Parc Asterix

Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:53 pm

God this thing is long!

I love it!

Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:03 pm

Is this the only B&M invert apart from Nemesis that's first inversion isn't a loop.

Anyway this looks awesome.

AstroDan · Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:08 pm

I hope Asterix

a) Look after it

b) Get a decent throughput out of it

Forgive my cynicism, but we all know what they're like :P

Bloody looks awesome, though! Zero G looks slow at the moment?

Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:08 pm

Pedro wrote: Here is a video from today.

You can hear in the background the music from the land.

The speed it takes the first half or so of the circuit, especially the turn around between the dive loop and the vertical loop. :love:

Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:22 pm

Is this the only B&M invert apart from Nemesis that's first inversion isn't a loop.

Alpengeist, and both the Dueling Dragons.

This thing just looks so, so good.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:33 pm

As I've said for a while this is the 2012 B&M which I think has the most potential. In fact the only reason I don't think this ride will be among the greats is because everything after the ride disappears behind the station appears to just be meandering corners and nothing especial interesting. I hope to be proven wrong because as far as I'm concerned the start of the ride looks absolutely superb. Most unique opener we've seen on a B&M going all the way back to Nemesis (and some of their other new rides have been fairly original as well).

Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:54 pm

AstwoDan wrote: b) Get a decent throughput out of it

They are expecting the queuline not to get over 1h! I'm really not sure that this is going to be true!

Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:00 pm

Does it even have a MCBR? I can't see one. If not surely it'll only run two trains? And at around 1:30 long that's going to make throughput interesting :P

AstroDan · Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:08 pm

Bote wrote: Does it even have a MCBR? I can't see one. If not surely it'll only run two trains? And at around 1:30 long that's going to make throughput interesting :P

I make the actual ride 1 minute from lift to brakes?

It's a mid-sized B&M Invert, along the lines of Dragon Challenge.

Throughput will indeed be interesting, given that Astérix's throughput generally is, for want of a better word, crap.

:P

Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:18 pm

I was counting it from leaving the station to returning roughly Dan :P The video posted is 1:14, and the train is partway up the lift at the beginning, so I guessed around 1:30 overall

Tue Mar 20, 2012 1:07 am

This must the first half decent coaster at Asterix?

The rest just seems to be standard Vekomas and bobsleds. A few good water rides though it seems.

In a way this is a similar situation to Gardaland with Raptor, whereby despite being very established as a theme park, the park is only just getting its first quality coaster.

Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:38 am

CoasterCrazyChris wrote: This must the first half decent coaster at Asterix?

Have you never heard of Tonnere De Zues? That's far more than half-decent, it's one of the best woodies in Europe!

I do agree, though, that this coaster really will throw Asterix into a different league. I visited in the summer of 2010, and whilst I found the park brilliant, a coaster of this mantle is just what the park needed.

Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:26 pm

Why did we not get something of this quality in the UK? Theming wise it looks better than The Swarm!

Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:33 pm

spark wrote: Why did we not get something of this quality in the UK? Theming wise it looks better than The Swarm!

You've got Nemesis for 18 years now! France got its first B&M in 2010! And this is only going to be the 2nd, and the first decent one! :P

AstroDan · Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:50 pm

Pedro wrote:
spark wrote: Why did we not get something of this quality in the UK? Theming wise it looks better than The Swarm!
You've got Nemesis for 18 years now! France got its first B&M in 2010! And this is only going to be the 2nd, and the first decent one! :P

The poor French.

But, then again, Europa-Park is literally yards from the border.

:P

DiogoJ42 · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:02 pm

I know we Brits love to bitch about how bad the UK is in every walk of life.... but seriously, I don't think we realise how lucky we are in the coaster stakes. Take any one one the main UK parks, and the chances are it has a better ride line up than most EU countries, never mind parks! [Germany excepted, obviously]

Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:27 pm

I personally think Holland beats us by a mile, especially when you consider the size of Holland!

DiogoJ42 · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:46 pm

I did say MOST EU countries. Look at poor Ireland or Portugal for example!

AstroDan · Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:48 pm

darkside wrote: I personally think Holland beats us by a mile, especially when you consider the size of Holland!

Well, Holland is Vekoma Central. Don't get me wrong, there are some nice parks (Efteling and Walibi being the main two) but really - they don't have many compared to the UK.

There isn't a single B&M, for example, in Holland.

Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:55 pm

^ But in comparison of size?

They have nice smaller parks too; Toverlan, Duinrell, Drivliet, Slagharen, and a few others that I cant spell!