Zamperla

Rocking and Rolling in the Studios of Paris

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Walt Disney Studios Park

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

We started our expedition through the Walt Disney Studios Park with some music, which was rock to be exact. Until now, our group only knew the route of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster from the Flemish Walibi Holland; but what is happening in the Studios 8+9 of the Walt Disney Studios Park tops the Dutch outdoor ride by far. The layout, the launch, simply everything looks perfect when you are in a dark hall with great rock music by the band Aerosmith as well as terrific effects.

In the course of the day, we managed to test four different trains of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which means that we had four different experiences. This turned out to be quite difficult in the beginning, because we got the same train about 20 times in a row. But since the urge always pulls you into this concept roller coaster or better said concert roller coaster – which couldn’t be better from the overall experience – this was not reprehensible, because what Vekoma has designed here is more or less perfect!

Tower of Terror

Now it was time to leave the dimension and enter the Twilight Zone. The Hollywood Tower Hotel was waiting for us, as well as its friendly staff. Especially the cleaning staff did their best to let everything gather dust. Once you have entered the Tower of Terror, you soon realize that the conventional lifts are no longer sufficient to take you to your room. So you have to cross the library of the hotel and take one of the service lifts in the engine room.

Once you have found your place in the lift, it starts to move backwards. The story is told on several levels and the (freefall) effects are sometimes very frightening. The ride has a lot of airtime, unfortunately the last drop is a bit disappointing. All in all the ride is quite successful, even if one would have wished for a different storyline, especially for Europe, because nobody here is familiar with the Twilight Zone.

Crush’s Coaster

Australia is far away on the globe, but not at Disney. Therefore, in the studios you can quickly take a ride on the back of a turtle. Crush’s Coaster is the name of the ride from the Munich roller coaster manufacturer Maurer-Söhne. The ride is just like Crush appears in the movie: Simply ingenious! The only weak point of the coaster is the much too low capacity. On the first day we had to spend 70 minutes of waiting time on this roller coaster, on the following (not so sunny) days the average waiting time was 45 minutes. It is recommended to start the ride backwards, as this way the lift is much more surprising. The following ride should be familiar to everyone who has ever ridden an SC-2000 like the Spinning Racer at a fair at night, with the small but significant difference that the spin is not locked for that long.

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

Right next door is the Cars Quatre Roues Rallye. The capacity is not really the problem here, only the absolutely lousy handling makes sure that the queuing time can quickly increase. The ride on the Zamperla Demolition Derby itself is quite amusing and nice for in between. It also looks quite appealing from the outside.

Les Tapis Volants – Flying Carpets Over Agrabah

The flying carpets Les Tapis Volants – Flying Carpets Over Agrabah can also be found in this area. One of the few fast pass attractions in the park, which suggests that this ride is very popular. If you catch a good time, you can do a lap without having to wait for the fast-pass. By the way, the ride is definitely worthwhile.

Armageddon

What would a studio park be without shows? Probably not much. So the time had come to test them bit by bit. We started with the special effects show Armageddon. A far too long, partly stupid preshow with film scenes, which I didn’t expect in such a park, introduces the upcoming room. There you can see yourself on a space station, which is damaged by an asteroid. A lot of fire makes the people feel a little warmer, the other effects are not really worth mentioning in contrast to Port Aventura’s Templo del Fuego.

Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular

One of the more popular shows at Walt Disney Studios Park is of course the stunt show with the very long name Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular. The scenery in which this show takes place is wonderful to watch, but the show itself is not as exciting. In the beginning there is a wonderful atmosphere, but somehow everything that makes this show spectacular was missing.

The Art of Disney Animation

The Art of Disney Animation is not to be missed. First of all you are shown a film that captures the magic of Disney by showing scenes from different Disney films and language versions. In the second show you are accompanied by the dragon Mushu, known from the film Mulan, where the story of how a cartoon character was created is explained. It is also advisable to follow this event in Dutch, thanks to the joke with the Frikandel.

Cinémagique

If you can’t get enough of the comfortable cinema seats, you should watch the half-hour film in the Cinémagique. I don’t want to give too much away, but one should take the mobile phone warning in cinemas seriously. Apart from that, the film is based on the Movie Switch principle, although it comes across much better here than at the show in Movie-Park Germany (which is by no means hard to do).

Stitch live

If you like interactivity and also like the devilishly evil experiment 626, you will love Stitch live. Whether active participation in the show changes the course of events I may doubt, in this respect I preferred the Movie Magic Show from the Bottrop Filmpark, as it was simply legendary for its flat humour and comical actions of the actors.

Thanks to the unfavourable times, we always missed the black light show Animagique. This will be tackled during the next visit, as well as the studio tour, which was closed at the time of the visit. Also, the Toy Story Land, which was still under construction at the time, needs to be examined more closely.

Pictures Walt Disney Studios Park

 

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Walt Disney Studios Park

A few hours in the great miniature world

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Legoland Deutschland

If you leave the motorway in the direction of Legoland Deutschland in the Bavarian town of Günzburg, you are immediately confronted with Lego on a large scale. Here you don’t spill, but rather make bricks and blocks, and that in the most figurative sense of all. Legoland Deutschland, which opened in 2002, is already the second Legoland on German soil, after Legoland Sierksdorf, today’s Hansa Park, was not necessarily blessed with success in the mid-1970s due to its proximity to the original Legoland in Billund.

Power Builder

Located directly in the entrance area, the Lego City, a special experience awaits the visitors on the Power Builder. Several robots from the Augsburg company Kuka, equipped with a passenger carrier, are standing around in a hall. The ride is more or less exciting depending on the intensity level (level 1 – 5) and can be either roll-over or non-roll-over depending on the age of the passengers. There is also a possibility to program the ride, but I doubt if the extrapolated sum of the different possibilities is true.

Feuerdrache

Shaken, you can now continue your tour in the direction of the local knights’ area. In the central castle lives a dragon, which now and then strays into the kitchen to eat something. The partly funny, but very simply knitted story belongs to the Feuerdrache (fire dragon), a big Force Coaster from Zierer with a nice dark ride section, which has a rather nasty drop at the end, especially in the back rows. The actual roller coaster part is driven through quite fast and can be a real test of courage for the little visitors.

Drachenjagd

Next door is the Drachenjagd (dragon hunt), a roller coaster from the nearby manufacturer Gerstlauer for the very young guests of the park, which has a very surprising first gradient, as the passengers are simply pulled to the right. But don’t worry, children are only allowed to sit on the left side of the train. The ride itself is small, but it’s fast and beautifully designed. Especially the little dragon on the roof, which is haunted by fire from time to time, is very well done.

Raupenritt

Pure evil awaits you on the mountain and valley railway Raupenritt, an Old Train from the Mack company. The ride itself would be rock solid, especially since it does not only turn forwards but also backwards, in combination with design elements of the company Lego however an almost merciless torture machine is created – at least for the adults. Children enjoy even such a ride without limits.

Dschungel X-Pedition

To relax a bit I went on the log flume Dschungel X-Pedition, a Reverse Boat Ride made by Intamin. The ride is designed as an expedition and consists of two shots, the first of which is done backwards, passing dinosaurs and threatening plants. The general degree of wetness is quite manageable, so that a ride for somewhat larger children is certainly as much fun as for the water-shy parents.

Captain Nick’s Piratenschlacht

Almost next door is the pirate area of Legoland Deutschland, where young pirates can go to the Piratenschule (pirate school) on a Rockin’ Tug and then compete in Captain Nick’s Piratenschlacht. This is the prototype of the popular Splash Battle by Mack, which has a layout that is too far stretched in some places, which is why you unfortunately don’t meet your opponents that often and the degree of wetness is accordingly limited.

Sea Life Atlantis

Relatively new at the time of the visit was the Sea Life Atlantis, an aquarium with design elements of the sunken city of Atlantis. After watching a well animated Lego short film in German and English the gates to the lost city open. Unfortunately you are out as fast as you came in, which is typical for all Sea Life aquariums of the Merlin Entertainments Group.

Project X – Teststrecke

Close to the 4D cinema, where a larger selection of worth seeing Lego style animation films is shown, you will find the two water rondel Wellenreiter, the somewhat odd-looking cup ride with the inventive name Techno Schleuder, and the Wild Mouse roller coaster Project X – Teststrecke. Like the Matterhornblitz at Europa Park, this one has a slightly different layout, with the emphasis on the shots rather than the hairpin bends.

Miniland

The other attractions of the park, which are mostly suitable for children, have all been wonderfully staged, but the highlight of every Legoland is, as is well known, the Miniland, which is beautifully laid out in the middle of Legoland Germany. It is quite big and can show a lot of European motives besides numerous German buildings.

Pictures Legoland Deutschland

Conclusion Legoland Deutschland

Legoland Deutschland is an extremely harmonious amusement park, which is well worth a visit, especially with younger children. Although adult visitors also get their money’s worth, one would have to ask oneself if the high prices still justify a visit. In connection with one or the other offer, one can visit the park without having to worry.

 

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Legoland Deutschland

A day in Walibi Aquitaine

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Walibi Aquitaine

After I spent a year in France in the years 2005/06 and did not come to count except for a trade fair for agriculture, where among other things a Reverchon spinning mouse, a Mondial TopScan and some other funny rides could be found. I had to make up for this during my visit in the lower Saxonian easter holidays in 2007. The destination of the excursion was the Walibi Aquitaine amusement park.

As the season always starts late in France, we were able to visit the season start of the largest regional amusement park in the southwest of France shortly before my departure. Walibi Aquitaine is well known to everyone but this does not automatically mean that there is something going on in the park during the low season.

Coccinelle and Boomerang

The park itself is only medium in size, but has some good rides for the whole family. In the front part of Walibi Aquitaine you will find, besides a children’s area with the Coccinelle roller coaster, the biggest roller coaster of the park: Boomerang. This Vekoma Boomerang was the first one I saw and I was thrilled from the beginning. The ride through the three inversions is incredibly fun in the forward direction, but in the backward direction the whole thing is skilfully topped once again. The original HUSS-Arrow trains did their best, especially when it came to repeat runs.

Bateau Pirate

Not far from the Boomerang you can carry your dinghy up the steps of the dinghy slide yourself or slide down the carpet slide on a scratchy carpet. This only depressed the mood a little, the southern French could make up for it in the nearby boat swing Bateau Pirate. The slogans during the ride were simply too divine.

Radja River

Also the Intamin rapid ride Radja River enjoyed a visit. The ride through the beautifully designed course could offer a good moistening, which we gladly took up more often thanks to the short waiting time.

Splash Battle

The situation was somewhat different in the rather young Splash Battle. The Preston & Barbieri ride, built in 2006, was able to soak without any resistance (after all, almost all water cannons were broken), but most of the effects were switched off, which really spoiled the fun.

Drakkar and Zig-Zag

However, if you want to get wet, you can go on the Soquet log flume Drakkar in the northern area of Walibi Aquitaine. The boats had no outlet for the water, which was therefore accumulated in the back of the boat during the lift ride. Also the splash was so big that even with only two lightweight people in the boat you got completely soaked. Luckily there is an Italo mouse from Zamperla right next door, which could blow you dry again in a very short time. The layout of the Zig-Zag doesn’t come close to a Wild Mouse of German manufacturers, but convinces with its smaller drops on the lower levels of the ride.

Tam Tam Tour

The sea lion show is definitely worth a visit for many French people, as the park suddenly became deserted during the show times. Also worth a look is the boat trip Tam Tam Tour, which was taken over by frogs during spring. The otherwise quite nice African themed ride becomes quite eerie due to the loud frog croaking, especially since you cannot even see the frogs so quickly.

Apart from a water fountain show, Walibi Aquitaine also offers some good flatrides, such as a tea cup ride, a wave swinger and Chance Chaos, which unfortunately was broken on my visiting day. The park also has a long ride in a vintage car, which is nicely situated in front of the old building in the middle of the park.

 

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Walygator Sud-Ouest