Theme Park Discussion / Tripreport Plopsaland De Panne 15-2-2023

2022 was a year to quickly forget in my history as an amusement park enthusiast, which really started about thirteen years ago. The first amusement park that has been listed since I started keeping track of my amusement park visits in 2010 is Plopsaland De Panne. Makes sense, I worked there as a student at the time and then stuck around as a seasonal worker. It's my home park and it always feels a bit like coming home. It is therefore the logical place to open the theme park year 2023.

And of course also because not many theme parks are open in the area in mid-February. In that respect, the year-round opening of the Studio 100 park on the Belgian coast is a godsend for the Belgian amusement park enthusiast. On this weekday Wednesday in February, I expected an almost deserted park. Because Plopsa opens some attractions later on weekdays, I only got off the train in Adinkerke at half past eleven.

 

 

 

But the park turned out not to be really that deserted. Completely overlooked that spring holiday had already started in some French regions. And Plopsaland De Panne is also popular with our southern neighbours. If the alternative for a day at the amusement park in the area is Bal Parc or Dennlys Parc, the choice for Plopsa is of course quickly made. Anyway, not an abandoned park but certainly far from busy.

The original plan was to come and ride the Ride to Happiness over and over and over... We would have to wait a while, the sign at the queue indicated that we could only start our ride session at 12:30 pm. Then walk on to Belgium's best wooden roller coaster, Heidi the ride ! ... Where we ran into a closed queue again. The Swiss girl would not get out of bed until 12 o'clock. That wasn't that long anymore so we rode the Dragon which had a queue of 5 minutes.

 

 

 

A Mack powered coaster that can blow out twenty candles next year... How time flies. In 2004, Plopsa chose to give this coaster a castle theme, creating a medieval square with the log flume on the other side - then known as King Samson's Castle. The Dragon's castle facade is beautiful. The dragon's animatronic was however still moving back then, and I swear I once saw the dragon blow smoke out. Those were different times, times when the park still chose to place Studio 100 figures in a theme area.

King Samson has meanwhile been removed from his throne and knight Gert can only function as a fountain. As if King Samson were a tyrant, Plopsa destroyed his castle and it was decided that a volcano with dinosaurs around would be a better decoration for the log flume. Result: if you now look around the castle square you will see a castle on one side, a Swiss village on the other and then a volcano with dinosaurs. You can't call that very cohesive.

 

 

 

Later in the day we did the so-called Dino Splash (which of course also does not open at the opening of the park). It remains a favorite of mine, but purely for its layout (and admittedly, nostalgic value). Two tasty drops where you get a nice portion of airtime on the big drop. The theme can get rekt for me. It's no surprise that I didn't see any dino animatronic move.

 

 

 

A ride on Heidi was also not an option for the author. Nothing that Plopsa can do about it, a diet is much needed. Fifteen minutes of waiting was for nothing... Not that there were so many people in the queue, but on such days, one train on the track is enough for Plopsa. From a business point of view I get it - there aren't that many people, you're not going to wear down a train and the track unnecessarily etc. From a visitor's point of view I do find it frustrating though, especially as the queue just doesn't move. Waiting is ok, but standing in the same place for a long time is not fun. oh well.

In the meantime it was already after half past one and we saw Ride to Happiness running with people in it. On to the land of tomorrow! The Ride to Happiness also ran with one train, which ensured a non-moving queue. Even if there are no people, you will wait. Better luck with the restraints this time, thankfully, because this coaster doesn't make false promises. This ride can't help but make you happy. Hanging out slowly in the jojo roll, the best flat launch on a Mack coaster, tophat with outer banked turn, banana roll, corkscrew, launch on an airtime hill, the subsequent inversion and finish with an airtime hill... And you do all that while spinning. What a beast!

 

 

 

You can say a lot about Steve (the CEO of the park), but sometimes his ideas turn out positive. It's still hard for me to understand that a roller coaster of this size, a roller coaster this good, is in our little Belgian country! And then in the Studio 100 main park... Who would have dared to predict this 10 years ago?! Well, we came to ride him all day long, but given the operations, that wasn't really possible.

And I must honestly say that I just can't handle doing the Ride to Happiness multiple times in a row. Not that I don't want to, it's more a matter of ability. The intensity is not nothing. I would even dare to rank it just after Intimidator 305 in terms of intensity. The stomach started to growl, it was advisable to consume a little food.

I have known the park and their policy long enough to advise everyone to bring a packed lunch and possibly eat extensively outside the park in the evening (Moeder Lambik is within walking distance of the park and has an extensive menu with lots of good stuff). However, I let myself be caught today and did not follow my own advice. That meant buying food in the park, at Plopsa prices.

We ended up in the Plopburger where, as the name suggests, you can get a hamburger with fries. I chose to maxi' my menu because I'm used to small portions of fries in Plopsaland. However, the portion of fries in the Plopburg was bigger than I remember as you get them in the Mr. Spaghetti/Mayaland (that's where I normally go if I want to eat in the park). In the end I paid something like 16 to 17 euros for a menu of double hamburger, maxi fries and half a liter of still water. Still a lot, but I felt less cheated than usual.

My original advice regarding food in Plopsaland De Panne still stands. For example, they also have a Panos, but just with double the prices here than in a Panos outside the park. And recently they apparently also have a Dunkin Donuts, housed in a very ugly white container with glass in it. Surely this could be integrated a lot better Plopsa?!

 

 

 

Because it was not that busy and there was no queue, we decided to do the K3 Rollerskater as well. Certainly not the worst coaster when it comes to junior coasters but in the summer with full queues this is clearly a ride to skip. The same can be said about the Keverbaan... no, Dongo's Race!... Sorry Viktor's Race was it?! Ah apparently now I have to talk about Hashtag LikeMe Coaster.

The Zierer Tivoli has already changed its name for the third time. It is actually not even the same Zierer Tivoli that used to be in a Wizzy & Woppy theme, because between 2012 and 2013 Plopsa decided to replace almost the entire track with a new track. Due to the removal of Bellewaerde's Keverbaan, it is the only Zierer Tivoli in Belgium... and to be honest, I think it's a pity that they didn't just go for something new. Missed opportunity. I can be brief about the Hashtag LikeMe decoration. I find it quite funny that children at school look forward to a day at Plopsa only to end up here in a school environment. The Kaatje Tralalaatje theme lasted 7 years. I suspect that the hashtag decoration will have the same lifespan...

 

 

With old faithful Anubis the ride we have had all the roller coasters of the park. In 2009, this compact Gerstlauer launch coaster put the park on the map among Belgian rollercoaster enthusiasts. Since then it has rightly been seen as the best Belgian rollercoaster. Nowadays, the other parks have caught up with Fury in Bobbejaanland and of course Kondaa in Walibi Belgium. Even in his own park, Anubis is no longer king, although he is one meter higher, Anubis is really overshadowed by the Ride to Happiness.

But that doesn't make Anubis any less fun. A solid launch followed by some nice elements that follow each other smoothly and quickly, to end with hangtime in a nice slow barrel roll. I can't get enough of it. Anubis is also the roller coaster I have ridden the most of all my rollercoasters on the counter. I can't give an exact number, but I remember well from my Plopsa period that I did this coaster so often before or after work. Or during a break. The advantage of working in an amusement park.

 

 

 

We also did the Supersplash - I don't count it as a rollercoaster myself. Unfortunately no "ship ahoy buddies" at the top of the tower and there were only stars on one side. I mostly remembered the Supersplash as dry, but that was before the Ride to Happiness supports were right next to the track and some water ricocheted back into the boat.

The fairground zone is in full expectation of a new Bumba indoor zone, with a new dark ride. Opposite there is also a dark ride, the Bos van Plop. It was the ideal time to ride it, the rumors that it would disappear sooner rather than later are persistent. And it really seems as if the park no longer wants to invest in this boat tour. A lot of gnome animatronics just don't work anymore or move very bad. I also noticed that the fire effect at the house that is on fire did not work. That gnome who shouted 'fire fire', therefore called the fire brigade for nothing. That will cost him a hefty fine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I used Google translate because I didn't want to rewrite it completely. Did some quick corrections here and there, sorry for bad English.)

A lot of your thoughts are familiar. Park is run quite shittily, though not entirely shitty. At least they're constantly investing.

I cant wait for more rides to happiness popping up everywhere. It looks nuts