Plopsaland De Panne

Plopsaland De Panne is a theme park located in Adinkerke, Belgium - part of the municipality De Panne - owned and operated by Plopsa. The park reopened on 20 April 2000, before that the park was known as Meli Park from 1935 until 1999.

Plopsaland De Panne
Previously known as Meli Park
LocationAdinkerke, De Panne, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Coordinates51°04′47″N 2°35′49″E
OpenedApril 21, 1935 (as Meli Park)
April 20, 2000 (as Plopsaland)
OwnerPlopsa/Studio 100
Operating seasonApril to January
Attendance1.3 million in 2017[1]
Attractions
Total37
Roller coasters7
Water rides2
Websiteofficial website

History

Meli Park
See also: Meli Park

In 1935, Alberic-Joseph Florizoone opened Meli Park, a place where he could sell his own produced honey, but also teach the visitors about the process and the bee itself. Over the years - to keep up with competition - the park opened several attractions, turning it into a theme park.[2]

Plopsaland

The family Florizoone sold the park in 1999 to Studio 100 and VMMa. The park received a make-over during the following winter season, to reopen as Plopsaland on 20 April 2000. During the renovation several characters from Studio 100 were used - such as Samson en Gert and Kabouter Plop - to theme new and old attractions.[3] The new park had some issues at the reopening with parking capacity and catering, these issues were fixed in the following years.[4]

Studio 100/Plopsa bought out the shares of VVMa in 2005 and became sole owner of the park, with plans to turn it into a multi-day, all-weather resort. In that same year, Plopsa opened Plopsa Indoor Hasselt and bought Telecoo, to avoid confusion with the other parks Plopsaland was renamed to Plopsaland De Panne.[5]

Besides expanding the site into a resort, Plopsa also kept expanding the theme park with Anubis the Ride (2009), Vic the Vicking-land (2013), Heidi the Ride (2017) and The Ride to Happiness (2021) in order to appeal to a wider demographic and become a destination not just for families with younger children.[6][7]

Attractions

The park consists of 52 attractions, including 6 rollercoasters.[8]

Rollercoasters
Name Type Theme Manufacturer Opened Specifications
Anubis The Ride Launched coaster Anubis Gerstlauer 2009 Speed: 90 km/h

Length: 600m

Height: 34m

De Draak Powered coaster Dragons Mack Rides 2004 Speed: 36 km/h

Length: 450m

Height: 14m

Heidi the Ride Wooden coaster Heidi Great Coasters International 2017 Speed: 71 km/h

Length: 618m

Height: 22m

K3 Roller Skater Junior coaster K3 Vekoma 1991 Speed: 46 km/h

Length: 335m

Height: 13m

The Ride to Happiness Spinning Coaster Tomorrowland Mack Rides 2021 Speed: 90 km/h

Length: 920m

Height: 35m

#LikeMe Coaster Tivoli Large #LikeMe Zierer 2014 Speed: 34 km/h

Length: 360m

Height: 8m

Other attractions
De Koffiekopjes
  • Het Bos van Plop, an indoor boat ride themed after Kabouter Plop, originally opened in 1979.
  • DinoSplash, a log flume ride, Mack Rides.
  • De Grote Golf, a Disk'O by Zamperla opened in 2013
  • Plopsa Express, train ride across the park, Chance Morgan
  • Het Verkeerspark, pedal cars.
  • De Doorloopweide and Big & Betsy Hoeve, petting zoos.
  • De Tuin van Big, Bumba's speeltuin, De Piratenspeeltuin and De Ploptuin, playgrounds.
  • De Tractors, a tour.
  • Scooter, bumper cars.
  • Balloon Race, De Kikkers, De Eenden, De Dierenmolen, merry-go-rounds.
  • Safari, Sartori Rides
  • WienerWalz, a swing ride, Wood Design
  • De Brandweer, Zamperla
  • SuperSplash, a splash by Mack Rides.
  • Waterfietsen, a pedalo.
  • De Hangbrug, a simple suspension bridge, Kaiser & Kuhne
  • De Piratenboot, a pirate ship, HUSS Park Attractions.
  • Storm op Zee, a Music Express, Mack Rides
  • De Konijntjes, Metallbau Emmeln
  • Mega Mindy Jetski, a water spinner, Zierer
  • De Vliegende Fietsen, a spinner, Zamperla
  • Kaatje zoekt Eendje, a boat ride, Mack Rides,
  • Nachtwacht-Flyer, a starflyer from Funtime.
  • De Koffiekopjes, a teacup ride, Mack Rides
  • Wickie the Battle, a splash battle from Mack Rides.
Mayaland Indoor

Mayaland Indoor

Mayaland indoor is an indoor theme park that during the winterseason can be visited separately when the rest of the park is closed.

  • De Glijbaan, a slide.
  • De Klimboom, a slide.
  • Het Ballenbad, a ball pit.
  • Willies Speeltuin, a playground.
  • De Valtoren, a free fall tower, Zierer
  • De Swingboom, a Kontiki swing, Zierer.
  • De Bloemenmolen, a merry-go-round, Zierer.
  • De Waterlelies, a spinner, Zamperla
  • Het Spinnenweb, a playground.

De Panne resort
Plopsaqua and the Proximus Theater in the background

The theme park is part of the larger Plopsa resort that consist of an indoor theme park (2011), the Proximus Theater (2013), Plopsaqua De Panne (2015), a hotel (2021) and a camping (2021/2022). The resort also houses the headquarters of the Plopsa-group.

Visitor numbers

Below is an overview of the development of Plopsaland visitor numbers, as stated in the annual report.[9]

Year Visitors
2011 1.221.108 Increase
2012 1.176.639 Decrease
2013 1.222.169 Increase
2014 1.280.947 Increase
2015 1.276.302 Decrease
2016 1.353.162 Increase
2017 1.398.172 Increase
2018 1.209.512 Decrease

Future

In 2022, Plopsaland will open Circus Bumba, an indoor hall that will house a dark ride, theater and several carnival type attractions.[10][11]

Trivia
Koning Plopsa on the backdrop
  • The name Plopsaland is an aggregation of the first two Studio 100 characters Plop and Samson. Another name that the new owners thought of was Pannadine after the town De Panne, this name was abandoned after the new owners discovered it was a medical creme.[12]
  • From 2000 until 2012 the park - and the other parks of the group - had Koning Plopsa as icon. In recent years the character was taken out of the logo's, parkshows and as a walk-around character. At various places around the resort the icon can still be found.[13]

References
  1. Antoine Dié (May 15, 2018). "Plopsaland entre dans l'ère des grands parcs européens". La Voix du Nord. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  2. Steen, Gudrun (2016-07-15). "Meli-park herleeft weer (even)". Het Laatste Nieuws. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  3. "Meli-park wordt thuishaven van Samson en Plop". De Morgen. 1999-06-10. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  4. Steen, Gudren (2020-07-24). "Gert Verhulst blikt terug op 20 jaar Plopsaland in 20 vragen: "Op eerste dag vergaten we tank van treintje te vullen, waardoor het na 50 meter stilviel... gênant!"". Het Laatste Nieuws. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  5. "Plop heerst alleen over zijn land". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). 2 February 2005. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  6. "The Ride to Happiness coming to Plopsa De Panne in 2021". Thrill Nation. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  7. "Als de kinderen gaan slapen, ontwaken de griezels in Plopsaland De Panne". Het Laatste Nieuws. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  8. "Attracties". Plopsaland De Panne (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  9. "PLOPSA NV STAATSBLAD PUBLICATIES en JAARREKENINGEN (BE0466400051)". www.staatsbladmonitor.be. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  10. KW, Redactie (2019-12-23). "Plopsaland mikt op 2 miljoen bezoekers met hotel en extra attracties". KW.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  11. "Piet De Koninck is smaakmaker van Plopsaland". www.parkplanet.nl. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  12. Decker, Karen De (2017-06-14). "AHA: daar komt de naam Plopsaland vandaan". Flair.be (in Flemish). Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  13. "Nieuws / Koning Plopsa verdwijnt uit Plopsa-logo's / PlopsaFansite". PlopsaFansite. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
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