Walibi World Report(8/5/05)

Day 3 of our ECC trip to Holland brought us to Walibi World which was formally Six Flags Holland, now seeing as it was a Six Flags Park, I did start to wonder how the transformation has affected the park,Most reports I ever read in the Six Flags era was nothing but bad, but a few thing I had read sinse it became walibi world were better so what was I going to make of everything.

On arrival, we were due for a short ERS on Goliath,but this actually turned into nearly a 1hr ERS which was great, sadly the weather was not kind to us throughout the ERS with one train load getting caught in a downpour, but it didnt dampen our spirits. So onto the ride, I thought it was nothing but impressive, sure it was running a big sluggish in the morning, but it still felt a good ride, the first and second drops deliver a kick ass amount of airtime, and the stengal dive(as its called) is a very weird sensation, the helix's are probably slighty disapointing as they seem to take the pace out of the ride a little, but still felt nice and intense in the back, the end of the ride ends in a series of bunny hops delivering yet more airtime, and then ends with a wild low banked turn leading into the brake run. So the Ride is good, Its not the biggest but does deliver high on thrills and give out a nice smooth ride.

Next it was onto Splash Battle, I was'nt sure weather to ride this, but we all got a shock when they gave out water macs to ride with(Would Six Flags ever do something like that) anyway this is probably a hard ride to describe in words(Just see the pictures) but basiclly its an interactive water ride where you go around on cars with water guns firing them at other cars/people,there are also water targets to fire at to set off water effects, but beware as people off ride also use guns to get you wet too.This is the first ride ever of its kind and its works really really well, and its a lot of fun too, my only minor complaint is that I found the guns rather hard to fire, as you have to constantly turn a handle, I would have prefered a simple solution of a button to press.

Next it was time to try La Via Volta(The Boomerang) I will be honest and say this is one of the smoothest boomerang coasters I've ridden, but its still not one I would be willing to ride a lot of times. Next we found the Flying Dutchman Gold Mine(The Wild Mouse) Its just your standard wild mouse really, but with 2 little differences,a lot of brakes on the ride were kept off, and this is the first wild mouse I've ridden with a hint of airtime on the drop because the brake before it was pretty much turned off(Bizarre)

Next up was Crazy River(The Log Flume) A rather standard log ride, but with a backwards drop(How come European Parks love building their logrides with backwwards drops???) The final drop was pretty good. Next we found Xpress which was previously Superman the Ride, this is a Vekoma Launched Coaster like Rock N Roller Coaster at Disney Studios but outdoors, I expected the worst on this coaster, but found it a really good enjoyable ride, the launch is nice and thrilling, and it was very smooth too, only the corkscrew element provided a minor bit of discomfort. Moving on, we found the Big wheel, taking in some pretty good views of the park, only 1 lap round which was a tad disapointing, but the views made up for it.

Robin Hood was calling, so we quickly took a ride before lunch, this is a vekoma woodie(One of only 3 in the world) and I thought it was a great ride, the trains are lovely(very comfy) it was very smooth and full of airtime too, certaintly nothing to complain about here. as we still had time, we quickly went on Merlin's Magic Castle(another Haunted Swing Ride), this ride was'nt great and seemed to develop a fault in our ride when the music suddenly stopped, there was also a video screen off to the side of the ride which showed something througout the ride, but with no sound, very odd, sadly I never got a chance to retry this to see if it was a one off, but other members commented on it too so it seems its meant to do this(Strange) either that or its a perminent fault???

After lunch, we had to try the rapids, and while this looks like your usual rapids ride, these have different designed boats(Like TripsDrill's in Germany) basiclly the boat is split into 4 different triangle corners which sits 8 people overall, with the water travelling in between the boat, and a round section in between which acts as a water cannon if too much water enters it, the ride provides a lot of fun even though there are no major rapids, and me and a few other members enjoyed it so much, we went round 3 times in a row(Crazy)

Next I went to pray and took a ride on the SLC, I prepared for the worst here seeing as this is the first ever SLC built, but again I will be honest and say it really was'nt a bad ride(at least sitting in the front seats anyway) the butterfly element was probably the worst part of all, but the rest of the ride actually felt quite pleasent, certaintly not the worst coaster I've ever ridden.Now After a few more rerides on Robin Hood and Goliath, I now have a complaint to make, sadly there is a still a hint of six flags hidden in this park, and its something I couldnt understand, at about 3.30PM(approx) they decided to take off one train on Robin Hood and one train off Goliath and I was stunned as to why they were doing it,While Goliath never really had a big queue, the queue on Robin Hood was never quite so short and so that make my chance to get more ride on this coaster not possible. It was worse on Goliath as the ride broke down when they took the train off which really built up the queue more than ever, Very strange behaviour indeed.

There was only one more coaster to ride which was Wok's Waanzin, a standard kiddie coaster similar to the Stinger at Paultons Park, It was'nt bad and had a bit of themeing around the ride, but still nothing special obviously.

After a quick few re-rides on Xpress, It was time to head off to our final hotel of the trip. Overall Walibi World is fantastic, The Rides are great,The atmosphere is good,Splash Battle is Unique,Goliath is Fantastic, and Robin Hood probably proved to be one of the best woodie's I've ridden purely because of those trains(they were so dam comfy). A very enjoyable day indeed.

Pictures now follow from this wonderful park,ENJOY

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