Ugh, that kid in the Fata Morgana photo both standing up AND using the flash on his phone.
Both front row had phones out filming most of the ride... Surprised nothing was done about it, there was even someone filming Bob that got caught on the on ride camera but nothing was said and photo on Digipass fine. Anything similar in UK would likely see photo taken down and unable to be sold.
Bobbejaanland (24/8/19)
ARRGGGHHHH, remind me never to return here on a special event day! Drive into park was smooth except for small amount of entrance traffic but find it's €8 for the privilege for parking in a field... Paid parking and realised I'd left coat in Breda hotel which I'd checked out of that morning... Headed for entrance to find massive crowds trying to get in through bag checks. Join the queue, get told by security I can't take food in.... Crowds allow me to sneak food back into bag and I continue through crowds to ticket gates. Due to the Yesterdayland festival taking place that day, I get told annual passes not valid and I'd have to pay €25 to get in (still with discount though, standard tickets €60!). Can't pay ticket check guy and get directed to ticket offices, ,located at back of the massive entrance queue! Take chance to return to car to drop food off to avoid problems and grab suncream, was seriously tempted to just drive off at this point. Over 45 mins since arrival and had got nowhere! The fact I'd already paid parking and the festival meant late park opening persuaded me to stay. Walked back to ticket office, paid my €25 and rejoined entrance queue. Now get told by security I can;t take water in due to festival! IT WAS 30 DEGREES CELSIUS AND THEY MADE ME TIP WATER AWAY! Managed to sneak 1 of my 3 bottles in and continued back to ticket gate. This time got in fine but spent well over 1 hour just trying to get through ticket gates! Rant over...
Once in though, it became clear everyone was here for festival, leaving rides quiet. Although paths were packed, all rides were practically walk on. Got 2 rides on a walk on Typhoon first. Very average ride and doesn't really do much, ended up staring into sun on lift though.
Proceeded to Fury next and entered the Voting queueline. This meant my first ever ride on this was backwards! Interesting not having much knowledge of layout and not seeing whats coming! Due to short queue, ran round again for another ride in the Forward Only queue to guarantee a forwards ride. Still fun but definitely prefer the ride backwards. With a Eurofighter and Infinity coaster next to each other, love how the park is (potentially) unintentionally showcasing how much ride technology has improved recently. From an early Eurofighter (likely considered quite innovative and unique when opened) right next to a modern swing launch Infinity. Basically the same ride type, massively improved over the years!
Continuing round lake in anticlockwise fashion, Naga Bay is a rather average Maurer spinner but is still fun, even with not much spinning. Like how it bridges a major park path twice. Rarely anything truely bad about these spinners, smooth and always good fun.
For those unfamilar with Bobbejaan's layout, next to Naga Bay's entrance, there is a sizable park square accessed by 2 major paths and has direct access to 5 ride entrances (Naga Bay, Forbidden Caves, Revolution, Banana Battle and King Kong). Park management decided it was a good place to put the 60s stage, a major festival stage! Was hell trying to get through there as could hardly move due to people watching the bands and people ordering drinks from the festival bars.
Revolution is ok at best. Massive train and lifthill leading to not much at all. All this ride does is turn left! Lifthill spirals left and all coaster sections also turn left, not a single right turn in whole ride. VR not working so couldn't try it out.
Tried Banana Battle, an indoor splash battle, mainly to avoid heading back into festival crowds outside building. Ride is surprisingly wet and water guns will reach other boats, allowing for a true "splash battle" between boats to occur, Was mostly other boats getting me wet rather than the effects.
Speedy Bob just your typical Maurer mouse, not much else to be said about it. Can clearly tell where it used to have a mirror image coaster next to it though.
Park rapids, El Rio, very good. Course mostly tame but contains a whirlpool! Nearly guaranteed to be soaked by the whirlpool, 1st ride I went backwards down whirlpool drop and got hit by a massive wave crashing over boat, soaking my trousers! Was a needed cool down in the heat though.
Dreamcatcher has very unimaginative layout and never really picks up any real speed. Still manages to to be rough in places as well. Again, No VR so couldn't try that. Was first ride with notable queue so actually checked who was playing in this festival. Turns out Sister Sledge headlining with Trammps and Racey also playing the 70s/80s stage.
Having made peace with the fact the festival is happening, I decided to actually check some of it out and headed to 70s stage to catch end of Racey set and grab lunch. Got distracted by Tom Jones tribute on Crooner stage on way, very good but doubt a patch on the original. Also found a water refill point so refilled all my bottles and had needed drink. Just caught Racey set in time for the only Racey song I know, Some Girls. Band seemed pressed for time and only played half the song but they still played it well.
Grabbed overpriced chips from festival bar and headed back to Crooner stage to eat. Another park guest recognised my Hersheypark shirt on way which started brief Skyrush discussion! I love Skyrush but he didn't, he agreed it was better than anything at Bobbejaanland though. Was nice to talk coasters with someone though, even if it was brief and with his limited English.
Continued round park to Oki Doki. Very average Vekoma family coaster but nice to have a unique layout to it. With these so often taking 2 laps per go, having only 1 lap here made ride experience feel very short.
Entered Indiana River building not knowing what to expect, found an indoor log flume! Ride decently themed and surprisingly wet, definitely the better of the 2 log flumes here.
Bob Express was a great surprise and is probably favourite Mack powered. A lot of laterals in helices and great interaction with outdoor log flume, even had touch of airtime in places!
El Paso is indoor shooter. Very average and could use a refurb. No scores in car so have to wait till end to see how you did, thought I did quite well but lost by quite a big margin compared with couple I shared car with.
Wildwaterbaan was the outdoor log flume. Looks older than Indiana River and isn't as good. Drops large but no splash attained from them.
Walking back past entrance, I discover that although park open till 11, most rides only open till 6 and Land of Legends, El Rio, and Wildwasserbaan open till 8, leaving monorail open till 9:30. With it approaching 5 (and a lot of the smaller rides already shut), 2 re-rides each on Naga bay and Revolution were had with a re-ride on Oki doki and Dreamcatcher. Just missed a re-ride on Indiana River due to advertised times being ride close rather than queue close...
With Big Wheel also open till 8, I took a ride for view and photo purposes. View average but allowed for nice views and photo opportunities of rides from above.
Got 2 more Wildwaterbaan rides in before hitting Sledgehammer. Ride took a while to dispatch and ride cycle short but intense. Quiet ride allowed a 2nd ride without moving. Just had time for one more backwards Fury ride before 8 so took it.
Monorail fun and again allowed for some nice coaster views. Nice to have the seat after a long tiring day as well. Figured I might as well have dinner while watching the festival so headed to 60s stage for food. Listened to an Elvis tribute while eating.
Left after this and headed back to Breda to fetch coat before heading to Brussels hotel. Left Netherlands for good at this point as well, won't be returning within this trip! Overall, did manage to have a good day here but entrance faff will forever cast a dark shadow on my opinions of this place, won't be returning for a good while.
Brussels Sightseeing (25/8/19)
Had a needed lie in in morning so got to Vilvoorde train station later than planned. Train in was smooth and quick. Found out that Brussels has a red light district and it's visible from train just north of Brussels Noord station. Was tempted to stop and have quick look but continued into central Brussels, wouldn't have visited any of the "shops" anyway.
Central Brussels very nice and hilly, quite confusing for a tourist on first visit without map though. Found my way to church near Royal palace, very nice inside very typical of most Catholic churches of the era.
After a few wrong turns, eventually found Royal Palace and headed in. No problems at security today but had to leave bag in free cloakroom. Palace very nice inside, all rooms grand and well furnished as would be expected, included a lot of official royal family photos in the rooms they were taken in. These photos often taken during some sort of official duty, usually meeting foriegn ambassadors and leaders. Being a HTTYD fan, loved the fact there has been at least 1 Queen Astrid in Belgian history! Was a children's interactive science in the last room with some fun activities within, including a live webcam with filters to make room look like various historical painting styles! Found a city map in gift shop so purchased that so i knew where I was going.
Walked to Palace of Justice next but was down for refurbishment. Going by construction hoardings on outside, this refurb was supposed to be completed 2008! Little over planned timescale then... (Quick google suggests 2040 for projected completion now... Must be a huge job they're doing)
Made my way over to EU parliament offices next. Being British and an EU supporter who voted Remain, I so wanted a t-shirt saying something along the lines of "I voted Remain #notmyfault" to wear while at the EU offices! It being a Sunday, actual buildings shut and but Museum of European History open so popped in. Museum fantastic and works through a free tablet audio/visual guide available in all official EU languages, makes it easy for any European to visit. Surprisingly large though and spent too much time inside, leaving little time to get to Atomium.
Hopped on Metro to Atomium and arrived right as they closed for the day... Although I couldn't go inside, it is still a fantastic structure to see in person. After wander round grounds, found the Mini Europe Model Village nearby which was open till 8. Wasn't expecting much but paid entry and headed in. Turned out to be quite fab with very detailed models of at least 1 landmark from each EU country. Some were interactive as well with buttons to press to make things happen in the scene. Loved the unintentional detail of fast German train passing the broken British train on the model railway running around the site... Also, they have added in Brexit campaign protesters outside the Parliament model!
Hopped back on Metro to Astrid Park afterwards, As expected, named after the Belgian queen, not the HTTYD character but still got photo with the sign. A lot of park down for a needed refurbishment as well. Was starting to get dark and park outside of touristy areas so didn't hang around inside. Did find food in cafe outside main gate though.
Although tired and needing sleep, decided to see city centre by night, inspired by the Mini Europe model of the Grote Markt in Brussels city centre. Was very nicely lit up and bars surrounding it very busy. If I had more time and had company, looks to be a great area for a pub crawl!
Overall, the touristy areas of Brussels nice but very noticeable dip in quality outside these areas, especially noticeable from train in northern area of the city. Would return though.
Plopsa Coo (26/8/19)
This involved the longest single journey of the trip and on paper was only a simple +2 only included due to free entry on Plopsa pass. Park is truly in the middle of nowhere and satnav took me over an almost single track mountain road. First real hills for car for a good while! Car also falling apart further, lost piece of drivers window trim on way to park...
Park itself is surprisingly fab. Nestled in valley within Belgian mountains and at foot of 2 reservoirs with a sizable waterfall at park entrance. As expected, rides not up to much but will definitelyt return just for the parks location.
Wicky was my first Gerst spinner. Very average without much spinning, rough in places as well. Definitely prefer the Mack and Maurer spinners.
Halvar has same track and train system as Revolution. Amazing to see it turn right! Ride nothing special but did remind me a lot of Muntanya Russa at Tibidabo.
Log flume fun with unique layout but minimal splash. Got to see it fill though! Staggered opening meant it didn't open till 12 and I was in Halvar queue at 11:45. Saw the waves come down track like a tidal bore followed by empty test boats a few minutes later!
Dino splash fun. Unusual to see a halfpipe-style slide outside a waterpark so had to take a ride. Not particularly fast so didn't get far up wall, ended up down rest of slide backwards though which was fun.
Bobsled unique with going up lifthill backwards! Allowed me to enjoy the fantastic view easier though. 2 tracks to choose from at top, track A definitely quicker with more interesting elements.
Had lunch sat on river beach overlooking waterfall. As mentioned above, the best bit of this park is it's location, is a lovely waterfall to watch. Standing in spray allows for nice nice to cool down in heat as well.
By far the highlight of today was the chairlift up a mountainside outside park boundary. Combined with the observation tower at the top, the views observed from the chairlift were utterly fantastic. Could have stayed up there all day, pity I don't have a proper camera to capture it! Reminded me of the similar chairlift at Knoebels, complete with the fantastic mountain view and ride crossing over a public road!
Rode Go Karts next. By far had longest queue of day at around 45 mins due to low capacity combined with popularity. Think I unintentionally got a slow car though, was flooring it all the way around but people still able to overtake and couldn't catch anyone.
Filled rest of day with rerides and taking in the parks location. Park does feel like a European Knoebels on a much smaller scale, very much a hidden gem and will definitely return.
Had dinner at pizzeria in Grand Coo village immediately outside park. Nice meal and allowed for more time taking in the location, including more waterfall photos. Gave me chance to try Belgian beer as well, is as nice as reports make it out to be. Was lovely but couldn't indulge too much as had to drive back to hotel afterwards. As usual, see FB for photos, reminder of link here:
https://www.facebook.com/Thekingin64/media_set?set=a.2681505141880456&type=3&uploaded=32
