News about Revolution

In March 2021, Belgian theme parks finally received a path toward reopening, but the easing of restrictions came with a clear boundary. The government mainly allowed outdoor activities. Covered attractions therefore had to remain closed until further notice, while parks continued to discuss the exact rules with the authorities.

For visitors, that created an unusual half-open season. Plopsaland De Panne could not use Mayaland or Het Bos van Plop and was still looking for solutions for covered queues such as the one at Anubis The Ride. At Bobbejaanland, Banana Battle, Indiana River, El Paso, Revolution, The Forbidden Caves and Kinderland stayed closed. Walibi Belgium had to do without attractions including Challenge of Tutankhamon, Popcorn Revenge and Palais du Génie, while Bellewaerde could not open Huracan, Bengal Express or Het Huis Van Houdini.

The relevance was not only the list of closed doors. Indoor attractions are normally valuable in bad weather and for families with young children. During the coronavirus reopening, that sheltered quality became a limitation. For Kinderland and similar attractions, the report explains why availability and visitor flows in 2021 cannot be compared with a normal operating year.

In September 2019, Bobbejaanland was at a turning point. With the triple-launch coaster Fury and the themed area Land of Legends, the park had just opened its most visible investment in years. In the Looopings Podcast, commercial director Peggy Verelst even called it the year of truth: the new coaster had to strengthen not only the attraction line-up, but also the image of the Flemish park.

The conversation showed how carefully Bobbejaanland had to choose its spending. Owner Parques Reunidos decided how much money could be invested, so every budget decision mattered. A large share went into decoration and theming, something Verelst said required persuasion at head office. Fury therefore became a calling card for a park that wanted to show more ambition than its reputation sometimes suggested.

At the same time, Bobbejaanland looked ahead to older crowd pullers. Revolution, Kinderland, Indiana River and El Paso Special were mentioned as parts of the park that could eventually use a major refurbishment. For visitors, that mattered because the park did not only need new headline rides, but also care for its existing attractions. That combination determines whether an image improvement is temporary or lasting.

Bobbejaanland moved to another priority-access system in September 2022. The Express Pass, introduced earlier that same season, was replaced by Speedy Pass, a digital platform supplied by the British company Accesso. That shifted the park away from physical Express entrances with fixed usage counts and towards a model built around online wait times and virtual queues.

The options worked quite differently. Speedy Pass Bronze cost 14.90 euros and allowed guests to wait virtually instead of standing in the physical queue, while the waiting time itself remained the same. Silver cost 24.90 euros and cut the virtual wait by 50 percent. Gold and Diamond promised a 95 percent reduction; Gold was limited to one use per attraction, while Diamond was broader. One Ride tickets were available for a single queue.

Eleven attractions received a dedicated Speedy Pass entrance: Fury, Typhoon, Indiana River, Naga Bay, Speedy Bob, Revolution, Oki Doki, Wildwaterbaan, Dreamcatcher, El Rio and Bob Express. For guests, waiting became more visible and more commercial: live queue times moved online, and faster boarding became an even clearer digital premium product.

Bobbejaanland adjusted the Express Pass soon after its launch. The paid priority system had been in use for only a month when the park raised prices and changed several conditions at the same time. The move showed that the launch was not a fixed endpoint, but the start of a product that could be tuned quickly around guest behaviour and commercial goals.

The three versions remained. Small rose from 12 to 14.90 euros, but could now be used five times instead of four. Medium increased from 21.90 to 27.90 euros. Large went from 29.90 to 34.90 euros and still offered unlimited use. The Large version was personal and also included a 10 percent discount on food and beverage and part of the merchandise range. Small and Medium were not personal.

The Express Pass continued to apply to Fury, Typhoon, Naga Bay, Dreamcatcher, Oki Doki, Sledge Hammer, El Rio, Indiana River, Wildwaterbaan and Revolution with Mount Mara. For guests, faster boarding became more expensive, but also more clearly packaged as a premium product. For Bobbejaanland, the change marked the rapid professionalisation of a system that had only just been introduced.

Bobbejaanland finally introduced a paid queue-jumping system in 2022. The Express Pass had originally been planned for 2020, but the coronavirus crisis pushed the launch back. Once the system arrived, guests could use separate entrances to reach a selection of ten attractions more quickly.

The product came in three versions. Small cost 12 euros and offered four uses. Medium gave eleven uses for 21.90 euros. Large cost 29.90 euros and allowed unlimited use of the Express queues. The participating attractions were Fury, Typhoon, Naga Bay, Dreamcatcher, Oki Doki, Sledge Hammer, El Rio, Indiana River, Wildwaterbaan and Revolution, including its virtual reality version Mount Mara.

For visitors, this changed the rhythm of a day at Bobbejaanland: waiting time became something that could partly be bought down. That was notable because a former park director had still argued in 2013 that Bobbejaanland did not need such a system, thanks to its broad ride line-up and relatively manageable queues. The launch brought the park closer to competitors such as Walibi Belgium, where paid priority access had already become part of the operating model.

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.

Bobbejaanland prepared a paid priority pass for the 2020 season. For 12 euros, guests with the Express Pass could use a separate, shorter queue once at four different attractions. The pass was not personal: one visitor could use it four times, or share it once with three friends. Sales would take place at the ticket desks and information desk, with a daily cap on availability.

The attraction list showed that Bobbejaanland wanted to apply queue management widely. It was not limited to major thrill rides such as Fury, Typhoon, Dreamcatcher and Sledge Hammer; family and water attractions including Oki Doki, Naga Bay, El Rio, Indiana River and Wildwaterbaan were part of the system as well. Even Mount Mara, the virtual reality version of Revolution, was mentioned. For visitors, that meant more choice and predictability on busy days, but also a clear extra price on top of a regular visit.

The park had already experimented with a Horror Pass during Halloween, offering faster access to haunted houses and Land of Legends attractions. The Express Pass turned that temporary test into a broader seasonal product. Historically, the report fits a larger European theme park trend: waiting time was increasingly managed not only operationally, but also commercially packaged.