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Plopsaland de Panne | The Ride to Happiness | Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster | 2021

I am LOVING this. Tomorrowland is by far one of the most cohesive, creative and impressive festivals on earth with some really cool whimsical ideology. I love that they're presenting this theme and am really interested to hear the audio used around the area. The only thing is, the name is a bit.... ****?
 
According to looopings, you'll hear audio based on Hans Zimmer's Tomorrowland soundtrack during the ride... I wonder if they mean this as if the ride will feature onboard audio, that would be amazing. Even if it doesn't, it will still be cool to have that soundtrack around the area.
 
Name is a bit pants, but I can kind of see where they're coming from with it since it follows the naming scheme Tomorrowland use for their main stage ("The book of wisdom", "The elixir of life", "The Reflection of Love", etc).

That said, the theming will look phenomenal if they manage to follow through on the concept art. I guess the stage set designers needed to let off some steam after the 2 years of the festival not happening.
 
Projektion said:
Name is a bit pants, but I can kind of see where they're coming from with it since it follows the naming scheme Tomorrowland use for their main stage ("The book of wisdom", "The elixir of life", "The Reflection of Love", etc).

That said, the theming will look phenomenal if they manage to follow through on the concept art. I guess the stage set designers needed to let off some steam after the 2 years of the festival not happening.
Click to expand...
TML 2021 Might be happening (To some extent). The final call will be given in March.

I hope this ride keeps this TML branding only for a short time or that Plopsaland decides to step away from the "Plopsa theme". TML and Plopsa don't go hand in hand. (Some goes for Gazprom or Mercedes and EP)
 
As a Belgian citizen, I’m somewhat ‘proud’ of this cooperation and as a massive TML fan, the theme only makes me more curious! The name is indeed a bit weird but this announcement so exciting that I don’t care. Since TML is involved now, I expect nothing less of great to perfect quality.
 
One thing is for certain, it will have an awesome soundtrack!

I love the fact they seem to be turning into an entire area rather than just a standalone coaster, and I can see this is them shifting into a more adult market than they are currently aiming at.

Although it is a surprising move... it's more something I would expect from Thorpe Park with Ministry of Sound. Knowing Merlin, they would rip down Kobra at Chessington, paint it purple, and call it Ministry of Sound: Disko (I've just copyrighted that name, just in case Merlin read these forums for their next idea!).
 
The more I've thought about this, and more I remain...conflicted about it, I guess.

Just thinking about the attraction / area in its own right, I love it. The ride looks great (even if I am a bit unsure about how I'll feel with spinning and inversions). The theme is unique, different and fun. Onboard audio, seemingly, is always a nice bonus. The concept art looks fab (and Plopsa's concept art is usually pretty close to the real thing). Really, this ticks all the boxes.

For Plopsaland as a park, this does wonders for them. It attract a new audience, creating a new ride which will bring in a more thrill-seeking, non-enthusiast group. It allows them to stay competitive with other parks in the area, and opens up a greater catchment area for visitors. And it's something which seems to have caught a wider interest. I fully expect to see articles in the coming days and months about "The Tomorrowland Coaster" for example.

But. My long-standing issue with this project has only just grown bigger. The placement of the ride partially over the lake really runs the risk of destroying that quaintness of that side of the park. Unlike Anubis, it's not particularly hidden and easy to forget. It's very much going to be a focal point of a ride. And on top of that, it's a very not-Plopsa theme. It just feels like a huge clash against the whole park, and one which I don't really like.

Maybe it's a sign of things to come and they want to age the park up a bit more? Maybe it's a necessary evil to ensure the park remains competitive? Maybe it'll be fine, and I'm just being overly weary about its impact?

So yeah, for now I'm still excited for the project. And I really think it will be a really well received ride near-universally. I just hope, short and long term, it's an investment which doesn't damage the park in other ways.
 
I'll see it as being to Plopsaland what Kärnan was to Hansa Park: it may have looked overly big and intrusive at first, but as long as the ride experience holds up I think there'll eventually come a time where it's difficult to imagine the park without it, especially if it puts the park on the map for people coming to Belgium from abroad (it certainly did for me).
 
'The Ride to Happiness' also implies that the final destination is happiness. Watch the station be called Happiness now so it's technically true, It better ride well now with such a chinese 'Happy' name
 
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