MackMan
Mega Poster
So I never really have made it to the Benelux Parks as a Londoner. I do not drive, so the Eurostar is usually my only option which costs a million pounds. I don’t know, I just always put off going to Belgium/France, the last time I visited France was 2012.. My French is also awful and my German is better, so I generally find myself drawn to the German parks. A lot of my family abroad live in Germany/Austria too, so it makes more sense to skip France and the Benelux with parks.
A while ago I found a very good deal with the Eurostar and I decided to book a trip to Lille. I searched the nearest parks and I realised I would be 2 hours away from Plopsaland, a park that i had been aching to visit since Ride to Happiness shattered the European industry. Bellewaerde Really was an impulse decision as my boyfriend likes zoo and I like theme parks- fu** it let’s go!
PLOPSALAND DE PANNE:
Plopsaland is a good themed park. The Theming is good and the park has a good entrance with good outlined lands. I think the theming is not on the scale of Europa or Phantasialand, but I think the effort shows. The landscaping equally is good.
The park sits on quite a well developed town, with easy rail links from Lille or Brussels, so getting there without a car is totally fine. The first thing I saw was RTH just lurking over us and god what a beautiful coaster. It feels a little out of a place to be honest. A behemoth depraved Mack Beauty in the middle of a humble family park..
Anyway I just wanna review the main 3 as they are the stuff I think most care about.
Heidi:
Brilliant little GCI. Full of airtime, smooth, and great pacing. If White Lightning is alike then sign me up.
I find the ride generally flows really well and there is plenty of airtime and laterals like most GCI’s. I do think Heidi is better than Wickerman potentially. I think it has stronger airtime.
My one complaint is I think the train length is laughable and the throughput feels weak (635 at its most optimal apparently). Plopsa gets really busy in August and the low throughout is miserable.
Anubis:
Another win for Plopsa for me. Anubis is a snappy really forceful Gerstlauer. My two highlights are the launch and the top hat(ish) style element after the launch. The launch is honestly one of the best launches I have experienced? It just feels so abrupt and powerful, so unexpected for a fairly small launch coaster. The top hat after just flings you over like a rag doll too. I found the airtime aggressive and impressive.
The elements after are all solid and throw in some good laterals and a really fun Heartline Roll. Anubis’s first two elements are kind of elite IMO and I might rank this fairly high in my rankings. My main detractors are like Heidi the ride seems to disregard throughput. It does run three trains though but of 6 riders it can make a slow queue. The restraints are also terrible and the ride does have a rattle. Anubis is probably in my top 20 though. It has one of the most aggressive starts to a coaster ever.
Ride To Hapiness:
I love Mack. Icon and Blue Fire despite not being the most forceful coasters are rides i love. I think it’s the restraints, the smoothness, or just the way Mack coasters ride. Voltron took that Mack Design and turned it elite. Ride to Happiness achieves its own level of creativity with its brilliant layout and spinning.
I have never ridden an Extreme Spinner before and I have to admit I think it may be one of the most promising coaster models. Mack is great and all but having the spinning element to their coasters just cause a level of Chaos and unique forces to this ride. Ride to Happiness feels so ground breaking for roller coasters and shows us what beasts this coaster model can be.
I’m 3 years late to this party but the hype is absolutely justified. I found my 3 rides all slightly different to each other and pure chaos. The variety of forces the spinning provides just makes the ride variable and chaotic. How can a coaster feel so different each ride, and the spinning feels so masterful. It completely compliments the layout but manages to not feel sickly. I would describe Ride To Happiness as near perfect.
My non enthusiast partner equally raved at this ride. It is just so chaotic and fun and I think even non enthusiasts can enjoy the minute or so of chaos the ride provides.
RTH is a brilliant coaster and deserves every drop of hype it has been given. On other notes I like the theme but I find the ride dispatch speech a little annoying after a while. The ride spent half the day on one train operations too. The hour queue during an August peak day felt a little frustrating. Honestly one train on your Mack is a joke compared to Voltron’s 8.
I think the way the express pass works as well kind of slows down dispatches even worse. They have to board the passengers from the exit first, pause about 10 seconds then load the rest on. The throughput probably was around 400 which is painful compared to the 1400+ on Voltron. Maybe I’m just spoilt by Europa Park and it’s fast queues?
Operations/Food
As stated the operations are honestly mediocre. The throughputs on the rides are bad which is probably fine in the quieter months, but is painfully apparent during Summer. I know Plopsa is a smaller park but I do wonder if future additions should address the throughput problem.
I also feel like the park could improve its food offering- it’s generally pretty mediocre too. I do think the park has a rock solid strong top three with Anubis being stupidly underated. I do think Plopsaland is a must for those three coasters alone, but I do hesitate to call it the best park in Europe. Nowhere near in my opinion. Phantasialand and Europa Park just have so much more of a package. I do feel Plopsaland also has a few gaps. A good rapids ride and a dark ride both are needed!
Ride to Happiness is certainly a top three coaster for me and I do not regret this trip! I’ll be back! Voltron, Ride to Happiness, and Hyperia next month are all such heavy hitters for my top 20. I am unsure on whether Hyperia can match Voltron or Steel Vengeance.
Bellewaerde next!
A while ago I found a very good deal with the Eurostar and I decided to book a trip to Lille. I searched the nearest parks and I realised I would be 2 hours away from Plopsaland, a park that i had been aching to visit since Ride to Happiness shattered the European industry. Bellewaerde Really was an impulse decision as my boyfriend likes zoo and I like theme parks- fu** it let’s go!
PLOPSALAND DE PANNE:
Plopsaland is a good themed park. The Theming is good and the park has a good entrance with good outlined lands. I think the theming is not on the scale of Europa or Phantasialand, but I think the effort shows. The landscaping equally is good.
The park sits on quite a well developed town, with easy rail links from Lille or Brussels, so getting there without a car is totally fine. The first thing I saw was RTH just lurking over us and god what a beautiful coaster. It feels a little out of a place to be honest. A behemoth depraved Mack Beauty in the middle of a humble family park..
Anyway I just wanna review the main 3 as they are the stuff I think most care about.
Heidi:
Brilliant little GCI. Full of airtime, smooth, and great pacing. If White Lightning is alike then sign me up.
I find the ride generally flows really well and there is plenty of airtime and laterals like most GCI’s. I do think Heidi is better than Wickerman potentially. I think it has stronger airtime.
My one complaint is I think the train length is laughable and the throughput feels weak (635 at its most optimal apparently). Plopsa gets really busy in August and the low throughout is miserable.
Anubis:
Another win for Plopsa for me. Anubis is a snappy really forceful Gerstlauer. My two highlights are the launch and the top hat(ish) style element after the launch. The launch is honestly one of the best launches I have experienced? It just feels so abrupt and powerful, so unexpected for a fairly small launch coaster. The top hat after just flings you over like a rag doll too. I found the airtime aggressive and impressive.
The elements after are all solid and throw in some good laterals and a really fun Heartline Roll. Anubis’s first two elements are kind of elite IMO and I might rank this fairly high in my rankings. My main detractors are like Heidi the ride seems to disregard throughput. It does run three trains though but of 6 riders it can make a slow queue. The restraints are also terrible and the ride does have a rattle. Anubis is probably in my top 20 though. It has one of the most aggressive starts to a coaster ever.
Ride To Hapiness:
I love Mack. Icon and Blue Fire despite not being the most forceful coasters are rides i love. I think it’s the restraints, the smoothness, or just the way Mack coasters ride. Voltron took that Mack Design and turned it elite. Ride to Happiness achieves its own level of creativity with its brilliant layout and spinning.
I have never ridden an Extreme Spinner before and I have to admit I think it may be one of the most promising coaster models. Mack is great and all but having the spinning element to their coasters just cause a level of Chaos and unique forces to this ride. Ride to Happiness feels so ground breaking for roller coasters and shows us what beasts this coaster model can be.
I’m 3 years late to this party but the hype is absolutely justified. I found my 3 rides all slightly different to each other and pure chaos. The variety of forces the spinning provides just makes the ride variable and chaotic. How can a coaster feel so different each ride, and the spinning feels so masterful. It completely compliments the layout but manages to not feel sickly. I would describe Ride To Happiness as near perfect.
My non enthusiast partner equally raved at this ride. It is just so chaotic and fun and I think even non enthusiasts can enjoy the minute or so of chaos the ride provides.
RTH is a brilliant coaster and deserves every drop of hype it has been given. On other notes I like the theme but I find the ride dispatch speech a little annoying after a while. The ride spent half the day on one train operations too. The hour queue during an August peak day felt a little frustrating. Honestly one train on your Mack is a joke compared to Voltron’s 8.
I think the way the express pass works as well kind of slows down dispatches even worse. They have to board the passengers from the exit first, pause about 10 seconds then load the rest on. The throughput probably was around 400 which is painful compared to the 1400+ on Voltron. Maybe I’m just spoilt by Europa Park and it’s fast queues?Operations/Food
As stated the operations are honestly mediocre. The throughputs on the rides are bad which is probably fine in the quieter months, but is painfully apparent during Summer. I know Plopsa is a smaller park but I do wonder if future additions should address the throughput problem.
I also feel like the park could improve its food offering- it’s generally pretty mediocre too. I do think the park has a rock solid strong top three with Anubis being stupidly underated. I do think Plopsaland is a must for those three coasters alone, but I do hesitate to call it the best park in Europe. Nowhere near in my opinion. Phantasialand and Europa Park just have so much more of a package. I do feel Plopsaland also has a few gaps. A good rapids ride and a dark ride both are needed!
Ride to Happiness is certainly a top three coaster for me and I do not regret this trip! I’ll be back! Voltron, Ride to Happiness, and Hyperia next month are all such heavy hitters for my top 20. I am unsure on whether Hyperia can match Voltron or Steel Vengeance.
Bellewaerde next!