Belgium Coasters and Culture: Part II

Continuing my coaster trip around Belgium, our third day (my birthday, yay!) started with a 2.5 hour drive from De Panne to Bobbejaanland, east of Antwerp. Unfortunately we hit some morning traffic and construction, as well as dozens of buses headed to the park, so Kyle an I arrived just a few minutes before opening. We met our friends and saw hordes and hordes of schoolchildren. With the park only open 10am-6pm, we knew immediately this day would require fast passes. Luckily this was the only really crowded park of the trip, and with the fast passes we were able to ride each coaster once without waiting. Bobbejaanland is a decent park, although it has a lackluster ride collection with the exception of Fury, which is a fun and unique coaster, and a great indoor log flume. We probably would have enjoyed the park more if it weren't so crowded. It also was the hottest (or at least the sunniest) day of the trip.

Nice view over the lake.

Yay, another Mexico section!

Fury gives riders the option to ride forward or backward.

Kyle and Viki on Naga Bay.

They had an old school wooden labyrinth, which was pretty cool.

The Oki Doki coaster.

A fun little boat ride (Bootvaart) and the horrible Typhoon coaster.

Lines hovered between 25-60 minutes for most rides. Not *horrible*, but not possible to ride everything without a flash pass.

Our group on the King Kong ride.

Views of the park from the ferris wheel.

More views from the ferris wheel, including wind turbines in the distance.

This sign is technically possible, if you're in northeast New Mexico facing south.

Leaving the park we drove to the city of Hasselt, and Kyle, Steve, Lori and I walked around for a while. It's a cute city and it was pleasant to walk around. It was pretty bustling, with a busy shopping street. We stopped at Taste of India for dinner, where I had a yummy lamb vindaloo. 

A neat mural in Hasselt.

Belgian towns are full of adorable streets.

The main square.

The popular shopping street.

A cool old building.

AFC? Why not!

My birthday dinner was great!

We then drove to nearby Sint-Truiden, where our hotel was. We had a really unique hotel - the main part is literally built into the soccer stadium for the Sint-Truidense V.V. football club. We stayed in the "Hof Van Stayen," a separate part of the hotel across the street that had a very pastoral atmosphere. After checking in we went into the stadium and were able to walk on the pitch, then we went over to our rooms. The main part of the building is a 17th century farm house, and the expansion includes a big communal space. There was a stream running right outside my window with a field behind it. We had the place mostly to ourselves, since it was a random Monday with no event happening in the stadium. I highly recommend this hotel if you're in the area! After settling in, Steve and I went into the main part of the town. There was some kind of festival happening on the main square, with lots of people and what appeared to be a flower auction. We walked around for a bit, checked out the main church, and Steve found a geocache. We went back to the hotel and had some beers, and enjoyed a post-10pm northern European sunset.

Hanging out on the pitch!

Even got to sit in the team's seats.

Heading into town.

Fountain in front of the church.

We think this was a flower auction.

Inside the Klerkenkapel.

Stained glass windows.

The lively main square.

Lots of people shopping and walking about.

The front of our hotel, the restored farmhouse.

Views from my room - a stream and fields.

The back part of the hotel.

Nice sunset.

The next day was a two park day, starting with Plopsa Indoor Hasselt. This is a small indoor children's park, but it has a nicely themed kiddie coaster. We went straight to the coaster at opening, and got a ride in before the busloads of children made their way back. We explored a little bit, but spent less than a half hour here. 

Welcome to Plopsa Indoor.

The kiddie coaster is actually pretty good.

Overview of the park.

Craig and Kyle getting a little crazy on the slides.

Just me with a bear and monkey.

We then drove to the main park of the day, Plopsa Coo. It was a very nice drive through lots of green hilly valleys. Plopsa Coo was the surprise hit of the trip. It's a smaller family park, but it has a fantastic setting next to a waterfall, and the whole park is tree covered. The theming is great, and similar to PlopsaLand and Plopsa Indoor it has rides themed to various Belgian cartoons. The Smurf roller coaster was adorable, the skyride had amazing views (and was a long 30 minute round trip), we enjoyed the character meet and greets, the food was good, and the alpine slide was thrilling. This was my favorite park of the trip, despite not having high-thrill rides. Leaving the park, we drove to our friend Jo's house. Jo is the regional representative for ACE Europe, and we enjoyed handing out and discussing coaster and having pizza for dinner. We ended the day back at our hotel.

The drive was really scenic.

Plopsa Coo is down some little forested roads.

First view of the park. You enter across a covered bridge.

Vicky the ride

It's a cool spinning family coaster.

The ornate station.

Entrance to the smurf coaster. Cute!

So may little details around the park.

I loved these little carrot planters.

Kyle on the bunny ride.

Views of the waterfall.

The alpine slide lifts you up backwards.

Going up!

Great views from the top before sliding down.

Homemade options for lunch! I had the meatballs.

The skyride was great, and went right over the water.

The covered bridge entrance to the park.

Up the mountain.

Cute theming on the skyride!

Awesome views from the top, where there was a small tower.

More theming.

A fun dinosaur slide.

I met the bee and the cricket! I also met some smurfs.

Of course we rode the log flume.

Another hidden smurf.

Feeding the goats.

This goat got stuck, and we had to unstick him.

We played some minigolf too.

Views of the waterfall.

The bridge over the waterfall.

Jo's adorable dog.

Hanging out at Jo's.

The final day of our coaster trip started with a drive to Walibi Belgium. This is a former Six Flags park, but they've recovered quite nicely and several of their newer attractions have great theming. A couple of the coasters are duds, but they had two fun dark rides, a log flume with a backwards section, and the single best ride of the entire trip - Kondaa. This is an amazing Intamin hypercoaster that just opened in 2021, and it's easily in my top 10 coasters. We managed seven rides on it throughout the day, and closed out the day with a couple of back seat rides. Coaster nerds - it's worth traveling to Belgium for this ride alone! Overall we had a great day at the park, with light crowds. We did make sure to stay hydrated since it was a hot and sunny day.

Our first ride was Tiki Waka.

Kondaa is immaculate. 

The group on Pulsar.

Some of the rides are not great, like the standard boomerang.

I was a beverage goblin at lunch. One for hydration, one for energy, and one for fun.

Kondaa above the mine train.

I'm innocent! I swear!

Kondaa's wicked outerbank turn.

After driving back to brussels, we dropped our bags at the NH Hotel, then had dinner at Forno Rossa in the town of Diegem, right next to the airport. This was perhaps the best meal of the trip, I had an exceptional pizza with burrata. We then dropped of the car at the airport and caught the shuttle back to the hotel, where I watched some of the Euros on TV.

A tower in Diegem.

The church.

This pizza was so good!

So is Belgium a good coaster destination? Absolutely! With a few heavy-hitter rides (Kondaa, Ride to Happiness, and Fury), multiple world class family coasters, parks with great theming, and a good mix of other rides and attractions, it should be on your list.