Casey Jr. Circus Train At Disneyland Paris
It's time for more photos from Disneyland Paris, thanks to our friend Huck, who visited the park in 2016.
Five of the photos feature mini-"billboards" or broadsides that give guests an idea of what to expect on the ride. Sorry, no inversions or zero-to-55 mph launches here. I didn't know what "En Voiture!" meant; Google translate says it means "by car". So... not by airplane?
As far as I can tell, guests walked past these signs in the queue. Do any of the rides at Disneyland Paris have long lines?
The graphics are borrowed from the opening titles for "Dumbo", which I always liked. "Du bon temps!" - "good time". Why don't they just make all the signs in Esperanto so that we can all understand them?
It's sort of interesting to see the circus train moving through a wooded forest of sorts. "Spectaculaire" obviously means "eyeglasses".
The airbrushy look isn't great; they did try to call me by trans-Atlantic cable to get my opinion, but I was at Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater and was much too entertained to respond.
The next three are views from the minimal line to board. The landscaping is very nice, and so different from SoCal. There's the train car for "Tigres du Bengale".
I'd like to think that these children will grow up with the same kind of fond memories of their day at the park as I had at Anaheim's Disneyland. The "menagerie" car (and the others) appears to be a bit roomier than the original Casey versions.
And finally, there go the "zebres et girafes". Mom brought a jacket just in case, as all good mothers do.
A big THANK YOU to Huck for sharing these photos of Disneyland Paris with us!
21 comments:
I was excited a few weeks ago when I learned that Paris' Casey was roller coaster based, like the original concept. I was less thrilled when I watched it on You Tube. There seems to be no real reason for it to be. It never gets zippy at all, and it's very short. I'm sure the ride is smoother, but who wants a luxury circus train? All in all, I rate it "Blah." A swing and a miss, I'm afraid. Oh well.
Huck and Major, I enjoyed today’s pictures AND commentary - thank you! It’s interesting to see clowns on the one sign; nowadays you only see them used in horror movies. “Chuck E. Cheese” - now that’s a nightmare, too!
stu29573, I actually didn’t know that Casey Jr. was a roller-coaster kind of ride! Guess I need to look at YouTube to see. Somehow a roller coaster seems at odds with the gentle Storybook Land-type attraction, but… I guess I sort of appreciate that they wanted to make it different. Our friend Huck definitely gives Disneyland Paris a “blah” rating, which is a shame.
Lou and Sue, I’ve never been to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, to be honest. They are way too fancy! I like someplace casual. You know, pants-optional. Plus, robots scare me.
I'm digging the bags with the stylized castle with the 'hidden' Mickey. I wonder what's inside?
Thank you, Huck and Major.
zach
Thanks for these Huck. Nice to take a trip to Disneyland Paris on a Wednesday morning.
You're certainly right Major. That airbrush work is flat and barely 2 dimensional.
I haven't been in a Chuck E. Cheese either. I can imagine it's worse than a Casino at midnight, right in the middle of the slot machine area. Once, in an act of desperation, did go to a Peter Piper to pick up a pie and it was some kids birthday party. There were 2 or 3 little girls doing that little girls high pitched scream, with the cacophony of 20 other kids screaming. Somewhere between Dante's 5th and 6th level of hell. I was at a Jimi Hendrix concert way back when, right up front and it did not hold a candle to the noise I experienced that afternoon.
Wish I was on Casey Jr. right now.
Thanks Huck and thank you Major.
DrGoat, was it a pumpkin pie?
I wish I were riding Casey now, in the car next to Dr. Goat.
I'm glad those cage cars are a little bigger than the Anaheim versions, I could barely bend down to get in one last time.
Major, I don't understand French, but there was a little train in the parade in the little town where we lived years ago, it had a sign "Voiture". So I assumed that was French for "train". Never occurred to me to look it up.
JG
Major, I forgot to say thanks to Huck, and to you for the photos and the post.
JG
"En Voiture!" = "All Aboard!" Sometimes languages don't translate literally. "Get in the car!" perhaps?
After reading everyone's comments I reviewed the videos for the Anaheim vs. Paris version and they both pretty much have the same pace - both are set to the music from the 1941 movie. Casey Jr. really just motors along the rails at a fast clip. The only hiccups are getting started, (I love the chain reaction start in the movie), and when Casey has difficulty chugging (wheezing?) up the hill. In Paris they use that gag immediately out of the station, while Anaheim's gag more closely matches the movie, (and has an actual hill).
Stu is right, "Blah" pretty much sums up the coaster track experience. It looks like a fun excursion but the banked turns and elevated track remove the experience from what a train ride should actually be with rails on the ground and flat turns. And, there is no advantage to the coaster design other than perhaps the bunny hops which are a nice touch.
I also watched the Dumbo titles and to me their hand-painted look is more convincing than the air-brushed signs in the park. I appreciate the effort and all the fun ideas they put together but it shows how the success can be in the details.
Beautiful landscape in Paris. I love the mature trees. Thanks again for sharing Huck!
”Spectaculaire" obviously means "eyeglasses".
I’m just doing my job here at GDB when I point out that one slang term for “eyeglasses” is “jumelles,” which also means “twins.”
zach, the bags are full of fromage, of course!
DrGoat, if they had just copied the artwork exactly like Dumbo’s opening credits, it would look nice. That airbrushed ringmaster is so bad, I can hardly believe it. The painter had no understanding of shading/modeling. “Peter Piper”, I don’t know of that place! Is it regional? Or maybe it doesn’t exist anymore? It sounds pretty bad, but I guess parents have to have birthday parties somewhere!
Lou and Sue, OUCH
JG, they definitely didn’t build Anaheim’s Casey Jr. cars for 2020 people! I am sure you’re right, “voiture” probably does not mean “car”, but I still think they should have used Esperanto.
JG, I will speak for Huck AND myself and say “You’re welcome”!
Omnispace, well gosh, that’s how they say, “All Aboard!”?? I like the demand, “Get in the car” better, ha ha. It’s been a busy morning (and I’m just about to head out the door) so I haven’t been able to watch a YouTube video of the Disneyland Paris ride yet. It sounds like they missed an opportunity to make something really fun and different over there; in fact, it almost sounds like they would have been better off just making a duplicate of the Anaheim ride (with variations on the scenes of course). Maybe there’s a reason why they didn’t want to do that. The opening titles for Dumbo are beautiful, it’s amazing to think that it was all hand-painted, it looks so great. No computers!
Melissa, I was kidding of course (I’m sure you realize that), but I did not know that “jumelles”/twins factoid!
Lou & Sue, actually I think it was a pickled pepper pie. Least that's what it tasted like. I was in shock at the time.
Major, Peter Piper was an Arizona based pizza place. Didn't know that until I just looked it up. It did get a lot of business as a kids party place.
JG, I never grew up. 5'-8" is the tallest I ever got, and I think I've shrunk an inch or 2, so I'll ride in the cage car and you can take a more spacious spot.
Thanks again everyone!
Soooo, Peter, let me get this straight...
You, Peter, picked up a pickled pie, not pumpkin pie, from Peter Piper’s Pizza Place??
DrGoat, I grew to 6-1 and don't bend very well anymore, too many years on the drafting board. I got the rear-facing caboose bench once, it was heaven.
JG
Yes, Lou & Sue, I did! And it turned out to be a pernicious pickle pie, not particularly palatable. Should have stuck with the pumpkin pie.
JG, I gave up my drafting board many years ago and went to Autocad and ArcView, which gave me a whole new set of mental issues.
Hey JG, I found that the last car is one of the best on rides like Casey Jr. and Big Thunder Mt. Railroad. Nice luck on that one.
Such a pity that Disneyland Paris has performed so poorly since its inception. I'd say it's the black sheep of Disney Parks, but Hong Kong Disneyland exists. Despite its lackluster reception, Disneyland Paris is such a beautiful park, probably one of the most beautiful castle parks of any of the worldwide parks. You can tell the Imagineers had a fun time putting it all together. Too bad few people were able to appreciate it when it first opened.
Dr. Goat, I've never mastered AutoCAD, but my wife plays it like a piano. I was fairly conversant with Revit to navigate a file, but could never draw anything with it. I just do hand sketches and give them to my nimble minions.
Most of my work now is word processing, bluebeam and web research. All the things I originally enjoyed about architecture are mostly gone.
Yup, either the last car on Casey, or the first car on the monorail.
JG
JG, I was reluctant when I first got Bluebeam but it's one of my best friends now.
Dr. Goat, I was the same way. Our work consists largely of assembling project manuals, not uncommon to have 3 or 4 volumes of 1500+ pages with bookmarks.
It is much more flexible than Adobe.
JG
JG, we do the same with construction documents. Subs send us their stuff and we compile it into a working or as-built set. Bluebeam makes it easy to add as-built notes, if needed, with photos inserted.
Could never go back to Adobe.
Thanks for the shop talk!
PB
DrGoat, sure thing, fun to hear!
JG
Post a Comment