Electric Elly
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Voltron Nevera
I found myself in Belgium for a week, and beyond the usual tourist faff around Brussels/ Bruges/ Ghent and Antwerp, I spent a day at Walibi, Plopsaland, and Pairi Daiza.
If you're using rail to get around in Belgium, be aware that any ticket to an attraction (theme park, zoo, museum, there's loads) gets you a Discovery Ticket to use through SNCB for half price rail- except on weekends, when it's half price anyway from Friday 7pm to EOD Sunday.
Let's start with Plopsaland...
So, first things first- customer service is indeed as bad as people say. I booked my tickets in advance, and a few days later a train strike was announced- thinking that the strikes in Belgium would be as catastrophic as they are here, I tried to rearrange the day of my visit (which the website AND confirmation email state you can do) through the provided link. That link led to nothing, grand. So I contacted their support, and nothing. The tickets I noticed also didn't have the Discovery Ticket code that should be with them, so a second message was sent. I am still waiting on a reply for both of these messages, which were sent 17/4.
Long story short- Belgian train strikes are a laugh, everything still runs, you just may have a train made up of 5 carriages instead of the expected 9. Each service that will be running is also confirmed and set in stone 24 hours before the strike day.
Anyways, the park and the rides.
This place is weird. I've done Legendia in the past, which is also a "must visit just for one ride park", but that didn't feel half as weird as Plopsa did. The theming that they have is nice and distinct for each area, the Viking area especially. Anubis' station looks like something you'd expect to see as a façade for a haunted house. Their little farmyard with a handful of expected animals was quite sad- the rabbits didn't look like they'd had their barn cleaned for a while, and they alongside the various guinea pigs, chickens, turkeys and birds in the brick barn building didn't appear to have access to grass and outdoors. I hope I am wrong.
Let's list the coasters...
And that's Plopsaland De Panne. A bit of a mixed bag, and I definitely would not want to be at the park on a busy day.
Walibi Belgium
I went in with low expectations here, and was pleasantly surprised! The park has a nice and easy navigable layout centred around the lake slap bang in the middle, with the exception being Vampire shunned to the side a little more out of sight. It's easy to walk to from the train station (Bierges-Walibi), although the bridge you go over has no ramps and questionable wooden planks to walk over. I would assume that there is an accessible path from the station to the park, but I did not see it sign posted or any obvious alternate route.
I got my tickets from Tripper.nl, as they were like 35€ vs the parks price of 51€.
The park reminded me a little of Energylandia in its mix of themed and non themed areas. The front of the park is rather low effort (but clean!), with the likes of Kondaa and the newly opened Dock World at the back of the park being really nicely themed and landscaped. No joke, but they also had the nicest toilets I've ever used in a park. The ones near the front of the park look pretty ominous, but they were immaculate, regularly cleaned, and spacious. Hot water as well, a treat. You can always judge a place by its toilets IMO. Buzzsaw, their Top Spin is on its last legs sadly. The sequence it was running on barely managed one locked flip and one free flip. Very sad, I love Top Spins.
Tous en Boîte also did not receive all its theming, which is shame because the concept was great. Challenge of Tutankhammon also held up pretty well for its age, the animatronics and fire effects were all working, even though the guns reset part way through for my ride.
Coaster time...
Pairi Daiza
Wasn't sure to include this in this trip report, but hey here you go. Pairi Daiza isn't a theme park, but a zoo! In fact, the alleged "best zoo in Europe". This place is the Phantasialand of zoos in regards to its themeing. Wow. The orangutan enclosure is made of intricately carved marble, and they have a cocktail bar that backs onto one of the penguin exhibits. Peak. It's also the Phantasialand of zoos in that it's not exactly the most accessible place given the varying path textures, slopes and walk through a town from the station to entrance. I did about 21k steps that day, so be prepared for a lot of walking if you ever nip in. To note, they've not just gone and themed everything in a way to wow you into not noticing things about the animals care.
The animals are all well cared for, with nice large enclosures. They currently have a lion cub, and it was sweet seeing her play with the lionesses and watching them act as housecats would, doing the whole "wow this tiny thing is so scary it's defeated me aaaa".
It was quite surreal to be washing my hands, then looking up to see that the window bordered the polar bear exhibit, seeing it diving in the water up close. Another thing that I noted was they would place up information on specific animals that had previously come from sub optimal conditions, explaining the animals history and why its behaviour could be different at times, along with they're doing to rehabilitate that animal as best they can.
Their reptile house was large and extensive, so many snakes! They and the other reptiles also looked to have large enclosures, lots of enrichment and good care- often, reptiles get left behind as a side note in other zoos so it was nice to see that they had as equal care as say the orangutans, lions and tigers.
Not a fan of the merchandise and some of the newer shop and area signage- again, another place that is using generative AI 'art' and belittling the work and artistry that others have put into the place. Hire an artist and have some respect.
If zoos are your thing and you're in Belgium, I would definitely recommend.
If you're using rail to get around in Belgium, be aware that any ticket to an attraction (theme park, zoo, museum, there's loads) gets you a Discovery Ticket to use through SNCB for half price rail- except on weekends, when it's half price anyway from Friday 7pm to EOD Sunday.
Let's start with Plopsaland...
So, first things first- customer service is indeed as bad as people say. I booked my tickets in advance, and a few days later a train strike was announced- thinking that the strikes in Belgium would be as catastrophic as they are here, I tried to rearrange the day of my visit (which the website AND confirmation email state you can do) through the provided link. That link led to nothing, grand. So I contacted their support, and nothing. The tickets I noticed also didn't have the Discovery Ticket code that should be with them, so a second message was sent. I am still waiting on a reply for both of these messages, which were sent 17/4.
Long story short- Belgian train strikes are a laugh, everything still runs, you just may have a train made up of 5 carriages instead of the expected 9. Each service that will be running is also confirmed and set in stone 24 hours before the strike day.
Anyways, the park and the rides.
This place is weird. I've done Legendia in the past, which is also a "must visit just for one ride park", but that didn't feel half as weird as Plopsa did. The theming that they have is nice and distinct for each area, the Viking area especially. Anubis' station looks like something you'd expect to see as a façade for a haunted house. Their little farmyard with a handful of expected animals was quite sad- the rabbits didn't look like they'd had their barn cleaned for a while, and they alongside the various guinea pigs, chickens, turkeys and birds in the brick barn building didn't appear to have access to grass and outdoors. I hope I am wrong.
Let's list the coasters...
- #LikeMe Coaster - Closed for my visit, @Poisson is crying for me over the missed cred.
- K3 Roller Skater - What do you expect from it? The ride op was a sadist and would just run it through until a queue had formed worth half the train. Against my will, I lapped this 7 times before some family saved me.
- Draconis - It's just a mine train coaster. Points for dragons.
- Heidi The Ride - This ride is so offensively mid. Airtime? Nah, not here mate. It threatens to be a good ride in a few places, and that's about it.
- Anubis - I enjoyed Anubis. Whippy, nice launch that's more forceful than the other big coaster in the park. I was warned about the pothole immediately after the launch, but still got caught out by it on my first ride. Ouch.
- Ride to Happiness - It's alright, isn't it? Being the ride that people make the trip solely for, it's definitely worth it. I do feel that it's overrated though. The way people go on about is as though it's the solution to world hunger and the one thing that could grant world peace. It's great, it's now my #5, but please. I was lapping it for a good three hours at the end of the day, just walking right on, and had my fair share of great rides, meh rides, and one urgh ride where the thing barely span. I did not find the launches nor the layout and inversions intense which is something I was hoping for. I swear though, I did enjoy it despite all I've said! Nice pacing, and it's nice to be on a Mack ride with audio that actually works on all seats.
And that's Plopsaland De Panne. A bit of a mixed bag, and I definitely would not want to be at the park on a busy day.
Walibi Belgium
I went in with low expectations here, and was pleasantly surprised! The park has a nice and easy navigable layout centred around the lake slap bang in the middle, with the exception being Vampire shunned to the side a little more out of sight. It's easy to walk to from the train station (Bierges-Walibi), although the bridge you go over has no ramps and questionable wooden planks to walk over. I would assume that there is an accessible path from the station to the park, but I did not see it sign posted or any obvious alternate route.
I got my tickets from Tripper.nl, as they were like 35€ vs the parks price of 51€.
The park reminded me a little of Energylandia in its mix of themed and non themed areas. The front of the park is rather low effort (but clean!), with the likes of Kondaa and the newly opened Dock World at the back of the park being really nicely themed and landscaped. No joke, but they also had the nicest toilets I've ever used in a park. The ones near the front of the park look pretty ominous, but they were immaculate, regularly cleaned, and spacious. Hot water as well, a treat. You can always judge a place by its toilets IMO. Buzzsaw, their Top Spin is on its last legs sadly. The sequence it was running on barely managed one locked flip and one free flip. Very sad, I love Top Spins.
Tous en Boîte also did not receive all its theming, which is shame because the concept was great. Challenge of Tutankhammon also held up pretty well for its age, the animatronics and fire effects were all working, even though the guns reset part way through for my ride.
Coaster time...
- Fun Pilot - It's a kiddie/family ride. 'Nuff said.
- Calamity Mine - This is the neutered and lobotomised version of Colorado Adventure.
- Vampire - It's not the worst SLC, but it's not the best. It shares the same layout as Infusion and Mayan, and slots nicely in the middle of the two in terms of rideability. Mayan shows that an SLC can be good, so please get new trains.
- Loup-Garou - I went in cautiously optimistic, since I loved Thunder Coaster at TusenFryd (the only other still existing Vekoma woodie). Nah, this thing jack hammers. My first ride I ended up on a wheel seat- ouch. My second I purposefully got a non wheel seat and it's still not great. I liked the layout, that's about it. Should it be burnt? Nah. Does it need RMCing? Also, nah (although I am not opposed). Give it a retrack in a few places along with new trains and it'll be good.
- Tiki-Waka - I... enjoyed this, a lot. It's silly.
- Pulsar - It was chucking it down with rain for the first half of the day. I was already soggy, so how bad could it be? Ahahahaha.....
- Cobra - Somehow, I think that this is my first Vekoma boomerang? It's been well cared for with minimal jank beyond what's to be expected.
- Turbine - I got really excited when I saw on RCDB it was listed as still having a flywheel launch and then gutted to read further down the page and see it'd been refitted as a LIM. Ended up not mattering- Gerst did a good job with this. It's punchy, and the ride being fully enclosed gives it a feeling of "what's going on?". The park was super dead, and I got to stay in my seat for 5 rides before someone else walked up. Left my nose feeling all tingly from the forces in a good way.
- Mecalodon - My first thought? "Aww, it's cute!" What a lovely little ride this is! The perfect family thrill. It's smooth and has a surprising amount of pops of air, and it's really nicely themed. The only down side is the large amount of AI generated 'art' in the queue- you spend so much time theming it and all, and then go and do that? Ew. Sharks are cool though, and so are mechs. Mecha sharks? Even cooler.
- Kondaa - So sue me, after reflection I prefer Kondaa to RtH. It's now my #4. This beast is an airtime machine! Personally, didn't think it had a dead spot and its pacing was really well done, plus the brake run came at a natural point in the ride hitting that sweet spot of just right vs "Wow this is really just half a ride" (cough, Hyperia) or "this should have ended a bit ago". The first drop is great, and I felt like I was going to be flung from my seat when I sat back left side. The non inverting cobra roll is whippy, and the low to the ground section reminded me a lot of its bigger cousin Hyperion. I could lap this thing for hours. It's also very nicely themed and landscaped, the station is really atmospheric. The queue is also nicely shaded and covered which was very welcome in the morning rain!
Pairi Daiza
Wasn't sure to include this in this trip report, but hey here you go. Pairi Daiza isn't a theme park, but a zoo! In fact, the alleged "best zoo in Europe". This place is the Phantasialand of zoos in regards to its themeing. Wow. The orangutan enclosure is made of intricately carved marble, and they have a cocktail bar that backs onto one of the penguin exhibits. Peak. It's also the Phantasialand of zoos in that it's not exactly the most accessible place given the varying path textures, slopes and walk through a town from the station to entrance. I did about 21k steps that day, so be prepared for a lot of walking if you ever nip in. To note, they've not just gone and themed everything in a way to wow you into not noticing things about the animals care.
The animals are all well cared for, with nice large enclosures. They currently have a lion cub, and it was sweet seeing her play with the lionesses and watching them act as housecats would, doing the whole "wow this tiny thing is so scary it's defeated me aaaa".
It was quite surreal to be washing my hands, then looking up to see that the window bordered the polar bear exhibit, seeing it diving in the water up close. Another thing that I noted was they would place up information on specific animals that had previously come from sub optimal conditions, explaining the animals history and why its behaviour could be different at times, along with they're doing to rehabilitate that animal as best they can.
Their reptile house was large and extensive, so many snakes! They and the other reptiles also looked to have large enclosures, lots of enrichment and good care- often, reptiles get left behind as a side note in other zoos so it was nice to see that they had as equal care as say the orangutans, lions and tigers.
Not a fan of the merchandise and some of the newer shop and area signage- again, another place that is using generative AI 'art' and belittling the work and artistry that others have put into the place. Hire an artist and have some respect.
If zoos are your thing and you're in Belgium, I would definitely recommend.