Walibi Belgium Discussion Thread

^ If I'm not mistaken, I read somewhere that the ride would be "refunded" by Doppelmayr to Walibi, because the ride manufacturer couldn't offer a ride with the promised capacity, i don't remember the originally planned capacity, but they agreed to lower it to 800p/h and then only reached 400 AT MOST during the test rides ( in other words, empty, so imagine with loading and unloading time...) When the ride actually opened, some friends of mine (on a Belgian coaster site) timed the ride and counted the amount of gondolas on a miracle day ( meaning Vertigo was open on that day) and it seems the actual capacity was 160 pph !!! you even had to "book" your ride with a ticketing system...

Well, back to the money problem. Maybe Walibi won't have to pay ( although I doubt they won't leave some feathers in the process !) but let's face it: they destroyed our Vekoma corkscrew (Tornado), put Vertigo, to remove it for next season, and it seems too late to fnd a new ride... that's 4 YEARS WITHOUT ANYTHING NEW ! So, like Robb said, I hope next time they think twice and buy a "proven receipe"

This is probably the best decision. That ride looked completely stupid IMO.

 

--Robb

See in YOUR opinion you think it looked stupid.

In our opinions we think it looked like a cool idea.

And the funny thing is your the one thats not backing up what your saying.

So you've been on a ride like it, thats like saying I've been on an SLC and it sucked so B&M inverts must suck too.

If you ned reasons that I think it is cool...

-The cars are very exposed and remind me of chairlifts at mountains which I love

-The ride is also exposed with nothing including supports below you and at the decent height this ride was at I thought that would be thrilling in a way

-It looked like a fun smooth layout maybe no El Toro or GeForce but better then a Corkscrew coaster in terms of ride experience I'm sure

-It may be against what most people thought but I loved the way it looked and the support system worked as a sorta art form

Sorry that my first post was too undetailed and against your opinion, btw.

I was wondering when this would happen due to all of the difficulties it has had. The ride itself looked like a family ride that wanted to be a thrill ride. It was really tall, but it didn't do much, and it didn't go very fast for a ride of its height. It has the speed and intensity of a family ride, but the height probably kept them away in the short time it was open.

It's a shame that they didn't spend the money on something that didn't suck!

 

Is this Europe's "Rocket Rods?"

 

--Robb

This is a pretty accurate analogy. I remember sitting in Phoenix watching the local media throw this "ride" buckets of praise in live shots from the RR's.

I rode it and the descriptions were exactly opposite of the actual experience. Do I feel privileged to have ridden it? Not in a million years.

Do I tell people I got to ride it? Only to tell them a funny story about throwing good money after bad.

Do I feel foolish for waiting in line to ride it? Oh yeah!

I also think it looked like a really cool ride. You go up high and get some nice views and zoom around for a bit, I don't really get what doesn't seem cool about that.

I understand it was pretty much a complete technical failure but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't at least semi-entertaining for some of the people who did get to take the trip. Maybe it wasn't all that thrilling but at least it seemed pleasant enough.

As I'm one of the few you actually rode it a few times. I can honestly say, the thing wasn't fast, no forces, and was more like a skyride on steroids. It made a loud noise the hurt the ears. And it's so ugly, it puts the fish smelling lake to shame.

The views were nice, but you can get just as good of views on a B&M or Intanim hyper.

--James "If you stand under it, it ill be like you are in an engine room" Flint

This attraction has always had people heavily pro and at the other side heavily against. I've seen that here on local themepark websites as from the moment WB had announced what they were going to build upto this very moment. Similar discussions are now here.

I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who was able to ride Vertigo and I looked up what I wrote in my TR here just after riding it :

I did have mixed expectations because of all different comments (positive upto very negative) I read on other themeparkwebsites.

My conclusion : as a coaster, Vertigo is worthless. I mean, no airtime, no first drop, no speed overall, ...., in short nothing what you would expect of a coaster. BUT as a themepark attraction I liked it very much : the lift is going very fast and at the end of the lifthill, I felt some tiny airtime butterflies in my stomach. Vertigo is high, that is quite a thrill. I think it is even higher than the nearby ferris wheel. It was nice to 'fly' from tower to tower in the wind. The turns at the tower were great fun. I enjoyed riding over the trees, restaurants, river, other people, .. At the last smallest tower, just before entering the station, the car flies into the breaks and you get swept to the front. They had a very efficient system for your bags and things you were not allowed to take on the ride (see 'baglady' pic). The lifttower had 2 switching lift thingies going up and down, which imo worked quite efficient. Some of the passings through the towers, were (already) a bit rattling. It's a shame, those passings have not been smoothened out.

I would define Vertigo as a fun, relaxing family ride. My sister even described it as one of her favorite rides she has ever been on. My daughter liked it also very much. I watched other people coming out of the attraction for a while, and from their faces, I could see they all liked it aswell.

I'm still behind what I wrote in that TR (link), and I guess I'm also one of the few people somewhere in between pro and contra.

But on the other hand I agree that it was a bad investment knowing now they are going to remove it. A bad investment and a waste of time. Like somebody else said, I hope WB/CdA will be able to recover (some of) the money from Doppelmayr, so that hopefully already next year, there will be a new real coaster in WB.

Benny

I also think it looked like a really cool ride. You go up high and get some nice views and zoom around for a bit, I don't really get what doesn't seem cool about that.

I guess what I'm getting at is all of the things that you are all saying sound "cool" about it could mostly have been done by building a skyway.

The ride wasn't thrilling. So let's take that out of the equation. What's left? A nice view of the park.

I absolutely guarantee you that a sky ride would have been a *LOT* cheaper, it would have worked, and everything that was "cool" about Vertigo would have been included in that ride.

I think for me what ultimatley makes this ride "not cool at all" is that it means that the locals of the park have not seen a new attraction for nearly 4 years now and they also lost another coaster in that time. We visited Walibi Belgium this year and there was nothing major new since our first visit in 2002...other than Vertigo.

Had the ride actually worked and not sucked away other potential new attractions then fine, much like Rocket Rods it would have been a forgetable "B" or "C" ride.

But this ride is responsible for negative capital being put into the park over a span of nearly half a decade.

That alone, IMO, is NOT COOL!!!!

--Robb "Imagine if this happened in your local park..." Alvey

^

I completely agree. I saw the thing be built from the ground up, and I was so excited to ride it.

After I rode it, I was like 'em, I like they have a new coaster' but honestly, the few weeks is was in operation, I doubt anyone rode it more than once or twice.

--James

I am really glad they're removing it because it was almost never open. Plus it takes up so much space so hopefully now we can get a better coaster.

 

But this ride is responsible for negative capital being put into the park over a span of nearly half a decade.

 

That alone, IMO, is NOT COOL!!!!

 

Right, sure, it's a lemon of the ride and probably wasn't a smart investment even in the concept stage. I just think when others (and I) are saying "Oh, this looked cool, that's too bad" it's in the sense that it looked like a fun, unique ride experience, nothing more and nothing less. There's no implication about the parks return on investment or the quality of the business or engineering decisions that went into it.

I've been on quite a few rides which I've thought were fun experiences but at the same time technical failures or poor investments. Then again I've been on all sorts of rides which left me totally but were still probably good buys.

And i'm back again.

 

Vertigo is now officious open. The ride will open tomorrow at 10 AM. The park is going to give tickets away with a specific hour to ride Vertigo. This means they can control the wading queues. These tickets are for free, and everyone has to get one if they want to ride the attraction. It's a lot like a fastpass, but it's not exactly the same.

 

 

Today:

The ride opened again at 4 PM. I was at the park just to check this out (and of course Turbine!), and it's just relaxing. Vertigo is not a coaster or anything else, it is just unique.

 

The restraint or marvellous, I never got that much freedom on any ride. You can bend your whole upper body and reach with your arms to your feet. I'm really enthusiastic about this type of attraction. We've had a little conversation with the park's manager and he said he was delighted to see all the positive reactions about the ride.

Walibifans.be/Walibi.net

 

ps: I was probably the first Themeparkfan who has ever ridden this type of attraction! I've had a small World Premiere!

Your links don't really wowrk as you have to login to access the site,which is impossible seeing as there's no english translation/option to be found anywhere.

And Vertigo is gone in the meanwhile.

Here a link to several pictures taken some weeks ago.

themepark.nl/ubb/ubbthreads.php/topics/740781/19.html

Vertigo ready for pick up. More pictures on the above link. (picture found on themepark.nl)

^Then there's only one thing left to do...

Somebody call Angie, she needs some work!

Yes! Best news of the off season. Even though it looked amazing as part of the skyline, inside the park, it looked ugly.

--James

...How did I not notice this until now!

This ride was the worlds largest lawn gnome! it was open for 2 months in total! It's a shame because it was an interesting concept.

It's a shame because it was an interesting concept.

Even the concept has many many flaws. It was very slow, had no forces what so ever, horrible capacity, looked very very ugly, during the helixs it was brutal. The only good part was the lift, the 5 second end when it goes very low to the ground, and the 5 seconds fly over the water. Trust me, Sorin' Over California is WAY WAY better.

The company really needs to get their act together and find out just what they are doing.

--James

Hard to believe Doppelmayr could withstand a hit this big, they must have gotten Walabi to take most of the cost. I guess in the end the park is the only one that looses. Doppelmayr probably won't build anymore coasters, but they got some publicity for their line of ski resort products. Walabi ends up taking the hit for the cost of the ride plus the years of opportunity cost wasted.

I'm glad to see the back of Doppelmayr, I'm just glad no one else fell for their product. I know SDC was heavily considering one of these.

Its a good thing they pulled it out of the park but its sad they won't put in somthing new for some time, the park is really going down fast in my opinion. Turbine seems to be declared unsafe so won't be opened anymore as I hear of, vertigo was somthing strange and I've been on it and the only thing thrilling was the fact everytime a car was on the track the track would plunge like 10ft down, you could literally feel the track dropping with you. Too bad they removed tornado for it because it was actually cooler than vertigo. Vampire is cool but an SLC stays an SLC. All thats left is cobra wich isn't anything special either and WeerWolf wich is actually worth the wait. Everytime I go to the park I need to go to aqualiby to get trough the day because I'd be bored with going on the same rides constanly and I'm not the guy thats gonna wait an hour or so for a boomerang or an SLC, altough Dalton terror and WeerWolf are cool rides they're not worth spending 3hours on the train and paying 25euros.

I just hope the park invest in some descent rides that can bring some people back to the park because the competition is better. If you go to Bobbejaanland they have some way better rides who are newer and more unique, Even the family park Plopsaland has some new stuff coming every 2-3years like clockwork of wich the newest addition is a cool looking coaster wich can actually get some older people in the park. I really hope they get a new rollercoaster that counts and not just a standard solution wich every other park has. In my opinion they need something big and a couple of new flats would also help. Its just too bad they lost a lot of money on vertigo wich wasn't good and turned out to be a lot of cash thrown into the gutter.

Turbine seems to be declared unsafe so won't be opened anymore as I hear of,

Wow. Do you have a link for this? Is the ride actually beyond repair or is it just more of the crappy, we-don't-care-how-long-we-leave-rides-down maintenance philosophy of this company?

Unfortunately, Walibi Belgium announced that they will keep their best coaster closed for the 2009 season! Beside losing Turbine, they removed the troubled Vertigo.

This is typical of Compagnies des Alpes. They're managing all their parks into the ground!

Oh no, not another Schwarzkopf masterpiece leaving Europe......why can't they look after and save these amazing machines!

Am I right in thinking that if Walibi remove Turbine then there are no more Schwarzkopf shuttles in Europe?

The news of Thunderlooper being removed was bad enough in the late 90's, but was not too bad due to being able to ride Turbine, however, what are we gonna ride now?!

Andrew "Lets hope its just being closed for a refurb, not permanently" Shakespeare

I'm not surprised. Walibi Belgium truly, IMO, is the worst large park I've ever been too. The park overall is horrible. The ride was the best in the park, but honestly that is not saying much. I would pick Typhoon over it any day.

I hope they get their act together FAST!

--James

Turbine definately looks like one of the best Shwarzkopf loopers out there. Everything about it is just so cool, plus you have the awesome intense track Shwarzkopf Shuttle Loops have. And the park definately needs it.

Wow. I thought it would be difficult for the park to get worse. I stand corrected.

Turbine is easily the best coaster they have, it's a shame that they are closing it.