Walibi

Yesterday, I went to Walibi, a theme park in the neighbourhood of Brussels. I had been there when I was still in high school, and that's it. I have never really been a theme park fan. As kid, I loved to go to the Efteling in the Netherlands, because of the fairytale atmosphere, and now, I love going to Disney, because of the rat and the magic. Oh, I'm sorry, it's not a rat, but a mouse. Oh, sorry, it's a Mouse, with capital M! :-)

Since I don't like theme parks that much, and since I think they are awfully expensive, I never go (with the exception fo Disney). In this case, someone asked me if I wanted to go, and I couldn't say no. Oh well, going once wouldn't hurt me (right) and it might actually be fun (right). So, off we went. "We" were a rather weird mix of people. There was me, the jetsetting person (bwahaha, who am I kidding here!), my friend (works in the same company as I, but she works in a store, I work at the headquarters), her ex-husband, her nephew, a friend she knows from I don't know where, and the friend's two kids: a little boy who was SO cute and a girl who didn't open her mouth during a whole day.

Thank God I had some coupon: adults for the price of kids (still 26 EUR!!!!!) + we got a coupon for a free picture with "Walibi" in the park (Walibi being an orange kangooroo). After waiting in line forever to get our tickets, we finally entered the park and... some creature grabbed me and hugged me and didn't let me go until the photographer took some pictures. WTF????? At Disneyland Paris, you have to fight to get a picture with Mickey, here you have to fight the character in order to obtain your freedom again. And don't take all those pictures, I have no intention to buy them!
After fighting two characters, we finally could enter the park. OK, and now? Good that I thought about grabbing a map. Looking at the map made me worry... no decent park lay-out, no description of what the rides actually are, ...

I didn't make notes on the day, and I don't plan to give a complete day report. No, I plan on comparing this park with Disney. I know, one should NEVER compare some theme park with Disney. But I will do it. Anyway. Because I'm bad.

Disney is CLEAN, Disney is MAGIC and at Disney, you have music. Yes, music. Everywhere. All day long. Don't ask me what kind of music plays in Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris. I couldn't tell you. But I KNOW there is music. At Walibi, there wasn't any music at all. And I missed it. Big time. Next time I'll be at Disney, I'll pay more attention to the music. And I'll appreciate my CDs with Disney theme park music even more.

Disney is clean. Walibi isn't. This park is only open during the summer time. So, they have the whole winter to do maintenance in their park and clean the park and rides. That's what one would think? You'd think they have a gardner to keep the plants in control and fight the weeds. Right? No. Not at all. The weeds were taller than I (I'm 1m85, with is more than 6ft!) (that is without my high heels on). The queue was so dirty; people smoked while being in the queue, and they even smoked while being inside the buildings! Also, on the walls, there was graffiti everywhere. Not the "nicer" kind, but the kind people write with markers. All sorts of curse words and dates, and emailadresses. Also, the walls looked like they hadn't been painted in years. Uck!
The first ride we did was the mine train. Compare it to Big Thunder Mountain. Or no, do not compare it at all!!!! You know how that ride involves some water, and at one point, you get the illusion you do a short dip in the water? At Disney, that is fun. At Walibi, it freaked me out. It must have been the dirtiest water I have ever seen. And smelled. Also, at the boarding platform, there is no one who tells you what row to take. That makes it hard for larger groups to sit together. And it slows the whole process of boarding down. A lot. And do not look up. Along the ceiling, there were spider webs. All over the place. And I don't think the local Imagineers put them there.
Dirty water... Do you know how people sometimes complain about the Splash Mountain water? Do you know how clean the Jungle Cruise water is? Well, the water of the local "Splash Mountain" (no mountain, no theming, just a splash) was worse than Jungle Cruise water. It was so ugly, ucky brown... and it didn't smell like chlorine at all. I don't even want to know how many germs were on me after that splash.
I didn't go on the water rafts after that. I had had my portion of ucly water.
I did go on the "Cobra". A rollercoaster. That involves loops. 3 loops forward, and 3 backwards. A rusty rollercoaster. Very rusty. It didn't really assure me. I screamed. Big time. Not because of the loops, but because of the rusty steel it was made of.
But you know what scared me even more? The Turbine. Another rusty rollercoaster. One loop forward, one loop backward. No security harnass. Just a lap bar. Never ever do I go on that one again. I don't mind loops. But I don't like them in combination with a lap bar. Thank God I have a big butt, that kept me IN the train!

Now, at Disney, when you pay your ticket, you can go on every ride. You just need to pay extra for the arcades. At Walibi, you have to pay extra for many many many attractions. I didn't want to do that, I paid already enough. But that left not so many things to do.
There was also no parade, no fireworks, ...
At first, I though opening hours from 10 am to 6 pm was short, in the end, I was more than ready to leave.

Will I go again? No.

But one thing I ask myself: how could this park become this way? When I went to it, many years ago, it didn't look old and rusty like that. Of course, then I hadn't gone to Disney, so my standards were maybe not that high, but still.
In those years, the park has become a Six Flags park, and two years ago, it became Walibi again. It seems to me, management has done nothing to give it a nice look. Too bad. Because of all the publicity they make, it is well-known. Too bad they don't live up to their expectations.

And I will enjoy my next Disney trip even more. Because I'll appreciate the music!