit Train du Cirque was not available. This time in February, the roller coaster was open, but the biggest roller coaster of the park was not. When we arrived at Disneyland Park, we went down the fully renovated Main Street which was not quite as busy this time and then turned to the right at the Central Plaza towards the future. Unfortunately, the most beautiful area of the park is currently almost half closed off, which resulted not only in a lot of scaffolding, but also in the closure of the indoor roller coaster Space Mountain.

While the visionary car ride Autopia was dominated by a rather long queue, the waiting time in the remaining area was almost zero. Thus one could quickly travel to Endor using the airline Star Tours or prevent the villain Zorg from stealing the valuable energy sources with the help of Buzz Lightyear.

Captain EO

New to me was the legendary – but quite antigue – Michael Jackson 3D film Captain EO, which is being shown since the 2010 season in recognition of the artist’s death in June 2009. It replaced the only marginally younger film Honey – I Shrunk the Audience, on which the design of the theatre was based. Although the film was one of the most expensive productions at that time, it did not aged well. The story of a clumsy gang of losers in space who, with a little music and dance, liberated a whole planet from a borg-like society is just as trashy as the spongy 3D effects of that time. Even if Honey – I shrunk the audience didn’t look any better regarding the image quality of the film, it did entertain me a little bit more.

It is interesting to note that in the now 23-year-old history of Disneyland Park, only two 3D films have been shown in alternation, although Disney always attracts attention with successful short films.

It’s a Small World

In the themed area next door, the happiest cruise through our world was waiting to be completed with a catchy tune. In this sense: “It’s a small world after all, It’s a small world after all, It’s a small world after all, It’s a small, small world”.

The small, always peaceful, world trip It’s a Small World shows an ideal world from the children’s perspective. Especially in relation to Paris – which was still under the highest warning level at the time of the visit – a state of affairs that one quickly wishes for, even if this is very unlikely.

Le Pays des Contes de Fées

In the immediate proximity, but clearly belonging to Fantasyland, there is another boat trip with Le Pays des Contes de Fées. Here, one passes some fairy tale scenes, but their miniatures do not really stand out and/or their respective fairy tales are sometimes not so common in order to clearly recognize them.

Casey Jr. – Le petit Train du Cirque

A little bit above this attraction runs the track of the small circus train Casey Jr., known from the Disney movie Dumbo, which in contrast to the original version from Anaheim functions here as a roller coaster. At the beginning Casey Jr. breathes “I think I can”, but shows his true strength relatively fast and accelerates over the flat track. Especially in the back of the train, the inconspicuous track layout of Casey Jr. – Le petit Train du Cirque comes as a big surprise, especially if you do it backwards, while sitting in the back row.

With Casey Jr. – Le petit Train du Cirque the only Vekoma Powered Coaster can convince all along and not only because of the airtime that is rarely seen on this type of coaster. The possibility to ride a roller coaster both forwards and backwards is always a big plus and should be available more often, even if it’s only the last row.

Alice in Wonderland

Not quite as psychedelic as in Blackpool Pleasure Beach is the influence of Alice in Wonderland in Disneyland Park. With the extremely clumsy Mad Hatters Tea Cups and the stylish Labyrinth, it’s not so easy to resist a drug trip par excellence and the cuckoo waltz.

Disney Dreams

The rest of Fantasyland is based on classic Disney movies with three smaller dark rides, a compressed air carousel and a classic horse carousel, and can score points for the Disneyland Park’s landmark, especially at night. During the 20-minute long show Disney Dreams, this serves as a projection screen for the sequences, which are accompanied by fireworks, music, laser and fire effects. The only disturbing factor during the show are the children who are always taken onto the shoulders of the parents without consideration for other people. It’s amazing how timed this play takes place and how few alternatives you have. Camera-loving children are certainly an advantage if you want to take good pictures of the show.

Indiana Jones et Le Temple du Péril

In Adventureland, little has changed since my last visit – at least visually. At first sight, you simply cannot spot a difference in the completely renovated Temple of Fear. Also the ride itself hadn’t changed at Indiana Jones et Le Temple du Péril, although the loop was completely replaced.  Just the train seems to be much more comfortable than before.

Since we could not afford a binge with the Pirates of the Caribbean anyway, we looked for cheaper alternatives. Since the pizza in Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost seemed to be too small, we looked for something edible in Frontierland and found it in the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque not far from Big Thunder Mountain.

Big Thunder Mountain

Before the coaster closes for more than a year, we had to spend some time at this coaster as Big Thunder Mountain is without doubt one of the best of its kind, although with the newly acquired constitution of the Colorado Adventure mine train roller coaster from Phantasialand it has gotten much harder to keep on the throne.

Phantom Manor

The old abandoned manor house on the edge of Frontierland will not lose its morbid character so quickly. Welcomed by extremely elegant ladies, we descend one floor into the realm of the dead. Seated in the doom buggies, accompanied by eerily beautiful music, we set off on a journey of discovery through the cursed estate of Phantom Manor and its history.

Pictures Disneyland Park

Closing Words

In contrast to previous visits – which I always made at Easter – February proved to be the ideal time for a visit to Disney, as the waiting times at most rides were less than 20 minutes at Disneyland Park, only Big Thunder Mountain, Casey Jr., Autopia and Peter Pan had longer waiting times, but even these were always within reasonable limits. Of course, some rides were closed due to refurbishment. A few laps on Space Mountain would have made the visit purely awesome.

 

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Disneyland Park

Magnus Colossus and other accidents

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Doubtful changes in Terra Mítica

When the Benidorm-based Aqualandia-Mundomar Group released the Terra Mitica theme park from its transitional society in 2012, hopes were high that the actually solid and rather less visited theme park with its wooden roller coaster Magnus Colossus, visible from afar, would be filled with new life. One year later the park’s offer was reduced to a minimum by combining some of the theme areas to form the brand new theme park Iberia Park. For the time being you could visit the park for free and pay for the rides via token, but this strategy was changed the following year, so that besides Terra Mitica you could visit a second full-price amusement park, without a roller coaster, but with a bigger spa area than the park next door.

While the amusement park was always well maintained by the transitional society and shone like no other Spanish amusement park because of all the new paint, the park is now quite run down and the paint has actually worn off in many places. The maintenance on the roller coasters in general leaves a lot to be desired, so a ride on Magnus Colossus with missing side padding for the knees is pretty brute, so it’s no wonder for me that the restraint of the Intamin ZacSpins Inferno failed in July this year.

A hint that the roller coaster is not in operation at the moment is missing on the park’s website, of course. Only from the final brake of the wooden roller coaster Magnus Colossus you can see the three cars in the station. Of course there are no signs of any work around the ride.

Magnus Colossus

During my last visit in 2011 I could only test the rearmost car for Magnus Colossus, one ride was enough for the rest of the accompanying group, and so I was only able to experience the strange phenomenon of the constant and quite painful interplay between bar and backrest. Admittedly it was also the reason for a second visit, because I was missing a final opinion about this wooden roller coaster. As it turned out, a ride in the last car is still not recommendable, but further to the front you at least saved yourself the swinging, but not the permanent hitting of the knees against the existing or not existing side paddings. With a length of more than 1100m this is by far not comfortable and even Lightwater Valleys Ultimate is a soft ride. If you still think that Bandit from Movie Park Germany is a horrible, even unrideable wooden roller coaster, you are welcome to experience your holiday including a visit to the park at the Costa Blanca.

Apart from the general disintegration of the rides and the elimination of several thematic areas, there are actually no major changes. In general, however, the Terra Mitica amusement park is only a shadow of its former self, so a visit is not advisable.

Pictures Terra Mítica

Closing Words

Fortunately, since my report in 2014, things have changed again. The Iberia Park only existed until 2016, after that the park was once again complete. It was a crazy idea from the beginning, which didn’t really work for anyone and probably cost a lot of visitors. With the opening of the Grand Luxor Hotel, from which you have a wonderful view down to the city of Benidorm, a resort was also created, so that one should not yet give up hope and actually pay the park a visit one more time.

 

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Terra Mítica

On the trail of the discogods on Chiapas

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Preface

If you are not a student from Lower Saxony, it is actually a crazy idea to work for a well-known car manufacturer in Wolfsburg during the semester break and move into your accommodation in Hanover. Accordingly, I had to buy a ticket and since the Deutschlandpass was cheaper than the regular commuter ticket, I was able to travel quite a lot through Germany, even though Brühl turned out to be the longest distance at the end. Since the opening of this year’s novelty at Movie Park Germany was still in the dark and the wooden roller coaster Bandit is mostly operated with only one train on Sundays, for the first time I took the ICE to Cologne and then the RE to Brühl. Due to delays of the train I reached Phantasialand around noon. I paid the high admission price without resistance, as the new modern log flume Chiapas attracted all my attention and the admission price to the Wintertraum event at the end of the year was included. The general changes within the park were once again of a positive nature, which somehow justified the admission price beyond these points.

Phantasialand – Chiapas

Since the demolition of the two rather mediocre or bizarrely barren log flumes Stonewash Creek and Wildwash Creek the park lacked a possibility to take a shower outside the rafting ride River Quest or at least to get a little humidification during the hot summer days. Contrary to the general trend, the decision was made to build a new water attraction of the same type of ride. Of course, Phantasialand did aimed for a sufficient number of new records and a decoration that is second to none.

This alone does not of course speak for the quality of the ride, but Chiapas is a genuine eye-catcher, even if the infrastructure around the ride is a bit suboptimal. The entrance to the queue is a bit hidden, as long as you don’t know that most of it is below the ubiquitous bridge. While the waiting area of the normal queue was already full, the single rider queue led one to the division point, where unfortunately the handling of single drivers turned out to be unsuitable for re-runs.

Finally divided to one of the boats you have to sit down on your place in some way – an admittedly rather difficult undertaking, which was always easier on other log flumes in spite of the narrowness of the boats. However, the general riding comfort turned out to be higher, at least if not a Dutch idiot with his mobile phone camera creates a POV and leans backwards. I would have liked to do without the resulting headache during the first descent.

The ride on Chiapas

The ride starts after some bustle through the canal with the first lifthill, which is much faster than the friction wheel lift of the roller coaster next door due to the technology used. By interacting with Colorado Adventure, this short passage can be quite remarkable. Shortly afterwards, you are already on the excavation site. Immediately the first shot follows and with some luck the first wave sweeps over the occupants of the boat. Shortly thereafter, the first switch follows, whereby the backward journey starts relatively rough. Now, we bob a little through the vivid scenery of the ride until we reach the real highlight of the ride and pay homage to the disco gods, as it is the case with the Feng Ju Palace; the following slope is then quite humane. Rather quickly, we are transported by another switch to a parallel route, whereby the direction of travel is again directed to the front. After another lift, our way continues under the open sky until, after some time, we reach the next lift hill and approach the (from the outside) sensational looking shot. Arrived at the highest point of the ride, we now go down fairly steep and fast. Under the bridge, we continue our way to the ground until, as a Germany-wide novelty, a small hill follows. After a last splash the way back towards the station follows.

Conclusion Chiapas

Chiapas is indeed Phantasialand’s greatest log flume and definitely the most advanced of its kind, but is it the best of its kind? The answer to this question is relatively simple, as it is not, but it is by no means at the average level of its predecessors and can compete throughout Germany. Valhalla from the Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Rio Bravo in Parque Warner Madrid, however dominate the competition in Europe. Chiapas scores with its original design and the very enjoyable ride, which definitely makes repeat rides worthwhile, as long as it’s not that crowded and River Quest has more people in the queue.

Colorado Adventure

But not only Chiapas can convince with its high quality construction, Colorado Adventure also profited from it at the highest level. Not only does all the new wood have a wonderful effect on the roller coaster, the new paintwork is also highly convincing. Compared to Temple of the Nigh Hawk, the ride is now the better enclosed roller coaster on some sections of the track and invites to many, many, very many rides throughout the day at Phantasialand.

 

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Phantasialand