HeartlineCoaster
Theme Park Superhero
Oh no, it's me again. I'll try not to bore you too much.
Had these parks on the cards for what feels like forever now, but never quite got round to it. They were always toeing the line between too much of an arse to drive and not worth the hassle to fly.
Even after making the effort and getting up at 4am (nutters), life was against us as 90% of the roads on the way to the Chunnel were closed. Made it there 1 minute later than ‘check-in’ but were lucky enough to keep the time slot.
Many hours later…
Day 1 – Walygator
Car park was surprisingly empty, though I do believe it never gets that busy here. Figured it should be an easy job and headed for food rather than creds. Queued more for the food than any of the rides and then took about 20 minutes to get a signal on the payment card reader, but the staff were friendly, so no harm done. Croissants for breakfast. Baguette for lunch. Doing them proud.
Rides then. Started strong on the ol’ Family Coaster. Classic wacky worm but with the Walygator face and a rotting apple on it. Effort.
Less effort went into the big boy it seems. Temperatures in the high 30s and no roof on the station wasn’t the best of combinations, but there was never more than a trains worth of queue.
This was my first ‘big’ invert and you can definitely feel the difference in the way it’s all spaced out. Rather than the consistent flurry of forces there’s pauses, strange transitions, extended straights while it sorts itself out for the next element. Was weird, but I kinda liked it. Adds a bit of character.
Elements themselves were great. Forceful loop, air-time out of the zero-G, hugely snappy (but never punchy) cobra and corkscrews, and a killer helix to finish (which hilariously makes every single person in the train shout in unison). I imagine the lack of mid course braking helps that second half a lot. Great stuff.
Bog standard Vekoma looping thing was bog standard. The layout that inspired so many Chinese classics.
Which leaves L’Anaconda. Expected one of two things going into this, either gonna be horribly rough or horribly boring. Managed to not quite achieve either.
The layout is pointless, but it bounced along in a mostly rhythmic and amusing fashion. On the more pronounced moments I could feel my heart bouncing up and down, but I’ve felt worse. Locals love it for whatever reason and it got a round of applause on return. Normally that’s saved for something particularly special, but who am I to judge.
I lied about the food queue being the longest. The water rides were hugely popular given the weather, but the queues were a good excuse for a bit of shade.
Dinosaur rapids is a weird one. Only ride I’ve seen other than Valhalla that has 2 different types of boat in service. Layout was decent fun and the typical waterfall section was probably the most wet in recent memory with the boat actually ploughing into it, rather than teasing along side it.
The Jurassic Park theme was playing here in full force, but there weren’t that many dinosaurs. It’s only Walygator, we’ll let em off.
Speaking of Valhalla.
Log flume was somewhat shorted than expected, comprising of a single drop.
Managed to last until the end of the day (without even noticing) by spacing out the intense laps on Monster and didn’t mind the park as a whole, as it has a certain crummy charm about it. They were announcing the progress of the French team in their world cup game while people were on the rides, to the sounds of cheers or groans, so they know how to crowd please.
Spotted this on the way out, which I thought was a very nice touch. Got a bit of a museum going on with some park history.
B&M wheel, not for sale.
I remember him.
Walibi Schtroumpf. Gotta be the best Walibi name.
Many people were gathering outside the park and sweating profusely in preparation for a semi-marathon.
The car at this point, perhaps falsely, reported the outside temperature at 50 degrees as we got back in for another couple of hours drive.
Who were the real nutters here?
Had these parks on the cards for what feels like forever now, but never quite got round to it. They were always toeing the line between too much of an arse to drive and not worth the hassle to fly.
Even after making the effort and getting up at 4am (nutters), life was against us as 90% of the roads on the way to the Chunnel were closed. Made it there 1 minute later than ‘check-in’ but were lucky enough to keep the time slot.
Many hours later…
Day 1 – Walygator
Car park was surprisingly empty, though I do believe it never gets that busy here. Figured it should be an easy job and headed for food rather than creds. Queued more for the food than any of the rides and then took about 20 minutes to get a signal on the payment card reader, but the staff were friendly, so no harm done. Croissants for breakfast. Baguette for lunch. Doing them proud.
Less effort went into the big boy it seems. Temperatures in the high 30s and no roof on the station wasn’t the best of combinations, but there was never more than a trains worth of queue.
This was my first ‘big’ invert and you can definitely feel the difference in the way it’s all spaced out. Rather than the consistent flurry of forces there’s pauses, strange transitions, extended straights while it sorts itself out for the next element. Was weird, but I kinda liked it. Adds a bit of character.
Elements themselves were great. Forceful loop, air-time out of the zero-G, hugely snappy (but never punchy) cobra and corkscrews, and a killer helix to finish (which hilariously makes every single person in the train shout in unison). I imagine the lack of mid course braking helps that second half a lot. Great stuff.
Bog standard Vekoma looping thing was bog standard. The layout that inspired so many Chinese classics.
Which leaves L’Anaconda. Expected one of two things going into this, either gonna be horribly rough or horribly boring. Managed to not quite achieve either.
The layout is pointless, but it bounced along in a mostly rhythmic and amusing fashion. On the more pronounced moments I could feel my heart bouncing up and down, but I’ve felt worse. Locals love it for whatever reason and it got a round of applause on return. Normally that’s saved for something particularly special, but who am I to judge.
I lied about the food queue being the longest. The water rides were hugely popular given the weather, but the queues were a good excuse for a bit of shade.
Dinosaur rapids is a weird one. Only ride I’ve seen other than Valhalla that has 2 different types of boat in service. Layout was decent fun and the typical waterfall section was probably the most wet in recent memory with the boat actually ploughing into it, rather than teasing along side it.
The Jurassic Park theme was playing here in full force, but there weren’t that many dinosaurs. It’s only Walygator, we’ll let em off.
Speaking of Valhalla.
Log flume was somewhat shorted than expected, comprising of a single drop.
Managed to last until the end of the day (without even noticing) by spacing out the intense laps on Monster and didn’t mind the park as a whole, as it has a certain crummy charm about it. They were announcing the progress of the French team in their world cup game while people were on the rides, to the sounds of cheers or groans, so they know how to crowd please.
Spotted this on the way out, which I thought was a very nice touch. Got a bit of a museum going on with some park history.
B&M wheel, not for sale.
I remember him.
Walibi Schtroumpf. Gotta be the best Walibi name.
Many people were gathering outside the park and sweating profusely in preparation for a semi-marathon.
The car at this point, perhaps falsely, reported the outside temperature at 50 degrees as we got back in for another couple of hours drive.
Who were the real nutters here?