Cycloneman's Europe Update, First Trip Report Posted

[ChuckR]

I didn't get a phone call!!!

[CycloneMan]

....I had the number you gave me....

Oh well, next time

[Dubya91]

Shouldn't be hard Chuck. I hear over here you can just go to AAA and sign some forms and pay a fee and get an International License (assuming you already have a state driver's license of course).

They drive on the wrong side of the road and KM/H, What the hell!

[ChuckR]

They don't drive on the wrong side of the road over here and yeah it's KM/H but you get used to that.

[Dubya91]

Ill drive 60 MPH in my ford mustang with the top down in 75 degree weather while having a gallon of dr. pepper

[CycloneMan]

January 16th, 2008
Phantasialand


On January 16th, we woke up at Louis and Marc's friend Stéphanie's apartment in Luxembourg.


Luxembourg will be our home for the next three days.


Because there were 5 of us at this point. Louis, Alex and I were crammed in the back of [/size]Stéphanie's car.


When we crossed into Germany. Louis and I bought this interesting snack. It was very good.


Turbines everywhere!!!!!!!


Sorry to disappoint, but this isn't a real castle!


Here we are at Phantasialand. Where the parking lot hat more people than Disneyland Resort Paris the day before!


Um...what?


There Main Street was really pretty


These characters are a part of Phantasialand's winter celebration.


Construction photo! ooOOooh


First up, Wuze Town.


Sadly, this is the only photo I have of Winjas. Which is easily the most awesome ride ever! I'm not going to ruin anything about it, but there are some cool surprises.


Next up, the indoor Vekoma mine train type coaster thingy


The ride was pretty long, and interesting.


Up next, Hollywood Tour


My pictures didn't come out good. But it was some messed up boat ride!


At least this one is still here, and not on fire!


I will obsess for a moment about the theming of Phantasialand.


WwWOoO0owW ZoMfG!!!!1!!11!1!!11


Alex was impressed, and took some pictures as well.


Black Mamba didn't open yet, so we kept on walking.


It just looks so good! And it was!


We were hungry so kept walking by Colorado Adventure


So cool


Who knew China was in Germany?


I'm that much of a nerd!


But so is Louis


Stéphanie, me, Marc, Louis, and Alex at the awesome Chinese resteraunt


That had the best beer I've ever had!


Feng Ju Palace is a Vekoma Mad House


The theming was pretty good, but the ride itself wasn't that good. Houdini's Great Escape was alot better.


Mystery Castle


Mystery Castle was friggin awesome! It's an indoor Intamin Air compressed tower!


They made me (the token Yank) take a picture in the American section. Har har


River Quest froze over, so now you can ice skate on it!


"Pandas, calling me, from the bamboo trees to play with me!"


"Mommy mommy! I want to ride Michael Jackson!"


They were running two trains, and not stacking. This made me happy.


Time for Black Mamba


The icy queue with no banisters. That didn't make me nervous or anything...


They were only running one train. So the line was a little longer than it should have been.


The station was dark and very well themed! The ride was incredibly smooth and forcefull. It's awesome!


Dainan aproved!


These guys were really cool as well.


Talocan was my first floorless Top Spin. And it was painfull, but totally awesome!


Chocolate covered bananas! I totally love this park!


Silbermine was the most screwed up Mexican themed dark ride ever!


WTF!!!!


So, if you thought this place was beautiful in the day! It was evern better at night!


Yes, that's Alex and I. (Photo taken by Stéphanie)


I LOVE there costumes!


This was on the back of her skirt!


Good bye Phantasialand. Thank you for the awesome day!

-Dainan "Next stop, Toverland" Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

January 17th, 2008
Toverland


After driving over four hours from Luxembourg, through Belgium, to The Netherlands, we finally stopped at a Burger King


Conveniently next to a Texaco!


Interesting...


It may look innocent, but the mayo is AWESOME!


Driving down the deserted rode, we pray for salvation!


And then we see it!


Welcome to Toverland


It has a bit of an interesting look to it!


First order of business...


TROY!!!!!!!


Seriously, just look at that beauty!


Marc and I before my first ride on Troy!


The photo tells it all!


Me and my 2nd favorite coaster in the world!


We did Booster Bike next...


It wasn't as good as it looked.


As you see, Marc and I are getting the full experience of Vekoma!


Though Alex and Stéphanie thought it was fine...


Marc challenging his limits on the Towers of Adventure!


Until he falls and everything fell out of his pockets to the nets below!


Louis had no problem climbing up!


It's blurry, but it gives you an idea of how awesome this stupid play structure was...


Mirakelroute


Boomerang is a Vekoma....but not a Vekoma Boomerang....interesting...


This is the only picture I got of Hara Kiri (the wet/dry slide). It was fast and my raft came off the slide on the dips!


We go outside to make our way over to...


TROY!!!!


These are some cool looking trains, eh?




Seriously =)


...seriously


I was the only one to ride Backstroke


STOP WATCHING ME!


Louis, Marc, Stéphanie, and I trying to pull the Trojan Horse, with no help from Alex!


Villa Fiasco was an awesome fun house, with a lot of gags I've never seen in the states!


We didn't ride Sim sa la Swing, but I did take a picture of it...


I'm so totally confused by this guy and what the hell is he holding!?!?


So long Troy! You were so awesome! (It was cold and rainy when we were there, so the ride was FLYING!)


We stopped at Quick (in Belgium) for dinner


I'm not going to lie, this was probably the best fast-food I've ever had.


So, back at Stéphanie's apartment in Luxembourg, Louis passed out and the rest of us played Monopoly. Where Marc kicked all of our butts!


Alex has to find food and a way back to Canada!


Stéphanie doesn't know what to do!


And someone stole my pizza!

-Dainan "Next up, A day in Paris" Rafferty

[darkridedan]

Wow. You can't even find a Texaco in America anymore!

[CycloneMan]

January 18th, 2008
Paris


On January 18th, we said good bye to Luxembourg and drove back to France.


We had a enough Sausage snacks to last us a life time


The highway had some random heads on the over pass...


The French country side was beautiful


Alex: "If we hit a deer here, does that mean we killed Bambi?"


Yup, we're here at Davy Crockett's Ranch


As you see, it was a ghost town!


It was a little strange to be honest


It looked like we were at a Six Flags park


Though we were only there to get champagne from a friend that was holding it for us.


Anyway, back to our day in Paris


Notre Dame


The following pictures were taken in the back of Louis' car, while he was trying to get a spot.


Alex and I were climbing over each other trying to get pictures




l'Elysee


And this is what was left of Alex after he desperately had to go to the bathroom, and he jumped out of the car. We never saw him again....


Um....wtf!?


The Metro was our friend of the day


The Paris Metro reminded me of the DC Metro


Um...guys....where are we?


L'arc de Triomphe


Much bigger than the one at Washington Square Park


Up-skirt shot


Luxembourg, represnt!






The amount of Obama stuff in Paris was really suprising


My sister wanted something from Louis Vuitton....so I got her a picture


It follows you EVERYWHERE!


Um...note taken!


Yogurt and cheese as far as the eye can see!


And then it rained


"Bonjour Asterix! Ca va?"


To escape the rain, we went to Galeries Lafayette


WOW!


Stunning, absolutely stunning






This is my second favorite picture I took of the Eiffel Tower.


We took the previous three photos from here.


I couldn't resist


Time to take the metro again. This time we found some amuzing adds


This I thought was hilarious! "Stop massacring English"


"Yes, I speak Wall Street English!" This just reminds me of a really bad Japanese add.


We see you. We'll be there tomorrow


What on earth is this bear doing?


Marc and Louis on the Metro


Alex and I on the Metro


Interesting indoor strip


GTFO!


Too bad Marc couldn't get these back into Canada!


There will be more about Banania later


The representation of my people. Sigh


We never did have a clear day in France come to think of it.


Eiffel Tower credit, check!


Alex, Marc, Louis and I


This is, hands down, the best photo I have ever taken!


Oh dear


Up-skirt shot


I have a terrible phobia of elevators, so getting me to the top of the Eiffel Tower was a handful, but I did it. Too bad it was night, and the pictures will never captivate how beautiful it was up here!


French Cub


This is how gangsta I am


Haven't we seen this picture before?


This is where Princess Diana was killed. How pleasant?


Yum, dinner time!


J'dore Paris


I ate Foie Gras just to piss off my vegetarian mom! And it was good!


So was my meal =)


And my dessert =)


This is Le Chateau de Mortefontaine at night. Louis' sister and her husband own the chateau, and let us stay there for one night. We were only allowed in two bedrooms, and half of the place had no electricity. We were also never inside the chateau in daylight, but overall, it was an amazing experience. Also, this was a total suprise to Alex and I


This was the bed room where me and Louis slept.


2nd floor hallway.


The kitchen


Alex on one of the stair cases!


The chateau was owned by Napoleon's brother. This is also where the Louisiana Purchase was signed


Louis trying to hook the internet up.


This was Alex's last night in Europe. He was excited to say the least.


Marc was very happy to be there as well


Me using Louis' laptop. Sadly, we never got interenet connection.


Just a little look around!


Did I mention this was a chateau!


On this note. We said good night and went to sleep!

-Dainan "Disneyland Paris, next" Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

Hey guys, I’m really sorry for not posting this sooner. I’ve had a lot of things come up recently in my life, and I just haven’t had the time for it. But a late PTR is better than no PTR, eh?

January 19th, 2009
Disneyland Paris


Welcome to early morning at Disneyland Paris. This is the Disney’s Newport Bay Club resort.


On this date, it was just Marc and I. Alex was dropped off at the Airport to go back to Canada, and Louis had to work. So we got there an hour and a half before the parks opened.


We decided to walk around the Disney Village


We wanted to get food, but everything was over priced.


Either we’re still at Toverland, or this is Rainforest Café.


I love the crowds!


I couldn’t resist


We did some browsing, but no actual shopping.


My mom saw this picture, and yelled at me for not getting her anything. Oops…


Sorry Marc, check in isn’t till later


Lol, wat


More shopping….um…yay?


Yea…I think I’m that cool!


El Bandito


A good example of me not knowing my camera settings


They had every state except for New York…but they had Prince Edward’s Island!?!?


Next time I’ll see the show


Good to see that it’s not frozen today!

]
Love. This. Castle. ZOMFG!!!!!!!!!!


We lined up for the rope drop in Discoveryland, so we can be the first train out on Space Mountain


But it was closed when we got there. So we headed to the other side of the park.


From a Vekoma to an Intamin, we head to Adventureland for the worst coaster ever.


Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril


This is me filming. Marc decided to sit out this one. (He’s ridden it before)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlI8vXaXmTI&fmt=18
This is my front row POV of the ride.


The caves in Skull Isle were cool.


We didn’t do it. That makes 3 Disney parks on my list so far!


NOT FROZEN!


What can be over here?


Pirates of the Caribbean opened up from it’s refurb, just a few days before.


They had the best station out of any of them I’ve been on


This is the best POC I’ve ever been on


Marc and I were offered a second ride, and we got our own boat.


Next, we went over to Fantasyland to find Emmanuel.


Dumbo!


This is easily the most beautiful of the Magic Kingdoms!


Over at Les Voyage de Pinocchio we found…


Our friend Emmanuel! Yay!


The back side of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle


Looking up, something doesn’t seem right.


This is what separates this castle from the others.


You go upstairs and there’s stained glass and paintings.


It was beautiful


“Mon amour, Je t'ai vu au beau milieu d'un rêve”


Totally awesome!


Looking down, there’s an empty castle


Looking outside, you see an empty Fantasyland. It’s like a real fantasy =)


Go down stairs and a mystery awaits you!


OH SNAP! It’s a dragon!


Seriously, I can’t love this park anymore already


Me in front of the castle.


We got lunch at the Cowboy Cookout


It’s nice to see free roaming characters again!


Marc with the badass Chip and Dale.


There is a reason behind this photo. Click the link below to find out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shSYoXY5tIo&fmt=18


Big Thunder Mountain is coming right at us! AHHHHHH!!!!!


I really liked that it is on its own island.


They did really good with dispatch times on this one.


I loved the theming of this place.


Adventureland has a village theme, a jungle theme, and a pirate theme. It was really cool


It works very well


You’re not doing it right!


This is not any other park!


Genie welcomes you!


It’s just a bunch of dioramas


What I found interesting was that there was no Cast Member to watch over the guests.


Au revoir!

[CycloneMan]

Next we headed over to Walt Disney Studios


That explains a lot!


You’re not doing it right!


It may not be the best Tower of Terror, but it’s still fun.


The queue is always nice. It just seems so much smaller than the two other TOTs I’ve been on.


We were sent upstairs to our elevator.


This is a bad photo, but this is me and Marc laughing because we put some annoying French girl in her place. We were waiting in line, and we’re talking about stuff in English. Well, these two French teenie boppers are behind us complaining about us in French. We’re annoying them, etc. Then one girl says to the other, “I bet they don’t even speak French!” I caught this and flashed my eyes to them, for Marc to notice. We start listening closer, and then Marc turns around, and in perfect French says, “So, have you girls ridden this ride before?” The girl looks at us and just stares with her mouth open. We just laughed and said stuff like, “Cette pute!”


Moving on. This is the only picture I got of Armageddon Special Effects. Everyone kept telling me the pre-show is really lame, etc. But that’s all I knew about it. Needless to say, the attraction totally surprised me, and I was blown away. I wont ruin anything about it, but let me just tell you that this attraction is hot!


Next up was Rock N Roller Coaster, except it went 101 on us.


It did let me get some neat “coaster porn” pictures. Here’s the catch car that pulls the train down the launch track.


The trains look a bit better than Florida’s


Then the ride went 102 and re-opened. We ended up getting the “test train.” The test train launched at 70mph. It doesn’t stop accelerating at all on the launch track, and you can truly feel the difference through out the ride. Just ask my neck!


And then it rained…shocking!


I’m sorry, I just can’t like this park. I tried, I really did…but it’s the saddest excuse for a Disney park. Six Flags America puts this place to shame!


We headed on over to Disneyland see if Space Mountain had reopened yet!


Nope! So now I have two! Two closed international Space Mountain’s on my list. The other one was at Tokyo Disneyland, it was closed my entire visit in Japan.


Star Tours time


Walk-on is fine by me!


This chart is unique to only Disneyland Paris


This is why I love the off-season!


I swore I heard rumbling from within the mountain!


OUI!!!!!!!!! Sadly, it was only testing.


Nautilus time


Walking down into the depths of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus


Another example of me not knowing how to use my camera settings.


It was really cool.


“Hey Florida! Remember me?”


We headed back over to Space Mountain to see if it was reopened, but it wasn’t.


Videopolis looks pretty interesting.


So….we headed over to ride Indy again…


The queue had some okay theming.


We only went on it to pass the time for Space Mountain to open.


Yea… This isn’t the best ride.


Intamin copied the layout of the Pinfari TL59 coaster. Thus…it’s terrible.


It’ll also send you to First Aid.


Well Marc and I were boarding the wet train, Marc slid and banged his knee pretty hard against the seat divider. He rode the ride with a bloody knee and some nice bruises, and the Cast Members didn’t offer any assistance.


Afterwards, we went over to Big Thunder Mountain.


Where we got the first row.


And no the moment we’ve been stalling for all evening! Space Mountain finally opened!


“Rien ne saurait donner une idée de la détonation épouvantable de la Columbiad ni les éclats de la foudre, ni le fracas des éruptions!”


The queue!


Electro de Velocitor


She was running smoother than she was the week before!


You can tell that this photo is definitely not from this day. The reason I’m posting it now, is because I kind of lost it in Louis car, and was half-convinced I left it at Stéphanie’s house in Luxembourg. But I got it in the mail from Louis today, so now I’m posting it. So in this photo is, Emmanuel, me, Alex and Maxime, from our first day in Paris.


Liberty Arcade


It’s an indoor Main Street. The other side had “Discovery Arcade”


I really got a kick out of it.


If you didn’t know it was there, you might miss it.


Disney beauty!


I see this statue every day. I’m not going to lie, seeing this made me feel a bit home sick and depressed. Being this was my last night in Europe!


Our final dinner was at a rotating Sushi bar outside of Disney. I now have three rotating Sushi bar credits: Tokyo, New York (my home) and now Paris.


That doesn’t look very Japanese!

-Dainan “Next up, last day” Rafferty

[ChuckR]

I can't wait to visit Disneyland Paris in the beginning of April...along with Holiday Park, Europa Park and Phantasialand again!

[CycloneMan]

January 20th, 2009
Last morning in Europe


The final morning was the first day we woke up to daylight. Louis also let us go to the Chateau to take some pictures. So the following pictures will be of the beautiful Chateau de Mortefontaine


























Yea...I wasn't going down there!


So, we went to a super market for breakfast. And Marc got en entire loaf of bread for himself to munch on!


Louis got two Nun pastries for us to eat. They were so good, they should have been illegal!


Banania! I lived off this stuff to wake me up in the morning. So I had to buy some and bring it back home.


And Lemon Fanta made me pass out every time I drank it. But only in France...not Germany.


Notice the sticker in the window? This is what I like to call fore-shadowing!


Here is the Air Canada plane that brought Marc and I back home to Montreal.


Fast froward a few days later, and I'm driving back home to New York City. On the way, I decided to take some photos of The Great Escape.


I love the new sign.


The most painful Arrow coaster looks so innocent in the snow!


As of now, there are two drop towers that would be blocking my view if the Heinz Boomerang.


The water park was open, but I wasn't paying to go in by myself.


I like this Johnny Rockets, but I liked the Coach House better (the restaurant before this and Trappers)


Like I said....out dated!


Yummy, Vekoma


Alpine Bobsled, in the snow


The Comet. I can't wait to ride you again soon.


The last photo of the trip will be me, trying to get a shot of Xanadu construction!

I did come home to a little surprise party with my family, my cousin and two best friends. And was fun, but I don't have any pictures. Overall, this was easily the best trip I was ever on. (Yes...it was even better than Japan)

-Dainan "C'est tu!" Rafferty