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22 hours ago, Ryan said:

Untamed looks fun, how easy is this place to get to from Amsterdam via public transport? ?

I haven't done it myself, but it's a couple of trains to Harderwijk, and then there's a special bus from that station direct to Walibi. Simple journey, but would take just under 2 hours.

 

Driving from Amsterdam takes about an hour I think.

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I did the trip there via public transport and here’s how you get there. Once you know the station names, it’s quite straight-forward to get there directly from the airport:

 

1. From Amsterdam train stations (central, airport etc), take a service to ‘Harderwijk’, which is about a 70 minute train journey with one or two changeovers. About €15 each way, any route can be used.

 

2. At Harderwijk station, there is a bus station area right next to the tourist information building with about 8 different bays. Go to stop ‘G’ and take service 247 or 247a which says “Walibi” on the sign.

 

3. The times that depart in the morning to the park from this stop are the following:

 

9:22am, 9:52am, 10:22am and 10:52am for the first four. After that, it’s pretty much every 30 minutes all day. It’s €9 exactly for a return ticket.

 

This bus will take you directly to the park entrance plaza and the last bus back after park closure from memory was at 20:33 for the 8pm summer days.

 

Be aware that the bus is pretty packed, similar to the Thorpe ones and they only take card payments or a travel card similar to oysters (which is aimed more for the locals than tourists). Cash will not be accepted at all and yes, the buses do support Visa, MasterCard and Maestro contactless, including Revolut cards which was extremely handy in my case.

 

As for the trains, I would advise you to use their smartphone app called “NS Reisplanner Xtra” on either iOS or Android to book tickets and show the QR code to the conductor onboard when asked like I did. It is in English too this app so no translation problems.

 

I stayed at a hotel in Harderwijk for a couple of nights and from there, it’s pretty easy to get to the park, so the important bit is to make sure you reach Harderwijk bus station in all this.

 

^_^

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  • 1 month later...

Walibi Holland had their fan event this weekend, which gave us a little insight into their future..

 

Next year they're retheming the area next to Untamed / Wilderness (includes a Lumber Jump ride, Enterprise, Space Shot and Goliath into the 'Speed Zone'. The theming will be done by the same group who did Wilderness. I don't expect Goliath to receive any major work, but instead the other rides since they're close together. It just happens that Goliath is at the dead end of that area.

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In 2021, the park plan to give new trains to Condor, their terrible, terrible SLC. They've talked about this for a few years, but they finally seem prepared to do it. A shame, as it would be better to rip it out.

 

 

No word yet on when the park's next major investment could be. We've of course seen big investments in 2016 and 2019 (and before that, their last coaster was Goliath in 2002). 2022 could be a reasonable guess since there seems to be regular investment into all Walibi parks, but we shall see..

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, Untamed then.

 

I've always been wary of the RMC hype train, but it's fair deserved. Can only imagine how ridiculous Steel Vengeance is if Untamed can feel like it's going to violently eject you out the front row at 11am. 

 

At night after it rained a chunk it became obscenely ridiculous. Should be illegal really.

 

Didn't mind the shin guards as much as I thought.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having had 30 rides on Untamed, I can now safely say that in my opinion it is easily the best coaster in Europe and was it not for the excellence of Steel Vengeance then it would have been my number one all together.

 

This coaster is seriously incredible from start to finish and I mean “from start to finish”. The ride does not relent from the second you come off that chain lift until the second you hit those breaks. The pacing this ride has is flawless. I am a huge fan of Wildfire, but one thing that bothers me with it is the fact that there are several moments on it where it loses its momentum massively. Those issues are not present with Untamed one single iota!! It is none stop action the whole way round. Like Wildfire, it DOES get better as the day goes on. Unlike Wildfire however which is underwhelming on its first couple of hours of opening until it becomes a beast in the afternoon after warming up, Untamed is STILL incredible regardless of what time you ride it. However whilst it is incredible when it opens, by the time I was getting my night rides on it the damn thing felt like it was trying to eject me from my seat in the back row and all the way into the heart of Amsterdam!. As a result, the night rides on offer from Untamed are simply unmissable.

 

The elements on this ride are unworldly.  The first drop may not be particularly tall but man does it back a serious punch. The inversions on this ride are well taken and offer some pretty incredible hang time especially the first and last inversions. The airtime moments are aggressive and very much reminded me of being back on Steel Vengeance. For those who don’t have either the time or money to go to Cedar Point to ride Steel Vengeance, believe me when I say that this ride is the closest you will get to Steel Vengeance without actually flying across the Atlantic to experience Steel Vengeance and that is largely because of the relentless airtime on offer with Untamed. The finale of this ride is sensational. The airtime hills with all the headchoppers around followed by that barrel roll which gives incredible hangtime really do absolutely steal the show with this ride. In terms of the coaster layout, I can’t for the life of me find a single flaw.

 

In terms of the whole “restraints” debate with Untamed and indeed RMC in general I will say this. Yes after 30 goes I myself was in some pain, but that pain was no different to other coasters with masses of airtime and I felt no pain on my shins at all. Obviously other body types will have that issue though whereas fortunately I do not. I do wish the shin guards was not present for the sake of other riders enjoyment but personally the shin guards cause me no comfort at all having now ridden 3 RMCs.

 

For those of you still sceptical on how good these rides can be and want to know if the “hype” is real, seriously get yourself on a flight (or Eurostar!!) to Amsterdam and go and ride Untamed. The coaster layout is flawless and is just the most amount of fun you could have on any coaster on the continent. I mean it’s not like we are getting an RMC hybrid on these shores anytime soon!! 

 

RMC have really worked their magic again in converting Robin Hood into Untamed. I know a lot of people are against what RMC do to wooden coasters so I’ll just voice what I personally think on the matter. RMC do NOT convert true classic wooden coasters. They convert relatively modern wooden coasters so I do think it’s a total myth that they “destroy classics!!”. If RMC did convert true heritage wooden coasters then I personally would be very against that. Hypothetically speaking if Blackpool announced they was changing Grand National or Big Dipper into an RMC then I would be the first to protest it as those rides are true classics with a long history and as such should be preserved. If RMC ever changed the likes of Wodan or Troy then I’d also be uncomfortable with that as those two are amazing modern day wooden coasters that deliver great experiences. IF however Portaventura announced Stampida was getting the conversion, I would be on the first flight out there when it opens. Because it’s a dire ride and does not have the same heritage as true classics. To those who think RMC are “killing wooden coasters” I ask you this. What exactly did the likes of Gwazi, Robin Hood and Mean Streak actually contribute to the industry? They did not have long histories, they was universally disliked in the community and generally was seen as awful rickety rides. So what did they have going for them that should have given them a stay of execution?. In short, rides like the Blackpool woodies should NEVER have the conversion because they are treasured heritage, rides like the modern good GCI and Intamin wooden coasters shouldn’t either because they are great whilst sticking to what made wooden coasters great to begin with. However, the likes of Gwazi,Robin Hood and Mean Streak are fair game as far as I’m concerned.

 

Untamed - 10/10

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Walibi Holland reopened for the first time yesterday. Here's a run down of what they've done:

 

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There's an indoor area near their entrance (similar to the Dome at Thorpe, but smaller), which is now divided into two; each side is a one way system.

 

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There's similar markings on some pathways

 

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There's lots of hand sanitising points everywhere

 

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Barriers have been set up outside food places and restaurants to encourage social distancing, and create clear entrances and exits.

 

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Their train is only stopping at one of its three stations

 

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People are only let into toilets one household (ie group) at a time. After they leave, the toilet block is cleaned. This means there's a staff member constantly in every toilet, and they effectively batch you in. 

Nice branded signs though

 

Three attractions are closed: Neurogen (VR experience), their dodgems and their Skydiver upcharge attraction. Furthermore, their enterprise and frog hopper rides, which are part of a rethemed area, are not built back up yet. On that topic, here's a look at the newly themed Speed Zone, which looks decent:

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As for queueing for rides, the park have opted for a virtual queue system. You reserve on your phone, and book a slot, and wait the queue time virtually. Presumably not all rides you have to do this, since some will constantly have no queue. Walibi's QuickPass system utilises virtual queueing (with options of waiting 10%, 50% or 90% of the queue), so it's nothing new to them. Once you wait the entire queue length virtually, you go to the entrance of a ride, a member of staff (stood behind a screen) scans your phone, then you're in and wait very little time. Reports I read said the longest virtual wait was 40mins for Untamed, but the queue once you get in is less than 5.

 

The park also have a small number of phones people can hire for the day, with a €100 deposit. 

 

Any cattlepens have had large barriers put in place to allow people to walk through:

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Goliath

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Lost Gravity

 

All photos from Looopings

 

It's an interesting set up, especially with the virtual queueing, and some stark differences to Efteling (especially the toilet thing).

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/6/2020 at 12:07 PM, JoshC. said:

Been officially confirmed that Condor will get new trains for 2021...

 

 

Booo (I'd rather see it ripped out)

 

Having ridden El Condor with these new restraints in October just gone, the restraints have done NOTHING to help.

 

The ride is still an abomination!!

 

Oh...Untamed is still epic though!!

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  • 2 months later...

And once again us mere mortals are given a gift from the gods.....well RMC anyway....which is much the same thing.

 

Now whilst this excites me majorly given I have yet to ride one of their single rail coasters, I do believe the jury is still very much out on this design and that is largely/entirely down to the throughput. I just feel unless they really run it like clockwork, its going to be a nightmare at shifting queues ESPECIALLY when the busy halloween fright nights season kicks in.

 

Nonetheless, very exciting news and I look forward to riding in 2024!!

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  • 1 year later...

The sad day when you are too tall to ever experience the parks extreme Halloween attractions.

 

in all seriousness though this is the innovative route that I would have loved to seen Thorpe park take over the years and it clearly pulls in the crowds…. However instead thorpe went the family route…..

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Clinic will have a height limit owing to the fact that they have standard sized gurneys, which will have a maximum height. The attraction was designed with those in mind and from a H&S perspective they can't use larger gurneys.

 

Slaughterhouse effectively has a ride system, so is designed in a similar way to a ride, which does unfortunately have issues for taller people.

 

Below (wader maze) won't have a height limit. Presumably they're restricted by shoe size, but I imagine they have the majority of sizes.

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