JordyC

Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens!

Thanks for the review. It sounds great and I'm glad the ride includes some surprises. How would you rate it compared to, say, Mystic Manor? I haven't been to Hong Kong Disneyland yet, so I am not really able to compare it. But I can compare it to Ratatouille in Disneyland Paris. I liked Symbolica a lot more than Ratatouille. Ratatouille has screens, combined with theming, while Symbolica only has physical theming. And I liked the overall feel and storyline of Symbolica more. Don't get me wrong, Ratatouille is a great ride. But in my opinion, Symbolica just tops it.

Today, their was the preview for annual pass holders to experience Symbolica before the official opening this Saturday. If you are interested in my review, you can read it here. The Palace of Fantasy.

Efteling (Preview Symbolica) - June 2017 Hello everyone! Today, Tuesday June 27th 2017, their was the preview for annual pass holders to experience the park's newest dark ride Symbolica before the official opening this Saturday, July 1st. First of all, I would like to thank Efteling for organizing this preview. For the park, it is an excellent way to hold a 'general rehearsal', but it is also a great opportunity to experience Symbolica before everybody else. Also, I want to appologize for the lack op photos. But because Symbolica will only open to the public on Saturday, we were not allowed to make pictures from the ride itself, hence why I only have pictures from the exterior of the ride. After all the teasing from the park, the amazing Making-Of series, some leaked pictures and videos and knowing that this ride costs 35 million euros, my expactations for Symbolica were pretty much as high as they can get. And you know what, it exceeded all of them! From the moment that you enter the queue from the majestic Palace of Fantasy until you exit the ride, you are in a completely different world. Symbolica just has so much theming everywhere you look, and I really love all the little details. Since it was the preview, we were only allowed to have one ride, but that certainly isn't enough. The ride didn't really feel 7 minutes long, but that's because there's so much to see. And I am sure that this ride will get better everytime you ride it. I heard some people say that they were a bit disappointed by the ride. And I can see why. It is just so big, and there is so much going on and so much to see, that it might feel a bit overwhelming after the first ride. But as I said, I am sure that this ride will get better the more you ride it. But for me, it is the best ride at the park and my new favourite Dark Ride. **SPOILER ALERT** If you want to be surprised by the wonderful world of Symbolica, then stop reading here! Symbolica takes you on a 7 minute journey, but the total experience takes much longer. It all starts when you enter the queue, in the beautiful gardens of the Palace of Fantasy. After a wonderful walk through the gardens, you enter the lobby of the Palace. Here you are greeted by lackey O.J. Punctueel, which is the first of many amazing animatronics. He is explaining the house rules of the palace, in preparation for your audience with King Pardulfus. Suddenly Pardoes - the park's mascot - appears on top of the stairs and says "Alle Tovertwinkels" (All Magic Twinkles), after which the stairs magically open and creates a secret doorway towards a stairwell. After a walk down the stairs, you arrive in the station. You have to choose between three different routes: Tour of Heroes, Tour of Music or Tour of Treasure. The three vehicles, named Fantasy Sailors, will leave at the same time. On my ride, I chose the Tour of Music. Initially, the three Fantasy Sailors stay together. First, you drive into a dark corridor with flashing candles and blue crystals. On the way to the Observatory - the work room of the old wizard Almar - you pass by a staircase and a treasure chest. Once you arrive in the Observatory, Almar is saying all kind of spells. Suddenly behind him Pardoes appears once again. With his Twinkle Torch in his hands, he says: "Use your imagination!", after which the Fantasy Sailors are enchanted and beautiful stars appear in the sky and on the Fantasy Sailors. Next, the Fantasy Sailors drive to the Panorama Salon. You first pass by a large painting of a Symbolic landscape at daylight, that is absolutely stunning. Then you drive to the balcony of the palace, overlooking a huge illuminated miniature city. This is the most impressive scene! Seriously, it is just stunning. All the little houses, the rivers, the beautiful butterflies, the gentle breeze; there is just SO MUCH DETAIL! I would ride it again just for that scene alone. The next room is the botanical garden Botanicum, with magical flowers that open and close. The Fantasy Sailors stop in front of some dark windows. Or that is what it first looked like. It turns out to be an aquarium. A big fish appears and breaks the glass. Water is pouring into the botanical garden, after which Pardoes appears behind a plant and says, "Come here, it's safe!" Then you enter a six-door hallway. The Fantasy Sailors split up and enter the Music Salon, the Heroes Cabinet or the Treasures Boudoir. Then some objects appear in the mirror. You can use the interactive control panel in the front of the first row to decide what objects you want to see. Next, the Fantasy Sailors take you to the Hidden Fantasy Depot. All Fantasy Sailors drive to somewhere different, depending on the chosen tour. As mentioned before, I had the Tour of Music. Musical instruments starts to play and move, depending on what you touch on the interactive panel. In the Royal Champagne Stock, the three Fantasy Sailors come back together. Then the Fantasy Sailors take you to a pile of pots and pans in the "Provisie Passage", where the cook Polle appears. He is pushing a large piles of pancakes, which are wobbling back and forth. In the big Royal Hall, Lachey O.J. Punctueel is waiting for you. "Unfortunately, you are too late for the audience." King Pardulfus and Princess Pardijn are sitting on a large table filled with all kinds of magical delicacies from a 'Hoorn des Overvloeds' (Horn of Abundance). Pardoes is on the table and ignites the chandeliers in the hall with the saying "Illumina Symbolica!" Here you start to dance with the other two Fantasy Sailors. Once again, you can use the control panel in front of you to decide if you want to spin left or right. The last scene is the "Gallery of the Imaginatives". Here you see a collection of moving paintings by all residents of the palace, such as Pardoes, Almar, Pardulfus, Pardijn, O.J. Punctueel, Polle and the fish from Botanicum. Your photo will also appear in a painting, which was really cool. Now on to some pictures. I am here at the sneak preview of Symbolica. What is that behind the gates? Here it is, the wonderful Palace of Fantasy. Everything was already set up for the big opening later this week. A sneak peek of the Palace's garden. There are lots of things to read while you are waiting in the queue, and that in 4 different languages. A little back gate to the gardens of the Palace. Yes, even the back side of Symbolica looks great. Where else do you have a waterfall at the back of a dark ride? There are so many little details. I love it! A look at the amazing roof of Symbolica. Some more people waiting to enter the Palace of King Pardulfus. Pagode taking a closer look. I will end this report with this fantastic view. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

Europa-Park will completely rebuild Eurosat One of the oldest roller coasters at Europa-Park will get a big make-over for the 2018 season. The indoor coaster Eurosat from 1989 will soon be rebuilt. That has been announced tonight at a meeting by Michael Mack . There won't be much left of Eurosat when it opens again during the Easter holidays of 2018. The park said that the ride will be thoroughly renovated by 2018. There will be a new layout, which, of course, involves a full renewal of the track. The guests will experience a complete new ride. Also, virtual reality will be used as an additional option. The renewed roller coaster will therefore have its own, extra entry and exit station for VR users. Remarkably, because this year, the park announced that it is going to remove the VR offer at Pegasus because it affected the capacity. Perhaps the additional station and a ride with more capacity will provide a solution to Pegasus's capacity problem. Source

And just 3 days for annual pass holders! I can't wait

Kanonen likes to have a word with you

Is there a source on that because I highly doubt Kärnan and Monster would cost the same. After a quick search on Google, I found that Kärnan was build at a cost of 26 million euros. (Source) While Monster costs around 9 million USD. (Source)

Lift Hill Balder or Helix?

8,5/10 Big Thunder Mountain @ DLP

Giant future plans for Walibi Belgium: 4 new roller coasters, 10 new attractions Walibi Belgium has impressive future plans. In the coming years, the theme park will invest more than 100 million euros in ten new attractions, of which four new roller coasters, spread over eight new themed areas. In 2021, the largest and fastest rollercoaster of the Benelux will open. This was announced by Walibi at a press conference this morning. The first expansion will be scheduled for next year. In 2018, the theme park will create a Hawaiian themed area with a new family coaster near the interactive darkride Challenge of Tutankhamon. The Tivoli coaster Coccinelle will move to the place of the old Ferris wheel, which was taken down last winter. The Aqualibi swimming pool will be expanded and renovated next year, with a children's area of 700 m². The whole water paradise will get a tropical theme. In 2019 the entrance of the park will get a new look. In addition, there will be a makeover for the area around Cobra, the Vekoma Boomerang. There will also be a themed restaurant and a spinning theater with Bollywood theme. In the same year, a new children's coaster will open. The current Far West section should be revamped by 2020. There will be an interactive water attraction, a Mack Rides Twist'n'Splash. A year later, there will be a refurbishment for the area around Wooden roller coaster Weerwolf and Vampire, the SLC of the park. Both attractions will receive a New Orelans theme, with voodoo influences. The biggest investment is scheduled for 2021. Walibi Belgium will open that year a spectacular megacoaster in a new African themed area, at the back end of the park. It will be the largest and fastest rollercoaster of the Benelux. And that's not all. The intention is to build a new family attraction between 2022 and 2023. The area around the log flume Flash Back and the Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop Psyké Underground will get a harbor theme. Also, new slides will be added to Aqualibi. "With this ambitious development plan, we want to take our place again as the largest and most sensational theme park for all ages in Belgium," says the Director. He accounts for 30 percent more visitors. Source: Looopings & Pretparken.be

10/10! Anubis @ Plopsaland

^I visited Ferrari Land on April 11th, a Tuesday. And the park was very crowded that day; 60+ minutes for Red Force, 90+ minutes for Maranello Grand Race, 30+ minutes for Thrill Towers and 30+ minutes for Flying Dreams and Racing Legends. Granted, it was the first week the park was open, but still. So I would definitely not say that no one is going. If you have only one day, and you have to choose between Ferrari Land and PortAventura Park, that's an easy choice. Ferrari Land has Red Force, but that's it really. While PA has Shambhala ( ), Dragon Khan, Furius Baco, Hurakan Condor and so much more. In case you are interested, you can read my full review from Ferrari Land here.

Don't forget Black Mamba, Talocan, Wakobato, Maus au Chocolat, Wellenflug and Chiapas. All these rides opened in the past 10 years, that's just insane! Hate to tell you but Black Mamba is 11 years old. Shoot, you've got me there. But still, very impressive for the past 11 years!

RCDB has it now listed as a 2018 opening. But nothing is confirmed yet, so 2019 could be possible as well. Although I think we are looking at a 2018 opening here.

Don't forget Black Mamba, Talocan, Wakobato, Maus au Chocolat, Wellenflug and Chiapas. All these rides opened in the past 10 years, that's just insane!

"The world's best wooden roller coaster is back!", said the park on their facebook page, and it will open tomorrow, June 20th. And they shared this awesome video too! [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew]

10/10, Can't resist M Chiapas @ Phantasialand

The advertising campaign for the new Efteling attraction Symbolica has really begun. The theme park showed a new TV commercial for the first time today. The 25-second spot starts with impressive views of the Palace of Fantasy, after which the viewers enter the entrance hall of the palace. Then three scenes from the attraction come to light: the Koningszaal (Royal Hall), the Observatorium (Observatory) and the botanical botanical garden Botanicum. "There is a world where the fantasy comes to life," says a voiceover. There are also images of Raveleijn, Dreamflight, The Fairytale Forest, Joris & the Dragon, Fata Morgana, the Bobbaan and Baron 1898. The advertisement ends with the slogan 'World of Wonders'. In the image is the text: "Experience the new family attraction Symbolica from July 1st".

Episode 7 - The Making-of: Symbolica

9/10 Poseidon @ Europa-Park

From the park's Facebook page: "The date you've all been waiting for! Mine Blower Grand Opening, Friday June 23rd!" Source

The first Viking Voyage boat is away!

Kolmården confirms: Wildfire will reopen this summer! The Swedish animal and theme park Kolmården confirmed today that their wooden roller coaster 'Wildfire' will finally reopen during this summer holiday. When exactly will be communicated later. Finally, Wildfire will soon open again after almost eight months of closure. The construction license of the RMC coaster was withdrawn in October last year due to possible negative noise disturbance for the environment, with uncertainty about Wilfdire's continued existence. Early 2017, the Swedish construction and environmental committee decided not to break down the roller coaster, but Kolmården had to make a new detailed destination plan for the zone where Wildfire is located in. That plan has been submitted and is expected to be approved by the authorities next Monday. That means Wildfire will finally be able to reopen this summer holiday. That news has already officially been announced on the park's website: "Wildfire reopens soon! Soon more information about the magical reopening date." Source

Well, then zero-G would be the norm, actually.