KristofWB
Hyper Poster
Every year, our boss wants us to get along and she wants us to do some teambuilding. Two years ago, we went to Phantasialand, this year we decided to hit another park. All of my collegues had only one option, which was Walibi Belgium. I must say, I was pretty curious to visit the park after the re-styling of the park past winter.
It was pretty much fun to hear that two of my collegues never went to Walibi Belgium. One of them was born in Haïti and is in Belgium for two years now and she never saw a themepark from the inside. Should become very interesting. It was a very hot day (30°C) so we all expected the park would be pretty packed and it was. The whole main parking was full and the extra parking was almost completely full. Massive queues at the ticket boxes. Today, Walibi Belgium announced the park got 10.000 visitors per day during Easter Holiday, which lasts two weeks.
However the crowds, kudos for the operators in the park and the full capacity of rides that was used. Queues went out their borders, but the longest queue that day was only 45 minutes.
The Music Battle
Walibi decided to throw away the friendly and cuddly Walibi atmosphere that was there before and replace it with a rock and roll theme. Main stars of the park are the W.A.B. (Walibi Adventure Band) with Walibi, Fibi, Haaz and Zenko and their rivals The SkunX with Walibi's mean twinbrother Squad, Loco and Motiv. That Walibi changed its course becomes very obvious when you enter the Main Plaza of the park, which is painted in bright colors and did remind me of a Fanta commercial. The Hello World song from WAB is being played in different versions, such as a techno-like remix and a very beautiful symphonic version.
As they do since 2006, Walibi Belgium has its very own openingceremony, starting 5 minutes before opening. I heard some weak comments about this ceremony, which used to be a weak performance from Squad and Walibi on the rooftop of the snackbar at the Main Plaza. However, the park already replaced the ceremony a couple of days later. It starts with Squad who is doing a guitarsolo on the snackbar rooftop. Afterwards, you see Walibi standing on the rooftop of the entrance gate from Walibi, singing Hello World and doing some freestyle roofjumping over the WAB Shop, Aqualibi entrance and the snackbar. I was surprised to hear how many people already know both SkunX and WAB songs as they were all screaming them out pretty loud. During the rest of the day, the new charactars drive around the park with their very own pimped out quad having meet and greets with visitors on a regular base.
The brand new 4D Cinema, named Rokken Roll is in one word: AMAZING! The queue of the ride is themed as an old theater with pictures of Vita Drakovitz, which is a pink, fat and old lady dragon, leading the only bar at Shimmeria called Psyke, red curtains old lampposts, etc.. The film itself lasts 9 minutes and is very professional. As there are so many 4D Theaters lately, this is the best I have ever seen. Lots of action and humor, specially about the gigantic boobs of Mrs. Drakovitz. She reminds me of a pink and pumped up version of Tina Turner and Puff, The Magic Drag Queen. The film is visually very strong and the 4D effects are not overwhelming but subtile. Because of the two languages spoken in Belgium, the park split up the queue in two parts: French and Dutch and the movie is showed one time in Dutch, afterwards in French, again in Dutch and so on. Love it and its the only 4D movie I wanted to do for a second time.
Walibi's rides...
It was wonderfull to be in Walibi Belgium with collegues that never visited the park before. Reactions can be pretty genious and funny. Favorite rides of them were FlashBack, the park's logflume, surprisingly on second place was Calamity Mine and the big winner was Werewolf/Loup-Garou. The queue for Loup-Garou was massive, since it was running till the start of the 4D Cinema queue but moved along pretty well, making us wait for only 45 minutes.
To meLoup-Garou gets better year after year. It is wild, has loads of airtime and this total out-of-control feeling on many places.
One of the other favorite rides was Calamity Mine, the Vekoma Main Train. I don't know why, but I skip this ride very often because I wasn't interested in this one. However, today I was very surprised the power this rollercoaster has. It can be pretty vicious on some parts and does have some airtime when you cross the pond. After many years, the main train was riding with 3 trains, loading passengers non-stop, leaving the massive line waiting for only 10 minutes. It was fun to see how two trains climbing up both lift hills together and crossing eachother in the middle of the ride.
Next stop was Dalton Terror, the Giant Drop in Walibi Belgium. And indeed it is Giant (77 meters/110 kmph). The Intamin erection reaches out everywhere from the park and is probably the best thrill ride in Belgium. After many years, they have used 5 gondelas which made the queues move on very fast. I always feel damn nervous when going up and even now, after so many visits, I can't do this drop without my eyes open.
Challenge of Tutankhamon...a very nice and amazingly themed shooter from Sally having 3 different endings, depending your score. The park has worked very hard to improve this ride, installing new light-effects and renovating many of the animatronics and special effects. However, after doing this on a yearly base the past 8 years I can't manage to get a higher score than 10.000 points.
Many of my collegues were very impressed by the parks mad house; Palais du Génie. The story behind the ride is about a monkey that steals an ancient lamp on an Arabian market, bringing it to Zanzar, who is living in an Arabian looking palace. Inside the lamp lives his enemy: Babas. The monkey accidently rubs the lamp and the ghost of Babas escapes the lamp. During the main show, visitors witness the ultimate fight between Babas and Zanzar for this diamond that is hidden somehwere in the palace. A strong mad house with great music from Cirque de Soleil.
And then there was...WATER
Because of the heat that day, the waterrides in the park had the longest queues of the day. Refreshment was welcome, so we conquered the queues that moved on very smooth. First waterride of the day was Radja River. This ride is known as a very brutal and wild rapid river and I can asure you it is. The 12 seater boats are so gigantic and the power where you hit rocks and barrels with is extremely strong. Last week, a kid was bumped out the boat, nearly getting into the water. Since this year, small kids have to wear swimmingvests when riding Radja River. Since the first time I did Radja River its my favorite ride in the park and after today it still is. Wild, brutal and wet,...
The other waterride in Walibi Belgium is FlashBack. A Mack logflume with invertor. It was completely renovated during the winter of 2009 - 2010. The ride is themed as an old abandoned factory that hides a unique machine that makes people younger. It is a pretty detailed ride, where the story is explained in the station. Many lasereffects, fire effects and funny pictures and a transportmachine, that moves objects such as Crocs, false teeth, a kiddie briefs from Cars, teddybears and many more. The indoorsection of the ride, bringing boats to the first lift and backwards drop got two lightshows and a blinding spotlight when you are dropped backwards. A very wet and fun waterride, leaving us soaked for almost the rest of the day.
Kristof is giving away + and - points...
+ A big applaus for the Walibi Belgium staff. They used to be very critisized the past years, ignoring Flemish visitors and only spoke French. This time, they all spoke French, Dutch and even English and they all were very friendly and way to enthusiast.
+ Queues for restaurants in the park used to be horrible. Way to long, staff working very slow,...but not today. With a huge queue for the Dalton Burger restaurant, we only waited for 10 minutes. And I had the best chips ever in a park!
+ All the rides were on full capacity, which made very short waiting times.
+ The park was very clean. Staff was running around the whole day cleaning the paths in the park and even the queues were often cleaned during operating times.
- The park opens at 10 am, so open your rides at that time. Many rides only opened at 10:30 or 11 am. We already crossed half the park before finding a ride that was opened at 10 am. However, the park stayed open till about 6:30 pm to let all the visitors still in the queue do the ride.
- Many queue-jumpers that easily get away with their actions. Eventhough the park is packed with security people.
- The pond in the middle of Calamity Mine is pretty disgusting. Clean it, Walibi. And the theming in the queue for Calamity Mine looks very dusty and has spiderwebs and spiders everywhere.
Conclusion: one of the best days I ever had in Walibi Belgium. The park was there in all its glory. I like the new Music Battle thema and can't wait for the rest of the transformation. After the new Fabulous Area, another new themed zone is rumored and I can't wait to see how they are going to work that out. The only thing is that Walibi Belgium really needs a brand new ride...a new eye-catcher! Hope to see it arrive soon! Walibi Belgium...make a phonecall to Switzerland please!
It was pretty much fun to hear that two of my collegues never went to Walibi Belgium. One of them was born in Haïti and is in Belgium for two years now and she never saw a themepark from the inside. Should become very interesting. It was a very hot day (30°C) so we all expected the park would be pretty packed and it was. The whole main parking was full and the extra parking was almost completely full. Massive queues at the ticket boxes. Today, Walibi Belgium announced the park got 10.000 visitors per day during Easter Holiday, which lasts two weeks.
However the crowds, kudos for the operators in the park and the full capacity of rides that was used. Queues went out their borders, but the longest queue that day was only 45 minutes.
The Music Battle
Walibi decided to throw away the friendly and cuddly Walibi atmosphere that was there before and replace it with a rock and roll theme. Main stars of the park are the W.A.B. (Walibi Adventure Band) with Walibi, Fibi, Haaz and Zenko and their rivals The SkunX with Walibi's mean twinbrother Squad, Loco and Motiv. That Walibi changed its course becomes very obvious when you enter the Main Plaza of the park, which is painted in bright colors and did remind me of a Fanta commercial. The Hello World song from WAB is being played in different versions, such as a techno-like remix and a very beautiful symphonic version.
As they do since 2006, Walibi Belgium has its very own openingceremony, starting 5 minutes before opening. I heard some weak comments about this ceremony, which used to be a weak performance from Squad and Walibi on the rooftop of the snackbar at the Main Plaza. However, the park already replaced the ceremony a couple of days later. It starts with Squad who is doing a guitarsolo on the snackbar rooftop. Afterwards, you see Walibi standing on the rooftop of the entrance gate from Walibi, singing Hello World and doing some freestyle roofjumping over the WAB Shop, Aqualibi entrance and the snackbar. I was surprised to hear how many people already know both SkunX and WAB songs as they were all screaming them out pretty loud. During the rest of the day, the new charactars drive around the park with their very own pimped out quad having meet and greets with visitors on a regular base.
The brand new 4D Cinema, named Rokken Roll is in one word: AMAZING! The queue of the ride is themed as an old theater with pictures of Vita Drakovitz, which is a pink, fat and old lady dragon, leading the only bar at Shimmeria called Psyke, red curtains old lampposts, etc.. The film itself lasts 9 minutes and is very professional. As there are so many 4D Theaters lately, this is the best I have ever seen. Lots of action and humor, specially about the gigantic boobs of Mrs. Drakovitz. She reminds me of a pink and pumped up version of Tina Turner and Puff, The Magic Drag Queen. The film is visually very strong and the 4D effects are not overwhelming but subtile. Because of the two languages spoken in Belgium, the park split up the queue in two parts: French and Dutch and the movie is showed one time in Dutch, afterwards in French, again in Dutch and so on. Love it and its the only 4D movie I wanted to do for a second time.
Walibi's rides...
It was wonderfull to be in Walibi Belgium with collegues that never visited the park before. Reactions can be pretty genious and funny. Favorite rides of them were FlashBack, the park's logflume, surprisingly on second place was Calamity Mine and the big winner was Werewolf/Loup-Garou. The queue for Loup-Garou was massive, since it was running till the start of the 4D Cinema queue but moved along pretty well, making us wait for only 45 minutes.
To meLoup-Garou gets better year after year. It is wild, has loads of airtime and this total out-of-control feeling on many places.
One of the other favorite rides was Calamity Mine, the Vekoma Main Train. I don't know why, but I skip this ride very often because I wasn't interested in this one. However, today I was very surprised the power this rollercoaster has. It can be pretty vicious on some parts and does have some airtime when you cross the pond. After many years, the main train was riding with 3 trains, loading passengers non-stop, leaving the massive line waiting for only 10 minutes. It was fun to see how two trains climbing up both lift hills together and crossing eachother in the middle of the ride.
Next stop was Dalton Terror, the Giant Drop in Walibi Belgium. And indeed it is Giant (77 meters/110 kmph). The Intamin erection reaches out everywhere from the park and is probably the best thrill ride in Belgium. After many years, they have used 5 gondelas which made the queues move on very fast. I always feel damn nervous when going up and even now, after so many visits, I can't do this drop without my eyes open.
Challenge of Tutankhamon...a very nice and amazingly themed shooter from Sally having 3 different endings, depending your score. The park has worked very hard to improve this ride, installing new light-effects and renovating many of the animatronics and special effects. However, after doing this on a yearly base the past 8 years I can't manage to get a higher score than 10.000 points.
Many of my collegues were very impressed by the parks mad house; Palais du Génie. The story behind the ride is about a monkey that steals an ancient lamp on an Arabian market, bringing it to Zanzar, who is living in an Arabian looking palace. Inside the lamp lives his enemy: Babas. The monkey accidently rubs the lamp and the ghost of Babas escapes the lamp. During the main show, visitors witness the ultimate fight between Babas and Zanzar for this diamond that is hidden somehwere in the palace. A strong mad house with great music from Cirque de Soleil.
And then there was...WATER
Because of the heat that day, the waterrides in the park had the longest queues of the day. Refreshment was welcome, so we conquered the queues that moved on very smooth. First waterride of the day was Radja River. This ride is known as a very brutal and wild rapid river and I can asure you it is. The 12 seater boats are so gigantic and the power where you hit rocks and barrels with is extremely strong. Last week, a kid was bumped out the boat, nearly getting into the water. Since this year, small kids have to wear swimmingvests when riding Radja River. Since the first time I did Radja River its my favorite ride in the park and after today it still is. Wild, brutal and wet,...
The other waterride in Walibi Belgium is FlashBack. A Mack logflume with invertor. It was completely renovated during the winter of 2009 - 2010. The ride is themed as an old abandoned factory that hides a unique machine that makes people younger. It is a pretty detailed ride, where the story is explained in the station. Many lasereffects, fire effects and funny pictures and a transportmachine, that moves objects such as Crocs, false teeth, a kiddie briefs from Cars, teddybears and many more. The indoorsection of the ride, bringing boats to the first lift and backwards drop got two lightshows and a blinding spotlight when you are dropped backwards. A very wet and fun waterride, leaving us soaked for almost the rest of the day.
Kristof is giving away + and - points...
+ A big applaus for the Walibi Belgium staff. They used to be very critisized the past years, ignoring Flemish visitors and only spoke French. This time, they all spoke French, Dutch and even English and they all were very friendly and way to enthusiast.
+ Queues for restaurants in the park used to be horrible. Way to long, staff working very slow,...but not today. With a huge queue for the Dalton Burger restaurant, we only waited for 10 minutes. And I had the best chips ever in a park!
+ All the rides were on full capacity, which made very short waiting times.
+ The park was very clean. Staff was running around the whole day cleaning the paths in the park and even the queues were often cleaned during operating times.
- The park opens at 10 am, so open your rides at that time. Many rides only opened at 10:30 or 11 am. We already crossed half the park before finding a ride that was opened at 10 am. However, the park stayed open till about 6:30 pm to let all the visitors still in the queue do the ride.
- Many queue-jumpers that easily get away with their actions. Eventhough the park is packed with security people.
- The pond in the middle of Calamity Mine is pretty disgusting. Clean it, Walibi. And the theming in the queue for Calamity Mine looks very dusty and has spiderwebs and spiders everywhere.
Conclusion: one of the best days I ever had in Walibi Belgium. The park was there in all its glory. I like the new Music Battle thema and can't wait for the rest of the transformation. After the new Fabulous Area, another new themed zone is rumored and I can't wait to see how they are going to work that out. The only thing is that Walibi Belgium really needs a brand new ride...a new eye-catcher! Hope to see it arrive soon! Walibi Belgium...make a phonecall to Switzerland please!