Theme Park Discussion / Jappy goes Plopsa!

I’m not one to write TRs so if this is a bit all over the place… Well, too bad.

Plopsaland De Panne is hailed by some to be Belgium’s best family theme park. That’s quite a bold claim IMO. I still thought of it as a small park meant for children without that much to interest the older visitors who might be interested in something more thrilling. However, with the opening of their new wooden GCI coaster, I finally decided it might be time for a first visit and check the place out.

Let me start by saying that travelling to the damn place was terrible. 4 hours on three different trains is not a good connection by public transport… But that’s not something the park can really do about, it’s more the fault of the Belgian railways, so I digress. Tired but happy, we arrived at the park at about 10.30.

The walk to the park was pretty nice. It’s always great to see the rides working outside the park. Heidi looked like fun. The entrance building itself was pretty bland and dare I say ugly, but once past it you find yourself on a quaint village square. I think one of the best looking entrance areas I’ve personally seen. From the very start it looked like it was going to be a very quiet day, so that’s another plus.

I was determined to do every single coaster in the park, that meant starting with this thing out of hell. Not very exciting, short, and almost made me impotent. I did it, but did not enjoy it. Sadly, those three problems will be coming back a few times…

Although I grew up with the Studio 100 franchises, I do not feel a strong nostalgic connection with them. Even as I kid, I sometimes felt it was too… soft or pandering towards kids. However, there’s nothing to complain about the theming in the park. It all looks wonderful and clean. It’s all very pretty and enjoyable.

The main reason why I came… Heidi: The Ride! A wooden GCI which opened a year too late, but is here now. Finding the entrance was a bit tricky, but we managed to find it and discovered a ridiculously short queue. Having to wait only 15 min we discovered that this could go a lot faster if the park wanted to. Using only one train and operator, capacity really isn’t a strong point… The ride itself however was surprisingly fun! Bouncy, curvy, jumpy, airtimey… I really enjoyed it.

After Heidi we just did a tour of all the bigger rides… Rollerskater and Viktor’s Race: two kiddie coasters, but still fun. Exciting? Far from. Rollerskater was enjoyable but something to fall asleep on, and Viktor’s Race was waaaay to short. I thought these Zierer’s did more than one lap? The Supersplash… Pasen of Pasen, ik zal varen!! Woops, wrong ride. Enjoyble, but the water part went on too long. All not very exciting yet simple fun.

Flatrides are also present, but mostly not very exciting stuff. But when we made our own fun, we had a great time. Going multiple times on the teacups ride we laughed our asses of, spinning way faster than any human should be able to endure.

They had a Disc-O coaster. Never been on one, so tried it out. Pretty fun, but glad it didn’t go on any longer… Having eaten a waffle with chocolate sauce and cream I started to feel a bit…weird.

Anubis: The Ride did however give us something with a bit of a punch. This was one I was really looking forward to, with so many people comparing the launch with Psyké Underground. I loved this thing, even though I hated the restraints… During the first time it went down a little extra, punching me in the nuts and making the first ride pretty uncomfortable. Having learnt my lesson, I pulled it down just a little extra myself the second time and that was much better. The launch gives a bit of a kick and the rest of it is great. Finally I found some inversions to enjoy that day! Def one of my favorites.

Conclusions? I had a great time in the park, but I found it difficult to shake the feeling that it’s still very much a kids park. Even though Heidi and Anubis present something for older audiences, they aren’t enough to fill a whole day for people who like something more thrilling. Best family park in Belgium? Sorry, but IMO that title still belongs to Walibi Belgium. Not only does it have lots of kiddie rides to keep the little ones happy, but it also offers a lot more in terms of coasters. Plopsa’s two big coasters are still very family oriented, while Walibi’s are just that little bit above. Plopsa is a great, fun, clean, and beautifully themed park. But I’m not interested in going back until they invest in something that’s really thrilling