Phadd-F

The easter holiday is for, the most of, Europe the start of the theme park season. Finally after a few months without coasters we can practice our hobby again! Instead of a usual suspect, let's try an unusual opener of the season. And for that, no better destination than the country of William Wallace, Nessie, Haggis, bagpipes,... Scotland! Not the first country on the mind for planning a themepark trip, but honestly, this trip was more about visiting the city of Edinburgh and the Highlands. Visiting one of the small parks of Scotland was just a surplus. M&D's is the name of Scotland's biggest theme park. With 5 coasters, it has more the double amount of coasters than any other Scottish theme park. But don't imagine it too big, because well... M&D's is not big. At all. I'd compare it with Plopsa Coo or for the American readers: Timber Falls x2 or something like that. But that's just comparison in size, not in rides or atmosphere. I didn't know anything about the park so I really had no expectations. I did know that 4 from the 5 coasters were built by Pinfari... Oh boy... Not the constructor the fans are wishing for, or one that has great coasters on his resume. The first coaster we came across, was the only non-Pinfari coaster from the park. This one was made by Barbisan. Who?! Yeah I never heard of them before either. This coaster is also the only coaster from Barbisan which is still operational this day. But we had to move on because it wasn't opened yet. Mechanics had still work to do on it, we saw them welding. Honestly, we concluded this one would remain closed for the day. So now we started our tour of Pinfaris. First coaster of the day: Space coaster. Not high or long, a plain family coaster. A bit weird it has shoulder restraints, and the seats were placed kinda low, which made it not very comfortable. But shaking? No sir, no shaking detected! For a Pinfari that's a win, right?! Overall not very special coaster, most special thing about this was that the ride OPs had to push the train out of the station. On to the next Pinfari, Tsunami. A suspended coaster. From Pinfari. That does not sound good... Why on earth would someone want Pinfari to build a suspended coaster? This will hurt... Wrong again, ride experience was not shaky or painful at all. I do have my thoughts about the maintenance on this rice, one piece of track hanged lose in the station... (note: this is the coaster that derailed this year, a thing you never expect to happen but the maintenance in this park already seemed very poor to me visiting a year earlier on). Because we had to wait until the whole group did Tsunami, we decided to fill our time on flying elephants. We're not crazy, they do exist! Unfortunately not painted in pink. Two Pinfaris to go and the following one was Wacky Worm named Big Apple. A classic. For us adult coaster fanatics, not more than a +1 on the counter though I have to admit this one was pretty fun, but maybe that's because of the rides M&D's has to offer. Tip: when going for a second round, watch out while flying out of the station the little dip there could break your teeth. Someone from our group almost experienced that which of course, we all found hilarious. Ride OPs had to push the train out of the station here as well. Save the worst for last?! Because now we had the biggest coaster of the park, and of Scotland, waiting for us. I have to admit, until now the coasters weren't shaky or painful. The things you expect from Pinfari coasters. So maybe I exaggerated a bit. Tornado. The same uncomfortable trains as Space coaster has. Already on the lift, you get the feeling the round of not painful Pinfari coasters at M&Ds could end here, but the first drop does not confirm that. It's everything else what follows after the first drop what confirms that! Shaking like a polaroid picture, something you won't like if you are the polaroid picture. I've ridden some nasty coasters, think of Goudurix or Bandit, but this one is absolutely the worst! And then you have to think it originally had a corkscrew but they had to get it out because it was too rough?! Wow... Tornado gave me a fine dose of neck pain. Torture is the only way to describe it, never again! Remember that one non-Pinfari coaster which was closed because mechanics were welding on it? Oh yeah, they opened it later on. Runaway mine train seemed Beemer smooth after riding Tornado, but was just boring. It opened as a spinning coaster but they converted it to a sit down. What a shame. But at least we got our coaster bingo. Time for lunch, which wasn't very good (or maybe I expect too much, being a Bourgoundic Belgian). It was only 1PM and we had planned to stay at M&Ds until 5PM... We had the coaster bingo but none of the coasters really was so much fun we wanted multiple rides. So we decided to leave earlier at 3PM. We filled the rest of our time in the park doing the log flume, mini free fall tower and the mini-golf. The mini-golf gave us without doubt the most fun of the day at M&Ds. Conclusion: M&Ds... not worth it to go to Scotland. But Scotland is worth a trip, beautiful country with a rich history. The Highlands are phenomenal. So yeah, do plan a trip to Scotland. But not for M&Ds, plan it for an hour or 2,3 and then move on to enjoy Scotland. Welcome to M&Ds! Theming!... or something like that... Welding in the early morning Space coaster Tsunami Euh... is this normal? This doesn't seem right... or safe... Flying elephants! Push, push, push The biggest coaster of Scotland, and the most painful coaster on my 400+ counter Don't forget to do the mini-golf if you visit M&Ds! Pure fun.

- Sweden trip: Kolmarden, Liseberg, Skara Sommerland, Tusenfryd, -waterpark-, Furuvik, Grona Lund - The usual suspects: Plopsaland De Panne, Walibi Belgium, Phantasialand - Not decided yet: Luna Park Praha, Plohn, Belantis and maybe some other parks on the way to Prague Normally I spend every vacation on theme parks but I have to calm down a bit in order to save some money for a USA trip in 2018.

Hi and welcome to the forums! I've been to Gent twice (visiting the Volvo Trucks plant) so I have seen a little of the city center. Very nice city! If I look outside my window, I can see the Volvo plant Never been to Norway, but planning a trip to Tusenfryd next year.

Past years, I spent almost all vacation on visiting theme parks. I had to calm down a bit, I decided I wanted to do something different and went for a 2 week vacation in the south of France. At the Mediterranean Sea. But because the distance to drive is too long I decided to do a theme park on the way. And Walibi Sud-Ouest was the ideal park to visit, because it's a part of Walibi we all know it's existence in Belgium but since it's such a long drive and there aren't any interesting parks in the direct neighborhood, it's not a park you'll visit often. This was my chance. Unlucky for me, the park was already sold to the same group that has Walygator. Though they kept the Walibi name for this year. My Golden Pass wasn't valid here. But 25 euros entrance fee is not that much compared to the average park price nowadays. I didn't know any of the park, except it was called Walibi Aquataine until a few years back. Did not know what to expect. First impression: the park is very green! I like that. You can make a park atmospheric by theming heavily or have a nice and good landscape & foliage. It's also kinda funny the Walibi figures and mascottes were more present over here than they are in Walibi Belgium or Walibi Holland. By next year, they all will be gone here. First coaster of the day was Scratch, a wild mouse coaster from Zamperla. It has a different lay-out than the ones I'm used to, kudos for that, but in the end it's just a wild mouse. It's hot in southern France, lucky they have a log flume. Logically the smallest drop was the wettest one. Not the best log flume but still enjoyable. The splash battle, who seemed copy pasted from the one from Walibi Holland, was not open. It's location was also a bit weird, like it was cut out of the park. They also had a rapid river named Radja River. Now you have to know, Radja River is also the name of Walibi Belgium's rapid river. And that one is very good and can be soaked if you are unlucky. But this one was rather tame compared to the Belgian Radja River. Fun but not wet. They also had a boat ride going trough an African jungle, with outdated animal animatronics and the obligated African tribe member. Somehow, these kinds of rides must have been very popular some decennial ago because more European parks have those. And all with the same theme and they are all pretty outdated. Hope they renovate it and give it another theme, something more original. Like space monkeys. That would be so cool. I was hungry, so I went for a classic burger and fries menu. They also have a buffet restaurant but I wasn't that hungry. The burger with fries wasn't very expensive but not very tasteful either. But of course you can't expect much from theme park food. After eating, I decided I wanted to get my coaster bingo first. The most 'impressive' coaster from the park is the Vekoma boomerang which is named Boomerang. It is the symbol for the one problem this park has: it's attractions. If a Vekoma boomerang is your biggest ride, then you can't expect much attention from themepark freaks. Besides, it wasn't a very comfortable boomerang. I decided one ride was good enough. The third coaster they have is Coccinelle which is French for beetle track, translated very simply. But that's the name those Zierer Tivoli Large coasters are given in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Another standard coaster. As it was very calm the operator said to the people they could stay seated for an extra ride if they wanted. Very nice and friendly from him. I also visited the sea lion show, which is fun to fill the time, and the 4D cinema with the movie Tempo Attack (which already played in Walibi Belgium few years back). Because of a defect the movie was shown in 2D withouth the 4D effects which proved how negligible those effects are. I did not miss them. In the summer, they also had a BMX bike show, I didn't go watch it and afterwards I did regret that. Conclusion: Walibi Sud-Ouest is a nice, charming green park. But because the ride line-up, it's not very attractive to visit it. They do miss a top ride in every segment . Enough rides to fill the day but not one that screams "I want to ride it again" or one that makes you want to go to the park. If you're in the neighborhood I would definitely recommend a visit, but I wouldn't make a trip for this park alone. The entrance, small but kinda based on Walibi Belgium's one Choo choo Did I mention this park was very green? Sratch, a Zamperla wild mouse That drop won't make you very wet, the little drop earlier on will do so. A mill blowing bubbles when it rides, cool! I recognize that name... ... but the Belgian brother is just better. Sorry. Boomerang time.

Hi guys and girls! I'm Phadd-F, or Frederik. I'm 25 and I am from the beautiful town of Gent, in Belgium. I always liked going to theme parks. When we got internet at home, a new world opened itself. My first memories were the construction of Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. Because of that, I became crazy about Cedar Point and became my ultimate dream to visit it once. By now, I made that dream true. In 2013 I went to the States with a Belgian rollercoasterclub. That was the most awesome trip ever! And we did Cedar Point, that was a dream come true. So far I've got 404 coasters on my counter, almost all of them steel. I am a big fan of woodies though but there aren't as much in Europe than in America. My home park is Plopsaland De Panne, I even worked there for about 5 years. I read the TPR forums for a while, for the trip reports. While write some of them myself soon. I'm the guy on the left wearing the Shambhala shirt. I met Rob & Elisa and other TPR members at Walibi Holland this year. Was fun, you were very nice and friendly!