Park / Avonturenpark Lembeekse Woud
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10-December 23
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1991
This year Francis got to celebrate the anniversay of his park by opening the second part of his Africa are in the zoo section of the park. This time, everybody's favorite African predator got added to the area: the lions!
However, Francis found that currently there seemed to be a lack of activities in his 'Gardens of the World' project apart from just watching things. He wanted guests to interact more with the landscapes. Carolus and Peter put their heads together, and came up with the idea of a climbing wall and spiral slide. 'Fantastic!' said Francis. 'Like climbing the Kilimanjaro and than descending down again!'. Carolus and Peter, who got the idea after drunkingly climbing a police van and sliding down the window, causing both to spend a night in jail and missing the Rode Duivels qualifications match against Wales, both agreed silently....
In the top corner the following expansion of the area should be placed, creating a loop and a connection with the European section of the gardens. This however is not for next year, as you can see there is another construction site happening at the moment.
When asked about, the park replied that they have received complaints from guests that apart from the castle at the center of the park, there isn't really a restaurant in the park and only snack stands. So this is part of a plan to update the eating facilities.
Let's see what next year's bringing!
Francis and Peter sound like a fun time! I assume you put some effort into researching 1991 Belgian football team matches?
I did indeed do some research regarding that! Also thanks for pointing out I wrote down the wrong person in my story, error has been fixed.
i'm not reading unless i rip my pants somewhere in the gardens
1992
The year that Ayrton Senna saves Erik Comas during the Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, the year that Belgium became a federal state, the year the Maastricht treaty was signed and the EU formed.
More importantly, the year that Lembeek opened their new restaurant in the African area: Ladha. This is one of the first steps in a long-term plan to improve the food and drink options in the park and proved to be a hit with the guests. It had a rocky start though, Francis wanted this to be a completely original African restaurant serving local dishes. However, this turned out to be very mixed. The Gafanhotos was very popular at the start, but when people found out it was made of grasshoppers, this soon faded. 'I guess Belgium is not ready yet sadly' sighed Francis. Burgers and fries were later quietly added to the menu as an alternative option...
But Lembeek has invested into a new ride as well... Looking at what the park offered, it was clear something weatherproof was lacking from the list. With Eurodisney opening the same year, Catherine wanted something that would not look out of place in a Disney park. Our designer Peter came up with a ride based on a circus that was under a sleeping spell, causing the audience to expercience an enhanced dream of a show. When asked how he got the idea, he said he based it on the company trip to Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco show, where Carolus spent most of the time snoring as he was, in Peter's word 'a barbarian with no appreciation of the arts.'
Cirque du Sommeil was born. To get there, guests walk on the new boardwalk going under Splinter, passing the new photo booth of the ride. To celebrate the opening of the new dark ride, the real Circus Pompidou set up their tent for the season in Lembeek, performing for our guests.
On the square in front of Cirque du Sommeil, a pavilion was added where live performances are held during the summer, also expanding the currently small offer of entertainment. This is something the park wants to improve upon in the future in order to enhance the experience even more. Stay tuned....
Cool facade/theming on that show building!
A yes, a darkride is what this park needed
Cool stuff.
1993
The Lejeune Nature Trust set up by Francis to support the protection of wildlife and environment all over the world is slowly picking up. Lembeek also is reaping the benefits of this, as the zoo part of the park is getting more and more involved with giving a home to endangered wildlife and rare animals, setting up breeding programs. At the moment, this is mostly with the tropical birds already present, but in the future, it is hoped to enlarge this program to other species of animals as well.
The trust even won an award for this, posing Lembeek in the picture. Catherine from her side is slowly more and more starting to appreciate the animal and nature aspect of the park. More schools are finding their way to the park praising the combination of entertainment and eduction. Something she is growing more and more proud of...
Sadly this also has its negative side. The park received negative attention due to the fact that the Lejeune Nature Trust is a charitable organisation. A rumour came in the press that the donations did not actually go into helping animals, but disappeared straight into the pockets of the park itself. Of course this is not true, but during the first few months of the season, awkward questions kept being asked by our visitors.
The park itself did not have too much expansion this year. Even before the negative press, it was decided to focus on some new entertainment in the park to expand our offering. Currently we only had the bird show and sea lions show, but we needed more. The first extra for this year was Circus Pompidou. Already present in Lembeek last year for the opening of Cirque du Sommeil. They kindly agreed to staying at another location, more central in the park near our wooden coaster.
Second was a small medieval show near the log flume, showing off old archery skills, swordfighting and with a good dose of humour. Recalling the times of the travelling entertainers back in medieval times.
On the spot where the circus was located last year, we tried out a new concept, a beach bar. We still haven't figured out why people like dabbling in the sand with a cocktail, but apparently this is getting more popular. It attracted guests and they seemed to like it so no further questions asked.
But the biggest offer of entertainment this year was Lembeek Summer. A music festival during the summer months where multiple well known artists were invited to play such as dEUS, Wendy Van Wanten, Eddy Wally and The Sands. Great succesful headliners to bring in the crowds. Also local bands were invited to play such as Malle Miel, WOSJEG and Alles Kan Beter
All in all 1993 was a mixed year. We received positive feedback on our new entertainment offer, but sadly the effects of the rumours around the trust temporarily hurt our image. The park is working on a big expansion for next year, it is hoped this will help people forget the story.
Until then!
Pier Kepierla wants to say he has nothing to do with the rumours, no matter what some people say!
Cool additions, it's always good to see some investments in entertainment. A medieval show is cool, that could really have it's own big theatre instead of a simple stand on the path. Maybe an idea for the future? The summer festival is cool, the beach bar a bit sad... but maybe that's because I'm used to Blaarmeersen beach
1994
This season was marked with the opening of the newest big attraction of Lembeek: Wild Wood River, an old sawmill takes you for a ride through the canyon that supplies them with logs! But this is no ordinary ride, there's a huge waterfall in the way!
The ride is built behind Splinter and Houdini's House, making partial use of the little lake to add some spectacle to this part of the park. Also a restaurant was opened near the entrance of the ride: 'Billy The Kip' selling chicken, being part of Lembeek's improvement plan of eating facilities.
The development for this ride was quite something special. Catherine was interested in adding a rapid river to the park after it having seen in different parks, but she wanted Lembeek to stand out. Carolus and her had many brainstorming sessions and the idea was to add a huge drop at the end, partially built on the small lake behind Splinter to slow down the boats. There an underwater system of pullies would bring the boats back to the station.
To get this high up, many options were considered. A different Belgian park had experimented with a ferris wheel, but Lembeek found a different option: a vertical lift. The provider for this idea was a new company called Kambuk from the Netherlands.
They built the construction as expected, but from the start problems arised with malfunctions and reliability. The ride seemed to stand more still than operating, which of course was not good news. With the park trying to erase the bad press with the trust from last year, hitting the local news multiple times with guests needing to be evacuated quite often was the last thing we needed. A local theme park expert has been remarked to have said it being 'too advanced for the time, and it would've better fitted for a later year after more development and testing'.
To be continued.
Really nice addition to the park, for some reason I think the station is really neat. But big mistake by choosing Kambuk
Would be funny if you help the problem by placing a ferris wheel haha
1995
Discussions with Kambuk are ongoing. Our technical team has been able to improve the reliabilty of the rapids river immensely during the course of the winter break with the help of Intamin, but at a very high cost. Talks with Kambuk are regarding a partial refund of these but it's not so easy. To be continued.
In the meantime, Lembeek continues to expand it's offering. The area with Cirque Du Sommeil is currently quite an awkward dead end with not much to do apart from the dark ride. Catherine has assured us this area is where the next move of expansion will be, and plans are being drawn up to add a big ride in 1998. Until then, an obesrvation tower and toilet block were added to facilitate our guests in this area.
Next big expansion is in the Afrika Area. Francis' trust has joined the preservation scheme of the zebra. The population has been in decline in the Serengeti and it is hoped that schemes like Lembeek's will help to strenghten their numbers. In the little village at the centre of the enclosure, guests can buy souvenirs but are also informed about the work that goes into keeping these animals and their troubled life in Africa at the moment. It immediately also forms the second entrance to the Africa area, making it now a loop. The enclosure is also home to a population of gazelles, making it our own little savannah in Belgium.
The new savannah enclosure was built on top of the location where until last year, people could enjoy our summer music festival. With the new expansion we had the choice: either stop organising, our find a new location. We had a few empty meadows left from the estate, but these are now considered too close to the animals to organise a loud music event on. So a new location was provided behing the old stables, now restaurant. This also has the advantage that the event can also be held in the evening after opening hours and can be opened to people outside the park and attract extra clientele. This has given us a boost of popularity with the local population. Lembeek Rock was becoming something of a name in the region. This is something the park will keep an eye out in the future, might be an interesting development...
For those of you wanting to take a look for yourself, the park can be downloaded now.
downloads: 98
That classic low key style. Looks great Jappy!
Always love to see updates of Lembeek
A panoramic tower is always a great addition to a park, but aren't the neighbors becoming worried the park is expanding in their direction?
Good for Francis he also gets an addition but you know I don't really care about the zoo part
Thanks for the comments! They neighbours will be important in the story soon, don't worry. Shame you don't care about the zoo, I personally enjoy that part a lot!
Oh I think the zoo looks pretty and all, I just wish it was a full theme park...
1996
This year saw the completion of the African area in the 'Gardens of the World'-project with the addition of not one, but two new animals to the park and the opening of the African learning center: 'Africa: Land of Origins'.
This was the first project in the animal part of the park Catherine has been directly involved with. Her comment is that while she knows more about business and management, she's growing fond of the animals and is starting to cherish that part of Lembeek as well, stating her wish to be involved with more animal projects alongside her father. They teased that the next part of their journey might even be 'out of this world'.
In the new area, visitors walk around the new Bonono exhibit, an endangered species that Lembeek is all too willing in helping out with preserving. Part of this walk take visitors through Lemur island, where they can get up close with these funny little inhabitants of Madagascar!
In order to accomodate this area, the railway has seen some slight adjustments, lowering it in places to make the area more accessible.
Sadly, the opening of the new area at the start of the season was quikly overshadowed by tragedy. During the summer, a little girl was seriously injured on the go karts ride. An abulance brought the victim to a nearby hospital where she was treated for a serious concussion and two broken arms and one broken wrist. The ride remained closed for the rest of the season and a research towards the reason has started.
So what's next for the park? Post haste, Catherine has decided to go ahead with the planned expansion from 1998 in 1997 already, in an attempt to reduce the bad press. It seems after the debacle with the Lejeune Wildlife Trust and the Kambuk issue with the rapids, the park is not catching a break these last years...
No Catherine, don't fall to the dark (zoo) side! You need to make the theme park part great (again)
Monkeys, in every form, are always a great addition to whatever place they are added. Fabulous beasts. Sad to hear from the go karts accident but go karts are no place for little kids. Lembeek, what were you thinking of allowing them on it?! If this was America you'd be sued and go broke...
1997
We're nearing the end of the millenium and Lembeek wishes to prepare for the future. However, as things currently are, the management is not really able to prepare themselves for the time being. With two court cases running, times aren't easy for our little park. The case regarding Kambuk has been postponed once again, with the bill from Intamin to fix their competitors junk still awaiting payment...
Then of course the case regarding the accident with the little girl, whose parents have taken the case to court. The little girl herself, Stephanie, is thankfully already doing much better and was prepared to settle it with some free tickets and a coupon for pizza. Her parents though were not. Rumours are that they were advised to take Lembeek to trial by a maleficent rival park in the Ghent area, but this could not be proven.... We're at least happy that both cases are behind closed doors and the press have been kept at distance. The go karts themselves are closed until further notice and have been removed from the park map.
Catherine has had her hands full and wishes to steer the park to a better future and get us out of these troubled times. Thankfully, we still have two expansions planned and payed for so for this and next season we're able to present something new. But what happens after that is currently in the hands of the judges...
Mack rides provided for this season a beautiful new family coaster in the form of 'Baron Von Munchhausen', based on the folk tale of the baron who was able to fly by strapping himself to a cannon ball. Themed after the castle of the baron and the little German village, our designer Peter had a field day. Reviews from guests have been very favourable! To improve the flow in the park, a path has been created that runs along the edge of the park and connects with the little plaza near the rapids river. This will be upgraded in the future.
Unfortunately, attendance was less so. Not bad by all means, but it is clear that the accident from last year has sadly dented our reputation a bit. The expansion for next year is a restaurant, but Catherine desperately wishes to add something extra to keep us going until the cases against the park have passed. Luckily, Francis and Carolus have come together and have a few creative ideas that will not break the bank. We'll let you know ASAP!
Until next time...