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Parc Astérix: General Discussion

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Wonder if another year has been added on to the new launch coaster as a result...
 
I’m really not sure how I feel about this… Zeus is a fantastic ride. Rough round the edges and rather unrefined, but it’s such great fun. A little concerned they’re fiddling with it…
 
Genuinely really REALLY concerned as others have said. Zeus is my No.6 overall, an absolutely stunning coaster that I adore. So yes, I am very worried, firstly because Timberliners are AWFUL trains and secondly the 90degree turn, having done The Cú Chulainn that overbank kills all pacing to the rest of the ride. Fingers crossed that wont be the case here.

Also in addition to all of this, any heavy construction work will surely bring some tree clearing. For me the dense wooded nature of the location is all part and parcel.

I shall await in trepidation and see what the next 12 months brings.
 
Interestingly, this is apparently a phased project; they started retracking Zeus this year.

I think this could be really good for the ride, personally! I haven’t ridden Zeus, admittedly, but if Zeus is anything like Megafobia (they’re often compared), then this refurbishment should help remove the “rickety” edge from the ride and make it smoother and more rerideable!

I’ve done one coaster with the GG Timberliners (Mine Blower), and while I’ll admit I prefer the GCI Millennium Flyers due to the restraints feeling a little tight in the GG trains, the trains seemed to track relatively well on Mine Blower compared to PTCs (even though I’ve heard a lot of people say that Blower is rough, I honestly don’t remember it being much, if at all, rougher than Wicker Man, and I have a pretty low roughness tolerance. Admittedly, that was in the front, but I can only speak from my own experience); the articulated train design (in the case of both GCI and GG) makes for relatively smooth tracking and nice fluid transitions compared to the slightly clumsier way in which the PTCs track.
 
Unlike most, I thought it was rubbish when I rode it in 2019. Just a bit dull and definitely weaker than Megafobia, although I'm sure I caught it on a bad day.

I think a retrack / redesign could do it some good.
 
D4n said:
Unlike most, I thought it was rubbish when I rode it in 2019. Just a bit dull and definitely weaker than Megafobia, although I'm sure I caught it on a bad day.

I think a retrack / redesign could do it some good.
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It's fair to say that having visited Astérix five times over the last 15 years, TdZ is a coaster which is gone from awesome to average to awesome to average to awesome over that time. It's quite mad how it's altered each time.

Riding at 10pm on my last visit was a highlight though.

Timberliner trains are dire.
 
I'm not a fan of Timberliners at all - they're the Maurer X Car of wooden coasters with hard, bulky restraints that are at best intrusive and at worst extremely unpleasant.

They'll have to make sure they stay on top of the track maintenance as otherwise it could be horrendous to ride - those trains are not forgiving on rough rides. Twister (Grona Lund) and Mine Blower get away with it as they're small but would be much improved with better trains. Hades 360 meanwhile is by some margin the most painful coaster I've ever experienced.
 
Can't say I had a problem with Twister's restraints but as mentioned might be because it's small.

That said hear not so good things about Wood Express so it could go either way.

Zeus ran awfully last time I rode it. Could hear it screeching round the turns from Goudrix!
 
I've only been to Asterix once, in 2012, and did not rate Zeus at all. Having said that, it is a coaster I really want to ride again and give a second chance to; I know that it is a coaster that can change dramatically between visits and my taste in coasters has changed since 2012.

Timberliner trains are not good news though, really not a fan of them. If this goes the way of Hades then just send in the bulldozers now!
 
Is Zeus very temperamental or something?

I only ask because it seems very polarising; for every person who holds it up as one of their favourite woodies, there’s seemingly another person who doesn’t rate it at all.
Rob said:
Timberliner trains are not good news though, really not a fan of them. If this goes the way of Hades then just send in the bulldozers now!
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The difference between this and Hades 360 is that the entire ride is being retracked as part of this refurbishment, whereas I think Hades was only retracked in the reprofiled section with the inversion itself. So hopefully, this shouldn’t be as rough as Hades apparently is (I’ve heard varying reports about Hades; everyone on here despises it, but I’ve heard other people insist that “Hades isn’t rough, it’s just intense” and rank it within their very top wooden coasters, so I think it varies).

As much as the use of GG for this is getting complained about, I do wonder if the ride would have benefitted any more from GCI retracking, similar to what GhostRider at Knott’s received. Based on my experience (GG trains on Mine Blower, GCI trains on Wicker Man), I personally much prefer the GCI trains, as I think they’re a bit more comfortable restraints-wise and generally feel nicer to sit in, for some reason. However, if Asterix wanted certain things, then I’m not sure if GCI would have been any different.
 
Does anyone actually manufacture decent wooden coaster trains any more? I know people like GCI, but I find the vibration unpleasant. Every new or refurbished coaster seems to get new trains and they always feel like a step backwards from the older PTC style trains.
 
venny said:
Does anyone actually manufacture decent wooden coaster trains any more? I know people like GCI, but I find the vibration unpleasant. Every new or refurbished coaster seems to get new trains and they always feel like a step backwards from the older PTC style trains.
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Strange. I’ve never found GCIs to unduly vibrate, and I don’t have a particularly high roughness tolerance.

Oddly, I’ve always found rides with PTCs quite rough (or at very least a bit “rickety”, for lack of a better word), and I’ve never found the PTCs to track anywhere near as smoothly or ride as nicely as the articulated trains, personally.

Although I’m not really a hardcore wooden coaster fan like a lot of enthusiasts seem to be, so maybe someone who’s a greater fan of wooden coasters might prefer the PTCs, for that feeling of being “roughed up”, so to speak. I’m not really a fan of that, personally, so I prefer the more smoothly tracking articulated trains.
 
I find that you feel vibrations of some sort on all wooden coasters, just the nature of the beast. Never had a real problem with GCI's Millennium Flyers though, they are the best wooden coaster trains for me.
 
Agreed there’s always an element of vibration on woodies. I’d also say, to anyone who has only experienced the one, that I personally prefer other Millennium Flyer trains to the ones on Wicker Man. I find the rubber seats on WM allow more of the vibrations to come through compared to the cushioned seats on the likes of Joris, Wodan and Troy. I’m not saying WM is bad, it’s perfectly fine, but I do find there’s a difference.

My only experience of Timberliners has been Mine Blower and I was less than impressed. John has hit the nail on the head with the X-Car comparison.
 
Personally I think every coaster should have Phoenix style bars :p

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Yep, that's the lowest they will go.

Seriously though the Millennium Flyers are pretty much perfection IMO. Very spacious especially if you cross your legs.
 
Anyone know if Menhir Express has been removed? Cant see it on the map or on the website? Would be a shame if it has as I lived that ride.
 
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