Posted on by European Coaster Kings

Untamed Opening Event – Walibi Holland

Sven: Today, Walibi Holland kindly invited us to the opening event of the year in Europe! Untamed, Europe’s first Iron Horse RMC coaster officially opened today. Get ready to face the Wilderness and learn about the creature that lurks at the end of the park.

– In the past, many of our images have been posted, featured, and shared on forums, social media platforms and websites around the web. We work hard to provide the coverage that we do, and we encourage our audience to share our content and use our images, BUT ONLY IF proper credit is given to thecoasterkings.com. Thank you! –

The ride only opened at 1pm30, so meanwhile we got to enjoy some of the other star coasters at the park. Goliath and Lost Gravity for example!

As soon as we could enter the Wilderness area however, our journey into the wild began. Bugs and creatures were spread all over the place, playfully inviting guests into their territory.

Of course, the biggest bug of them all was still sleeping.

The whole area had a very festival vibe to it. Especially the lift hill too! Doesn’t it look stunning?

Untamed definitely changed the area completely! No more medieval style, but a midsummer night feeling instead.

No more waiting! Well, besides the necessary speeches of course. First up was Scott Bravenboer who’s become pretty famous among European theme park fans due to his many updates on his Instagram page! He definitely smiled!

But even more excited, was of course Mascha Van Till, the park director. A masterpiece project for sure. She rode her first RMC coaster by accident in Texas, which convinced her immediately: she wanted to have that in her park. So, what followed were discussions with RMC until construction could begin. “After nine months of hard work, built on the footprint using the skeleton of Robin Hood, it’s legacy, the baby is born: Untamed!”

But every boss has a boss! Dominique Marcel, chairman of Compagnie des Alpes, could not miss out on the opening of this unique investment. “Untamed is entirely in line with out group strategy. Aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of our parks and which is entirely focused on the guest satisfaction. A key element, critical element, for the teams but also for the visitors.” The vision they have today, benefits every park in the group as it will not be the final major ride opening in the coming years! Right, Parc Astérix, Futuroscope & Walibi Belgium?

The final familiar theme park icon that got to speak and ride on the first official ride, was of course RMC owner Fred Grubb. Apparently always nervous for these kinds of opening but had a wonderful time working with the Walibi Holland’s team. He can’t wait to see what this ride will mean for other parks in Europe. Obviously, they will be quite jealous and approach him for a similar project and we won’t say no! As for now however, he considers Untamed as one of the smoothest coasters he’s ever built. His next stop is already in Europe though: Poland!

Finally, it was our turn and already the queue really looked promising. The right amount of wild plants plus lots of details from the former Robin Hood!

After a short wait, we rode it for the first time more towards the back of the train. The station felt fresh and looked nice with all the plants around.

And off we went! The first outside banked turn, really feels good when you’re sitting on the right side of the train. And then, you go upwards, slowly ticking until you speed up near the flags!

The first drop feels exactly how you would expect, but is not necessarily overwhelming. Also the little bunny hump delivers some nice airtime, which can be felt most when sitting more in the front.

But then, my favorite element: the 270° Double Inverting Stall. Basically, once you go off your seat, you don’t return until you fully exit with the train out of this element. Personally, never done anything like it and I adore it!

What happens then is a whole lot of bunch of airtime moments, ejector if sitting more to the front before reaching the next inversion.

This inversion, the Step-Up Under Flip, feels so smooth. Such a stunning sight too!

And then… More airtime! A wonderful view from at the top of the queue on the ride for sure!

Let’s get the discussions started, because Untamed claims to have five inversions. Well this next element, the 140 Degrees Stall, should be the fourth of the ride. The name kinda already says it’s not, but for me it did feel like an inversion while riding. Even though it’s not… What definitely is an inversion though, is the final Barrel Roll. Another wonderful element with lovely hangtime!

After that, there’s still some surprise airtime before hitting the brakes! What A Ride! I haven’t ridden Wildfire yet, but so haven’t many Europeans as it’s way too high up north. Here however, close to Amsterdam, people will come from all over to ride this thing and they will be blown away. There’s nothing like it in Central Europe.

Did I mention how I really like the train design? However, it’s also the only negative point about the ride: the restrains. When sitting more to the front, it really hurts your legs during the ejector time. Next to that, the lower back of my legs hit the bottom of the train a lot. So it can be a bit painful in that way, but it’s totally worth it. Besides that, the train design is freakin’ cool.

The layout really delivers a fast paced experience from drop till brake that honestly feels like a workout. After riding it three times in a row, I really needed a break from it’s intensity. Personally, I enjoy it more towards the back but the front throws you a lot in the air. Thus, you need to ride Untamed several times for sure!

Theming wise, they delivered just the necessary amount. Yet, I look forward to see what they will do with the middle section which now looks pretty blank besides lots of “LOVE” letters. In the queue, you can see lots of nods to Robin Hood as mentioned. For example here, some of the track!

Rocky Mountain Construction’s first Iron Horse can thus be considered as a big success. The crowds will devour this ride, even though the queues on this opening day weren’t that bad at all. The waiting time clicked to 120 minutes at one point but was mostly around the hour.

What more is there to say? Congrats to everyone who worked on the project. Walibi Holland claims the title of Rollercoaster Capital of Europe. Yet, they now want to focus more on families too with children starting at the age of six. The new Marketing Director came all the way from Walibi Belgium to work on that new direction, so expect more family thrills in the coming years. And I won’t complain at all about that, cause I think it’s the right way to grow for the park. They have three killer coasters now to please us for many years still and I’m sure the teams will have lots of fun things in store.

Thanks again Walibi Holland for this wonderful event! You guys did a tremendous job and we’ll see you again soon! If you were doubting of going here, don’t wait any longer! I’m UNTAMED, now it’s your turn!

Thank you for checking out this Untamed report! We have lots of new coverage available for you to explore, check it out:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *