Parc Ange Michel 7th August 2017

We arrived at Parc Ange Michel a few minutes prior to opening, and joined one of the three queues for admission tickets. The shutters at each window were closed, but it we could see rides completing their early morning test runs so we figured that things would come to life soon enough. One minute after the appointed time two of the three windows opened and those lines began to move forward, much to the consternation of those who'd made the mistake of waiting in the third one. One of the unfortunates there began to complain loudly in colourful terms, his tone becoming more and more agitated as time went on, albeit to no effect; it was almost ten minutes later when the third window opened, leaving a subset of park guests disenfranchised even before they walked through the gate.

Our first stop was at Tornado (#2365), a Zamperla-built spinning coaster that was new for the 2013 season. The ride was being run with a full complement of cars that were being dispatched at the maximum rate that the blocking system would allow, but bizarrely most were going out with just the two middle seats occupied, with the corresponding hit to capacity. We ended up in the left hand pair of the pink car, and we enjoyed some good spinning punctuated by fairly regular thumps as some of the track joins were not as good as they might have been. We decided that the English language lacked a suitable word to describe the sensation, and coined a new one for the purpose: clatterals.

We decided to do the 7D Cinema on impulse as the previous showing was emptying out as we approached. This was a good move; in a world where the same movies appear in parks worldwide we were treated to one we hadn't seen before. Rats Race featured tiny creatures powering their way around an elaborately designed race track set up around a house, with open sections and more enclosed portions inside walls. The high speed nature of the movie was reflected in the enormous amount of seat movement, far more than would be usual for this type of attraction and enough to justify the obligatory seat belts that an operator manually checked. All the other effects were there too, including air bursts and water splashes.

Our next stop was at Tacot en Folie, a family coaster that my 2008 report described as mediocre. This description remains entirely on the money for a ride that, to be blunt, isn't one of Soquet's finer efforts; though the tracking is smooth the ride is quite simply dull, consisting of a couple of slow turns that do very little. We did laps from the front seat and from second-to-back for purposes of comparison, and there was no perceptible difference in forces between the two. The only slight mitigating factor was the fact that the ride is one of the three oldest Soquet coasters still in operation, having premiered in 1987 at Fraispertuis City.

The star attraction at the park and the highlight of our morning ended up being the superb Zamperla-built Flash Tower, a clone of the magnificent machine we enjoyed at Dennly's Parc earlier in the year with the same impressive blast of airtime at the apex. The ride was constructed inside a themed building and augmented with a basic fire effect timed with the initial upward launch. The view from the apex was superb, and there was no issue holding a camera allowing us to capture some spectacular overhead shots. We rode three times, and could easily have gone back for more.

The park is set on a hillside, and the Ferme d'Angy lies close to the bottom, some five minutes walk downhill from the main ride area (and thus five minutes uphill again when the time comes to leave). The park operates a shuttle tram for the terminally lazy, though we decided we'd walk in the interest of burning off a few calories. There was a Zamperla Barnyard next to the entrance that we decided to skip, concentrating instead on the cows, rabbits, pigs, goats, and baby ducks. Though I'm no connoisseur I'm given to understand that the exhibit was disappointing compared to the one we'd enjoyed at La Coccinelle as the cows evidently had no interest in contact with humans.