Burbs
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Iron Gwazi
@djtruefitt and myself were supposed to be doing a road trip in April of this year, which inevitably got cancelled a few weeks prior. However, with lockdown restrictions being lifted and no mandatory quarantine when travelling to many European countries, it was time to put our trip plans back into action! The original trip was supposed to be Toverland, Heide Park, Hansa Park, Fort Fun Abenteuerland, Walibi Belgium and Bellewaerde, though this had to be amended for a few reasons.
The final plan resulted in return Eurotunnel crossings (Folkestone to Calais), and a round trip consisting of: Walibi Belgium > Heide Park > Hansa Park > Movie Park Germany > Phantasialand, with a different hotel each night between each park. The middle 3 parks were brand new to both of us, and I also had never visited Walibi Belgium before. I'll be using this thread to air my views on the rides at each park over the next week, as well as commenting on how we found the COVID-19 measures and how they affected operations. So, on with the review!
Walibi Belgium - 14.07.20
I won't lie, I wasn't expecting much from this park. On paper there's 8 roller coasters, none of which look particularly great, and a handful of other bits. However, I really enjoyed my day here! I do enjoy a theme park set around a lake and there was plenty to do to keep us occupied. This was perhaps the best park of the trip for Coronavirus measures, with masks being encouraged around the park, and mandatory on all rides. The staff were great and were running the rides efficiently; we didn't wait more than 30 minutes for anything, with most things being 0-10 mins.
All coasters were using every row, albeit one group per row, which seemed to work pretty well and kept the queues moving, especially as it's only Pulsar (a high throughput ride anyway) with 4-across rows. As with all parks this week, there were 1.5m markers in all queue lines, although it didn't seem that many people were following this unfortunately, with some people desperate to get into your back pocket. That being said, aside from putting these markers out, there's not a whole lot staff can do to enforce it. The park was relatively quiet, so I presume there was quite a low capacity restriction - either that or the weather forecast put people off. Anyhow, this made for a very enjoyable day.
Rides
Calamity Mine (x2)
This is the off-the-shelf model of Vekoma Mine Train. I'd heard poor things prior to visiting the park, but enjoyed it more than I thought I would, in fact I think I rate it slightly higher than Mammut at Gardaland. The first half is good fun with a couple of pops of airtime, although the second half is pretty dull.
Cobra (x1)
A very standard Vekoma Boomerang with original restraints. The theming seems much nicer in this area now than it did before and the ride fits in quite well with its beige colour scheme.
Loup-Garou (x1)
Also known as 'Werewolf', this is one of only 3 Vekoma wooden coasters ever built, all of which in the very early 2000s, and there's good reason for that. I got to ride Robin (in da) Hood at Walibi Holland back in 2018 before it got the RMC treatment, and Loup-Garou could really do with it too! It rattles like hell, is quite uncomfortable and does nothing of interest. Hopefully this will be the next ride to get some attention post-2021.
Psyké Undergound (x1)
My first Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop, and I found it pretty fun! For some reason I wasn't aware of the forwards launch, expecting a backwards lift hill, which came as a nice surprise. The lighting inside the ride adds to the experience, but would have been nice to have some sound (like the Psyké Undergound song) rather than the silence we were greeted with on-ride instead.
Pulsar (x2)
A really, really fun ride! The turntable station is amazing to watch and makes the capacity of the ride really high. The launches are great, especially the second backwards one which whips you over that hill at such a rate. There was also an acceptable level of wetness on ride, if you sit in the middle seats. I'm not sure what theme they're going for with Pulsar though, it seems a little confused.
Vampire (x1)
The standard Vekoma SLC. Was exactly as expected, although possibly the best presented one I've ever seen. It's in its own little area of the park and surrounded by lots of trees and shrubbery.
Tiki-Waka (x2)
Honestly, I was expecting better from this Gerst Bob - a ride type I generally really like. Even when it's warmed up it's still pretty slow for most of the layout and is pretty forceless.
Fun Pilot (x1)
Walibi Belgium's newest roller coaster, a small Zierer Force which serves its purpose. This also happened to be my 200th coaster cred, carrying on my trend of completely unremarkable milestone coasters!
Flash Back (x1)
The log flume, with the same layout as Walibi Holland's, which incidentally I really like. Three drops, including one that's backwards and a double-down at the end make for a fun ride. There was more going on inside on Flash Back though, with a few lighting effects, however the theming felt very run-down and could do with a bit of a spruce-up.
Radja River (x1)
The river rapids, which was quite long with some decent water effects throughout, including a rather unique mist tunnel.
Gold River Adventure (x1)
Cable pully boat things round a lake, offering some very nice views of Tiki-Waka! Quite long (not Gondoletta levels of long, but long enough), and a nice sit down undercover if it's raining.
Buzzsaw (x1)
A HUSS Top Spin, it's nice to ride one of these as they are becoming more and more rare nowadays.
Challenge of Tutankhamon (x2)
I knew that Walibi had a couple of dark rides, but I didn't know both were trackless transit systems! This is an interactive shooting ride, with a goodly amount of theming throughout. Watching POVs, there seems to be 2 separate endings, although we got the same (shorter) one on both rides. Still, a great little ride hidden at the very back of the park.
Dalton Terror (x1)
A 5-sided Intamin drop tower, which I was really nervous about riding to start with (I've never been a fan of drop towers), but learnt quickly how to ride it comfortably and came off really enjoying it! All sides were sit-down, a shame as it would have been good to have the option of stand up, but it was good for what it was.
Le Palais du Génie (x1)
A madhouse... is it a Vekoma? Is it a Mack? Who knows. Anyway, it was perfectly fine, with a pre-show blatantly copied from Walibi Holland's (or the other way round).
Melody Road (x1)
A fairly standard Oldtimers ride. That is all.
Octopus (x1)
I believe this is a Chance Wipeout (aka Hullygully), something I've never ridden before, and don't really have any intention of riding again. 'Twas fine, good fun for families with young kids I imagine.
Spinning Vibe (x1)
Not to be confused with the HUSS Magic of the same name at Walibi Holland, this is a Breakdance, which I was really looking forward to getting back on. That was until the ride started and I remembered they never run these things on manual mode in theme parks.
Wave Swinger (x2)
Unlike any other wave swinger I've ridden, this one gets going very quickly, straight up and at full speed, no faffing!
Popcorn Revenge (x2)
The park's other dark ride, another shooting trackless dark ride, albeit with screens rather than targets like in Tutankhamon. The ride has a central room where the cars move around each other, and several separate cinema rooms around the outside, where you go in and spend a short amount of time shooting the popcorn on the screen. I really enjoyed this ride, finding it had better pacing than the likes of Maus Au Chocolat, which just seems to go on and on. It also has a bit of a finale with more theming, which was refreshing to see.
Total ridecount: 26
Yes, I might not rate many of the rides at Walibi Holland particularly highly, but the overall experience we had on park was really positive and we had a great day!
Thanks for reading. Tomorrow, Heide Park!
The final plan resulted in return Eurotunnel crossings (Folkestone to Calais), and a round trip consisting of: Walibi Belgium > Heide Park > Hansa Park > Movie Park Germany > Phantasialand, with a different hotel each night between each park. The middle 3 parks were brand new to both of us, and I also had never visited Walibi Belgium before. I'll be using this thread to air my views on the rides at each park over the next week, as well as commenting on how we found the COVID-19 measures and how they affected operations. So, on with the review!
Walibi Belgium - 14.07.20
I won't lie, I wasn't expecting much from this park. On paper there's 8 roller coasters, none of which look particularly great, and a handful of other bits. However, I really enjoyed my day here! I do enjoy a theme park set around a lake and there was plenty to do to keep us occupied. This was perhaps the best park of the trip for Coronavirus measures, with masks being encouraged around the park, and mandatory on all rides. The staff were great and were running the rides efficiently; we didn't wait more than 30 minutes for anything, with most things being 0-10 mins.
All coasters were using every row, albeit one group per row, which seemed to work pretty well and kept the queues moving, especially as it's only Pulsar (a high throughput ride anyway) with 4-across rows. As with all parks this week, there were 1.5m markers in all queue lines, although it didn't seem that many people were following this unfortunately, with some people desperate to get into your back pocket. That being said, aside from putting these markers out, there's not a whole lot staff can do to enforce it. The park was relatively quiet, so I presume there was quite a low capacity restriction - either that or the weather forecast put people off. Anyhow, this made for a very enjoyable day.
Rides
Calamity Mine (x2)
This is the off-the-shelf model of Vekoma Mine Train. I'd heard poor things prior to visiting the park, but enjoyed it more than I thought I would, in fact I think I rate it slightly higher than Mammut at Gardaland. The first half is good fun with a couple of pops of airtime, although the second half is pretty dull.
Cobra (x1)
A very standard Vekoma Boomerang with original restraints. The theming seems much nicer in this area now than it did before and the ride fits in quite well with its beige colour scheme.
Loup-Garou (x1)
Also known as 'Werewolf', this is one of only 3 Vekoma wooden coasters ever built, all of which in the very early 2000s, and there's good reason for that. I got to ride Robin (in da) Hood at Walibi Holland back in 2018 before it got the RMC treatment, and Loup-Garou could really do with it too! It rattles like hell, is quite uncomfortable and does nothing of interest. Hopefully this will be the next ride to get some attention post-2021.
Psyké Undergound (x1)
My first Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop, and I found it pretty fun! For some reason I wasn't aware of the forwards launch, expecting a backwards lift hill, which came as a nice surprise. The lighting inside the ride adds to the experience, but would have been nice to have some sound (like the Psyké Undergound song) rather than the silence we were greeted with on-ride instead.
Pulsar (x2)
A really, really fun ride! The turntable station is amazing to watch and makes the capacity of the ride really high. The launches are great, especially the second backwards one which whips you over that hill at such a rate. There was also an acceptable level of wetness on ride, if you sit in the middle seats. I'm not sure what theme they're going for with Pulsar though, it seems a little confused.
Vampire (x1)
The standard Vekoma SLC. Was exactly as expected, although possibly the best presented one I've ever seen. It's in its own little area of the park and surrounded by lots of trees and shrubbery.
Tiki-Waka (x2)
Honestly, I was expecting better from this Gerst Bob - a ride type I generally really like. Even when it's warmed up it's still pretty slow for most of the layout and is pretty forceless.
Fun Pilot (x1)
Walibi Belgium's newest roller coaster, a small Zierer Force which serves its purpose. This also happened to be my 200th coaster cred, carrying on my trend of completely unremarkable milestone coasters!
Flash Back (x1)
The log flume, with the same layout as Walibi Holland's, which incidentally I really like. Three drops, including one that's backwards and a double-down at the end make for a fun ride. There was more going on inside on Flash Back though, with a few lighting effects, however the theming felt very run-down and could do with a bit of a spruce-up.
Radja River (x1)
The river rapids, which was quite long with some decent water effects throughout, including a rather unique mist tunnel.
Gold River Adventure (x1)
Cable pully boat things round a lake, offering some very nice views of Tiki-Waka! Quite long (not Gondoletta levels of long, but long enough), and a nice sit down undercover if it's raining.
Buzzsaw (x1)
A HUSS Top Spin, it's nice to ride one of these as they are becoming more and more rare nowadays.
Challenge of Tutankhamon (x2)
I knew that Walibi had a couple of dark rides, but I didn't know both were trackless transit systems! This is an interactive shooting ride, with a goodly amount of theming throughout. Watching POVs, there seems to be 2 separate endings, although we got the same (shorter) one on both rides. Still, a great little ride hidden at the very back of the park.
Dalton Terror (x1)
A 5-sided Intamin drop tower, which I was really nervous about riding to start with (I've never been a fan of drop towers), but learnt quickly how to ride it comfortably and came off really enjoying it! All sides were sit-down, a shame as it would have been good to have the option of stand up, but it was good for what it was.
Le Palais du Génie (x1)
A madhouse... is it a Vekoma? Is it a Mack? Who knows. Anyway, it was perfectly fine, with a pre-show blatantly copied from Walibi Holland's (or the other way round).
Melody Road (x1)
A fairly standard Oldtimers ride. That is all.
Octopus (x1)
I believe this is a Chance Wipeout (aka Hullygully), something I've never ridden before, and don't really have any intention of riding again. 'Twas fine, good fun for families with young kids I imagine.
Spinning Vibe (x1)
Not to be confused with the HUSS Magic of the same name at Walibi Holland, this is a Breakdance, which I was really looking forward to getting back on. That was until the ride started and I remembered they never run these things on manual mode in theme parks.
Wave Swinger (x2)
Unlike any other wave swinger I've ridden, this one gets going very quickly, straight up and at full speed, no faffing!
Popcorn Revenge (x2)
The park's other dark ride, another shooting trackless dark ride, albeit with screens rather than targets like in Tutankhamon. The ride has a central room where the cars move around each other, and several separate cinema rooms around the outside, where you go in and spend a short amount of time shooting the popcorn on the screen. I really enjoyed this ride, finding it had better pacing than the likes of Maus Au Chocolat, which just seems to go on and on. It also has a bit of a finale with more theming, which was refreshing to see.
Total ridecount: 26
Yes, I might not rate many of the rides at Walibi Holland particularly highly, but the overall experience we had on park was really positive and we had a great day!
Thanks for reading. Tomorrow, Heide Park!
