Saturday, December 19, 2015

Innovative New Water Ride - Pulsar - Coming to Walibi Belgium in 2016



Walibi Belgium will add Pulsar, a brand new style of water thrill ride from Mack Rides in 2016. Already under construction for some time, the ride is most easily described as a shuttle style water coaster utilizing shoot-the-chute style boats - the new type of ride has been labeled a Power Splash by Mack.  The track and boats appear similar to those used on Mack's other large water rides, an example of which is Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld San Antonio.


This recent construction photo comes from a news video on the attraction which had some neat aerial footage from a drone.  Pulsar is being built into the existing lake at the center of Walibi Belgium, and when finished will look like the concept art up top.  The ride uses a station turn table to allow two boats to be used at once, one loading while the other is on the track.

The ride's description states that it will feature three launches at a maximum speed of nearly 62 miles per hour.  The spikes at either end of the ride extend to a few feet shy of 150 feet in the air.  So this is by no means a small ride!  It sounds like boats will first be launched backwards, then climb the tower and receive a boost as they travel forward (and it seems only create a splash with forward motion).  This concept video released by the park gives a good look at that:

I'm not sure that the video is 100% accurate to the launch sequence, however it looks pretty exciting either way.  Could there even be a bit of air on that hill in the middle?  I hope the ride is a success and one opens in the U.S. sooner than later!  Additional recent construction photos are available at this link.


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