ACE Europe: Springfest 23 at Walibi Holland

Members of ACE Europe and Pretpark.Club gather for the first-ever Springfest 23 at Walibi Holland.
All Photos: Jo Pools. View full-sized image.

ACE held its first-ever Springfest at Walibi Holland ( Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, Netherlands), and it was a great day from the beginning until the end.

When Springfest 23 was announced, the Dutch organization Pretpark.Club asked if it could join ACE on this day. Some of its members are also ACE members, and ACE Europe viewed it as an opportunity to join forces since both groups share the same ideas and are all connected by love and passion for roller coasters.

In the morning, the 44 people in attendance received a badge and lanyard from their respective clubs. Following a very warm “Good morning” greeting from the Walibi Holland team, the group made its way to Lost Gravity, a Mack BigDipper roller coaster custom model. Great fun was had on the roller coaster during the ERT, and the two groups started to mingle. After almost 45 minutes riding Lost Gravity, the first ERT of the day ended.

The event began with morning ERT on Lost Gravity, a custom Mack Rides BigDipper.
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This was followed by a Q&A with Mascha Taminiau (park director of Walibi Holland) and Scott Bravenboer, who works in the “events in production” department. The park treated everyone to coffee, tea, muffins and doughnuts before a presentation on the future of Walibi Holland. This included a discussion about the two new roller coasters being constructed, as Walibi Holland will add two single-rail coasters from Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) in the 2025 season — one expected to be targeted to families and the other offering thrills.

After the very open Q&A, it was time for everyone to discover the park on their own or in small groups. During the day everyone rode the other roller coasters in the park and at 6 p.m., met outside Untamed for the second ERT session of the event while employees cleared the park. Untamed is an RMC conversion of the former Robin Hood wood coaster from Vekoma, and honestly, RMC did a great job with the project. Featuring 14 moments of airtime, it is a very good conversion by RMC and, in the author’s opinion, one of their best.

ERT on Untamed, the park’s 2019 RMC conversion of the former Robin Hood wood coaster, was one of the highlights of the event.
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Walibi Holland operated Untamed with two trains enabling everyone to remain seated, the only rule being that every rider moved one seat to the back and the back seat moved to the front so everyone could experience the front and back seats. Everyone in attendance loved the idea, and not a lot of time was lost in the station during the loading and unloading procedure. After many rides, ERT on Untamed came to an end and it was time for the BBQ dinner. Following the meal attendees offered thanks to the staff who wished everyone a safe journey back home and concluded the first Springfest on a high note.

— Jo Pools, ACE Europe Regional Representative