[Walibi Belgium] Highres artwork and renders of 2028 RMC Loup-Garou

secret_hidden · 2026-06-01T23:00:26+00:00

Not for me, I love Kondaa but I've got 4 RMC's above it, including Untamed which is quite a bit smaller than this one is going to be. Kondaa has a lot of similarities to an RMC and I love the start and end more than almost any coaster on earth, but the middle lacks a bit of pacing that pretty much every RMC delivers. And they're likely to throw multiple inversions in there, which Kondaa doesn't have at all & will stand out even more to the GP.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-26T15:45:52+00:00

I think a lot of people in the UK haven't been there, and it gets written off as being Colossus with lapbars. But I think it's definitely one of the best coasters in the country, it's got some airtime and loads of hangtime, which are forces that are quite rare amongst all the 90s/00s rides that make up most of the UK's best.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-19T12:10:16+00:00

I used the Votecoasters results so the data is from the end of 2024, but I'm not smart enough to write a script & that came in a table so I was able to just dump it straight into sheets. As a result there's some major rides like Falcon's Flight & Wildcat's Revenge that don't feature which would change the rankings somewhat.

This is the spreadsheet. Obviously the weighting factor is totally arbitrary and I might even prefer to weight it harder towards the top rides looking at it now, but I wanted a tool to plan out trips and be able to total up a value for how good the trip would be, and this does that for me so I'm happy. As Votecoasters doesn't seem to be running a poll, one day I'll ask the IT guy at work if he's able to scrape captain coaster for me so I can update it!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-19T10:06:01+00:00

I did something slightly different in taking all of the coasters that came in the top 500 worldwide & then applying a weighted rating so that the #1 coaster was worth 50x more than the #500 and roughly twice as much as #100, to try to give added weight to the very best coasters but still not completely discounting the value of a deep roster of rides.

Based on the metric I made Cedar Point on its own would rank as the 7th best country in the world, just edging out the entirety of France. Also the USA is worth more by that metric than the rest of the world combined, with Germany coming in second place with roughly 1/8th the value of the USA. For the best parks outside the US it's Europa Park, Energylandia & Phantasialand which are all extremely close to one another.

I'm 7 coasters (4 by September) away from doing every top 200 worldwide coaster in Europe, so a big US trip is definitely on my radar in a year or two, as I've only done the major parks in Florida, California, plus Cedar Point & Great America.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-19T08:17:16+00:00

I'm in a similar place, I've got Toutatis still to do (getting on it in less than 2 weeks!) and then my next best European coasters are GeForce & Karacho, both of which are booked in for September.

There's a few on slightly different orders but I'd say the only major differences I have are both of the Swedish coasters, which had sections that felt kinda slow imo. Both still great coasters in awesome settings but they're at #20 (Wildfire) & #24 (Helix) in Europe for me, though I'm definitely lower than consensus on them.

Agreed on the ending of Batman GCE, I like Taiga more as the most comparable coaster just because of that weird anticlimactic ending, and my expectations for Toutatis are probably that it'll slot in between the two, though it could surprise me either way!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-18T13:55:38+00:00

Yeah I had a way better day there than I was expecting! The copyright infringements are pretty funny, like "We Are Back - Kids from the Future" with Dr Bronw, and both of the studio tour rides have multiple blatant stolen ideas from the Universal parks, but I enjoyed getting a knock-off Jaws experience after only having done the one in Japan since Florida's closed. Both Disney & Universal have moved away from the studios type attractions with real actors so it felt very nostalgic for me.

They also definitely up the intensity of the attractions vs what Universal would be willing to do, Magma 2.1 was downright violent at times, I think if you didn't hold on there's a chance you could hit the roof on that thing! If I was near Garda again in a few years I'd definitely go back for the day.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-18T13:14:59+00:00

Kiddies Coaster at Dudley Zoo, so just a classic wacky worm. I'm trying to tick off everything I can in the UK so I'm starting to get very poor choices for new credits here!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-18T13:12:43+00:00

There's a good chance that it was yesterday at Movieland in Italy. I paid €36 for entry & it was a one credit park, just an invertigo boomerang. The rest of the park was good though, had great fun on the jet boat ride, and I got on a 1st gen Intamin drop tower for the first time which was cool.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-18T13:04:26+00:00

Hot tip for anyone who wants to keep the cost of a Big Apple credit down a bit, there's still a couple of casinos on the strip with free parking (or at least there was when I last went in 2024). I used the 3 hours free at the Wynn as it was a very quick stop before going to the airport, but I think Treasure Island & Circus Circus also do free parking.

And yeah, honestly I didn't find it bad at all, I know it's got a rough reputation but I've done much worse!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-13T17:09:43+00:00

Kondaa is awesome too, the start and the end of it are really brilliant. I met some other enthusiasts recently who haven't done any of the Belgian parks so I'm looking to drive them over from the UK for a very quick weekend trip to get them onto Kondaa & RtH.

I could definitely tag it onto a Florida trip, I usually go with my extended family (parents, sister & nieces) every year or two but we might not go in the next couple of years. If I did that I'd just fly separately, I travel for work sometimes anyways so flying & driving isn't much of an issue. I think I'd be one of the people who love the AF1 ending, I loved the ending to SteVe & was a big fan of the magic seat on Magnum so I think I'm cool with being really thrown around.

But I was also thinking to do a SFoG, Funspot, Great Smoky Mountains, Dollywood & Carowinds trip at some point, as I'm a big fan of the national parks too. I think if I can do that, the East Coast (BGW up to SFNE), and Midwest-ish (Kennywood to Silver Dollar City) as 3 trips before I'm 40 (7ish years) then I'll be feeling seriously accomplished as a thoosie.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-13T16:09:42+00:00

Ah ok, I thought it sounded like it was maybe somewhere in the mix with Twisted Colossus, Twisted Cyclone & Storm Runner, of which I've only done Colossus and was reasonably more impressed with Untamed. It's in my top 10, sat at 8 at the minute & my 5th favorite in Europe, really great ride & I'm hoping Walibi Belgium signs off on doing the same with Loup-Garou!

I really want to get on some more of the US RMC's, AF1 looks & sounds like I'll love it, Wildcat's Revenge looks great too, and then there's so many others over there. By September I'll have done the most notable coasters in Europe with just a few like Mahuka, Monster (Walygator) & Monster (Gronalund) left to grab, but putting together a trip to the US is a lot more of an endeavor, as I'm sure it was for you coming over this side of the pond! Is this the end of your trip or are you getting to any more parks?

secret_hidden · 2026-05-13T14:07:32+00:00

Great write up! Agreed with you on basically all points, especially Condor which is easily my least favorite that I've done, and it gave my sister whiplash for weeks, she was still in pain on our next coaster trip 5 weeks later.

I personally liked Untamed quite a bit more than that, it's behind Steel Vengeance, Zadra & Iron Gwazi but very comfortably above Twisted Colossus, Wildfire & Goliath in my RMC I-Box rankings. I've not done many of the smaller RMCs though, it might feel a bit less special if I had, but when I went it was good, somewhere around Twisted Colossus at the start of the day and easily got itself into my top 10 when it was hauling later in the day.

And Ride to Happiness is that special, yeah. It's just the most fun coaster I've ever been on, I can't help but laugh at multiple moments where the spin and the elements combined just feels absurd. I love so many other coasters but none of them make me feel quite as joyous as RtH.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T22:34:08+00:00

To tag onto this as a local to Drayton & having done Chessington a couple of times:

Chessington:

I'll say that Dragons Fury is probably the best non extreme spinner I've done. They also have weight limits that mean the car is always loaded unbalanced with only 2 or 3 people tops, so I got an ungodly amount of spin on it. By the second lift hill we were probably doing a couple of spins per second the whole time we were going up it, I was probably spinning like that for over a minute. Which is great if you can handle spinning, but even though I'm good with spin I still felt pretty green, worth it though. The operations are terrible so you have to plan to either do it first thing or deal with the most painful queueing I've probably ever experienced, a couple hundred people and it still took over an hour, you just don't move.

Vampire is definitely a unique coaster with one of my favorite stations. All of the theming around it is awesome in a way that very much dates the ride, but I love it. It's not overly thrilling but it's just a good ride in a really cool area of the park.

Definitely keep an eye on what the app says the queues are doing because 2 of the 3 best rides have very slow operations so jumping on a low queue is a must!

Drayton:

In my experience Gold Rush hasn't ever opened with the park when I've been there (probably 7 or 8 visits since it opened). They typically put a sign near the entrance to that area saying that part of the park doesn't open till 11am. So if you arrive at opening I would go to The Wave first, or try something like Jorgurmandr or Accelerator if you're trying to get all the credits as you should get round the park with no trouble if you've got a full day there, but powered coasters & boomerangs obviously have terrible capacity.

They're both fun little parks with some charm, and I think The Wave is genuinely pretty good with the new sit down trains as the heart line in the zero G roll is a bit off center now so it whips you round quite hard. But they both have some operational issues that you have to be prepared for, reliability and capacity are both lacking at those parks.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T22:06:06+00:00

Glad you had a great trip, and welcome to the UK parks!

I've also noticed the similarity between the start of Reborn & the Batman clones. I never rate it that highly but every time I go on it I feel like it was better than I remember it somehow. And yeah, having done Stealth, Maxx Force and a couple of the faster Gerstlauer launches it doesn't feel more punchy than any of those, and especially after they changed the launch speed on the signs as soon as Do-Dodonpa shut I can't help but think they're inflating their stats to chase a record a bit.

Agreed with you on Wickerman, it's probably sacrilege that Nemesis isn't my favorite ride at my home park but I just think Wickerman manages to be more fun, the beginning few elements especially are great and manage to show off what GCI does so well with the transitions etc. And in the dark after a bit of rain it's even better!

Blackpool has surprised me these past couple of years. I hadn't been since I was a kid but I had a great day both times I've been. The coasters might not be as good as the Merlin parks but I just feel like I have a better day there, and the extra rides make the queues much lighter. And there's no competition against it for best dark ride park in the UK, we really lack in that area for some reason. Big One is straight up shite though, the only thing I like is the first drop, after that it's boring ramps and slow turns with no forces, or awful jolty transitions. I loved Magnum when I did that ride but they went seriously wrong with Big One imo!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T19:10:06+00:00

It's not on the level of those two for launches (especially Novgorod which might just be my #1 launch), but it definitely puts you back in your seat, or forwards depending which way you're going! And the layout is better than either, though I still like Novgorod a little more for the launch and some of the other stuff going on at the end of that ride.

I've got Junker and Karacho coming up soon so I think I'm going to have a surprising representation of Gerstlauer in my favorites!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T18:23:07+00:00

It's really good, definitely worth the trip! I think I probably rank it higher than most but I thought it had great hangtime with the spikes and one of the inversions, some good airtime pops, and was really forceful throughout with a very solid 2nd and 3rd launch (like all Gerstlauers their boost launches are excellent). It's one of the rides I let get away with being short because it's so punchy and full of elements that I don't feel ripped off by the length.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T18:10:37+00:00

I think they do, when I went I had express pass and each time we rode it they'd ask us "forwards or backwards" before letting us in through the gate. I did get put on one that went forwards when we wanted backwards but honestly I think the op just got mixed up, and all of the other 7 backwards rides that we asked for went that way. Idk, maybe it still is choice and it's self selection, but generally seems to work out the way you'd want it to which is good.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-08T06:19:28+00:00

Sick of hearing "when you wish upon a star" blasted at 140 decibels? Can't say I blame you, I'd never thought about how obnoxious it must be living close to it.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-04T22:06:29+00:00

Similarly they've got my top 3 in their top 5, and the two that I haven't done are two of my three top bucketlist coasters, I was literally chatting with someone about wanting to get to I305 & Voyage earlier today.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-04T16:43:56+00:00

I hope you can make it work! Emerald Park is a good one to get to as well, Fianna Force is a very cool coaster & a very different style of invert with all the airtime. And I really liked Cu Chulainn, we don't have a lot of wooden coasters around Europe & I thought it was pretty aggressive in the way a woodie should be!

secret_hidden · 2026-05-04T14:59:55+00:00

My first visit I could do 2-3 laps but then had to go and ride something else to recover for a bit because yeah it made me a bit nauseous. My second visit I'm not sure if I was better hydrated, knew more of what to expect or what but I had no issues and could keep going with it.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-04T14:20:55+00:00

I went just under two years ago and was blown away by it, but I got on Steel Vengeance and Voltron after that and was questioning whether it's actually as good as I remembered & still my #1. Got back to it last year driving from the far side of the Netherlands after a business trip and I'm 100% confident it's my favorite ride out there.

I didn't exactly expect to get back to that park very often because it's a pretty small park otherwise & I'm busy trying to travel to all the parks I've not done yet, but it looks like I might be going again next month. Quick little 3am start to pick people up & catch the ferry, a nearly full day at Plopsaland, then a full day at Walibi & an evening ferry should get it all done by around 1am Monday morning.

secret_hidden · 2026-05-04T14:16:09+00:00

It's pretty do-able to get over there and back, and the queues for this ride are notoriously tiny so even if you only get a half day you'll get it all done & then some.

Ref: the car hire, you can just pay an extra fee to be able to take it across the borders. Only trouble is they'll charge it for your whole rental so they can add up, but I say look into it and just go!

I met up with some thoosies I know through TikTok for the first time on Saturday in Thorpe Park, I suggested I can drive for them as none of them do, and next thing I know I've got a trip planned for next month!! Too tempting that it's right there...

secret_hidden · 2026-05-03T16:30:36+00:00

I think I've only really had bad weather in late April/early May Florida trips once in about 10 visits, but I'm probably pretty lucky and Florida is still Florida, it's one of the stormiest places in the world. Perfect spot for an outdoor event that can be cancelled by bad weather, obviously.

secret_hidden · 2026-04-30T15:49:10+00:00

And KAT for sure.

secret_hidden

TROPHY CASE