Med Cruise: Day 1 - Gatwick Airport

To avoid having to get up too early, we stayed with some friends of Tom's in Horsham last night. This still meant we had to get up at around 4.50am and get the 6am train from Horsham to Gatwick. Being that early on a Sunday morning, the train was pretty empty and we had absolutely tons of space to sort out our baggage labels and make sure everything we needed was to hand, such as some swimwear for when we got onto the boat.

At Gatwick we were met by a nice lady from Royal Caribbean who crossed us off her list and directed us to the checkin desk, where an absolutely lovely BA agent sorted us out with a smile. I was worried about the weight of my case but it came in at the 23kg limit on the dot (I've never been good at packing light!)

Through security with no problems at all, we repaired to the Wetherspoons for a quick breakfast. There was a bit of a crush at the bar with all the early morning stag party flights heading off to wherever, so we took advantage of their mobile app to order directly from our table. Ah, luxury!

I'm writing this from the departure lounge, where our gate has just been announced, so I'll see you on the other side (of Europe!)



NOTE:
I never finished this blog - there was no free wifi on the ship, and I caught salmonella poisoning from a restaurant in Rome midway through, so sadly I was in no condition or mood to finish it afterwards!

Coming up: My First Cruise

This coming week I'm about to do something I've never ever tried before: a cruise.

I'm going with my friend Tom who's a seasoned cruiser (oo-err missus), so I'll have someone to show me the ropes, but we shall be sailing round the Med dropping in to various ports in France and Italy along the way. Fingers crossed for good weather!

One thing I won't have during the trip (because I'm too tight to pay the rather expensive surcharge for it) is consistent internet access. Thus posts may appear sporadically, or in the worst case, right at the end of the trip. But we shall see.

Now to try to pack for a week's holiday without completely going over the weight limit...

Looking back on the European Theme Park Road Trip

Several months on and I thought I'd do a little summary post of the trip.

We drove about 2000 miles in my trusty little Fiesta. RJ and I shared the driving and it worked out very well. Driving on the other side of the road turned out to be much easier than I'd expected in a car I was used to! Our accommodation booking worked out pretty well too - other than not being able to find the last B&B everything went flawlessly.

So, onto the interesting bits - the parks:

1. Parc Asterix

Good points:

• Excellent rides - singling out Oziris and Tonnere de Zeus as two of the standouts.
• Some of the better park food we encountered on the trip.
• Asterix theming spot on.

Bad points:

• Huge numbers of people smoking in queue lines really spoilt it.
• Long queues on the day we visited - queue jump tickets were sold in a bizarre way.
• One of the only parks where we didn't get on all the rides we wanted to.

2 & 3. Disneyland Paris & Disney Studios

Good points:

• Tower of Terror, Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster were all excellent.
• Staff very friendly and helpful (as you'd expect from a Disney park)
• Fireworks display was enjoyable.

Bad points:

• Food options in the park were poor compared to other parks.
• Disney Studios park seemed quite "under construction" with various areas barricaded off.
• Several big rides (Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones) closed when we visited.
• It's not as good as the parks in Florida.

4. Europa Park

Good points:

• Vast park with a huge range of excellent rides. Blue Fire, Silver Star and Wodun in particular.
• Excellent theming throughout.
• Very good food options - the restaurant where we had lunch was the best on the trip.

Bad points:

• As it was such a huge park, navigation could be difficult.

5. Phantasialand

Good points:

• Generally excellent theming throughout.
• Taron and Chiapas: best rides on the entire trip.

Bad points:

• Area around Winjas poorly themed.
• Hollywood Tour ride was pretty dreadful.

6. Movie Park

Good points:

• Van Helsing's Factory is a decent ride with good theming.
• Ice Age ride and the drop tower weren't bad either.

Bad points:

• Most other rides were poor.
• What the hell was Mystery River about? Confusing ride, dated queue)
• Bandit was the worst ride we rode in the entire trip.

7. Heide Park

Good points:

• Flug der Damonen and Krake are very good and nicely themed.
• Nice range of flat rides and coasters.

Bad points:

• Colossos was closed.
• Limited range of food.

8. Hansa Park

Good points:

• Karnan is an innovative and excellent ride. Novgorod also very good.
• Large range of unusual rides.
• Cheap on-ride photos.

Bad points:

• Rides near park entrance look dated and uncared-for.
• No park maps available.

9. Efteling

Good points:

• Best theming on the entire trip.
• Joris en de Draak was best wooden coaster on trip.
• Good food choices.
• Fountain show was a nice touch.

Bad points:

• Nothing to speak of.

10.  Bobbejaanland

Good points:

• Good range of rides, including some unusual ones.

Bad points:

• Nothing particularly special, except Mount Mara.
• Limited food options.

Overall

Favourite steel rollercoaster:

1. Taron (Phantasialand)

2. Oziris (Parc Asterix)

3. Karnan (Hansa Park)

Favourite wooden rollercoaster:

1. Joris en de Draak (Efteling)

2. Wodun (Europa Park)

3. Tonnere de Zeus (Parc Asterix)

Favourite non-coaster track ride:

1. Chiapas (Phantasialand)

2. Maus au Chocolat (Phantasialand)

3. Pirana (Efteling)

Favourite flat ride:

1. Tower of Terror (Disney Studios)

2. Talocan (Phantasialand)

3. Villa Volta (Efteling)

Worst ride:

1. Bandit (Movie Park)

2. Mystery River (Movie Park)

3. NYC Transformer (Movie Park)

Best food:

1. Efteling

2. Parc Asterix

3. Europa Park

Worst food:

1. Bobbejaanland

2. Disneyland Paris

3. Heide Park

Worst for Smoking:

1. Parc Asterix

2. Movie Park

Overall Park ranking (best to worst):

1. Efteling *****

2. Phantasialand *****

3. Europa Park *****

4. Parc Asterix ****

5. Hansa Park ****

6. Disneyland Paris ***

7. Heide Park ***

8. Disney Studios **

9. Bobbejaanland **

10. Movie Park *