(NOTE: This trip was taken with another forum and am using same report. Hope you enjoy though)
Right, about time I got a trip report done I suppose. Can’t believe it’s already been a week since we were in the Phantasialand hotel, trying to sort food!
Haven’t taken many photos and what I did take were on a phone so don’t expect great quality!
Day 1 – Walibi
Started with a 1am alarm in order for me to get my half 2am coach to Bristol Airport. It was a weird feeling having breakfast while my housemates were still up and considering heading to bed!
Coach trip to airport went smoothly and caught my 6:20 flight to Schiphol no problem. Only hitch was that the self-check-in machine didn’t want to work for me so had to queue for the only working machine! One positive of getting a flight at stupid o’clock was of getting to fly into the sunrise!
After finding my way through the huge airport that is Schiphol, I got to the meet point to find no-one I recognised. It was at this point I realised I had to set my phone up for roaming before I left so was completely out of signal. Eventually, someone I was recognised (Owain/Ploddish) turned up and we found the group together. I then opted to follow Sue to the hire car to find we had to get a shuttle bus to a location near(ish) the airport. Hire car was gained without too much faff and we were soon on our way to Walibi Holland!
Once at the park (and through the adventure that was getting to the overflow carpark), first impressions of the park were quite good and liked the pink fountain outside.
First ride was Xpress: Platform 13 which had an awesome queue line. I had heard stories of the queue line being more of a walkthrough attraction than an actual queue and it lived up to expectations. Unfortunately, other than the launch and first inversion, the ride was average at best. Good way to end my almost yearlong coaster drought though. (6/10)
Next up was the boomerang, Speed of Sound. The on-board music definitely helped this one but it is still a boomerang at the end of the day. (4/10)
The kiddie coaster Drako was done next. Not much to say really, one and done though. (1/10)
Next up was what everyone was waiting for, Lost gravity! This being my first modern Mack, I had a lot of expectations and I’m glad to say it lived up to them! First drop and airtime hill was fab and I always completely forgot about the dip before the MCBR. Wasn’t expecting the huge difference the wings seats made, makes the first drop even better! Queue line was also great and didn’t know the vibrating stairs existed until we were on them! (8/10)
While waiting for everyone to get off, I went and got my only souvenir of the trip, the mug from the €5 unlimited tea/coffee refills offer! Not great quality tea but definitely needed after getting up at 1am!
(Pictured on my desk at home after I got back)
After Lost Gravity, it was time for El Condor. Being the first SLC, I’d heard a lot of bad things about this and unfortunately, they turned out to be true. While not headbanging style rough, it just jerked about everywhere and at various times, sounded like it was going to fall apart! I knew it wasn’t going to be great when it was bumpy leaving the station! (4/10)
Rapids were up next which had a funny design of boat, making them completely flexible. Allowed for a much greater level of wetness though than conventional rapid boats. I was in Richards boat so was fun watching him shout whenever any drop of water came near him! (6/10)
After navigating the parks really odd layout, we eventually made it to Goliath. Although it was only my 2nd proper hyper coaster (after the big one), I still felt it was lacking in many places, most noticeably the middle section with the giant helix. First drop and bunny hills were fun though and the whole ride was noticeably better in the back. (7/10)
(taken from Haunted Holidays queue) (Just noticed they’ve doubled up one of the supports as a mobile phone tower! Quite clever that…)
Robin Hood was up next. I am still trying to get my head round whoever thought it was a good idea to put Vekoma and Wooden Coaster together! Rough, airtimeless and rather uninspired layout. Still good enough for me to consider a reride though. (5/10)
Lunch break happened and most people (including me) ended up at the kebab place in the food court. It was quite nice but way overpriced for what it was and left me wanting more. Due to that, I got some chips to go with it (again overpriced) which was a decent sized portion and I mentioned to get free mayo! That did lead to getting my hands covered in mayo though when trying to reach the bottom chips from the container.
After lunch, the group split and I joined the group doing the mazes. I did every maze except the clinic and thought all of them were great. The theming in all of them was fantastic, especially the mine scene in the villa. A lot of jump scares were had from lots of unexpected positions. Think my favourite was the guy jumping out the Christmas tree in Haunted Holidays.The scare zones dotted around the park were also fab and very atmospheric, especially the pirate one and Game Over.
Once all mazes were done, the group reunited for some night rides on Goliath and used the free fast pass for Lost Gravity. Night definitely improves both rides but it had started to rain while we were queueing for Goliath so I spent most of the ride trying avoid the rain flying directly into my face.
After all that, there was a lot of faff since some of the group wanted to leave but some (including me) wanted to stay till the end. This took a while to sort and more faff was had when we realised we lost a member of the group! It soon turned out that he’d left with some of the group to head to the hotel without telling anyone.
Once that was sorted, me, sue and a few others opted for 1 final ride on Xpress. While still not brilliant, the ride is definitely improved at night. At some point, I took this photo of the big wheel over the main stage but can’t remember when so leaving it here.
After Xpress, we left the park to head to the hotel but there was a huge queue to leave the carpark and then there was a road closure on the way! We eventually made it to the hotel for the night where I virtually immediately crashed out after being up for over 24hrs!
Overall thoughts: Ok park, wouldn’t rush back but Halloween event is fantastic. Best atmosphere yet! (7/10)