Here We Go Again!
The second tour of 2022 has been completed as I now prepare to get ready to go again for the third time this year. I am currently rushing through this quick report of our adventure to share what Darryl, Dylan, George, Karen, Will and myself got up to in our week away. In future I will change the reports to focus on differences we have experienced and top tips such as do not wear a baseball cap on a roller coaster… We have now lost 3 caps in 2022 alone!
Let’s start off as normal with a recap of Walibi Belgium
Walibi Belgium, this day seemed a little off from the park but overall we survived with everything done that we wanted to do. A busier day than I have previously seen, as always I start the day by convincing the group to skip the brand new Intamin Mega Coaster Kondaa and instead head straight to Tiki-Waka, the Gerstlauer family coaster with a capacity of only 600 people an hour. A walk on ride followed by a 20 minute queue for Kondaa and then just under 30 minutes for Pyske Underground put us on a great start to hitting all the credits. Unfortunately there was a lot of technical issues with the day as Cobra, Fun Pilot and Pulsar all experienced down time. When Pulsar finally opened, this was still only on a one train operation meaning the queue was taking longer than we would have hoped. However the single rider line was excellent to get the group on in only 20 minutes while I had the opportunity to snap their pictures on the Mack multi launch water coaster.
Overall we only missed the one credit with Fun Pilot consistently being down, but at this point after Cobra went down again while we were in the queue, we were just happy we got that one. A final ride of the day on Kondaa was refused by the staff as they shut the entrance 40 minutes before park closed, something which I have not yet seen and I think this is just a Saturday issue. Although this was disappointing, we did get a re-ride early afternoon, but an end of the day visit would have been nice.
The schedule for the tour was back to the original plan with the parks in order to visit after Walibi Belgium being Movie Park Germany, Phantasialand, Toverland, Walibi Holland, Efteling and Plopsaland de Panne.
Both Movie Park Germany and Phantasialand were quieter than previous tours, Toverland remained awesome and the other Dutch parks were slightly busier with holidays still in place in the Netherlands.
The staff at Movie Park Germany were fantastic on this visit, noticing a more playful approach than previous visits. One staff member was convincing the younger thrill seekers to perform airplane noises while another was entertaining a queue with a hand puppet. All of which increased the enjoyment of the day. The worst part however for half the group was the re-ride on Bandit which some people actually enjoyed. I have now concluded that I will never do this twice in a day ever again!
In the evening, we head to a cool American themed biker bar in the countryside near Bottrop. This relaxed restaurant is a great way to end the day before heading back to the hotel and is only 15 minutes from Movie Park Germany.
Phantasialand was surprisingly quiet for our visit which was great to get 5 rides on Taron throughout the afternoon. Game plan always stays the same with F.L.Y being the opening ride of the day followed by Black Mamba, Talocan, Chiapas then Taron. However on this day, Black Mamba was not due to open until 1pm while the new jungle gym style obstacle course continues the construction and Chiapas had morning technical problems but did reopen for the afternoon.
There is also some more construction taking place between the stairs to Berlin and Mexico / Africa which made navigating the park slightly harder. This also included the shortcut to Black Mamba from the double carousel. Luckily Phantasialand is a small park and so this did not intervene too much with our day. Dylan and Will purchase matching F.L.Y fleeces before we spent the evening on the River Rhine with schnitzels overlooking Dusseldorf.
An extended Toverland was next on the adventure as the park stayed open until 8pm. What was great for myself to see was the new area around the newly revamped Expedition Zork was open and the log flume renovations looks fantastic.
Our game plan as always is slightly different as we head straight to the single train operation Booster Bikes followed by Dwervelwind and mucking around in one of the many play parks. Next which will remain a long queue all day is Maximus Blitz Bahn with Karen taking the top spot and Dylan finishing at the bottom with the head in a fountain forfeit to occur later that afternoon.
A new Maximus Blitz Bahn leaderboard has been created for the year with the Welsh duo Fabio and Emily keeping their number 1 and 2 spots respectively from the previous tour.
With the park open until 8pm, it was a great day that saw many laps on Troy and Fenix with the group parting ways and meeting again throughout. The Flaming Feather restaurant was a favourite eating spot with Dylan, George and Will, while I was busy taking photos of Avalon and Darryl and Karen taking a relaxing trip on Merlin’s Quest.
Walibi Holland has removed the virtual queuing, this was a shame to see as I thought this system was great, however half the group decided to upgrade to a silver pass for near walk on rides. This allowed us to experience Untamed 6 times while visiting the supporting line up of Lost Gravity 3 times and Goliath 5 times. A large ride count continued throughout the day with some awesome weather before heading back to our Hotel. En route we ordered a Dominos Pizza to our accommodation as we met in the same room to watch the Moon Knight finale and a nightcap at the bar before back to bed.
Efteling was the busy park of the trip. So far we have been pretty lucky, although both Walibi Parks were very popular. Today was the must move day. We were so close to completing all the credits, however The Flying Dutchman did not open until 2pm and when we were in the queue, we got evacuated from the station, the group was so close yet so far away from getting on this unique water coaster. Outside of the Flying Dutchman, there were technical issues with the parks show Raveleijn which meant the dragon was not working to its full power. However all dark rides including Dream Flight, Symbolica, Fata Morgana and the very questionable Carnival Festival were included along with a walk through the fairy tale forest after a visit to the carousel and diorama.
It was another great day before heading to our final hotel of the trip on our way back into Belgium.
The ride to Happiness is crazy! The park was exceptionally quiet today with all coasters on a single train operation and still walk on. With the signature Mack Xtreme Spinner even running half empty. Staggered opening times meant we did a second lap around the park in the afternoon in order to visit the attractions not open in the morning. Our trip has come to an end. We headed back to the Euro Tunnel and the drop off at Ashford International station for our big hugs and goodbyes.
Thank you to Darryl, Dylan, George, Karen and Will for another awesome week. Small group travel is awesome as it is like we become a little family for the week. Tours continue with the next one tomorrow as of the time I am writing this with another sold out group. If you are considering booking on to a tour in the future, do it. You will have an awesome time. The next available dates depart on Tuesday 12 July and Thursday 18 August.
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See you all soon!
