Bellewaerde Theme Park is a theme park in Belgium, located in the West Flemish region. Opening all the way back in 1954 and is the oldest operating Belgium theme park, the park has come a long way since then. Bellewaerde holds a lot of history, such as the grounds the park is on was the same grounds used in World War I Battle Of Bellewaarde and, near the entrance remains some of the castle. 

Bellewaerde was also a safari park before turning into a modern theme park as its known today. The park has 130 acres of grounds to discover with a range of exciting rides, attractions, animals and heritage. The park has a mascot known as King Lion and also attracts under 1 million guests per year in recent years. Additionally, known groups such as Walibi & Six Flags also came into control of the park for a short period of time in the parks history. 

We look into how Bellewaerde is operating for 2022 and why you should add it to your list of theme parks to visit!

The park has a number of stand out rides and attractions. Starting with their latest new coaster, Wakala. This is a family coaster which was created by Gerstlauer and opened in 2020. It has a nice theme to it and can be spotted throughout the Canadian themed area at Bellewaerde. With some nice speedy sections and a boomerang coaster styled ending, it is a great addition to the park which seems to be enjoyed by many. 

Dawson Duel is also in the Canadian themed area and this is a duelling alpine coaster. Unusual to see these in theme parks and the park have built a queue line to the top, instead of getting on at the bottom and taking a lift. Both tracks are very similar and actually don’t require you to use the handles to gain or reduce speed. It is a great family attraction however popular with visitors as you are able to race, plus it does advertise it is a European first of having a non natural slope whilst duelling! 

Bellewaerde has many other interesting rides outside of the main coasters. El Volador is known as a topple tower and opened back in 2005, being the first one ever built. Sadly it was closed during our visit but, if you do visit these attractions are very rare to find!

The park is home to some fun water rides, with the Bengal Rapid River that are home to many different water effects that shocked and even scared us. The River Splash is a fun family log flume and Niagara is a big splash styled water ride. Most of these rides opened in the 80s and 90s and still stand strong today amongst the newer attractions. 

We also got wet on Jungle Mission, a family boat ride along the river that has multiple different effects and scenes to look at. Although, we suspect one of these were broken during our visit as we got wetter than we thought in one scene! The Big Chute is a classic water slide but leaves a big splash at the bottom which also left us wetter than usual.