[2011] Walibi-Parks: W.A.B. vs The SkunX

[KristofWB]

What is going on in Walibi Belgium and Walibi World? No one can tell, but this mystery has raised since Walibi launched a brand new site, that is telling us that something is gonna change in both Walibi parks starting from 2011. There is no much information about this whole 2011-thing. Things will be revealed by the increase of the number of visitors on the website.

THE WEBSITE

And aswell as in Walibi Belgium as in Walibi World, visitors find banners with the next text on them: "In 2011, something is going on at Walibi..."

What is going on at Walibi?

 

[andrus]

New coasters!! :--D No but seriously as I wrote in the other walibi-thread it has been eight years since either of the two Walibi parks recieved a new coaster, and that's way too long imo! Not that any of the parks have cut-throat competition but there has to be something happening, something new and interesting, to bring in the crowds. Come on Compagnie des Alpes, show us what you got!

 

[nadroJ]

If I'm honest I'd rather the parks invest more in tidying themselves up, like, a lot. The changeover from Six Flags in so sloppy and a lot of the rough edges are still really noticeable.

A new coaster or two definitely wouldn't go amiss though =]

 

[KristofWB]

If I'm honest I'd rather the parks invest more in tidying themselves up, like, a lot. The changeover from Six Flags in so sloppy and a lot of the rough edges are still really noticeable.

Trust me, since the acquisition by CdA, Walibi Belgium is working really hard to fix the damages made by Six Flags by renovating many of them old rides, such as FlashBack, Calamity Mine, Cobra, Dalton Terror, Radja River,...

Anyhow, there are now some rumors about what is going to change at the Walibi-parks for 2011. A short list underneath:

* CdA gives away a budget of 550 million EUR for this project. A small amount of this budget will be used for Futuroscope and Walibi Morocco.

* Each Walibi-park will get its own genre of music. All the Walibi-oarks will have to compete against eachother.

* Big namechanges for the Walibi parks. Walibi Aquitaine will become Walibi Sud l'Ouest, Walibi World will be named Walibi Holland and Walibi Belgium will get its original name -Walibi Wavre- back. This namechange will bring a huge restyling of all the parks.

* As La Via Volta, the Boomerang at Walibi World, will be re-named Speed of Sound and will be themeden rock 'n' roll, other rides in other parks will do the same thing. It is rumored that this kind of job will be done for Walibi Belgium's Turbine!

 

[KristofWB]

Huge sale in the Belgian and Dutch Walibi parks. All Walibi related merchandising is sold these days with 50 to 70 and even 75% of discount. Some days, some of the Walibi merchandising is been giving away for free.

Will this lead to a complete rebranding? Anyway, the next reveal for 2011 will probably be on November 5th.

 

[Inverse]

I've got plans to go to Walibi World Holland next year... this has got me pretty interested.

 

[KristofWB]

The next text appeared on Twitter:

The Walibi Studio's will entertain you!

The Walibi parks in Belgium, France and The Netherlands will start their own entertainment brand: The Walibi Studio's. The first productions of this studio will be represented at the end of this month.

Campagn
The 4 Walibi parks in Belgium, France and The Netherlands have all started a marketingcampagn together to make the people curious about the 2011 plans for the themeparkchain. New revealances were made after sometime, which made it clear some new mascots were coming along. In this campagn, musicians Zenko, Haaz and FiBi were introduced to the crowd.

Characters
The adventures of Zenko, Haaz, FiBi and all the other funny and musical fantasy-characters will be introduced to youngsters and teenagers by radio, TV and the internet. The Music Battle production from the Walibi Studio's will be announced on January 20th.

Leader
The productions from the Walibi Studio's will also be a big part in Walibi-parks starting from April this year. Responsible for the in Brussels based Walibi Studio's is Serge Naïm, vice-president and president of developement from Compagnie Des Alpes, owner of the Walibi-parks. Mr. Naïm says that the Walibi Studio's will become the leader in the entertainmentbussiness in Europe.

Link
Themeparks or amusementparks linked to an entertainmentcompany are coming up more and more in the industry. Some themeparks are opening under license of an entertainment company, such as the Disney Parks from the Walt Disney Company and the Plopsa-parks from Studio 100. Other companies started as a themepark, but started their own entertainmentcompany later, such as Efteling in The Netherlands. Efteling started Efteling Media in 2004 and produced TV-shows such as SprookjesBoom (Fairy Tale Tree), Sprookjes (Fairy Tales) and TiTa Tovenaar. Walibi may finish that line this year with their very own Walibi Studio's.

Link to the Music Battle site: http://www.themusicbattle.com with the brand new Walibi Themesong!

 

[KristofWB]

As already told, the Walibi-parks will go to some huge changes. Today, Walibi had its press conference in Brussels to reveal the brand new Walibi.

The whole new idea behind Walibi is the Music Battle. The story will be told inside Walibi itself, but also outside the park: games, comic books, movies and TV-shows.

Story
Walibi and Squad are two twinbrothers, both with very different characters. Walibi is a dreamy and spontanious kangaroo, while Squad is only there to enjoy the fame and attention. They live in a dark place called Monotowny, a world without humor and fantasy. The life of each person in Monotowny is already decided; parrots become journalists, dogs become cops, bears drive taxis and only birds are allowed to sing. And no one has to try to get of the path that is there for them. It seems Walibi and Squad are doomed to live a monotone life. Untill they found a map that leads them to a magical world, called Shimmera. A mysterious world with the most wonderfull and magical creatures. In this parallellworld, that is lead by magic, both brothers discover a world where it is free to catch up with their musical existance.
Walibi creates his own band: the Walibi Adventure Band (W.A.B.)
Squad also creates a 'dark-rock' band, called The Skunx.
W.A.B. at one side, The Skunx at the other side. Let the music battle begin!

Walibi Adventure Band (W.A.B.)

Walibi

Fibi

Haaz

Zenko

Vita Drakovitz

The Skunx

Squad

Loco

Motiv

The Walibi Adventure Band also has an impressario, called Sara Fox and their groupie: Linaa.

All the characters will be seen live in the park and in a 4D-Theater, called Rokken Roll. They will also be in many comic books, TV-shows and games.

 

[KristofWB]

Animated music videos from both bands

Walibi Adventure Band - Hello World
http://vimeo.com/18880031

The SkunX - We Are The SkunX
http://vimeo.com/18880403

 

[Lofty]

Sad to admit, but I love the Hello World one. I hope they play it at Walibi World when I go lol.

Yeah, I like what they'er doing. I like how they're diversifying what they have. Very clever stuff. Hope it works out well for them.

 

[KristofWB]

Sad to admit, but I love the Hello World one. I hope they play it at Walibi World when I go lol.

Yeah, I like what they'er doing. I like how they're diversifying what they have. Very clever stuff. Hope it works out well for them.

I guess it will, because brand new music has been written for all 4 Walibi parks. More new singles from the W.A.B. will be released soon.

On April 9th, when the parks open, a brand new 4D-film will premiere in Walibi Belgium to introduce the W.A.B. the crowd, aswell a brand new 20 minute long live-action show, written by Dick Van den Heuvel, also written many musicals, such as recently, Kruimeltje for Efteling.

 

[peep]

Wow, I have to admit that those tracks and music videos are really good. The animation is absolutely amazing, they are clearly putting a bucket load of money behind this re-branding and I hope it pays off for them.

 

[KristofWB]

Meanwhile, the trailer from the 4D-movie 'Rokken Roll', that will be showed in Walibi Belgium, appeared on YouTube:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3Z7OJM-kE[/youtube]

 

[Lofty]

That animation is absolutely fantastic. I can see this being one of the best 4D Movies in any park. It looks FAR better then any of the stupid mine train/pharaoh/ratardeddinosaur films *Cough*Sea Odyssey 4D*Cough*

 

[rollermonkey]

I agree. The animation for these looks fantastic. I'd love to be able to get back to the Walibi parks to see how they fit these new ideas in.

 

[KristofWB]

The next video was filmed at the press event for the new Walibi in Brussels. You can see the costumes of the new characters, that will be inside the park to meet visitors and an interview with Oliver Sneyers, Marketing Manager from Walibi Belgium and Serge Naïm from CdA!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgprwwkdcIg&feature=related[/youtube]

 

[peep]

Wow, this is all looking a lot more impressive than I first thought. The costumes etc are all looking fantastic.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

This is quite franly the weirdest thing I've seen a major park company do...

And I love it...

 

[KristofWB]

Underneath a video 'The Making of the New Walibi':

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmTqi4Ajl0U[/youtube]

At Walibi Belgium, they are now working very hard to get the park ready as the new season starts in two months. Some pictures of the entrance and Main Plaza of the park!

 

[KristofWB]

Starting from February 19th, the videos from W.A.B. and The SkunX will be showed on Nickelodeon in Flanders and The Netherlands. The group has signed a deal with Nickelodeon, who will air the videos and much more on their channel. Nickelodeon is one of the best viewed tv-channels for kids in Belgium and Holland. For French Belgium and France, the clips will be aired on Gully TV.

Meanwhile Walibi Belgium posted a picture on their Facebook-page to show fans one of the first changes inside the park: the new entrance and Main Street of the park: