A visit to Parc Bagatelle

History of the theme park

The Parc Bagatelle in Merlimont near Berck-sur-Mer is the oldest existing theme park in France. Bit by bit, a small amusement park with wobbly bicycles, playgrounds, animal enclosures and a mini-golf course developed around the Parent family’s inn before the first rides moved into the park in the 1970s. Initially, these were still operated by the individual showmen, but with increasing success, the offer was successively expanded by own acquisitions.

In 1993, the park switched from individual tickets to a single admission price in order to continue to compete with the nearby Belgian theme parks Walibi and Bellewaerde. By the turn of the millennium, the park had reached an average of 400,000 visitors. In 2000, it was sold to the French theme park group Grévin & Cie, which merged into Compagnie des Alpes in 2006. In the same year, the zoo part of the theme park was closed as it was no longer sustainable due to the steady decline in visitor numbers. This was followed by the sale to the newly founded Looping Group in 2010.

Parc Bagatelle

Interestingly, the amusement park is reached via a generously dimensioned underpass. The entrance on the other side of this, however, is less impressive with a covered square and a small ticket office. A small square with a fountain and several colorful children’s rides await us after entering the theme park.

Past the small Kid’z Coaster, a Wacky Worm by SBF Visa, and the Twist’air wave swinger, the path leads us into the original western area of the amusement park. The park railroad station and the monorail station directly above it are located right at the entrance to the area.

River Splash

The River Splash log flume has been one of the theme park’s main attractions since 1976. The ride, built by Reverchon, impresses with its fast ride through the canal, which runs through a forest for a large part of the ride, before climbing up again for the finale, climaxing in a plunge into the cool water.

Le Raft

Past the Bag-a-Bato ride and the Grand Prix car ride, we make our way to the Rapid River Le Raft. Thanks to the nearby airfield, the decoration of the Hafema Raft Ride is kept to a minimum, but the ride itself is a highlight of the theme park thanks to the large whirlpool ride element.

Triops

Located directly on the lake at the back of the park are the Bag Pearl boat swing, the Rapido dinghy slide and the large Triops shuttle roller coaster.

Triops is the suspended version of a timeless roller coaster classic – the Vekoma Boomerang – but Invertigos wouldn’t be Invertigos if they didn’t have even more special features. Firstly, the seating arrangement allows you to reverse the order of the tried-and-tested experience and you can also watch your fellow passengers.

Just like at its former location in Sommerland Syd, the ride is absolutely great. As before, the ride is as intense as ever with great ride characteristics through the loop and the Cobra Roll and back again. It’s just great fun!

Famous Jack

If you follow the Main Street of the western area to its end, you will inevitably come across the Famous Jack spinning coaster, which stands out with its very striking front. Viewed from the side, however, the ride hardly differs from other rides of its kind. As is typical of Reverchon, the ride itself is great fun and, depending on the load of the gondola, can turn into an absolute whirlwind ride.

Les Woodies

Les Woodies, the novelty of the year, is located in the immediate vicinity of the Famous Jack roller coaster. On the Apollo Sidecar from Technical Park, you can control the swing of the small cars yourself, which makes for a very fun ride.

Splash Factory

Splash Factory, the park’s second log flume, is located in the middle of the forest. Since 2000, this small ride from L&T Systems has been impressing visitors with its single shot ride and incredibly high level of wetness.

Spirale Express

The small family roller coaster Spirale Express is somewhat unusual for a Soquet roller coaster. After a steep curve, the ride leads over a curved hill, the exit of which has a distinct kink in its appearance, which is also quite interesting to ride and throws you back and forth in the car. This is followed by a second lift and a long Bavarian bend close to the bottom. Shortly afterwards, you reach the station again, whereupon you set off on a second lap through the generally quite nice layout.

Gaz’Express

Directly opposite the Zamperla Air Race Silver Wings is the entrance to the Gaz’Express roller coaster. From 1987 to 2005, the ride ran through an elaborate mountain massif with several interesting water features to match its Mine Train design. This was removed in 2006, after which the ride operated as Bouzouc and Bag Express and appeared rather bleak overall. This changed in 2019 when the ride reopened as the Gaz Express with an impressive industrial look.

The ride on the Gaz’Express begins with a right-hand turn, which immediately leads us into the ride’s lift. Once at the top, a longer helix awaits us, in which we build up some speed over one and a half laps before entering into the first drop. This takes us through a house and over a lake with quite a bit of momentum. The trail then leads us into another building in a wide right-hand bend. Inside the building, which is reminiscent of a gasometer, we now complete several laps in a descending helix. At full speed, we then make our way over a small hill and into an uphill right-hand bend. Back in daylight, we then enter the water tunnel, although this effect is only visual. After another left-right turn, we reach the station completely dry, whereupon the ride on this extremely interesting Soquet roller coaster unfortunately comes to an end.

Pictures Parc Bagatelle

Conclusion Parc Bagatelle

Parc Bagatelle is a very mixed park. Sometimes it shows its age, sometimes it convinces with really nicely designed corners and rides. At least there doesn’t seem to be a common thread, which means that it has always retained its 70s charm and is therefore very reminiscent of theme parks such as Rasti-Land or Avonturenpark Hellendoorn, which also belongs to the same group. There is definitely potential at Parc Bagatelle, but it should be exploited with clear demarcation of the themed areas and a revision of the older rides. The Looping Group is currently demonstrating quite impressively that it can do this at Drayton Manor Theme Park. In other words, Bagatelle, we may see each other again at some point.


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The Marvel Avengers Campus

A lot has changed since my last visit to Walt Disney Studios Park. The black light show Animagique has been replaced by Mickey the Magician, the Cinémagique theatre has been closed since 2017 and Mushu’s frikandel joke in the Dutch version of The Art of Disney Animation has been replaced by the musical revue Frozen – A musical Invitation and that’s not all.

There is no trace of the stunt show spectacle Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular and the fiery hot Armageddon Les Effets Speciaux, the Studio Tram Tour has been massively shortened and instead of a light show on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster you now fly through space with Iron Man on Avengers Assemble: Flight Force.  Last but not least, there is Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure – a smash hit of a dark ride and the biggest novelty of the Marvel Avengers Campus area.

Cars Road-Trip

The Studio Tram Tour was a rather boring stopgap at the Walt Disney Studio Park, although Catastrophe Canyon alone was worth a ride. The irrelevant scenery on the way there, as well as the finale to the rather unknown film Reign of Fire were not really worth mentioning and dragged the attraction down a bit.

Cars Road Trip now focuses mainly on Cars-tastrophe Canyon. A few roadside attractions dot the way, but that’s it. The integration into the Cars universe has definitely been successful, which makes this attraction a pleasure to experience more often, despite its significantly shorter ride.

Avengers Assemble: Flight Force

The roller coaster Avengers Assemble: Flight Force presents itself to its potential passengers much more discreetly than in its previous rocking life. The entrance to the ride is hidden around the corner, while the main building offers interesting information to visitors of the Marvel Avengers Campus. I can imagine that if you didn’t know there was another roller coaster here, you would walk right past it.

The queue now has a changed layout. In general, I like the new orientation of it extremely well. It’s just a bit of a shame that you can now only see the launch area from the normal queue and that you can no longer get past it as a Premier Access guest or single rider. The highlight of this ride is the new Iron Man animatronic, which gives you perfect instructions for the ride.

The ride itself is also outstandingly staged up to the moment of the launch. 3, 2, 1 and wham, you miss the state you experienced on this ride for so long before. Don’t get me wrong, the video projections on the ride are well done and would underline them perfectly, if only they weren’t so dark; however, the synchronised light show spectacle of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was just awesome. As with the other indoor roller coasters at Disneyland Paris, something is missing here in places. A few decorative elements here and there would be enough and the ride would be a guarantee for a good mood.  Apparently, this has already been recognised, which is why the ride has been closed again for further work shortly after its opening.

Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure

The Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure interactive dark ride is of a different calibre. The Spider-Bots developed by Peter Parker get a little out of control during Open House Day on the W.E.B. campus and duplicate themselves like crazy. Contact with other substances in turn causes them to partially mutate. Now you have to stop the robots before they devastate the entire campus. To do this, you swing webs like Spider Man and free one location after the other from the little crawlers.

Unlike other interactive themed rides, everything here works contact-free, you just use your hands and shoot your nets through space with amazing precision.  No wild flailing to score points – it’s more about purposeful movements, which can be quite a challenge. The team concept is just as motivating: you play together, which in turn positively enriches the ride.

Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure is definitely a blast of a ride and the current main attraction at the Marvel Avengers Campus. Everything has been done right here. The video quality is outstanding, the interactivity during the ride works really well and last but not least, the ride is incredibly fun.    

Pictures Walt Disney Studios Park

Conclusion Walt Disney Studios Park

The Walt Disney Studios Park is well on the way to overtaking its sister park right next door. During my visit, the park was always better attended, even though the park is still a large construction site and not every show was currently being performed. With the Marvel Avengers Campus, visitors were introduced to the first stage of the park’s major expansion offensive, which will feature the next highlight with the Arendelle themed area around Disney’s Frozen. So things remain exciting at Walt Disney Studios Park.

 

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Lots to do in Energylandia

Energylandia

Little Kids Zone, Family Zone & Extreme Zone

When Energylandia opened in 2014, it was by no means foreseeable how rapidly the park would develop in the following years. What initially appeared to be a collection of numerous rides straight out of the Italian car bootleg, complete with a cheap and hackneyed design, has fortunately quickly blossomed into a very respectable theme park thanks to European funding.

The park’s beginnings can be seen – at least in part – in the three children’s rollercoasters Circus, Frutti Loop and Mars, none of which are anything special, as well as the Pyramid 7D cinema and the Space Gun and Space Booster rides in front of it. Despite the numerous measures taken by the theme park, the corner of the park looks rather cheap and not at all attractive.

Speed

Past the SBF Visa Happy Loops Spinning Coaster and the entrance to the Energylandia water park, the route now leads us straight to the Intamin water coaster Speed.

Once you have left the long queue behind you, the ride can begin. As the ride’s vertical lift is still a long way off, we bob along the canal for a while, whereby, interestingly enough, a pretty good whitewater feeling is created here, with the waves almost hitting the boat again and again and making us literally jerk away from the water droplets that are whirled up. As soon as we reach the lift, we quickly get to the starting height of 60 metres. With the best view of the park, we’re soon pushed over the crest. On the following 45° gradient, we gain a lot of momentum and immediately whizz through the first water basin and over a hill with hardly any braking. Here we take off a little before throwing ourselves into a fast Bavarian bend. Hoping to lose a little speed through the following block area, we now pass through it without any braking effect and are then released into a right-hand bend. A brisk downhill helix follows, but then turns into a hill, which introduces the final shot of the ride. Well soaked, we are released back into the canal and reach the station shortly afterwards.

As with Divertical at Mirabilandia, the ride on the Intamin Water Coaster Speed is really impressive. However, I don’t recommend anyone to attempt a ride in late autumn, as the ride can turn out to be a little wetter than expected and the full-body dryers in the park can’t really dry you out.

Jungle Adventure

From the exit of the Speed rollercoaster, it is not far to the station of the Intamin Rapids Ride Jungle Adventure, but once again the park has built a very long queue, the entrance to which is unfortunately on the completely opposite side. The ride itself is quite fast, but unfortunately, with the exception of a few rapids, very uneventful.

RMF Dragon

When the Danish Fårup Sommerland opened the Orkanen roller coaster, the amazement was huge. The layout, which was specially designed for the park, was built on a lake and dives into a tunnel directly after the first drop, while the rest of the ride route runs largely close to the ground and over the lake. When Energylandia copied the layout, a large pool was built and the ride in Zator did not dispense with the tunnel either.

Here too, the first drop leads us directly into a tunnel, with the entrance modelled on a dragon’s mouth. Back on the surface, the route leads us smoothly through an overbanked turn and over a small speed bump, which leads us into a wide helix. We immediately cross the station building, only to end up in another helix on the other side. A compact right-hand bend then leads us into a small dip, whereupon we enter the station building after another bend and our extremely entertaining ride unfortunately comes to an end.

Formula

One of the most important milestones of the Energylandia theme park is the small Formula launch coaster. After leaving the station, we immediately enter the launch track, where we accelerate to 80 km/h after a short stop. We then enter the large Sidewinder with plenty of pressure, which we then exit in a curve close to the ground. This then leads us over an airtime hill and immediately into the second inversion of the ride – a corkscrew. We also leave this in a curve close to the ground. After a short turn to the left, corkscrew no. 2 immediately follows, which leads us into a Bavarian curve. From then on, we make our way over hill and dale, before we reach the braking section shortly afterwards and our ride on this cream of the crop from Vekoma comes to an end.

Anaconda

Intamin Spillwater lives from its design. Here in Energylandia, the ride is completely naked in the area. Thanks to the eternally long queue, which once again starts at the other end of the ride, you also have a very good view of the ride’s supporting structure. As the manufacturer’s standard model, the ride offers two shots and a fairly modest level of wetness overall.

Mayan

The ride through the tried-and-tested SLC layout with the roll-over, sidewinder and the two inline twists is really impressive, which is mainly due to the modern trains and the resulting smooth ride – the Mayan roller coaster therefore shows in a very pleasant way that Vekoma suspended looping coasters are not bad roller coasters from the ground up.

Aztek Swing und Apocalypto

The Aztek Swing and Apocalypto rides were also opened in the theme park’s first year of operation and therefore hardly fit in thematically with the theme park. While the Aztek Swing is more popular, the small Top Spin Apocalypto is rarely used, which is simply because it can be easily overlooked.

Viking

The SBF Visa roller coaster Viking is a bottomless cheek; whoever came up with the idea of fitting a simple Crazy Mouse roller coaster with a over-the-shoulder restraint deserves to have to ride this roller coaster for eternity. Everyone else should avoid riding this rollercoaster.

Boomerang

The Boomerang family roller coaster impresses above all with its curves close to the ground and the small hill above the station. The layout itself resembles a figure of eight, with the two ends running over the loops.

After riding backwards up the lift hill, we descend rapidly and then go full throttle through the station. This is followed by a left-hand bend close to the ground and the aforementioned hill over the station, where a slight airtime sets in. After a right-hand bend under the lift hill, there is a hill over the first bend, which has a small bump in the middle. Here we come to a standstill, whereupon the reverse journey begins. A little more leisurely than before, we now make our way back to the station, where the rather pleasant ride comes to an end.

Atlantis, Splash Battle und Toffifee Gold Mine

Directly opposite the Boomerang children’s rollercoaster is the SBF Visa Rafting Atlantis, which – with the exception of a few tame rapids – is more like a calm water ride. Right next door, there are two more water rides with a much higher degree of wetness: Splash Battle and the Toffifee Gold Mine log flume.

Śmiejżelki Energuś

The family roller coaster Śmiejżelki Energuś is located directly at the entrance to the theme park. After a short curve and the subsequent lift hill, we immediately take a steep curve with a subsequent upward helix to the left, pass through a short valley and then ride through a wide right-hand curve near the station. Over a hill, we cross the route we have just travelled, whereupon we lose some height in another helix. This is followed by a left-hand bend, after which the braking section awaits. After one lap, the ride is already over.

Hyperion

The Hyperion roller coaster, which runs prominently alongside the theme park’s car park, characterises Energylandia like no other roller coaster. The Hyper Coaster from Intamin impresses with its 77 metres in height and the large out & back layout, which becomes more twisted towards the end of the ride.

The ride on Hyperion begins with the fairly fast lift hill, after which we immediately take on a descent of 82 metres. This is followed by two wonderful airtime hills, where we turn to the side on the crest of the second one and initiate the oversized dive drop. The rest of the route then takes us over several hills close to the ground before we take on another airtime hill. From then on, the route leads us through a large overbanked turn and immediately through a series of hills and curves close to the ground. With plenty of steam, we then race over another classic airtime hill before we are led into the braking section after a climb.

Hyperion is a really good roller coaster, which is characterised above all by the curves close to the ground after the big dive drop. The ride is extremely fast and – with the exception of the rear outside seats, which have an interesting swinging behaviour – absolutely worth experiencing.

Dragon Zone

The Dragon Zone is a medieval themed area on the other side of the access road to the theme park, which can be reached via a tunnel. In addition to the two family roller coasters Draken and Frida, the park’s large Ferris wheel and the RMC hybrid roller coaster Zadra are also located here.

Frida

The Dragon Zone also has its family roller coaster from Vekoma. However, the layout itself is unique in Europe, even though it is one of the most frequently copied Dutch-made installations and was built a total of 16 times in 2017 alone. The major customer in this case is the French company Carrefour, which ordered the rides for its Transmart shopping centres in Indonesia.

As in East Asia, the route first takes us to a height of 13 metres, whereupon we hurtle down a steep bend. This is immediately followed by a wide helix to the right, which then turns into an equally wide helix to the left. After a short turn to the right and a short turn to the left, we immediately find ourselves in the station of the ride. This is followed by a second lap on the family roller coaster, which is quite nice overall.

Zadra

The Zadra roller coaster is the largest roller coaster built by RMC to date. While many of the IBox Track Coasters have breathed new life into existing wooden roller coasters, Zadra is a completely new installation. Accordingly, the ride is more comparable to the Goliath roller coaster from the American theme park Six Flags Great America.

After climbing the 62.8 metre high lift hill, we are ready to go. With plenty of momentum, we are pulled towards the ground and immediately over a wave close to the ground. After a steep curve, the path leads us back towards the lift hill and immediately into the Zero-G stall, where we remain upside down for a few seconds and experience a very fine feeling of weightlessness. Back in an upright sitting position, the path immediately leads us behind the station, where we are first turned 90° to the right in an airtime hill before exiting it in a left turn. After a right-hand bend close to the ground, a classic airtime hill follows, which allows us to skilfully glide out of the seat. Shortly afterwards, we dive into the rafters in a zero-G roll. A steep turn is immediately followed by two smaller airtime bumps. A short turn then takes us to the other side of the wooden structure, where another zero-G roll awaits us. Shortly afterwards, we reach the braking section of the ride.

Zadra is a really good rollercoaster, although it is surprisingly gentle by RMC standards. Instead of being mercilessly sent from one airtime hill to the next at a rapid pace, the ride takes much more time – the pacing of the ride is therefore not quite as insane as on other rides, which also makes the ride itself feel much more rounded. It is a pleasure to get on here again and again, although this is made much more difficult if the shortcut at the lockers is closed during the course of the day and you have to walk through the overly long queue again as a result.

Aqualantis

The Aqualantis themed area shows once again how well Energylandia can realise themed areas when they try. In addition to a large number of rides from Zamperla, including the Disk’o Coaster Tidal Wave Twister, the area is particularly impressive with its two roller coasters Ekipa Light Explorers and Abyssus.

Ekipa Light Explorers

As every type of rollercoaster at Energylandia has to be built at least twice, there is also a Family Boomerang from the manufacturer Vekoma in this area. While the Boomerang roller coaster is rather compact, the track on Ekipa Light Exploreres takes you across the lake, with several small turns along the way.

Abyssus

Abyssus is basically the same roller coaster as Formula, only longer and bigger. After a rather leisurely launch, the track immediately leads us into a right-hand bend and over numerous turns with small airtime moments and wonderfully smooth curve changes before we reach the actual launch section. Here we are accelerated to the maximum speed of 100 km/h. We immediately ride up an interesting-looking hill, on the top of which we experience some really great airtime. Unfortunately, the descent is a little trimmed. Nevertheless, we cross the subsequent valley with a lot of pressure, as well as the following loop. An extremely fast right-hand bend then leads us into an airtime hill, whereupon the prominently placed Batwing at the entrance to the ride is initiated. This is travelled through very quickly and is the highlight of the ride. After a large turn and an airtime hill, a fairly flat corkscrew follows, which then leads us into a heavily banked airtime hill. After a fairly fast helix, there is one last quick turn, which then leads us into the braking section of the ride.

Abyssus is a really fine rollercoaster with a great layout and a very long track. Unfortunately, however, the ride is located at the very end of the theme park in a cul-de-sac, which will only be resolved at some point by the candy-themed area that has been under construction for years. As a result, you might want to think twice about whether you actually want to take the long walk to the rollercoaster or whether you would rather take a ride or two on Hyperion and Zadra.

Pictures Energylandia

Conclusion Energylandia

Energylandia is quite a pleasant theme park and home to many attractions. Accordingly, my image of the park is not necessarily the best, as apart from the very good roller coasters Abyssus, Formula, Hyperion and Zadra, there is also a lot of junk around. Two more roller coasters are currently being built, one of which will once again be a family roller coaster by Vekoma. The large number of very similar roller coasters does the park no favours, nor do the very extensive grounds and the miserably long queues. In addition, the division of the theme park into two parts creates a less homogeneous overall impression.


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