• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Walibi Holland: General Discussion

Looks great, a lot of fun. I'd say the first half looks better than the second half which wouldn't miss a little bit more speed. But on the whole another exciting coaster for Europe!

:)
 
Ooooh! Agree with @Rob, it seems to loose pace a bit at that ... "odd" turn half way through... but we all know you can't judge speed very well from a test run ;)

Looks like it'll have some good airtime, and certainly seems smoother than a Eurofighter.
 
There appears to be a lot of lateral shimmying. Too much for it to just be the camera mounting. Other than that, it looks to be an interesting if slightly bizarre ride.
 
jmc said:
Even that video is odd
Click to expand...
It's very Dutch!

It looks like a cool concept, I'm interested to see where it will fit in the marketplace though. So many parks that wanted a ride of this size with those kind of elements have bought a Eurofighter and perhaps won't be looking for something of that scale again.

Looking forward to riding it.
 
The video just reinforces the idea that it's a role call of Merlin / ex Tussaud's themes. There's the distorted scenery of Oblivion: The Black Hole, there's the use of vehicles much like The Swarm, there's obvious similarities to The Smiler and of course there's an excessive use of shipping containers. There's even a "pagan people worshipping space object" trope lifted from Nemesis.

I think I understand the general theme: A mysterious meteorite hits Earth and causes the gravity in the local area to go haywire. The thing is that the general effect of the theme is that it's just accumulated stuff. It may be painted bright colours and placed at weird angles but it's still recognisable as everyday stuff that you could put together by raiding a few local scrap heaps. We've given Merlin such a hard time for using a similar approach in the past, it seems unfair to give Walibi a free pass. So yes, the ride itself looks good but they could have tried much harder with the theming.
 
There eventually comes a time when the average small but expanding family park requires a thrill coaster on a limited budget. From the early 2000s the Eurofighter has absolutely made that market its own.

There will still be lots of parks out there though that were maybe planning on phoning Gerstlauer before too long but haven't reached that point yet. The BigDipper ride type (a name I'm not fond of, admittedly) is surely intended to pull the rug from under Gerstlauer's feet and capture that market, rather than selling to parks that already have a Eurofighter or Gerst rolling launch.
 
There's a ton of parks that could get one of these little beauties!

Of course the EF has the vertical lift hill but these have the near wing formation so they're still different.
 
I more surprised that this thing apparently has a storyline...

It's better than most of the theming at the park, apart from Xpress 13's queueline (or at least, the non cattlepen of death section), mostly due to the interesting nature of it and being presented in a much more garish fashion when compared to Merlin's drab and grey themes and just using them as a cheap option...
 
CGM said:
The video just reinforces the idea that it's a role call of Merlin / ex Tussaud's themes. There's the distorted scenery of Oblivion: The Black Hole, there's the use of vehicles much like The Swarm, there's obvious similarities to The Smiler and of course there's an excessive use of shipping containers. There's even a "pagan people worshipping space object" trope lifted from Nemesis.

I think I understand the general theme: A mysterious meteorite hits Earth and causes the gravity in the local area to go haywire. The thing is that the general effect of the theme is that it's just accumulated stuff. It may be painted bright colours and placed at weird angles but it's still recognisable as everyday stuff that you could put together by raiding a few local scrap heaps. We've given Merlin such a hard time for using a similar approach in the past, it seems unfair to give Walibi a free pass. So yes, the ride itself looks good but they could have tried much harder with the theming.
Click to expand...
I think you've hit the nail on the head as to why they seem to be getting a free pass in your first paragraph! Merlin gets a bad rap because all their themes are dark and cheap, but this seems to be the first time Walibi have done it.

Look at Pulsar at Walibi Belgium, a bright theme with interesting colours and textures. If they'd gone for shipping containers and debris strewn about then I would agree with you, but they've gone in a different direction with each new ride/experience

:)
 
I suppose the issue with Merlin is that EVERY ride they build contains a container somewhere.

TH13TEEN shop, Saw shop, Swarm shop and games stall, Sub Terra, Nitorginie at Thorpe, even the Smiler and Octonauts has containers near the ride. Just wait until we go in Derren Brown, that will probably have one!

It's a very strange theme, and maybe when you are there it might make more sense. I hope it has some moving parts to it, if the helicopter spun or something it would be quite cool.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dar
It's the quality that makes the difference.

There's nothing wrong with doing dark and run-down themes. Disney's Tower of Terror is an abandoned building with a massive chunk blown out of it, yet no one can deny it looks stunning. The problem comes when the theme has been chosen as an excuse to do something on the cheap rather than part of an artistic vision.

Personally I think this works because the signs of quality are there. Proper 3D signs, well laid paving and planting, but most of all a lot of themed structures that all play into an abstract theme.

Not to mention if it is a combination of all Merlin's rides from the last 5 years then you could say it has the content of 4/5 different rides in one package ;)
 


PULL IT DOWN! It's a danger to the public! It's stalled during testing so it's going to do it again and crash like the smiler!

Sarcasm, in case that's not clear.
 
It must be poorly designed, it's Mack's fault, re-profile the damn thing!!!

Stalling can happen on any coaster (well almost).

:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dar
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top