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Plopsaland de Panne | The Ride to Happiness | Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster | 2021

Any word on how this "soft-opening" period is going to work? I know it'll be free for all visitors and it'll close early on the 21st, but is the ride otherwise going to open with the park and stay open until close (weather and reliability be willing), or is it only going to be running at certain windows per day, or...? Kinda want to plan my Plopsa visit on July 15th potentially around that.
 
@cookie I don't know about the parks actual plans but for most parks in the last few years soft-opening meant the attraction is basically open but extended periods of downtime are possible because it never ran all day and it didn't run too much with visitors. Because of that it's not really unlikely that some unexpected problems occur or that some settings have to be finetuned.
For example look at Movie Park Germany. The new Movie Park Studio Tour coaster was in soft opening for a few days before they had to send out a notice that it might be closed for the whole weekend. Fortunately they were able to open it every day (as far as I know).
 
For anyone that’s interested here in the queue walk and a look round the station from the EuropeanCoasterClub. Plopsa & Mack have done a great job with both the ride and theming, glad to see one of these coasters in Europe and it’s just another reason I have to visit Belgium.

 
I rode The Ride to Happiness last Saturday. The waiting time was about 20 minutes during the whole day, while the park was very crowded and open till 10.30pm. So that's the advantage of putting such a big coaster in a park for majority children.

This coaster is epic. It pulls and push you in every direction. Great airtime, decent speed and the Mack launch was more forceful than expected. The spinning is not that intense but it makes it hard to follow where you're going.

For me personally, this is Belgiums best coaster. It's not a ride, it's an experience. With the Tomorrowland music on top as the finishing touch.
 
I rode The Ride to Happiness last Thursday, and oh boy did it deliver! It was my 100th coaster and is my new #1!

Plopsaland:
The park was pretty crowded since it was one of the last days of summer holidays in Belgium, however that wasn't a huge issue since the park mainly caters to children and family. The park itself is okay, not the easiest to navigate around, but has an ok lineup of attractions. Anubis is a great Gerstlauer Launch Coaster, Heidi a fun family wood coaster. SuperSplash was really disappointing for the 60+ min of wait time it had.

But time for the good stuff:
I got 3 rides on TRTH, two in the back and one in the front. The queue theming is really beautiful, the first part magnificent and get's you really hyped up for the ride. The ride was basically a walk-on at around noon, we waited maybe 3 dispatches and could choose our own rows.
The Mack seats are an absolute pleasure, I've never felt so free, open and comfortable in a rollercoaster (downside is that the restraints pull down after locking, so you kind of get stapled, however it doesn't really matter, since you're feeling so open from the hips up).

The ride:
The slow heartline roll out of the station is a great start, the music get's you pumped for the ride. The launch is surprisingly forceful for a Mack! Plus they really get you spinning there, holy **** is that a cool sensation!
The ride up twisted top-hat is a lot of fun in the first row with some good floater, but you have to sit in the back for the ride down! This was the most intense airtime I've ever had in my entire life, holy f#*+'!# **** and it just happened to coincide that we are riding this drop backwards, MENTAL!
The rest of the ride leading up to the second launch is a lot of fun, cool elements and the fact that you are spinning the whole time adds so much to the experience. The second launch is decently forceful but nowhere near the forces you get on Taron or similar Intamin Blitz coasters. The Jojo Roll is a lot fun in the front, you really get pushed through there with some amazing floater airtime. The last double up is a great finish for ride, delivering great air in the front and back.
During the whole ride you get blasted with music which you don't really notice in the first ride, but really start to add to the experience in the following.

To sum things up:
This is my new #1 coaster and it's such a delight that it was my 100th too! This coaster delivers in every way, decent length, great atmosphere due to the music playing and amazing elements with great launches. The airtime in the back-row riding down that drop backwards, made it my #1 coaster, it is absolutely mental, I think that gives me a taste of how X2 feels like. The fact that you're spinning the entire time is a sensation not found on any other type of rollercoaster.
Mack really delivered here and I hope more parks will start to build these crazy machines!
 
I have not laughed so much after getting off a coaster in my entire life… This thing is just pure fun, pleasure, craziness… It’s ‘happiness’ in coaster form!!!

Airtime in every direction, with no 2 rides the same!!! The music completes the experience!

Far exceeded my expectations. 23 rides including dark rides in one day too!!! Rerides allowed (limited to 2 for health and safety! But the queue line is short anyway!)

Only slight negative is that I did find it to have a very minor ‘gerst like’ rattle / vibration… Not rough by any means, the layout and transitions are silky smooth… But that underlying rattle that most gersts have, seems to have crept into the mack lineup too. Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe I’m just super susceptible to that frequency of vibration (I struggle more than most on Saw for example) but it was definitely noticeable for me.

That being said, it certainly wasn’t enough to stop me riding it!!! And it now sits in my top 5… Not decided where yet, despite having ridden all of the other contenders in the last month, but it’s definitely up there!

The rest of the park is what it is. These were my first rides on Heide too, which after wanting to ride it for ages, were a huge disappointment! But I could do RTH all day and not get bored… After all, no 2 rides are the same!
 
Nicky Borrill said:
I have not laughed so much after getting off a coaster in my entire life… This thing is just pure fun, pleasure, craziness… It’s ‘happiness’ in coaster form!!!

Airtime in every direction, with no 2 rides the same!!! The music completes the experience!

Far exceeded my expectations. 23 rides including dark rides in one day too!!! Rerides allowed (limited to 2 for health and safety! But the queue line is short anyway!)

Only slight negative is that I did find it to have a very minor ‘gerst like’ rattle / vibration… Not rough by any means, the layout and transitions are silky smooth… But that underlying rattle that most gersts have, seems to have crept into the mack lineup too. Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe I’m just super susceptible to that frequency of vibration (I struggle more than most on Saw for example) but it was definitely noticeable for me.

That being said, it certainly wasn’t enough to stop me riding it!!! And it now sits in my top 5… Not decided where yet, despite having ridden all of the other contenders in the last month, but it’s definitely up there!

The rest of the park is what it is. These were my first rides on Heide too, which after wanting to ride it for ages, were a huge disappointment! But I could do RTH all day and not get bored… After all, no 2 rides are the same!
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I also recognized that slight 'Gerst-like' rattle when riding it two weeks ago. However, I could easily look past it, given the incredible ride experience. Yeah, I was also a bit disappointing by the missing airtime on the hills of Heide but I blamed it to the almost empty trains that day, don't know if it runs better with full trains. Anubis was good though. But, of course, the undeniable star is RTH.
 
Peter Immelmann said:
I also recognized that slight 'Gerst-like' rattle when riding it two weeks ago. However, I could easily look past it, given the incredible ride experience. Yeah, I was also a bit disappointing by the missing airtime on the hills of Heide but I blamed it to the almost empty trains that day, don't know if it runs better with full trains. Anubis was good though. But, of course, the undeniable star is RTH.
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Yeh, I can definitely look past it, I was hooked on the whole experience, and would drive 4.5 hours to ride it again all day today if it weren’t for those pesky commitments!!!

It does give me a headache though, as do most gersts, and after the first 4 rides (and nothing else) it came on… Couple of paracetamol fixed that… Then later in the afternoon, it came on again, but again a couple of paracetamol fixed it…

I just thought I should mention it, despite how good the ride is, and it is truly incredible… So that anybody else who is as susceptible to rattle as I am, or worse, more so, is forewarned.

That being said, first opportunity, I’ll be on the Eurotunnel, paracetamol in hand, for another day of happiness!!!
 
Sorry to bump this but has anyone heard anything about when Ride to Happiness will reopen following the recent stall?

I’ve seen nothing on their social media or website - just says ‘closed today’. I was hoping to go next week but without it being open I’ll cancel the trip. Saw a couple of bits of speculation that it might need kickers installed or at the least a ladder/catwalk which would obviously require a longer closure, but haven’t read anything definitive.

Thanks for any info!
 
Rupert said:
Sorry to bump this but has anyone heard anything about when Ride to Happiness will reopen following the recent stall?

I’ve seen nothing on their social media or website - just says ‘closed today’. I was hoping to go next week but without it being open I’ll cancel the trip. Saw a couple of bits of speculation that it might need kickers installed or at the least a ladder/catwalk which would obviously require a longer closure, but haven’t read anything definitive.

Thanks for any info!
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It’s listed as closed today because the park itself is closed. I’d check when the park re-opens tomorrow if it’s still not running.
 
I don't think it'll get a bigger technical upgrade. There'd be a lot to be added for that. I assume they'll just update the software and have it be a lot more carefull with gusts of wind.
 
Ok thanks all, that’s useful.

cookie said:
It’s listed as closed today because the park itself is closed. I’d check when the park re-opens tomorrow if it’s still not running.
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Interestingly although RTH is listed as ‘closed today’ on the website and app, other coasters & rides E.g Anubis are listed as open, so I was assuming it was a result of the stall and that everything else was left described as ‘open’ unless down for refurb (like Viktor’s Race) or another issue.

Projektion said:
The park themselves haven't mentioned anything yet however. They don't even have it listed as closed on future dates yet.
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Thanks for this. A real shame if indeed down for that long but feel the park could be more proactive with letting people know.
 
Rupert said:
A real shame if indeed down for that long but feel the park could be more proactive with letting people know.
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It would certainly be nice, but I'm sure the park is in a tough position. They've just had a high profile "incident" with their brand new, highly acclaimed ride. I imagine it's being twisted as an accident of sorts among the general public. Immediately announcing that it is down for a few months would then likely produce additional negative publicity and suggestions that the ride wasn't safe, which certainly isn't the case. It just needs modification.

That being said, they probably also don't have a real timeline. This event just happened and making sure it doesn't happen again isn't easy. It's an issue that needs to be worked through with Mack and it's not as if Mack already has the perfect solution lined up or has the capacity to suddenly dedicate resources to fix it. I'm sure everybody is scrambling to try and find the best solution and work it into their schedules.
 
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