Glijbaan

Bobbejaanland offered a more detailed look at its first-ever winter opening in August 2025. Bobbejaanland Wintert was planned for December and January and would divide the park into six winter areas: A Winter Welcome, Land of Fire & Ice, Snow Valley, Santa City, Glacier Bay and Lake of Frost. One striking detail was that part of the published concept imagery had been created with AI, giving the announcement a distinctly modern edge.

The plans were meant to place the park in a different seasonal role. On the entrance square, mascots Bobbie and Jody would appear in winter outfits. Land of Legends, with Fury as its headline ride, became Land of Fire & Ice and would host a fire and light spectacle near the coaster. Adventure Valley turned into Snow Valley, Desperado City became Santa City with a Winter Circus, Mystery Bay continued as Glacier Bay with the Ice Slide tubing attraction, and the park’s lake would become an ice rink called Lake of Frost.

At the same time, Bobbejaanland made clear that winter opening required choices. Wondergarden stayed closed, as did El Rio, Big Bang, Naiads Waters, Terra Magma, Wild Water Slide, Glijbaan, Monorail and Oki Doki. For guests, this was therefore not a full summer day in winter decoration, but a new seasonal product built around atmosphere, shows and an adapted ride line-up.

Bobbejaanland reopened in early July 2020 after a three-month delay caused by the coronavirus crisis. The return of guests was very different from a normal start to the season. Visitors first had to have their reservation checked and then scan their ticket or annual pass. In queues, shops, restaurants and toilet areas, green markers at two-metre intervals showed where groups were allowed to wait.

Ride operations changed as well. Rows were left empty in ride vehicles, and face masks were required on the more intense attractions, including Aztek Express, Bob Express, Dreamcatcher, Fury, Naga Bay, Oki Doki, Revolution, Sledge Hammer, Speedy Bob and Typhoon. Indoor queues such as Revolution received extra attention. Several crowd-pulling indoor experiences stayed closed for the time being: Kinderland, El Paso, Glijbaan and The Forbidden Caves. Roller coasters also ran without virtual reality headsets.

For guests, the park day became a sequence of new habits: keeping distance, disinfecting hands, paying by card and accepting that not every attraction was available. Historically, the reopening captured an exceptional moment in which theme parks traded spontaneity and full capacity for controlled visitor flows and highly visible health measures.

When Bobbejaanland was allowed to welcome guests again in the summer of 2020, the park did not simply return to normal. General manager Yves Peeters explained that several attractions would remain closed or be adapted so the restart could stay manageable and safe.\n\nIndoor and interactive experiences were hit hardest. Kinderland stayed closed, as did the shooting dark ride El Paso, Glijbaan and the 3D simulator The Forbidden Caves. Coasters such as Revolution and Dreamcatcher could operate, but without virtual reality headsets. Bobbejaanland also wanted face masks in larger attractions, especially roller coasters where riders tend to scream.\n\nFor visitors, the reopening therefore meant a park day with clear limits: the gates opened, but some familiar stops were missing. The first operating day became Wednesday 1 July after hoped-for test days were not approved. The report captures the balancing act theme parks faced during the first coronavirus summer, weighing capacity, experience and safety. Bobbejaanland chose a cautious restart, with Kinderland and other indoor attractions feeling the strongest impact of the measures.