Posted on by European Coaster Kings

Walibi Belgium Update – Karma World – April 2019

Sven: It’s the Easter weekend and it’s sunny side up in Belgium. Guests are flowing in theme parks and we walked among them in Walibi Belgium. At the start of the season, the park reopened a new themed area: Karma World. Discover more about the new food, a repainted Cobra and most importantly the world’s first Erratic Dark Ride: Popcorn Revenge! Plus an update on the brand new coaster!

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Let’s do a quick walk through the park before we get into Karma World. Walibi feels refreshing since the start of the master plan. But the classics never die. Loup-Garou was running pretty good and guess what: they have new merchandise! There’s t-shirts and a hoodie. So obviously, we had to buy one of this icon coaster. Can’t wait for when they will install the path between this spot and Vampire!

Next up: Pulsar. Because of the weather, this was definitely a popular ride. We were lucky to ride it single riders in the morning because after that, they went to one boat for the rest of the day. Maybe it’s my fault because as I got in, I had to go back out as there were problems with the restrains on one of the boats. That meant a 70 – 80 minute wait time in the afternoon! But hey, at least it was open.

In case you were wondering why it’s called a Power Splash.

Last year’s addition, Exotic World, was radiant with the warm temperature. Tiki-Waka remains an OK Family Bobsled with some good moments. Especially the little airtime moment while going through the ring gets me every time.

Cocktail, anyone? You can get one with alcohol too!

And here it is, Walibi’s brand new coaster: Fun Pilot! Ok, you might not want to come here for this credit. But, it’s a well needed fun addition for the smaller visitors.

The train awaits unpacking and even though it’s a small Zierer coaster, it does look stunning at the edge of the lake.

Because of the coaster, the children area really feels part of the park now. It used to be a bit separated but now you’re forced to go through. Oh, and do notice the repaint on Ali Baba! Is it Karma?

Indeed, Karma World! Let’s get a closer look!

First of all, we spot the new color of Cobra! A very subtle look which blends in perfectly.

The only downside: no new trains. They got a pretty nice paint job but that’s about it. Besides that, the station remained unchanged as well. A missed opportunity.

On the upside, the former funfair looking magic carpet finally blends in more nicely.

Food wise, they moved the quick service restaurant to the center of the area. Delhi’cious offers Asian cuisine with for example a lovely Tiki Massala. It’s good to see that they offer a mixture of foods instead of always french fries and burgers.

With the sun out, the new terrace was a wonderful place to rest a bit in between all the rides. Love this view!

The brand new ride of the area as mentioned is Popcorn Revenge! This very first Erratic dark ride. What does that mean? Well, it’s non linear shooter with a randomizer so that every ride can be different.

In the queue, they transformed many movies into popcorned version posters. This immediately attracts the attention. It’s no Henri Popper and the Forbidden Journey of course. 

The queue does a great job to convince you that you are in a Bollywood theater. The Grand Maharajah Theater has a classic style and makes it fit the puzzle.

The story is that guests enter with popcorn into the theater and every seat in the carriages gets one of the six flavors. Each with it’s own color so that you can recognize where you shoot during the ride.

In the station, there is a two split queue: 1 to 3 guests and more. Here, they either need to start the two queues earlier or put the signs up earlier. Many guests don’t understand how it works.

The vehicles are ETF system, also know for Symbolica and Bazyliszek!

Alright, let’s ride! The first room is where you get your flavor and get to test out the shooting. New is that you can see how much points you score while shooting! Perfect to start getting that high score up!

Then you go into the center room which is very important for the Erratic dark ride concept. Here you transit to the different cinema rooms where the shooting happens. Also mind the screen here so that you can score extra points!

There are several themes for the popcorn: a ghostly churchyard, an urban superhero city, a space theme… We had the same one twice so that’s why I remember so well. Yet I also saw a pirate themed screen. The animation really looks stunning. I see them improving every time when I see them installing it in a new ride.

After three rooms, you go into the final room where you can up that score one last time. With a little surprise along the way! Some people were bothered by the characters and the fact that they’re popcorn. I personally love the characters and they have a Rabbids or Minions feel that will appeal to the crowds.

I was a bit skeptical as first as the park already has a splendid shooter dark ride: Challenge of Tutankhamon. Yet the only thing that they have in common are the shooting aspect and the trackless vehicles. Smaller parks should definitely invest in this kind of ride as it has a small footprint, a very high quality and fun for the whole family. Congrats to the whole team who worked on it!

Thank you for checking out this new Walibi Belgium report! Check out some of our other new reports:

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