Mark9 Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 I went to Walygator Parc the other day. I've heard awful things about the place. Truly awful. Whether its the closed down rides, the chipped paint, the queues, the roughness of the rollercoasters, Walygator has it all. I thought it was okay. To get there, we stayed in Luxembourg city and travelled down by train which takes about 45 minutes. (OFF WE GO TO FRANCE'S PREMIER ALLIGATOR THEMED THEME PARK) Our first port of call was Monster, the B&M inverter that originated in Expoland, Japan in 1996 and moved to France in 2010 after Expoland closed down. Now, unlike every other B&M inverter in Europe, Monster has no theming whatsoever. It is a B&M in field, a solitary patch of grass leading to the ride. The ride retains its white and pink livery that it had in Japan except now the pink has faded considerably. There are plans afoot for Monster to receive a theme change in the future, the ride to be painted brown and themed around pirates. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen. (who needs themed environments anyway?) The station is bare minimum which I'm fine with and loading is okay for a park of this type. They wait for the train to stop and empty before loading into batching lanes. Not sure why. Also, I hate that there is no front row queue and that fastpass people can choose any row meaning we just missed out on a front row ride. Damn. So the ride.. well one thing I love about Monster is its length. Whilst Nemesis, Black Mamba and Nemesis Inferno are great rides, they are short and for the time you queue, it doesn't always feel worth it. Monster goes on forever. Starts off with a very traditional inverter layout, which is forceful in a way that new B&M's just aren't. The snappiness the train darts through the inline twist or the top of the cobra roll are very enjoyable. Reminds me of Dragon Khan. At this point the ride does a few tight turns into the mid course break run. Which has no breaks because Walygator never intends to run three trains (they only own two and that might seem a stretch here!) and so the trim breaks were never built when it moved. This allows the train to speed along through the rest of its layout in a way that Katun, Montu, even its clone equivalent Raptor at Cedar Point can only dream of. The intensity of the two left hander corkscrews is pretty high and the train at full speed rushes through the final helix that is probably my favourite element of the attraction. So when it comes to it, how would I rate Monster? Thats a difficult question as I'm a huge fan of themed attractions, they do far more for me because the imagination that goes into a ride like Oz'Iris or Nemesis is far more fulfilling then a ride shoved into a field on a perimeter of a theme park. I do like Monster though, its nice to ride an older ride that has a bit of punch to it and you get a lengthy ride out of it. Suffice to say, it's better then larger American B&M's like Montu and Silver Bullet but doesn't quite match up to what we already have over here. A solid B rating probably fits. What is the longest ride in Europe? Derren Brown features up there, as does Temple of the Knight Hawk or many omnimovers.. The winner though is the fantastically named Walyboats which lasts for a rather spectacular 25 minutes. Exploring some countries around the world, this slowly paced ride will take up a good chunk of your day. It's not worth it. Brilliant. Anaconda is the parks second in command rollercoaster, this woodie had an horrendous reputation for its roughness in the past. No longer the case as its pretty smooth now but my god its boring. The ride has no airtime, it has no speed, the train just goes through the motions creating much no sensations or feeling. We came off not really feeling anything or having much to say about it. The parks other big rollercoaster is Comet, a Vekoma sit down attraction which was perfectly acceptable. I'm sure it has a bad rep but we thought it did its job without much fuss. The parks final rollercoaster turned out to be 250th rollercoaster. It was the perfect choice. Introducing.. Family Coaster We loved it. Here's hoping my 300th is something a little bit more memorable. We didn't bother with the rapids and log flume as they seemed to be running two boats each and 45 minutes for each seemed a tad excessive. There was a few spinning rides such as an Air race which did bad things to my stomach or a random swinging carousel which I'd never seen before. That was okay. So Walygator is very much a red park. Its not a terrible place but it clearly is the weakest park in France. The place just needs some loving from its owners to bring it up to standard. Monster is a great ride but it somehow doesn't fit with the other rides in the place. JoshC. and Mega-Lite 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 Good little lunch time read that, thanks Mark. This fantastic looking park is on my horizons either late this year or early next. Even more excited about Monster now! Don't be too put out by your wacky worm milestone though. At least it's funny, my 200th is the awful mouse at the awful Parc Dtractions Madrid, that's just sad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 Fun Fact: The boat ride around the lake used to be FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES long... This has not changed my opinion of this place, compared to the well-run and well-presented Nigloland so not far away, this is a poor RCT beginner level park... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 3 hours ago, Benin said: Fun Fact: The boat ride around the lake used to be FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES long... This has not changed my opinion of this place, compared to the well-run and well-presented Nigloland so not far away, this is a poor RCT beginner level park... And nor should it! I won't be going back to Waly unless they make a considerable turn around or add something that is irresistible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 Sounds like Monster is the only thing really going for this park then. Shame the park is seemingly unloved by it's owners. I'm guessing it's probably only worth visiting if combined with other park trips or cultural stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 As it's France the cultural stuff is going to be unbearable, you'd be much better off tagging it onto a quest to get Alpina Blitz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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