I might have anti-dated this post so that it shows up as 2024 instead of 2025, as it is the first of July when I’m typing this.

With the big updates on my website, it only felt fitting that I would pick this back up! And as luck wants to have it, 2024 was a great year for theme parks for me! So let’s get started.

Visited parks in 2024

I visited 9 different theme parks this year, and 5 out of them were brand new for me. Two of those is a water park.

Of these parks, I still consider Efteling to be my absolute favourite park. Europa-Park was on top of my bucket-list for years and I’m glad I finally got to visit it - it’s an amazing park! While in 2019 I wasn’t really impressed by Walibi Belgium, that changed a lot in 2024 (and 2025, spoilers). Kondaa, even though it has opened a few years ago now, is an amazing ride that packs a punch.

The worst park by far was Walygator Grand-Est. It is easily the worst park I have ever visited, a sentiment that is shared by my girlfriend.

In general, I did visit a lot of new parks last year, however, due to work-related burn-out symptoms, I did not go often to the parks I would usually visit often, like Bobbejaanland.

Overnight stays

As far as I remember, I only had a single overnight stay which was at Europa-Park where I stayed at the “Kronasar” hotel, which was a very lovely hotel!

I visited Wiener Prater during a work trip and I had a few nights at District Living in Vienna.

New attractions

With having visited so many different and new parks, I did score a lot of credits… Attractions that opened in 2024 are marked as NEW.

Due to having visited so many parks, I’m going to separate this by park:

Of these attractions I enjoyed Danse Macabre the most. However, it is extremely hard for me to pick the worst one - and not because I didn’t ride any bad rides, but rather, I rode some terrible rides and I can’t choose which one is the worst! In all honesty, The Bandit and Volare are both absolutely terrible and I don’t think I’ll ever ride them again.

Most intense ride of them all was probably Voltron Nevara, which I got to ride in 34 degrees. It was extremely hot!

ERT on coasters/rides

I had the pleasure to have had ERT (Exclusive Ride Time) on these rides:

• Bob Express (Bobbejaanland)
• Revolution (Bobbejaanland)

The ERT on Bob Express was amazing as there was a special light package installed for us, smoke effects and even music! This gave it an exceptional (and exclusive) vibe that I’ve never experienced before in a park!

In none of the other parks I was able to score ERT, however… better luck in 2025!

I think we have a new winner in terms of furthest park! Since last time I did this, I also moved, so distances for all parks have changed. It is funny that Wiener Prater makes Europa-Park look nearby, as it is almost a 6 hour drive!

Due to bad internet access in Bobbejaanland, the ride count for Revolution can be off.

Last chance to ride…

I don’t think any rides near me were demolished in 2024/2025.

My favourite rides in 2024

A new year and new attractions have opened! Without a doubt, my favourite new attraction is Danse Macabre - it’s not even close!

This list changes almost daily. Voltron is great, but it felt a bit too intense for me when I rode it (it was an extremely hot day, though).

I had hoped to place Piraten in Batavia in this top 3, but it felt like too much was happening at the same time and it left me overstimulated, not well. Beautiful ride, but this is really a case where less would be more.

Halloween

Where I am usually all about Halloween, I only visited a single park during the Halloween season and I only did a single haunted house, which was Wrecked in Bobbejaanland. As I already did it last year, no surprises there.

Coaster credit 100!

I got my 100th coaster credit (that I tracked), which ended up being Maskerade in Wiener Prater. Just a simple Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster, but it was a nice ride.

Other important moments

A few moments stand out for me: first of all, I got to ride Danse Macabre a week before it opened to the public. It’s an amazing ride and it quickly became one of my all-time favourite rides (even though I absolutely loved Spookslot, I think Danse Macabre absolutely does it justice).

I also vividly remember opening day of Danse Macabre - as I was in the park that day, with my best friend - and when we entered the park the queue for Danse Macabre started at the Vonderplas near the entrance of the park - the queue was 6 hours long at that point!

In the history of the Efteling, it happened once before (as far as I’m aware) that the queue for a ride started at the entrance of the park, and that was with the opening of Droomvlucht. What makes it less impressive, though, is that the entrance of the Efteling was situated right next to Droomvlucht (near where Villa Volta and Raveleijn are currently located). The queue for Danse Macabre was more than 1km long!

Another moment to remember is that I go to walk through the El Paso Special ride in Bobbejaanland and was able to explore the entire ride. It’s a highly detailed and beautiful ride!

Finally, I went to the Rollercoaster Restaurant with colleagues in Wiener Prater, which was also very fun. The food was very mid, though.

That is about it for 2024. And while 2025 is almost halfway done, I can already say that the first new park that I have never visited before has already happened… but that is news for another day, as they say.

• Yours truly, Kevin.