Europe has recently seen the introduction of its first ever Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) Raptors. Known as YOY, this new attraction has opened at Walibi Holland in the Netherlands.
Unlike other roller coasters of this type which have already opened, YOY features a less compact twister layout along with two different tracks which duel throughout the layout. The green track on YOY has been marketed as the Thrill side, featuring six inversions, while the blue track has been marketed as the Chill side, although both sides have the same height restriction as one another. For this reason, guests tended to have a preference for the Thrill side meaning that there was a major queue imbalance between the two sides
YOY has a large tree like structure as its main entrance. The left and right archways are for Thrill and Chill respectively, which means that both sides have fully separate queue lines which is dissimilar to most duelling roller coasters which have a single queue line which then splits near to the station. The fast lane and single rider lines are enter together through the central arch, before splitting off further down the queue.
The presentation and overall area where YOY is located feels a bit rushed and is very reminiscent of the way that Merlin have been opening their recent investments such as Hyperia and Minifigure Speedway. There is also a new food unit which has been built alongside the ride to complement the area. The welcome addition with the area surrounding YOY are the new pathways which connect from next to Condor and next to Goliath, this means that the park no longer has as many dead ends and has majorly improved the guest flow throughout the park.
YOY and its surrounding area lack any sort of cohesive stylisation or theme. The logo changes between the ride entrance, merchandise and the main logo used in advertising. It is very unclear what the theme, style or thought process behind the ride is. The trains look very unique and fit in line with the styles of trains used elsewhere on park, however the only stylisation in the queue line is a pile of wood and the colours and patterns on the station building. It would be great to see more of a clarification on the stylisation and theme of the ride in the future. The name YOY is also quite confusing with the Dutch pronunciation of the name sounding very similar to the word Joy in English.
The station for YOY is a block box with a tunnel underneath for riders to access the station of the blue side. In the station, it looks like the blue side is designed to be reminiscent of the ocean with wave like patterns and jellyfish, while the green side looks to be more nature based with shrubbery. Each side features a main queue, single rider and fast lane queue. At the merge point there is a set of double sided automatic lockers. There are then two sets of batch gates which both hold eight people and alternate train on train to give guests time to prepare to board without damaging throughputs. The ride is designed to never stop while loading, with guests instructed not to pull down the restraints as only the staff members can do this, which is confusing considering there is no seat belt which needs to be checked.
The highlight of YOY is the interaction between you and the other train, with multiple moments where the trains come close to each other and even a moment where riders come face to face with one another. It is a unique sensation to have no one sitting on either side, making riders feel very exposed. The train straddles the track which also lowers riders’ centre of gravity. YOY feels more like a family thrill coaster experience instead of a thrill ride, with the elements feeling quite controlled throughout the ride and lacking in positive forces, despite one side having six inversions. Overall, the ride is more fun than thrilling, with airtime present but not too intense – the other three major coasters at the park (Lost Gravity, Untamed and Goliath) offer better forces and better airtime.
Another thing to mention with YOY is the roughness – the ride already feels like it’s got a significant shake to it which would not be expected for a new ride. Due to the ride having vest restraints it does not provide any discomfort to riders, however this is nowhere near as smooth as the I-Box and Topper Track RMC coasters that have opened in Europe prior to this. Some of the transitions jolt, especially towards the middle of the train, but this does give the coaster some bite that it was otherwise lacking. The ride is fun, has a good length to it but the interactions with the other side and the uniqueness of single rail are definitely the highlights of the ride.
Both sides of YOY run independently of each other, this means that if one side shuts down, then the other can still run. If one train has a delay to loading, the other train will slow down on the lift for a certain amount of time to give the delayed train the opportunity to catch up and still run in sync to enhance the ride experience. Unfortunately, during our visit to the park, YOY was still having some teething issues having opened less than a month prior, which meant that one of the sides was having a technical delay every 15-30 minutes. Fortunately, the engineering teams at Walibi were always on standby and were able to get the ride operational again quickly. We expect that, as the park gets used to the rides, the amount of technical delays on the attraction is likely to reduce.
During our visit to the park, we also got back on some of our favourite coasters including Untamed, Lost Gravity and Goliath. Untamed is an RMC I-Box conversion of the park’s former Vekoma wooden coaster known as Robin Hood. As the best ride in the park, the ride features a variety of inversions and aggressive airtime moments.
Located in Zero Zone is the world’s first Mack Big Dipper, Lost Gravity. With the small and compact trains, this ride features tight manoeuvres and some really fun, thrilling and wacky turns.
And finally Goliath, a name from the days where the park was run and operated by Six Flags. This classic Intamin Mega Coaster is a fantastic ride with great sustained airtime moments and turns over the water.
Walibi Holland has made some amazing overall investments over the past few years including the addition of Eat My Dust, a small family coaster, in 2023. The presentation of the park has massively improved in this time, with the whole park feeling really fresh and vibrant. It is great to see coherent stylised areas across the park with all the rides and food units being really well looked after. This is a complete contrast to how the park was back in 2016 when Lost Gravity was first installed.
Unfortunately during our visit the park felt significantly under staffed. Every shop and photo kiosk was closed or unmanned with the exception of the main shop at the front entrance. The majority of the food units were closed around the park, most notably around Untamed, which meant that those food units that were open were all extremely busy with queues blocking some pathways. Rides such as Untamed were running with a reduced number of staff on the platform, with the operator doubling up to check restraints. Hopefully these issues can be resolved in the future as it would help to significantly increase the overall guest experience at the park.
Walibi Holland has one of the best top three thrill coasters of any park in Europe with YOY now supporting this as a great set of family thrill coasters. The future for Walibi Holland is bright, with the park being the go to place for thrill rides within the Netherlands. Will you be making the visit to Walibi Holland to experience YOY in 2025?
