Parc Asterix

[Colossus]

I know

It will be interesting riding Nemmie though, to see if the King has actually passed the crown on to his successor !!

[Dormiens-Dave]

I place Oz'Iris as a very close second to Nemesis, i was undecided as to if it tipped the crown in Ozzys direction but when i got back to the UK and tried nemmie again she won my heart.

Also inverters dont have to get better with age, Mamba is dire at the moment.

[Benzin]

Hmmm, people rating as high as Nemmie...

Wonder if this will be better than Katun...

[TB2]

As a side point I went to Thorpe Park yesterday to see how Inferno and Swarm compare and they are even more blah blah now than before I rode OzIris. The key point for me is when I ride Nemesis on Saturday (If we go), that will be the decider for me, having the opportunity to ride them so close together.

"The king is dead, long live the King"

I did the same ater Katun last year, went and rode Inferno and it was just so monotonus. It took a few months for me to enjoy Inferno again, once the Katun love wore down a bit.

Still, I always take a bit of notice when a new ride is compared to the benchmark, so looking forward to Oz Siris immensely.

[Dormiens-Dave]

I found it to excel at the back, the front lacked footchoppers (though there is a fantastic one over the station)

[Colossus]

After managing to get on Nemesis on Saturday, exactly one week after riding OzIris, I have sadly come to the conclusion that OzIris is better than Nemesis.  It was always going to have to be something special to beat Nemmie and that ride has come along.

On another point though, the amount of Nemmie merchandise is fantastic this year, with more and more being added as we progress through the year.

[TB2]

Had a go on this last week. Very impressive ride and one thing that really pushed it beyond just another inverter is the theming and landscaping. It's just an utterly gorgeous ride to look at and be around. The pyramid theming is exquisite and there is always something to look at. Particularly as we queued 45 minutes a piece for each ride, it does breeze by thanks to the parks efforts.

As for the ride, it is a very very strong ride. The first drop and the various dips such as into the immelman or under the main plaza or the very sudden drop into the zero g are great moments and the zero g is absolutely sublime. So much zero g sensation, it feels like minutes not seconds. The ride doesn't let up pulling through a tight helix and you can feel the train wanting to do more as it speeds into the breaks. Whilst comparisons with Nemesis are frequant, I think its more akin to Katun then Nemesis. It doesn't quite match Italy's wonder horse but it comes very close.

[lewis97]

Next year the park are getting a Gerstlauer Family Launch Coaster (like Firechaser Express at Dollywood) called Pegasus Express. Recently some high resolution concept images have emerged on Androland along with some further details about the ride's storyline (which have been translated from French).

With Pegasus, visitors go to a high-speed trip aboard a train of ancient Greece. The express travel symbol is Pegasus, the mythical horse, firmly anchored on its wheels, it uses its wings to travel in a train hell.

Visitors leave from the Gare Montparnos (mouahahah, it is not trodden for the pun), borrow an ancient Greek circuit and will feel all the emotions and surprises traveling at high speed.

The trip on the train is not going to go exactly as planned. During the journey visitors will get inside the Temple of Medusa. It seems to wake Medusa. To escape the petrification of visitors, the train is projected backwards!

[Altontowersbarlow]

That looks like a nice layout for a family coaster and the theming looks very detailed, it appears to definitely exceed the theming aspects of many of the older attractions at the park. Its a good addition too, because many of Parc Asterix's coasters are aimed at the thrill market and this will fill a vital gap in the coaster line-up. I look forward to seeing this ride develop.

[Burniel]

This looks to be a fantastic coaster for the whole family - really an excellent fit for the park.

I hope parks in the UK start looking at things like this - I could definitely see one at Chessington!

[Ladyofthelake]

There hasn't been a great deal of information released regarding Pegasus Express, as it stands we don't even have an opening date other than 'Spring' (which as we know can mean anything from March-June), although there are a couple of rumours floating around suggesting April (which I'm personally keeping my fingers crossed for). At the beginning of the month, Parc Astrix released a video in which we can see some more of the plans and artwork for the ride. As the video is in French I couldn't say if it gives any more information though (maybe someone on here who is good with languages can translate?)

Back in October, track was spotted at the park ready to be installed. Hopefully this is a sign the ride will be ready early rather than late spring (image taken from Coasterforce Forum)

[Ladyofthelake]

Whilst there has been a frustratingly small amount of detail released about Pegasus Express, I have stumbled across this article(which is in French so you'll need to run it through a translator) which reveals a little bit more information about the ride.

The ride will last 3 minutes, and in the article is described as follows (please excuse the poor translation):

During their 1 km journey of up to 52 km / h for three minutes, visitors will cross a monumental sign, enter a tunnel to reach an imposing ancient temple where the terrible creature Medusa is sleeping. Awakened, it threatens to petrify at a glance the visitors who will have only one issue: to flee in reverse. All this under the benevolent gaze of a 5 m high statue of Pegasus, the winged horse.

Two new construction images have also been published:





I'm not 100% sure if I've got the translation right, however, it would appear that the new attraction won't be opening with the rest of the park in April, instead opening a couple of months later in June, something which on a personal level will be very frustrating given that I will be visiting the park at the end of April.

[Dom]

That's annoying that it is looking like a June opening instead of an April one. I'm going to sound like a complete idiot now, but why are they using two different looks for the track?

[Ryan.B]

Believe it's due to do with the forces and stress on track, or trims?

[Liam.W]

The triangular track is where there is more stress on the track, so obviously more steel means more strength.

[Ladyofthelake]

Yesterday, Parc Asteix released a new video about the construction of Pegasus Express. Whilst I can't really understand what is being said due to it being in French, it does give us the clearest view yet of the track and layout of what is looking like a really good addition for the park.

[Dom]

I must admit, for a family coaster, I'm rather excited by this. Can't wait to see it in full and see the POV's.

[NemesisRider]

Nice to see Asterix doing more to compete with Disney by installing these large investments! I think this'll be a really fun family coaster when it's done, plus I hope the theming is as good as on the concept art!

[Gravity]

Below are finally more amazing pictures showing progress on Pegase Express construction

The track is showing to be quite long and twisty, including some bunny hop and a very nice over the water section above the rivers rapids. The station is massive (17m hight x 24m wide), and the area will include a 5m tall golden Pegasus statue. With an investiment of 16M euro very high quality theming is expected, in line with the previous OzIris project.

The park has also done a massive refurbishment of the whole Greek zone as part of the Pegase Express construction. This includes repainting of many rides and flats, including complete retracking of Le Vol d'Icare.


Another good news is the park has officially announced a 100M euro development plan until 2020. This includes about 50M for a new hotel, and 50M for the parc itself. I guess we can expect some great new additions with such a wallet, maybe we'll finally see the B&M flying advertised a while ago?



Pégase Express from the parking:
It is nice to notice that the park is planning to plant trees in order to hide everything, by the look of the copious amount of soil.












View from Romeus & Rapidus:












View from the station building:






(Source: EDBattractions + Fans du parc Astérix)

[lewis97]

Pegasus Express is now testing, as shown in this video posted on Theme Parks & More Facebook. Also appears that this has an opening date of 10th June.