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[Walibi Belgium] Goodbye Turbine!

KristofWB

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
Sad news from the Walibi Belgium front. After the park removed the Go Karts from the park and recently Vertigo, it seems the park will have another ride that will not re-open for the 2009 season: Turbine.

Walibi Belgium has confirmed in an e-mail to a member of Central Park, a Belgian-French discussionboard, that Turbine will NOT open for the 2009 season. The park also said that they haven't made any decissions for what will happen with Turbine later.

As far as I believe, 2008 was the last operating year for Turbine. It were rumors for the past 5 years that the ride will be removed from the park, but I think we can call it a day and the ride will soon be removed from the park.

Maybe for the last time: some kind of ride on this amazing coaster:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQtMZRRCuf0[/youtube]
 
Removed as in scrapped or sold. I would hate to see another Schwarzkopf shuttle to bite the dust :(
 
Crap!

Ughhhhhhh

Now I really hope the one at Knott's is open...

Turbine was otherwise my only chance to ride one.

Suck it's going! :(
 
Its a shame I liked these.

I just hope this does not mean the park could go as there wont be that much there apart from one good coaster.

Pleased I got on Thunder Looper as the one in Knott's was down when we went.
 
Shame to see another Shuttle go. I do hope it goes to another park, I'd think a smaller park would benefit highly from something like this, it has the launch as well as the inversion, which should bring in a few more guests to a park that doesnt already have something like this.
 
Louis, unfortunately to say that a ride like that uses a hell of a lot of power. It has to pull a big weight up to the top and then drops. This is known as a 'Weight drop launch'. There are a lot more modern methods of propulsion than this, like the intamin accelerator method which actually uses a lot less power than that. Also you have the reverse lift hill like the ton of Boomerang coasters, which there is already 1 in Walibi Belgium. REALISTICALLY I cannot see a park buying this. I know its a great shame to lose a classic ride like this, but it is the truth.
 
Hmm... so the park now has scrapped two coasters, and has propably some leftover money after the Vertigo lawsuits? And they need something to attract customers?

I see two alternate futures. One with WB biting the dust, one involving a shiny new coaster...
 
Mushroom said:
Louis, unfortunately to say that a ride like that uses a hell of a lot of power. It has to pull a big weight up to the top and then drops. This is known as a 'Weight drop launch'.
Click to expand...
Sorry but you got the wrong model there, Turbine is a flywheel driven version.

And I'm not that sure that a weight drop system uses all that much power in reality, it all depends on what kind of engine you use for the lifting motor, I have a feeling that it might be in the same "ball-park" as a lifting engine for a standard lift-hill.
 
**** ! I'm going to Brussels in late May, well, as of now, the park is barely worth the entry imo.
 
^ Loup Garou is a good enough reason!

As Raybould said, Turbine was closed when we went in October last year so I never got on it.

I don't like to see any coaster go but I'd rather see something working in it's place than have something SBNO.

It looked pretty sweet from what I could see from the outside.

I also find it a bit hard to stomach that they can spend loads on a glourified swimming pool but ignore a coaster.

I guess it's all about investment and using money as best as they can.
 
It will be sad to see Turbine go as it had such a great presence in the park with its tracks appearing both side of the building. Also it was the only coaster there which had me very nervous before going on. It also make a great noise when flying through the station.

I hope the get a decent replacement soon for Turbine and for Vertigo.
 
luke8 said:
Heard extremely good things about Turbine.
Click to expand...

It's a damn good ride. The narrow hall where you waint in line with the pumping beats...every so often you hear a roaring sound of the train being launched...

And than the ride itself! Sitting in a freezing station, small lapbars and in front of you a pitch dark tunnel. Than you hear a countdown, lights go down and you see a lightflash and you are brutally launched for 30 seconds of fun!

But the park also announced to still be looking for a new ride to replace Vertigo! Do I hear a B&M calling my name?
 
^If so... it'd be a few years. B&M are always pretty busy, and parks wanting to build something from them often have to contact them five or so years before the ride is even announced. I bet WB didn't expect Vertigo to be taken down this fast, and I think they had projected it to be the "star attraction" for a few years before an eventual other ride could take the spotlight. Even if they called B&M on the same meeting as they decided that Vertigo would be better off as nails, it wouldn't be ready until 2012, or thereabouts.

However, I may be wrong again, and, say, a B:TR clone may have its track welded to the box spine as we type.

By the way, how are the height restrictions Walibi have to work with, and how is the yearly attendance? Could they be in the target area for a Mega-Lite?
 
Pokemaniac said:
By the way, how are the height restrictions Walibi have to work with, and how is the yearly attendance? Could they be in the target area for a Mega-Lite?
Click to expand...

If Walibi Belgium will place a new ride, it will not be at the former Turbine-spot. During it's opening in 1982 till now, the park has lived in some kind of war with the neighbours. The park is located in an area with houses and the park is surrounded by houses. Those niehgbours do complain about the noise Turbine made.

At some point, I can agree those people would not like to see a new ride open at the Turbine-location. You won't believe it when I say it, but there are a couple of houses that do have Turbine in their back-yard. If they would walk to the end of their garden they are actually standing in Turbine's wainting line.

Just look at the picture beneath. At the right side of the picture you can see the locals houses.

http://www.rcdb.com/ig921.htm?picture=5

Those locals are now very happy that the ride will be closed for the 2009. In Belgian magazines and newspapers they said they do hope the ride will be closed for good. So they can live a silent old day, which was not possible with Turbine in the back of your garden.
 
Funky Monk said:
^ You look at pictures like that and think.... Why the hell do the Alton Towers residents complain?
Click to expand...

The Walibi Belgium locals are pretty unbelievable. I remember they have contacted a special agency in 2003 that does research about noise restrictions. They went to Walibi Belgium and did some research if the park actually was to loud for the locals. However the results were okay, the park had some work to do to reduce the noise they made for those locals.

They had to fill the supports from Cobra and Turbine with sand to reduce noise and the wheels from Turbine had to be changed by other types of wheels to reduce the noise it made. Costs for those things were about 10.000.000 EUR. Noise the park made was measured and there was this restriction that the park could make that much of decibels before 7:00 PM and that much of decibels after 7:00 PM. It was also the reason why the park removed Bounty, their Swinging Looping Ship and why the park didn't get the Giant Inverted Boomerang during the transformation from Walibi Waver into Six Flags Belgium. The GIB went to Madrid and Six Flags Belgium just got a standard Boomerang, that was planned for Movie World Madrid.
 
An update about Turbine...

A rumor has rised saying that a potential buyer for Turbine has signed up and the ride will be removed from the park at the end of this season. This rumor also appeared in the French-Belgian press.

Meanwhile, an online petition for Walibi Belgium to keep Turbine in the park has been appeared. Don't know if it might work, but you can find the petition on the link underneath:

http://www.mesopinions.com/Non-a-la...titions-abedff1dd37f433ae2f01af294492d01.html[/url]
 
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