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I love SLC's. Yeah they're rough, so what? Do you really think, that if Vekoma didn't exist, more parks would buy B & M? Slc''s are compact, cheap and look awe inspiring to the average visitor. I never skip one, and when given the chance, will ride one for 5 times in a row. SLC's are good as a running yoke, but they really aren't bad coasters.

During the summer of 2005, me and my friends/family/family in law, made trips to every park in Belgium. After organising my picturs, I thought I would post some of them for your viewing pleasure. If they're liked, I'll do the other Belgian parks in the near future. The comments are scarce, given that I lack the ability to be funny today. Swinging ship by the lake. This park is very well landscaped, as you can off course see in all the pictures Ferris wheel with bird cage theming Part of the park Tivoli in the woods And more More theming The dogs knite side kick. The theming is brilliant in this park, really the most beautifully themed park in Belgium It's flume. Supposed to be the biggest in Europe. Themed to be the castle of a dog who is the king of the park. Did I mention it's a kids park? Very fun tivoli coaster, check out the front of the train Rollerskater and giant flume Rollerskater lifthill Vleermuis theming The "vleermuis" or bat is a small coaster, the break run ends all chance of producing offspring for us men Flume and coaster intertwining before our eyes. In broad daylight no less. Told you I wasn't funny today The mack powered coaster, that crosses the flume 7 times, is nice, fast and provides small pops of air time, depending on where you sit Vleermuis overview. The layout is the shape of an 8, when seen from above

Ah yes, but once you have ridden it what will be the motiviation to go back?

To answer a few questions: no official opening date has been set, it should be between first of july and mid july based on the press release. The station and vertical lift will ocupy the space where tornado once stood so proudly. While this does seem like a nice addition, I just don't get it. The drop looks good, but it's only 45 degrees, so I am wondering if there will be any airtime anywhere in the ride. The new owners are positioning themselves towards families, which in my opinion is a lost cause. With bobbejaanland and bellewaerde being family parks and plopsland being THE park for children below 12 (and there's loads there for the rest of us too by the way), I think they should profile themselves more towards thrill seekers. I will go and check out the ride, but it just isn't what i was hoping for. A maurer spinning like Spinball Whizzer, or and x-car coaster or something along those lines would have required the same budget, but have been alot more appealing to thrill seekers.

The entire country of Belgium (aka Vekomaland) is able to view the site yay Europe

Bases on your location, and i know the area a bit, i would say weekend trip are doable to port aventura (intamin accelerator in 2k7) which is a great parc, dlr and asterix. The rest of the french parcs are okay, just nothing special really. I think Europa park might be doable, depends on the train connections. Day trip is doable to walibi aquataine, al though it's not anything special

Noticing alot of belgian beers in there i must say stella, leffe, kriek. All brilliant belgian beers . Belgium, it might be vekomaland, but at least it's got great beer to drown the pain with. I love being belgian

I have a good on-ride of the ultimate, the snooze coaster. I'll try and find the site where i got it, as soon as i get home.

Well, I was thinking of early june, but based on your reactions, I think i will move the trip to mid may. Or mid june. Current plan: sunday night : bus from ghent to london monday: thorpe tuesday : thorpe and chessington tuesday night : bus to stoke on trent wednesday : drayton (getting there needs planning) thursday & friday : alton fridaynight : busses back to ghent the nightbusses pretty much spell out total selfdestruction, but it's the only way the trip is going to work. I really regret not having my driver's license at this point. Once again, thanks for all the info. It's been really helpfull in planning this trip.

When would these school holidays be then? Is it like in belgium, july and august, or are there different periods to avoid? Will try to get blackpool in there if it seems in any way possible.

Don't kill me, but i never managed to see the appeal of blackpool. It kind of reminds me of a fairground on steroids, no landscaping or theming. Am i wrong? If you say alton could be done on one day, does that mean 5 min queues? Another dumb question, do most parks have single rider lines in the uk? If al goes well, my girlfriend will be a bit too pregnant for coasters and part of the trip will be solo.

Just wanted to thank everyone for responding I will not be using a rental car, only trains, busses and my feet I was wondering whether the anuall pass would end up cheaper, with the addition of chessington it certainly will. Thanks again for the great responses, you've been really helpfull

Hi, (Updated) I am planning a small one week trip end of may, or very early in june. I was hoping you could help me out. Right now it's looking like: - thorpe -chessington + thorpe -drayton - alton tower (2 days) However, i can't find ticketprices anywhere. any help? Also, for the uk members, any park i really should get in there, based on locations? I have one day open. Plus, and i know i'm asking a lot, if you know cheap places to stay near these parks, any suggestions are welcome. This trip was inspired by the coasterguru's that started this site, so their blessing is very warmly welcomed. Thanks

Hi, i know alot of you keep list of coasters you've ridden. Here's my question. I was hoping to use database files containing coasters and parks to teach my students how to use access. This would be alot cooler then the boring textbook examples. If you have a database or spreadsheet file containing the coasters you've ridden, or know a good link to these kinds of files, could you pretty please send it to stofkinees@gmail.com. The students of 5b thank you, and so do I.

Hi, i am a coaster nut from Belgium, land of the vekomas. I have been collecting park maps and brochures for about 2 years. The biggest gap in my collection is basicly the us and especcially six flags and paramount parks. If anyone could help me out with this, contact me @ stofkinees@gmail.com. Thanks alot in advance Being a donkey rules

Well, I can help out with a couple of the rides. The looping star at bobbejaanland is still on the parking lot, having been replaced with an awesome gerstlauer x95. The son of schwarzkopf was going to buy it, renovate it and then sell it again. However he has not been able to find appropriate funds for the operation. You can still see the parts when you ride the "air race", the most tame suspended swinging coaster ever.

Forgot one tip: Buy a starparks subscription card. You get unlimited access to one park ( will be the park were you buy it: walibi belgium) and free ticket to the other walibi's and movieworld germany. This way you'll save about 100 euro's. Bobbejaanland also has a weird ride opening schedule, email the park, or just ask a belgian like myself for the best attack plan, otherwise you'll walk around waiting for half an hour.

You have got to get Warner Brother Movie World Madrid in there. Best European park on the continent. Other then that, I think Toverland can be done in less then two hours, besides the vekoma motorbike, there's only a small small junior coaster and a little flume. It is my experience that june is very calm, until about the 20-24 th of june, when the exams are done and the school and or personal trips begin. Then it's packed. Best period here in Europe is second half of August and everything after that. On the motels: contact the guys at www.pretparken.be They do a lot of European trips and probably know a couple of good ones. Have fun

Rita looks really good. You can't forget the problems Alton Towers keeps facing. They can't build above the tree line. But they ( John Wardley as lead designer ) keep building brilliant coasters despite of these limitations. Look at nemesis, air and now rita. I think this ride will look tame, but feel brilliant. "Wish I was at the Towers"

I really don't think this ride will be good. As a matter of fact, it looks boring as hell. Bellewaerde is a beautifull park, which has been getting no money or support. The last new ride they got was in 1998, a S&S Power Tower. This park keeps getting ignored, while this has so much potential. It's a really, really sad thing. It needs a major investment, and it needs it now. I'm talking rita-clone, nice twister-woodie, first b&m in belgium kind of things. NOW!