Walibi Holland (previously called Flevohof, Walibi Flevo, Six Flags Holland and Walibi World) is a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Biddinghuizen Biddinghuizen () is a village in the municipality of Dronten in the Netherlands. It is situated in the center of the province of Flevoland, about north of the city of Harderwijk. On 1 January 2018, the village had 6,295 inhabitants.Walibi Group that autumn, who redeveloped the site as an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

. After a major winter-long programme of reconstruction the park reopened as ''Walibi Flevo'' on 7 May 1994, featuring the world's first

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally ...

suspended looping coaster (SLC), El Condor. The park also adopted the

wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

mascot of its sister park, ''Walibi Wavre'' in Belgium created in 1975 by Eddy Meeùs, a Belgian businessman. (The name 'Walibi', incidentally, is derived from the first two letters of three towns in Belgium put together to form a single word: Wavre - Limal - Bierges). The Walibi parks, including

Bellewaerde Bellewaerde is a theme park in the West Flemish countryside at Zonnebeke near Ypres, Belgium (it is physically located just inside the Ypres municipality boundary). It was established in 1954, on the grounds of the World War I Battle of Bellewaarde. ...

in Belgium, were purchased by Premier Parks Inc. in 1998, who subsequently overhauled the ''Flevo'' park, removing the 'Walibi' branding and building thirty new attractions as part of its transformation into ''Six Flags Holland'' in 2000.

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

's nominal expansion into Europe saw a similar refurbishment of the Belgian Walibi theme park, which was renamed to Six Flags Belgium. Both parks benefiting from the group's rights to use

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

characters within them, leading to the creation of a

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

-themed area and a powered-launch coaster themed around popular comic figure

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

, later changed to the

Xpress Xpress may refer to: *Xpress (TV series), an award-winning multi cultural entertainment series *Xpress, a regional passenger bus service provided by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority in metropolitan Atlanta * X*Press X*Change, an obsol ...

. In 2004, ''Six Flags Holland'' and its sister parks were purchased by financiers

Palamon Capital Partners Palamon Capital Partners is a London-based private equity firm. It was founded in 1999, and is headquartered at Cleveland House in King Street, St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of ...

, who grouped the attractions under the name "StarParks". The park reverted to ''Walibi'' branding in 2005; numerous attractions having been rebranded as the sale of the parks also meant the loss of any references to Looney Tunes and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

characters rights. In the second half of 2006, the parks were sold for the second time in as many years to the French group Grévin & Cie (Compagnie des Alpes), most notably the operators of the French themed resort

Parc Astérix Parc Astérix is a theme park in France based on the comic book series ''Asterix'' by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. With around 2.3 million visitors yearly, Parc Astérix is France's second largest theme park, behind only Disneyland Paris wit ...

, who also purchased two other Dutch attractions - the

Dolfinarium Harderwijk Dolfinarium Harderwijk, better known as the Dolfinarium, is a marine mammal park in Harderwijk, the Netherlands. It is the largest marine mammal park in Europe. Visitor numbers were steady from 2005 to 2011, numbering between 700,000 and 800,000, ...

and Avonturenpark Hellendoorn. In 2011 the park was renamed as Walibi Holland, which introduced new mascots. The adjacent associated event grounds were originally developed with

Scouting Nederland Scouting Nederland is the national Scouting, Scout organisation of the Netherlands with approximately 110,000 members (53,324 male and 54,663 female, 87,000 youth members, as of 2010. The official patron of Scouting Nederland is Queen Máxima of ...

for the EuroJam 1994 and the

18th World Scout Jamboree The 18th World Scout Jamboree (Dutch: ''18e Wereldjamboree'') was held August 1 to 11, 1995 and was hosted by the Netherlands on a polder near Biddinghuizen, Dronten community, Flevoland. 28,960 Scouts and staff members from 166 countries and ter ...

in 1995. It is or has been the location of many festivals such as the

Lowlands Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

music festival and the

Defqon.1 Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as Ha ...

music festival.

Attractions

Present rides

Roller coasters

Thrill rides

Family rides

Water rides

Former rides / attractions

References

External links

Walibi Holland Official Website
*
Walibi Holland Fan Page (Dutch)
{{Amusement parks in the Netherlands Amusement parks in the Netherlands Compagnie des Alpes 1971 establishments in the Netherlands Tourist attractions in Flevoland Buildings and structures in Flevoland Dronten Amusement parks opened in 1971