Walibi's Follies

Simon Butcher

Tuesday, May 1. 2007

Posted by Simon Butcher in Belgium, Rollercoasters

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One month after Walibi started its 2007 season, and it seems the park continues to struggle. Rides are still failing, despite another busy day within the park during some stunning record breaking weather.

Thinking of visiting Walibi? Perhaps save yourself the disappointment and wait until July, presumably when all the problems are solved. My visit today left me feeling empty and has, as you can see, left a rather bitter taste in my mouth about this season.

Last time I wrote about Walibi, I detailed that the Vertigo was still unfinished, and the Turbine was still in disrepair. Unfortunately, not much has changed since then.

Below is a list of closed or failing rides. Compare this with the list at RCDB and you'll see why I'm making a fuss. Walibi must have had a really bad day.

Vertigo

Understandably, the Vertigo remains closed. We've been told that it will be ready “sometime in June”, which is a little more specific than “during summer”. Despite high winds, work was continuing on the elevator tower today.

Werewolf («Loup-Garou»)

Werewolf - green train stalled on lift hill

The werewolf was functioning during the past weekend, however today the red train was removed from the track during the afternoon. Restraints remain damaged on the green train, which spent the remainder of the day stopped on the lift-hill. The excuse from ride operators was that too many people had used the ride, therefore it had broken down.

Calamity Mine

This ride was fluctuating between open and closed during the day. This ride is another big attraction, next to the Werewolf, since it accommodates families well.

Turbine

This ride is a classic, and I hope Walibi have the foresight to keep maintaining it for the future. We did see a technician appear from the ride, but he left in a hurry, possibly to repair another ride. The fact that a nice but still haphazard looking sign has been posted on the ride's entrance denotes that this is likely to be out of commission for some time to come.

With extra regard to the Turbine, I've subsequently discovered that many of the problems in past seasons have also been due to the clutch, as with this season. Previous seasons have had problems because of the flywheel's clutch overheating, which probably explains why it's in disrepair this year. Check out Richard Bannister's trip report from 2004!

Inferno

The Inferno, known as the Enterprise at almost every other park I've visited, lived out its life closed last season as it needed to be moved to a new location since it would have operated too close to the Vertigo's tracks. The ride has been moved, and was operating earlier in the season; however it was not operational today.

Cobra

Another major attraction, despite possibly being one of the most cloned roller-coasters in the world. Most parks keep the original Vekoma name of Boomerang, and this is normally one of the most reliable rides. Due to brake failure at the station, the ride was shut-down.

Vampire

Much to my surprise, the Vampire suffered momentarily during the day too, with a brief closure during the afternoon. Queues at the Vampire rarely exceed 15 minutes on a busy day; however the queue today was an estimated 45 minutes.