This park was such a surprise! Walibi Belgium was my favourite new park of my summer trip as in the words of many of my friends, it's had 'a major glow up' in the last few years. There's still a few areas missing some general theming like the Weerwolf & Vampire bit in the entrance and then both kids areas. I feel like Weerwolf and Vampire could turn into a great supernatural/dark themed land with a flat ride and better theming. The rest of the park is beautiful and so detailed, especially the India area with Cobra and Popcorn Revenge! There'll be a few spoilers ahead, so scroll down to my final thoughts at the end if you want to avoid those.
Exotic World:
Obviously the main attraction to Walibi Belgium now is Kondaa - their new for 2021 Intamin Mega Coaster. It's built into a new expansion of the Exotic World area as a kind of 'dark side' to the exotic land. I love the theming of this coaster just wish they went a bit more all out and threw in a pre-show however the concept if fab! The detail of the train was also beautiful and so interesting to admire, just like the cave painted walls of the station! The atmosphere in this area was created so well with the surrounding nature, music, shop & threatening entrance doorway to Kondaa's queue.
The coaster itself was great with strong airtime, a terrifying drop and good near miss elements with the rest of the track. I loved it, however I felt it never quite perfected the airtime as the ejector was good but the floater just wasn't there. Incredible top 10 coaster nonetheless! It did struggle a little bit with downtime but the engineers were all working super hard getting it back up and running quickly.
Tiki waka is a custom Gerstlauer bobsled in the 'good side' of exotic world. As an avid Gerstlauer fangirl, this coaster was right up my street! There were so many cute details throughout the station and coaster like the traffic lights before the lift hill, the little wooden arrows indicating the direction you next head in and of course the face on the train! The Tiki-Trail around the coaster was super fun and provided unique angles of the coaster that were great for photos.
Behind Tiki Waka was Challenge of Tutankhamon, a Sally Rides Trackless dark ride from 2003. I assume this is the ride that put Walibi Belgium on the map for European theme parks because oh my, this thing is amazing. I literally prefer it to Ratatouille. The ride is an interactive shooter that has the same guns as Laser Raiders at Legoland Windsor. Its animatronics are realistic, its theming is stunning and the multi-route elements that relate to your score make each ride more interesting and the entire thing more re-rideable.
Calamity mine was an incredibly painful Vekoma mine train with some cool effects and rockwork, but was so painful I wouldn't re-ride it, so a no from me. Dalton Terror had little theming but was so forceful and had very good ops. The 4D cinema was fun and I obviously loved Buzzsaw because it's a Huss Top Spin.
The only area that felt out of place in this park was at the entrance, where Loup-Garou and Vampire were. I think the 2 of them could be themed together into a Transylvania type area with some new pathways and theming. However, both coasters are getting old so once the park gets the money, I think the coasters could be replaced anyway. RMC Loup-Garou anyone?
Karma World:
I am actually obsessed with this area! The way they managed to mesh the 3 major rides here together is so impressive. Popcorn Revenge may be my favourite Dark Ride in Europe. Cobra is kind of painful, but it looks really cute and you can see it from the Waterpark, so I like it. Radja River was very entertaining too, all the water effects were so over the top and soaked anyone riding.
Fun World:
Psyke Underground and Pulsar were both very fun and well themed but lack true thrill. The launch on Psyke Underground was surprisingly intense but has nothing on a Hydraulic Launch. I wish Pulsar had slightly more theming as the coaster itself did such an amazing job at making giving a shuttle water coaster awesome self-checking restrains and a good throughput.
Overall, totally wowed by this park. Tutankhamon, Popcorn Revenge and Kondaa were the highlights to me but Pulsar and Tiki Waka were great smaller additions too. We had a fun trip to the waterpark on our way back through Belgium later in the trip so I will cover than eventually but for now, that's Walibi Belgium.
Have you visited a Walibi Park? Do you think Kondaa makes the Europe top 5? Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you next time!
Cleo x
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