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^ Your space bar has become self-aware and is rebelling.

It appears the land has soft opened. . .

I wouldn't be shocked if they don't replace it with anything whatsoever.

Be interesting to see what they do with the space where Phoenix goes, seems like the Screamin Swing ride would have been a perfect fit right there but instead that's going in over across the way. I'm also interested to see what kind of lines Serengeti Flyer gets after it's been open for a little while, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere in the park and I can just see it being a walk on almost all the time.

The water wasn't there on Tuesday. I was hoping it was like that for the day only and it's not back not having water again permanently. One good thing was operations were better than normal. Iron Gwazi had around 2 minute dispatches and Cheetah Hunt wasn't stacking (although only 2 trains were running). Phoenix is completely gone.

Great report as always Bert, I never realized Plopsaland was so extensive with all of the themeing and dark rides and stuff, looks like a really great park. Ride to Happiness looks amazing, I know Time Traveler at SDC is similar but it feels like I hardly ever hear about that coaster compared to Ride To Happiness which everyone seems to rave about.

Day 9, continued. Plopsaland De Panne: part 2 this was a pretty neat chair. . . you sat in the spilling coffee/nutrella. . . what's this? a slowly moving spinning boat ride? yes please! it was across from the next coaster we were going to ride, but that was in testing mode and hadn't opened yet. apparently the boat ride is called "Tik Tak Junier" so we hopped on it to see if the coaster would open by the time we finsihed absolutely no clue what it was supposed to be about. . which made it that much better! WHEEE!!! and as we exited the boats? the gates went up and the next coaster opened. apparently this is themed after a TV show, which seems to be about High School Kids? yet it's a very junior family double figure-8 layout. I present: Hashtag: Like Me Coaster empty queue as it had just opened. . . see why I'm assuming the show is about high-school kids? it doesn't do much.. but it IS pretty speedy, and I liked how hidden in the trees it is. it also was in the running for "longest train" for any coaster we rode on the trip! I mean.. look how long this thing is! the Starflyer is themed to another show, this one about a vampire, a warewolf, and a witch (I think?). . .they had a photo op set up across from it. and you could choose which character you wanted to swing under. it wasn't open yet either, so we continued on to come back later. the flowerbeds and greenery in this park are so nice. It would be a pleasant day just walking around. we were there on a Wednesday, so this wasn't open, unfortunately - which I know disappointed some of the group. it's a sit down restaurant that only sells deserts. so we continued on to the other "thrill coaster" in the park, Anubis. train! doesn't the conductor look thrilled? NOT the Eye of Sauron. . but the Eye of Anubis with lots of Egyptian theming out front. which disappears the moment you get into the queue. I was very confused, but upon looking it up on RCDB, it seems this Gerstlaur launch coaster is themed after a Finnish Television show, about teenagers who search for treasure in their spooky boarding school. Sorta harry potter, I guess, but not - since the starflyer is also themed to a sorta harry potter show? anyways, here's the queue: (yes, we waited in this line rather than use our quick pass, as I wanted to see the queue) I believe I have AJ to thank for this pic. it's a great pic. .but man did this coaster rattle, and was really only tolerable to me in the front row. (think I rode 3 times, twice in front, and once in middle row) Swinging ship, and Ride to Happiness across the lagoon as I said a few times: beautiful park. having hit all the open coasters, we looped back to try to get Dragon Coaster, the Dinosaur Flume Ride, and Heidi the Ride (wooden coaster) Lookie lookie! James and I have joined K3 (creepy as hell, so of course I loved this photo op) oooo. . another one of these! I had never seen one prior to the one at Holiday Park's indoor section. Yeah, it's stupid and doesn't do really anything. . but I still had a ball, and stopped to ride it. and I wasn't the only one ' don't I look comfy sitting on a "chicken" [GeorgeTakei] OH MY!!! [/GeorgeTakei] we had ERT on this later, but wanted to ride it early to check it out, as noted, supposedly it's very similar to White Lightning, but with the wood supports really quite smooth, and ends with a little "dark ride" section. was it insanely thrilling? not really, but i liked it . . a lot, and rode every time during ERT later. and of course, you exit thru the gift shop. no idea, but these seem to be the characters the ride is based on. and because I'm 12 years old mentally? sent this pic home to Nick too. Heidi: the Ride is right next to the Dinosaur Flume, which still wasn't operating yet. The park claimed it was opening, but at the moment the flume was still drained. however. . what's that I see zooming towards us? the Dragon Coaster had started running. like the rest of the park, the area over here by Heidi is really cutely themed. with several photo ops. it was after lunchtime, and we were starting to get hungry, so headed to the "mushroom elves" ? section, which seemed to have the most options for food, even if it was mostly "Six Flags" type theme park food. this was right next to it tho. . . ooooooooo they had a test bunny out for photos, and test seat. So hopped on that , but wasn't sure if adults could ride. once the operator confirmed "sure, adults can ride". .did we ride it? you betcha!!! the lines were a bit too long, so since nobody was really *starving* - we'd had a big breakfast - we headed over to the section of the park we hadn't been in yet. there's also a DISC-O over here. . which I don't believe I rode here. I did join the folks I was hanging with at one part to ride it. .but think that might have been Holiday park. otherwise? not really a fan of these. a kiddie firefighter ride. (having done this in Japan, I didn't feel the urge to ride this here) a large building was over here on the left, which looked like it used to be a Carousel - was under construction, which made me a bit sad. I later found out it used to be bumper cars (?) and they were turning it into a theater. but the biggest joy in coming to this section - which was mostly kiddie & teen rides - was up ahead on the right. No, not this. . . This. yes. Plopsaland De Panne has a Dunkin' on property. with LOTS of donut options (and lots and LOTS of bees attracted to the sugar) most importantly tho? THEY HAD A MILKSHAKE ON THE MENU. (and it was described as what an American Milkshake would be). . . so absolutely had to order one, to wash that vile memory from the prior day of what I had and was called a "milkshake" this one was quite satisfying, and good. the donuts were good too and got to eat my snack surrounded by Purple Penis trees. i mean. .what else could they *possibly* be? one ride over here did look interesting. . tho we didnt' ride it either. it's a Tractor ride, similar to what we rode at Europa Parc, but here? it weaves in and out of animals that just roam around the tracks. I guess the animals are smarter than some people, in that they easily moved out of the way if a tractor was coming. we stumbled across this one, and I'm glad we did. it was an indoor dark ride in boats. as with most things here, I had no idea what the storyline was supposed to be (tho I recognize the hat in the ride logo, so its based on one of the park's mascots). . seems to be about gnomes, or elves. . and you enter into thru the Gift Shop. . where I saw these. So gotta wonder if this was once a Smurfs ride? It would fit, and be easy for them to have made the changes (just repaint a few things from Blue). this lift actually resulted in a little bit of a splash that got our boat moist. Tho maybe because it was 5 adults in a small boat? LOL coming around to the front of the park, we peeked into MayaLand, to see what food options were at the restaurant in here. we didnt' stay to ride or eat anything (typical hotdogs/burgers), but a nice small assortment of rides and slides for kids to play on. Cutting back across to the Mushroom food area from earlier, thinking it was later now, there likely wouldn't be a line still (there was, and it took a while to get something to eat. . but we were in realaxed mode at this point having gotten most of what we were hoping to ride today). . . .we found a pathway that passed right next to Anubis for some good pics and must be where AJ got that pic of us on it earlier. but before we got to go eat. . SuperSplash was open (the Shoot the Chutes). . so we rode that and didn't' get any wetter than we already were from the dark boat ride. phones were put away just in case, so only have the entrance sign as a pic. and then we saw that Dino Splash (the dinosaur flume) had opened. . so we went directly there next. The donut / shake snack really helped curb appetite, LOL again, phones put away just in case, so only have entrance, but I do recall it was fun, and I THINK it had a backwards section too? NOW it's time for food. . . but since we're passing right under Ride To Happiness on the walkway there, sure, let's stop and take a few more pics of this amazing ride. the food we waited a bit too long for, and was OK for theme park food. this park more than makes up for it with atmosphere and a world class ride (RtH). . but yeah, if the desert restaurant is not open, I'd just stick to Dunkin to eat here. lots of birds over here too. . so they must get fed a lot of french fries. . they weren't scared of people at all. having eaten something, we treked back over to the starflyer to get a ride. Even the churro stand was themed to the supernatural show over here by the starflyer at this point, I think we had about an hour left before park close, and a few folks wanted to go back to Anubis (I passed) or Ride to Happiness. . but once I found out there was a Carousel here? I split off and went to ride my must do: beautiful, and hidden way back here in the far corner of the park! double decker, so I immediately went uptop, only to be told that I could not ride any horses or cups, that upstairs adults may only ride on the bench. so I rode the bench: (still happy tho) and then I went downstairs and took another ride, this time on a horse. as noted..it's way back in the corner, so not very busy back here. but look how happy! I wanted to buy some magnets or souveniers, so I headed back around to the front plaza. . but stopped to snap a pic of the workmen who were transforming that space I had thought was the carousel. and walked thru the petting zoo area over here too.. that was on the opposite side of that tractor ride. the petting zoo is behind me, but they also had sculptures of animals in the sandbox, so kids could "pet" them without being scared of a live animal. good call on the park's part. ah. .I DID take a pic of the actual petting zoo too. swag purchased I made my way around back to RoH to meet up with the group, and happened across the parks parade. wasn't very long, but it was cute - or creepy - depending on your "person in suit" tolerance. now there were some kids driving in this attraction. I can't recall if we had ERT this evening as we'd had this morning, or if just everyone had saved their skip the line passes (I do seem to remember it had gone down for a few hours, and when it came back up, the line got slammed). . .but I went into the Gift Shop first. a little bit of sticker shock - I totally would have bought a T-shirt, but you can tell this is a "sponsored by Tomorrowland" installation, as the shirts were (I think) all $50 or more. I ended up with a magnet I loved, and that was "only" $20. but so what, I liked it, so I bought it. I rode it two or three more times. . and then stepped out to take a few more pics of it. park was closing, so those of us at RtH headed over to Heidi: the Ride, the coaster that would close out our day at Plopsaland. I wasnt' hungry - at all - but it would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted a bit. I settled for just pictures of what they were offering at this cart on the pathway. and then it was on to Heidi. all these pics are courtesy of Elissa or Robb. and I rode it every time during Evening ERT. as I said, I enjoyed it a lot, as you can tell from the giant smile I have in every pic. . . and then it was time to head out. We'd had a lot of fun in the park, and it seemed to fly, but this really is a one day park. however, if they keep updating with rides like RtH? I can see them drawing tons more people than that ride is already drawing to the park. closing out with pics from Robb that he shared with us on the bus on the way back to the hotel. taken by his coaster camera in the morning. these are incredible, and LOL. my face in that first one. . gravity sliding me into that inversion. and then I got the text back from Nick that changed my mood: "hi Hun, don't worry. I'm in the hospital, my lung collapsed. I'll text you later and update you. 143" yeah

So excited for CP to finally bring the world’s tallest and fastest Aquatrax to life

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The amount of appreciation you get from the little things in life is great. Her joy is our deep meaningful joy multiplied. We don't live for ourselves anymore, and life takes on a real purpose. For that, I'll gladly wait in the hour long log flume line to make her happy.

It's funny how kids change you experience and perspective. We're still go go go and get as much done as you can, but if there's a long line for something the kids want to do that I would normally skip on my own, we do it lol. An hour for the log flume vs 10 minutes for a great coaster? Guess we're waiting for this log ride now lol. But yeah it is nice to have what I would normally consider an average day at a park day turn into a really good day just because I know the kids had a great time and didn't notice or care about little operational annoyances like I do. We also just sit down and chill a lot more with kids than I ever did before, and that's nice, but also maybe I'm just getting old.

^ It really is amazing to me how much of an effect becoming a father has had on my patience and understanding. He's not even two years old but we've done Disneyland, Adventureland, SDC, SFGAdv, and maybe one or two other amusement park days. I'm no longer the "go go go get on everything ASAP" guy and now I'm the "take your time, enjoy the day" guy. Even on my honeymoon I wouldn't take an afternoon to just relax, I was too busy trying to see and do everything we could in a limited time. Hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back I wish I was able to better understand the beauty of taking your time.

Walibi Belgium, part 2: we headed over to the "western" part of the park. . a smallish area, with a bunch of shops, and two rides. . the drop tower, Dalton Terror, and the Vekoma mine train, Calamity Mine. I used to love this at Astroworld, and tho got to ride it at SFStL before it closed. .and earlier in the trip at Holiday Park. .so any chance to ride these, I take. you can see from the lines forming, it was really starting to get busy as we got into early afternoon timeframe. the mine train was only so-so, I thought. . .but I did like the look of this area. and was able to get James to do a photo op with me. i'm so pretty! we headed over to Buzzsaw, and wow.. what a line over here. with the fast lane it still took almost 20 minutes. and the cycle was really pretty bad. I mean, nothing could really compare with Talocan - especially the day right after. But this thing flipped, I think, maybe 3 times total? the rest was just rocking back and forth. i was sadly disappointed in this. tho it was very photogenic. phantom cars!!! it's a g-g-g-ghost driving!! ruh-roh!! we still had 3 coasters left in the parks line up, and I really wasn't looking forward to any of them (and didn't plan to ride two of them anyways, the kiddie and the Boomerang). . but to get up my nerve - and it was on the way - we stopped at the Carousel on the way to Vampire, the parks Vekoma SLC. lovely carousel. and all the effects were working: the spinning cups, the galloping horses, and the rocking carriages. see? my happy place. even rode twice maybe? Unless Jon fell off from the prior pic? while some went for a coffee break, I popped into the store up front to see if there were any shirts I might want later. i was surprised to see them selling merch from everyone in here! DC Superheroes (Six Flags parks), Harry Potter (Universal), Star Wars/Marvel (Disney), even cartoon network stuf fand Nintendo stuff! . . it's a copyright free for all up in here.. . LOL but eventually we had to face it. another "pretty to photograph, but it's gonna suck" ride. Vekoma SLC with some nice theming tho. but yes. . it suuuuuuucked. I haaaaaaated it. the only thing that even made it worthwhile to come over to this part of the park (near the front gates) was the Carousel. oh. .and passing these two inked Bears. . . hello misters! after the crapfest that was Vampire, we were starting to get hungry, but wanted to let stomachs settle. So we headed across the park to the one section we hadn't been in yet - and to ride Popcorn's Revenge - the other shooting dark ride. nature will find a way: although this seems like a huge waste of space - like SOMETHING should be in here for use? - it really is lovely to have a lake in the center of the park. and allows for some great views. this Elephant sculpture was adorable. and it "mists" you as you walk by. . LOL before we got to Popcorn tho.. most of the guys wanted to ride the boomerang. why? I dunno. .to get the credit I guess? I decided to just wait for them and watch. the best seat on a Vekoma Boomerang? the bench out front of the entrance THIS is what I was interested in. I had called this Mediterranean section. .but I think it's more going for an India street vibe, right? huge queueline, that was almost completely empty. for such a fun shooting dark ride. I think maybe just a lot of people don't realize it's over here? if you ever go to Walibi Belgium? don't miss this one. .it's great. and so well themed. (yes, it's basically Toystory Mania. . but it's still a good ride) this is all just the queueline theming! exit thru the gift shop. . . so you can buy a stuffed Popcorn. . . LOL he was cute - and it smelled wonderfully of buttered popcorn in here - but I couldn't fit that in my bag to get back home. this lil magnet tho, i could. . so grabbed him. Pink, of course. so photogenic. . .but so. . . boomerang-y the park has a flying carpet over here.. but no one was really riding it other than some small kids. i asked if adults were allowed, and the operator said "sure! come on aboard!" he said we could have cameras out so I got on with a couple of others, figuring I could get some good pics from the ride. catching Loup-Garou over the lake - and thru the trees and catching Kondaa on the 1st drop. for such a huge splash, it's so fun not more . . . wet. But I really liked Pulsar, and it too is very photogenic we sat to have a drink in the cafe across from the magic carpet and noticed these water jets. what's this? oh. .it's the parks rapids ride, "Radja River" - which I hadn't realized they had. I noticed this too over there.. . oh my! I convinced a couple of folks to ride with me. . but can't recall if we got really wet or not. I don't think we did? it was well done tho. . and like the rapids rides we saw in other parks? never in USA. . the boats were sent pretty closely together, making for a more fun time. across from it was the kiddie. and since I had talked some into riding the rapids - and the kiddie was a walk on basically.. . yeah. . I rode "Fun Pilot" oooo. .another Mad House? yes please.. I've gotten to like these, and happy that so many parks we visited had one. sorry so many pics of Pulsar. . I really DID edit out a lot of them! it's just so pretty with the sky behind it. it was time to eat. No idea what this was. I do remember it was good, tho the desert was a bit too chocolatly. but it was good. pic from Robb, that he sent out while we were stopped for lunch, so it saved in my camera in this spot. I guess from the top of the drop tower? But showing the full layout of Kondaa after lunch, we all wanted something "relaxing". . so we headed to that "slow boat" ride that's nearby Tiki-Waka feeeeed meeeeeeeee really do love how closely this ride interacts with the coaster (and vice versa) awww. . a pony ride, similar to what I got to ride at Dollywood (tho on bears there). we couldn't ride tho, as we were all too tall. so instead we went and rode the angry giant vagina monster ride. at least I'm guessing that's what this was called.. i honestly have no idea! tho I seem to recall that Ian got stung by a bee while in line? (or was that Jon?) and they went together to first aid to have it looked at while we rode? ZERO memory of this.. no idea what it was. . or if it was open, or if we did it. Took a picture of it tho, so I suspect we did it. . but sorry, no idea. Kondaa thru the trees! I do recall we wanted to ride it again, even tho we had end of night ERT on it. . so headed over that way for a ride tho stopping to ride this again along the way. . coming back into the Kondaa entry plaza area. . . we had talked about this ride and were planning to ride it. but we hadn't' seen it cycle, and watching it, it became clear that this is a very mild children's ride (good planning to put something over here for the kids, to keep them occupied so the adults can ride Kondaa). So we passed on this and went to the main attraction. another great ride, and before we had to end the night with ERT, we took another lap around the park to hit up anything we still wanted to ride, or to re-ride. NOT the boomerang (or the SLC). . but really, that boomerang is so tricksy. .it looks so nice! did we ride this breakdance? i really can't remember. after a few rides on things, we stopped at an icecream stand that had "Milkshakes" on the menu. So I tried it. OMG. . it was pretty disgusting. it's NOT what American's think of as a milkshake.. but it was very blue. and foamy. and not a consistency i liked.. it was sorta like "lumpy" milk. um. . yeah. . I didn't finish it. it was all good tho. . because by then it was almost time to meet up in front of Kondaa with the park rep, Valentin, and get our ERT on. So a quick stop in the shop near the front to pick up the Shirt I had seen earlier that I wanted, and then we headed back to meet up for ERT. not really any pics, because once we stored our bags in the station cubbies, we just rode and rode until the day was over. but I snapped this one before we went up to the station, while the park was flushing out the line from the General Public. such a gorgeous entry plaza for this ride. pic courtesy of Elissa (or Robb). and then sadly it was time to head out. We left around 7pm and had about a 3 hour drive to get to the hotel - on the beach in De Panne. so we had to say our goodbyes to Walibi Belgium to headed out. up next. . Day 8 evening on the beach in De Panne (still light out at 10pm!)