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Benelux 2025 Region Trip://Leg 7~ Fenix isn't drunk, it's American!

Jarrett

Giga Poster
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39





IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A windmill extends four latticed wooden blades from a colorful painted hub.

"You're too basic to leave Ohio," they said. "You're missing out, quit being a pansy and get amongst it," I was told. And in the face of awful, gatekeepy behavior, I packed my stuff onto a plane and went to Sweden and Denmark last summer. And it was one of the best, most memorable experiences of my life. Traveling for coasters was not new, going internationally (even overseas) was something I had been around all my life, but getting to do something I love that much in beautiful Sweden got me hooked. I wanted to do more coasters overseas, much more.









IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A logo reading "BENELUX 2025" with the X being made up of a windmill, and three green and orange tulips in the corner. Below the windmill it reads "#Benelux2025."




My bucket list has all kinds of cool places on it, but not all of those places have the coaster caliber you find in Scandinavia. So I figured I'd pick the next place I wanted to go based on their parks, as I couldn't pick from any other criteria. Between Untamed, Kondaa, Ride to Happiness, and amid rumors that Walibi Holland would be adding not one but two dueling Raptor coasters, the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) was practically screaming at me to go enjoy a few beers, see some windmills and castles, and get absolutely wrecked on some very violent, aggressive coasters.

My buddy John, who has done coasters with me as well as a few other shared interests, ended up doing this trip with me. He's even more seasoned as a traveler than myself, with country credits as far away as Southeast Asia. He's been a partner in crime before, but nothing on the scale of this.


Dag 0 / Jour 0

I had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off to get what I needed ready for this trip. New sneakers, a new card reader, new travel tracphone, and I hadn't gotten much rest but there's no rest for the wicked. Eventually, I was able to crash, shower, and go to dinner at Red Robin with my mother where a storm nearly ripped the place apart. But afterwards, I managed to sleep in, finish packing that morning, and my mother left her photography class early to drive me to DAY.






IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett sits in airport terminal wearing glasses, a green Mystic Timbers hoodie, and a green lanyard adorned with yellow sunflowers.

I love flying out of my home airport since it's so close by. But the downside is that you get through TSA in two minutes and then you're basically killing an hour and a half before you board. So that's what I did, it took forever, but I ended up aboard my flight as planned.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On the tarmac of an airport, two air planes can be seen beyond the blue tip of a wing. One is the green tail with the shamrock insignia of Aer Lingus, the other is an American plane with green snow-capped mountains on the tail.

We landed at my connection in Chicago and seemed to kind of stroll around aimlessly on the tarmac before going to the gate. The pilot told us that a plane was stuck because a lady had gotten up to pee and it couldn't move until she sat down, disrupting a ton of air traffic. Did see this cool American plane though, despite their airline being one I absolutely loathe.





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IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate with a flatbread, a sandwich, cheese cubes, and some pasta sits next to a bowl of red soup.

Upon arrival at ORD, I decided to burn a lounge pass to kick off Benelux 2025 in style. There was pasta, wine and cheese, and other typical airport lounge fare. I had a few drinks at the bar, realized my flight was boarding soon, and hoofed it across a crowded O'Hare to a chaotic terminal full of Dutch people!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Out a window is a plane painted with a Pikachu and a few other Eeveelution Pokemon.

Also saw the Pokemon Eeveelution plane from the bar.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett sits in the aircraft.

Boarding my flight I was told my window seat had been reassigned, a little annoying but at least I was in an aisle and not flying middle. And I was next to a very nice Dutch couple who chatted a little, so they were very nice.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue tray on an airplane traytable sits a TV dinner labeled "PERI PERI CHICKEN," a blue wrapped Cheesecake Brownie, a pat of butter, a dinner roll, and a brown paper packet of silverware.

Hey, did you hear that joke about the airline food? Some standup comic was laughing about how bad it is.

We all know airline food is the worst, and the worse the food, the better the airline. And this was confirmation I was right for liking United, this airline food is awful! The rice in this peri peri chicken was undercooked and had a gritty gravel consistency, the chicken was the same frozen grilled chicken breast in the lounge, and the sauce was like a generic red pepper sauce. But that rice? Blech! I told the flight attendant it was undercooked, but I always have a laugh with them over it if the food is terrible.



Dag 1 / Jour 1



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a cellophane wrapper sits a bagel sandwich with cheese baked over top of it.

After gaming for a bit, I decided to try and sleep, and got 90 minutes of sleep (typical in a night for me), and woke up to warm red sunlight blazing in through the cabin at what would be ungodly hours of the night back home. We were served breakfast of these awesome bagel sandwiches.

When the plane dipped down below the low clouds that perpetually covered the turbines and polders of this country, I got my first glimpse at Nederland for myself. "My god, it's flat," I couldn't help but remark. From the sky, you can usually make out some texturing on the ground, even in the low rolling cornfields of Ohio, but this looks different than even a flight over the Midwest. Someone could've made a cardboard diorama with fake grass and little wind turbines and ditches out of that acrylic water stuff and stuck it outside my window and I wouldn't have known any differently.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a city street sits a large postmodern building that says "Schiphol."

And just like that sequence in Fault In Our Stars, our plane hit the tarmac at Schiphol and that was country number eight for me! I got a flood of texts, including the Welcome to The Netherlands from Boost, and waited for my data to connect so I could hit John up and pick a meeting point.

...and waited. Where is it? I thought, as my new travel phone searched for a signal. Eventually, I just linked to Schiphol internet and found him at baggage claim. From there we hoofed it to Avis to get our rental car, a green Toyota Yaris, and a very jet lagged John took the wheel to our first stop: Zaans Schanse.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across a shallow ditch under a tree, one can see a Dutch town and green grassy field, with the skyline dominated by a brown windmill and a green windmill.

For those of you who remember my visit to Skansen in Stockholm, this is basically the Dutch equivalent, and it's completely free sans parking. Lots of relocated buildings here, most notably windmills, on a typical flat, grassy Dutch landscape lined with little canals.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wide expanse of flat, green, marshy grass divided by a ditch and water inlet. Multiple windmills can be seen on the water's edge.

I had heard horror stories about Amsterdam's steep stairs, and this creaky, rickety wooden observation tower throws you right into that. You basically have to climb ladders dozens of feet over the wet, grassy mud below. Hang on and watch your step, try not to fall and break your neck if you're nodding off!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett looks into the camera with windblown hair atop a wooden tower, with a wide expanse of grassy polder, ditches, and windmills in the background.
Fortunately, it was worth risking life and limb to come up here for the view. You can see the whole surrounding area!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A green windmill sits on the edge of the water next to a green Dutch-styled cottage. The top level of the windmill has two round windows and a yellow crown, which resemble a smiley face.

John pointed out that this windmill had a smiley face on it. And the second we had a good laugh over this, we knew the jet lag was real. Both of us were overly tired and this was hilarious to us.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two cyclists ride down a curving bike path through a field of green grass and yellow flowers next to a ditch, with two windmills in the background.

Zaans Schanse has a known overtourism problem, and that was evident with how many tourists were crowding these paths. Many were walking in the bike path. It's a beautiful welcome to Nederland, but don't expect a quiet, lonesome stroll through history like you might get at another outdoor museum.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a bike path of composite slats and graffiti, sits the muddy, rusty wreckage of a bike, with only the handlebars and front wheel still attached to the frame.

There was a little path around this drawbridge you could take. After watching it raise up and let a boat through, we had a laugh over the random wreckage of a bike just sitting under the bridge.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A low canal with lily pads has several small green cottages set up on its banks, with many trees also in place.

These canal houses were so cute but it was hard waiting for photos that weren't flooded with tourists.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small green house's garden is vegetated and contains a few watering cans and a set of wooden clogs hung by the door.

People actually live here and it's a real neighborhood, I couldn't do it. The overtourism problem in The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, is glaringly obvious here.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden display case says "Zondagse klompen, Sunday clogs" and holds several pairs of wooden shoes ornately painted with traditional Dutch designs, many feature floral patterns.

Wooden you like to know where clogs come from? Most of the buildings here at Zaans Schanse were paid extras, but this clog shop was free. They had so many designs on display. Like many traditions, this is very regional and you can tell where a Nederlander is from by the design and decor of their clogs alone. This guy also showed us how to make them with these power saws. It takes two hours to make a pair of clogs by hand, five minutes with a machine. This saw relies on having a premade clog loaded into one side, then a control arm reads the profile and directs the other side to cut the same depth around a piece of wood. Going up and down, that produces the outer profile of the clog, then a similar piece of equipment runs a ball cutter around the inner surface to cut that. He then blew into the holes of the clogs and showed us that water would still drip out, and they had to dry for two weeks before someone can wear them.

"Why would you wear shoes of wood?" He told everyone before stepping up onto a crate, showing off the wooden shoes he had worn to operate heavy machinery. "Put two pairs of thick socks on over them, they are very sturdy." And beat his foot with another clog.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a shallow canal sits a few green cottages going right up to the water.

After a nightmare trying to pay for the toilet with my credit card, we got on the road. The landscape here was kind of boring, very flat, lot of bridges, lot of wind turbines, and a greenhouse was full of cannabis plants on the side of the road. Not gonna lie, I tried to stay awake to keep John company, but I nodded off more than once.


And it decided there was an unbuckled baby in the back seat because that's where I stuck my camera bag and it set off this horrible alarm in the car. This is even worse than the one in France when Dad took his belt off to get something!

We got to the hotel and I saw something very troubling on social media: a photo of one of the buildings in my apartment complex with flames shooting out the window into the night! The address was not exactly listed, but it said it was in my neck of the woods and it looked like it could be my building. Panicking, I call my mother and ask her to swing by and see if my home and car are still there. She informed me (and I found out through more social media photos) that it was not my home. But tragically, it was close to it, and I instantly felt terrible for these families I see out and about in my neighborhood. The Red Cross is helping them, those injured are being treated, but what happened is terrible. It was troubling information to discover all the way in the Netherlands, I realized in that moment how lucky I was to have an intact home to come home to, and my heart goes out to my neighbors. If it reaches me how to donate to help these families, the link will be going straight onto this thread.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate holds a bowl of gravy, a potato cake, and a duck breast atop some green beans.

Upon checking into Fletcher Hotel near Efteling, both of us took a long, much-needed nap. Boost had told me to turn my phone off for twenty minutes and it would fix my mobile data problems, but it didn't work and my frustrated ass just went to sleep. Around 7, we went to the hotel restaurant and got some damn good duck breast. Perfect after remarking how cute the ducks at Zaans were!

From here, we both went and passed out. Efteling needed us tomorrow, and we were both dead tired.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large pond with a frog statue spitting a jet of water under a large green lantern.

UP NEXT: Benelux 2025 is off to a magical start at Efteling! I drop a very expensive piece of my equipment right into Max and Moritz's station track, John finds a piece of home in the Netherlands, and one of us hits a milestone credit! Leg 2 is nothing short of a fairy tale!
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39






IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A massive building with a tall roof of three pitched spires of thatched grass says "EFTELING" in gold letters on some log trusses, two green and gold Efteling flags fly in the foreground.

Our plan was to start the trip off on a good note with beautiful Efteling, arguably the most famous park in the Benelux. Themed to fairy tales and mythology, the things here, particularly the dark rides, were known for sparing no expense when it came to theming, storytelling, and place setting. Many compare it to Disneyland.

As a published author, I can respect a good show of storytelling and worldbuilding. And today, I was going into Efteling with 493 credits, and with Efteling being home to six RCDB entries with two of those entries being racing/dueling coasters, halfway to a thousand would happen today if all panned out according to plan! This fantasy author was about to get his 500th coaster at Efteling!

Dag 2/Jour 2






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IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brown fiberglass medieval boot ornament reads "Efteling" in white font.
I slept like a baby that night. I was planning on waking up with John, heading to the lobby, and getting breakfast, but my sleep meds had me so drugged up that he couldn't wake me. So while he's dropping 17 Euros on what I was told was a subpar breakfast, I was catching up on my sleep. When I finally did return to the realm of the living, John's wide awake and dressed all "hey man, good morning, Efteling opens in half an hour!"





IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large building has a high, curving ceiling supported by ornate log trusses.

After the short ride to the park, we find ourselves face to face with Efteling's iconic turnstile building! But one issue: my mobile data still doesn't work! In line I'm scrambling to link into Efteling's crap wifi, just as we get to the front of the line I find it and we're in! But this showed me that if I need anything on the internet on this trip that I need to plan ahead and screenshot it whenever I have access to internet.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sign reads "MAX" in blue and "MORITZ" in green, and shows two twins on clockwork soapbox cars connected by a gold frame.

Our first ride of the trip? We elect to start off small, cute, and funny with Max & Moritz. These two Mack powered coasters, which leave the station opposite one another, were compared to Dr. Seuss at Universal by John, and honestly I think he's right.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A cartoonish pipe organ has a pew before it decorated with several colorful whoopie cushions, a length of green coaster track runs in the background.
Being for a European audience, some of the stories in this park were not things that John or myself would've grown up with, and Max & Moritz were among the things unfamiliar to both of us. I'd read the RCDB blurbs on which myths these Efteling coasters are, and from what I gathered, Max & Moritz are children's book characters that are twin brothers that cause trouble, though the ride is a story created just for Efteling, and the theming definitely sold that! The whole thing looks like a couple of crazy twin brothers live in a cuckoo clock and decided to tinker around, build something, and see what happens. Whoopie cushions are also all over the place here for some reason. Very childish, but also cute, whimsical, and visually appealing.

Boarding the Max side, I open my bag to put my phone away, when I heard and saw the last thing you want to see on a coaster platform: A GoPro falling from my bag, sliding across the smooth station floor under the gate, and into the station track! I had brought two GoPros, a Hero 13 Black that was currently strapped to my chest, and a Hero 7 White that was an older one I took as a spare. The Hero 7 White bounced under the gate, slid across the floor, and dropped right into the bay where the track was! Instantly feeling bad, I go tell the station grouper and he's weirdly chill about it and asks me to tell his colleague when we get off. No rush, park closes early and we have nowhere to be tonight, I can wait until the end of the day to get my spare GoPro back. But then while we're strapped into the train, this woman approaches me with my GoPro before we even rode! And the Hero 7 White didn't even have a scratch on it!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind a colorful fence of plushies, targets, and other props stuck with arrows and string lights, a length of green and blue track converge into a turn amid some trees.

The coasters themselves are honestly not much to write home about, but they're fun little family coasters and the dueling, theming, and music makes it a fun experience. On the Moritz side, you even go back through the station and see Max jumping on a giant whoopie cushion that blows on you. Funny little ride, perfect for the park, I give it a golf clap.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden roller coaster station has a Viking motif, with red banners hanging from roof trusses overhead amid Viking-styled chandeliers.

We were going to do Danse Macabre next, but with the line, we got in the virtual queue and went to go kill some time with Joris En De Draak, or George and the Dragon. This simple tale of Christian mythology, where St. George battles a dragon not unlike the Archangel Michael story at Mont St-Michel in France, is big in Scandinavia for some reason. I even remember Skansen had a traditional Swedish home with a wood carving of the story on display. And for some reason, the Viking associations of this story continue with Joris En De Draak's Viking theming. Though for some reason you're also racing water verses fire.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A body of water with a boat in it has a wooden coaster and Viking-styled station in the background.

This really surprised us! John and I rode in the front of Fire and neither one of us expected the crazy, fast-paced, airtime filled ride we got as we traded blows with water. I wasn't sure how I felt about having to take my camera bag on this with how many times we got flung upwards into our restraints. This is one of the best GCI creations out there, I couldn't wait to come back for Water later.





IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On top, a white steel roller coaster with two loops sends a red train through its two consecutive loops. On bottom, the same coaster train traverses a white corkscrew element.

Because we were over there, John and I elected to knock out Python while the line was short. And this was a surprise too! I thought the track had been replaced, John had no idea it had been done and expected a classic old-school Vekoma beatdown, but it's actually very smooth and fun! Shoutout to Efteling for taking care of this thing, a random white steel looper doesn't fit the whimsical fairytale park at all but I know it's kind of their baby for some reason.





[td]

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large octagonal chapel in Gothic architecture rises in the woods.

Okay, time for Danse Macabre! The virtual queue took us around back into this creepy, misty forest and we were led down some very dark corridors to the ride. I'd seen video online, but could not tell what it did, and didn't know at all what the ride system was. I was going in almost completely blind.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large hexagonal container holds a messy pile of brass horns, drums, and string instruments in a dark room.

We were loaded into these little pew things that circled a table of dusty old instruments, including a trumpet not unlike the one I play. Suddenly, the lights go down, I feel us shuffling around in the dark, and the Dutch cousin of Kings Island's Phantom Theater maestro is floating right above us! From there, we're tipping, twisting, and turning around in the dark amid hauntingly whimsical instruments playing themselves. The floor turns, tips, and the choir stands rotate, and as it tips, it reveals lower levels to the alcoves around the wall where the theming is. Eventually, you see a dark cult in the basement surrounded by bones.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a wall is a bas relief of an anthropomorphic Baphomet goat, holding a red and black coat of arms depicting skulls and hearts.

And my main man Baphomet is there when you get off! Goats are a thing in the Netherlands for some reason, and I love it. Baphomet is the antagonist in the novel I wrote, so I loved seeing this all the way here. We'll revisit the goat motif later!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a table sits a plate bearing a single large pancake with mushrooms, ham, and cheese cooked into it. A beer sits off to the side in a Heineken glass.

I was hungry af, so we went and asked for food recommendations. I was told to try the Dutch pancake house over by Symbolica, and it did not disappoint! The beer here is good, the pancakes are delicious and have things cooked into the batter, and eating it in the shadow of beautiful Symbolica was really cool.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On an ornate castle staircase, an animatronic reads a scroll with a colorful red elf in the background.

Speaking of, we'd just had a couple of very strong Dutch beers, so figured that whimsical Symbolica would be a good choice while over here. I was a bit unclear on the Dutch story, but I got that we were entering this magical castle and going on a tour.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three banners hang from the ceiling: A green one that says "MUZIEKTOUR" with a gold harp symbol, a blue one with a knight helmet that says "HELDENTOUR," and a red one with a coat of arms reading "SCHATTENTOUR."

The staircase opens and you go downstairs where you select the music, treasure, or hero tours. This trackless dark ride can go to different parts of the castle, so you can reride and see the other tours it shows. We elected to do the music tour on account of my background as a theater kid. The other two are the hero tour and the treasure tour, I gathered.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands smiling in front of an ornate palace on top of some rocks.

Honestly? It's a fun, beautiful product that goes on forever, the effects are nice and appealing, and I enjoyed it. However, our Efteling hot take was that this one was slightly underwhelming compared to what we expected. I get whimsey isn't always the most exciting theme to do, but this just felt a little too "look, shiney!" around every corner to really have been a super compelling experience. Glad we did it, I'd have felt like we missed something if we didn't, but Danse Macabre was the better dark ride of the two. I liked some of the music stuff, though. Couldn't figure out the interactive part, but we got a wheel of horns and stuff playing somehow.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A prop shows a sleeping giant walled into some bricks, with a man on top screaming to help him.

This is how it feels to squeeze into the RMC when you're a fat guy like me.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands in front of a ride facade showing a large vulture, with riders entering between its talons and a mural of the sea behind its wide wings.

Continuing in credits mode, we made our way back to a coaster I hadn't heard much about: Vogel Rok! I saw on RCDB it's supposed to be the vulture from Sinbad, I've not read Sinbad, so I am unfamiliar with the story, but there's a nest and egg in the queue. The coaster honestly surprised us both, it's kind of their knockoff Space Mountain, it's dark and there's stars and it feels faster than it is, but with a few strobey vulture props here and there like Mummy has. Pleasant surprise from this one!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A boat follows another small white boat in a wooded canal.

We also did this long but cute little boat ride around the park, and saw a swan scare the hell out of a goose.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Joris En De Draak rises high over the water, while a water coaster boat splashes down in the foreground.

Started with 493. Max, Moritz, Joris Fire, Python, and Vogel Rok put me at 498. And the remaining coasters to ride were the other side of Joris, a B&M minidiver, and a weird Kumbak water thing. We elected to knock out Joris next, as both 300 and 400 for me were both wooden, and sat in the backside of the water train in a complete 180 from where we were. And this ride was still very fun and very solid, but didn't have the kick that front row on fire did when warmed up. Maybe fire is just that much better, maybe we weren't as warmed up as we thought because we lost, maybe the back just sucks on Joris En De Draak, but the memory I will choose to take from this coaster is our front row ride on fire. Great ride, cool Viking theme having been to Sweden, but noticeably weaker this ride than before.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands before a short green dive coaster themed as a steampunk mine shaft, holding a sign that says "500th Credit" in blue letters.

Alrighty! 498…499…1898 for 500! I’ve tried to keep my milestones at least somewhat different, but there's bound to be some overlap. Despite this, I've had a good variety! We've had Schwarzkopf classics, colorful indoor spinning ADHD mayhem, cutting-edge hybrid thrills, and most recently, a controversial rough wooden coaster with an inversion and I'm not talking the one from my home park!


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A green steel roller coaster with a lift hill themed after a steampunk mine shaft, complete with girders and a large winch at the top. A car completes a rolling inversion. In the background is a series of brick industrial mine buildings.

I chose Baron 1898 to celebrate the halfway point to 1000 credits. As a roller coaster, it looks pretty vanilla on paper, but this is Efteling we're talking about. Every experience here is special, and I knew that this coaster would make a hell of a milestone. With my interest in roller coasters focusing so heavily on the engineering aspect of it (particularly the creative, outside the box stuff), a mechanical theme was perfect for someone who spent his days in a skilled manufacturing shop. Add in the fact that so much creative, right-brained thinking had to fit so many left-brained rules and formulas to bring this to life? It's perfect for me.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dark hexagonal room with mine uniforms hanging overhead, people stand around a railing looking down into a pit at a phonograph. One projection screen shows the coaster, the other says "Today, you have the privilege of entering the mine that brings richness and prosperity."

Honestly? I was taken aback by how tiny it is. I knew it was a smaller, compact dive coaster not akin to Griffon or Yukon Striker, but this is really, really small for its type. And I'd seen the elevation drawings when the blueprints were floating around and you saw a big industrial warehouse building almost as tall as the mine shaft, I expected a huge queue building with huge crowds of miners packed into factory floors. This is not what you get here. It's smaller, but more ornate and elaborate, than I expected. The two preshows are great at least! And have English subtitles!

Everything at Efteling is about stories and mythology and the like, the tale here is of the Witte Wieven: white, misty ghosts of women in the folklore of Central Europe. On Baron 1898, a mine baron runs a gold mine that is haunted by these Witte Wieven, who have cursed the mine. The Witte Wieven have no link to mining as far as I am aware, this story is all Efteling's.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand wears a black wristband marked "56" with the Baron 1898 mine pickaxe insignia, while holding a yellow ticket over a wooden floor.

I love this bag system! You hand your things over and get a rubber wristband with a number to wear and get your stuff back after. No idiots taking my phone this time, we don't need a repeat of the infamous Skyrush incident of '23!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large brick industrial bay serves as the station for a roller coaster.

Oh yeah, the ride. There's a coaster somewhere in all this theming, isn't there?



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A roller coaster train of three wide cars plunges down a vertical drop from a tower of green iron girders.

Baron 1898 has value as an experience, far more than what it is as a simple roller coaster. The coaster alone, while unique to anything I've done so far, honestly isn't anything special. But as with other things at Efteling, they've put so much of their own love into this that it's a thematic adventure and an art piece, and it's worth its weight in gold as those.

The coaster feels like B&M tried to do a Eurofighter, and it works. The tiny drop is actually terrifying because the hole into which you drop is so small, and that's where it shines as a thrill ride. Beyond that, the elements are pretty textbook B&M, no big surprises, and it's over pretty fast. But the whole package here starts the second you queue into that building and ends when you drop into that tunnel, and that's the part of Baron 1898 that deserves to be celebrated. And that's what I'm going to remember for my 500th coaster.

Come ride along with us on TikTok!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An ornate pirate building of brick and wood is adorned with masts and flags.

I've ridden 500 roller coasters, let's make it 501! De Vliegende Hollander, or The Flying Dutchman as the story is known in the English-speaking world, is obviously a pirate ghost ship. And for some reason, up until this trip I thought it was just a gimmicky water coaster instead of a full themed experience. This thing is awesome in the Pirates of the Caribbean vibes.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A boat splashes down into water near Joris En De Draak and Python.

I was worried about getting my camera or clothes wet taking them on this ride, but we lucked out and got good seats that barely splashed us. But what really got me was the theming. Like I said, I didn't think there was much to this ride, but it's got a whole ass queue, beautiful station, and starts things off in a full-blown naval battle! Engaging the lift, we dropped into the prow of the Dutchman, climbed an incline, and stopped at an angle, and I thought we might have a switch track about to send us backwards! Very pleasantly surprised here.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A fountain features Saint Nicholas, with a castle in the background.

"How do you miss a whole castle?" John asked. I knew of Droomvlucht and Villa Volta crammed into a corner, so we made the hike out there for what I believed was a Vekoma Madhouse and Haunted Mansion-type ride. But we had no idea this big beautiful square was back in the corner of the park! You could get lost in here so easily, just wander around and find whatever!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A shelf features an animatronic of an old man surrounded by candlesticks, chandeliers, and other junk. A painting to the side depicts a middle-aged white man.


Villa Volta was first, a Vekoma Madhouse just like Houdini's Great Escape at John's home park. The ride was dead as a doornail, we were with less than ten people. I wanted to just walk on, but annoyingly, we had to listen to this old fart ramble in Dutch for ten minutes next to Elon Musk's glamor shot on the wall.

Almost all of this ride is in Dutch, but I read a small paragraph outside that said it was the mansion of a highwayman who made a deal with the devil and rode goats or something. And you have to remove the curse. Hell if I know, the preshows were all in Dutch, and not even that cool to boot.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A white provincial mansion behind a hedge garden, flanked by white lampposts with goat heads adorning them.

At least the music's a banger?

This was the letdown at Efteling, everything Danse Macabre does right, this does wrong. The madhouse itself doesn't look or feel scary or even interesting at all, it might as well just be a stuffy mayonnaise-colored funeral parlor that spins. No props, no storytelling, the only thing I saw to set what was going on here is a small taxidermy goat head on the wall. It wasn't atmospheric in the slightest. Fortunately, the optical illusion on this ride is good and convincing, and the lights flickering in sync to that awesome soundtrack (possibly the best in the park) made this otherwise blah ride enjoyable. And I'd gladly take this ride at my home park and ride it a few times a year if we had it. But this is magical, world-famous Efteling we're talking about, and it's extremely subpar relative to their other dark rides. Both of us agreed Houdini is the far better ride, and when Six Flags is making better themed experiences than Efteling, something feels upside-down about that.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An archway leads into a building with hanging leaves and colored orbs, with floral spires and leaves flanking the entrance.

DrooMvluchT, emphasis on the letters DMT in the name, was next to close out the night. This was a ride I believed was Efteling's take on Haunted Mansion for some reason. But it was clear I was dead wrong when we walk into this odd queue of leaves and glowy glass balls. We eventually come to a station for a hanging dark ride, similar to Peter Pan.

This pleasant surprise more than made up for disappointing Villa Volta and was the perfect way to end the night! There's no story here, nothing to set up, it's just a trippy vibe through some visually stunning scenes. You have castles and kingdoms, fairy forests where you can smell the flowers, sparkly star tunnels, and entire planets of castles floating in the void of space. This is the most beautiful dark ride ever! And at the end, you corkscrew down this forest of gnomes or something. It's an acid trip, and an acid trip you want to be a part of. Don't miss this beautiful ride!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large pond with a frog statue spitting a jet of water under a large green lantern.

Heading out, I saw these frogs spitting water, so hung out to get photos. It wasn't until I was home that I discovered that the building in the background was Fata Morgana, another dark boat ride. We stuck around and watched this water show for a bit, and then headed out.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Efteling's entrance building rises high, next to a lightpost and hotel in the background.

"European Disneyland" they say of Efteling. And I agree with that claim, but not in the way it might come across. This isn't some brash, colorful, corporate dystopia filled with garish cartoon characters, concrete mountains, and money grabs selling an overpriced experience to insecure parents. Efteling is a take on the level of quality you would expect from Disney's famous fantasy theming, but done through European culture. It's not Disney by Americans for Europeans, it's Disney by Europeans for Europeans. It's the whimsey and magic that you get when you go to Disney as a child (yes I felt it here) but with a touch of class that's so distinctly European and doesn't exist back home. This place is so high quality, from the experiences, the food, and just the general vibe of this magical forest in the southern part of Nederland. It absolutely deserves to be just as famous worldwide as Walt Disney's dream.

I know some of the things I said about certain things here might not make me seem like the typical Efteling fanboy, but rereading what I wrote, it's because I love this place and hold it to a pretty high standard. This is one of the highest quality parks I've been to, hands down. It ended up landing just shy of #4 Islands of Adventure in my park rankings, and had they had a world-class coaster that could go toe to toe with Velocicoaster, it probably would've been ranked even higher.

I was also a little sad they didn't have much in the way of t-shirts. I'd have gladly gotten one to show off my love of this place back at home!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brick business facade with roller coaster track on the window, the loops frame a statue and a model of Efteling's entrance.

Wanting dinner, John found us a place in this little sleepy town with his fancy working mobile data, and we laughed when we saw the coaster track in the window of this business.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a table sits a blue plate with a burger, some fries, a cup of white fry sauce, and a beer glass.

We sat around for half an hour last night like a couple of goobers waiting on them to bring us a check, only to learn in Nederland, you kind of have to ask for service. We walk into this place, see nobody around, and ask another dining couple how to get served. "Oh," this lady tells me. "They're in the kitchen, you have to knock on the kitchen door."

We're then told that the kitchen is closed for some reason, and they only have burgers, ironically. So these two Americans decide burgers sound good and got a couple, and they were very good! Mine had a ton of toppings on it, not exactly sure I remember what they were, but I liked it! The beer was also strong enough to kill a man.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A packed up flat ride reads "New York Dancer" and features two pods, one is yellow and themed as a New York City taxi. The other is blue.
This town was preparing for some kind of street fair. There were packed up portable rides waiting to be expanded, a beer tent being pitched, and around the corner a band was practicing Entrance of the Gladiators. But amid that, one of said rides caught John's eye. Hailing from New Jersey, he thought it was so funny they had a New York-themed ride all the way out in some random Dutch town he would just happen to come across during their funfair!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bottle of wine called "le FAT bastard" sits on a table with a paper cup of it and a pack of Stroopaffle.

After this we went to the hotel, but first we went to Albert Hein, Nederland's own grocery store. And I got some French wine with the best name ever, and it's good to boot! Also got some Stroopwaffle.

I should buy a bottle of this for Robb Alvey as an apology gift for disagreeing with him.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A roller coaster car with four riders, two back to back, rolls through an inversion of dark red steel track.

UP NEXT: To get to happiness, you have to get through hell! The second country on the trip rears its ugly head as John and I have to run a gauntlet through Belgium on a deadly journey to Plopsaland. And there, we've got Belgian Glee: The Ride, delicious Flemish food, a ride I was dreading turned out to be awesome, and Ride to Happiness sets the stage for the craziest ride I've ever had on a roller coaster.
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A steel coaster with maroon track and white supports does a banana roll element, with gold trains with steampunk theming navigating it.


Dag 3/Jour 3

I woke up feeling like there was acid poured down my throat. My throat was incredibly sore and I had a headache, I hoped I had just snored too loudly and a little water would clear it up. It was bright early in the morning as we drove all the way across the great nation of Belgium for Plopsaland De Panne, and a ride ranked among the best in the world!

As soon as we got behind the wheel, the trouble started. A wreck on the highway rerouted us through these little Flemish villages with maybe a lane and a half’s worth of width. And we’ve got tractors, combines, and full on semi trucks driving right at our tiny Toyota Yaris as we’re hugging the shoulder trying not to get smashed into head-on! Furthermore, I was starting to tell that it wasn’t just a sore throat from snoring, it felt like early cold symptoms complete with a runny nose. I masked at the airport in crowded spots as always but I guess I still got something. So fingers crossed I’m not dying of the plague or something that’ll ruin my trip!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A park turnstile building says "Plopsaland De Panne Celebration Parade" accompanied by pictures of colorful cartoon character costumes.

After 2.5 hours of driving turned into 4, we finally arrive in De Panne to a Plopsaland deader than Phil Robertson! There was no wait for anything, no crowd, this is my kind of park!


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A town square across from a splash pad shows some buildings, a pointed castle tower, and a twist of maroon coaster track.

Plopsaland De Panne has a Main Street entrance under one of those tall glass awning things, but it’s a bit more on the cartoon side than a typical park’s Main Street. And it’s nice but gives the perfect first impression for this place: this is a classy European park, but a kid’s version of that. It’s gonna be colorful, there’s gonna be jarring cartoon characters and corporate tie ins and lots of stuff to sell toys, but it’ll still be nice and we’ll still put effort into it.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A colorful green arch of gears and flowers leads back through a green, overgrown landscape to a twisted maroon and white steel roller coaster.

There was no question as to what we would do first. We’d practically been drooling over Ride to Happiness since we planned this trip, and my sick ass just lugged us clear across the great nation of Belgium to ride it. As we entered the colorful, beautifully landscaped, trippy plaza for Tomorrowland: Ride to Happiness, it sunk in that I was about to ride what’s generally agreed to be one of the most intense coasters out there, and suddenly I didn’t care about the sniffling or sore throat. It was time to ride!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A golden globe prop surrounded by rings and topped with a Tomorrowland butterfly insignia, atop it is a twist of maroon steel coaster track with white supports. Spinning golden cars themed as gears twist in various positions on the track as the coaster leaves the inversion.

WTF just happened??? I don’t know what’s going on but I think I liked it! Sometime after that drop off that little wind catcher thing I think things just hit the fan and I had no idea what was going on. It’s super intense, there’s powerful airtime, inversions are phenomenal (as with any Mack product), and the soundtrack just adds to the chaos that is Ride to Happiness!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A maypole with different European coats of arms and Swiss flag banners rises in the foreground of cabin.

After a few more rides, we left one of the world’s most intense rides past a cutesy little spinning duck to explore the rest of this kiddie park. Heidi: The Ride was next, located in this adorable Alp-themed plaza.


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Heidi is a clone of White Lightning at Fun Spot Orlando, themed to some kids’ TV show set in Switzerland or something. It looks a lot nicer and has a cute little Mystic Timbers shed thing at the end, but Heidi on a full train packed less of a punch than White Lightning running empty. Maybe it was my middle seat, I don’t know, but this was one and done. Cute coaster, though.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A roller coaster train resembling a dragon crosses red track into a castle.

This powered kids dragon thing was next, and it was honestly just a standard powered coaster. I’d have been indifferent to it regardless, but Max and Moritz made this experience so underwhelming as we’d seen how good these can actually be.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A golden gear-themed train navigates out of a vertical loop of maroon steel track, held up by white supports.

“Wait, this thing has a loop?” John asked as we made our way past a closed K6 Roller Skater. Looking up at Ride to Happiness, beautifully rising over this water feature, he noticed a vertical loop he didn’t even realize was present on the ride. Honestly, I likely wouldn’t have either had I not looked up the layout going into this. It’s that disorienting!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A checkered red and white tablecloth holds a plate containing a bowl of brown stew garnished with green onions, a wire basket of frites, and a stemmed glass of Leffe beer.

Both of us were hungry, so I asked where to get the best food in the park. “Monsieur Spaghetti,” the man escorting the creepy mascots gestured us. “Flemish food.” I got this Belgian beef and onion stew with frites and Leffe, John got some cheese and ham noodle dish. This food was great for park fare! Didn’t break the bank either.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small brick mockup of a school reads "SAS, SCHOOL AAN DE STROOM."

Plopsaland we were beginning to notice was more about IPs than we realized, but the next coaster had a theme I recognized that you wouldn’t expect to find on a coaster- Belgian Glee: The Ride! They turned the queue into a high school dance party!

John had seen the coaster but was unaware that it was a TV show. I had a lot of explaining to do.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A mockup of a high school hallway has lockers with "Party" painted across them in green.

#LikeMe is, more or less, a Flemish adaptation of America’s tv show Glee. And I had even seen a few episodes trying to learn Dutch, knowing that both TV and music are great tools for learning language. It’s cute, very overly positive, I was a theater kid so I'm used to that but I get it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It was honestly fun and entertaining, the music was catchy, plot is a little bare bones and it’s a lot more sanitized and less mature than Glee was, but it works. Dubbing a show about high school in Ohio for a Dutch audience probably wouldn’t have the same effect for cultural reasons. The #LikeMe kids seem like they want to be at school, they’re a bit more professional about it, nobody’s sleeping around getting pregnant, and there’s no mass school shooting episode. But I grew up a theater kid and a Gleek that graduated the same year that Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Mercedes, Puck, and all those guys graduated, so I’m game for this.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Through the green woods travels a blue and yellow train on blue track, with a yellow "SAS" school crest painted onto the side.

Oh yeah, the ride. The coaster itself is just a normal Zierer Tivoli coaster, I feel like I’ve ridden one like it in terms of layout but I can’t place it. It goes around twice and it isn’t a bad ride, but aside from one light by the lift hill, nothing about the actual ride has anything to do with the show. Onboard audio would’ve made this even more fun!

John wanted to do the Starflyer next. I don’t do those, so I shot this photo of #LikeMe while he rode.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall hexagonal wooden tower has a piece of red coaster track dropping from it, a boat rolls down the rails.

Supersplash was next! Is it a credit or not? I’d seen Plopsa had some kind of flume thing coming out of a wooden tower, but didn’t think much of it. Turns out it’s a water coaster with a single airtime hill! It’s the bare minimum, but we took the plunge and the +1. Didn't even get splooged on!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small brick manor with blue roller coaster track exiting the left side.

“What’s that cool-looking building?” I thought as we approached some kind of slightly cartoonish mansion. And then I saw the blue track leaving the side of it and it dawned on me: this was the thing I dreaded most here.


(Pardon my French in this video, mods please just take it down if this isn't kosher.)

Rewind to a little less than a year ago. I’m at beautiful Fårup Sommerland, Danmark’s funnest forest, enjoying a quiet, beautiful day. Saven’s ticked off, Fønix is ticked off, mine train is ticked off, and I find myself at one of their more unique rides: a Gerstlauer launch coaster called Lynet, one of only two ever built. This rare ride system features six-seater cars similar to Dare Devil Dive and a launch, catapulting these log-themed trains through the woods of North Jutland. And it starts out great! Good kick to the launch, good air, I’m liking it! But then we get to the brakes and anything enjoyable just disappears. Transition after jarring transition, my head is paddled around the OTSR. Imagine the "bad Eurofighter" stereotype taken to the literal extreme.

I was so relieved when it was over, I did not return to give it another go, and I thanked my lucky stars that there were only two in the world! I had a negligible chance of ever running into one of these pieces of junk ever again and no longer had to live in fear!





[td]

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A twist of blue coaster track with gold supports. A single gold, Egyptian-themed car twists upside-down through a barrel roll element.

…until now! Two of these were built: Lynet at Fårup, and Anubis right here at Plopsaland! And we are ready to be badly beaten up!

And apparently this is a TV show too. The station is supposed to be some African explorer’s mansion, I think.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A golden Egyptian-themed coaster car dives downward through a loop into some tropical foliage, with a red pirate lantern in the foreground.

First ride I strap in, already with a bit of a headache so I know this is gonna suck, and braced for the worst. But it didn’t suck at all! It was a little rough and I did get hit here and there, but it was no worse than what my ex did to me. Riding it again, and knowing how to move with and brace for the layout, I actually really enjoyed it.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A golden coaster car with an Egyptian eye and wings on the front dives through green foliage.

My second ride on this was, honestly, really awesome! The headache from the congestion was a little worse after getting knocked around, but I braved it and took a second ride with John, and knowing how to brace made this ride actually really awesome! It's like an intense 2000's Intamin and deserves every bit the notoriety that Maverick has. What a great ride, and I was expecting it to be absolutely horrid!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A length of maroon track leaves a station adorned with ornate gold and a colorful stained glass butterfly art, twisting around a curve through a barrel roll.

K, creds are knocked out, neither one of us cares about K6 Roller Skater (it was testing but who gives), let's keep riding to Happiness!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A green, flowery field has a few twists of maroon coaster track twisting behind a colorful steampunk building. A flying snake dive element has twisting golden cars diving back to the tall grass.

I felt like death at this point, but Ride to Happiness was a solid walk on, I did not give a damn. I was going to lap this incredible coaster so much they would have to pull my cold, dead corpse from the seat and zip it into a body bag!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A gold steampunk-themed coaster train dives down from an inversion of maroon track.

The more I rode it, the more I fell in love with it. It's not perfect, no coaster is, it's got a bit of a rattle in spots and I had laps where the heavy angle maybe wasn't where I'd want it to be, but it's really damn good. If you're one of those people that sees Mack as weak launches and inferior RMC airtime, Ride to Happiness is here to change that. This coaster provides something nothing else can: pure and unique chaos every time you step aboard it. That "different ride every time" slogan used to market every spinning coaster system ever is actually a relevant selling point for Ride to Happiness.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in front of Ride to Happiness, as a train behind him traverses the jojo roll.

When one lap ended, we got back on. Maybe one of us would go pee, the other might need a break, but there was nobody at a coaster that has been consistently voted this highly at the global level, we weren't getting off.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Ride to Happiness flies up into its flying snake dive amid green trees.


So John and I get back in line, hop in the back, and take what we (stupidly) expect to just be another lap on Ride to Happiness. It's mostly dead, the train is largely full, but we're fortunate enough to have nobody opposite us to leave our car off balance.

(Wise Words From An Industrial Balancer: To get a spinning coaster to spin the hardest, concentrate all the weight to one singular point as far away from the axis of rotation as possible.)




Oops we broke the laws of physics. Again, pardon the language, you'd be cursing like a sailor too if you had been on that ride.

WTF did we even do??? We'd been riding off balance all day, but something about this ride just kept grabbing the heavy angle the right way over and over again. The result? We hit the brakes spinning so hard that I could feel the restraint resisting it from just flinging me across that trippy plaza by the end of the ride! It took me a good four seconds to even realize how quickly we were actually spinning, and shortly after, these kids onboard the train were dying with laughter as our train violently whirled uncontrollably.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From the Ride to Happiness station, two cars tumble through the Jojo roll, the second car on the right is a man in his 30s in a Hyperion shirt.

We decided to ride one or two more times, when the ride started getting a bit more traffic. Opposite of us on our last ride, we find this German couple and they start chatting with us. Usually back at home I despise thoosies, they're unemployed drama queens that commit criminal acts and blame others to start internet drama. But in Europe? You won't find a nicer bunch to go and ride coasters with, and every time I've strapped in with a European enthusiast I was honored to do so.

The German couple talked more to me, meanwhile John was chatting wit this cool guy in a Hyperion shirt. We had to leave, but the guy John was talking to introduced himself as Youri and we shook his hand.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Ride to Happiness train dips down over a lake, with a swan boat on the water and a colorful castle in the background.

"Skip Plopsaland, it's for little kids," I was told. "You'll be disappointed in Plopsa." "It's all rides for children," repeated into infinity the echo chamber in the Belgium travel group I had shared my plans in. And they're right. A park with rides like K6 Roller Skater, Heidi, and #LikeMe surrounded by cutesy spinny kiddie flats is definitely for kids. But they also have super intense Anubis and, for some reason, one of the best coasters in the world. Many polls ranked it here, and while the two ahead of it varied vastly, I follow the global consensus that Ride to Happiness is my #3 coaster. But what the hell is a super intense spinning coaster doing with Heidi and Maja the Bee and those guys??? It beats me. But my #1 is a big scary RMC I-box at a pizza and go kart park, and my #2 is a big epic fjord-riding wooden coaster at a rural Swedish zoo, so I suppose my favorite rides being out-of-place is just going to be a tradition that continues, as Belgium becomes the third nation represented in my top ten!

Honestly? The park is adorable. If I had kids, I'd gladly take them here. But you don't try to sell the kiddie park angle when you build things like Ride to Happiness and Anubis. But based on my reception int he Belgium group, people still see it that way. Maybe Belgian kids are just hardasses that don't get traumatized by rides like Ride to Happiness, maybe they haven't shown the rest of Belgium that Plopsaland means business, but for a kiddie park, their best attraction is a big boy toy if I've seen one!

A Ride to Happiness shirt will run you $50-$100 and probably isn't available in your size, to our frustration. So I got some merch in the form of a hat (we won't talk about the price) and a keychain, and we headed out.





[td]

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands before Plopsaland De Panne's billboard entrance.

John and I had planned to spend the evening in Bruges, so after this lap, we headed out, swung by a pharmacy where I was given 48 pills of good cold medication for $10, and drove an hour to Belgium's crown jewel: the medieval fairytale city of Bruges!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall cathedral of reddish brick rises into the blue sky, flanked by colorful medieval flags.

UP NEXT: "How can a 🤬ing fairytale city not be someone's 🤬ing thing???" John and I head to Bruges and its famous medieval quarter. What is more likely to kill us? The cold? The "stairs" in our AirBNB? Not having Wifi to call for help? Having a heart attack from eating pork belly stamppot? Tune in next time as we bike quite the gauntlet through this beautiful town!
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39


Dag 3/Jour 3 (continued)


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across some water is the medieval quarter of an old European town. Old brick towers and French and Flemish architecture dot the cluster of buildings.
The drive to Bruges was the longest hour of the trip. Belgium is just not an interesting country to drive in (at least Flanders isn’t), I’m sweaty, I’m waiting on these cold tablets to kick in, and by the time we get into Bruges we had to sit in traffic for a bit in a city that predates cars.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A garage staircase is flimsy, white and made of wood, going up at a 60 degree angle over some bikes.

Eventually we find our AirBnB, but the keypad says to look at the message I was sent on Booking. I pull up Booking…and with no working mobile data, Booking can’t load the message! I had to wander around this little canal street looking for a public WiFi signal, once I found one I got the code, opened the lockbox, and opened the garage like it was some kind of escape room. First thing we noticed was that the staircase belonged in this Death Stairs group I'm part of on Facebook. Two grown men can't reasonably climb this thing, you feel it flex under your feet, and it's hella steep and basically a ladder.

WTF did we get ourselves into with this place? I found what looked like a beautiful and authentic canal house on Booking, and that's what we got, but I didn't realize how...preserved everything here is. It isn't unusual for European apartments to be 400 years old, but here, the rafters in the ceiling and floor of the bedroom were original and medieval. The toilet was outside and you had to throw your toilet paper in the trash (this was disgusting), that being said, the packet said that all of this was normal for an old Brugge home. So we got the experience, staying anywhere else would've been the same, but it wasn't nearly as comfortable as it was authentic.

But hey, this place had WiFi. I had to laugh.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval town street along a cobblestone road against a canal.

After settling in, we hopped on the bikes after I aired up the tires, and got to exploring this perfectly preserved European medieval quarter!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands against some buildings on a canal, one with a tower, the other flies a Belgian flag. Jarrett wears a blue bicycle helmet.

Like anywhere in the Dutch-speaking lowlands, the bike is king in Bruges. People bike all over this medieval city, often on cobblestone roads, as their own vehicle for getting around and living life. I wasn't fearless enough to forego the helmet like the locals do (I was in a bike accident in college and it might've saved my life), but the bike has always been a part of my life and part of who I am, so it was cool to get to cycle here in beautiful Bruges.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a cobblestone square rises a tall medieval belltower, with a clock atop the octagonal spire.

John and I biked to the main town square first, he had wanted to check out this belfry, but it was sadly closed at the moment.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three ornate buildings, a gray one, a white one, and a brick one, all have ornate towers, spires, and dormers coming from them rising over a square. Many of the buildings have flags, a blue tour van is seen in the foreground.

This square is kind of the beating heart of Bruges. Everyone comes here, everything worth doing can be accessed fairly easily from here, and there are plenty of tours that leave from here.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across some water can be seen an array of medieval buildings, with a willow tree on the left.

We stopped by this spot, definitely the famous photo spot in Bruges and possibly the most famous photo spot in all of Belgium, to take some photos. The lighting was sadly garbage, with the sun pointing right at us, so I told John I wanted to come back here later.

I also left behind a small green heart-shaped stone for Keely, in tribute for her favorite artist Lil Peep, who passed away on the way to Belgium. Symbolically helping him finish the journey on her behalf.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of narrow brick canal houses serves as a few businesses, one of which is Mr. Waffle & Sandwich, another is Casa Patata.

Bruges is the perfect city to just kind of hop on a bike and explore, see what pops out at you, rather than having a hard set destination.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A beautiful medieval building dotted with towers and turrets, made of brick.

Seriously, where else can you just hop on a bike and run into this??? I think this was a museum or something.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white still of a street in Bruges, with a banner hanging for "PROCESSION DU SAINT-SANG."

Some festival was going on, though we couldn't find any festivities beyond these banners.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall tower rises from the trees, made of brick and with turrets and a steeple atop.

Another odd church, we couldn't go in, but it was pretty to look at! Not sure the era of this one but it felt more modern, despite definitely being medieval. This could easily be a brutalist-styled Catholic church in Ohio.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tarnished bronze statue sits atop an ornate marble base, with narrow red homes and a yellow flag in the background. Two men are depicted in the statue, one with a sword, the other with a flag.

Both of us were hungry, having only eaten at Plopsaland, so we found dinner back at the square.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A square with a statue and gray ornate Gothic building, with a few flags reading "BRUGGE."

When my father went to Brussels, he talked about how fun it was to get a beer, frites, and street cart sausage near Mennekin Pis, and just sit there and people watch. That's kind of the point of these restaurants, you sit on the square and people watch. It was getting cold, but I toughed it out because it's Bruges and when else do you get to do this?



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A square with several narrow canal-styled houses, and the statues and buildings from earlier are surrounded by flags. John takes a photo of several bikes near a concrete planter wall.

We sit down, I ask (in French, same language I was using at Plopsaland) if we may be seated, and we find a spot by a little fire lantern. Then, when asked by nobody their opinion, this crusty old Belgian lady pops in with, "we do not speak French here, it's Flemish! Just use English, it's easier!"



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden paddle contains a bowl of fried balls and three cups of dipping sauces.

We got some Bitterballen for the table. These are an iconic Dutch food, but Dutch food is present in Belgium, Belgian food exists in Nederland, it's three closely connected countries. But these were delicious, despite John biting right into one while they were the surface temperature of the sun!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate holds a big glob of mashed potatoes and greens, with a piece of sausage sticking out of it.

Again with the cross cultural cuisine, this is Stamppot, the Dutch dish I learned to make before coming here! Mashed potatoes with greens and root vegetables are served with pork fat and sausage, a bit different from mine but it was delicious!

After whoofing down a big plate of mashed potatoes, sausage, and a huge slab of pork belly, I had to get on a bike in the cold and bike back to our house! So we did that, it was brutal, but we made it work. Once I was there, we had to kick one another out of the room to shower, as the shower was a glass box in full view of the beds, so that's how we did it. I called Keely, and then called Boost about the lack of roaming data, which ended up with me on the phone for over an hour trying everything to get my damn data to work. After MacGyvering a bike lock key into a SIM card pin only to have no success, I left it to them to fix, and they said they'd get back to me, as it was 10:30 at night. So I called Keely and we hit the hay, ready for the next day.


Dag 4/Jour 4




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A mirror-like canal reflects a city street of colorful, narrow houses leading back to a bridge and church.

We woke up somewhat early, and I prepped for the cold this time. We both wanted to bike around the city a little more before heading to Brussels, giving us nice morning biking conditions with quiet canals and empty streets. It was gorgeous!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of canal houses reflects into the water below.
THIS, my friends, is how you get those sexy Bruges Travel Channel shots! The morning bike ride around Bruges is one I'll never forget!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tarnished copper statue of a man with renaissance clothing and a tome says "JAN VAN EYCK" on the base, at the edge of a canal with colorful narrow buildings in the background.

Among the things we did this morning was running into a random statue of painter Jan Van Eyck at the head of this canal.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A city street is marked entirely with narrow brick houses with stepped gable roofs, curving into a dark alley.
The whole city kind of looks the same, but that just means all of Bruges is beautiful. This could easily rival Stockholm or Paris for most beautiful city I've been to.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An outdoor dining area of pink flowers and black umbrellas sits at the foot of a church belltower.

We found this cute little outdoor dining area, though Bruges has a lot of them.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across water, one can see several narrow brick buildings with pointed roofs and spires, with a weeping willow over the canal. A belltower rises high in the background.

At my request, we did return to that canal corner, where I got much better pictures than the previous night.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across water, one can see several narrow brick buildings with pointed roofs and spires, with a weeping willow over the canal.

Boom! Most iconic view in Belgium, right there!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval church with spires on its steeple rises high into the sky, made of brown brick.

We continued exploring Bruges where we found ourselves at this church, which sadly wasn't open and functioned as some kind of guided tour.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind a brick wall and wooden gate, several houses can be seen in a gated community. A black iron lightpost is on the street outside the gate,

John had found this little fort district, which served as our final stop In Bruges.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A boat crosses a canal in front of several small brick buildings, with a church in the background.

These boats kept going under this bridge, and every time they did, the tour guide would tell them to duck so they didn't hit their heads!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a medieval town street marked with road signs, one brick building has an archway over the road, leading to a small round tower overgrown with ivy.

Not fully sure what this was, but the architecture was kind of fun to shoot.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rippling canal runs between rows of medieval brick buildings, with a white swan swimming in it.

The whole city is somewhat touristy, but John found us as far off the beaten path as we were gonna get.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a grassy riverbank sit several large white swans with orange beaks and black eyes. Across some water, two medieval brick buildings sit atop a retaining wall.

Around here, we found this little park thing that was home to Bruges's iconic swans! These things are huge, they're mean, they're a national treasure to the Belgian people, and they want to be left alone.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large swan twists its neck back up and then down, standing on grass covered in white feathers.

They're big fellas. Now I see why that goose at Efteling was so afraid of the one that was chasing him. These are obviously accustomed to coexisting with thousands of stupid tourists, but nobody in their right mind would ever touch one of these. Pictures don't do it justice, they're absolutely massive.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bridge stretches across a heavily planted canal to a cute two-story home.

From there, we decided to bike back so we could get on the road to Brussels, and were treated to some nice views from the bike path back around the city!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Atop a hill with steps is a wooden windmill with blades bearing red accents.

Another stereotypically Dutch thing that's shared amongst the whole of the Benelux, Bruges has windmills around the perimeter of the old quarter. And when we saw the one near our Booking, we new we were close!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval street alley stretches back around some tall, narrow houses, with bikes on the cobblestone street propped against their walls.

"How can a :censored: 🤬 ing fairytale town not be someone's 🤬 ing thing!?" was the quote from the film In Bruges that both of us beat to death over the past 24 hours. This town is kind of sleepy, not much to do short of walk around, but that's kind of the charm. There are surprises hidden around every corner of this ageless centuries-old city, and I'm so glad we managed to work it in!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sweaty Jarrett stands in front of the willow tree on Bruges's famous canal corner.

I was so gross, I was exhausted from biking, I just wanted to get out of there, so as much as I loved Bruges, hopping in the car and heading out was welcomed. But this Belgian city is drop dead gorgeous and definitely worth checking out! It's so easy to base your Ride to Happiness run out of Bruges, that's my advice for any prospective travelers that want to ride it. This is where you stop to smell the roses, taste the beer, and pet the swans!

(Wait, no. Don't pet the swans. Not if you want to live to tell about your trip.)




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large geodesic sculpture is made of gray tubes connecting large chrome spheres in a formation, with the Belgian flag flown from the top sphere.

UP NEXT: We go from medieval times to the Atomic Age, heading to the important European capital of Brussels for the second Belgium-based leg of the trip! We've got knockoff Paris, my French is put to the test, and a delicious meal and trippy light show 300 feet over the Belgian capital!
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39

Dag 4 / Jour 4 (continued)

CW: STROBE AND FLASHING LIGHTS USED IN MANY VIDEOS IN THIS ENTRY, DO NOT WATCH VIDEOS IF SENSITIVE TO FLASHING LIGHTS



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The Atomium; a tall structure of interconnected chrome spheres and gray tubes, with a Belgian flag flying atop the top sphere.

"Let's call the 21st the Belgian Cities Day," I remember John pitching. Starting the day in Bruges, driving to Brussels midday, and eating at the Atomium that night.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue highway sign has arrows pointing downward, reading "Asse."

Lol Asse.

I was whooped the second we got back to the car in Bruges, maybe it was the biking, maybe it was the late night yelling at the assholes at Boost Mobile, maybe it's just because that room in Bruges wasn't cozy in the slightest, but I was pretty tired on the drive to Brussels, even falling asleep on John towards the tail end.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Brussels residential street, with ornate houses and cars.

Our AirBNB (not the building pictured) was so nice! We had an apartment that was clean, had separate beds, a private shower, and even climate control! A total haves-have nots situation in comparison to last night. Our hostess spoke only Spanish and French, leaving me to have to do most of the communicating, but I got a little annoyed with this crusty old lady who yelled at us thinking we parked a car that was in her way ("la voiture vert sous l'arbre" is not a silver car parked in front of the garage). We chilled for a bit, charged our phones, and then realized we wouldn't have time to do both the Mennekin Pis and Atomium, so we headed to the Atomium before our reservations to properly explore it.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large chrome atom sculpture rises over a hill with a pedestrian walkway.

After packing into a lightrail and riding it to the end of the line, I saw this enormous chrome modern art pop out of the window. I knew the size of this thing, John did not, but both were taken aback by how massive it was!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in front of the Atomium across a grassy tree lawn on the square before it.

Hello, Atomium, and hello Brussels!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a waffle with chocolate and bananas in front of the Atomium.

The first thing we noticed was a little waffle truck, needless to say we both decided to grab a waffle. I'm snacking on a waffle at the Atomium, this is the most Belgian thing I've ever done.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The Atomium is made of a single sphere in the ground, six spheres and a central one at mid-level with supports holding them up on the thirds, and a final top sphere flying a black, yellow, and red Belgian flag.

So...what is this thing? And why is it important? Who just builds a big metal science project in the Belgian capital?

The Atomium, like the Eiffel Tower, was constructed for the Expo 58 World's Fair. However, this was in a much later time period, the 1950s, and it's something straight out of an atompunk sci-fi novel. It's an artistic representation of an iron crystal scaled up a billion times, with the spheres being iron atoms. It's about 300' tall, holds a restaurant, viewing deck, an art display, a museum, and a gift shop at the base. It's like the Eiffel Tower: Cold War Edition. And it's cool as hell. With us now having time to kill, we decided to take the trippy light up elevator to the top!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An overview of a main road up to a brutalist-styled pavilion, with a chrome sphere in the foreground.


The top sphere of the Atomium is basically Brussels's very own knockoff Eiffel Tower. There's an observation deck, and a restaurant atop said deck. You can walk around and see all of Brussels, all of Mini-Europe, and all of the old World's Fair infrastructure.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small park contains paths through various miniature reconstructions of European landmarks.

Mini Europe is another attraction that's right next to the Atomium, which is exactly what it sounds like. Little models of European landmarks, we had a hell of a time trying to see what they all were from up there, particularly ones we'd been to.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large neighborhood with a visible church steeple is in front of a metropolis of modern skyscrapers.

You can see all of Brussels up here! I was expecting a newer, bigger Bruges from this city, but when you see how big it is from up here, it's clearly not the same thing in the slightest. We'd had a thirty minute lightrail ride through all business and residential to get here, and amid all this are Mennekin Pis square and a few royal/government buildings and that's kind of it. This city may be the Belgian capital, but it is not their cultural hub. This is where money moves and rules get made, so it's important in a very different respect.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A park with various sporting courts at the edge of a neighborhood, with a tall domed church in the background.

There's a bit to see up here, but it's not the only point of the structure. We knew there was more, but saw chained off escalators and stairs to the lower spheres, so we just sort of chilled out until we got bored and went down.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A chrome sphere rises high over some woods, with buildings on the other side. The photo is black and white, with a single red rope running down and coiling atop the sphere.


"If you want to check out the other spheres, head up the stairs," we were told on the way back down. Nice to know they're open when we only have one more hour after killing way to much time on that stupid skydeck!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small 24-inch model of the Atomium of metal sits on a black square pedestal, with museum exhibits in the background against the curved wall of the sphere.

This sphere houses a museum to the Atomium, bearing artifacts from the World's Fair and models of the exhibitions alike. John said it best, this was "At the height of US vs. Soviet Russia, let's get the whole world together right in between both nations and have a big party because humanity rocks!"



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind a glass cates sits three pieces of paper, with engineering drawings of the Atomium on them. They all show the spheres, the central drawing shows a section view showing one of the outer spheres with multiple floors inside.

The engineering tech in me totally geeked out over these prints for the structure that they had on display!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Various pamphlets for the Atomium alongside coins, tokens, a small model, and a drink coaster behind a glass display case.

Literature on the Atomium in Flemish, couldn't read any of it but I love how retro this stuff is.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A glass display case of the World's Fair Expo, showing a few fair rides and roller coasters on the same grounds as the Atomium and other pavilions.

There were apparently coasters at the World's Fair too!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A model of a white building has a large silver needle-shaped structure rising from it at an angle, with cables suspending a footbridge over a water feature.

This structure no longer stands, but I'd seen it in photos of Expo 58.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands smiling into the camera, before a downward escalator adorned with colorful lights.

Alright, here's the fun part! A few of the spheres form this big awesome walkthrough light up European art thing! Those trendy art installations you see in Berlin and stuff? Some madman decided that this thing needed one!


Massive, massive flashing lights warning with this video, but here's some footage from around the exhibition.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A domed chamber has pink lights on the curved ceiling amid a lattice of steel girders.

You can clearly tell you're inside a sphere at each little station on this exhibit. And they took full advantage of that when rigging the lights up, the contours of the chambers are half the fun!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dark circular room has a single colum through it, with colorful rings of light circling the room and column.

At the center of the walkthrough, and the center of the Atomium, the central sphere has these color changing neon lights and relaxing music. It's like a chill, tranquil, meditative space amid all the flashing and acid tripping you see around the rest of this walkthrough.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett gazes at the ceiling in a circular, colorful room of blue and yellow lights.

When you've taken one of those sketchy Dollar Tree edibles and are patiently waiting for Spongebob to appear with the secrets to enlightenment.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wall sign describes the Echoes of Distant Lights art installation as "an immersive journey and a poetic meditation on light, space, and time."

Echoes of Distant Lights, this was called, was a new light installation in one of the Atomium spheres that incorporated lasers.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of red, orange, and yellow windows with a city and chromatic sphere outside, with metal structural framing in the foreground.

And down below, they had another skydeck, though this one was more artistic and allowed you to see Brussels through colored gels forming a rainbow in the panoramic window.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A long red staircase down a silver tube.

The only negative thing I had to say about this was that it's an accessibility nightmare. Between the flashing lights and stairs, I have a lot of disabled friends that couldn't do this for various reasons.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in a restaurant of steel shapes and colorful ceiling art.

Afterwards, we went to our dinner reservation at the top sphere. Can now say I've eaten at both the Eiffel Tower and the Atomium! Our server was awesome and even gave us one of the tables with the best views.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table with glasses, some flowers and a menu booklet reading "Atomium RESTAURANT" sits next to a window, showing a panoramic view of Brussels from high up.

Anyone who goes to Hooters for the view has clearly never been to the Atomium, this is a much better view than a parking lot with some drunk guy getting handcuffed.

That is the view they go to Hooters for, right? Or am I missing something?




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The menu for the Atomium is split up by Entree, Plat, and Dessert.

The Atomium follows the same menu format as a classical French restaurant. It's one fee and you get to pick an entree (not a US entree, an entree as like a cold salad course thing), a main, and a dessert. And it's all Belgian food! That being said, I was annoyed I couldn't get moules-frites here, as I'd seen the menu online had it, and that dish is iconic to Belgium. Maybe it's seasonal, I'm not sure, but neither Plopsaland or Bruges had it either.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate holds a green crema, red pepper sauce, and a patty of chopped salmon and onions topped with arugula. In the background is an Old Fashioned glass with a straw, mint, lime and cloudy liquid. The Brussels skyline can be seen out the window from high up.

I went with the Scottish salmon tartare for my entree, and it was delicious! Kind of a Belgian poke bowl in a sense. Wouldn't have been complete without a caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil whose type of rum is hard to find in the US but not France.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On the same table as before sits plate with two fillets of whitefish topped with green herbs, with endives, carrots, and potatoes as garnish.

My main dish was this Dover Sole, which I stupidly did not know came with bones. Luckily, our server cleaned the fillets for me, removing the bones in one piece, saying "See? It's easy! It's easy!" like the perfect snobby French-speaking garcon would if an American had presented this "problem."



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a slate board, two pieces of waffle sit with ice cream, a bowl of Belgian chocolate, whipped cream, and powdered sugar in the shape of the Atomium. Wine sits on the table as well.

And for dessert? How could I not get another waffle? It was between this and the chocolate mousse, but I wanted the waffle in the nice restaurant, so I did two waffles today! They even put a little Atomium powdered sugar art garnish!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant surrounds the kitchen in a steel, hemispherical chamber, with abstract colorful 50s art on the ceiling.

Honestly? I enjoyed the setting and the food. However, John thought we were paying for the location, and wasn't a fan of the steak thing he got. But it's still something both of us recommend if you come here to Brussels for any reason, it's an easy ride to the end of the line on the train, the museum is amazing, the skydeck has some great views of the city, and of course that light display is incredible.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands in front of the Atomium in a hoodie, smiling from the ground floor.

With me stuffed as hell and never wanting to eat again, we headed out to a chilly Brussels and caught the lightrail back to our place.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Brussels lightrail station around a neighborhood.

After a short sunset ride back to our place, we both kind of crashed to our private rooms for the night. We had a big day tomorrow, finishing out our time in Belgium at Walibi and driving to country number ten for me!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white image of the Atomium taken from below.

"The only things Belgium has of interest are Ride to Happiness, Kondaa, beer and waffles," John had said about the culture stuff I had planned us to do in Belgium. And he was eating his words a bit as we explored Bruges via bicycle and sat there chilling in an endless display of lights into another dimension. Yes, we missed Mennekin Pis, and my dad said it was a good spot for street food and people watching, but we'd had those experiences in Bruges as well as today. But Brussels, I noticed just felt residential and vanilla in comparison to the other cities. It wasn't even "cool local spot tourists don't know about," I've seen that in other places. This just seemed like a city that was all about moving money and making laws, not showing off a beautiful culture like you can feel in Stockholm or Paris or Bruges. So we were both right, but he was right about Brussels.

Honestly, if I wasn't into coasters, I might've skipped this city knowing what it was like. But I didn't, and we did something that was absolutely incredible that I'm very happy we did. I maybe wouldn't make a whole leg out of just this, but if you have any legitimate reason to go to Brussels (other than just sightseeing, go to Bruges for that), do not miss this because it's incredible.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall steel roller coaster with black supports and track lifts a green train to the top, with jungle plants in the foreground.

UP NEXT: We hit up Belgium's other park, where a fun day riding Kondaa turns into a frozen gauntlet through coaster after horrible ride! We come face to face with the tallest coaster in the Benelux in Kondaa, a frozen gauntlet run through bad coasters for credits, the funniest dark ride ever, and we run into a friend from low places!
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39


Dag 5 / Jour 5





IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A snake-themed roller coaster train races out from behind a palm tree and some bushes.

Oh my god I had a private room! And a bed! And a shower behind closed doors that my ass totally flooded the night before! But as comfy as the bed was, it was time to get up and get to the next park on the trip: Walibi Belgium!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The entrance to Walibi Belgium features a large cake that has a W and a 50 as its topper, with garland hanging over school groups in fluorescent vests.

We drove from our cozy, cushy apartment in Brussels to Walibi Belgium, where we learned the hard way that it gets cold here in Belgium! Both of us were ****ing freezing!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An industrial brick building is boarded up and holds a rusty sign reading "DOCK 24", and below it, a bright turquoise door with a "DW" insignia on it, a spinning turbine blade and a window are on the right.

John had this idea to fast track it to the new Dock 25 area first and hit low capacity Turbine and New for 2025 Mecalodon first. So we began the day by getting sucked into the Turbine, maybe it's warm in there with the spinning blades!


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Against a corrugated metal wall, a sign says "DOCK WORLD CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION; TURBINE STILL WORKING; HIGH VOLTAGE" on a poster depicting a sparking turbine.

"Turbine Still Working" read the signs up around this enclosed Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, a welcome sight considering this ride was kind of a close call. "Turbine still working" I know refers to this ride, originally Sirocco, having operated as Turbine before it was rebranded into Psyke Underground, and is now Turbine again. I wanted to ride it as Psyke Underground purely because it had one of the most banger soundtracks in the industry, then we found out it would be down for a retheme, and then only a few days before leaving we learned it would be operational! The new theme here, which isn't nearly as trippy or colorful as Psyke Underground was, is an abandoned industrial turbine that's been overgrown. Still cool, I'll take it!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A structure enclosed in sewage pipe rises to a 60 degree angle, supported with white metal.

Turbine is great! My only other shuttle loop was my 100th credit, Montezooma's Revenge, and the work done to this one is great! The new trains are great, the blades speeding up when it's active in the station looks so cool, and IDK how they made such a simple layout so disorienting by putting a box and some sewage pipes around the track. The loop goes on forever, and the freefall backwards in the dark is just weird. Solid ride!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Against a rocky embankment, a red and white lighthouses and several wooden buildings on stilts rise up behind a blue steel roller coaster.

Onto my first ever coaster in Europe that I've ridden in its opening year: Mecalodon! This is a Gerstlauer multi-launch family coaster with a lot of water interaction, think German-engineered Cheetah Hunt. I always loved the nautical aesthetic so I was all over this theme from the start. However, I wasn't expecting much from the ride, with YoY being the shiny new toy I was here to play with.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hill of blue steel coaster track, with a train themed as a blue mechanical shark flying over the hill.

Color me surprised! John and I rode this in the back and it was way better than I expected it to be. There's some solid airtime around this little coaster, and the surfing along the water surface and dive under the queue is really cool. Fun ride to photograph too! This was an early contender for surprise of the day.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A single coaster car themed as a tiki race car dives down a curve of blue steel coaster track.

From there, we headed to another blue family coaster from Gerstlauer: Tiki Waka! I love this theme, I have a tiki bar in my home for god's sakes, and I wish more parks did Polynesian theming for those of us into it. The ride, sadly, did not impress me as much as the other Gerstlauer Bobsled I've ridden (Grona Lund's Wild Mouse), but I loved the theme so much! Also scared the crap out of a kid jumping up the ladder of this play structure to get this shot!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A type of tiki-styled race car sits under a map reading "TIKI WAKA CUP."

*picks up phone* Hello? Lost Island?...What is this, you want your theming back?...No, it's very far away it's in Belgium! Come get it!...Yes, Lost Island, your theming is in Belgium! You heard me correctly!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From a foreground of green jungle leaves emerges a tall, dark green steel roller coaster with a green train at the top of the lift hill.

Alright, Walibi, and alright Exotic, playtime is over! We'd fast tracked it to the back of the park to nail the crowded **** already, it was Kondaa time!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A coaster station is made of mud bricks and sticks and features two clawed urns on either side of the entrance, over a large menacing snake statue.

First thing I noticed about this Intamin megacoaster, which runs as sort of a Pantheon/Velocicoaster ordeal but with a lift hill and no inversions, was that the theming here is sick! It's African theming, nothing novel about that, but it's dark African theming. Think the hyena pit in Lion King.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An arch of driftwood and bones over some water, with a netted log beam running under it.

This thing is interactive! You can walk across it!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An African-themed station has tattered burlap hanging down over a green train under orange light.

This would've been the most epic station on the trip had Ride to Happiness not been completely up my alley.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From behind some trees, a snake-themed coaster train dives through a curve high off the ground.

Alright, Kondaa! Let's review the ride!

It's solid, very solid. It hits every airtime moment full force, the ride's cool, iconic non-inverting cobra roll thing was a bit of a letdown, but it does everything else extremely well. John and I took row one for our first ride and the back row for our second, and we were both satisfied with this Intamin that dragged us to Europe's most boring capital. Every hill on the ride hits hard, there are headchoppers hidden here and there, while the non-inverting cobra roll lacked the Mosasaurus Roll airtime I had anticipated, I still found it cool, and this snake slithers around very nicely!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett, a 30 year old man with green eyes and sandy brown hair, stands under a driftwood and bones ornament in front of Kondaa's station across some water.

Yeah, this thing took merch money from us both. And I walked across the little log bridge they had!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An animatronic priest in an Egyptian ruin sits atop a statue of a pharaoh head, wearing a white cloak and holding a hook-shaped staff.

I knew this park had Popcorn's Revenge, but I didn't know they had another (less ****posty) dark ride in Curse of Tutankhaman! This dark ride was actually pretty impressive. A little dated, but everything was animatronic without any lazy screens where they didn't belong.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An orange rocky canyon with railroad-themed coaster track running through it, a locomotive-themed coaster train dips down into water as a plume of geysers shoots up from the splashdown behind cattails.

"There's another credit whore credit," John rattled off RCDB when trying to play Hunger Games and tally up who's left to kill. But it wasn't just another credit whore credit, it was one of my favorite coasters in old school Rollercoaster Tycoon 2: Calamity Mine! Or, unbeknownst to me, "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Roller Coaster Disney Family Thrill Ride" on Temu! Calamity Mine is just debranded Big Thunder, it's the exact same ride right down to the listing on the lift hill, but when you're 9, you don't notice. But it was cool to finally get to ride one of my favorite premade designs from the game!


We ate at the most disgusting theme park restaurant I'd ever had the displeasure of trying (got a disgusting chicken sandwich with lettuce on it, they can't make it without and I have a passionate hatred for that disgusting leafy vegetable) and then did Dalton Terror, their drop tower which provides amazing views of Kondaa! Not sure what kind of name Dalton Terror is, but the tower was fun.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across the water sits a blue steel roller coaster with a single hill and vertical spike coming out of the water.

By now, John and I were freezing, so I headed back to the car to swap my cargo shorts for jeans and a belt. Meanwhile, we had seen on Queue-Times that Pulsar was open, but had yet to see it run. And frankly, we weren't sure we wanted to ride it in this!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A walkway flanked by two bat statues and signs reading "VAMPIRE" leads back to some trees and an SLC.

We got the SLC out of the way next, called Vampire and rocking some cool theming, but the (new) trains tracked so horribly the ride was unforgiveable. It was almost as bad as sitting through two hours of sparkly Robert Pattinson with your thirteen year-old sister. Almost.




While at the front of the park, we knocked out Loup-Garou, which absolutely annihilated both of us! This Vekoma wooden coaster rattles, shuffles, and is just generally nasty, mean-spirited, and horrible. Please RMC this pile of garbage!


After this point, we realized that this was Belgian Thoosie Squid Game, and that all the remaining credits there were going to kill us. We had a boomerang to beat us, a kiddie credit to pummel us, and a water coaster to freeze us.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A beige shuttle coaster with a teal train rises up from behind some Indian buildings across some reeds and water, with a large building in the background.

With me now being slightly warmer and much more comfortable, we hit the park's really nice little India section for their boomerang coaster: Cobra. It's a standard boomerang, you take a beating and get a credit. Next!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An Indian building is a theater sporting a sign for "Popcorn REVENGE" with cartoon popcorn attacking.

Next, however, was anything but standard. Popcorn's Revenge, their other dark shooter, is a high tech trackless marvel of engineering...and it tells the story of movie theater popcorn going full Pumped Up Kicks on moviegoers for eating popcorn during their favorite flicks. Legit one of the funniest rides I've been on, I was laughing the entire time! This thing is brilliant!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A shelf has various popcorn plushies, some of which are dressed like The Hulk.

Was dangerously close to taking one of these popcorn plushies home to my partner as a joke.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue length of steel coaster track goes up a lift hill near a wind sock, a windmill, and a sign reading "AIR MAIL EXPRESS DELIVERY; FUN PILOT"

We went to knock out Fun Pilot next, a generic Vekoma kiddie coaster that I think might be another Disney knockoff in Goofy's Barnstormer. But it's a cute little coaster and I kind of enjoyed it! Anything with a plane on it is going to make me smile and think of Dad after 2025.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A body of water with boats in the foreground of a stilt house and some blue coaster track diving under the stilt houses, two coasters in the background and a lighthouse to the left.

Continuing the loop in a victory lap sans Pulsar, we decided to hit Turbine again, and then ran into a familiar face: Youri! Youri was our new Dutch friend we had met briefly at Plopsa, and he was here today as well!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A horseshoe turn of blue coaster track sends a blue train themed as a mechanical shark up through it, with a vertical spike of wide water coaster track in the background.

We took one lap on Mecalodon, then another when I realized my photos were taken with too low a shutter speed. We rode in the front the first time, and we both agreed it's weak up front and better off experienced in the back, which is unusual for this type of coaster. But going back to the back, I had a hell of a time on it and it redeemed itself. Ride Mecalodon in the back when you go!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue building has comical nautical puns on the signs, such as "BOATOX," "NETFISH," "THE CODFATHER," and "I LIKE BIG BOATS AND CANNOT LIE."

I laughed at this. I'm a degenerate.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall lift hill in the foreground of some muddy, bony, overgrown African ruins.

Youri had invited us for some thoosie action on Kondaa, so we get back there, wait in line, and my ass takes pictures to deal with the fact that there are now too many people around for my own sanity.

We're waiting, I'm shooting, eventually we make it to the station, and then I hear..."OOGA OOGA OOGA OOGA AH AH AH!!! OOGA OOGA OOGA OOGA AH AH AH!!!" And Youri just shrugs and says "School Trip!"

We are boarding the ride and hear, "OOGA OOGA OOGA OOGA AH AH AH!!!" And then disembark the ride, and hear behind us, "OOGA OOGA OOGA OOGA AH AH AH!!!" And then walking down the exit ramp, we hear on the train coming from the lift, "OOGA OOGA OOGA OOGA AH AH AH!!!"




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dark roller coaster track rises up and twists in the cloudy sky, with a green train riding the rails.

Obnoxious schoolkids aside, this coaster is amazing! Of the new generation Intamins, I place it below Velocicoaster, and above Pantheon simply because the airtime is killer and the theming is super cool, and despite the lack of airtime in the non-inverting cobra roll, it still has some Raging Bull "lose speed and gain it again" fun to it. It's incredible, it's got good airtime, the theming is top notch, I'm a Kondaa fan! If the stoner chemistry project wasn't enough to bring me to Brussels, this definitely made the trip worth it!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue water coaster boat on blue track in a splash basin with reeds in the foreground and a blue station.

We were going to leave, but the sun was coming out, and we were missing a credit in Pulsar. So I took off my socks and shoes, put on my hiking sandals, and joined John and Youri in the queue for this really cool Mack shuttle water coaster.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands wearing a navy blue raincoat in front of a sign depicting a futuristic W insignia.

...and it broke down! Youri had seen the turntable do something funny, so we waited, they fixed it, we got in, kicked some ****ty kids trying to line jump out of our dry row, and we rode! Unfortunately, Youri was not so lucky and got seated on a corner.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across some water from a field of flowers, a water coaster goes over a hump and raises a spike into the sky, with a brick station building rocking blue accents behind it.

We rode the ride, it was a ton of fun, we got back to the station fairly dry...and then Youri's Dutch ass gets up dripping with log flume water and declares in the thickest accent, "I got wet."



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three men stand in front of Walibi Belgium's entrance, adorned with a red W with a white "50" inscribed.

We headed to the front of the park, as Youri declares he is going to strip off all of his wet clothing and drive barefoot back to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, John and I are off to a different country, as we prepare to blaze through Wallonia and make it to Luxembourg in time for dinner. So we parted ways, got in the car, and got ready for a road trip across an entire country that would only take two hours!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Out a car window, rolling fields lead up into a forest with houses at its edge.

So we took off, blazing across the open countryside of Wallonia south towards the mountains, as the Benelux lowlands began folding up into hills and peaks.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across a mirrored waterway, a few French-styled buildings and an old arch bridge sit at the base of a mountain with a castle and Luxembourgish flag atop the hill.

UP NEXT: We storm the Castle On The Hill in the smallest country either one of us has ever visited! Luxembourg is an incredible, elegant, beautiful, and kind nation packed with culture, history, and postcard beauty everywhere you can point a camera!
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across a valley, a forested hill rises up into the sky, with a beige brick castle atop it. In the foreground, a small round tower with a conical roof is off to the right.
"Benelux" refers to the region composed of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, three nations with several differences, their own identities, but also a lot in common, and enough for there to be a shared identity as well. We'd seen Nederland's famous windmills and Efteling, gone for a spin around Bruges on bikes and Ride to Happiness in Belgium, our next order of business was to complete the trifecta, and bump my country count into the double digits, in the smallest nation either of us had been to: Luxembourg.

Before planning this trip, this tiny country, borderline a microstate, was one I knew and cared very little about. I'd not heard much about how cool Luxembourg is, they didn't have any notable coasters, to me it was just some odd little postage stamp in Europe that I knew existed but couldn't find on a map. But the more looking we did, for some excuse to add this small nation to our country lists, the more I saw how much is really going on in this tiny little triple point between Belgium, France, and Germany.

John found this little town called Vianden clear across the country near the German border, which sat almost postcard perfect in a valley in the foothills of the Alps, with a beautiful castle atop said hill. So we found a nice little chateau style hotel to crash for the night with a nice restaurant, and made plans to stay here and see Vianden Castle.

Dag 5 / Jour 5 (continued)

Picking up on our adventure leaving Walibi Belgium, we headed south from Brussels, where we were greeted by a very different Belgium than the one we'd gotten used to over the past three days. We first entered Belgium in Flanders, the more economic, populated part of Belgium that speaks Flemish, a dialect of Dutch. But instead of more traffic, trucks, and cities, we got a nice road trip through Wallonia, the southern, more agricultural French-speaking part of Belgium.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A grassy rolling field has a few small country homes in it.

For a couple of hours we cruised through the rolling hills of Wallonia, in stark contrast to the flat lowlands which had set the stages for the early Dutch and Belgium legs from Amsterdam to Bruges. This was beautiful, it reminded me of Eastern Ohio's Amish country but French-influenced.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wide rolling field at the foot of a piney hill, with cows grazing on the side of the road.

Eventually, the roads got glass smooth and we saw the Luxembourg sign, this is country #10 for me!

Luxembourg driving is honestly just really easy mountain driving. A lot of Final Destination logging trucks, and a few old farts not in a hurry to get where they're going, but it's far from the hairpins and cliffhanger turns you encounter in Appalachia back at home. Very beautiful, wide open rolling expanses turn into tighter, more twisty mountains.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small narrow town street at the base of a hill, with European small town architecture dotting either side.

Luxembourg is less than 1000 square miles, so we were able to drive across the country in not even two hours. Eventually, I saw a castle peeking out from the trees, and John gets the "welcome to Germany" text from Verizon (Boost didn't even care I was overseas in the first place, obviously.)



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A castle atop a hill flies several colorful flags.

Not a bad way to welcome you to town!

We drove through the streets of the adorable town of Vianden, John let me out to go check into the hotel, where the receptionist basically told me to just use English because my French sucked. But we parked down the road and headed in to drop our stuff.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Out of a hotel window, one can see a town in the distance, with a small playground over a small parking area for motorcycles in the foreground.

Vianden almost gives me "Gatlinburg if Gatlinburg happened in Europe" vibes. Clearly people are paying to come spend the weekend here in the mountains, the hotels are nice, and the terrain has led to some interesting parking and architecture situations. Our hotel had this little kids playground with motorcycle parking underneath it.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small wood-paneled pizzeria with a gabled glass ceiling, with lots of pizza boxes stacked up on the counter.

We were excited to try Hotel Petry's restaurant, which had a few sections divided into a pizzeria and an actual nice French-styled restaurant. This place looked cool, they were putting pizzas in a real brick oven with fire, but we were told they had all this stuff over on the other side, so we went to the restaurant.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant has white walls framed with brown timber.

I've always wanted to eat somewhere like this! I love German cuisine and I've always wanted to eat it in a cozy timber-framed Bavarian inn.

Luxebourg, as we were seeing, likely has its own culture and identity, but a lot of that to me felt buried in French and German influences, maybe a bit of Walloon Belgian. And in France, being loud and drunk in a fancy restaurant is a massive no-no. So when we got seated next to a big group of French business snobs in suits drinking wine and laughing loudly, it was super entertaining just watching the rest of the diners shoot them dirty looks and talk about them right in front of them.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a plate sits a sort of pizza, topped with white cheese, onions, and ham.

We ended up splitting a tarte flambee/flammekeuche and a jagerschnitzel. Here we have the former, which was fire baked onto a bubbly, charred crust right from a wood-fired brick oven. I love my grandmother's creamy, gooey version of this dish, but this was to die for!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a white plate sits a breaded pork tenderloin with a wedge of lemon, some slaw and potato garnish.

We also shared this schnitzel, which I loved. Nice and thin, flavorful despite the short ingredient list, I've always loved this European staple. This was so good! Light, airy, and the thin breading still held together to cover the tenderloin.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett sits in a nice restaurant, holding a glass of white wine.

Luxembourgish wine is also supposed to be really good so we had a bottle of this Alsatian-styled Riesling, that was amazing.

From here we went to bed, getting our only single night sleep in this country.


Dag 6 / Jour 6




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a wooden table sits a plate of several breakfast items including eggs, bacon, cold cuts, cheese, and bread, with milk and coffee.

We weren't exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed, or even super hungry after the dinner last night, but we still got up and got breakfast here, as it was our only chance to eat breakfast in the country. They had this massive breakfast bar centered around a plate of bread, cheese, and cold cuts just like Sverige and Danmark did, but also with hot items such as eggs and bacon. Pastries, poridges, and a whole juice bar also came with. They also had the spandauer (not Danish) I fell in love with in Copenhagen!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands against a mountain river with a castle in the background, wearing a French flag hat and UV glasses tucked into the collar of his shirt.

Alright, time to check out of the room and storm the castle!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Down a reflective, calm mountain river, a bridge arches to a village. Atop a hill is a large castle with many round, pointed towers.

Vianden was our pick for where to spend time in Luxembourg because it had this really cool hilltop castle overlooking the village. I'd seen castle-like structures in France as a kid, been to Mont St-Michel, but never been to a castle as an adult. That was about to change!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From a parking lot in front of a travel agency, the camera shoots up a hill at the castle.

John was a champ and did his homework, we found a place to park within walking distance of the Heart Attack Hill up to the castle. The morning was cool, so I elected for a long-sleeved button down, but it was also humid as hell, so even in 60 degree weather I got kind of gross climbing up to that castle.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large medieval brick building with a rounded face flies several flags from the curved face.

Vianden Castle is more or less U-shaped, with a horseshoe-shaped outdoor battlement walkway thing around the castle itself, which rocks roughly the same shape.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hill has a brown castle tower and a brick castle wall sticking up from the top of it, with another hill in the background against a cloudy sky.

I said it when I went to Mont St-Michel, and I'll say it again at Vianden Castle: when you're into theme parks and roller coasters, you see a lot of castles. Some of them are the size of some rich guy's home and have a dark ride inside, some are the first thing you see at Disney World, but seeing a real, legit, European castle takes a bit to sink in when you're used to that being fiberglass and forced perspective. You touch that brick, it's brick and not siding. You touch that rock, it's granite not concrete. This is not some cheap trick that a multibillion dollar corporation can just throw money at and convince some dumb tourists and their daycare-aged children that they're at a castle from some fairytale with secretly dark source material, this is the real deal.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From atop a hill with old brickwork in the foreground, one looks down at a valley and sees an entire town at the banks of a river.

Not gonna lie, after this much time in countries that are flatter than paper, it was refreshing to run into our first selfie spot that could kill you. But look at this view, you can see all of Vianden!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dam in the hills has several faces painted on it.

Dam these people, don't know who they are but dam them.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brick castle has a few towers flanking the gable of a roof.

Cool castle, let's go inside!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large room with a vaulted ceiling holds a stained glass window, a tapestry, and a large fireplace flanked by two suits of armor.

John is not a nerd, but I play Gimble the horny kleptomaniac gnome that's a part-time nudist in a Dungeons & Dragons game every Saturday night, with a Rabbi with the filthiest sense of humor that makes the whole campaign inappropriate. Needless to say, castles, monasteries, Vikings, this is all part of an aesthetic I have massive respect for.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large medieval fireplace flanked by suits of armor.

You know this fireplace makes a damn good beef stew in a cast iron pot.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two stained glass windows show six different crests, some of which show lion motifs.

Beautiful stained glass window in this chamber! Recognized the two lions of Normandy's flag on the crest in the middle row on the right.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A series of wooden cogs and gears holds a single rusty chain to a wheel of metal hooks.

This was the mechanism used to lower buckets down into the well beneath the castle.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brickwork castle kitchen holds several pots over a fire pit, with hams hanging from a metal rack above

This kitchen had been wonderfully restored. One day way back when I know servants ran all over the place with pots of stew, baskets of bread, and steins of ale.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A set table in a medieval chamber with white walls and a timber ceiling, with tapestries on the wall and a chandelier hanging below.

And this is where it would've been eaten!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wide expanse of grassy rolling hills with a beautiful white home tucked away.

There's a walk around the upper levels of the castle, which provides the best view you're going to get of the surrounding hills of Luxembourg.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A red board shows a tree of Luxembourgish royalty who resided in Vianden Castle.

There was a room that showed the entire lineage of this castle, who was controlling it when, the like. The houses of Vianden, Nassau, Orange; for such a small country it's impressive that Luxembourg changed hands this many times and is still its own state today.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bust of a man with a thin, scruffy beard is labeled "GUILLAME d'Orange le Taciturne."

We had seen William of Orange mentioned around The Netherlands a few times already, and he's also the Dutch leader in Civilization V. Turns out he's also got a bust in Luxembourg. We would go on to learn that this man, and the House of Orange in general, had influence in the region that could not be overstated.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white photo of a castle tower against a wooded hill.

You also get great views of the castle itself from out here!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bedroom with a canopy bed, and mannequins dressed as a noble arguing with a servant.

I must have missed this episode of Bridgerton, someone fill me in?



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a wooden stand in the foreground of a bishop statue sits a colorful medieval book.

I weirdly have a thing for the aesthetic of these old books. Voynich Manuscript, Codex Gigas (still salty I didn't have time to see this in Stockholm), I don't even know what they say but the books themselves are just really cool to me for some reason.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A framed drawing of a politician. A man speaks to a single microphone on a podium, as several more behind him are pointed to his butt picking up noise lines leaving his rear.

They had this random gallery of modern art with political themes in this castle, some of these were just sad, many were downright hilarious, but they all focused on themes of the media and political deception.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett sits on the steps up to an ornate Romanesque window, with Corinthian columns on either side of the arches. He wears a camera, button-down shirt, and a French flag hat.

The castle called this the Byzantine Chamber, and it's easy to see why if you just look at the architecture.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A white model of the castle sits on a table before several photos on the wall.

This next room had a model of the castle in it, 3D printed and very nice-looking. There was also a gallery of photos from over the years of the castle's modern history, including several heads of state visiting.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A view down a valley with a village alongside a river.

Also at the highest point of the castle, the view from here was incredible!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Out a window high up in the mountains overlooking a village, a cherry red, white, and sky blue Luxembourgish flag flies.

Even Luxembourg's flag shows their close ties to Nederland, they're the same colors but different hues.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall room with vaulted white ceilings held up by red, white, and gold stone columns.

Continuing around, we found the most beautiful room in the castle: this really cool Romanesque chapel!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a green and blue handheld video game console up in a round rotunda of a chapel with stained glass windows in the background.

I wanted to play Zelda in a castle, and I remembered my Switch was in my camera bag, so I pulled it out and played Zelda in a castle!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in front of six columns surrounding a walled hole in the floor of a chapel.

This was the second level of the chapel, down the hole behind me there's a level downstairs. The nobles would listen to the service up here where it's nice, the room below is so blah I didn't even photograph it. And that's where the more common residents of the castle would go for mass, hearing it through this hole in the ground.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rounded chamber of a Romanesque basilica has medieval windows bearing crests around the round wall, a statue sits in the foreground next to an altar.

Most of the rooms here, while beautiful, were just made of simple weathered brick. This, however, was pristine and smooth and they clearly did a lot to make sure the room where Jesus was going to chill was the nicest room in the castle.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A castle with a few different rooms visible from the outside, one chamber has arched Byzantine windows, another has a hip roof, another has a stepped gable roof.

There was another little upper deck here, with similar view to the others.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A view of a few town buildings on a hill, with a large retaining wall behind some houses with a round tower at the end.

The view from up here showed us this little road going up behind one of the little fortifications around town, we talked about maybe heading there after we got done in the castle.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A beautiful suit of metallic gray armor is adorned with ornate designs, holding a matching shield.

Weapons! This room was full of cool medieval armory equipment! This suit of armor was beautiful, the DND nerd in me was in heaven.


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett takes a selfie with several glaives hung on a wall below a pointed stone alcove, each staff has a differently curved blade topping it.

Me picking out a device to humanely get rid of those Medicaid scam callers. One of my characters in The Lightning War: Grounding Unit fights with a glaive, so it was cool seeing medieval ones up close.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white photo of a cannon in a corner, with several cannonballs behind it.

Having a blast in Luxembourg! First time I've seen a cannon in Europe that did not sink a large percentage of its country's GDP into the Baltic Sea.

(Don't know what I'm talking about, read the Sweden trip report.)




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A stone hearth with charred wood and metal pots sits at the bottom of a chimney of light.

There were two different kitchens in the castle at one point, this one is much older and Carolingian era.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Inside a glass case sits a few fragments of ornate green porcelain tiles.

And here we had a little archaeological crypt (as they called it) with a few artifacts displayed over a little hanging bridge, in the space beneath the castle right on the foundations.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sausage in a baguette bun is topped with mustard, with a beer in the background. A castle tower can be seen out the window.

After this, we decided to grab a beer in a castle because when else do you get to have a beer in a castle, I took it a step further and got a sausage even though I wasn't hungry just because I'd been craving a street cart sausage. Ordered our items in French for us too!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three bottles have pump tops: one hods yellow paste and says "Moutarde de LUXEMBOURG," one has red paste and says "Ketchup de LUXEMBOURG," and one holds white paste and says "Mayonnaise de LUXEMBOURG."

These fancy condiments in French made me chuckle, France hates ketchup and yet Luxembourg Ketchup is a thing just over the border. Gotta make sure to get the mayo, Luxembourg is known for its mayo obviously!

We went to the gift shop, I lost the bag of things I got and I'm salty about it. And then we headed out.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A view across a valley with some houses and a castle on the hill opposite a simple stone brick wall.

But not quite! We did hike back to the car and checked out that little retaining wall, and the views of the castle you get from there are actually some of the best in town. Couldn't go in the tower but it's probably a nice little walk if you live here.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Down a reflective, calm mountain river, a bridge arches to a village. Atop a hill is a large castle with many round, pointed towers.

We finished up, got in the car, and headed back to the Netherlands. But less than 24 hours in this country and it's still one of my favorites I've been to. It's tiny, it's simple, it's beautiful, and so easy to get around. Contemporary creature comforts meet classical elegance in the smallest country I've had the chance to visit. Sure much of the identity comes from neighboring countries I feel, but the big thing I probably noticed that was uniquely Luxembourgish was their transportation infrastructure. The roads here are silk smooth despite being up in the mountains, and while we had a car, public transport is free here. It's a little slice of beautiful simplicity with a legacy stretching back to Charlemagne, and after all this time, it's still its own country, my tenth country, and probably a top three country.

Thank you, Luxembourg. I'd say Merci, but apparently y'all think my French sucks.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Dutch styled inn, white and green with a tiled roof, reads "DE HOEVE VAN NUNSPEET" on a green sign.

After I drove for two hours, John and I switched off. However, this part of the Netherlands was noticeably very flat. Youri had told us that we would be on one of the polders at Walibi Holland, man-made piece of land made by filling in the sea that sit very low. We continued our road trip alongside the flat polder and raised dikes that keep the water out before arriving at De Hoeve Van Nunspeet, our second to last quarters for the trip.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The grounds of a hotel in the woods, with a small barrel-shaped wooden bungalow rocking a small porch and awning.

This place was adorable! It's nestled in the forest, they had these cute little bungalows outside, and a wedding full of drunk Nederlanders was going on!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black plate sits on a table, holding a rolled up chicken cutlet wrapped in bacon and topped with gravy, garnished with fresh vegetables and yellow puree.

John and I went to grab food, and I ended up getting a chicken croquette that was amazing, paired well with a very strong Trippel beer too!

We went to bed afterwards, only to struggle to get to sleep when an explosion shook our window at midnight! That Dutch wedding party had been getting beer after Trippel beer in them all evening, and it was time to trust them with explosives! They lit off fireworks right outside our window. Getting drunk and dangerously setting off fireworks is as American as apple pie and denied health insurance claims, but because this was Europe, it's classy!




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three roller coasters crisscross on the shot, a green one, and two blue ones that crest their drops at the same time. The green one is knotted in with the blue one.

UP NEXT: We get what we came here for with Walibi Holland and its 3 RMCs! We take on the most stacked park in the Benelux, rocking an Intamin mega, Mack Big Dipper, a badass RMC hybrid, and two more RMC raptors that duel one another! How will the unique twins that make up YoY ride after crossing the Atlantic for this very special set of coasters.
 
Last edited:
Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39

On a dreary Dutch morning, I awoke to the view of a misty forest inn out our second-story window, on a rainy day that had been the catalyst for the whole trip almost. I want to go everywhere, I want to go to The Netherlands, to Germany, to Korea, lots of places. But not everywhere I want to go has the same coasters, and a park rocking three RMC coasters was definitely a large part of the reason why I did The Netherlands when I did.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: In the woods, a silver locust-themed train comes out of a barrel roll and hops over the brown steel rails of a wood-supported hybrid coaster behind an overgrown picket fence.

Walibi Holland had reimagined their Vekoma wooden coaster Robin Hood into I-box hybrid Untamed back in 2019, the year they first started building in Europe. And now, the same park set the stage for another historic RMC addition. Well, two actually! The first raptor coaster in Europe was actually two coasters, a set of dueling twins called YoY. With one side chill and the other thrilling, this gave us three very different RMCs to enjoy alongside great rides like Goliath and Lost Gravity.


Dag 7 / Jour 7

After waking up, we took the short 20 minute drive across the misty polder to Walibi Holland. The previous day, our friend Youri (remember him from Plopsa and Walibi Belgium?), had offered to show us around and do the whole "local showing out of towners around my home park" thing that enthusiasts do. And personally, it's my favorite way to do any park. Nobody knows a park better than someone who can just turn left out of their driveway and go there on a weekend.

It was pretty rainy. Not the best condition for photos, but I would learn this atmosphere fits the park to a tee.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A park entrance across a flat green planted with palm trees, waving white flags reading "WALIBI."

Youri had told us that we were going to be on one of the polders here; a polder being a section of land that Nederland reclaimed from the sea. Before there was a park here, there wasn't just land, there was water. Humans hands turned this wet, sandy inlet into solid ground sturdy enough to build a coaster on. Every midway, every coaster, every food stand selling crappy Walibi food, that was reclaimed from the sea by mankind. So it's a marvel of engineering that this park even exists.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large yellow art deco arch has a huge red W and reads "WALIBI."

Good morning, Walibi!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rainy colorful city street-themed midway, with a large blue "HALL OF FAME" in the background. Two runners wear matching teal shirts and orange bibs.

Walibi Holland has an odd main street style entrance, where some of it goes through a large indoor atrium with a gift shop and Platform 13's station and the like. There was also some sort of run to fight cancer thing going on, had I known about it I might've actually done it.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two men walk under a pergola reading "Wilderness," with arches of greenery leading back.


We wasted no time and went right back to Untamed!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sign reads "UNTAMED" in cut, rusty steel to the left of a wood-supported roller coaster, which reads "LOVE" on the side of the lift in rusty marquee letters. The station says "BE BRAVE" and has a waterfall coming out of it.

Walibi Holland has some...odd theming choices for their areas. Normally you'll see a Western area here, classic midway games there, the like. And I'm all for mixing it up. But Walibi's areas are Wilderness, Speed, Zero Zone, and whatever the hell Exotic is supposed to be??? It's very abstract, a lot of the theming is just writing on things, and I feel like it's a cultural thing that I just don't understand it. But it's artistic and refreshing and gives the park an eclectic feel, one I've not seen anywhere else I've been.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Through some trees, a silver and green locust-themed coaster car races along a brown curve of steel track on wooden supports.

What a way to start the day! This coaster is great, but we could tell it wasn't warmed up. However, it still solidly kicked our asses. That first double inversion outward banking thing is full of some pretty awesome sideways ejector, which tosses you back upside-down and it feels really unique. The rest of the ride gives hard Twisted Timbers energy, zipping up and down over tight hops and dips broken up by a roll or three. We knew we'd be back once it had cut its teeth.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles beside a rusty sign reading "UNTAMED."

I'm a fan!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue and silver sign reads "GOLIATH" in front of a tall blue steel roller coaster, with a checkered flag hanging off to the side.

Our next stop was another Walibi Holland big dog with Goliath. When I first got into coasters, these early to mid 2000s Intamin mega/hyper/giga coasters were all the rage in the early 2010s. Top ten lists were dominated by Superman, Expedition GeForce, Millennium, and, well, this! So it was one I’d been hearing about basically since I was into coasters, though I knew it wouldn’t be the best in the park anymore.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black coaster train dives down a blue curve of steel lattice track, with multiple other elements twisting in the background.

After fixing a mechanical problem, we got in for our ride, when I noticed how tight the belt was! I practically had to cut myself in half with it to fit, it was the toughest one on the trip but I narrowly got it to click. And I’m glad because this was fun and enjoyable! Felt a little slow paced coming off of an RMC, but it swoops and dives nicely and there’s some good floater bordering on ejector around that layout.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two blue and green coasters twist around behind a large wooden tree, whose branches spell out "YoY."

Oh YoY! Our next stop over here were the other blue and green racing coasters in Nederland with crazy theming. No whoopie cushions this time, sadly.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two roller coasters go down synchronized drops, with a green train twisting upside-down over a blue train.

We were going to start with Thrill, but it went down, so our first YoY ride was on the Chill side in blue. And I was pleasantly surprised, expecting it to be much weaker than it was. Towards the start of this ride, you get some pretty sick airtime for a family coaster. Plus racing around while Thrill flips and rolls around you is so much fun, it’s like RMC’s Big Bear Mountain. A fun, intense enough coaster that everyone can enjoy that’ll always put a smile on your face.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A green roller coaster dives out of an inversion, with riders seated single file on trains straddling a narrow rail.

The green Thrill side was up next, rocking similar seats to Chill but with more intense airtime and inversions. John and Youri could already tell I was hardcore drinking the Kool-Aid on this cool machine, and basically forced me to take the front. And man was it worth it!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two blue and green coaster trains dive down a drop, with the blue train appearing attached to the green train atop the rail.

The reviews YoY has gotten have been mixed to negative, with many claiming it’s weak and rattly. Yes, it’s not going to wreck you like Railblazer will. Yes, there’s definitely some rattling that goes on. However, it’s got some awesome airtime, the inversions are zero-G nirvana, and the interaction with the other train adds so much to the experience. It’s a middle of the pack RMC that’ll always leave you smiling and wanting more.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles next to two dueling coasters, one green and one blue.

Obligatory bragging rights photo after getting the cool new European RMC credits.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and silver coaster twists around a sidewinder roll, with bright purple accents.

We popped into Xpress Platform 13 on the way to lunch, which is one of those rides where the queue is better than the ride. Don't get me wrong, I love Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, but out in the daylight with no Aerosmith or theming? It sort of falls flat. While the setting over the pond was kind of cool, it was kind of anticlimactic after going through such an ornate queue, and I wish it had been enclosed with creepy theming in the spaghetti bowl.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a table sits a paper dish of kebab meat and various sauces, with a beer can in the background.

For food, we did kebabs over by Lost Gravity, aka Europe’s quintessential drunk at 1 am meal. And it was pretty good! The sauce here is nice and spicy, mixed with a garlic aioli thing and döner kebab meat. Wouldn't be a complete Dutch Waffle House experience without a beer, either.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and yellow striped roller coaster sends a mirrored car down a dive through a scaffold supporting two shipping crates and a radio tower.

And to Lost Gravity! Another coaster with weird and wacky theming, everything surrounding this ride is either stacked on top of each other, or flipped upside-down or something. However, I learned that this ride it actually fits a narrative: there's a loose backstory that gravity has gone mad. There's even a trippy mirror chamber that's supposed to be the object that's disrupted it.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and yellow striped roller coaster twists a mirrored coaster car through a roll, with a geyser and upturned helicopter on the ground below.

And the one thing weirder than the theming? The ride itself. Lost Gravity is crazy! I like it. It's a little weird, but I like it. Very snappy, lots of good airtime, and the curves of some of those dives are interesting. It's a great ride!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A silver train themed as a mechanical dragon careens around a rust-colored steel track.

Our day quickly went from "best lineup ever" to "get the crap out of the way so we can go back to the RMCs." Starting with Draka, one of the park's kiddie credits. It's a Zierer Tivoli, same layout as a few others I've done, and it's a one and done. Cool train, though.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A single orange vertical loop is held up by lavender supports in front of a metal station with large speakers.

Speed of Sound, formerly La Via Volta, was next, and started a theme with this park of infamous Vekoma clones being so bad that new trains and vest restraints couldn't fix them. I liked the theme here, it had kind of a cool cartoony EDM remix thing going on, and it's really cute, but the ride itself is terrible. I say build a Flash-esque Super Boomerang here and call it Speed of Light as a sequel. Could put comfy armchairs on this, it's still never going to be comfortable when it tracks like a screwed up coat hanger.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An orange suspended roller coaster dives out of an inversion, with an Aztec eagle statue in the foreground.

"Watch out for El Condor," Youri had warned us when we told him we were going here. It's not just an SLC, it's the first ever SLC, and apparently it was so bad that vest restraints couldn't fix it. And this was another L for Vekoma today, because this thing is absolute trash. Rattles like crazy, beat the hell out of all of us, I liked the cool Mexican theming around the area but the praise stops there. As with Speed of Sound, tear it down and build a Suspended Thrill Coaster in its spot or something.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A colorful bumper car building reads "TEQUILA TAXIS."

This also made us laugh, theming the bumper cars that you drive after alcohol.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small white roller coaster over sandy ground.

And to finish out the crap credit gauntlet, we grabbed Eat My Dust, a newer Zamperla kiddie coaster. It's not terrible by any means, but also nothing special.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A coaster train themed as a dune buggy, with dirty wheels on the front of the train.

Cool train, though.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a stroopwafel with a bite taken out of it in front of a wooden-supported roller coaster reading "LOVE" in light up letters on the lift hill.

And we were cleaned out, time to go get some rerides! Now that it was good and warmed up, we returned to Untamed. Youri had brought local Dutch snacks for John and I, so I was able to enjoy this nice stroopwafel in line. I've had them at home before, but this was so good. Nice, chewy, and full of subtle sweetness. Shame I didn't have a coffee to go with on such a dreary day.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden coaster with brown steel rails rolls through a barrel roll a mirrored train themed as a locust.

Okay, warmed up Untamed is amazing!

Prelift segment is a little cool, little quirky to kick the ride off. The drop is a standard RMC drop, a nice kick of ejector in the back, followed by a Steel Vengeance or Twisted Colossus-esque ejector hop right out of the drop. The ride's first element, however, is when it starts to feel special. The train rises up, twists counterclockwise, and then pulls back downward while you're sideways out of the inversion, yanking you back down to the polder with great gusto, and then going from the 90 degrees back clockwise to flat. There's then a good double up into a Stengel dive (in the same park as the first ever iteration of this element), before a violent camelback and outward banked turning hill. It then goes into this step up under flip which looks like it'll be a twisted horseshoe, but the pull out of this element is just a simple kick outward before diving back down to the overgrown polder. There's then a double up/double down combo, which gave massive Twisted Timbers energy and felt almost identical. On the return trip, it then hits a little kick out thing before an overbank nestled in the crook of the Stengel dive. There's then a little gauntlet of bunny hills through the supports, before it finishes strong in a low roll kissing the ground. It then hits the brakes with gusto, leaving you amazed by this incredible feat of engineering that runs right to the ground it sits on. Add in the cool location on the flat, marshy, and rainy Dutch polder and you have an experience that's truly unique and memorable.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden coaster with its rusty train are overgrown with vines and grasses.

Youri also showed us the extended queue, which happens to include a forest of Robin Hood's old track as well as an old hill and train which they've surrendered to nature. Very odd theming but I like it, it gives "$30 burger joint in town" vibes.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A silver coaster train themed like a locust flies through the woods on brown steel track supported by wooden trusses.

We got more than a few more rides on Untamed before realizing the day was running out. But it was a few rides that solidified it into my top ten just above Wildcat's Revenge and below Steel Vengeance, currently leaving it as my #9 overall and #6 RMC. This is a great ride that manages to play the inversion game well while still delivering classic airtime and agility elements that you come to expect from RMC, and the fact that it's on such cool terrain does add to it if you like the marshy aesthetic. It honestly feels more like a mini Steel Vengeance than Twisted Timbers does, plus the use of unique inversions like that 270 roll and barrel roll along the ground elevate the experience.

With us burning daylight, we wanted to head to the front of the park for more YoY, and decided to do Merlin's Magic Castle on the way as it was down earlier. It's a madhouse, one I just hoped was better than Villa Volta. Where tf was this guy when we were at Efteling??? Youri filled our non-Dutch-speaking asses right in on what was going on with this preshow, "you're entering Merlin's castle and he's going to show you a trick."



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table of amber beakers and iron kettles sit on an ornate potion table.
And better than Villa Volta it was! The theming in here is actually unique and interesting to look at, these beakers actually bubble and the equipment moves during the ride. Sure one's got the rock 'n' roll, but this one doesn't look like you're at a stuffy funeral parlor to look at your dead uncle in a box. It has character, attitude, and the illusion is just as good as Efteling's madhouse.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a candy shaped like a monkey's face, black on the top half and yellow on the bottom.

Youri had one more snack for us to try, these odd monkey head gummies that taste like banana and black licorice. Black licorice is one of those foods I've never had because it's so bad I was never brave enough to try it, and I see it, but with the banana sweetness to offset the harsh licorice flavor, it wasn't half bad.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two blue and yellow coaster trains duel each other, with the blue coming off of a hill and the green leaving an inverted stall.

We elected to close the day out on YoY, getting several great rain rides on the Thrill side.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two roller coaster trains, one blue and one green, ascend two side-by-side lift hills next to one another.

It's been a controversial addition in its debut year, but it's ultimately a good one in my eyes. As a hardened coaster junkie, it's not very "raptor-like," lacking the sheer insanity you get from Railblazer or a good Jersey Devil ride, and there is a bit of a rattle and it does die at the end. It's flawed. However, it also has some awesome elements on both sides, the dueling interaction is a ton of fun (which, by the way, it almost always duels), and for two combined coasters you get both that marketable thrill ride that looks scary on TikTok and attracts park guests as well as that family ride that everyone can handle and enjoy together. Honestly, with the recent industry trend of family coasters being cash cows at the expense of cooler-looking thrill rides, this thing might be way ahead of its time. I think bigger coasters scaring off certain guests might be more of a US thing than Europe (tiny kids were getting on Ride to Happiness and loving it, and the Thrill side always had a longer line on us), but the first park to clone this layout in America might be sitting on a gold mine.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A pair of tight men's briefs with jungle leaf print on them. The black waistband reads "WALIBI" while the right side of the groin reads "WATCH OUT I'M UNTAMED."

We went merch shopping and I about cracked up when I saw that the park sells an Untamed Speedo. As much as I would have liked to make a business expense purchase for my OnlyFans today, this was not something I wanted to explain to American Border Patrol right now with what's going on, so I sadly walked away.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three men smile for the camera in front of a purple globe reading "WALIBI HOLLAND" in red letters.

With it being the end of the day, we made it to the front of the park and said goodbye to Youri, who wished us to have fun in Amsterdam. We both told him if he ever wanted to come to America he had two bros Stateside to grab beers and ride coasters with him!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rainy town street with an Albert Hein and a brick building with a Dutch roof, an awning reading "Eetcafe de Stoof."

John and I were hungry, and because he's awesome (and was the only one with roaming data), he found a dark little classical Dutch pub for us to grab dinner.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dimly lit pub with a raftered wooden ceiling and stone tile floors.


Perfect place to eat on a rainy day!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden stand holds a bottle with a bulb-shaped bottom and a flared top.

John's beer had this odd bottle in a wooden stand for some reason.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A stemmed beer glass reads "BRASSERIE D'ACHOUFFE" and is filled with beer.

I had to go with La Chouffe, simply because I play a horny gnome in Dungeons and Dragons back at home. Plus I know it's a good beer anyway.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate holds a few different types of spiced meat and green beans over white rice, topped with two soft-boiled eggs. Another plate holds foamy white chips and a dish of pepper jelly.

I had asked our server which was better, one menu item or an Indonesian special. This kind Dutch woman, blunt as ever, just tells me, "you're a big guy, that isn't going to fill you up." So I got this Indonesian curry thing, didn't even know what half the stuff on the plate was but it's good. I learned that through colonialism, the Dutch took a lot of Indonesia's food home, and certain dishes (namely satay) are common pub staples in Nederland now. And we'd see more of that when we got to Amsterdam!

From here, we returned to Hoeve van Nunspeet, ready for an early morning with our flex day plans calling for nice coaster weather! Today had put John at 399 credits, which meant he had a big decision coming up...




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A lagoon in a medieval setting has a blue wing coaster with a golden train rolling over a boat in the water.

UP NEXT: We've seen a Dutch park that was whimsical, a Dutch park that was weird...and our itinerary's flex day took us to one that manages to be both! Toverland somehow both has cheap indoor FECs and beautifully themed areas that you expect in these overseas parks, and some weird coasters. We enter the park on the tail end of a grueling 24 hour Troy charity marathon for both an awesome 1-2 steel and wood punch, two grown men take on the funhouse, John hits the big four-oh-oh, and Jarrett's not drunk he's American! Read the exciting conclusion to the coasters leg of the trip, we've got one more installment of Benelux 2025 content before Amsterdam sets the stage for a grand finale!
 
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Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025
Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Goal: Coasters, Culture
Distance: 4079 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight
Potential Credits: 39

When you plan this much stuff, it’s a lot of stuff that can go wrong. You could get stuck in a city, important coasters could be down, there are a million different ways to screw up a vacation and just when you think you’re prepared for them all, a new one comes up and finds a way.


Dag 8 / Jour 8



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A body of marshy water in a colorful medieval setting, with a blue roller coaster twisting over some boats with golden trains.

A way to account for this is with flex days, days planned on the trip with nothing known about them except where they will start and where they will end. And John and I elected to add one of these flex days after Walibi Holland in case something went wrong and we missed anything that we could circle back to for another shot. But all was good, the trip had gone like clockwork and the only credit we were missing was K6 Roller Skater, not worth the drive all the way back to Belgium. In light of this, we decided that weather would determine our little bonus activity: rain we check out Utrecht as another city, shine we go to Toverland. And unlike yesterday, it was beautiful out, so looks like Fenix and Troy were in our future!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A car drives down the road through a pretty forest.

At this point, John and I had developed a working system: I drove in the morning because I don’t sleep anyway, he drove in the evening, so my day kicked off with the most boring drive ever for 2 hours across flat, boring polder farmland. But eventually, I took us around a roundabout with a statue of a magic wand at the center and knew we were here!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A vaguely fantasy-styled building from a Moroccan harbor says "TOVERLAND" below some ornate yellow ramparts.

Toverland would be the Dutch equivalent to calling a place “Magicland” or something. And I’d known it was here for a while, but everything about the place always looked…inconsistent. They had a Trojan Horse GCI, yes, but they also had indoor sections, play equipment, some cheap lime green motocoaster, and somewhat recently they added a beautiful high fantasy-themed Avalon area, complete with a high dollar B&M wing coaster??? I’m not sure I knew what this park wanted to be anymore then they did!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A cluster of colorful Mediterranean harbor buildings have a green steel coaster and brown wooden coaster dancing around in the background.

We arrived at the front gate and purchased tickets before stepping through the turnstile into a beautiful harbor straight out of Islands of Adventure. There had been a 24 hour Troy marathon for charity that had just ended at noon, I saw a guy walk out with a t-shirt and plaque. “Ya make it?” I asked him. “Yup,” he replied. “24 hours on Troy, now for 24 hours in bed!”



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall harbor building with a spire reads "SOLARIS" around a yellow crown-shaped decoration.

Universal called, they want their entrance plaza back. I was NOT expecting this to be my welcome to what I heard was a little kiddie park with a few rides!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind some trees, a blue and brown B&M wing coaster twists upside-down into a drop, with more turns in the foreground.

The sky, however, was starting to play tricks on us. I'd seen spotty showers in the forecast and just hoped for good conditions for my photos. This meant a lot of changing settings as the clouds occluded and revealed and occluded the sun again.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A few pieces of royal blue B&M coaster track sit in a field at the edge of a parking lot amid some barren winter trees.

Both John and I have some connection to Fenix now. He selected it as his 400th coaster, but I’ve actually seen this ride IRL before. The B&M plant, like most toxic enthusiasts, is in Ohio, and in 2018 I made a run down there and saw the pieces for Toverland’s new wing coaster set out. So when I decided Nederland was the destination, this was motivation to ensure Toverland made it onto the itinerary. I wanted to ride the coaster after seeing it in my home state!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles outside of a blue industrial building across a street, with pieces of blue B&M coaster track outside.

Two things would come to the Netherlands from Ohio; and see each other again for the first time since 2018 today.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett poses for a selfie with a completed blue roller coaster, wearing all kinds of camera equipment.

Hello again, Fenix! Long time no see! Two pictures with the same coaster taken seven years apart on two different continents!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Over some boats in the water, a blue wing coaster flies high over a fantasy landscape.

Again with "things I did not expect to see in a kids park," I knew Avalon was there, but I didn't realize just how hard Toverland had gone with it. This area is incredible! And Fenix just adds so much to it, it dives under bridges and wraps around flat rides and twists over lagoons. It's just hands down a great addition that ties the area together perfectly with its blue track.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rocky waterfall has a crooked overgrown castle tower coming out of it.

The queue for Fenix, first and foremost, is the best queue for a wing coaster hands down. Didn’t get many pics, but you’re going up and down stairs in Merlin’s castle and it’s really pretty and well done.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue roller coaster with golden winged trains comes out of a roll past a pine tree.

When this came out, I remember people panned it for having a layout that looked weak, and I understood why considering I'd always heard Toverland was primarily a kiddie park. Well...that was wrong! This thing is great, almost like a mini Thunderbird without the launch that's very well worked into its surroundings. It's the killer airtime hill over the lagoon, helix around the Sky Fly, and the rolling over the water and flying around the forest that make Fenix so special. Definitely one of the better wing coasters I've been on, and the competition there is steep since they're coasters I really like for what they are.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bald man in his 30s holds a sign reading "400th CREDIT" in front of a blue roller coaster across the water.

And a big hand to John for hitting 400 on this Dutch winged beast!




Come ride along with us! See how pleasantly surprised we both were!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A fire hearth of brick with a star-shaped amber window in the top sits in a chamber full of wizard-themed art.

Speaking of the Gerstlauer Sky Fly, we hit Pixarus next. I loved that the queue here clearly took inspiration from a certain toxic author named Joanne's story about wizard school. While I despise Joanne and have had to distance myself from her franchise because of her views, there was nothing hateful about Pixarus's theming, so as a child who grew up a Ravenclaw wanting to go to this school and do magic, this was amazing to see this theme on my favorite type of flat ride.





Gerstlauer Sky Flies are my favorite flats. I love getting them spinning as violently as I can, if you do it right it's like being strapped to the front of a giant pinwheel as it whirls around like an airplane propeller. And this one has the edge of some killer theming and an awesome plot in the center of Fenix's helix. New favorite installation of my favorite flat here, Fenix even made a lap around us as we finished up!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A magic-themed screen shows the boom seats of a Gerstlauer Sky Fly, with numbers counting the number of flips each seat got. One in the front got 34, another in the back got 49.

The 34 flips were mine, but some legend got 49 on our same run! Skyhawk and Pixarus have these boards, don't recall one on Ninja Turtles, and I know Amara Aviators sadly lacks one because that's probably the one I'm best at.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: In a misty, swampy forest, a train of fuscia and purple spinning coaster cars engage a green lift hill outside of a cottage.

Continuing around, we got to Dwervelwind, Toverland's Mack spinner. For some reason I thought this thing was just as well themed as Avalon's rides, and it looks really good, but it lacks the fully ornate cottagecore garden I imagined it to have for some reason. There's a station with Droomvlucht energy, some colorful lights, and onboard audio, and it's good, but it's far from anything special. And with one train, this was a one and done for us.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A pond with several water jets sits in the foreground of a large indoor building.

Keeping up our lap around the park, the next area was just...weird. Not much theming or anything over here, there's this pond but nothing to set anything to time or place.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A series of green motorcycle-themed coaster cars in a station.

We hit Booster Bike as credit number 3, a first Vekoma motocoaster for both of us, as we'd heard it only can run one train and the wait was manageable when we walked by. So we took advantage of that and whored it out for the credit.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Over a knoll of scruffy green bushes topped with two cedar trees, an green coaster with motorbike trains races over a hill.

Honestly, why does the park even have this? It's uncomfortable, it doesn't fit the fantasy theme at all, and the ride experience itself is just boring. I was not a fan at all and I wish Toverland would either do something with it or just get rid of it. No way there's that much service life left in this thing.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: In a dark metal building, an artificial rocky mountain with a troll carved into its side has a log flume running into a splash pool.

I knew Toverland had some indoor sections to it, so that's where we went next to be greeted by what was essentially an FEC, albeit a good one. Look at the theming on this log flume!




One of my Facebook friends told us not to miss the funhouse, so we made sure to hit that while here. After turning heads as two grown men entering a fun house with funny music, we proceeded to step over sliders, run through giant hamster wheels, and other sadistic booby traps for a laugh. Cute little addition, would get any American park sued within a week.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An indoor section of a theme park with cottages painted on the wall and several kiddie rides, including yellow coaster track.

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This is what we were doing in here. There's a pseudocredit electro bob thing, not sure what it does but the line was insane so we didn't mess with it. But through a cute little cave-themed passage, you come to another building, and that's where the credit is.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sign over a series of foliage walls reads in a few languages, "Entrance maze; Exit maze."

We went outside next and tried our hand at the hedge maze, no dead Robert Patinson or marching band dropping a sick tune required. And this is honestly pretty hard as tiny as it is, but we found our way out.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A midway full of people surrounds a large wooden horse with Greek shields on the joints.

Okay, last credit of the trip coming up, and it's supposed to be one of the best coasters in Nederland.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large brown wooden coaster behind some weathered wooden palisades on a grassy slope.

Troy is a GCI coaster with plenty of similarities to Dollywood's Thunderhead. They're distinctively different layouts, but both focus on little airtime pops, overbanks, and rock a really cool station fly through. I'd always heard this coaster in the conversation for the best coasters in the Netherlands, and could think of no better ride to choose for the last coaster of the trip.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two Toverland actors dressed like SWpartan soldiers with armor and helmets over red tunics hold spears, stood on a bench before Booster Bike and Fenix.

I remember watching the Troy film the last week of seventh grade in social studies class, and it was one of the best memories from middle school that I have, so this theme was like reliving my tween years in a way. I remember wanting to kick one of my classmates down the stairs for spoiling the ending on the last day of school!

They had these actors out and about posting for glamor shots with park guests, so that was fun.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden coaster sends a gold train reading "TROY" on the front around an overbank.

Dutch Thunderhead is right! This thing marches to the beat of the same drum as Dollywood's GCI, and that's a very good note to get from me as I love Thunderhead. It's full of little ejector pops all over the layout, station fly through and everything.




Come finish off the trip with us!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A shelf holds several blue boxes containing magic wands in a messy pile, a bag reading "TOVERLAND" hangs from the side.

From here, we ask the woman in the gift shop where to get more park merch, when CLANG!!!! There's a loud bang in the gift shop that startles everyone who'd just gotten off Troy to a stunned silence. Turns out they have one of those racks that sells pieces of the coaster and a kid dropped a heavy metal chain link from the shelf.

After everyone had to change their pants, she told us to go up front to another shop, and I saw they had fake Wizarding World wands but for Toverland. Same price, but as far as I could tell, they did nothing in the park. It's cute, though!

The merch here was great. I got a t-shirt, a keychain, and almost got a Troy puzzle.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: From behind a rocky bridge over a stream, a blue wing coaster with a golden train soards up into an Immelmann loop over the path.

This park honestly surprised me. I knew they had a few good coasters, maybe that were in an odd choice of park for those coasters, but upon coming here, I think I get it. Yes, it did begin life as a kiddie park and an FEC full of cheap things for kids to do. However, they have a Greek city-state, and they've got the realm of Avalon that look great. The newer stuff has every bit the love and polish you see in a destination park like Efteling or Dollywood, right down to a sick soundtrack, and I almost wish I'd gone in the future if they're going to keep building areas like Avalon.

Love some of what's there, wish there was more of it.




IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brown mug of creme-colored soup sprinkled with chives.

John found us a little Dutch pub to go to after we left Toverland, I ended up getting a three course thing which started with this Dijon mustard soup that was absolutely delicious.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rectangular plate sits on a table

For dinner, I had to try Indonesian Satay while I was in the Netherlands. These skewers of grilled meat, in this case pork, are served with a spicy peanut sauce, and often these foamy little chips I couldn't figure out. So good!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue plate holds a pile of ice cream and red cherries with white whipped cream.

And for dessert this is called a White Woman or something, it looked good but the name reminded me of Baron so I had to get it. Vanilla ice cream with cherries, it's not bad.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett holds a stemmed chalice of beer in a pub.

Being that we were in rural Nederland, not much English got spoken here. And I was drinking a fair amount, as John was driving. After he spent ten minutes trying to figure out which bathroom to go into (I knew enough Dutch he'd have been able to just ask me but he didn't think to), which was resolved the second someone walked into one. But by the time I got out, after three strong beers, one of which was a Tripel, John is totally fine, my ass is solidly drunk.

"Are you drunk?" this cute Dutch girl asked as I stepped out of the bar.

"Nah, I'm not drunk, I'm just American!" I called back. And John's over there trying to get into the closed grocery store now laughing his ass off.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind a mossy hill with trees, a classical white and green Dutch inn with red tiled roof reads "DE HOEVE van Nunspeet."

We had a tolerable drive back to Nunspeet, where we had to pack all our things that night. It was an early morning tomorrow, gotta get all our stuff to our last Airbnb and get the car back. Amsterdam needs us!



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Several tall, narrow buildings sit on a city street at the edge of a canal, with bikes and flower boxes against a fence atop the brick retaining wall.

UP NEXT: John and I saved Amsterdam as the final city on the trip for a reason, and man oh man did we go out with a bang! A city where the sins of the night meet the sins of the past, colossal churches coexist with marijuana dispensaries, and where you can choose between seeing nudity at the Rijksmuseum or Red Light District closes out 2025's region trip.

And remember: doing the nasty is prohibited on all Delta flights.
 
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