Trip Report: Alex and His Parents Do DLP

By Deb

Posted in rec.arts.disney.parks on 8 Jul 1999

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Back at Marne le Vallee by 4:30 or so, we headed straight for Discoveryland again. Alex desperately wanted to see le Visionarium, their version of Timekeeper, and I wanted to make sure I got on Space Mountain (I've never been on WDW's Space -- Every time I've tried the queue has been too long or else it's been closed for rehab), so we split up. The wait-time was posted as 45 minutes, but I was on the ride in under a half-hour. Unfortunately, I can't offer any comparisons to WDW's ride, but here's my impression of DLP's: It was awesome. :-) The queue was pitch black for quite a distance -- I mean *no* light. There were bodies pressing all around me, but I couldn't see so much as an elbow (unfortunately, I could *smell* the folks around me, though -- my nose was right at armpit height of the guy in front of me :-Þ ). When we finally reached an area with some dim lighting, I could see a few representations of asteroids and stars, but it really didn't seem like they had much in the way of theming there -- is that how WDW's is? By the time we got fairly close to the ride it was brighter, and there were television monitors issuing warnings and restrictions in French and English. Finally, it was my turn to jump into a car, which holds 4 people, 2 rows of 2 across. I think my favorite part of the ride was the very beginning -- you're cranked into an inclined position, waiting to be shot out of the cannon. The music builds the tension, as you expect with each crescendo that the "firing" will occur. By the time it finally did, I was dizzy with antici... pation. :-) The ride itself is very dark, with only occasional flashes of light -- I could sense the corkscrew rather than see it, and I didn't realize we had done the 360 loop until we were coming out of it and the lights flashed on briefly. I really loved the ride, although I was afraid I was going to come out of it with bloody ears -- thank goodness the sides of the headrest were well-padded, since my head bounced from side to side from start to finish. My only complaint? It was too darn short! I could have stayed on at least another 5 minutes! :-D

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