Last season (2016), it added its first new rollercoaster for over a decade. Lost Gravity from Mack Rides features a 680m-long layout together with eye-catching 8-seater semi-winged ride vehicles. Prior to this, the park’s last big attraction investment was a Splash Battle added in 2005.
Lost Gravity has been a hit with teenagers and hints at the future direction for this park in Flevoland, an hour north of Amsterdam. Its popular Fright Nights are becoming more elaborate and intense each Halloween. During the course of the year, Walibi Holland also provides the backdrop to several music festivals. A “huge new ride” is planned for 2020.
“Walibi Holland is an interesting park,” says Fassier. “Its target market is young adults first, families second. That is why we might take the choice to rebrand it and communicate a little bit differently to the other parks of the group. The risk is that families have more money compared to young adults. So part of our strategy would be to develop other kinds of business, festivals and so on. Over the past five years we have totally developed the campgrounds. Then we are thinking about adding some lodges. I think we could move away from the Walibi theme to a festival theme. When you come into this park, there is always a festival atmosphere.”
Were the Dutch park to be rebranded, then Fassier says it wouldn’t bother him having one less park in the Walibi chain.