So, I've returned from my trip which included Bellewaerde.
I did not expect Amazonia to be open when planning the trip, but I certainly don't complain.
Once the gates opened, we imediately walked to the rides entrance. The queue isn't bad, but quite long with no ways to shorten it. You will walk quite a bit before reaching the final cattle pen and the subsequent station.
After a few minutes of the ride not moving at all, they started moving some boats and boarded us with a father and his son onto the first boat of the day. Good for us, as a significant queue has built up in the 10-15 minutes we were waiting for boarding. It is their newest headliner attraction after all.
Before bording, they had all the people for the board step on a scale (simultanousely) to be weighed. Our group of four (3 adults + child) was ~330kg. Don't know if this matters, but I might as well mention it. I should also mention, that the boats do not feature handrails in the middle, and nothing to put your feet on except for the stairs. So if you're like me used to putting your shoes up - you can't do it here.
The ride itself is really strange. The first bit of the lift is actually rotating 90° to be able to take the boat. Once the boat is on that piece, it roates to become part of the lifthill. The first bit is pretty much your run of the mill tube-style rafting ride - BUT I can confirm, it really spins a lot in some places. I recall a total of 2 times that we got in a spinning that I never anticipated in a rafting. It was more intense then on most spinning coasters.
Second lift is nothing special either, allthough I have to admit that spinning lifts, and lifts with "open" ends always cause some feeling of insecurity in me - which is something I actually enjoy, as this is something I rarely experience in a (safe) park.
The big thing is of course the drop. It isn't the steepest, but it is fun. The first swing upwards is still untrimmed, the strips will only affect the subsequent swings. And it's actually working. We were rocking left to right a bit, but there was more than enough room between us and the sidewalls.
The final element is the effect track. It actually runs a decently long cycle, nearly long enough to be considered its own attraction. It goes suprisingly deep down (which included some themed lighting as well) and gives very weak floater. That alone wouldn't be necessary a good thing, but with you having no classic restrain, it is a fun and thrilling element.
One more thing to note is that the boats are being automatically rotated into certain positions prior to the second lift in the drop track. Those rollers used for the rotation are an accident waiting to happen. They are completely open, and you could easily get your hand stuck between them and your boat if you were careless enough.
Is it wet? Not really. There was one wave which got our bums a bit wet, but nothing to bad. With the design of the boat, most of the water was actually behind us and flowing into the middle of the boat to flow out. Please keep in mind that we only were 4 people with 330kg in the boat. A fully loaded boat might be significantly wetter. I don't know of the max weight for groups, though.
To sum it up, it is something different, but certainly a fun ride. And while thrilling, it is still suitable for children and its ending might suprise a few guests - even though the air powered system is naturally not quiet. I would have gone for a second ride, but time contraints and a certain stuck boat cancelled those plans.
Sorry for my horrible language skills today. I am quite tired, but wanted my report to be posted whilst my memories are still fresh.
Yes, that's the stuck boat. When we rode the Boomerang 45 minutes after this photo was taken, the water was turned off, and there was no movement on Amazonia. Don't know if they reopened.
