What does Plopsa de Panne need next?

I’ve previously written about my opinion that The Ride to Happiness is overrated and that you can do a day trip to Plopsaland from the UK but in this blog I’m going to share what I think this Belgium-based theme park needs next!

Plopsa de Panne is currently building some new accommodation which looks incredible from the top of the star-flyer and will compliment their already lovely hotel but what about the park itself? What does it need next?

An Expanded Water Park

The water park at Plopsaland gets very busy, in fact, when we visited in August 2023 it was so busy we didn’t stay long at all because it wasn’t big enough to accommodate the amount of people who were there.

Plopsaland need to invest in expanding the water park, adding some adult-only areas (yes, I know it’s aimed at children but at least give some escape zones!) and adding more capacity as in my opinion the water park is pretty much operating on full capacity.

But, let’s talk about the theme park itself!

Thrill Rides

Plopsa de Panne put itself on the map with The Ride to Happiness, one of only 2 Mack extreme spinning coasters in the world and this ride was a weird choice for a family orientated park but appears to have worked with enthusiasts from around the world visiting for this ride.

Alongside that Anubis (a Gerstlauer launch coaster) and Heide the ride (a wooden coaster) both offer some bigger thrills in the park.

However, as the park continues to attract more thrill-seekers I’d love to see them invest in some thrilling flat rides. Rides like a gyro-swing, drop towers or even something like a screamin’ swing ride would fit in perfectly without taking up too much additional space.

However, maybe it’s time for…

A new coaster!

After 2021’s Ride to Happiness addition Plopsa de Panne could do with another high-capacity coaster aimed at thrill-seekers. A single-rail coaster from RMC or something like a Mack Striker coaster would be perfect for the park, providing a different experience with a compact design.

I’d love to see the park continue to invest in attracting thrill seekers alongside families which is a journey that really began with The Ride to Happiness.

However, alongside that they also really need:

A High-Capacity Family Coaster

Plopsaland started as a family park and there is tons to do for families but consequently this this means a lot of families go.

At the moment The K3 Roller Skater coaster and #LikeMe coasters attract large numbers of people and both act as great family coasters however, K3 in particular has incredibly low capacity and regularly has 50 minute queues.

A great investment for the park would be to add a high-capacity family-thrill coaster or even just a high-capacity family coaster. A ride that could have multiple trains and perhaps offer something different could be great for the park (think ‘Gold Rush’ at Drayton Manor or Studio Tour at Movie Park, Germany).

Personally, I’d probably remove the K3 Roller Skater for this if something had to go!

Anything else?

There’s so much Plopa de Panne could add and it will largely depend on the direction of the park but it’s missing some park-staples such as rapid rides or a high-quality family dark ride…maybe even a ‘shoot-em’ ride but for me, the main priority has to be thrilling flat rides at the moment to accommodate for the older audience being drawn in by TRTH.

In Conclusion

Plopsaland is a great park, the theming is lovely, staff are friendly and there’s a great selection of rides but I’d love to see it grow…there’s plenty of space for development and I think it’s going to be a really exciting park to watch!