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Walibi Belgium | Pulsar | Mack Power Splash

More progress and pictures :p

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https://www.facebook.com/CoasterActus/p ... 6620405142
 
After asking a question on rcdbs fb page about the splash, Walibi Belgium decided to reply back.

My question was:
From going all that, the only thing I can't get my head round is how can something create a splash going forwards an not backwards. Unless it has side fins which dig in at the front an scoop the water an then at the back of those curve up but yea still a bit like "huh?"

An their reply was:
Hi Luke ! Because we mainly communicate in French and Dutch, this post seems a good way to give some more information about the launches and splash. In the promotional video we have put online last week, this is not 100% accurate. The ride will start with a backwards launch onto the highest spike at 50kph. It will be launched forwards up to 80kph and will make it's last backwards launch at 100kph to reach its highest point and drop to the final big splash. Between the last launch and the splash, the water level in the splash zone will be increased.
 
Yeah, so it is a pump system with the water increasing/decreasing. The way they've described it, it sounds pretty fun. I think this due to having 'vertical' spikes, might actually be quite fun.
 
Three launches, then one splash? Hmm... I really don't know how I feel about this.

Mack developing a vertical drop on a water coaster is what's intriguing.
 
So, it's basically this, only faster, taller and with a splash?

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Excuse me if it doesn't quite make me want to rush back to that s**thole, Brussels, anytime soon.
 
This thing just looks so weird and...unnecessary?

But at the same time, I'm kind of looking forward to trying it out. Like, I know it'll probably end up being a bit naff, but it seems like it could be fun too?

Has an opening date been confirmed for this yet?
 
JoshC. said:
This thing just looks so weird and...unnecessary?

But at the same time, I'm kind of looking forward to trying it out. Like, I know it'll probably end up being a bit naff, but it seems like it could be fun too?

Has an opening date been confirmed for this yet?

At this point, JoraVision is working on the theming of the ride, so the deadline for opening is May!
 
Bizarre looking ride... At first I thought the vertical bit with the curved top was part of a Dodonpa-style top hat.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk
 
Today, a date has been set for Pulsar to open: Saturday June 4th. Some soft-openings are planned in May!
 
After the fiasco with Vertigo, I can't really understand why they'd built a ride like this, which is dependant on a series of pumps to move loads of water around for every "circuit". That's a lot of extra mechanical complexity just for the sake of a gimmick. Gee, what could possibly go wrong and potentially hinder operations for weeks or months on end? It's another shuttle coaster too, and if I'm not mistaken the park has got two of those already.

I suppose I should be thrilled that the park is building its first working coaster in fifteen years, but I feel like they could and should have gone for something that's a little more reliable and unique in the park. If this too fails, I can imagine them going "Nope, coasters built after 2001 are a bad idea, they always break down. Let's go back to our tried and trusted strategy of new mascots and rethemes and never speak of this 'new coaster' thing again".

Then again, I could be mistaken. I hope that Pulsar turns out a success, so they'll go ahead and add more coasters to their lineup. Something circuitous and inverting would be great for Walibi Belgium.
 
I agree to an extent, but Mack have proven themselves to be very reliable.

Going to a company that had never built a coaster was a stupid move last time.
 
I find it weird that they're getting another boomerang style coaster. They already have Psyke Underground and Cobra, this is just going to be another short forwards and backwards experience... but with a splash, oooh! Different!
 
Today, Walibi Belgium invited some themeparkfansites to the park and let them have a sneak peak at Pulsar's construction. Some of the details that have been given so far:

* Boats for Pulsar will arrive on April 4th and testing will begin from that date and will last for one month.

* Pulsar will have some soft-openings for the ride starting somewhere around middle of May. The ride will open officialy on Saturday June 4th.

* No details about the theming of the ride have been given yet. We only knew that IMAscore will provide the music for the ride. Walibi Belgium revealed today that Pulsar will have two pre-shows!

A detailed article will be released later this evening, hope there will be some more info. Pictures will follow soon!
 
Some more interesting details about the ride, released Thursday during a hard hat tour on the Pulsar constructionsite.

* Planning of the rid started in 2013, right after Psyké Underground opened.

* Walibi Belgium made a list of 15 criteria for their new ride and went to several manufacturers to offer them the best proposition.

* Mack AG had an early idea the Power Splash, yet the idea wasn't complete yet. The development of the Splash Coaster is a cooperation between Mack AG and Walibi Belgium.

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* Pulsar will have the biggest wheels on a rollercoaster ever build. They weigh about 200 kg (400 pounds) each and have a diameter of 90 centimeters (35 inch).

* Boats for Pulsar weigh about 7 tons when empty, 9 tons when fully loaded.

* The ride is placed in the park so people inside the boats will face the side of the park that is near the highway, in order to please the parks locals and avoid screaming going their way.

* It will take about 6 seconds to raise the waterlevel for the final splash. It takes about 50 seconds to pump the water out of the basin. The waterlevel can be adjusted depending on the weather. There will also be a splash zone for those not riding.

* The park will use storytelling on Pulsar, which can be seen in the rides waiting line and theming throughout the ride.

* The story behind the ride is about an unindentified object that crashed on earth and found by an unknown man. It seemed that this object hides all the lost energy on earth. Eventually, this lost energy has to be released every so often to prevent an energyexplosion. The man hides this object in somekind of machine that helps to keep the energy outburst under control. He hid this machine in an abandoned warehouse close to a harbor (the actual station from Pulsar will be themed as a warehouse) and came up with the idea to use this energy for the development of a brand new rollercoaster. The energy outburst will help this rollercoaster accelerate.

* As said before, the station from Pulsar will be themed as a warehouse and while queueing, the story behind the ride will be explained with the help of two preshows, using videomapping and an animatronic (the heart of the machine). During the first preshow, visitors will be exposed to the force of the outburst from outside the warehouse. The second preshow will have visitors see the actual object inside the machine and witness how the 'machine' accelerates the coaster.

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Lot's of other pictures:

http://pretparken.be/article/1562/EXCLUSIEF: op de werf van Pulsar in Walibi Belgium
 
^Well, you're constantly using machines to change the height of water every 3-ish minutes. I expect this to be pretty bad maintenance wise.
 
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