This blog will probably have a high ‘we from WC-eend advise WC-eend’ content because I myself have been extensively involved in the latest expansion of this water park in Belgium since 2017. From my former employer ProSlide, I was able to advise, among other things, on master planning, attraction selection, park capacity, and queue design.

However, I will try to look at the overall picture with some objectivity.

One of the first second gate parks

Aqualibi opened its doors in 1987 as part of Walibi Belgium, which was already an established name in the Belgian amusement park world at that time. It was one of the first large-scale indoor water parks in that country. After falling under various owners, it has been part of Compagnie des Alpes since 2006. Under their management, Aqualibi was gradually renovated and modernized.

Nowadays, the second gate concept is strongly on the rise. It can be described as adding an extra park near an existing park – often in combination with adding overnight accommodations – creating a destination where people can enjoy themselves for multiple days (and spend money for multiple days). Well-known examples can be found in Spain (Port Aventura World), France (Disneyland Park), Germany (Europapark), but also in the Netherlands (Duinrell). Aqualibi was one of the first second gate parks in Europe, but strangely enough, hotels or resorts are not part of the cluster.

Renovations and expansions

The current owners of Aqualibi understand all too well that standing still means going backwards, and therefore regularly carry out renovations and expansions. In 2011, Aqualibi underwent a thorough renovation of almost 11 million euros. The park received improved theming and renewed the slides (Van Egdom).

A wild water river in Center Parcs style was also added, and this immediately became one of the most popular attractions in the park with its currents, tunnels, bends, waterfalls, and beautiful theming. This addition made Aqualibi more attractive to older children and adults who were looking for more adventure alongside the more basic slides and pools of the park.

In 2018, the park was expanded with Kiddie Bay, a water playground especially for the youngest guests aged approximately 2 to 7. The theming was also tackled by Jora Vision, and the park was provided with Caribbean atmospheres, with brightly colored wooden facades.

Since 2017, the park has worked on the most substantial expansion to date: in 2023, a completely new slide tower from ProSlide opened, where some of the most unique slides in the wider area can be found. Changing rooms and sanitary facilities have also been renewed. This renovation and expansion resulted in 30% more visitors in the year after opening!

Family Water Park

Since its opening, the park has had a strong focus on families, but only since the most recent expansion does the park have a balanced attraction mix that offers something special for all types of visitors. The park now also has attractions in the Family Thrill category.

The park is approximately 7,000 m2 in size, fully indoor, and has a design day of approximately 2,400 guests. My estimate is that the park now has well over 600,000 visitors annually.

Personal experience

In mid-October 2024, I had the opportunity to visit the park simply as a visitor (with my own family), and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I was there on a weekday and it wasn’t too busy, but also not too quiet. The maximum wait time for an attraction was 10 minutes. The general impression was that the park was clean and that there was sufficient staff present. Although Aqualibi is near the language border, there were few staff members who spoke Dutch, which was noticeable. Unfortunately, the food was not of high quality: a limp burger and old fries.

Although it wasn’t really busy, there were very few sun loungers available: that doesn’t bode well for really busy days. What also stood out was that some pools could be called cold (except the Lagoon) and that the range of pools is fairly small. The wave pool is fun, but unfortunately very small.

In terms of attractions, there was something for everyone: from a small slide that my 2-year-old went down 50 times in a row, to large exciting slides that I could go down together with my 5-year-old. Especially the Banzai water coaster was a hit! A miss I found was the large amount of falling and spraying water in the Kiddie Bay water playground, especially the little ones were intimidated by this and left the slides that were specifically intended for them unused. The theming and acoustics here are also not great.

Personally, I found the Waikiki TornadoWAVE slide to be the best slide. Although I have done this type of attraction regularly with 5 people, it was still particularly spectacular in a single-person tube. With the extra special feature that this attraction goes from inside to outside and back inside again. The somewhat older slides, both those at Mini Beach and the slides from 2011, didn’t appeal to me and most other guests as much; there were hardly any people here.

The children were still too small for the Rapido wild water river, but it is certainly spectacular and wilder than many a Center Parcs example!

Conclusion

At its core, Aqualibi is an old water park and you notice it. Some pools and attractions are outdated, there is (too) little attractive seating space, and the park feels cramped. You also notice that pieces have been added over time, which means the park doesn’t function optimally and architecturally doesn’t form a whole either. However, the new slides are a bull’s eye:

Slides that start above 20m in height are already very special, but these slides also all have special ‘features’. The Cannonbowl (Pomakai) is one of the fastest bowl slides I have ever done. What I also find an excellent choice by the park is to choose the pure sliding experience: these are slides without frills, flashing lights, music, and completely dark sections. This makes the slides stand out even better, and I am proud to have been able to work on them together with slide designer Grant McCormick!

A small downside I found was that the slides are not really part of the pool, but are really built next to it. In addition, the huge staircase blocks the view from the queues on the ground floor to the landing zone. It’s always cool to integrate runouts into a park so that people experience the splash of the landing and enthusiastic guests see the slides exit. A plus of the current location of the slides is that they are fully visible from the parking lot and the entrance to the park. The experience starts here immediately upon arrival.

On warm and busy days, there is a lack of overflow (outdoor) space and seating capacity: this can cause the overall guest experience on these days to be less. It seems that there is still very little space for future expansions, both indoor and outdoor. Replacing the old slides might create some extra space for seating or outdoor attractions.

With the expansions of 2023, the park has regained its leading position in Belgium (and the wider area). Main competitors in Belgium: Bellewaerde Aquapark, Center Parcs Erperheide, and Vossemeren (although they can’t match the power of Aqualibi in terms of slides). In the Netherlands, only Tikibad and Hof van Saksen come close to Aqualibi.