Walibi Holland Review: A Day of Thrills and Frustrations

On 14 September 2024 I had a chance to visit Walibi Holland for the 2024 season. Over the years I’ve visited Walibi several times, including Halloween Horror Nights, so I’m intimately familiar with the amusement park.

The reason I’m doing a Walibi Holland Review is because I feel that the park is in a decline. I feel that before spending almost €40.00 on a ticket, you might want to know what to expect so you’re not disappointed.

Walibi Holland Review Breakdown

Before I get into the review I want to make it clear that Walibi Holland is not a very accessible park for those with bigger bodies. There’s at least one roller coaster that I’ve never fit on, even after losing a lot of weight due to my hip width and another that needs an extra push. If the employee is unwilling to give it, I don’t get to ride.

I witnessed several individuals having to get off the different coasters for this reason. Luckily, most of the coasters do have test seats, however, if you can’t ride there isn’t a whole lot to do at this particular park.

With that being said, lets get into the Walibi Holland honest review!

Driving to the Park and the Parking Lot

I only live about 30 minutes from Walibi, so I left home around 9:00 in the morning. I had plans to meet up with my friends Daniel and Seb at 9:50.

About a kilometer to the round about I needed to take to get to the parking lot, I hit a traffic jam. It turned out that there was an event going on next door and people were very confused where to go. It took about 10 minutes to finally make the turn and get into the right lane. However, once I did it was almost smooth sailing into the Walibi parking lot.

Unfortunately there was a very confused Belgian who kept getting into the wrong lane. Don’t worry, the lanes are actually clearly marked on which you should take in Dutch, English and German. I really don’t know what was going on, I chalked it up to people just doing people things.

Once I got through the parking lane, I was able to follow the road up to the parking attendants. There were several and they were working extremely efficiently to get the cars into the correct rows. For the first time I made it to the park early enough to not only be in the main parking lot, but only a few rows from the gate.

Getting from the parking lot to the main gate is very easy and accessible to mobility devices.

Rides of the Day

Getting into the park was super easy and quick. While there have been bag checks in the past, there weren’t any on this day. I was able to just scan my ticket and get through the turnstile. If you’re in a wheelchair, or you don’t think you can navigate the turnstile, there is an accessible option you can ask for.

Everyone that came through the gate with us immediately headed to Platform 13, the launch coaster closest to the entrance. We decided to head back towards Condor, Walibi’s inverted coaster. Here’s a breakdown of what we rode and our opinions on each of the rides.

Please keep in mind that these are recaps of the day. I will be writing a review for each of the rides over the course of the next few weeks and I will link them below.

Walibi Roller Coasters

Walibi Holland has 8 roller coasters with 2 being kids coasters. We didn’t ride the kids coasters which were Eat My Dust and Drako. So, for this 2024 Walibi Holland Review, lets take a look at the roller coasters that we did ride.

Condor – Vekoma Inverted Roller Coaster

Condor was the first roller coaster of the day. While everyone else immediately went to Platform 13, which is the closest coaster to the front of the park, we headed back to Walibi’s inverted coaster by Vekoma.

Condor was never a smooth coaster, but I swear that this got even rougher and jerkier than the last time that I rode it a year ago. While I love a good inverted coaster, this has gotten too rough for me. This was our one and only ride on Condor.

Lost Gravity – MACK Rides Steel Coaster

Next we headed over to Lost Gravity which is a steel coaster by Mack Rides. This is one of the park’s newer coasters which opened in 2016. It’s super smooth and a really fun ride. However, it’s one of those coasters where a bigger person may need to have a staff member give the restraint a really good shove to get the green light.

Unfortunately, this attempt at Lost Gravity was a no go for me. My friends put me on the wrong side of the coaster and the bigger, stronger staff member couldn’t cross over. So I got some fast passes for the walk of shame and I had to wait a few minutes for my friends to finish their ride. I was going to go back and try again after the staff rotated, but we got distracted and never came back.

Speed of Sound – Vekoma Boomerang Coaster

Speed of Sound would end up being the 3rd coaster of the day. This coaster generally takes a little time to get on because there’s only 1 train supporting 28 riders due to it being a shuttle coaster. We had less than a 10 minute wait and Seb and I decided we’d ride in the last car, last row.

Now, the restraints look like they need a bit of love, the paint wearing away on the metal parts. But the seat was comfortable, even for someone with a slightly bigger body. The chain lift starts pulling us up and then we’re off. I had forgotten (likely on purpose) how jerky and rough this coaster is. Once again, we all came off with headaches from being bounced around between the overhead metal restraints.

Untamed – Hybrid Roller Coaster by RMC

Untamed would be the next coaster in the list. This is Walibi Holland’s newest coaster, celebrating it’s 5 year anniversary this year. This is a hybrid coaster with the track being steel and the supports wood (from the old Robin Hood wooden roller coaster) by Rocky Mountain Construction.

Untamed is probably my 2nd favorite coaster ever, with Voltron over at Europa Park being my number one. The air time that you get on this particular coaster is amazing. I believe the official number of airtime moments per the manufacturer is 14!

The restraint system is a lap and belt restraint combo. While I’m easily able to ride Untamed, the fit is tight and the cups for your shins is uncomfortable with the way my legs are structured from hip to ankle. But, for 2 minutes of a thrill like you get from this roller coaster, I can take a little pain.

It should be worth mentioning that this coaster is very smooth. There is no jerking or roughness. It’s fantastic.

Platform 13 – Launch Coaster by Vekoma

Then there was Platform 13 which is a launch coaster. This is the one ride at Walibi who’s queue is heavily themed and even has a tiny jump scare. Since there wasn’t a big crowd, they shut off the best part of the queue and routed us straight through to the place where a staff member will count out riders.

I’ve always been able to fit in this particular coaster easily though the first row of the cart is shaped awkwardly and kind of hurts. I suggest taking the second row regardless of body size. The launch for this coaster is my number 1, however, the rest of the coaster is showing it’s age in roughness and jerkiness.

Goliath – Steel Coaster by Intamin

Last but not least of the Walibi coasters was Goliath. This is a coaster I have never been able to ride at Walibi Holland. It’s the same setup as Untamed with a belt and lap restraint combo, but the belts are set up very weird. I haven’t figured out if any of the cars have a little longer belt that would make the ride accessible to a woman with rather wide hips.

I ask the staff every time I ride which seat I should take, so far nobody has put me in a seat where I can buckle the seat belt. Unfortunately, this isn’t a weight issue. This is literally the width of my hips from side to side being too wide as I don’t have much fat on that part of my body.

Needless to say, while I did try, I did not get to ride Goliath. However, Daniel and Seb did say that compared to the last time they rode which was about a year ago, it was pretty rough like all of the other older coasters. Their comment wasn’t a surprise at all.

Walibi Non-Coaster Rides

We rode several of the non-coaster rides as well but skipped Space Shot, Blast, G-Force, Skydiver and Tomahawk. These, unfortunately, just aren’t our favorite types of rides and none of us wanted to feel sick just to give a review.

What we did ride was El Rio Grande, Walibi’s river rapid ride. We ended up riding it twice and it was a nice drift down the artificial river. Because it was mid September and only 17 degrees (62 degrees Fahrenheit) the soaking water features were turned off. I also suspect the rapids were turned down a bit as well since none of us got more than a little water on our arms or legs.

I’ve been on better river rapid rides, but we still had a good time!

And of course Walibi Holland would have a madhouse. If you’re a regular of Themepark Freak you might know that I have a love hate relationship with this particular type of attraction. Their version is called Merlin’s Magic Castle and like 95% of the madhouses in existence, it was made by Vekoma.

In the past, none of the animatronics or special effects were working. The pre-show is really what’s going to make a madhouse great or terrible. Luckily, everything was working and the entire thing from pre-show to ride was great. Honestly, I think Merlin’s Magic Castle has moved up to my favorite madhouse now.

One thing I should mention, the staff members are pretty on the ball when it comes to filming or taking pictures. Unless you want the ride’s music and script to stall, don’t do it. Trust me.

Then we were off to Crazy River. This is a log flume ride by MACK Rides. It wasn’t working when we walked up, but we decided to take a break and see if it would start running again. Our desire for a break panned out and we got to ride! And get wet! I had forgotten that this was a pretty rough ride overall. But, it always has been and it’s fine.

The last non-coaster ride that Seb and I tackled was the Merrie Go’Round. I’m sorry, but you’re never too old to be a kid. This particular carousel had a “tea cup” style seat that conveniently seats 2 adults. We spun that tea cup around and around because the Merrie Go’Round was slow. In fact, we were going so fast we couldn’t tell when the ride stopped.

I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t stopped and gotten off, the staff member would have just let us go again. She was laughing pretty hard by two adults making themselves sick on a tea cup on a kid’s carousel.

Food Struggles at Walibi Holland

Unfortunately for this Walibi Holland review, I really don’t have anything good to say about lunch or trying to get any sort of treat during our day out at Walibi. I actually went back and looked at my 2022 Walibi Holland review of Fright Nights and I pretty much gave the food 0/10 as well.

Lets just say that Walibi Holland isn’t the amusement park you’re going to go to for food. Full stop. Here’s what happened this trip:

Lunch time rolls around. I’ve been in London for the past week and had a lot of carbs. To kind of maintain blood sugar control (I’m diabetic) I wanted to get a Chicken salad at Cock-A-Doodle-Doo. The fact that so many people were walking up to order then walk away without getting anything should have said it all. But I tried to order my salad and they were sold out.

So we went to another location. They were sold out. So I decided to get a chicken sandwich. The sandwich was OK, a little small for the price but the meat was juicy and it was fine. The fries were a little cold. Not really a 13 euro lunch but it’s a theme park.

Later, while waiting for Crazy River to start running again we tried to go get ice cream sundaes at a booth selling sundaes. I’d like the Oreo sundae. It’s all sold out. Ok, how about lion. Sold out. The fruit? Sold out. What do you actually have left? They had some nuts, sprinkles and chocolate sauce.

Everywhere we went had signs out for food and treats and nearly everywhere didn’t have what was on the sign. I have zero idea what’s up, but making sure there’s enough for guests to eat through a day isn’t Walibi’s strong suit. It makes me kind of wonder if Walibi Belgium or France is as badly managed?

What we ended up having for a snack is an Oreo each from my low blood sugar snacks, some meatballs and a boiled egg. Probably healthier that way.

Final Thoughts of my Walibi Day Out

The saving grace for this day out, which Walibi can’t take any credit for, is the weather was perfect and the day was spent in good company.

It’s absolutely clear that the roller coasters and some of the other attractions are in desperate need of refurbishing or replacing. The coasters like Condor, Speed of Sound and Platform 13 have become so rough that it detracts from what could be an amazing experience. On top of this, the park seemed woefully underprepared for food service.

I think that Walibi Holland can still be a nice day out if you can score a deeply discounted ticket. However, paying full price? You’re better off at Efteling, Toverland or even Phantasialand just over the boarder in Germany.

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