Walibi World

Walibi World is a theme park in Biddinghuizen, Dronten in the Netherlands, owned by European leisure attraction group CDA Parks (part of the Compagnie des Alpes group).

History

"Walibi World" began life as "Flevohof" (named after the Dutch province in which the park had been constructed) - an educational attraction - in 1971, which featured a recreation of an Indian town, numerous traditional artisan demonstrations and attractions on themes such as agriculture.

Having struggled to compete with more modern family attractions, Flevohof went bankrupt in 1993, and was subsequently purchased by the Walibi Group that autumn, who redeveloped the site as an amusement park. A major winter-long programme of reconstruction saw the park re-open under the name "Walibi Flevo" on 7 May 1994, featuring one of Europe's first suspended looping rollercoasters, El Condor built by Vekoma (the other being Alton Towers's Nemesis which had opened two months earlier), and adopting the wallaby mascot of its sister park, "Walibi Wavre" in Belgium. (The name 'Walibi', incidentally, is derived from the first two letters of three towns in Belgium put together to form a single word: Wavre - Limal - Bierges).

The Walibi parks, including Bellewaerde in Belgium, were purchased by Premier Parks Inc. in 1998, who subsequently overhauled the "Flevo" park, removing the 'Walibi' branding and building 30 new attractions as part of its transformation into "Six Flags Holland" in 2000. Six Flags's nominal expansion into Europe saw a similar refurbishment of the Belgian Walibi attraction, both parks benefiting from the group's rights to use Warner Brothers characters within them, leading to the creation of a Looney Tunes-themed area and a powered-launch coaster themed around popular comic figure Superman.

Significantly, the park saw the opening of Europe's first hypercoaster, Goliath, in 2002.

In 2004, "Six Flags Holland" and its sister parks were purchased by financiers Palamon Capital Partners, who grouped the attractions under the name "StarParks". The park reverted to "Walibi" branding in 2005; numerous attractions having been rebranded as the sale of the parks also meant the loss of Warner Brothers rights.

In the second half of 2006, the parks were sold for the second time in as many years to the French group Grévin & Cie (Compagnie des Alpes), most notably the operators of the French themed resort Parc Astérix, who also purchased two other Dutch attractions - the Dolfinarium and Avonturenpark Hellendoorn. One of the park's best known attractions, La Via Volta, has been closed for the removal of the old trains. New trains will be added and it will be re-opened in 2009. The old ones were sent to Pleasurewood Hills in England.

Attractions

Thrill Rides

* El Condor
* Aztec
* Excalibur
* Flying Dutchman Goldmine
* G-Force
* La Via Volta
* Il Gladiatore
* Goliath
* Robin Hood
* Space Shot
* Xpress
* Tomahawk

Family Attractions

* Mini Taxis
* Le Tour des Jardins
* Tequillas Taxi
* Cavalli Barocca
* La Fortuna
* La Grande Roue
* Les Petits Cheveux
* Los Sombreros
* Merlin's Magic Castle
* Pavillon de The
* Piccolini
* Go Karts

Water Rides

* Captain Kid
* Hudson Bay
* El Rio Grande
* Crazy River
* Splash Battle

All attractions are divided into several themed areas.

External links

* [http://www.walibiworld.nl/ Official website]