8 Days, 7 theme parks, this is the ultimate northern European Theme park tour. Here are the parks we’re going to be visiting.
- Walibi Belgium
- Movie Park Germany
- Phantasialand
- Toverland
- Walibi Holland
- Efteling
- Plopsaland de Panne
Hotels on tour.
- Ibis Brussels Airport – 1 Night
- Mercure Koln West – 3 Nights
- Movenpick Hotel s-Hertogenbosch – 2 Nights
- Mercure Antwerp City South – 1 Night
Coaster Breaks Review (Aug 2023 )
Coaster Breaks | Theme Park Tours
This is the ultimate trip for coaster enthusiast, especially if you have only experienced the usual parks in the UK and want to expand your coaster experience. Travelling to 7 parks in 7 days throughout Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands without the hassle or worry of getting to the parks, where to stay or even what rides to queue for first makes this a super stress-free experience. But let me start at the beginning.
Booking the tour, I decided to take the plunge and booked the tour on my own (travelling solo). Marcus gave me a call, answered any of my questions / concerns and took a deposit to secure my place. The balance was due a month before the tour and it was easy to settle the balance when the time came (or beforehand). All arrangements were made via telephone, email and it was super easy to sort out, get booked up and prepared.
The day before….
The tour starting point was at the Brussels Airport, however, Marcus offers a free lift to the Airport from the UK, being picked up at Ashford International Station on Sunday morning going to France via Eurotunnel. A quick text the night before from Marcus confirmed the details, and the group first met at the station and hopped into the Ford Tourneo.
Marcus is very personable and makes sure everyone is introduced to everyone else as it can be awkward meeting new people for the first time. It’s ok we all have theme parks and rollercoasters in common so that makes conversations easy. The Tourneo is spacious no matter where you sat (our tour was full of 6ft+ people) really comfortable ride you just hop on and forget about driving for the rest of the trip.
We stopped at a hotel at Brussels Airport, where a one more member of the tour joined us, flying in from Manchester. We were all in place and ready for the rollercoaster trip of a lifetime.
The tour itself.
Marcus created a WhatsApp group for the tour and added (with permission) everyone who was in the tour. This made communication within the group super easy and sharing of information, photos very easy. The night before he would post two times, a “I’ll be at breakfast time” and a “We need to be at the van time”, so for instance it might be 7.45am breakfast, 8.30am leave.
This is not a holiday for lie-ins, we were there to visit theme parks and ride rollercoasters. Getting to the parks for opening was critical to ensure maximum ride times. Our group was great, everyone managed to get to van in time for leaving, with no-one being late.
Generally, the day went like this.
Arrive at park for opening, sometimes a bit before opening but as a rule we would be at the park for “rope drop” / “gates opening”. As a group we deferred to Marcus to guide us around the park. At this point I will say Marcus’s knowledge of the parks (and rides) ensured we all got the maximum number of rides within the day. The first few hours, we packed in the rides, with very little in queue times moving around the park as a group.
It’s hard to explain, you arrive at a park, you see the big shiny giga coaster that everyone is running to, yet, we’re off to ride a wild mouse ride. Then we’re off to a launch coaster, then a water ride, then eventually we head back to the big shiny giga-coaster. Honestly, trust the process and believe in tour guides knowledge of the park. He knows the giga coaster will have a 1-hour queue at the start of the day which will die down to 10/20mins, whilst the wild mouse coaster is largely ignored yet has the worse throughput (so later in the day it has 1hr+ queues).
The first few of hours on the tour are the most intense in terms of getting around the park and getting on all the (good) rides. Now wasn’t the time to stop for a bite to eat or take lots of photos. You’ll have plenty of time later in the day for them activities. One tip thou’ make sure you have some drink on you. (Bottled water, whatever) and if you’re are the peckish sort bring snacks.
When it came to Lunch, Marcus knows the parks and can make recommendations on where to go and what food is good in the park (and what to avoid).
Can you go off on your own? Or with friends? Sure, you could, but you will be missing out on the best part of the tour, Marcus’s Park experience. Generally, afer smashing the first few hours, there is opportunity to go off and re-ride rides you like, it’s more fun as a group and that’s pretty much what happened on my tour.
The days are long, and we stayed at the parks until the last rides. Unlike UK parks, some parks stayed open until 8pm, 10pm so it is a long day. At the end of the day, we would hope back in the Tourneo and Marcus would take us to somewhere to eat. Probably a McDonalds, or KFC or similar outlet. Then drive to the next hotel, a quick drink in the bar (maybe), update on the times for the morning (get breakfast, get out) and then sleep to start it all over again tomorrow.
Thanks to Marcus, this has to be the most stress-free theme park holiday I’ve ever taken. I didn’t have to worry about getting to the parks on time, what order I should go on the rides to ensure maximum number of rides during the day. Getting something to eat and to the hotel after a long day at the park. The group was fantastic, we all shared a passion for coasters and theme parks which was superb. By the end of the trip I was sad to see them go but we will keep in touch 😊
Would I go again? in a heartbeat, honestly, I plan to book for next year as soon as I can.