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Walibi Belgium ready for its transformation!

balrog

Mega Poster
Thanks for this extensive summary @KristofWB! It's very exciting to see such ambitious and comprehensive plans to be announced, especially for Walibi Belgium which has been neglected for over a decade. I'm quite impressed that they're not just adding gimmicky coaster prototypes but really going for solid rides as well as significantly improving the scenery. Sounds like some truly good park management!



So if I take the more conservative estimate, WB's hyper would be above 73m (240ft) which is the height of both Silver Star and Karnan. Only Shambhala, Energylandia's Intamin Mega and Red Force would be taller. That's considerably more than Goliath WH's 46m (151ft) indeed! I never thought a coaster of that scale would come to Walibi Belgium. Is is really possible with all the neighbourhood always complaining about noise though?


What an ambitious statement the park's management is making anyway!
The way I understand it, the noise problem come mainly from the other side of the parc, that's why Pulsar was not so much of a problem either. But I might be wrong.
For pulsar, I don't understand all the criticism, the ride has great reviews and fill a hole in WB's line up.

For the 2-3 higher and faster, I would stay careful. It may also be a figure of speech. Anyway, we can safely assume that it will be >60m. Someone from a french forum posted that they didn't pick the manufacturer yet, the height is probably not decided yet.
 

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
The way I understand it, the noise problem come mainly from the other side of the parc, that's why Pulsar was not so much of a problem either. But I might be wrong.
For pulsar, I don't understand all the criticism, the ride has great reviews and fill a hole in WB's line up.

For the 2-3 higher and faster, I would stay careful. It may also be a figure of speech. Anyway, we can safely assume that it will be >60m. Someone from a french forum posted that they didn't pick the manufacturer yet, the height is probably not decided yet.

I have heard that there is no manufacturer picked yet, although I do believe that the height will be pretty impressive (at least for Belgian standards), as they promised.

The new hyper/mega coaster will definately be no problem, concerning noise complaints. Although Pulsar was a problem, as the locals started a petition to stop the ride to be built.

However, the enviromental permit allows the park to build coasters of that size, as long as it's located near the side of the highway and concerning the height, it must blend in with the enviroment. So no flashy colors. Although they did paint the tubes from Psyké light blue.

The hypercoaster will be located on a field behind 'Espace de Moulin', an event area, used for private VIP-area, right behind the Dalton Terror drop tower. It includes football and tennisfields, seen on the picture below!

https://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=401099Sanstitre.png
 
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KristofWB

Hyper Poster
A better picture of the new parks entrance for 2019 and the new hypercoaster for 2021 underneath. By the way, it has been rumoured that Walibi Belgium has asked Mack, Vekoma and B&M to design this rollercoaster and it will be somewhere between 70 and 80 meters high!

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More pictures from the re-theming on the official website of Julien Bertevas and Fabien Manuel, designers for Compagnie des Alpes!

Julien Bertevas: http://jbertevas.com/
Fabien Manuel: https://www.fabienmanuel.com/
 
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balrog

Mega Poster
Frankly, it's not like Europe was filled with lots of B&M hypers. Plus, one of them is an earlier instalment that is not that well received, and the other one is over 1000km away.

The truth is, all of those three manufacturers are excellent, and will most certainly deliver an absolutely great ride. The fact that Intamin might be left out is really interesting. I guess either the park doesn't want the ride to be overly intense, of they are afraid of the liability issues which would be a serious drawback for what is supposed to become, not only the flagship of Walibi's line up, but also the only really good thrill coaster in the park. Finally, B&M being in the race would show that the park is willing to pay big money for this ride, and that's a good sign.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
I'm actually rooting for Vekoma! Strange considering the park is in fact filled with many of their old rides, but I am really curious to see what they could deliver on a big scale. Hopefully we'll have a layout a little more sophisticated than the usual out-and-back, good airtime and... no vests :p
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
Intamin or B&M will do for me. Know what you're getting with those hypers, and they rarely disappoint. That's what I think Walibi needs atm, not necessarily a new style of hyper, just a solid signature coaster for the thrillseekers. Would also be good to have one so close by in Belgium!
 

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
Intamin or B&M will do for me. Know what you're getting with those hypers, and they rarely disappoint. That's what I think Walibi needs atm, not necessarily a new style of hyper, just a solid signature coaster for the thrillseekers. Would also be good to have one so close by in Belgium!

The thing is that Walibi Belgium owns most of the signature rides in Belgium. When you go out on the street in Belgium, and ask people to name one rollercoaster they know, they will probably answer Werewolf, Vampire or Pulsar recently.

So I guess no matter if they are going to have a B&M, Vekoma, Mack or Intamin, people will be impressed no matter how.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
Intamin or B&M is just my personal preference. Although Werewolf, Pulsar and Vampire are recognisable rides for WB I don't necessarily think one stands out amongst the other as the biggest selling point for thrill seekers (perhaps Pulsar at the moment but only because it's new). A hyper coaster will leave a bigger mark on the line-up and will attract more outsiders to the park - acting as the signature coaster.
 

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
Some details and facts about the parks transformation were given by Marc Guffens, Marketing Manager from Walibi Belgium for 'Ochtend in Pretparkland'

* It took the park 3 years to work on this masterplan. Several years of research has been done by interviewing visitors and ask them what they expect from a day in Walibi Belgium and what they want and miss. Visitors wanted more theming, more new rides and some decent restaurants in the park.
* With this transformation of the park, they hope to achieve an increase in number of visitors for 30%, which is about 1.800.000 per year for Aqualibi and Walibi.
* The theming of the themed areas in the park will be very profound, including themed façades, vegetation adapted to the theme and even details such as flooring in the themed areas.
* New restaurants in the park will include a Venetian themed Italian buffet restaurant, an Indian restaurant, a tropical restaurant and an African restaurant.
* The new entrance of the park will be open for people who don't visit the park and will include shops and restaurants. The entrance will be a square where guests can choose between Aqualibi and Walibi Belgium.
* The park has confirmed that the brand new rollercoaster opening next year will be a custom designed Gerstlauer Family Coaster in cooperation with the park.
* Construction of the new Tiki-themed zone will start next month, including the removal of the Zierer Tivoli. As already known, the Zierer Tivoli will re-open next year on the former location of the Grand Roue. The kiddie coaster will already be themed to the New Orléans, a sneak preview to the New Orléans zone which will open in 2021 and include Loup-Garou and Vampire.
* The parktrain will be removed and won't return later. The train has to be removed to make room for the two lake-view terrasses from the Indian and Italian restaurant.
* The park is now in a final line to the choice of their mega/hypercoaster. Decision has to be made by the end of this year. Rumours say Intamin, Mack, Vekoma and B&M are still in the running.
* The setting and atmosphere from Pulsar is an example of which direction the park wants to go to, concerning theming and storytelling for rides and new rides. The point is that rides will be themed, without telling a story. Visitors have to be creative and make up a story behind the ride coming from themselves.
* 99% of these plans are solid and approved by Compagnie des Alpes.
* Concept arts are from CdA graphic designers Fabien Manuel and Julien Bertevas (known for Oz'Iris and Discobelix in Parc Asterix). It is rumored that JoraVision will do the realisation of the concept arts.
 

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
Sorry for the double post! But several newspapers have published some details about the megacoaster that is opening in 2021!

The article says that Walibi has been giving four manufacturers the task to design the rollercoaster: B&M, Intamin, Mack and Vekoma. The article also says the rollercoaster will have a height between 70 and 80 meters!
 

KristofWB

Hyper Poster
Walibi Belgium has announced that the renovation and re-theme from waterpark Aqualibi will start next week Monday. Due to these renovations, the park will have limited opening hours, being only opened in weekends, Belgian autumn holiday and Christmas holiday. After Christmas, the park will be closed untill Easter. During this long-time closure of the waterpark, holders of the Walibi Pass, Golden Pass and Golden Family Pass can use their passes at nearby Brussels and former Walibi park Océade.

Aqualibi will get a 700 m² kids area and a complete Carribean retheme for 2018.

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Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
Personally (even though I don't live in Europe), that they should get a Vekoma with no vests. If any of you remember what Vekoma wanted to do for Energylandia, it actually looked really good!
 
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