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Walibi Belgium | Kondaa | Intamin Mega Coaster | 2021

So... I had a couple of rides on it, here is what I think:

Kondaa starts great, but tends to loose speed and therefore intensity during the layout. You can see this on the Video @Benni posted, where the hills get weaker and weaker. It is one of the rides you don't want to do first in the morning, I'd recommend to wait for the second half of the day. It really sped up the closer to park closure it got, and was getting better and better.

The seats are the low variant of the new Intamin trains, so your feet touch the ground. Being quite tall, I personally prefer the higher seats like on Taron or Taiga. Restraints are good as always.
The first drop is a great experience in the back row. A short, but intense burst of ejector, combined with a strong lateral push. The following airtime hill is great and suprisingly long and is a great contrast to the intense vally. The second element might not be my favourite element ever, but it is surely are great one. Long and intense ejector airtime towards the side.
The NICR is not so great imho, it still lacks some speed, allthough it's getting better in the evening. The drop out of it gives some decent positives in the back row, which are also a great contrast to the following airtime hill. The wall stall feels like the new iteration of Intamins straight track, I'd much prefer a Wave turn in it's place.
The following curve is quite intense, and then it goes just into airtime mode. One airtime moment after the other, with just a short break in the Stengel dive until you hit the break thinking it may overshoot. Those hills need the ride and weather to be warm, so they can really give some great experience.

The shaping is more gradual and therefore less agressive than RMCs, but it is an agressive and quite intense ride.

My suggestion stands: Ride it in the second half of the day. Front Row is my preferred row, as I like being pushed into the airtime moments, but Back row offers the awesome first drop.

Overall it is a very good ride today and made it into my Top 10. I belive it can make the Top 5 or even better if it gets faster over time and has the chance to get warm. Unfortunately it suffered quite a few downtimes today, which made it hard for the trains to really warm up. The evening rides gave a decent hint of what Kondaa is capable of, and I believe those Trimm mounts are there for a reason - even though they will hopefully never be used.
 
my opinion of Kondaa

I did two rides on Kondaa. 1 ride was around 12:30 pm and was on the second row from the back. the drop was great and felt like EGF. The end of the NICR was also surprisingly good and the train pulled through very well. But I found the airtime a bit disappointing. it was missing something.

but then I did a second ride and that was the last train of the day arround 6:30 pm.

i did this one on the second row in the front. and oowh boy this was something completely different. the airtime was so much better and felt like it should be. also the income of the NICR was very good and whippy.

I was so amazed that it made so much difference to the two rides.

so yes this ride needs to warm up quit a bit. and i recommend the front row for this coaster.

is it one of the best steel coaster in europe? I think so I also rank him above EGF so this says something.
 
I had the opportunity to ride Kondaa 3 times on opening day and here is my opinion on it.

Kondaa is an amazing rollercoaster with some awesome theming. From the queue you have some amazing views of the first drop and the ending. The trains are similar to the ones on Taron or Taiga but these ones aren't levitated so your feet touch the floor of the train, but it didn't take something away from the experience because these restraints are very comfortable and open. The lift hill is very steep and speeds up halfway trough, you also reach the top very fast. The first drop is amazing, very similar to EGF but the drop starts twisting a bit later so it provides a bit longer of airtime before the insane laterals come. The pullouts on Kondaa are really intense and really push you down in your seats. The first airtime hills gives great sustained ejector airtime and the outward banked airtime hill too but it is cooler because of the weird sensation. After that is the non-inverting cobra roll which was a real suprise, it gives some great floater airtime and you just keep twisting and it gives great laterals too both from the rise into it as the drop out of it. You fly into a small ejector airtime hill and go into a powerful turn to the right, following that is the wall stall which gave 0G in everey row for around 2 seconds. then you fly into the overbanked turn which gives great positives and after that another ejector hill. Following up is a side banked double down, the best experince is near the back and overall this ride is as expected a backrow ride. Than you go into another ejector hill where the onride photo takes place. You fly into a very small stengel dive and than 4 little ejector airtime hills which give great ejector in all rows. Overall this is an amazing ride and you shouldn't judge it after your first ride, Kondaa needs a lot of time to warm up. The ride gets way more extreme later in the day. The ride did breakdown a lot on opening day but I don't think that this will be a problem later on, so I won't let it affect my thoughts on the ride.
 
It still amazes me every time I open this thread that that quality of theming is at a Walibi park.
Holland is nobody's favourite and I remember Belgium's being a bit of a non-event 7 years ago.

Unfortunately, every time I open this thread or Monster's, I get annoyed about international travel rules.
 
Thighs are crushed after 13 rides in a day, 10/10 would recommend.

On a serious note, got a total of 15 rides over the past 2 days (was there with a friend yesterday so couldn't (ab)use my platinum pass) and I definitely prefer the back. The EGF drop is sublime with a combination of ejector airtime and strong laterals, the two hills following that give some seriously strong sustained ejector. 👌I was, like many, sceptical about the NIC. It's fairly tame in the morning, bar the decent forces on the entry and exit, but with some warming up it's not a bad element at all. Not the strongest point of the ride but definitely not the weakest either. Rest of the ride gives some nice ejector and strong positives. Only point that's kinda "meh" to me is the wall stall, but it's short and goes straight into another strong positives filled curve so I don't mind it too much. Kondaa definitely benefits greatly from some warming up so if you wanna make the most of it, ride it towards closing. Queues get pretty long, extending past the entrance building onto the plaza sometimes. There's a lot of people using a speedy pass or platinum pass slowing it down further. Advertised queue times in the app and on signage are often times waaay off, so it's a bit of a gamble. Operations are pretty good in general, but it's Intamin so it's having some fairly regular breakdowns in the first few days. 😛

Most importantly, seats! Any seat's a good seat honestly. Though I definitely like the back more, especially once it's hauling in the late afternoon/evening. Unfortunately due to COVID it's assigned seating unless you've got a speedy pass/platinum pass and a nice ride crew.

Some people have noted the ride area looks a little empty. I honestly don't mind it, makes for some great views of the ride when you're waiting for your turn.

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nson said:
Something i would like to say, today i saw many people being refused to ride because they were too "belly". Operatirs are forcing to get the greenlight but most of the time they had to let someone out...
Trains aren't the same as taron also so your legs are stuck.
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I've also seen a few people that had to leave the train because they didn't fit, even when trying 5 times by the ride operators. But I had the impression that it wasn't so much an issue that they were to "belly" but that they had big thighs. The seats on the train are indeed lower to the floor as opposed to the ones on Taron
 
^
That's disappointing to hear. I'm not exactly big in that area, but still found Untamed rather spoiled by the thigh bruising, so hoping this isn't a similar matter. Airtime ceases to be fun when all it does is force you to be intimate with a harness!
 
Will said:
^
That's disappointing to hear. I'm not exactly big in that area, but still found Untamed rather spoiled by the thigh bruising, so hoping this isn't a similar matter. Airtime ceases to be fun when all it does is force you to be intimate with a harness!
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I hate RMC restraints but love the Intamin ones, no crushing at all. I did only ride it twice but even then I can’t imaging it being as bad as the RMC’s as the contact surface on the restraints is bigger and has a comfier form
 
Enil said:
I hate RMC restraints but love the Intamin ones, no crushing at all. I did only ride it twice but even then I can’t imaging it being as bad as the RMC’s as the contact surface on the restraints is bigger and has a comfier form
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Don't forget the lack of Shinguards on the Intamin trains - My shins are shining in all colours of the rainbow after a few rides on a RMC >.<

The Intamin restraint can hurt your legs as well, but it is the good kind of pain due to too much airtime :) Kondaa has quite smooth transitions compared to RMC or Taiga, so I don't think this will be an issue on Kondaa if you have a reasonable amount of rides on it.
I'll be back on Thursday (including the accelerometer) and will try to get a couple dozen of rides.
 
Had the opportunity to ride Kondaa four times yesterday. This is what Walibi Belgium desperately needed: a thrilling rollercoaster with an orignal layout and within a good themed area. Had two middle row rides, one in the back and one almost in the front row. In the early morning, the ride is already amazing, but in some spots it just missed the expected 'umpf'. My backseat ride was in the late afternoon and maaaaaan... The forces and airtime are insane. It changed the ride experience from 'amazing' to 'mindblowing fantastic'! LOVE the first drop and the following two airtimehills! The ride is also super smooth. Is this my favorite rollercoaster? Don't know. Maybe? Can't really tell. But it's the best ride of my homepark for sure! I hope this ride, and all the other new improvements, help Walibi Belgium to gain more visitors and popularity!

My last ride was an hour from closing. When we entered the first drop, it startend pouring rain like Hell! Although the pain on my face was almost unbearable, the forces and speed made me disorientated like never before. In-sane.

Love the views you get from the queue!PSX_20210515_220401.jpg
 
Something extra on the lap bars.
I indeed saw plenty of people get kicked out the train (and even an article appeared in the local newspapers). The strange thing is that not all of them looked that big.
Then I had one ride where I tried to keep the restraint loose (to get more airtime) and I think they were worrying about my seat and rechecked on me twice. (then I stopped blocking the restraint and all was fine)
 
JeffreyDC said:
About the article in the newspaper: if you don't fit the seat, you don't fit. Safety first and case closed.
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Yes obviously xD
Just wanted to note my thought, that I got the feeling it's more on Kondaa than on other rides I've been on :) (and therefore found it suiting to reference the article)
 
But I can agree, that the restraints have to be quiet tight to be able to dispatch a train. I rode Hyperion, Taiga and Taron very quite loose restraints, and I can't get them quite as loose on Kondaa. My restraint had to be pushed down several times because I was only lowering them to the point where it would easily(!) fit on the other new Intamins with those trains.
So, if you have thick legs: Prepare to staple yourself.
 
I have a sad update for you, allthough it is based on an assumption:

It appears like Kondaa might soon get a trim mounted, at least during summer. I visited there yesterday, 31° and sunshine and they intentionally left 2 rows empty because it was running too fast, going to far on the brakerun. Lets hope they find another way to fix this, but I'd suggest to get your summer rides in this year, before it gets trimmed.

If they mount a trim, my guess is the airtime hill after the NICR, as this is most likely easier to reach than the large airtime hill.

Untamed suffers from a similar problem on hot days, where they sometimes leave half of the train empty to accomodate for the speed.
 
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