The Ride to Happiness by Tomorrowland, a new Xtreme Spinning Coaster at Plopsaland De Panne, has been voted the best new roller coaster in Europe.

With the return of the Tomorrowland music festival in 2022, after having to take two years off, this was the perfect time for us to head back to Belgium.

The €20.5 million roller coaster, from the German manufacturer Mack Rides, is the first of its kind in Europe.

A creative team from the Belgian electronic dance music festival has worked with Plopsa on theming for the new attraction.

Tomorrowland has also created an exclusive soundtrack based on the Tomorrowland Hymn, composed by Hans Zimmer, that is played during the ride.

The world's first Xtreme Spinning Coaster opened in the United States in 2018, with Time Traveler making its debut at Silver Dollar City in Missouri. It's fantastic to see a coaster of this type on our side of the Atlantic.

The Ride to Happiness occupies its very own themed area of the park, a space that brings together natural elements with a steampunk aesthetic. Tomorrowland is well known for its incredible sets and magical scenery, and that's heavily inspired the festival-like environment, complete with intricately decorated features and a tented structure. 

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Entering the queue, a highly themed indoor section takes guests through the elements of air, fire, earth and water. There's a tranquil garden to pass through, then a staircase leads up to the station via another indoor area. The inside of the station is lavishly decorated with wood, metalwork and stained glass effect windows.

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Before the ride leaves the station, a mechanical face above the departure portal speaks to riders "Live Today, Love Tomorrow, Unite Forever" and with that message the train enters an eye-catching Heartline Roll. The train creeps so slowly through this inversion that riders hang from their seats, and the carriages begin to spin. It's a fairly unusual sensation and it's not entirely pleasant, but utterly mesmerising for spectators to watch as it appears to be almost in slow motion.

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With that initial manoeuvre complete, trains enter the first of two launch sections, and after a very brief pause, riders are accelerated to a whopping 90km/h. Depending on the positioning of each carriage, riders might take this facing forwards, backwards or most commonly in our experience, sideways.

The first steep ascent takes you into an Outside Banked Turn with a pop of ejector airtime and where impressive views are briefly a possibility, before being dragged down into a 33 metre drop. A brief pass over the lake and it's into a huge Banana Roll for the second inversion of the ride, leading immediately into the third, a Vertical Loop.

Swooping over the lake once again, the train heads into a Zero-G Roll, a couple of banked turns and an airtime hill. Now in the second launch section, the carriages are catapulted into the next part of the ride. This launch feels even more powerful and in just seconds riders are thrown into a Dive Loop.

The last section is made up of three airtime hills and a swooping turn, all leading to the brakes and a final turn into the station. With the train's carriages continuing to spin freely throughout, every ride really does feel different. Depending on where you sit and your tolerance levels, you'll either want to get straight back on for another ride, or need to go for a lie down to recover!

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After the ride, guests pass through the beautifully designed shop. From the outside it very much resembles a hobbit house adorned with a grassy roof, and inside it feels like a cosy burrow. A quirky centrepiece draws the eye. An extensive range of merchandise for both The Ride to Happiness and Tomorrowland is available, much of which is available exclusively here.

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The Ride to Happiness facts:

• Length: 920 m / 3018 ft
• Height: 33 m / 108 ft
• Launches: 2
• Inversions: 5
• Max. speed: 90 km/h / 56 mph
• 2 trains (16 people per train)

Plopsaland De Panne

Plopsaland De Panne is the flagship theme park of Plopsa, the theme park division of Studio 100. It features more than 50 rides and attractions for adults and children.

Many of the rides and attractions are based on Studio 100 characters or TV series, so for some visitors unfamiliar with these the themes might seem a little random, but most visitors to park will already know and love them.

The park is beautifully presented, from the colourful entrance area and vibrant themed zones, to the tranquil lakes and lush woodland. Although modest in size, the park feels much larger than it actually is. 

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Heidi The Ride

An exciting wooden coaster from Great Coasters International that opened in 2017. The layout is a little short but it's a really enjoyable ride that's not too rough and has plenty of airtime. The theming is based on 'Heidi', one of Studio 100's characters.

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Anubis The Ride

Based on the TV series of the same name, in which a group of teenagers search for treasure at their boarding school, this intense launched coaster by Gerstlauer features three inversions and sure packs a punch, going from 0 to 90 km/h in just two seconds!

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Nachtwacht-Flyer

Take flight with vampires from the TV series Nachtwacht on this thrilling 70 metre tall 'Star Flyer' swing ride from Funtime. The views from the top are incredible, but this ride definitely isn't for the faint hearted or those that suffer from vertigo, so brave it and you'll be rewarded.

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DinoSplash

One of the best log flume rides we've experienced in a very long time, with some impressive theming and two drops. Mack Rides supplied the ride system way back in 1989, but since then it's seen a huge overhaul and has been totally transformed with a volcanic jungle setting and animatronic dinosaurs.

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SuperSplash

After being so impressed by DinoSplash, we had quite high expectations for its bigger relation. Unfortunately we were rather disappointed by its rather basic vertical ascent in the dark, plunge into the lake and a slow meander back to the station. With a bit of work, this ride could be re-sequenced and updated to leave a much stronger impression.

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There are three nicely themed junior coasters at Plopsaland, the #LikeMe Coaster, K3 Roller Skater and classic The Dragon. The former two are both themed to the TV series that they are named after, with colourful and creative decoration.

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Het Bos van Plop is a charming dark ride through Plop's Forest. It's sadly showing its age (opened 1979, rethemed 2000) so would benefit from some gentle modernisation, especially in the tired queue area, but it still has a lot to enjoy.

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Wickieland is based on 'Vicky the Viking' and includes two rides, The Big Wave, a Disk’O Coaster, and Wickie The Battle, an interactive Splash Battle attraction. It's brilliantly themed in a cartoonish style.

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The childrens' TV channel VTM Kids is well represented, with a whole themed area dedicated to popular Belgian children's TV shows. Big & Betsy Farm includes a tractor ride and various animals including goats, rabbits and ponies. In the fairytale castle beside the lake, there's a tea cup ride and a character dining experience.

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In the fairground area there are classic rides like a carousel, chair swing, balloon ride and dodgems. In 2023, these will be joined by the addition of a new indoor area called Circus Bumba - an investment of €12.5 million with 5 new attractions, a theatre, restaurant and shop.

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For families with young children there are lots of other themed rides to enjoy, including an especially colourful garden with oversized flowers and rides themed as gigantic rabbits, ducks and frogs.

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Mayaland is a covered area of the park with a selection of rides and attractions themed around the TV series 'Maya the Bee'.

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The themed areas generally work well, with nice transitions between the areas and rides with different themes. There's only one section of the park that feels disjointed, where a medieval castle, an alpine village and a prehistoric swamp inhabited by dinosaurs all collide. On the most part, it's a very relaxed and enjoyable environment, although there were a couple of areas where the insistence on playing very loud high energy music was fairly intolerable.

With the exception of the extraordinarily expensive water (€5.49 for a 500ml bottle) the food and drink is fairly priced for a theme park, and the quality is pretty good. One of the highlights being Le Grand Buffet which is an all-you-can-eat offering where you can enjoy a 3+ course lunch or dinner from €28.50 per adult / €16.75 per child.

A handy way to get around the park is the Plopsa Express, a lovely train ride with four stations where you can hop on and off depending on where you want to be.

Plopsaqua De Panne

On one of the hottest days of the year, the opportunity to head into the predominately indoor waterpark was very welcome. It covers an area of 4000 square metres and features a variety of pools and slides for all ages.

We particularly enjoyed the Wild River body rapids and thrilling Sliding Tyres tube slide. The other main attractions include the Sky Drop high speed freefall slide and Disco Slide with lights and music.

Once a hour a simulated storm occurs, with thunder and lightning, rainfall and waves in the pool. This is a really theatrical aspect that greatly enhances the atmosphere in what is a nicely themed water park.

Given the fairly limited choice of rides, it's somewhere to spend a couple of hours rather than a whole day. It also gets very crowded. In addition to the cost of admission, there's a small charge for the lockers, although you do get to keep your locker token as a memento of your visit.

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Find out more!

The Ride to Happiness is a world class roller coaster that puts Plopsaland on the map as a destination for all thrill seekers, but the park offers so much more than that and is well worth visiting.

From the UK, the park is just 1 hour by road from the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle terminal in Calais, making it very easy to reach by car. It is also located within walking distance of the De Panne train station.

We were guests of Plopsaland De Panne for the purposes of this review.

Find out more and book your visit at plopsalanddepanne.be