News about Sledge Hammer

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.

On 29 June 2019, it became clear that Land of Legends had been designed as an audio environment as much as a visual one. Bobbejaanland had commissioned IMAscore to give Fury and the wider themed area their own musical identity. The scale was striking: more than five hours of music were composed for the project.

The music followed the area's story of four natural elements. Land of Legends revolved around water, fire, earth and air, with each attraction in the zone linked to one of those elements. IMAscore created four hour-long tracks: Water Realm, Fire Realm, Earth Realm and Air Realm. They could be heard and downloaded via Looopings. On top of that, Fury's station received its own dedicated soundtrack, as did the Hub, the central square at the heart of the area.

For visitors, this showed that Bobbejaanland's investment went beyond adding a new coaster. Fury was the headline ride and the fastest coaster in the Benelux, but the music helped Land of Legends feel like a coherent world.

On 23 June 2019, Bobbejaanland made clear that Fury was part of a wider reshaping of the park. During the coaster's opening weekend, the Belgian park presented Land of Legends, a new themed area built around the Guardian of Elements. Its centre was a circular square with a large Guardian statue and four gateways.

Each attraction was linked to a natural element. Sledge Hammer represented earth, Typhoon stood for air, Fury symbolised fire, and the new water play area Naiads Waters represented water. Existing rides such as Sledge Hammer and Typhoon also received new queue lines, while Fury was connected to the fire dragon Fogo. The project therefore went beyond adding a headline coaster: it reorganised and rethemed a sizeable part of the park.

The concept was developed with Leisure Expert Group, with decorations produced by Themebuilders and music composed by IMAscore. Land of Legends changed walking routes and the layout of an important corner of Bobbejaanland. Invited guests saw the area on Saturday evening, and from Monday it was open to all visitors.

By early June 2019, it had become clear that Fury would not open as an isolated roller coaster, but as the anchor of a new themed area. Bobbejaanland was putting the finishing touches to Land of Legends, with the 43-metre launch coaster at its centre and an official ceremony planned three weeks later.

The area was built around the Guardian of Elements, a figure protecting earth, water, fire and air from evil forces. Each attraction represented one of those elements, which meant Fury's arrival also reshaped the surrounding corner of the park. Typhoon and Sledge Hammer received a new look, while the water play area Naiads Waters continued to take shape. Rocks, a large entrance gate and a Guardian statue were intended to make the zone feel like a coherent world rather than a collection of rides.

That context mattered for visitors. Fury was the headline addition, but Land of Legends gave the investment broader impact. With the triple launch already being tested and opening night set for 22 June, Bobbejaanland was turning existing attractions into part of the same new story.

Noise complaints around Bobbejaanland resurfaced strongly in August 2015. Nearby residents complained about screaming and ride noise from the park, had reportedly called the police dozens of times and eventually went to court. Three attractions appeared again and again in their criticism: Typhoon, Oki Doki and Sledge Hammer, all opened in 2004 shortly before the former family company was sold to Parques Reunidos.

Oki Doki played a particularly striking role in the story. Resident Herwig Mertens said the screaming from the junior coaster made it difficult to make himself heard in his own garden. On busy days, he described the same sound returning every two minutes, from ten in the morning until seven in the evening. Another neighbour, Karel De Vos, claimed the rides had been built without permits and viewed the additions as an attempt to raise the park’s value shortly before the sale.

For guests, the ride experience itself did not change, but historically this is an important file. It shows that family attractions can have an impact beyond the park gates through dispatch frequency, sound and rider reactions. The court required owner Parques Reunidos to meet residents twice a year, yet according to the article both noise and wild parking remained unresolved.