After a great 2024 with Europa-Park and my 100th coaster credit, 2025 was all about doubling down on the parks closer to home. And by “doubling down”, I mean visiting the Efteling 15 times – perhaps more, I might have forgotten to log a few visits here and there.

2025 was a very different year for me than 2024 - I ended up getting fired from my job in the beginning of the year, less than two weeks into the year. That influenced my plans enormously and my life has changed drastically since then.

Health issues came into my family in 2025, my nephew died, my mother got a terminal diagnosis, I broke up with my partner after 7 years and I moved out. Things did start to improve at the end of 2025, but it was a challenging year all the same.

Imagine, even the original K3 returned in 2025. The horrors that we had to endure in 2025 will continue on in 2026, as they’re breaking ticket records for the Sportpaleis in Antwerp that will likely never be broken (no, I won’t call it “AFAS Dome”).

That all led to mainly visiting the Efteling a lot.

Visited parks in 2025

I visited 9 different parks this year, with Duinrell and Tikibad being new for me.

No surprise here — Efteling remains my favourite park and 15 visits proves it. Between Danse Macabre, Fata Morgana, and Droomvlucht, there’s simply always a reason to go back.

Highlights of the year were the opening of the Efteling Grand Hotel and the new shows Een Avond met Ezel, which was absolutely wonderful as well as the show De Man met de Toverlantaarn, which is probably one of the best shows the Efteling has ever produced! No pictures or video allowed of the show, though.

The year started quite early on with a return to Bellewaerde, a park I hadn’t visited for many years! It’s a nice little local park, but there’s little to compel me to return there. As it was January, Amazonia was also closed, but it had been closed for the rest of the previous year as well so… There were still enough rides for me to gain credits upon, like Dawson Duel (which constantly broke down that day) and Wakala, which was way more fun than expected! But it was a very cold day and I see no reason to return soon to Bellewaerde.

I also visited Duinrell and the Tikibad for the first time. I expected more from Duinrell, to be honest, but DragonFly and Falcon were nice enough rides.

Walibi Holland continued the tradition of disappointing me, with both YoY Chill and Thrill feeling like I was in a 20-year-old Vekoma. I honestly enjoyed Eat My Dust a lot more. I probably won’t return to Walibi Holland soon.

Mecalodon at Walibi Belgium however was a really great coaster!

New attractions

A good mix of brand new coasters and first-time rides this year. Attractions that opened in 2025 are marked as NEW.

Of these, Mecalodon at Walibi Belgium was the highlight — not just the ride itself, but also the backstage tour and ERT I got on it. More on that below. I also was able to ride YoY Thrill and Chill at Walibi Holland and also got to experience ERT on it.

My expectations of YoY were high, but it ended up being quite a letdown. First, they broke down constantly during the day and during our ERT. It is not an exaggeration to say that they broke down five times during our ERT. The staff also was quite rude in our group’s opinion. It didn’t help.

But YoY is also very rough for a new ride - especially when you compare it to how smooth Untamed is, which is built by the same manufacturer. I just couldn’t really enjoy the ride and where I spent the entirety of the ERT on Mecalodon riding it, I stopped after a few goes on YoY. If I had to choose, I would say that I prefer Chill, mainly because it feels a tad bit smoother.

But for a new coaster to just have opened, it was INCREDIBLY rough already.

The final ERT of the season happened – as usual – at Bobbejaanland on Oki-Doki, which remains a really fun junior coaster!

ERT on coasters/rides

I had the pleasure to have had ERT on:

• Mecalodon (Walibi Belgium) — including a backstage tour!
• YoY Chill (Walibi Holland)
• YoY Thrill (Walibi Holland)
• Oki-Doki (Bobbejaanland)

Getting a backstage tour on top of ERT is always special, and on a brand new coaster at that. We even got to be under the launch of Mecalodon while it was running!

Favourite park shows

This year I want to highlight some of the shows I saw, because they deserve the attention:

An Evening with Donkey was just amazing and everything you can expect from Donkey: very extra, a lot of funny songs and humour. Just a great show all around and greatly performed!

The Charlatans had to say goodbye with their final show in May, but a new show replaced it, Dr. Charlatans Cabaret Macabre. I’m on the fence, I really loved the actors of the first Charlatan-show.

Fox and Trot was something new in Plopsaland De Panne - it featured the villains from the musical Pinnokio that Studio 100 - the parent company of Plopsa - produced in 2000. When I was a little child - many years ago now - I actually went and saw the musical, so I knew quite a lot of the songs - better than most of the audience, since they haven’t performed that musical since 2006! I love the songs, it was greatly performed and I had a great day. So that certainly was my high-light of the day.

34 rides on Danse Macabre. Last year I rode it 8 times and it was already my most ridden attraction. Turns out I was just getting started.

Danse Macabre got a lot of changes this year: a new ride program but also new effects were added to the ride.

It’s an incredible ride that only keeps on improving.

Last chance to ride…

De Kikkerachtbaan in Duinrell rode its last rides last year, as well as the Orca-Ride in Bobbejaanland.

My favourite rides in 2025

A ride in 2025 should not be this rough. And my ex (at that time still my girlfriend) ruined the day as well.

Other important moments

The biggest highlight of 2025 was the backstage tour and ERT on Mecalodon at Walibi Belgium. Getting to see a brand new coaster from behind the scenes and then ride it with a small group is the kind of experience you don’t forget.

On the other end of the spectrum, 15 visits to the Efteling means I’ve spent more time there this year than some people spend on holiday. Danse Macabre alone justifies the season pass — and I’m not even slightly tired of it.

- Yours truly, Kevin.