The Trip of a Lifetime(Park Asterix)(7/27/02)
Associated parks:
None
“You have got to be kidding me. Look at the spoons!”……………
I am going to start this trip report with a flash back or sorts.
Let me take you back. Back to the early 70’s to be exact. I was a big fan of cartoons back then. I don’t remember the exact age, but I remember watching a cartoon movie on TV that included the story of a boy, and his dog. I remember the dog had a pointy head but that was about all I remembered.
There was a song in the cartoon that was released as a single. My parents knew I loved the cartoon and the song so they picked up the small 45 of the song. I played that song over and over. I loved it. I must have played it to the point of wearing it out I liked it so much.
“Me and My Shadow”, I would sing over and over again.
As I grew older, I got more records. Pretty soon, I had misplaced my favorite song and couldn’t find it. My parents tried looking for another copy but never found one for me. I lost the song for good.
As I grew older, I could still here the melody of the song very clear. I needed to have that song back. I asked many different people but they all didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about. When I first had access to the Internet, I did some searches for this song. One day I found a site with a song on it called, “Me and My Shadow”. I was so happy. I downloaded a small sound clip but was sad to find out it wasn’t the song I was looking for but rather a jazz duet of some sort.
I continued to search every year or so for this song before I decided that the song probably didn’t exist. I convinced myself that I had dreamt the song and I would never find it. I even tried playing it on my guitar a few times, just so I could hear the melody. After 20 years or so of searching, I finally accepted the fact that I would never hear that song.
Ok, sorry for the flashback. I was just feeling a bit nostalgic. Back to where I left off in the last report.
I woke this morning to the sun shining down on my face from the open window in my hotel room. I could hear the sound of a car trying to start on the street down below. I got up and looked out side and noticed that the sky was very blue, and people were walking on the street down below. Suddenly this hotel didn’t seem to be as bad as it was last night.
I took a shower then finish packing before going downstairs to try and find something to eat. Today was the last day our entire coach group would be together. After we left our last park this evening, we would be going on different coaches to different areas. It finally hit me that today the official tour was going to end.
We didn’t have to leave the hotel until around 9:00am, but due to the strict parking regulations in Epernay, we had to walk a block or so to find the coach. Nigel had been told to move the coach a few times this morning. As I was walking my luggage to the coach, I passed by a large outdoor food market that seemed to be very active with locals enjoying the morning. I had to cut through a parking lot to get to the road where our coach was parked. I witnessed a couple of people arguing over a parking space. It seems parking in this town is worth a lot.
Once at the coach I helped Nigel load the luggage onto the coach as a few others were doing. Our coach was parked next to a creek. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots of the surrounding area. I then walked back to the hotel to make sure everyone was ready to go. Sure enough, we were ready once again to depart for another park, this one being our last as a group.
We had an hour and a half drive to Paris. As we reached the city limits, we looked all around for the Eiffel Tower but didn’t see it until near the end of our journey. Paris seemed to be much larger than I expected it to be. We arrived at the park and pulled into a large coach park. While it didn’t look like there were a lot of coaches in the park, we had been told it could very well be crowded inside the park due to it being a Saturday.
Before we were to enter the park, everyone had to figure out what coach they would be leaving the park on as each coach was going to a different hotel. As luck would have it, I would be on the Orange coach once more with Nigel driving. More than half of our coach was to board another coach and a mix of all the other coaches were to board ours.. Coach mate Randy Carbin had to leave a bit early so once he arrived at the park, he took a cab to the airport in chances of getting an earlier flight home due to work. Randy was the party animal on the Orange Coach. He always seemed to be having a good time and kept up the spirits in the group when people were kind of tired or bored during long drives. Too bad he couldn’t spend some time in Parc Asterix with us because we were told it was an amazing park.
Once we got everyone situated with where they were going to go, Tim Baldwin handed out park tickets and everyone entered the park. By the time we entered the park, it was about 90-degrees out, and very humid. A water ride would have been a great choice but the lines from what we could tell were very long so we decided not to ride one. We had a meal scheduled very soon so we went to Le Cirque to eat. The people inside were very nice and had no problem with getting me a vegetarian meal when I asked for one.
Once we ate, Ivan Hurtado, Matt Bacoulis, Steve Gzesh, Alan Conceico, Sean Winder, Ivan Hurtado, my mother Phyllis, and I all decided to check out the park. We had heard some good reviews of the park and wanted to ride as soon as possible. Our first ride of the day was a coaster notorious for providing a rough ride.
===Goudurix===(#481)
This Vekoma seven looper looks to provide a great ride with its twisted inversions and straight first drop but we wondered why it didn’t have much of a line. As we boarded the train, we left the outdoor loading platform and headed up the lift. We noticed the head rests contained a kind of head cradle to sit your head. I hadn’t seen one like this before and knew there must have been a good reason for it.
After we crested the lift, we made a left turn and went down the straight first drop. Half way down the drop the train started to shake violently. We entered the first two inversions, and our heads were yanked back and forth, side to side, and every other direction. I have never experienced this kind level of roughness on a coaster before. The rest of the ride was the same way with the exception of the vertical loop at the end. I am actually amazed that the park continues to operate the coaster this way. If this ran in the US in this condition, there is no doubt in my mind it would be closed soon after opening due to lawsuits or something. Seriously, I have never ridden a coaster that brutal before and I don’t plan on riding it again anytime soon. I am sorry if it sounds like I am ranting, but I think this needed to be mentioned as we had a good laugh after we got off. Let’s just say we all thought the same about the ride. (beware of that picture as it may offend some...I warned you)
We spent the next few hours walking around the park and riding any coaster we could find.
===Le Vol D’Icare===(#482)
This Zierer coaster had some nice theming while in the queue. The actual ride was more like a mine ride than anything containing a few brutal curves and twists. It reminded me of a version of Knott’s Jaguar but with two car trains. Because there wasn’t much of a line, we were allowed to sit in our own seats. The seats on the train normally hold people in tandem which can be uncomfortable for people at times.
===Le Trance Du Hourra===(#483)
This was our final Mack Bobsled of the tour. This was also the newest version as it opened just last year. The color scheme was strange looking with a brown and red trough. We ended up waiting about an hour to ride this one. Every time we thought we were close to getting on, we would turn a corner and see another line going in and our of the large rocky walls that make up the loading station.
We quickly boarded and made our way up the massive lift. This lift is so large that it can hold two full trains at once time. I don’t know the actual stats of this ride but it sure looked to me to be the tallest bobsled coaster I have ridden as this thing stood way above the trees. This was probably the fastest one I have ridden also as it contained a nice long layout with a few surprises thrown in. I even grayed out a bit in the helix near the end of the ride. That was a first for me on a bobsled.
===Tonnerre De Zeus===(#484)
Here it was! The star of the park according to many. The only wooden coaster at the park and a very famous one at that. We ended up waiting an hour for this also. I won’t give a play by play because I honestly don’t remember much of the layout to do so. I rode with Alan and we really tried to enjoy this monster as much as we could but we were being so violently tossed around and bounced that we had to hold on tightly. The train was shimmering back and forth the entire time acting like it was looking for track. Now, I love to ride wicked wooden coasters just as much as the next guy but this was not all that fun IMO. Alan agreed that this wasn’t enjoyable.
Sean and Ivan thought differently though. They raved about the ride once they got off. Of course they were in a different train so perhaps that was the reason. Steve thought it was rough also but he was very glad to have this coaster as his 400th! Congrats Steve!
One of the kiddie coasters in the park was closed but we had heard there was another one somewhere in the park. We looked all over the place for this ride but couldn’t find it. We even had a map but it didn’t seem to work well. We even asked a few employees who tried to tell us where it was but we still couldn’t find it. Finally, after some more searching, we walked into a small wooded area of the park and found it.
===Le Serpentine===(#485)
This was a standard kiddie oval coaster from Zierer but one ride contained as many as 8 laps. Because of the group we were with, this was actually really fun to ride. As soon as we started to walk away from it, we noticed quite a few more ACE members wanting to ride also. At least we weren’t the only ones who rode it as I am sure quite a few people didn’t find this coaster and probably would have thought we had made it up or something.
We continued to walk around the park a bit more, trying to cool off at the same time. We found a ride that appeared to be a dark ride while on boats but after getting on it we found out it was a gentle boat ride that took us past scenes. The entire ride was outside. We enjoyed the break from walking and relaxed quite a bit while we were on this ride.
By this time, we had ridden every coaster in the park and didn’t want to wait in a long line to ride anything else so we just kind of walked around the park. The park had some very nice theming but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I don’t know exactly what I thought the park would be like but it seemed to be like an American version of a Six Flags park. Considering some of the very unique parks we had been to on the tour, this seemed to be more like a park back home.
I decided to go find something to eat before we had to meet up before ERT. I tried to get some fries at a fast food place but it took 20 minutes to get them. I would have ordered something else but I didn’t have that time to spend waiting for food. I walked back to a place where a few others were sitting and talked with them a bit. We were supposed to meet at “The Large Head” before ERT and it just so happens that I was already there.
The park took us in an area to let the park clear out. They gave us free drinks and let us relax a bit before our ERT was to start on Zeus. Once the park was cleared, we walked back to Zeus. I decided to try riding in the back to see if it would make a difference. Sure enough, I had a much better ride in the back. The ride was still very wicked and seemed like it was due for some serious work, but I enjoyed my second ride better than my first. However, after my second ride, I decided to leave ERT and walk back to the coaches to talk with Nigel and the rest of the drivers.
I left the park and start walking towards the coaches. I looked over and noticed something looked strange on one side of a coach. With each step, I get a more clear view of one of the coolest things I had seen on the entire tour.
The spoons that we had signed a day earlier were stuck to the side of one of the coaches spelling out,
This almost brought tears to my eyes as I looked at it. Nigel and Phil (driver of the Yellow Coach) were standing by and were smiling from ear to ear when I walked up.
“So THIS is why you wanted us to sign those spoons?”
I knew everyone was in for a treat once they came out. I ended up getting my picture taken with Nigel and Phil while standing next to the great display of spoons. After some searching, I found my own spoon on the “D” of END.
Within 20 minutes, people started coming out to the coach park. Their expressions matched mine as they got their first look at the message the coach drivers had created. This was the perfect setting for the end of the tour. It was also very difficult to say goodbye to so many nice people. I hugged so many people those last few minutes that I can’t possibly list them all, but I will dearly miss each and every person that I had a chance to meet or hang out with on this tour. For me, the people made this just as amazing as the coasters.
At one point, I looked around for Nigel and found him standing in between two of the coaches wiping his eyes. My eyes were starting to get a big soggy also as I didn’t want to tour to end. I asked Nigel if everything was alright and he looked up and me and told me the exhaust was irritating his eyes so he had to walk away. Um…..yea the same thing happed to me also. =:^)
One by one, everyone said their goodbyes. There were a lot of people shedding tears at this point and if it wasn’t for the coach drivers telling everyone we had to leave, we would have been there for hours. I was the last passenger to enter the Orange Coach before we left. Nigel was walking behind me. As I hopped up onto the stairs, I heard Nigel starting to sing a very familiar song.
“Me and My Arrow”, he sang.
I completely froze in my tracks and slowly turned around.
“What did you just say? What did you just sing?” I said.
Nigel repeated it and looked at me kind of funny. I must have been white as a ghost. You see, all these years I have been looking for the wrong song. The song was actually called, “Me and My Arrow”
“Arrow! I can’t believe I forgot about Arrow,” I said.
Nigel seemed confused as to why my interest in the song. I asked him who sang and he told me Harry Nillson. He knew all about the song, the album, and even the cartoon the song was from. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was, by far, the best way to put an end to the tour for me. It seemed so ironic to me that I would finally get the info on the song I had been looking for, on and off, for at least 20 years, and it happened at such a cool place, and during a cool moment. I was totally numb for a long time after learning about the song. That is the closest description I can give to how I felt.
Once everyone was on their coaches, we departed our last park together. This was a very surreal moment for me because it wasn’t quite registering in my head that this incredible tour we were on was now officially over. I still had a couple of days left in Paris, but knowing that the tour was now over just didn’t seem real because it was such a huge part of my life for the past couple of weeks.
Thankfully, Nigel was our driver back to our next hotel so we got to spend some extra time with him. He was originally going to drop us off and go to another hotel on the other side of town but he was so tired that he decided to stay out the Ibis hotel we were staying at. That drive to the hotel was a lot different than the drives we had before. The same people weren’t on board so all those familiar voices I had been hearing for the past two weeks were silenced. What a strange mood this brought on.
Before we left Park Asterix, a group of us talked about meeting at the Eiffel Tower sometime this evening. Once everyone checked in and got cleaned up a bit, a large group of us headed to the nearby tower. We were only about 20 minutes walking distance from it but we still hadn’t gotten a good view of it.
Before we left the hotel, I ended up getting a migraine. This was the first one of the tour I had gotten. I took my medication for it and hoped it would go away soon. I am supposed to eat something with this medication and as we were walking towards the tower, I wasn’t having any luck with finding anything open to eat. The medication started taking its effect on me and making me dizzy and tired. I needed to find something to eat quickly or I would have had to head back to the hotel. Luckily, we found a sandwich shop opened. A few of us ordered some food while the rest continued to walk.
After we ate, we continued our walk and turned a corner.
“BAM!!”
How we didn’t see it coming, we don’t know. As we turned that corner we were welcome by the sight that is that of the Eiffel Tower lit up in golden floodlights. What a sight it was. We were very, very, close to it. As soon as I looked up at it, my migraine went away. How’s that for being cool?
As we got nearly underneath it, we were met by other members of the group. I know I am going to forget someone’s name, but in the group were Steve Gzesh, Danielle Miller, Jonathan Hymes, Matt Bacoulis, Phyllis Withers, Jeff Cook, Sean Winder, Kip Ross, Joe Campanella, Mike Parker, Chris Trotter, Ivan Hurtado, Bret Ulozas, Larry Scott, and myself. I wish there could have been more people that could have joined us as it would have been fantastic. Thanks to Steve Gzesh for sending me the above photo.
I was at a loss of words while looking up that tower. It was so much larger than I thought it would be. You have to remember, one of my home parks is Paramount’s Kings Island and they have a 1/3 replica of this same tower. I have always thought I would have some sort of reference in mind to the actual Eiffel Tower. I was wrong as the version I was now standing underneath looked so much larger than 3 times the size of the once found at PKI.
Danielle and I found a marking underneath the tower signifying the direct center. The whole area underneath the tower is white, dusty gravel but that didn’t stop Danielle and me from lying on our backs, looking directly up to the first level. We just stared at it for a few minutes, taking it all in. This was just too cool! Bret came over and video taped us and said, “Just think. Someone in the world is wondering if there is anyone lying under the Eiffel Tower and you two are those people”. It was quite a funny comment and has all of us laughing.
We continued to remain under the tower and just soak up the moment for a few more minutes. Most of this group would be leaving to go home in the morning so this was kind of like a final good bye. It’s not everyday in life that you experience one of these moments, and you sure as heck can’t beat the location. I mean, come on. The Eiffel Tower? It just seemed to be the perfect setting to say goodbye to a group of people that are all amazing in their own ways.
Due to the late hour, we didn’t get a chance to go up into the tower this night as the line had already been cut off. Half of the group decided to take the train back to their hotel on the other side of Paris, while the rest of us walked back to the Ibis La Villette. The entire area around the tour was booming with people. There were many picnics in the grass in front of the tower. Some people even were playing music.
The walk back was nice. Everyone was in an excellent mood and showed no signs of being sad that the tour was over, but deep down inside I knew everyone was sad. Since I was moving to another hotel the next morning, I didn’t need to get up and take the coach to the airport. However, I decided that I was going to wake up and say goodbye to those that were leaving. My roommate of the past two weeks, Jeff Johnson, was staying at a Disney hotel this night so I had a room to myself once again.
I watched a bit of TV before putting on my headphones and listening to some songs. One song in particular seemed to fit the mood just right. I had an old Todd Rundgren album on my player than I didn’t listen to very often in the past. I decided to listen to that album as I was going to sleep. The whole first couple of minutes of the song, “Healing Part 1” set the mood for me and I continued to play the song over and over as I drifted off to sleep. While the songs lyrics don’t really reflect the moment of today, the music was fun and moody at the same time.
What a day!
Next up………..
A quick visit to Disney Paris and a nice time spent 900 feet above Paris.
Thanks for reading,
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean F. on 9/26/2002. ***
Sean, it was great meeting you and the other ACER's at Alton Towers. I just got back from my own "mainland" Europe trip, and I was curious about your thoughts on Tonerre de Zeus.
Joe had told me that he didn't think too much of Zeus on his 1st ride in the front seat, but when he rode it in the back, it was a lot better. So I headed to the back seat for my first ride and was completely blown away. I thought the layout and non-stop intensity of the ride were great. I didn't find it rough at all!
On my trip, they were only running the blue train, despite a 50 minute wait. So what is the color of the other train, and did you conclude that one train ran better than the other one?
As for Goudurix, I'd heard nothing of it, but looking at it from Zeus across the lake, I was expecting a bashing. For some *very* strange reason I actually like the ride, because it was so evil, I was laughing at how rough it was. The Butterly rates as the most roughest thing on a ride since Shockwave's dead mans turn. The rest of the ride wasn't too bad, but those cushioned headreasts certainly came in handy.
I still managed to find a rougher ride on my trip - Indiana Jones and the temple of headbanging, pure unadulterated bashing, next time I'll ride with a leather mask and whip!
Thanks for all your detailed trip reports, I know how long they take to write!
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Also like Sean said, Do you have any plans for Coaster number 500, I see that you are getting pretty near to reaching that total, so I presume it will have to be special :)
As for me, I am upto 170 coasters which isnt bad considering my total was only 60 in May 2001(So thats pretty good going I think) and if things go according to plan, I hope to Hit 200 coasters by the end of 2003 and I hope the 200th coaster will be at a certain Warner Brothers park in Spain made by B&M ;)
Also it was pure fluke but AIR at Alton Towers turned out to be my 100th, so that was quite special which is why I'm hoping the 200th will be another B&M, Oh well here's hoping :)
*** This post was edited by PaulD on 9/27/2002. ***
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Bob Hansen
A proud CoasterBuzz Member
Operation Wicked Twister - Goal: Lose 50 lbs by next season to ride it! (updates soon)
Another great trip report Sean. Thanks for taking the time to write them and share.
Chuck
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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both!
*** This post was edited by CPFan05 on 9/27/2002. ***
Sean F. wrote:
I am going to start this trip report with a flash back or sorts.Let me take you back. Back to the early 70’s to be exact. I was a big fan of cartoons back then. I don’t remember the exact age, but I remember watching a cartoon movie on TV that included the story of a boy, and his dog. I remember the dog had a pointy head but that was about all I remembered.
I remember The Point (and the song, "Me and My Arrow", which was also later used in a car commercial). It was a made-for-TV animated feature about the rejection of a round-headed child in a world full of pointy-headed people. It *used* to be available on VHS; you may still be able to find it.
The park had some very nice theming but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I don’t know exactly what I thought the park would be like but it seemed to be like an American version of a Six Flags park. Considering some of the very unique parks we had been to on the tour, this seemed to be more like a park back home.I don't know if it was the heat, exhaustion finally getting the best of me, the disappointment of Tonnerre de Zeus, the Six-Flaggish qualities of the park or a combination of the above, but this was my least favorite of the parks we visited.
I left the park and start walking towards the coaches. I looked over and noticed something looked strange on one side of a coach. With each step, I get a more clear view of one of the coolest things I had seen on the entire tour.The spoons that we had signed a day earlier were stuck to the side of one of the coaches spelling out,
This almost brought tears to my eyes as I looked at it. Nigel and Phil (driver of the Yellow Coach) were standing by and were smiling from ear to ear when I walked up.
“So THIS is why you wanted us to sign those spoons?”
This was the *one* thing that prompted me to get my camera out and take a picture. On the Pink coach, the "spoon thing" had been a running gag for the whole trip and we were told when we put our names on them why we were doing it. Paul, our driver, told us on one of the first days about how he and the other drivers were playing tricks on Neil (Red coach) by putting spoons in his pocket when he wasn't looking, on his seat, sticking them on his wheels or on the back of his coach (and there they were, sticking out of his pockets and stuck on a variety of places on his coach). He'd asked us early on to collect plastic spoons.
I can’t possibly list them all, but I will dearly miss each and every person that I had a chance to meet or hang out with on this tour. For me, the people made this just as amazing as the coasters.Yes, I think it was the people that made this trip so amazing. I can't describe how sad I felt sitting in the airport when it was all over.
[qoute]
After we ate, we continued our walk and turned a corner.“BAM!!”
How we didn’t see it coming, we don’t know. As we turned that corner we were welcome by the sight that is that of the Eiffel Tower lit up in golden floodlights. What a sight it was. We were very, very, close to it. As soon as I looked up at it, my migraine went away. How’s that for being cool?
The Eiffel Tower at night is amazing. I spent a New Year's Eve there once.
A quick visit to Disney Paris and a nice time spent 900 feet above Paris.
I hope this means you went to the top!
Thanks for reading,
And thanks for writing such great reports (and posting pictures!)
(Thanks also to Matt for the additional pictures.)
-Jann***
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84 coasters and counting
Grant,
Even though we didn't get to hang out long, I enjoyed hanging out with you at Alton. I am not sure the color of the other train on Zeus. I do think I rode in a second train for my second ride though as it was better.
I wish I could have been laughing while riding that looping monster. Those head rest things didn't work well for me.
Rockman,
I would say each report took just over an hour to write. I tried to write at least one before I would go to bed. I am glad you are enjoying them.
Sean,
My track record currently sits at 494. I don't think I will be breaking the 500 mark this year though. I am not sure what #500 will be. I am not going to plan in, although it would be kind if neat if CP's new one could take that number. Thanks for responding through bascially every report. Just curious, how long does it take you guys to read one report?
Paul,
Thanks once again! I know a lot of people who's 100th coaster was something they didn't want it to be. It's kind of a running joke with a few friends. My 100th was Hercules at Dorney Park. Consider yourself lucky that you got Air as your 100th. I like that ride a lot.
Bob,
I did get to see quite a bit more than just the tower. However, like you said, I was in awe every time I saw the tower. It didn't matter how far away it was. I would stare at it for minutes at a time. I think a lot of that was due to the fact that each time I saw it, it hit me I was in Paris.
Chuck,
Glad you like them! I need to get back down and visit "that other tower". LOL!
CP Fan,
Thanks. I really am glad to hear people are enjoying them. It gives me an idea that people are understanding them more than I thought they would. Given that they aren't confusing to read, but you have to be in a certain mood to keep reading them I guess.
Medusafanatic,
Let me see if I can remember the parks without looking. Please forgive me if I miss a couple.
The parks I visited were:
Chessington World of Adventures, Thorpe Park, Flamingoland, Lightwater Valley, Southport Pleasureland, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Pier, Alton Towers, Drayton Manor, Oakwood, Dreamland, Rotunda, Six Flags Belgium, Efteling, Six Flags Holland, Heide Park, Holiday Park, Europa Park, Parc Asterix, Disney Paris, and Disney Studios,
Janna,
Amazon.com has the video. Steve Gzesh sent me a link to Amazon. He knew a lot about it also. I guess we are really showing our age now aren't we? =:^)
Parc Asterix was one of my least favorites also, but I think it was because of more than one factor. It just wasn't what I thought it would be, yet I tried to have as much fun as I could.
Nigel told us a bit about the spoon story but we didn't think much about it when signing the spoons. We just thought Nigel was up to something once again.
I know exactly how you felt while at the airport Janna. The only way I could describe it is the feeling one might get when waking up out of a incredible dream (not naughty), and wanting to go back to sleep and try and re-join that same dream. Kind of like a , "Whoa! That was really something, I want to dream that again".
....well, something like that.
I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't know the tower was lit like that at night. It was very bright and surprised me.
Yep, I posted some pictures and the report just a few minutes ago. Thanks again for checking these reports out.
-Sean (who needs to be at work at 7:00am so C-ya) F.
Just curious, how long does it take you guys to read one report?
Probably a good 5-10 minutes for me, I just get so addictive reading them, that I tend to read them at a good slow pace taking in all what happened
Thanks once again! I know a lot of people who's 100th coaster was something they didn't want it to be. It's kind of a running joke with a few friends. My 100th was Hercules at Dorney Park. Consider yourself lucky that you got Air as your 100th. I like that ride a lot.
YES, I guess I do consider myself lucky that AIR was my 100th coaster, the reason it was pure fluke is because at the end of the 2001 season. I started to make a list of all the coasters I had ridden, and realised my list stood at 99 coasters. Knowing that I was soon to hit the 100 figure, I started to work out what would be my 100th Coaster, and then made the discovery that it would either be AIR at Alton Towers or Colossus at Thorpe. And so while double checking on the opening dates for both coasters, I realised that AIR would be opening 1 week earlier that Colossus, so I decided to make the trip up Alton on March 16th to celebrate my 100th Coaster on B&M's First Flying Coaster :):)
christmas last year (talk about freezing). How close it Parc Asterix to Paris?
Some say it is in Paris but others say quite a way. I wish I could give you exact figures but I don't have the info at this time. =:^(
-Sean
medusafanatic said:
Thanks Sean I really loved reading these TR. To be honest with you I read some of the start when you 1st put it up and I thought it would be boring but I have read that one and about 5 others. I'm working on the whole series and I couldn't believe how interesting your TR's are I love them. I was really wrong thinking they would be boring. Even though the start doesn't mention coasters I still LOVED the detailed TR. Just thought I'd let you know.
Thanks again. I honestly didn't set out to make them as long as they are. That just happend as an accident of sorts.
The first report was mainly a kind of intro to the tour. Origiinally, the first and second reports were combined into one report, but I decided to cut them in half so I could keep the accurate day count.
-Sean
PaulD said:
Probably a good 5-10 minutes for me, I just get so addictive reading them, that I tend to read them at a good slow pace taking in all what happened
Thanks for the answer
so I decided to make the trip up Alton on March 16th to celebrate my 100th Coaster on B&M's First Flying Coaster
Great! At least you got to know when you rode your 100th. I didn't know until after I had gotten home from a trip that I rode my 100th.
-Sean
My track record currently sits at 494. I don't think I will be breaking the 500 mark this year though. I am not sure what #500 will be. I am not going d go to bed. I am glad you are enjoying them.
Sean, to plan in, although it would be kind if neat if CP's new one could take that number. Thanks for responding through bascially every report. Just curious, how long does it take you guys to read one report?
They take about 30- to sometime 45 min to read. I don't look reading these too fast. There great.
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-Sean
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