News about Mahuka

Two months after its celebrated opening, Mahuka faced its first major setback. Walibi Rhône-Alpes reported that the new headline attraction was temporarily unavailable, while the official website went further and stated that Mahuka was unavailable for an indefinite period. The park did not give a specific cause.

Looopings placed the closure in the context of the young Intamin hot racer, which had only recently opened as a European first. For visitors, the practical impact was uncertainty: anyone travelling to the park specifically for Mahuka could not be sure of riding. For fans, the situation stood out because technically ambitious new attractions can go through early reliability issues, although the reason for this closure remained unclear.

The article matters for Mahuka's history because it shows that the coaster's story was not only about a high-profile opening. The operational vulnerability of a new thrill ride became part of the timeline as well, adding a more realistic chapter to the attraction's first season.

On 15 June 2024, Mahuka reached the moment Walibi Rhône-Alpes had been building toward for years: its official opening. After several weeks of testing, the coaster entered service during an opening ceremony. Looopings highlighted the European first: Mahuka was the continent's first single-rail coaster and an Intamin hot racer.

The opening article brought together the full promise of the ride. The coaster is 600 metres long and 18 metres high, with three inversions, thirteen moments of weightlessness and two launches that push it to 67 kilometres per hour. Its two trains each consist of nine single-seat cars, placing every rider close to the track. The minimum height requirement is 120 centimetres.

The wider context mattered as well. Mahuka opened as part of Exotic Island and helped mark the 45th anniversary of Walibi Rhône-Alpes. Together with Tiki Fruits and the temple story built around a fire god, the investment of more than 10 million euros became not just a technical milestone but a themed expansion for the park.

In April 2024, the most tangible part of Mahuka was revealed: the train. Walibi Rhône-Alpes presented nine individual one-seat cars arranged in a single line, immediately showing why the hot racer concept promised a different sensation from a traditional coaster. Every rider would sit on the centre line of the track, with no neighbour beside them, making the closeness to the rail part of the thrill.

Looopings placed the reveal in the build-up to an expected June opening. The train also carried the ride's adventure tone: it looked like a weathered safari jeep and even included a reference to the old Walibi logo. The key figures remained central to the story as well: two launches, thirteen moments of weightlessness, 600 metres of track, 18 metres in height and a top speed of 67 kilometres per hour.

For visitors, this article made Mahuka feel very real. The ride now had not only a layout and a story, but also a distinctive seating experience.

At the start of 2024, Walibi Rhône-Alpes used a 3D simulation to show how Mahuka and its surrounding Exotic Island setting were expected to look. For fans, this was a key step: after concept art and specifications, there was finally moving footage of the compact, sharp layout and the tropical area that would frame the ride.

Looopings described Mahuka as an Intamin single-rail coaster with unusually narrow trains, placing all riders in a single file. The established figures returned: 600 metres of track, 18 metres in height, thirteen moments of weightlessness, three inversions, two launches and a top speed of 67 kilometres per hour. The simulation also showed that Walibi was aiming for more than technical novelty, with a temple-adventure atmosphere built into the area.

For visitors, the article made the project easier to imagine. Mahuka was no longer just a list of statistics, but a dynamic coaster designed to lift Exotic Island during the park's anniversary year.

In September 2023, the previously unnamed Intamin project finally received its identity. Walibi Rhône-Alpes revealed the name Mahuka, the logo and the first designs. The story moved beyond technical curiosity: the ride would become a tropical adventure in Exotic Island, built around archaeologists, a lost temple and the anger of a fire god.

Looopings also collected the key ride statistics. Mahuka was planned as a 600-metre-long, 18-metre-high single-rail coaster with two launches, three inversions, thirteen moments of weightlessness and a top speed of 67 kilometres per hour. The minimum height requirement was set at 120 centimetres. The project represented an investment of more than 10 million euros and formed part of the park's 45th anniversary year.

For fans, this was the major reveal. Mahuka became more than Walibi Rhône-Alpes' sixth coaster: it was now a themed anchor for Exotic Island and a reason for the wider European coaster community to pay attention.

Three days after the leaked drawing, Walibi Rhône-Alpes confirmed what many fans had already begun to suspect: the park was indeed getting an Intamin single-rail coaster in 2024. The ride was not yet called Mahuka, but management told Looopings that the project would be a hot racer.

That confirmation immediately gave the coaster international relevance. At the time, only one comparable Intamin hot racer existed, at Luna Park Sydney. Walibi Rhône-Alpes was therefore heading for a European first. Looopings also explained why the type stood out: narrow trains, a track that appears to run on a single rail and, in Intamin's version, launches rather than a traditional lift system.

For visitors, the news showed that Exotic Island's expansion was not only about theming but also about technology and sensation. Mahuka was already being framed as a distinctive coaster for the Walibi group and an early counterpart to Walibi Holland's own single-rail plans.

Mahuka surfaced again in March 2023, although the ride's name had not yet been announced. A leaked construction drawing revealed plans for a new roller coaster at Walibi Rhône-Alpes. The document briefly appeared on Instagram before being removed, but it made one thing clear: the Intamin coaster promised for Exotic Island was moving beyond broad ambition.

For fans, this was the kind of accidental glimpse that turns a development project into a talking point. The drawing suggested that the park was actively working on the second phase of Exotic Island and invited discussion about the layout, the scale of the investment and the effect on Walibi Rhône-Alpes' coaster line-up. Looopings connected the leak to the previously announced 2024 opening window.

The article matters because it captures the moment Mahuka shifted from a secret plan into something concrete. The ride still had no public identity, but the future attraction suddenly felt real.

Walibi Rhône-Alpes gave the first clear public hint of Mahuka in November 2021, when it presented the next phase of Exotic Island during IAAPA. The park showed designs for Tiki Academy, water play areas and a restaurant, but the line that mattered most to coaster fans was the promise of a new Intamin roller coaster for 2024.

At that stage the ride had no public name and the type was still being kept quiet. Even so, the later Mahuka project had already taken shape: Exotic Island was not going to remain a small water-themed area, but grow into a full themed zone with a major thrill anchor. The investment also fitted the park's ambition to rebuild attendance after the pandemic years.

For Mahuka's timeline this is the starting point. Long before the logo, story or train were shown, the future sixth coaster of Walibi Rhône-Alpes appeared as a concrete strategic investment.