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!