I wanted To write this blog to not only summarise our trip, but also give a bit of advice where I can about travelling around Europe.
The highlights
Thinking about things that stuck out on our trip, I’d have to say that most of Efteling, Rookburgh and the Charles Lindbergh, most of Toverland and The Ride to Happiness as a start. So to make it a bit more fun, I think I’ll go through highlights of anything and everything starting with the coasters.
The Coasters
Fury and Ride to Happiness are the clear standouts here. I was expecting Ride to Happiness to be great but wasn’t expecting as much from Fury but it sure delivered! Anubis was also noteworthy, as was Typhoon and Taron. Kondaa was quite impressive too, Revolution and Psyke Underground were very interesting and Troy is the best wooden coaster I’ve ridden so far!
The Flats
But rollercoasters aren’t just all a park has to offer, there’s the flat rides too. Here, the clear standouts was Talocan. I looked forward to this for a long time before going and it held up all I wanted it to be! I wish the fire had been working on our visit but it didn’t take away from what is a phenomenal ride. Mystery Castle is also a ride that I’ll never forget riding the first time either! Then there’s King Kong at Bobbejaanland, Le Rondes des Canards at Plopsaland and Scorpius at Toverland for how great it looked.
The Dark Rides
Then there’s the great selection of dark rides we had a go on! Popcorn Revenge, Challenge of Tutankhamen, Maus Au Chocolat, Carnival Festival, Droomvluct and the almighty Symbolica! Efteling truly is one of the dark ride capitals of Europe!
The Water Rides
Finally there’s the water rides, though Pulsar and SuperSplash are rollercoasters, I think they stand out more for their water elements. Though the rapids rides we had a go on are definitely memorable, River Quest being the absolute champion of rapids rides! Chiapas is the best log flume we’ve been on, but Flashback and Terra Magna were great too!
As for the park that stood out as the one that impressed me most, it’ll definitely be Toverland. Though Efteling and Phantasialand were the better parks, I felt that Toverland was so well done and we enjoyed everything there was to do at the park so much. I feel Efteling could do with a few more thrill rides personally and that would make it easily top of all parks I’ve visited. For now though, Toverland is up there along with Efteling and Phantasialand, with Walibi Belgium and Plopsaland being tied and Bobbejaanland being slightly behind those two. That’s definitely not to say Bobbejaanland was bad or anything, far from it! It’s better than the vast majority of parks here in the UK! It’s just competition is stiff!
All the hotels we stopped in were not much to write about besides the Loonsche Land Hotel and Charles Lindbergh which were very well done. It is worth noting though, that most of the hotels we stopped in didn’t have tea and coffee making facilities and the beds all seemed to use foam mattresses too. I suppose I should really mention Schwerelos Suite here as the host of this overnight stop went truly above and beyond with how they accommodated us!
Some advice about Europe
I’ll have an accompanying video for you to watch here if you prefer, but I’ll try and go into a bit of detail here as it’s easier to write!
The first piece of advice I’d say is to make sure you plan what you’re doing to within an inch of its life! I had an Excel spreadsheet with all sorts of information on it while we were going through the motions of deciding what parks we were doing, what hotels we were stopping at and our route. We ended up deciding on 6 parks and 9 hotels in total (2 being booked alongside their park tickets). The route we decided on was the most fuel efficient way that I could find as I used Google Maps to decide what was best.
Once we’d gotten our actual hotels and tickets booked, we turned our attention to what we’d need. This includes your V5 for the car, travel insurance, car insurance details (including European cover), passports and such. I’ll make a list at the very bottom to help out with what you might need to make it much easier to plan! It’s also worth noting how you’re getting there. By road you’ll have 2 choices, ferry or Eurotunnel. We opted for the Eurotunnel as it was a lot cheaper, but the ferry might have offers on or be more suitable to you.
Driving in Europe wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be as you are guided straight onto a french motorway as you leave the eurotunnel and it sort of clicks as you go. The first few roundabouts are interesting as cars are coming from the other way and you are used to looking right instead of left.
Having a basic understanding of French/Dutch or German will help you out plenty in France/Belgium/The Netherlands and Germany and it certainly helps if you have allergies or specific needs as we had a little issue with onions. I’m not allergic to them per se but they can seriously upset my stomach and it’s much easier to not eat them at all. We did had a few issues trying to say ‘no onions please’, but it didn’t always come across, which is on us for not knowing how to speak a foreign language!
Obviously the currency is Euros and I took a bank card with me, where Tracy went entirely cash. Either works fine and depending where you’re going depends on what you’ll need. Bobbejaanland for example is entirely cashless so you can convert cash into their own on park currency, but Phantasialand was easier with cash as some of the vendors didn’t take card.
Things you’ll need for driving in Europe
Passport
Travel Insurance
Car Insurance
V5C
High Viz Jacket for each occupant of the vehicle )reachable from within the behicle)
I knew nothing of Bobbejaanland before we visited. I knew of it and that it was a somewhat notable park, but other than few attractions, I didn’t know what the park was like. This made it quite fun to explore and find attractions that I’d actually heard about but didn’t realise they were here, I’ll go into those later though!
Entrance to the park was very smooth and we went to guest services to see about recording on rides. This is where the park really stands out and other should take note in my opinion! They asked me to sign a form that essentially meant that I could record on rides and that the park were happy with this but I wouldn’t get and preferential treatment, jump queues or anything like that. This is exactly what I want from UK parks, the option to show up and be checked and then show proof to ride operators!
Once we’d finished with guest services, 10am had just rolled around and the area gates were opened so we headed to Typhoon first. This is one of the earliest Gerstlauer Eurofighter models so we had a bit of apprehension about the comfort of the ride but having tried it, we were pleasantly surprised with how well it rides. The ride is quite compact, features a beyond vertical drop like most Eurofighters and has 4 inversions. The ride is paced well, giving you time between the elements to take it in before the next one comes along. Overall, great little ride!
Next up was Fury, the only coaster I knew much about as it is somewhat unique in how it operates. Fury is another Gerstlauer, but this time one of their Infinity models and has an LSM launch and a turntable that means you can ride forwards or backwards! In the queueline, you get the choice of forwards only, or the option to vote upon dispatch. Our first ride we opted for the vote option as I really wanted to try it backwards first, much to Tracy’s dismay!
The train is dispatched and we vote using the buttons on the lap bar and to my joy, and Tracy’s annoyance, we turned to face the ride backwards. The train launches fairly tamely up the top hat, then falls back onto the LSMs and is launched the other way up a spike and then we roll into the LSM launch a 3rd time, reach too speed and thunder up the top hat and itno the rest of the layout. I thoroughly loved this coaster! It’s punchy, comfortable and smooth as glass. It has some great intensity to it and doesn’t last too long as it could be a bit much if it went on for too long.
This is also a bit of a special coaster for me as it is not only the same model as The Smiler, what was my number 1 coaster, but it was also my 100th coaster too! Fury has topped the Smiler for me even though it isn’t as long as doesn’t quite have as much of a theme to it. The launch was excellent and the layout well.paced again. This is back to back Gerstlauers that ride excellently!
After Fury, we found that the park does Freestyle cups just as the Merlin Parks do and found a shop was just after the next coaster, Naga Bay. We had a go on this Maurer Spinner and found there wasn’t too much to talk about unfortunately. It’s very tame and comfortable but does lack a bit of thrill and doesn’t spin much at all!
We found the shop selling freestyle cups next so snapped a couple of those up for €15 each (around £13). Interestingly, European Freestyle offerings are vastly different to the UK. I gather their health and safety laws are different and they don’t have sugar tax either as there were a lot more full sugar offerings including all the old flavour Coca Colas such as lime and vanilla.
After we’d topped up our drinks, we headed onto Forbidden Caves. I’d advise you try this one out for yourself before reading into it as it’s best experienced without knowing what’s coming (as we did). I’ll talk about this , Terra Magma and Revolution at the very end in a separate section so as to not spoil anything that you may want to go into blind.
King Long was next and this is weird one, but in a good way! This is a very gentle ride where the vehicle you’re in gets lifted up and inspected by a large King Kong statue that forms the rides mechanism. I’m sure I read somewhere that this was once a prop for a film, but I can’t find it so I’ll assume it was built like that to start with until proven otherwise! The ride experience is very gentle and not a lot actually happens, but it’s still quite a pleasant attraction and a great introduction to heights, movement and sounds for younger guests.
After we’d done in the Adventure Valley section of the park, we moved into the western themed area, which I’ve recently found out was what the whole park was based on when it was originally built by its founder Modest ‘Bobbejaan’ Schoepen. He was a county and western singer who did a lot for Belgian music and Bobbejaanland was built to reflect this. I’ve only found this out since leaving the park so I would like to go back and see if any of his legacy is kept in some of the scenes in the western area (as we don’t speak Dutch/French or German, is likely we would have missed anything!)
The western area, Desperado City, is the more extensively themed of the parks areas and features a river rapids, wild mouse coaster, a horse riding tracked ride as well as a horse pedalo ride, a giant slide and a kids climbing frame. Besides the rides, there’s also a lovely walkthrough area that you’d miss if you weren’t looking for it featuring scenes from old western shops and such. These are very well looked after and have clearly had a lot of thought put into them.
El Rio is the river rapids ride and is the first one of these for our holiday and already it’s very different from the UK versions as the boats are a lot more open and are clearly 3 sections that can move slightly to allow the boat to flex a little. As we’ll find out a lot more later on in the trip, it allows a bit of water to come up through the centre and between the joints. I like the design of these boats.
As for the ride itself, it’s not really spoiling it as you can see it on the map for the attraction but it does have a whirlpool/plug hole section where the course runs tighter and tighter as though you’re in a whirlpool until you eventually plunge down a drop of about 10 feet or so back into the river! You don’t get too wet here but because of the design of the boats, water gets sloshed through it and around you which really adds to it!
Speedy Bob was next and this is a wild mouse and features the same layout as Marble Madness at Pleasurewood Hills, but in reverse (or it at least felt like it!) Apparently this is a somewhat unique version of Mack Rides’ Wild Mouse designs as its lift hill is on the left instead of the right. It used to have a mirror image coaster stood right next to it, but that has long gone leaving Speedy Bob all alone. The ride was decent, and not as uncomfortable as I was expecting. It’s certainly better than Rattlesnake at Chessington. Though I think its about the same as Marble Madness on the other hand.
Once we’d done with Speedy Bob, we had some dinner at Country Cookout. Despite the name, this place sells a small selection of pasta with sauces and it was very tasty! We were thinking that it would sell barbequed foods or steak, but the pasta drew us in. It wasn’t too hot, and the serving size was decent so you weren’t too full to continue with your day.
After we’d finished dinner, we had a go on The Horse Pedalos. This is pretty much exactly as it sounds, themed vehicles that you peddle around an elevated track. It features a lift hill to get you a bit of height and after that, you can essentially freewheel you way around the layout. It’s a nice sit down and has some nice views around the back of the Desperado City area.
Next up was Dream Catcher, a Vekoma swinging inverted coaster. Similar to Vampire at Chessington but with a more compact layout and only a single lift hill, but has the same trains. I was looking forward to this one as they are quite rare coasters to find and Vampire is all we have to give us any idea what they are like.
I felt a bit underwhelmed with the ride as it doesn’t really amount to much unfortunately! The helix at the end is a bit of fun, but there is a bit of head bashing during this section and it can be quite painful! It’s worth a ride to see how you think it compares to Vampire, but for me, Vampire is the better coaster of the two!
After we’d finished on Dream Catch, we headed into Kinderland to have a look. As the name suggests, this is an area themed for younger kids and has a good variety of older carousels and wheel rides. There are some very vintage rides in here which is lovely to see so don’t miss popping in for a look.
Just outside Kinderland is Oki Doki, a Vekoma junior coaster, and the supposed longest junior coaster in the world. The trains have clowns on their front posing for peek a boo which is a nice touch. The ride is good and gives aspiring thrill seekers something to whet their appetite before they can try the larger rides.
Further along from Oki Doki was Terra Magma, the parks newest attraction. This is a retheme of Indiana River but we moved passed it and onto Bob Express and The El Paso Special. Bob Express is a bigger meaner Runaway Mine Train and is great fun, especially when is flies through the station. The El Paso Special is an interactive dark ride that is much like Sherriff Showdown at Drayton Manor, but bigger in every way. More scenes, more targets, more fun too! Funnily enough, the ride has a sign that tells you its a joint venture between the UK and Germany which I love to see.
Time was starting to press on during our visit so we headed into the Terra Magma queue to see what this new ride was like. I’ll go into a bit of detail below for those who want to know, otherwise I’ll keep it spoiler free here and just say that it’s a nicely themed indoor log flume, has 3 good drops and doesn’t soak you too much!
Once again we have a small negative and its the same as Plopsaland before, merchandise. There was a huge lack of it again and its such a shame as there are some very marketable attractions here such as Fury, Terra Magma and Revolution. They have released some pin badges but they were being released in waves, meaning only the first 2 of about 6 were available to us and we missed out on those due to a language barrier, which isn’t the parks fault. I’d have loved a Fury T-shirt or a good quality model of the sorcerer that stands in The Land of Legends or even some ride pins!
The lack of merchandise doesn’t take away too much from an overall great park, and there were options to have your own things printed but we didn’t see anyone working behind the counter when we were there. I can definitely recommend Bobbejaanland for the unique attractions it offers, as well as the experiences in its dark rides too.
SPOILERS BELOW
As I mentioned above, I’d go into detail for those who wanted to know more about Forbidden Caves, Revolution and Terra Magma. I’ll start with Forbidden Caves.
This is a dark simulator ride and has 3D effects using glasses. The ride vehicle departs the station onto a small section of track into a room surrounded by screens. The vehicles are capable of a small range of motion and this syncs up with actions on screen. The story appears to be of explorers who end up getting lost in a cave in their vehicles and avoid different creatures and statues that come to life and try to chase you. Its a nice little ride that should be experienced at least once, but I wasn’t quite as impressed with the ride as I was with the queue line, as this is very well themed and done great!
Revolution on the other hand was excellent. I’m sure it will have its critics but I thoroughly enjoyed both rides we had on this weird and wonderful coaster. Firstly there’s the trains that are 30 carriages long and can seat 2 people in each car allowing 60 people to ride at once which is already bonkers. Then there’s the layout of the coaster, which starts with a very long spiralling lift hill that takes you to the very top of the building before spiralling back down on the outside. There is a musical score (Michael Hoenigs Bones On The Beach) that plays inside the ride and as the score gets faster, so does the train as well as the intensity and pace of the light show in there too. By other rides standards its nothing special, just a massive train that gets to a top speed of about 30 miles an hour but there was just something about the whole package that I loved.
Finally theres Terra Magma which is an indoor log flume and is themed around a forbidden island and you’ll narrowly escape an erupting volcano. This is what promotional material reads anyway, but I didn’t quite get that from the ride. It felt like a trip through different weather and jungles and I didn’t really get an overarching story from it. I enjoyed what I saw and it was very pretty in places but maybe not the best at portraying what it sets out to, but that’s just me! I still enjoyed it greatly and maybe a subsequent ride or two will help.
This is quite an exciting blog to write as we’ve somewhat finalised our plans for the coming year
This year, as I put down in my 2023 resolutions blog, we were hoping to get across to Europe and thanks to our latest bookings, we now shall be! I’ll go into a little detail later but to start our season, we’ll be at Blackpool Pleasure Beach! We only had 1 trip there last year so it’ll be nice to get back on Big One, Icon and celebrate Big Dippers centenary. We would have been going to Alton Towers for the opening weekend, however…
Next up will be Alton Towers in April for the Your Experience Guide (Pleasure Beach Experience) event. I’m very much looking forward to meeting like minded enthusiasts as well as getting a few rides on Wickerman before the park opens! I’ve never been to an enthusiast event so this will be my first and something I’m very much looking forward to.
Our big trip this will be in Europe as I mentioned earlier. We’ll be going in mid May and our route will take us to 6 different parks and will take us through 4 countries, starting in France, then Belgium, The Netherlands and finally Germany! Our intention will be to take the Eurotunnel across to France then stop the night before visiting Plopsaland De Panne for the first time. Next will be Bobbejaanland then onto Efteling for 2 days, stopping in the Holiday Village Efteling Loonsche Land.
Then we’ll have a day off to see the surroundings and then onto Toverland! Next stop will be Phantasia Land for 2 days, stopping in their Hotel Charles Lindbergh. Finally we’ll visit Walibi Belgium on the way back to the Euro Tunnel and the UK.
All in, we should have the chance to ride up to 42 new rollercoasters, as well as plenty of flat rides and other attractions.
Not only will we be visiting 6 new parks, seeing new sites, eating different food, but I’ll be driving the whole way too. I’m don’t know whether I’m more excited about the chance to drive new roads, seeing new things or the fact I’ll be doing it all with Tracy too.
Not only will we be making a grand tour of Europe, but we’ve also got annual passes for Drayton Manor this year. This is the first time I’ve ever held a park specific annual pass and it’ll supplement our Merlin annual passes too. We intend to visit Drayton Manor for their new events so the annual pass makes financial sense!
We’ll also be threading in visits to all the Thorpe Park events, not only to compare and contrast to last year, but as part of the competition being run by Thorpe Park to have a chance to be the first to ride Project Exodus when that opens! I won’t be able to visit every day as we live over 220 miles away, but you have to be in it to win it, so event visits will have to do!
In the autumn, we hope to make a final trip across to France to visit Disneyland Paris and Parc Asterix over Halloween as we’ve been to neither park and want to see both! We will definitely make a concerted effort to get to Fantasy Island for Fear Island again as that was a definite highlight of last year!
Finally, we’ll try to get back to Paultons, Chessington for the new Jumanji area as well as my home park, Flamingo Land, to see how Sik is settling in.
There’s so much to be excited for this year, from trying out Taron and F.L.Y, to Baron 1898, Troy, Fury and The Ride to Happiness! Along the way, I’ll be comparing these to their closest UK offerings, such as Icon being our closest thing to Taron etc. I also can’t wait to see all the themed areas, try out the food, trying to speak German and French again and just having an overall great time this year!
I will, of course, be doing blogs for each visit and possibly trying out video logging (Vlogging) for some, starting with the Alton Towers event in April!
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