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

                  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 fuck 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.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in a chamber decorated with wizard-themed art on blue walls and a star-shaped light.

Seriously, Toverland went all out with this area and its rides! They've got IMAscore and everything!

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.

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.

Got a POV of their weird little kiddie coaster, Toos-Express. Meh now, but the trains kid in me would've been all over this. My first ever coaster was in a mall so I get weirdly nostalgic about these little indoor kiddie coasters.

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: sexual activity is prohibited on all Delta flights.

Benelux 2025 Region Trip://Leg 6~ The Polder RMC Trifecta

                 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.

So we got through the line to the lighting aisle at Menard's and sat in the back, per Youri's recommendation. John and I got lots of chatter over our Steel Vengeance shirts (totally on accident) but it was time to ride! Let's get Untamed!

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, and 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!