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Normal operations at the Gold Coast parks make Six Flags look like Disney, and in the past few years the parks have consistently taken steps to make them generally slower still. While nobody should be surprised to find the parks busy during school holidays it’s unfair to blame guests if adequate crowd control/mitigation measures aren’t in place.

I was really disappointed with how Navi River Journey turned out. The artists impressions when it was being built looked great, but as soon as I saw the small size of the show building under construction, I knew it was going to be underwhelming. Could have become another classic Disney dark boat ride, but it's quite far from that

Disneyland Paris https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/disneyland-paris So, the other half to my trip report for Walt Disney Studios Both days I visited I went into the park in the afternoon. This probably makes sense because there’s not really anything you want to ‘rope drop’ in Disneyland, it’s all quite high capacity attractions (aside from Peter Pan, which I ended up skipping both days, just couldn’t be arsed waiting 90 mins for it. Most rides seemed to be around 30-40 min waits, so no problem visiting a wide variety of attractions. Overall impressions is that it is very nice, you can really see how they went above and beyond with the theming here in order to impress the well cultured European market. The castle is ornate. They have nice arcades behind main street. More details in general. I also felt that Paris has the “better” version of many of the classics. Their big thunder mountain is better, Pirates of the Carribean has a better themed queue and facade, Phantom Manor looks a lot cooler than the haunted mansions, and of course who can forget their more thrilling Space Mountain. Only downside is I don’t think the park has enough ‘unique’ rides (Aside from Space Mountain being very different). It’s like how Tokyo has Monsters Inc or Beauty and the Beast, or HK has Mystic Manor, or MK has Seven Dwarfs mine train. The main unique thing Paris has is some additional themed walk throughs. So Paris is good if you are a fan of the classic E-ticket rides, but you’ll have to go next door to the studios for something more unique. On to the rides! Indiana Jones - Et Le Temple du Peril Ugh got this one out the way early. It’s like a bigger version of Nitro Coaster type layout, a glorified galaxi with a loop, but built by Intamin. Rough as guts, and the theming is decent (But not a touch on Raging Spirits) The queue line is down under a canvas tent and you go up a grand stone staircase to the ride, which is built around a temple. It does get points for how well they position a stone arch that hides the structure of the loop, so if you are not paying attention you might not be aware it goes upside down. Star Tours Yeah, this one is always nice for its well themed queue. The storyline we got was a bit older, it was the pod racing sequence and then ending up on Naboo, which I think debuted when the new 3D version of star tours was launched. The last time I did star tours in Tokyo in 2019, it was a brand new film based on the last Jedi Space Mountain This was perhaps the one I was most hyped for. When they would show Disneyland Paris on shows like Getaway as a kid, Space Mountain would alway feature prominently. The outside looks gorgeous, particularly the enormous cannon pointing up the side of the mountain. It’s a shame they deactivated the whole mechanism where it woul roll close and recoil when fired. It was such an iconic thing. Maybe one day they will bring it back, and delete the star wars overlay in the meantime. The first bit of the queue is outdoors, before going through some plain corrugated metal corridors inside. Eventually you reach the well themed open air station. It has the new Vekoma trains with onboard audio, so comfort wise it was fine. Out of the station is an enclosed turn, drop and then incline which gets you onto the catapult launch. Despite not being the fastest launch, the fact you are pushed back in your seat going uphill gives it a bit of force. Inside, its like a more drawn out version of RNRC / Avengers Flight Force. Starts with a big drawn out turn that does a lap around the ride building, eventually leading into a sidewinder and a couple of tighter turns, mcbr, then a drop into a corkscrew. From that point the layout peters out a bit, with a regular lift hill towards the end, some more turns and helixes, and vekomas early attempt at an overbanked turn. All the while the audio is playing chaotic star wars music and there are projections on the wall of tie fighters etc being blown up. It’s a Small World What can you say about this ride? Does anyone other than kids enjoy it? Do people just ride it for tradition? For its infamy? Because it has a shortish queue and it gets you out of the sun for 15 mins. Possibly all of the above. I think all the kooky imagineers get put on the design team for this, with all the stylised design sets depicting various countries. Molly Brown Riverboat A moment to relax. I rode this in the afternoon which allowed for some awesome shots of Big Thunder. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast A ride I secretly enjoy and will always ride at Disney. There was a 30 min wait for this one, so I actually googled how do get a high score. A couple of the secret targets are very hard to to hit, but i was able to spam some of the difficult triangular targets and at least get a score in the hundreds of thousands rather than the tens of thousands. Pirates of the Caribbean This is proper POTC. Other versions have you going straight out from a New Orleans area into this pirate boat ride. Meanwhile this one has you going into the actual corridors of a pirate fortress, so big points for having an actual themed queue. All the scenes were the same, including the pirate battle and the burning town. What made this version better was how the layout was on a few levels and had a few crossovers, so youd get views through to other scenes from a higher level before actually arriving in it a few mins later. Phantom Manor Another Disney classic, and well executed. It looks a lot more spooky having the house sitting up on a hill by itself, surrounded by overgrown gardens. There were a couple of scenes unique to this version. In the load area there is a lonesome bridge, staring out a huge glass window with a thunderstorm raging outside. At the end of the ride you go through a haunted mining town (to tie in with its location in Frontierland), and that part was reminiscent of Fire in the Hole. Still, my favourite part will always be the floating head in the glass ball. Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. These fantasyland dark rides are a bit ‘blink and you’ll miss it’. You speed through a quick retelling of the story in what feels like a couple of minutes, so only have a brief moment of time to appreciate the scenes before crashing through the doors to the next one. Nice enough, but I struggle to think of a single moment in the ride that really sticks with you or where I was like ‘woah how did they do that’. Ok there was one memorable thing. The ride control panel is themed like an old open book, and the buttons are on the pages. Les Voyages Des Pinnochio Similar Comments to the above. Mostly UV black light painted sets. Autopia Big Ole car ride through some pleasant pine trees, and a handful of billboards with advertisements for space destinations, and themed bridges to give it that Discoveryland feel. If you are short on time you could probably skip this, but again, not much of a queue so I gave it a go. Big Thunder Mountain Ended up saving one of the best for last. There was an intial false start. The ride needed an evac so they emptied the queue and i came back an hour later. The paris one is different because the coaster is on an island in the middle of the river, with the station on the mainland. This means you have a pitch black tunnel at both the start and end of the ride to get over to the island and back, which bookends the experience nicely with thrilling moments. So from the station you drop down into a mine, and it feels like you go really quite deep underground. I’d just about say its a better tunnel than Oblivion. From there it’s classic Big Thunder, with themed lift hills (including one with projection mapping involving fuses burning towards a stack of TNT) and helixes, but also a lot more random drops, and it seems to maintain speed better than the others, rather than hitting a lift the moment you build up a bit of speed. The end of the ride has you go into a themed tunnel, but then the track starts diving deeply and getting darker, and then you just keep diving and diving and go around a huge underground banked turn, and head back up a lift hill. The train practically makes it to the top before the chain finally catches and you rise out into the daylight and coast into the station. So one thing you must know about Paris is that it has a handful of well themed walkthroughs. This seems to be a European ‘thing’ since you see similar attractions at Efteling and Europa Park. Adventure Isle A series of bridges, caves and passageways and great themed sections, like a grotto full of pirates treasure, and a skull shaped rock you could look out through. Needs more slides La Cabane Des Robinson Not Far from Adventure Isle, and another Disney Staple. What I find notable is the way it uses a lot of visual distraction to still maintain the reveal of different parts. From a distance, all you see is this giant tree and a couple of platforms sticking out. When you get there, you basically just see a staircase disappearing up into the tree and the famous water wheel. Quite unassuming considering all that is going on above. When you are up there in the tree canopy, you can see walkways going everywhere, above and below you, and the bits of the treehouse perched in different parts of the tree, so all you can really do is follow the walkway along and be guided through the labyrinth. Thematically its one of my favourites. La Cabane Des Robinson Not Far from Adventure Isle, and another Disney Staple. What I find notable is the way it uses a lot of visual distraction to still maintain the reveal of different parts. From a distance, all you see is this giant tree and a couple of platforms sticking out. When you get there, you basically just see a staircase disappearing up into the tree and the famous water wheel. Quite unassuming considering all that is going on above. When you are up there in the tree canopy, you can see walkways going everywhere, above and below you, and the bits of the treehouse perched in different parts of the tree, so all you can really do is follow the walkway along and be guided through the labyrinth. Thematically its one of my favourites. Le Passage Enchante d’Alladin This has a few dioramas behind glass telling the story of Alladin. Havent seen this film since about age 5 when we watched it on the last day of term before school holidays, brought back memories, ended up watching it again on the plane home! Les Mystères du Nautilus Probably my favourite of the walkthroughs, and I almost missed the best part! From a small building next to lake in Discoveryland you go down a spiral staircase and through an underground passageway into the interior of the Nautilus submarine (You see the top of the Submarine poking up through the water next to the entrance. All the rooms are ornately themed, with a cool engine room full of moving equipment. The main room I strolled straight through, but when I looked back i noticed a crowd of people gathered around a small circular window. Went back to have a look, and all of a sudden the window expands like an iris / camera shutter, revealing a much bigger circular window looking out of the submarine. The iris opens and closes every few mins, revealing something new each time, eg a pod of whales swimming by. Amazing bit of imagineering to build that mechanism. La Belle Au bois Dormant I found out about this one via the Imagineering Story. They did some really ornate stained glass windows in an area in the ‘foyer’ of the castle, so definitely take the time to check this out. La Tanière du Dragon Under the castle, there is a damp cave with a dragon that occasionally wakes up and roars. Easy to miss if you dont know about it. Alice’s Curious Labyrinth A large hedge maze with statues from Alice in Wonderland. You eventually reach a small castle, but its bloody narrow and crowded up there, though its a great vantage point for photos over the park. Disneyland Paris Railroad I thought this was going to be closed for my visit but it ended up re-opening late afternoon day 2. They've designed the carriages to only load from one side, so most of the views are designed to face into the park…If you are riding, sit on the side closest to the platform. For those of you not familiar with the Disneyland Railroads, you dont just do a lap around the park, a couple of times you pass through other ride buildings, and through a couple of indoor sections with actual built sets (The latter too hard to get photos of in the darkness. The other “train” Casey Jr Circus Train was closed on my visit, so no powered coaster for me. So final thoughts. Nice park, superb theming, but perhaps it just feels middle of the range compared to the other Disneylands since it’s all ‘classics’ and the last new ride they got was Buzz Lightyear. More photos here: https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/disneyland-paris

Korea Generally: If you get a hotel close to Line 2 (green line) you can get to pretty much anywhere in Seoul quickly. Download the Jihacheol (지하철) app for subway routes before you go so you can choose a hotel close to the things you want to do. Have cash. Korea doesn't really use tap-to-pay. They still use swipe or chip/pin with signatures, and merchants (especially at Lotte World Mall) will offer to do the currency conversion for you and will sting you 5% - sometimes the staff will just accept this on your behalf and it adds up. If you've got a 28 Degrees Mastercard or something with no foreign fees, it can help. American Express is usually the most limited. Mastercard is usually fine and Visa is ok too. Korea is a very safe country, so you can carry some extra cash without having to worry. Subways are the best way to get around. You will need a T-Money card and can load money onto it at every station if you need to. It also works for local busses if you're brave enough to catch one. You don't need to tap-off with the bus though. The bus is a fixed-fare system, so you tap on and it's the same amount regardless of travel distance. There is a T-Money card for tourists called M-Pass, but only get this if you're going to be travelling by train a LOT during a single day. It's 15,000 Won for one day with up to 20 trips. This can be a saving if you use it, but most people won't use that much. It's better to just get a regular t-Money card from a convenience store for 3.500 Won or at a station and then charge it as much as you think you'll need. From Incheon Airport - The airport is quite far (an hour) from Seoul. If you're staying at any of the major hotels in the city (or near them) don't bother with the train, just get a KAL Limousine bus. You can buy tickets at the airport, or if you fly with KAL you can buy them on the plane from the duty-free catalogue. They will drop you directly at the main hotels, and you can walk to another place nearby if you like. It costs about $12-15 but is worth it. The seats are very wide and comfortable, there is free wifi and aircon, and you don't need to fight for a seat. When returning to Incheon Airport, if you're flying with KAL, Asiana or a few other airlines, you can use the 'City Airport'. It's not really an airport, it's just a check-in desk and immigration at Seoul Station (and possibly Coex Mall, but I think that is closed at the moment). You do the same things as you would at the airport, check/drop bags, get your passport scanned, get boarding passes. Then you buy a Limousine bus ticket and travel to the airport. Your bags will follow you on the bus and will get loaded straight onto the plane. The best part is you get to skip the security line and go through the 'diplomat' line, which has almost no wait. You'll need to be there at least 3.5 hours prior to departure, but you'd need to leave that early to get to the airport anyway. It's very convenient and I don't know why more cities don't have it. Lotte World is at Jamsil (pronounced Jahm-Shill) station on the Green Line. Get there early at opening, plan to stay until closing. It's going to be a massive day, but it's a great park and it's worth it. We were there from 9:30am untill 11pm and there were still things we didn't get to do. There are a lot of hidden areas that are really nicely themed - like the kids area is Disney-level. The lunch-time parade is ok, but the evening light parade is incredible. Better than Disney parks IMO, so don't miss that. It takes place above and around the ice rink. The ice rink is technically not part of Lotte World, but you can go there for a second day if you're just visiting the area. It's not too expensive, you get proper leather lace up skates, and when I went, foreigners got 30% discount - which is roughly equivalent to free skate hire. You need to wear gloves on the ice, but they cost about $1. Get there as soon as the park opens and IMMEDIATELY go to Atlantis. Do not wait, do not look around, do not look at a map. Know where it is and how to get there and go straight from the entrance. This is the best and most popular ride in the park and within 15 minutes of opening it will have a wait of 90 minutes to 2 hours or more. You will have a lot more time to enjoy the park if you're not waiting for Atlantis. The line for Comet Express is deceptive. The outside line is just a queue for the inside line. It's a pretty basic indoor spinning coaster. The Gyro Drop and Gyro swing are fun, but have scream guards to keep the neighbours happy. so don't expect to get wind in your hair. Also, don't vomit. French Revolution now has VR. It sometimes fails so you could get a VR experience or you could get a blindfold. The mystery makes it even more fun. There are a lot of small 4D simulators and shooting theatres that are actually pretty cool and you should check them out. They can be a bit hidden out of the way on the lower levels of the indoor section. Everland is a great park but it's very spread out and there is a lot of walking so be prepared. T-Express is one of the world's greatest wooden coasters. It might even be worth getting a local hotel and getting a multi-day pass. There is a water park and speedway there also, and you can spend a lot of time looking at the animals. It's also quite far from Seoul and depending if you need to get to a station for a shuttle, it can take a couple hours or more. You can get shuttle busses directly from various subway stations including: SOUTH of the river: Sinnonhyeon (line 9 exit 6, Gangnam (line 2 exit 6), Suwon (Line 1 exit 6). The return bus leaves at around 7pm, there is only one. NORTH of the river: Hongik University, Sinchon (don't confuse with Sincheon), Seoul Stationn, Myeongdong, Dongdaemun. There are usually two return busses for some of these stations at around 6:30pm and 8:30pm. You can take the subway. It's a lot of transfers though and if you're not familiar with Korean Subways it can sometimes get confusing, but if you've traveled a lot and understand transfers and can navigate the Jihacheol app, you'll be fine. The shuttle is easiest, but the train allows you to stay later if you want. According to the Jihacheol app you need to go from: Gangnam Station (Line 2, Green) > Jeongja Station (Sinbundang Line, Dark Red) > Giheung Station (Bundang Line, Yellow) > Jeondae Everland Station then take a free shuttle bus. There is parking, so if you're renting a car you can drive there, but good luck driving in Korea. Seoul Land is just outside of Seoul. It was built for the 1988 Olympics and it looks like it. The coasters are old but fun and weave around the forest and the park, but they're hard to squeeze into if you're over 6ft. They're a but like an old arrow or Thunderbolt if it was taken care of. It's a large park with a decent amount to do - especially if you have young kids - built between a couple of mountains in the Seoul Grand Park. Of all the theme parks in Korea, this is in the most beautiful location. It's also fairly cheap and has a lot of great, cheap food options inside. It's about 50,000 Won ($60) for a full day ticket - you can sometimes find discount tickets online for entry after 12pm. I enjoyed the day there, especially some of the dark shooting rides and the double-down log flume. Lines can get long though, so be prepared and have an extra phone battery. This is definitely a park you'll want cash for. You can get there by Subway - take Line 4 to Grand Park and Seoulland station - exit 2. There is an 'elephant' bus that you can pay to drop you at the main gate, but otherwise it's just a pleasant 5 minute walk. Easy to get to, not as well themed as Lotte World and not as big as Everland, but it's a fun and beautiful park. Gyeongju World - this is down near Busan. It's a small local theme park with a standard clone B&M dive coaster. Probably not worth the trek unless you're down that way anyway. Korea is a great place to visit. Not too expensive compared to Japan and much more English Friendly. Lotte World is a great day out, Everland is a hike to get to, but fun and generally more chilled if you don't mind a lot of walking. Seoul Land is a mix of Royal Show and Dreamworld but is worth a visit just to have some fairly classic rides with beautiful scenery.

Could it maybe be an extension for Nickelodeon Land? Looking at the qldglobe site it shows the location of the slab in-between New Atlantis and Nick. Maybe a new flat or two with some of Nickelodeon's new properties (Paw Patrol etc.) to update the area like with Marvin at MW? Whatever comes there, I would like for the white sheds at Leviathan (maintenance/station) to be covered up. Maybe paint it green to match the surrounding area like what Disney does?

Hi All So we've bit the bullet and booked our first overseas family trip! It's been a long time coming (i haven't left our shores since 2000). Despite saying i wouldn't take my wife and son to any other Disney park for their first taste of the magic until they had been to Disneyland itself, i went back on that given the ridiculous Aussie dollar, and the opportunity to travel with friends in a large group which is great for the adults, and the kids. It's also my first trip to Japan. We are in the country for 2 weeks, starting off with 3 days in Osaka - 2 of which will be spent at USJ. Already booked the 7 attraction express pass for one of the days (hello to a $1000 day out for 3 people). We're staying at the Universal Park Front hotel right on the doorstep which will make the early start a little easier. We'll be doing the aquarium one night too as cant pass up the chance to see Whale Sharks in the flesh. We're then off to the snow for 2 days in Hakuba (again something none of us have experienced) Before heading to Tokyo for 9 nights. We're staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay, so not an official disney hotel, but a partner hotel not far from the park. I've penciled in 4 Disney days (2 at land, 2 at sea). Open to another day at one of them if need be. My partner has a mild disability so being on her feet all day wont be an option, so there will be plenty of resting time, potential hire of a wheelchair etc, so we may not be as quick around the parks as others. Bummed they dont offer multi day hopper passes like DL/CA do, you can only buy single day tickets to one or the other park. We have a heap of other things we want to cover off while there - Harry Potter Studio Tour, TeamLabs, animal cafes, pokemon centre/cafe, shopping etc BUT would love some suggestions on some theme park/rides/attractions in Tokyo itself, or any other must see's if people have anything they'd like to personally recommend. I'd love to get out to Fuji Q if we can score a free day, but it's not the highest on the priority list given the travel needed.

“It’s a kids area” is not a valid excuse to explain away abject laziness because there’s no longer licensing standards that the park is bound to. People will walk past that ocean parade section to get to serpent slayer & tiger island it’s not just kids. Neither is the “not Disney” excuse our parks in the 90’s did what Disney could for half the price. I suppose Nickelodeon Land doesn’t exist either and you’ve conveniently forgotten that

I doubt kids are walking around pointing out the roofs. It's a kids area and still the best themed one in Australia. Remember this isn't Disney and the key demographic they are targeting is kids.

I don't think it's necessairly a bad thing though. I think Gumbuya did a great job with TNT. Theme, story and presentation has been executed very well. So it should make want VRTP to step things up a little and make their version 'world class'. But from Gumbuya's perspective, it should make them feel like they are able to compete with the Gold Coast parks despite them being a (regional?) theme park in Victoria. We see copies of attractions all of the world, there are small parks that will have the same/similar attractions as the big guys (Disney, Universal, etc), but the difference is they step it up and take theming and story to a whole new level, which is what makes it a better experience. Because it was a poor choice of ride and was originally picked without much thought, but was a way to boost attraction (and thrill ride) count up to compete with the guys down the road. Long term that thought process back fired and ended up costing the park way too much to operate/maintain, hence why they sold it off. And attraction like this is why the current management take a lot more care in selecting attractions and who is the manufacturer of that attraction. They did a lot of culling, which has hit hard on their overall attraction count. But eventually we should start to see that number increase to make the park feel more complete once again.

https://travel.nine.com.au/latest/disney-cruise-ship-coming-to-australia-new-zealand/9a963f98-1fe8-4cfc-aac2-696c2ca0c862 For the first time ever, Disney Cruise Line is sailing Down Under with 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-night cruises from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Embark on an unforgettable voyage immersed in the magic of Disney storytelling—from award-winning entertainment, festive deck parties and spectacular themed events to world-class dining, imaginative kids clubs and beloved Characters throughout your sailing. The inaugural sailing of this limited season in Australia and New Zealand departs October 28, 2023, from Sydney. Bookings open to the general public from Thursday September 29, 2022 at 8am AEST / 11am NZDT. For more information, visit disneycruise.com

So it has been announced in the last 24 hours that Bob Iger has stepped down as Disney CEO, being replaced by Bob Chapek who had been chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Iger is to remain at Disney as an executive chairman till the end of his contract (expiring end of 2021); focusing on creative content within the company. Chapek will take control of day-to-day operations of the business, with Iger acting as a mentor to Chapek during this transition. Iger worked for the company for 27 years, with 15 being at the helm of Disney. During his time as CEO, he was involved in the acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilms, 20th Century Fox, and launching Disney Plus. News article talking about this announcement is linked below: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/25/21153317/bob-iger-disney-ceo-steps-down-chapek-kevin-mayer-parks-products-succession I would like to gauge parkz members reaction to the news, and how they believe Chapek will impact/shape Disney theme parks globally. Reading several other online forums (i.e. micechat, reddit), many share a negative opinion about Chapek, stating that he has a focus on pushing IP's within parks rather than creating original experiences. According to these forums, he has also been responsible for implementing demand pricing at the Disney Parks, reducing the range of park merchandise, reducing live entertainment, cheaply re-skinning Pixar Pier, GotG ride (previously Hollywood Tower), and cutting budgets to the Avatar and Galaxy's Edges lands which has resulted in a shortened navi river ride, and less interactivity at each of the lands respectively. In my opinion, its hard to know with a lot of the decisions, how much input was from Chapek himself, and how much was passed down onto him by Iger. I respect that Disney is a business, though I wonder if Chapek will turn the Disney Parks into IP shopping malls and focus the rides on the IP's rather than creating genuine and immersive experiences.

Man, I really regret not doing more of those parks when I lived on that side of the world (UK). The only European theme parks I did were the Disney's and Portaventura (before the Ferrari bit).

My initial reply to this would have suggested there wouldn't be much difference given the distances and the locals for each park have little crossover, but the more I worked through it the more interesting it became. If knott's were to close, I feel like the majority of their tourism attendance would move to another Disney day, or just spend time around the Anaheim resort precinct. Locals on the other hand visit Knott's because they don't like the bustle (and robbery) of the D bubble. If MM were to close however - the solution is less obvious. The park's bread and butter are youths\young adults who are *relatively* local to the area, and seeking thrills, not experiences. The nearest big park is Universal, but it's a very different experience and not really what an Adrenaline junkie is looking for. I'd wager Universal would pick up some of the market simply due to geography, but those who have the ability to travel... Would they go all the way to Knotts for an Adrenaline fix?

It’s all speculation at this point. Arguably CF/SF merging helps them compete with Disney and Universal, hopefully we won’t see another Geauga Lake situation but even the closest competing parks (CGA/SFDK, KD/SFA, Knotts/SFMM) are over an hour apart do essentially serve different markets. Still a wild move, that all-chain season pass will be amazing value going forward.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/torture-disney-world-guests-gripe-of-brokendown-rides-filth-as-prices-soar/news-story/fced2286db6c350eae1a4ee612f8dc0a Lol great decision.

Parc Asterix Featuring Toutatis - 2/6/23 https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/parc-asterix Aside from Disney, if you’re a theme park fan in France you’ll probably want to visit Parc Asterix, about 60km north of Paris. This year seemed like a good time to visit with the debut of Toutatis, which was being massively promoted on billboards throughout the Metro system in Paris. It’s a great, but very busy part, that does a fine job of combining impressive rides (and there are heaps) with good theming. If you only have a day you can use their Filotomatix express pass option, and they also sell 1 shot passes too. The website suggests you need to download an app to use Filotomatix, which becomes an embuggerance because the app isnt available to non French Google/Apple accounts, however in the end you dont need to worry because you can use the system through a browser. The throughput on rides is good, but because the park is so popular it can get long lines. I did get a fair bit done from 10am till 7pm. Onto the rides. Tonnere 2 Zeus This ride feels like a distant relative to Ghostrider, fast paced and wild, though this one was revamped by Gravity Group rather than GCI. It also has a backwards row like on Leviathan, no charge and no real extra wait but I skipped over since they can be a bit much on a bumpy ride. The layout is good, first drop into a tunnel, a few hills and a double down with plenty of air. Highlights included a 90 degree banked hill (essentially half of a high 5 element) and a helix towards the end of the ride. OzIris Really good, with a layout that is more interesting than your average invert. Seemed to climb and dive much more steeply, so good variation between near misses at ground level/sense of speed, and flying high. Starts with a steep first drop that nests into the terrain a little, before whipping up into a dive loop, then an overbanked turn and a loop. After the loop it did something unusual where the track kept going downhill (imagine the first inversion on Viper SFMM in reverse), picking up speed through a tunnel, before an immelmann. Then comes another overbank turn and steep drop into a tunnel that goes ‘underwater’. The ride finishes in double, with a zero g roll, and an elevated helix, then a drop, another zero g roll behind the station (with a cool near miss with the edge of the building), and finally a forceful ground hugging helix. Overall, a dynamic ride! Goudurix Gout du Risque, the ‘taste of danger’. A bit of worry going into this one, since it's often regarded as one of the worlds worst coasters, but I found it on par with other Vekoma loopers (Like Blue Hawk at SFOG) and SLCs of the same age. Does have some real bumps at the bottoms of loops however. Features an interesting Butterfly element which is like a really disorientating pair of inverted top hats, a butterfly loop, and a classic double corkscrew (RIP Sea Viper) Menhir Express Mack log flume with a cool coaster style drop partway through. The station and splashdown area is really well themed, but most of the course is industrial style troughs and a couple of ‘sheds’ , so a mixed bag. Trace du Hourra Awesome fun. I love bobsleds, and this one is enormous, with quite long drops, and helices, including a few that get tighter as you go downhill, increasing the force. Bobsleds are thrilling in their own way because they do feel pretty out of control, so when you pick up speed you get this sense of nervousness…Is it going too fast for this turn coming up? Capacity is great too, they had multiple trains running and could get them loaded in under 30 seconds. Romus Et Rapidus Ok rapids ride. The station is well themed, but it mostly seems quite open and surrounded by grass and the huge holding pond, so felt a bit underwhelming thematically compared to the rest of the park. Managed to stay dry until a damn rouge wave came in through the side and got me right at the end. Pegase Express Cool concept. Mixed execution. The ride is a lot like Firechaser Express at Dollywood, with forwards and backwards portions. The ride is themed like an ancient greek rail network, where you ride through the sky on a pegasus. The station has hilarious station theming, with a departure board showing some strange destinations for trains. Starts with a gentle launch out of the elevated station, helix, drop, and finally the main lift hill. The main coaster has a series of rolling hills and turns, over the top of the rapids, its like a family version of ‘hyper coaster’ in terms of style. Its a bit plain and open like the rapids ride, especially since you are running along the edge of the car park. There’s a good diving drop through a billboard, and you come around into an enclosed dead end show building themed like a temple. Good idea for a theme, but it looks weird sitting up on unthemed stilts. The door closes behind you, and a projection mapped head of medusa comes to life and in a fit of rage, blows you out the temple backwards. From there, more hill and turns back to the station (quite a long backward section) till you reach the track switch at the end and return to the station. Oxygenarium This is a family raft slide, but with a fully sealed boat so you can ride it fully clothed. You wont get wet at all. The theming is fun, with huge oversized air pipes coiling around, and the sound of droning air blowers in the station. The lift conveyor has plenty of theming, with whirling gizmos, and enclosed tunnels with electrical arc effects and giant cables. The slide down is fairly short, felt shorter than mammoth falls, but foam pads on the slide cause the bottom of the raft to grip on one side, causing a bit of spinning. It all concludes with a helix, which you get a nice view of in the queue. The final splashdown leads to a slow, gentle drift back to the station. SOS Numerobis Run of the mill Zierer kiddy coaster. Le Carousel du Cesar Went on here intending to get in the giant Obelix, other passengers beat me to it, so I had to settle for a horse. Epidemaïs Croisière Quite a long tow boat ride through various static scenes from Asterix. I think this would have been one of the earlier rides at the park, and I guess you'd have to have a real appreciation for the comics to 'get' it. Vol D’Icare This is good. Design wise, it reminded me of a cross between a standard family coaster, and one of those Gerstlauer bobsled coasters, so lots of quick turns, sharp drops and so on. The vehicles are nicely themed as winged baskets, truly representing the flight of Icarus, and the ride itself is well themed too, surrounded by Greek ruins. Discobelix I was told this had a good effect of a flaming cauldron at one end, but sadly this was switched off first thing the morning. The station looks good, with the disko seemingly ripping through and knocking out columns. Le Defi De Cesar Oh boy, a madhouse, I love these. I think operations were pared back 'due to covid' and never fully reinstated, since it had several preshows, but on my ride they just took us in through the exit, did the ride, and out the same way. Either that or they plan to close it in the near future. Was a walk on compared to many other busier attractions. The story is that you have been recruited to Cesar's army, and are being sent out on a warship. The ride chamber is elaborately themed to represent this, with windows containing screens so you can see whats going on outside. You set off from the port, encouter Asterix and Obelix, and your ship is sunk, and this is where the ride starts tumbling around. I liked it, it was a creative way of doing a madhouse beyond the usual "the room is magic and turning upside down" type storyline. La Rivière d'Elis Pleasant little onion boat ride through some gardens, with quite an elaborate stone mountain as the centerpiece. Always amazes me to see minor rides like this in Europe with theming budgets bigger than some of our local major rides. Main basse sur la Joconde (Hands off the Mona Lisa) TIL That the Mona Lisa is called Joconde. An awesome, big stunt show. Some villains steal the mona lisa whilst it is being shipped in a high security van at a port. Four bumbling policeman fail to stop the theft, and spend the show chasing the villains. A witness to it all, a tradie painter tries to help out too. So the whole show is about the painting changing hands between the three, with cartoon style fighting and action, for example one of the villains escapes down a sewer, a giant round style cartoon bomb is tossed down a manhole behind them, boom, and then the painting pops with a "whooop" sound effect, up out of the hole and is caught by one of the good guys. Well choreographed, and some good practical effects like entire buildings being blown apart too. L'Aérolaf It’s best described as a floorless observation tower, inside a fancy looking steel frame. It's technically not an upcharge, but before you board you buy a drink/snack to take on the ride, and these are priced much higher than the rest of the park. I did it anyway since you get good views of the coasters at this end of the park, and quite a generous amount of time at the top, a good 5-10 mins. Attention Menhir ! I dont speak French but this was a good show. The preshow is at a campsite where Romans are plotting an assault on the Gauls village, you can see the shadows of the characters in the tents plotting. You then move into the main 4d show, which is a hilarious cartoony battle between the Romans and the Gauls, with plenty of giant rocks and arrows flying about in 3D. The show used a technique i have never seen before where actual lasers are projected onto the screen, so they could do stuff like stars flying when characters fight, or hypnotic rings around eyes when they were angry / ‘powering up’. L'Aventure Astérix Short walkthrough with some sculpts of the Asterix characters and some history about the creators. A highlight was a model of the park, with pointer showing which comics each attraction was based upon. Toutatis Top 10 ride here! The well themed station building sits under an earthy mound, decorated with carved standing stones. Inside the building, things look even cooler, with load area sitting in a dome shaped chamber, with light pulsating between the gaps between stones. At the front is a carved face of Toutatis, with eyes that glow with energy each time a train dispatches. The trains are very open and comfortable, with elevated seating and an overhead lap bar offering a great feeling of freedom. A short drop leads out of the station into the first launch in a well themed trench evoking memories of Taron , which offers a good kick of speed. Numerous overhead walkways provide great views for bystanders, as well as a few head choppers. All those coasters that have below ground sections in concrete trenches that resemble a dirty motorway underpass, take note! A turn to the right out of the launch leads into a unique take on a Zero G Stall. This one is more like a barrel roll that switches directions halfway through, providing a bit of hangtime. A wide turn and a dip down leads into a bunny hop that has been tilted to the left, a miniature version of the outward banked turn. It’s all very unique and sets the tone for the ride ahead. The train effortlessly turns onto the launch track, and it is here where things become wild. Normally multi pass swing launch coasters cop a bit of flak. After all, you are taking what was a 2-3 second period of extreme acceleration and dragging it out over a longer period and distance. Not necessarily that satisfying for those who want to be pinned against the backrest. Toutatis changes all this, with 2 short banks of LSMs in valleys, with an extended speed hill in between. Quick punches of acceleration and positive g’s alternate with negative g’s on the hill. It transforms the launch into something else akin to a bucking bronco, becoming wilder on each pass. This launch is also well themed, with giant logs forming head choppers The high speed track switch means there is no pause in the pacing, so on the backwards trip you are sent up a straight reverse spike, offering great views of the layout ahead and floating airtime. With the 3rd launch you are sent up over a top hat, cruise over the apex, before descending into a beyond vertical drop. Again, more airtime. A high speed turn leads into my personal favourite element, a Zero g stall. The sensation of travelling upside down, floating in your seat for close to 3 seconds will never get old. A long ground hugging u-turn has a “speed hump” halfway through the turn lifting you out of your seat. From here there is a bit of classic Intamin, with an ejector airtime hill, and a snappy S curve. Next comes a wave turn, with floating ‘sideways’ airtime combined with the sense of being pushed outwards off the track. Diving down of the wave turn is another low to the ground high speed turn that passes around the queue area, transitioning directly into a barrel roll that tries to dunk you out of the train with a statue underneath as a near miss, immediately leading into an overbanked turn. The ride finishes off with a double up. That last sequence is pretty rapid fire, so its quite an unhinged feeling finale. Operations on the ride are solid. A countdown screen in the station helps operators keep an eye on the time, and it was not uncommon to see trains loaded and checked in 30 seconds flat. Overall, it’s an incredible package of the ride. It offers all the sensations a coaster fan would love, it’s full of variety with not a single repeated element, it’s got the theming, it’s got the comfort and it’s got the operational efficiency. Closing thoughts, it's worth a whole day, and maybe even half more if you want to take in more of the park and do re-rides. Would highly recommend doing it with an express pass. The French really do have a great sense of humour, and it shows through here. And some of the in between themed areas are incredible actually. Would have liked more time to explore them, and perhaps eat at the giant fruit restaurant, or the circus restaurant... And a lot of the smaller attractions I'd totally come back and do since they seemed to have a bit of love in the theming department too, rather than merely being filler. More pics here https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/parc-asterix

I usually watch YT-TV so comments aren't a general part of my viewing experience. I took a look and you're right, a lot of people are wondering why a junior coaster isn't even as long as Tron. Just read that again. Many comparisons to how this wouldn't wash in Magic Kingdom or Disneyland, and how Hagrid's motorbike is way better and my take away is that it sounds like the typical american disney fan entitlement where everything Disney builds has to be for them. It's a freaking Junior coaster. For kids. Some of whom don't enjoy the longer bigger faster attractions. Nobody is hating on Gadget's coaster, or Barnstormer. And this is longer than both of them. So then we come back to the complaint that it's what.... themed too well? fuck me enthusiasts are a steaming pile of dogshit. The Oaken attraction was originally rumored to be a flat ride. A spinner akin to Maters Junkyard. It would have been fine - and it would have needed a giant themed wall to hide Small World from the Frozen land. What we got was better than standard and still folks can't just be happy because it looks like it should be a longer ride and it isn't? Well shit - that might dent your first impressions but I bet you still go on it again if you've got the opportunity. Anyway. You think its themed too well, but its too short. And you can't see how short it is before you ride. A lot of commentary online tends to agree with this sentiment, though in my opinion, the motivations of that commentary seem to have a bias - especially for a ride that hasn't officially opened yet (not to mention that the majority of those commenting with US park comparisons are unlikely to ever visit the park anyway). Your point is taken, and I still disagree with you. I think from the limited stuff i've seen online they've done a great job with an entry level kids coaster - something the park has needed to introduce coasters to a younger generation not yet tall enough for things like Grizzly or Space (RC still looks too imposing for the younger groups), they've done a custom layout that is longer than the average length for a junior coaster out of 120 separate installs. They appear to have chosen to incorporate the ride into the land's facade, which was necessary to block out small world anyway, so why the fuck not? *From what i've seen* it looks great. I can't wait to check it out for myself, and once I have, i'll give a final opinion.

Definitely not Disney but this is DW's centrepiece.

Yeah I think in the case of a Top Spin, the load platforms are designed to retract regardless of whether water is present though - thought my knowledge on top spin and equivalents is limited. A Wave swinger on the other hand doesn't come with retractable fencing as standard. Theres a lot of additional engineering and complexity involved in doing that, especially something by a third party that needs to integrate with a ride safety system. Could they have? sure. did they need to? we still haven't seen the finished product - but this isn't disney and it isn't an "e-ticket"... i'll wait and judge when it's done.

We did the same trip 5 or so years ago in December with a large group (ages 4-50yrs) we just broke up our days a bit different. 6 days Tokyo (2 at land, 2 at sea and 1 at Tokyodome) 3 days at Hakuba and 5 Osaka (2 at USJ) no fast passes and didn't stay on site. We are replanning this trip for 2025 and the changes I'm making are No side trip to Hakuba. No TokyoDome. No Osaka castle. No Skytree. No Zoo (was depressing) Staying on site for USJ and adding a extra day. Staying on a partner property for Disney and adding a extra day or 2. Adding in Sanrioland, Ghibli Studio Park, Pokemon Cafe. Last time the size of our group made it difficult for everyone to see what they wanted so this time round our group will be larger but we will split up more so everyone can focus on the activities they really want to do. And also to have some down time as last time it was go, go, go. I needed a holiday when we got home. JR rail pass is good for the train, make Sure you have roaming or a local sim card to help with directions, help with translation and to get in touch with your group when needed. If your with a large group make a plan/schedule. Have a great holiday! Look forward to reading your trip report.

Rocking cars adds almost nothing (almost. Like on a swinging suspended coaster, swinging doesn't do much) and 'headlining character theme' would be true if we were in the 40s. Now granted I haven't done extensive market research, but I bet more kids would be into with/familiar with frozen than Snow White, timeless or no. I don't have opinions on modern Disney 'Lightning Lane' and whatnot, but again looking at it in isolation I think it's over dressed. How it fits in the park's attraction mix might be different, so you do have a point with that, but I think at the very least the online perception of this ride is that something is off, and I think the issue is its a C ticket in E tickets clothes.

Doesn't 7DMT have rocking cars too? So it's ride time, dark ride section, rocking cars, AND a headlining character theme? but other than that they're the same? listen to yourself. I didn't say everything at Disney was Top Tier. I literally listed off all the things at HK that I consider 'top tier' which is why I don't believe Oaken is. Everything at Disney is 'dressed up' - its just a matter of degree. (Those degrees used to be separated A through to E, but other than usage of E as being 'top' I don't think anyone is dividing attractions into A-D categories anymore). E is your flagship attraction, the Marquee, the showstopper of the land. It's rare to have more than 1 (and almost unheard of to have more than 2) in each land. I do agree that Oaken's has been themed very well, to suit a land that was announced almost 7 years ago. They've poured a fortune of money and time into this and for a virgin land (not a retheme) they've had the freedom to do exactly as they envision without being constrained by existing boundaries or structures - so they made it look pretty cool, sure. In the coupon days, Oaken would probably have warranted an E-ticket simply because it was a 'new' attraction that would be popular, and making it expensive to ride would control capacity. These days if capacity were an issue, the US parks would stick a paid lightning lane on it and call it a day, and that would probably be today's equivalent of E-ticket. I don't know how they're structuring this sort of arrangement in Hong Kong yet, but i'm there in December, so I'll let you know. Other than that, I won't resort to downplaying your opinion as pedantry, so i'll again offer to agree to disagree.

I mean the difference between 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Oaken's is ride time and a very short dark ride section, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train is considered top tier, so not sure really what you want. If you want to split hairs and say 'Umm well actually 7DMT is considered a 'D' ticket' then you're skipping the actual point that is being made in favour of pedantry. And not everything at Disney is top tier, you can tell they are by how they're dressed up. Slinky Dog at HK is not top tier, maybe at Dreamworld. Oaken's looks top tier af, and is done up to that standard, you would expect it to offer way more than it does.

That's a pretty bold claim in a Disney park - especially when it's up against Mystic Manor, Grizzly Mountain, a Space clone, probably the best Jungle Cruise (IMO), and now Frozen Ever After. If that were in Sea World Aus, it'd be top tier. Movie World also. But IMO, everything is relative and in a Disney Park, I don't think it's an E - for all the attractions that reasonably sit above it, and also, the ride time. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

The problem with Wandering Oaken is they've taken a Roller Skater and dressed it up to the point that it's almost a must ride. You see a ride like at Disney and you'd figure there's way more hidden. Then you go on it and it's a min long kiddie coaster. Doesn't mean there's no place for a kiddie coaster, but making an E-Ticket out of one is a risky move. I don't know what any of this has to do with Jungle Rush.