It’s a week ago I visited Bobbejaanland, so it’s about time I write my post about it. It’s the third theme park I visited this year, and I’ll visit another one in a few weeks. Yep, it’s been a pretty busy year as far as theme parks go.
About the park. Bobbejaanland was originally founded by Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Belgian folk singer. You have probably never heard of him. The peak of his singing career was in the 1950’s and 60’s. After he grew tired of touring, he bought a small plot of land and started a music theatre where he could perform. Local residents thought he was nuts at first. After the theatre, a large swimming pond with a small artificial beach was built, and from then on more and more attractions were added, eventually turning Bobbejaanland into one of Belgium’s top theme parks. Until a few years ago, the park was still owned by Bobbejaan Schoepen and was the last family-owned theme park in Europe. After he was diagnosed with cancer, the park was sold to a Spanish theme park group.
It has been quite a few years since I last visited the park; I believe I was 14 last time. Quite a few things had changed. The overall theme has remained the same: the Wild West and Native Americans. Many rides, some of them really great, had been removed or replaced by other rides. The park’s best rollercoaster, the “Looping Star”, was demolished a few years ago. What made this coaster so great was the fact that, unlike in most coasters, you were secured by only a lap bar instead of the more common shoulder braces, making the ride extra exciting. A copy of this coaster can still be found in a park in Holland, but I don’t remember wich one. Another cool ride was the “Rainbow”, a gigantic magic carpet ride, wich is also gone, unfortunately.
As far as rollercoasters go, the park is a bit below average. There are two junior coasters, one wild mouse coaster (probably the most annoying type of coaster, with corners that aren’t banked), a suspended coaster, and indoor coaster and only one with a loop, the “Typhoon”. This rollercoaster replaced the Looping Star and it’s one of the most intense I have ever experienced. As you can see in the picture, the initial climb is vertical, after you are dropped straight down, into a 2-second near-free fall. This is followed by a loop and a few corkscrews. The corkscrews are pretty intense, since you move through them so slowly you’re literally hanging in the shoulder braces. Near the end there’s a fast spiral that pulls quite a bit of G-force.
But by far the best ride in the entire park is the “Sledgehammer”. I’m not gonna describe the ride in detail, I’m just gonna let the picture speak for itself. At it’s peak, it reaches a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour. I went on this ride three times, and after the third time I was finally getting dizzy as hell. As far as non-rollercoaster rides go, this is the best one ever!
Another thing the park shines at are the water rides. There are two log rides (one indoor and one outdoor) and one round raft river. The indoor log ride, the “Indiana River”, was really great. It has a jungle theme and three drops in complete darkness, ending in a huge splash that literally soaked me. The outdoor ride wasn’t nearly as wet as thing one. The round raft river was also pretty great, with a gigantic whirlpool. As you’re spiraling inwards, you dive into a tunnel right before you reach the center (where I was soaked once more).
The biggest disappointment, though, was the newest ride, the “King Kong”. This was simply the lamest thing I had ever seen. It was basically a boxcar that gets lifted in the air by a giant gorilla. He lifts it up, tilts it a few times and puts it back down. And that’s it! Nothing really exciting about it. What this park really needs is another intense rollercoaster with lots of loops.
