France Facts
The U.S. state that most closely resembles France in size is Texas. Its land area is remarkably similar, making it the closest continental comparison. France is 210,000 square miles, about 50,000 square miles larger than California and 50,000 square miles smaller than Texas. However, France’s population is 71% larger, 43 million compared to Texas’s 25 million.
Walibi Rhône-Alps
- On Timber, coaster announcements are made in French, but with a U.S. southern accent and with the theme from “Bonanza” playing in the background.
- Generator, a standard boomerang, was one of the fastest ever! Everyone in the train was graying out through the loop and the boomerang. There were no over-the-shoulder harnesses, just a lap bar, and no shakiness. A surprisingly fun boomerang.
- Mystic is a voodoo-themed Eurofighter and includes voodoo dolls with needles poking through. It has a true upside-down stall before rollback.
- For lunch, the park had actual steak prepared to order.
Le PAL
- Fjord Explorer is the only water coaster in the world that does not use any chemicals, no chlorine. Instead, volcanic rock is used to filter all of the water. This allows fish to live in the water that surrounds the ride.
- Yukon Quad bills itself as a family coaster, but with the second explosive launch, it’s anything but!
Winnoland
Geoffrey Lapère, the owner’s son, greeted attendees personally at the park’s new custom Vekoma family mine train, Wild West Coaster. They had tested out a ride in Ireland made by Zamperla but identified the wrong manufacturer, thinking it was Vekoma. They toured the Vekoma factory and ended up buying it there.
Jardin d’Aclimatation
- It’s the only amusement park in Paris. The Eiffel Tower is visible from the top of the lift on Défi du Dragon.
- Napoleon III founded the park in 1860 as a way to acclimatize plants and animals collected during colonialism and imperialism.
Parc Astérix
- The statue of Zeus wears pink polkadot underwear beneath his tunic. Tonnerre 2 Zeus used to be Tonnerre du Zeus before retracking; the “2” is pronounced like the French word for “2” (“deux”/“doo”), a play on French pronunciation.
- Park theming includes historic cultures, such as the Gauls, the Romans, ancient Greece and, recently, ancient Egypt.
La Mer de Sable
The park is built on an ancient piece of desert sand, from when the region was underwater 60 million years ago.
Nigloland
The park gets its name from the Romani (from whom the current owners are descended) word for “hedgehog.” It is the third most visited park in France.
Fraispertuis City
- The park got permission from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to use the iconic Golden Driller statue for a drop tower that actually has a standing rider position and tilts riders outward and downward before dropping.
- In Ciné Desperados, guests ride little mechanical “horses” to shoot at Western scenes inside the theater.
Walygator Grand Est
Anaconda’s wooden roller coaster trains are lined with fake snake skin. Said one rider, Anaconda is “neither exceptional nor objectionable.”
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