KristofWB
Hyper Poster
As it is a tradition since 9 years, I visit Halloween at Walibi Belgium every year. As I remember from my first visit at Halloween in 2002, the event was actually pretty mixed up with decorations and one haunted house. Over the years, Walibi Belgium developed a more professional Halloween with about 5 haunted houses per year. Since 2008, Walibi Belgium made a whole concept and story around Halloween. This year, in my opinion, Walibi Belgium gave us the best version of Halloween ever.
In 2008, Walibi Belgium started with their own version of the 'Carnival of Freaks' scare zone in Walibi Holland. Monster Festival didn't become a scare-zone, but was the concept and theming for the entire park. Walibi Belgium introduced Draco, manager of a circus with monsters and freaks. One year later, Draco returned but his evil stepmom, Marva, showed up, trying to ruin her stepsons Monster Festival. At the finale of 2009's Halloween, Marva caught Draco and locked him up in a cage. In 2010, Marva took over the complete Monster Festival and her character became so popular, she had over 5000 fans on Facebook after one week. At the end of the 2010 finale, Marva went back to Russia and wasn't planning to return. Untill 2011, when she got the message that her monsters she left behind for dead, transformed into horrific zombies. They were after her trying to destroy her Monster Festival. She returned and had to see how they were taking over Walibi Belgium. Once again, Walibi Belgium has been a victim of the popularity of their Halloween, recieving 85.000 visitors only for the parks nocturnes (5 days during Halloween).
The Zombie Zone
For the first time in over 11 years, Walibi Belgium split the park in three parts. A funny and friendly Halloween for kids from 6 years old at Walibi Playland, Marva Land with the Candy Factory for families and the Zombie Zone, for teenagers and young adults. The new creation for 2011 was Zombie Zone, located over the Italian and Lucky Luke area in the park. Pretty huge actually and I never expected it to be themed that nice.
Once you enter the Zombie Zone, it is clearly to see they did take over the park. Interesting detail, for the Zombie Invasion in Walibi Belgium, the park recruted over 120 actors for streetanimation and the haunted houses. Actors are clearly everywhere and are not afraid to interact with visitors. They suddenly jump out of bushed and from behind corners and are not afraid to touch you or to force you from one place to another. Details on make-up was incredible. Contacts, horrific wounds and even bloody drool which they often offer guests to take a taste of it. Actors include a married woman, a widow, a zombie girl walking around with a dead dog, a woman walking around eating a rat and one eating a human head. In the Zombie Zone, there are 4 haunted houses located; Marva's Candy Factory (Marva Land), The Fanta Mine of Fear, Zoo Terror II and Insomnia.
Candy Factory
The only haunted house left over from 2010 and designed for kids and the family. Marva built a special factory where she has this tiny and funny oompa-loompa-looking creatures cooking her special candy. Kids are told that the recipe for those candy are a secret and will not be reveiled as she says it would be pretty digusting. This haunted house had a pretty short queue (60 minutes) compared to the other ones. However, Walibi Belgium made it enjoyable by having a magician and diabolic clowns entertaining the people waiting. Somewhere towards the end of the queue, there is Marva on her balcony shouting the most offensive things to visitors ("Bald man can be sexy. You sir, on the other hand look like a penis!"). However, for a kiddie haunted house, Candy Factory had a few scare-effects. For the rest it is very strange to imagine this haunted house, including a huge fountain, is built into a tent. Also nice are the massive amount of candy people get after coming out of the house.
The Fanta Mine of Fear
It is not the first time that Fanta set up a haunted house in Walibi Belgium. The last time was in 2006 and 2007 when they came up with "Hotel Fant'ôme", which was a 16+ maze at the amfitheater in the park. I remember one scene of this Hotel Fant'ôme, which was a butcher throwing pieces of meat at people. This year, Fanta built a family walk-through, which was located in the queue from Calamity Mine. I had no expectations for this ride, I thought it might be pretty lame because it was sponsored by Fanta. But this was, together with Insomnia, the biggest surprise of the day. Goal of the Fanta Mine of Fear is to score as many points with a laserstick. You have to hit as many targets as possible and those targets activate many special effects of the ride. The scoring was pretty easy, however, it was made pretty difficult with the amount of actors who scared the hell out of us. Because it was located at the Calamity Mine queue, we thought it would be very short, but it actually took a lot of time before we got out. After you finished the game, you walk straight into the Calamity Mine station. The park opened an extra queue for guests who didn't want to pass Mine of Fear, and it was funny to see that the queue for them was pretty much longer.
Zombie River
Walibi Belgium did the very same thing the last two years. Only then it was named 'Clowns River'. Back then I already thought it was a lame ride and the scare effects were all predictable. An ideal ride for kids who will enjoy the scenery, which were all gravestones, tires, cages and dead bodies. But even for a lame ride as this, it had a queue from over an hour. For us it was the moment to take a little rest since the ride takes waaaaaaay to long time and is very slow.
Zoo Terror II
The first edition for Zoo Terror was a HUGE success. A couple of days ago, Walibi Belgium told us that in 2010, the maximum waiting time for this Halloweenride was 4(!) hours. We all thought it wouldn't return, but it did. And how. I think almost everyone saw the video of Zoo Terror I. But forget everything you know about that video. Zoo Terror II is completely different. No longer stand and watch, but a walk-through with alot of scènes and small shows. At first there was this very narrow hallway that was filled with trees. It was very calm at first, untill you get chased by a deformed zombie with a chainsaw. After that, a group gets stopped by some zombies, picking two people out of the audience and hang them up. I'm still figuring out how they did this effect, because it looked bloody realistic. After that you pass rooms stuffed with crazy actors terrorising visitors and even made alot of girls cry. The finale was amazing too, as all visitors get locked up in a cage, being witness of a man on an electric chair. Again as with the hanging, how did they make the effects work? Because it seemed like this guys head was actually exploding from inside and his eyes were popping out.
Insomnia
The haunted house I was looking forward to the most. And I think half Belgium was. The parks bumpercars transformed into one of the most mysterious walk-throughs ever in Walibi Belgium. The park didn't say anything more from Insomnia, which they usually do with other rides. We did not expect what was going to happen at all. First of all, we almost queued for 2 hours to do this ride and I didn't regret it at all. The ride starts at somekind of dungeon from a church. In front of you there are 7 doors and zombies will bury you alive. Next, you get locked up into a narrow and VERY small (1m at 2m) room with approx. 6 people at a time. The room is pitchdark and you hear scratching and knocking on the door and walls of the room, untill this freaky zombie suddenly opens a shaft at the ceiling and starts pulling your hair. The doors open and you get pulled out of the room by a zombie and you can start walking through the actual maze. You pass a constructionsite, some manga-like scenes with zombies, a cellar that looked like an S&M club, with actors in latex and pins through their head. You have to get up and down some stairs with actors grabbing your legs and nearly at the end I thought it was getting a little to intense. You enter a prison and zombies with these orange jumpsuits tear groups apart, locking them up in cells alone, together with at least one brutally loud and agressive actor. At last, they let you out and you can finish the rest of Insomnia all alone.
Insomnia is for sure the best Halloweenride in the park and comments from even the most critical fans are amazing. It was the first time in my life I ever had the feeling of "Help me, I really want to get out" and never felt so uncomfortable. A very claustrophobic time I had inthere. The massive amount of actors did alot to it. And they really were everywhere: on the ceiling, in corners, inside the walls, underneath stairs and they are not afraid to become personal with visitors!
Zombie Celebration
In 2009 and 2010, we had the finale with a pretty long show and fireworks in front of Loup-Garou. Because of the chaos afterwards, Walibi decided to move the finale of the nocturnes to the central lake in the park. Zombie Celebration is a mix of everything: a live-show (sadly, Marva gets killed during the beginning of the show), dancing, lighteffects, music, soundeffects, explosions, fire and ofcourse: fireworks. I must say, this show amazed me from the beginning till the end. Everything seemed just so right and spectaculair. The very long applause from the audience afterwards told us we were not the only one.
Conclusion?
From the past 9 years I did Halloween in Walibi Belgium, this was the best. The storyline behind Halloween was just right, the actors were amazing, theming was great, haunted houses were fantastic (and unlike Walibi Holland FREE)! Now Marva, the leading character for the past two years, is murdered, I'm pretty curious how they will do it next year. I know Walibi Belgium will start with the planning from Halloween 2012 in december and I'm wondering if they could do any better than this year.
A video I found on YouTube that includes a compilation of Halloween 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLYf_XoOh-w
In 2008, Walibi Belgium started with their own version of the 'Carnival of Freaks' scare zone in Walibi Holland. Monster Festival didn't become a scare-zone, but was the concept and theming for the entire park. Walibi Belgium introduced Draco, manager of a circus with monsters and freaks. One year later, Draco returned but his evil stepmom, Marva, showed up, trying to ruin her stepsons Monster Festival. At the finale of 2009's Halloween, Marva caught Draco and locked him up in a cage. In 2010, Marva took over the complete Monster Festival and her character became so popular, she had over 5000 fans on Facebook after one week. At the end of the 2010 finale, Marva went back to Russia and wasn't planning to return. Untill 2011, when she got the message that her monsters she left behind for dead, transformed into horrific zombies. They were after her trying to destroy her Monster Festival. She returned and had to see how they were taking over Walibi Belgium. Once again, Walibi Belgium has been a victim of the popularity of their Halloween, recieving 85.000 visitors only for the parks nocturnes (5 days during Halloween).
The Zombie Zone
For the first time in over 11 years, Walibi Belgium split the park in three parts. A funny and friendly Halloween for kids from 6 years old at Walibi Playland, Marva Land with the Candy Factory for families and the Zombie Zone, for teenagers and young adults. The new creation for 2011 was Zombie Zone, located over the Italian and Lucky Luke area in the park. Pretty huge actually and I never expected it to be themed that nice.
Once you enter the Zombie Zone, it is clearly to see they did take over the park. Interesting detail, for the Zombie Invasion in Walibi Belgium, the park recruted over 120 actors for streetanimation and the haunted houses. Actors are clearly everywhere and are not afraid to interact with visitors. They suddenly jump out of bushed and from behind corners and are not afraid to touch you or to force you from one place to another. Details on make-up was incredible. Contacts, horrific wounds and even bloody drool which they often offer guests to take a taste of it. Actors include a married woman, a widow, a zombie girl walking around with a dead dog, a woman walking around eating a rat and one eating a human head. In the Zombie Zone, there are 4 haunted houses located; Marva's Candy Factory (Marva Land), The Fanta Mine of Fear, Zoo Terror II and Insomnia.
Candy Factory
The only haunted house left over from 2010 and designed for kids and the family. Marva built a special factory where she has this tiny and funny oompa-loompa-looking creatures cooking her special candy. Kids are told that the recipe for those candy are a secret and will not be reveiled as she says it would be pretty digusting. This haunted house had a pretty short queue (60 minutes) compared to the other ones. However, Walibi Belgium made it enjoyable by having a magician and diabolic clowns entertaining the people waiting. Somewhere towards the end of the queue, there is Marva on her balcony shouting the most offensive things to visitors ("Bald man can be sexy. You sir, on the other hand look like a penis!"). However, for a kiddie haunted house, Candy Factory had a few scare-effects. For the rest it is very strange to imagine this haunted house, including a huge fountain, is built into a tent. Also nice are the massive amount of candy people get after coming out of the house.
The Fanta Mine of Fear
It is not the first time that Fanta set up a haunted house in Walibi Belgium. The last time was in 2006 and 2007 when they came up with "Hotel Fant'ôme", which was a 16+ maze at the amfitheater in the park. I remember one scene of this Hotel Fant'ôme, which was a butcher throwing pieces of meat at people. This year, Fanta built a family walk-through, which was located in the queue from Calamity Mine. I had no expectations for this ride, I thought it might be pretty lame because it was sponsored by Fanta. But this was, together with Insomnia, the biggest surprise of the day. Goal of the Fanta Mine of Fear is to score as many points with a laserstick. You have to hit as many targets as possible and those targets activate many special effects of the ride. The scoring was pretty easy, however, it was made pretty difficult with the amount of actors who scared the hell out of us. Because it was located at the Calamity Mine queue, we thought it would be very short, but it actually took a lot of time before we got out. After you finished the game, you walk straight into the Calamity Mine station. The park opened an extra queue for guests who didn't want to pass Mine of Fear, and it was funny to see that the queue for them was pretty much longer.
Zombie River
Walibi Belgium did the very same thing the last two years. Only then it was named 'Clowns River'. Back then I already thought it was a lame ride and the scare effects were all predictable. An ideal ride for kids who will enjoy the scenery, which were all gravestones, tires, cages and dead bodies. But even for a lame ride as this, it had a queue from over an hour. For us it was the moment to take a little rest since the ride takes waaaaaaay to long time and is very slow.
Zoo Terror II
The first edition for Zoo Terror was a HUGE success. A couple of days ago, Walibi Belgium told us that in 2010, the maximum waiting time for this Halloweenride was 4(!) hours. We all thought it wouldn't return, but it did. And how. I think almost everyone saw the video of Zoo Terror I. But forget everything you know about that video. Zoo Terror II is completely different. No longer stand and watch, but a walk-through with alot of scènes and small shows. At first there was this very narrow hallway that was filled with trees. It was very calm at first, untill you get chased by a deformed zombie with a chainsaw. After that, a group gets stopped by some zombies, picking two people out of the audience and hang them up. I'm still figuring out how they did this effect, because it looked bloody realistic. After that you pass rooms stuffed with crazy actors terrorising visitors and even made alot of girls cry. The finale was amazing too, as all visitors get locked up in a cage, being witness of a man on an electric chair. Again as with the hanging, how did they make the effects work? Because it seemed like this guys head was actually exploding from inside and his eyes were popping out.
Insomnia
The haunted house I was looking forward to the most. And I think half Belgium was. The parks bumpercars transformed into one of the most mysterious walk-throughs ever in Walibi Belgium. The park didn't say anything more from Insomnia, which they usually do with other rides. We did not expect what was going to happen at all. First of all, we almost queued for 2 hours to do this ride and I didn't regret it at all. The ride starts at somekind of dungeon from a church. In front of you there are 7 doors and zombies will bury you alive. Next, you get locked up into a narrow and VERY small (1m at 2m) room with approx. 6 people at a time. The room is pitchdark and you hear scratching and knocking on the door and walls of the room, untill this freaky zombie suddenly opens a shaft at the ceiling and starts pulling your hair. The doors open and you get pulled out of the room by a zombie and you can start walking through the actual maze. You pass a constructionsite, some manga-like scenes with zombies, a cellar that looked like an S&M club, with actors in latex and pins through their head. You have to get up and down some stairs with actors grabbing your legs and nearly at the end I thought it was getting a little to intense. You enter a prison and zombies with these orange jumpsuits tear groups apart, locking them up in cells alone, together with at least one brutally loud and agressive actor. At last, they let you out and you can finish the rest of Insomnia all alone.
Insomnia is for sure the best Halloweenride in the park and comments from even the most critical fans are amazing. It was the first time in my life I ever had the feeling of "Help me, I really want to get out" and never felt so uncomfortable. A very claustrophobic time I had inthere. The massive amount of actors did alot to it. And they really were everywhere: on the ceiling, in corners, inside the walls, underneath stairs and they are not afraid to become personal with visitors!
Zombie Celebration
In 2009 and 2010, we had the finale with a pretty long show and fireworks in front of Loup-Garou. Because of the chaos afterwards, Walibi decided to move the finale of the nocturnes to the central lake in the park. Zombie Celebration is a mix of everything: a live-show (sadly, Marva gets killed during the beginning of the show), dancing, lighteffects, music, soundeffects, explosions, fire and ofcourse: fireworks. I must say, this show amazed me from the beginning till the end. Everything seemed just so right and spectaculair. The very long applause from the audience afterwards told us we were not the only one.
Conclusion?
From the past 9 years I did Halloween in Walibi Belgium, this was the best. The storyline behind Halloween was just right, the actors were amazing, theming was great, haunted houses were fantastic (and unlike Walibi Holland FREE)! Now Marva, the leading character for the past two years, is murdered, I'm pretty curious how they will do it next year. I know Walibi Belgium will start with the planning from Halloween 2012 in december and I'm wondering if they could do any better than this year.
A video I found on YouTube that includes a compilation of Halloween 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLYf_XoOh-w
