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We Went to Plopsaland!

 Incredibly, with less than a week before we were set to fly, we booked an entire trip to Belgium to experience Ride to Happiness. While so many enthusiasts have travelled out to De Panne to experience this special ride and everything else the park has to offer, it was particularly special for us as it was our first abroad trip and we also both hit our 100th cred while there. I thought it would be nice to write down my thoughts and experiences for the few people who might be considering it. 


Cost


Firstly, I think it is important to discuss costs as it needs to be clear how much money would be needed for such a trip. We flew on a Monday at 8am from Manchester Airport and flew to South Chaleroi in Brussels and the flights in total cost about £30 but that did result in a sleepless night prior to the flight back at 7am on Wednesday. Additionally, park tickets are only around £35 each and that allows you on all rides and on an off peak day it allows you to get on plenty of rides. Then in terms of where we were staying, a lovely apartment that could sleep 4 or 5 and about 35 minute walk from the park or a quick tram ride if you want to save your legs and that again cost around £30 each. So in total for the 2 of us it cost £95 but then there was spending money plus travel in the country but all that came to less then € 150. 


Ride to Happiness

Now I'm skipping to the good stuff here, the main attraction, possibly the magnum opus of Mack Rides. Now you can see this from outside the park, we saw in on the train pulling in and were all excited by it instantly. This coaster has theming unlike what I've seen before as it is immersive and beautiful and not actually a sinister theme like so many areas of the UK theme park scene. The soundtrack is stunning and just seems to really fit the ride, I don't know how to explain it but it just seems like the perfect music to fit the ride.


The ride itself starts with a mental JoJo roll and the hang time is absolutely insane. The first launch is great and as you a thrown out of your seat at the peak of the hill and take in the view you fly back down and go through a couple of inversions and fly through till the second launch which on the back car gives great air time and experience one more inversion and a load more air time before hitting the break run. This ride is long, amazingly well paced and so much fun. Simply my favourite coaster so far and both of our 100th creds which will always be special. 


But wait, there's more!

This park is not a one trick pony by any means. Anubis was a surprise hit for me, the launch is punchy, the inversions are whippy and to say it is a Gertslauer it is remarkably smooth and my favourite by them now. Also the queue line is amazing and follows the rest of the park in being well themed. Heidi is a GCI wooden coaster that is not incredible but still fun, I'd say too smooth but fun nevertheless, Wicker Man is still better though. The rest of the coasters are well themed and do a good job but by far the worst one was the #likeme coaster which was just a bit painful but a cred is a cred at the end of the day.

The dark ride is very well done and one of my favourites I have done so far. it lasts such a long time and has incredible theming throughout. Lots of buildings are stunning and the entire park is so clean and has such a positive atmosphere. If we had a bit extra time then we would have tried out a couple of other rides but not to be unfortunately. We also had some lovely food at the park and everything was well priced. 



Just thinking about the trip and being so happy to finally get abroad and it now gives us the confidence to go to more parks abroad. This park has some world class rides and some very fun attractions and with it being so accessible to us in the UK it is definitely worth visiting and trying out everything it has to offer. We loved this place and will definitely be back at some point, especially with wanting to go to Walibi Belgium but a few other plans are in place coming for abroad trips for now. Overall, this was an amazing experience and we would recommend this park to anyone considering it.


As always, thanks for reading and let me know your first abroad trip!

Take care and see you in the next post.

Tom ✌


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