2004
Coaster Trips: 2004: Nigloland, Walibi Lorraine
Saturday August 28th
Driving on the wrong side of the road
We left the hostel at 7:00am in absolutely dismal weather, with me driving. This was always going to be a somewhat hair raising experience for the first few minutes, as the last time I drove a car for any length of time was more than two years ago.(For those who are not aware, I no longer drive at home due to spiralling insurance premiums for male drivers under a certain age bracket. For some reason, once I reach this age, I will no longer be as risky to insure, despite not having driven regularly for several years. Go figure.)
In addition, having learnt to drive in Ireland, I am accustomed to driving on the left, not the right. The centre of Paris is probably not the best place to begin driving a strange car on the wrong side of the road. Having said that, on the plus side, there are not all that many cars about early in the morning, and it only took me about five minutes to stop reaching for the gear shift with my left hand!
Once we were out on the motorway I began to remember how much I used to enjoy driving. French motorways are wide and open, and the speed limit of 130 km/h (in dry weather) is fast enough that one isn't tempted to speed, unlike with the lower limits at home. Realistic limits are also beneficial as an alternative to the crazy situation in Germany where one sees sports car owners driving at upwards of 200 km/h from time to time.
Nigloland
By the time we arrived at Nigloland, just before 10:00am, the rain had eased off significantly. A staff member armed with a Palm V knocked on our car window and asked for our postal code, but a quick "Nous ne parlons pas le français!" quickly sorted that one out. There was no parking fee, a welcome relief after the €5 charge in Parc Asterix yesterday.
The first coaster of the day was the Spatiale Expérience (#343), a Mack-built indoor coaster. Once we actually found the entrance to this, which is in the building round the corner from the one housing the ride, we made our way all the way down the queue line to find a train in the station with only four people in it. Being able to walk right onto a ride was a nice change from yesterday, and became very much the mark of the morning.
The ride felt like a lot like Eurosat at Europa Park, with the same lift mechanism and a very similar soundtrack. I'm sure it was designed to run several trains, but only one was in use today (and with crowds this light there really is no need for more than that). Unfortunately, the staff would not allow riders to wait for a specific seat, insisting that all those in the station board available seats in the train. This rule does not make sense, as it wasn't like we would be holding up a queue.
The Bat Coaster (#344) was my first encounter with a full size Pinfari Inverted coaster. I was expecting a brutally rough ride, but I was very pleasantly surprised by our first circuit in the front seat; the train traverses the course smoothly with almost no jarring. The only disappointment was the second half of the ride, which is just too slow; the train turns a corner high in the air and feels like it is going to stop completely. Lowering this turn just a few feet would make things much more fun and would be a major improvement compared to the existing solution of a drop into the brake run.
We walked over to the Course de Bobsleigh coaster but it was down due to "une probleme technique", so we went back to the Bat Coaster for a second circuit, this time in the back. While better than the front seat, my criticism above holds; the second half of the ride is simply too slow, and there really is no need to drop into the brakes at high speed.
We went back to the Spatiale Expérience for a second circuit, and it was still a walk on. Once again we were forced to take available seats in the train, despite the fact that there was nobody else in sight. The ride this time was quite jarring; I don't know whether it was the seat or whether the coaster had just warmed up, but it wasn't anything like as much fun as the first circuit had been earlier in the day.
I couldn't help but notice a somewhat odd sign outside one of the shops. I can't imagine this would ever be allowed in an English speaking park, and to be honest I'm amazed it is allowed here. While the wording does not offend me in the slightest, I'm sure some of the politically correct lobby would be outraged by it.
I also noticed a Microwave attached to the outside wall of the same shop. I was intrigued by this; presumably it was for guests who wish to bring their own food into the park. Every other theme park I have ever visited anywhere in the world has strict rules forbidding guests from bringing their own food products into the park. Nigloland has made the welcome decision to buck the trend, even providing facilities for those choosing the cheap option.
The Chenille (#345) family coaster was an interesting challenge. The seats on these rides are not designed for people as tall as I am, and it took me a few attempts to come up with an position I could assume to fit. Unusually for these rides though, this one had a fairly heavy brake on the only major drop, preventing the train from picking up any speed at all. I had a look at the train afterwards to see if I could figure why, and I could be wrong, but I could not see any upstop wheels at all, meaning that if a train took a bump too hard it might actually derail. I suppose the best way to prevent that is to stop it speeding up, though it does spoil the coaster somewhat; upstop wheels would be a better solution.
We took a single circuit round Les Dragons Volants, a slow monorail ride, in order to take some photographs. The Dinosaures Aventure walk through ride was also an interesting diversion. It began with a long announcement in French which I was able to follow for the most bit; the usual jive (100 million years, some interesting discoveries, etc). The walk through itself had a number of different animatronic dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park theme playing on loop.
Walking back across the park, we saw that La Course de Bobsleigh (#346) was now running. The trains themselves were running smoothly, but there were a number of sudden jolts in which my knees collided painfully with the side of the car. Once was enough for both of us.
Le Manoir Hanté was not in the same league as Transdemonium yesterday, but it was still one of the better dark rides i have been through. It had the longest wait of the morning, at nearly half an hour, which is surprising; dark rides like these normally have a constant flow of cars. There seemed to be about twenty to thirty seconds between each one here. I can only speculate, but I imagine the ride isn't anything like as busy in better weather.
Our final ride of the morning was on Train de la Mine, a surprisingly good powered coaster. Riders get two full circuits of the track, and once the train picks up speed it is really good fun. Unfortunately our circuit was marred somewhat by a child in the car behind us with a particularly piercing scream, with the ringing in my ears still continuing several hours later as I write this narrative. Once again, the ride was a walk on; there was a train in the station with a spare seat when we got there.
Walibi Lorraine
We left Nigloland at 12:30 with George back at the wheel, giving me the opportunity to catch up with my diary. Two and a half hours later, we had arrived at Walibi Lorraine. This park was owned by Six Flags up until a few weeks ago, and it shows, with the entrance price of €21.80 per head (in comparison to Nigloland, which was €16.50). This was in addition to the parking charge of €5 per car. At any rate, our overriding impression on entering the park was that there were not all that many people there. Over the next ninety minutes we were to see why.
Anaconda (#347) is a wooden coaster designed by Bill Cobb, which is, according to the park map, the tallest wooden coaster in France. Given that they're only two wood coasters in France, and they're pretty much the same size, it is a claim of debatable merit. Regardless, we made our way over and boarded the train with no real idea what to expect.
My first impression was blunt - we did an extra two hundred miles for this? Anaconda needs some serious track work, or for preference, a flamethrower. Where Tonnerre de Zeus is a wild ride, Anaconda is a brutal one. The layout itself is interesting, but the train traverses it so awkwardly that many riders, instead of smiling, come off either wincing in pain or glad they are still alive. If ever a coaster deserves a label of square wheels, this is it.
It was surprising, to say the least, to find that Comet Space (#348), a Vekoma corkscrew coaster, was a very good ride and not rough at all. Taking two back to back rides on a Vekoma is almost unheard of for me, but Comet Space was worth it. There was obvious Six Flags training in evidence with the way Comet Space was being operated; although there was no wait at all, riders were not allowed to stay on; they had to exit the station and walk around again. There were some twelve year olds who had clearly been riding the coaster for some time. They had down to a fine art the process of jumping out, sprinting round the exit and back through the entrance, and jumping back into the train again before it departed. What is the point of this?
With the coasters out of the way, we had a look at what else the park might have to offer. There were the obligatory rapids and log flume rides, but both of us felt it was too cold for water rides. The only other ride of substance in the park was the Space Shot, so we took one go on this. It wasn't one of the better ones, with no air time at the top to speak of. It was also marred by a Six Flags Moment when I was told to remove my (secured) glasses. I like Space Shot rides and decided to ride anyway, but for the love of god, secured glasses are not a risk! In fact, glasses are not at risk anyway on rides that only go straight up and down; I would have thought there'd be far more risk of a coaster rider losing their glasses, yet no questions were asked then (and I saw several people riding with unsecured glasses). When will Six Flags learn?
We decided to give Anaconda a second chance on the way back to the front of the park. This turned out to a supremely dumb idea; the ride was even more brutal this time round. I have been on rough wooden coasters in my day but this one was off the scale; it was genuinely painful, and honestly I feel it is an injury waiting to happen. I'm just glad it wasn't me.
The only redeeming feature of the park for us was the Dive Show, which happened to be beginning just as we were walking past. Diving Shows tend to follow very similar scripts, and this one was no exception, with lots of smaller dives building up to the largest one from twenty five metres (I think that's what was said anyway). It was the only thing at Walibi Lorraine either of us really enjoyed. Although we had another two hours before park closure, we decided that it wasn't worth staying any longer, so we got back on the road to Paris.
I drove a little over half of the distance before handing over to George, bringing my total to about three hundred of the five hundred miles today. It was a relief to move back into the passenger seat and let someone else deal with the French drivers who indicate only after they've changed lane directly in front of you. My trip report was finished with about 25km (and about half an hour of battery life) to spare. Though we plan to hit two parks tomorrow again, they are much closer to Paris, so the day should (hopefully) be a bit more relaxed.