France 07/18 – Nigloland
After a tricky night of finding everything closed (in the usual French fashion) and a quick burst of driving down the wrong side of the road, we set off a little earlier the next morning to hunt down some breakfast, ending up with some tasty Pain of Chocolats. Still doing it right.
Day 2 – Nigloland
The sight of the 5th tallest drop tower in the world surrounded by some trees soon greeted us and we were amongst the first 50 cars or so to arrive at the car park. I was expecting it to get busier throughout the day, but it was all far too easy again.
The world’s most lax bag check followed and we joined the crowd that had just been let in the park, all powering along the main pathway. They eventually all dispersed around us (not sure where to), leaving us with a virtually empty queue for Alpina Blitz. That works.
I’m being spoiled by the number of these Mack Mega trains I’ve sat in this season, they always feel so homely. Being a bit biased, I wanted this to be better than the Intamin almost-equivalent layout, but it never quite matched the ferocity of Piraten, who seems to be a particularly special beast.
I was very happy to learn that it has its slight variations, so at least you get a somewhat different experience out of it other than the trains.
And it is of course still extremely good, for me the best ride in the country by some margin, combining comfort with a punchy mix of strong airtime.
Also wonderfully photogenic and nicely ‘styled’.
Well I do feel like lazing around in the shade too.
But what else do they have on offer here?
Got your standard Mack mouse. This one is offensively smooth, almost to the point where it loses its fun.
Got your standard Wacky Worm. Can’t go wrong there.
Hérissons de la Forêt Magique lets you ride in a cute little hedgehog and has a hint of a dark ride section.
Big wheel. Can’t see a huge amount of the park from up there as it’s so well… vegetated?
Only the big rides stand out from the trees.
Was rather looking forward to the space themed indoor coaster as well, being a big fan of Eurosat (nervous about its refurb).
The spirit lives on in the smaller brother here. Hasn’t quite got the musicality, but it rides like a beast and is a lot of fun.
Also got rather excited for Donjon de l’Extrême, being a big fan of drop towers. And since when do they have pseudo lap bars? It’s also massive and does give you your observational spin at the top first (for those who can bear to look), which is an added bonus.
The drop itself was a tad underwhelming force-wise, as the big ones often are, but it goes on for an age. Got a bit stapled by the restraint on both attempts which may have hindered things a little.
Haunted Mansion was great. A fair amount of obvious Disney inspiration going on, but still of decent quality. Absolutely love the cars, which are just like an ornamental bench on top of a platform. They’re very ‘open’ and give a rather good spin too.
The park Euro-spited themselves here by having a new for 2018 declaration for this ride already on the map. It wasn’t ready.
Powered mine train was a thing. Bonus points for the log flume interaction. Minus points for teasing the log flume, which had the only massive queue all day.
Really liked the park overall.
Nice atmosphere, not overly busy.
Well kept, looks nice – the castle and Swiss areas are simple but effective.
Efficient operations, lots of fancy bag holders actually in use (take note Parc Asterix…) and a couple of smart turnstyles that count down the correct number of people per batch.
Water jets scattered around to keep people cool.
Good ride selection.
Decent food.
Free parking.
No complaints at all really.
Good for you Nigloland.
We returned home through the Channel tunnel that night, but our work in France wasn’t done yet. Due to an exciting new addition at one park, we came back for more a mere 2 weeks later.