Chessington World of Adventures

A safari park without anything

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Badoca Safari Park

The Badoca Safari Park is one of the parks I know mainly through Parkscout.de, because a few years ago there was a report about a new Hafema Rafting ride. A few years later, I missed the entrance to the Safari Park; but who would have thought that the area was not properly developed and that the sandy path at the side of the road is the entrance to the park? For kilometres there was no exit and my navigation system wanted to send me on non-existent roads. Eventually I was able to turn around and a short time later I was standing in the car park of Badoca Safari Park.

At the cash desks I was then confronted with the opening and show times of the zoo and actually I would have had to turn back immediately, because both rafting and the safari tour would not have been feasible according to my schedule. Nevertheless I wanted to have a closer look at the Badoca Safari Park, and interestingly enough I had already explored half of the park before the official opening of the park.

It is really not a good omen when you can hardly show any animals as a safari park. The situation is even worse if you simply don’t use any of your spacious enclores. The two small aviaries should be seen as the highlight of the animal park, as birds are generally interesting and macaws are great to watch. You can also kill some time watching lemurs and wallabies.

Safari

The way over the bridge to the safari only makes sense if you really want to start the safari within a few minutes. It has a length of 45 minutes and is therefore about twice as long as Chessington Worlds of Adventures Zufari; however, due to the wooded area it is not as densely populated. If you can see animals at all is a question I cannot answer. Of course the safari is the most important part of a visit to Badoca Safari Park – there is not much more to do around here anyway.

Ilha dos grandes primatas

Despite this fact, the park still manages to create very long paths. The Ilha dos grandes primatas, for example, was placed not far from the high street and thus at the end of the world. There, two of the three large enclosures were equipped with animals and only in very small populations. Also, the gardener had apparently not been out and about for a long time, because somehow everything was growing wildly around here.

Rafting Africano

Rafting Africano is now advertising Coca Cola and apparently doesn’t do much else. The two Euros you have to pay for the trip can certainly be understood, but an opening time of 14h00 – 15h00 is not really understandable. Unfortunately the layout of the ride is hardly visible from the outside. However, the rafting offers the whirlpool well-known from this manufacturer and therefore a promising ride.

Bird of Prey

Last but not least I watched the first few minutes of the birds of prey show, where a few birds were presented under a lot of Portuguese blah-blah. Annoyed about the bad sound quality of the show and because of my lack of language skills I left the show early and made my way back to Porto Airport.

Pictures Badoca Safari Park

Conclusion Badoca Safari Park

The Badoca Safari Park certainly had its best times far behind. Lack of advertising, even just outside the park, missing animals and stupid opening hours of the attractions do not speak for the park. The relatively high entrance fee and the numerous up-charge offers leave an extremely bland aftertaste. Sure, a Segway safari is certainly fun, but why not include it in the entrance fee? At least the park had some potential at some point.

 

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Badoca Safari Park

Great Shows and a Rapid River

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Zoomarine

After leaving the water park Slide & Splash nearby Lagoa, I reached the animal and theme park Zoomarine around noon. It exists since 1991 and should not be confused with the Mundo Aquático park of the same name near Rome. Like similar parks, Zoomarine is characterised by a large number of shows, so that despite the manageable size of the park, you can easily spend a whole day here.

When I entered the park I knew from the beginning that I wanted to see at least one of the shows, because the entrance fee is by no means low in this park either. Since the show called Flying Colours was supposed to start in about 20 minutes the time was enough to explore the park a little bit. Soon I noticed a peculiarity of the park, because the attractions in the back of the park opened staggered one after the other and so did the only roller coaster of the park.

The parrot show then turned out to be very entertaining, instructive and quite well produced. The transitions were fluid, the story was stupid, but parrots who destroy a flat are just very funny and more or less reflect reality. It’s a bit strange that Zoomarine attempts to deal with the dangers of the shrinking habitat, only to sell some animal welfare bracelets shortly afterwards. Last but not least, the tree that has been impressively chopped down is hydraulically lifted back up into the sky.

In general, animal welfare activists will not be very satisfied with the animal husbandry in this park, so a visit is not recommended for this group of people. The few animals that are shown here in the enclosures, however, have enough space for their needs. The animals shown for the presentations have just as much space in generous aviaries or basins and even the dolphins can have it worse elsewhere with their lagoon. Of course, with the best will in the world this is definitely not ideal, especially as the dolphins’ lagoon can also be visited as an up-charge attraction.

Buffalo Coaster

As a roller coaster, Zoomarine offers small Zamperla Powered Coaster called the Buffalo Coaster. The ride with the Twin Helix layout is beautifully designed and is a lot of fun due to its lateral forces during the two helices; luckily it was only a three laps special.

Harakiri

If you follow the path further on, you will come to a junction where you can either continue up the mountain and see this year’s novelty, or go down to the Harakiri dinghy slide or the almost non-existent rafting, which should open at 2 pm. At that time I had basically achieved my goal, but I decided to take the Rapid River as well. Because the Era T-Rex was not supposed to open for half an hour I took a closer look at the front section of the park.

Aceanus

Passing some animal enclosures I went into the aquarium Aceanus, which is quite inconspicuous from the outside. It is very close to the Sea Life centres, apart from the missing design and the very dark and exclusively blue corridors. The aquariums were all large and well populated, but the highlight here is the huge tank towards the end of the run, which can be seen from three sides. This is where you could spot some sharks.

Era T-Rex

Back in the daylight I quickly looked at the other enclosures before I decided against the pirate-style sea lion show called Wonderland and walked towards the rapid ride. Prior to this, I took a closer look at the tent of the Era T-Rex, which looked rather unsuitable from the outside. The inside turned out to be a quite solid museum with some animatronics in which guided tours take place regularly. Since I didn’t want to wait for the next group I joined another group that was already advanced in the guided tour.

Rapid River

Next, I headed straight towards the Rapid River, whose entrance is located halfway down the dinghy slide. You can only find it through the signs in Zoomarine, but not on the notes of the individual opening hours of the rides, nor on the park map. Nevertheless, the ride was actually open and so it didn’t take long until I was sitting in one of the round boats.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much and the waterfall visible from the outside only looked as if it would, like in other parks, wet the boat a little bit, if at all, by splashes. But as it turned out after the first few meters of the ride, this was a very wrong estimation, because in fact this small passage is enough to wet at least half of the passengers due to the rotation of the boat. The following curvy stretch is then unfortunately free of any rapids and surprises, but nevertheless, the beautiful design and the rather less beautiful foam tunnel provide enough elements to distract you and shortly afterwards to introduce the great finale. The similarities with the dark ride Bubbleworks from Chessington World of Adventures are not to be denied, but the water jets end here all inside the boat. Shortly afterwards the lift and the end of the ride is reached.

The ride, built by L&T Systems, is a magnificent and, above all, wet pleasure which, once you are in the park, should not be missed. A bit annoying is the late opening time of the ride and the resulting time spent at the park.

Zoomarine Beach

Apart from the individual shows, of which I unfortunately didn’t watch any more, you can also visit the small water park Zoomarine Beach and test the two water slides and the large wave pool. In addition to that, the park also offers a 4D cinema with a film about turtles, a nicely designed carousel, a small boat swing and a Ferris wheel.

Pictures Zoomarine

Conclusion Zoomarine

Zoomarine is a park that looks quite expensive in the first place, especially if you visit it just for its roller coaster. However, if you take the time to see the shows, the aquarium and the attractions that open later, Zoomarine is a good park where the price/quality ratio is good.

 

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Zoomarine Algarve

No time to get dizzy

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Preface

After leaving Walibi Belgium around noon we reached the Plopsa Coo in Stavelot about 1 ½ hours before the park’s closure. We parked nearby the parking lot right next to the main street, saving the horrendous fees.

After we finally found the pay desk in the middle of the park, we quickly bought the wristband using our Fort Fun Abenteuerland annual pass, so that we saved 50 cents in comparison to the afternoon ticket price.

Tour of the park

Coaster

The Plopsa Coo amusement park consists of two areas, the really nice area at the waterfalls and the rather ugly area behind. Past various children’s rides that have all been embellished by a TV series of studios 100 – no matter how inappropriate this actually is – we headed for the park’s first roller coaster, named Coaster.

This hill sided roller coaster features the MK700 series trains, like the ones you can find on the (R)evolution at the Belgian amusement park Bobbejaanland. The coaster simply can’t be bad. After the train has left the station, the train directly approaches the lifthill of the ride via a small right-handed curve. Once at the top, there is a right-hander in which you slowly take on speed. Via an up and down motion, we approach a lower level. Via a straight slope the train gains a lot of speed, before the first curve change takes place. After a long uphill helix another wavy right-hander follows immediately. The highlight of the ride is a relatively high descent, which then leads its way over the park’s log flume. Shortly after, the station is reached. The coaster was not quite what you would expect from this kind of roller coaster. Although the layout is actually quite nice, it is relatively boring and always features a long waiting time.

Maya Splash

Next to the Coaster you can find the entrance to the log flume Maya Splash. Apart from the downhill shoot at the end of the ride and some figures of the children’s series Maya the Bee, there is no noteworthy highlight. Slightly disappointed we went on with a ride on the polyp to pay off our wristbands.

Vicky the Ride

In the front area, the highlight of the park can be found. As Vicky the Ride is actually a really good roller coaster, it overshadows everything Plopsa Coo offers. This was also recognised by the many families that were visiting the park. Due to the popularity, you have to wait slightly longer for a ride.

After some time we could finally board the ride vehicle. After a small curve, the lifthill directly follows. Once at the top, a short right turn sets the car into rotation before the long descent begins. In a Immelmann turn, you change direction in a magnificent sloping position. Once again in a higher position, you pass a hairpin bend which puts the ride vehicle into a pleasant spin. This spin is kept alive during the following downhill slope and the adjacent uphill helix. Via some hills, we approach the station of the ride. Right next to it, we slam the brakes. A short time later the rotation is locked and you can exit the ride.

Vicky the ride is a great spinning roller coaster. The ride looks pretty wild from the outside but rides itself rather harmonious. Especially compared to spinning roller coaster by Maurer Söhne, where the transitions between the individual track sections usually come unexpectedly, the Gerstlauer version is more smooth. With the intense spinning Vicky the ride can keep up with the master class of Sonic Spinball of the English theme park Alton Towers and Dragon’s Fury of the English park Chessington – World of Adventures.

Pictures Plopsa Coo

Conclusion Plopsa Coo

Plopsa Coo is not a park where you would actually stay for long. Although the park features a nice portfolio and is more or less well themed, it does not offers the whole package of a fully sizes theme park. With a visit to the adjacent wildlife park and a ride on the chairlift up to the observation tower on the mountain, there is enough to explore on a great summer afternoon in Belgium.

 

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Plopsaland Ardennes