Opening of Mahuka, Europe's first single rail coaster at Walibi Rhône Alpes

We are lucky to be invited by CoasterTube and EDB for their evening at Walibi Rhône Alpes. We were crossing our fingers for Mahuka to be open for this evening. The previous weekend, the park opened this new rollercoaster in Soft Opening then contacted us to come and test it among "influencers" (yes, I put influencers in quotes because we still find it hard to believe). We really didn't hesitate and even drove overnight to test the first single rail in Europe offered by this regional park and built by Intamin.

Welcome by the park director

For the event, we were lucky to be able to enter the amusement park before the public and be directed to the new area hosting the rollercoaster. What's even better is being welcomed by the park director, Luc De Roo. Mr. De Roo is a true Walibi product as he has worked in the group's parks for many years. He admits himself not being as big a fan as us, but we find it hard to believe because he speaks about this new attraction with passion.

Walibi Rhône Alpes is a local and family-oriented amusement park. This new rollercoaster must stay in line with that. And with the Compagnie des Alpes team and the excellent standard of the latest additions, Mr. De Roo has every reason to be proud to offer this single rail in his amusement park.

He told us about the creation, the different directions, the group's orientation, but especially about 2 other important people in the group: Fabien Manuel (heart emoji for you) and Julien Simon. So yes, I admit it (Julien), I'm a fan of Fabien, he has an incredible talent for making his concepts a reality. After Kondaa or Toutatis, this is another excellent achievement and a beautifully successful theme that we will talk about later.

Transformation of Walibi Rhône Alpes

Like the other Walibi amusement parks and more generally those of the Compagnie des Alpes, this park is undergoing a complete transformation. We noticed it during our first visit, but it's even more striking now. Out with the water park and welcome to new experiences for the whole family to have a great time and, most importantly, create new memories together.

Zone by zone, the park is investing to offer new experiences and, above all, embrace the different themes. During our first visit, we particularly enjoyed Festival City, and it's even better now. With a New Orleans theme, it's a great success, and we love the universe, the wordplay, and everything related to it.

For the new rollercoaster, it's Exotic Island that's evolving. It's quite clever (even very clever) to build upon themes that work and allow the expertise deployed in other parks of the group to be reused. Exotic Island's theming is very similar to Exotic World at Walibi Belgium.

These new transformations even make the park want to find a new name. So why not Walibi France? Admittedly, you have to travel to get there, it's not very accessible by public transport. But the park also highlights all other solutions for coming. Even on their site, new transport methods like carpooling are highlighted, and that's very clever.

The new Mahuka rollercoaster

Finally, we're getting there... Yes, I needed this context... It's the first single rail in Europe. Single rails are more RMC's thing, so we were eager to compare but especially to know if this type of attraction suited a family-oriented amusement park.

The theming is very successful. While an archaeological site is lacking resources to continue its research, students embark on 4x4 tours of the site to finance them. At the entrance to the attraction, one of the expedition vehicles is found.

This new area is really nice. We find elements that are quite similar to what's found in the Kondda area at Walibi Belgium, so we see a creative link between the areas. But they remain very different.

The entrance gate to the queue is magnificent, I'd love to have it at home :) Then, it's still so well done. We pass close to the rollercoaster, there are nostalgic elements from the 90s (thanks Fabien) and a lot of atmosphere setting to understand the tour the students have planned for you.

After these very 90s references, we arrive at the station. And what stands out is the quality of the train's design. To fully embody the theme, they are 4x4 vehicles, and it is truly, again, very successful.

After getting seated, the ride begins with its launches. It's very fun, it's accessible. It's completely different from an RMC, but it fits the park's target audience so well. After Timber, it's a rollercoaster that will allow the younger ones to test themselves before Mystic while being super fun for the whole family.

As usual, the ride is completely different at the beginning and end of the day and depending on your position in the train. The first launch is nice, but the second one is even better. And it's the changes in direction in the last part that I preferred.

You can see the onride in the video of our discovery of Mahuka at Walibi Rhône Alpes.

The CoasterTube X EDB Evening

Of course, we enjoyed the park during the morning, but with the overnight drive and a planned evening event, we took a short break. The evening begins with Erwan and Etienne giving us a wristband. Even though we often cross paths with them, it's always nice to have a brief moment to chat with them.

Then we entered the park with privileged access to Mystik, which we rode at the same time as the two of them (you can see us in their videos).

After a quick dinner, it was mainly the Mahuka area that we wanted to see at night, with its stage and a DJ to liven up the evening. We decided to keep the evening for ourselves and not film. A big thank you to those who recognized us and with whom we had a great time talking about our shared passion.

Mahuka at night is just amazing. It's hard to see where you're going, especially in the second part, and the wait times remained acceptable during the evening. We didn't stay until the end, but we made the most of this evening, which had an excellent atmosphere. A huge well done to CoasterTube and EDB for this very good and well-organized evening.

Our opinion on Mahuka

This new, unique rollercoaster in Europe is just amazing. Yes, if you compare it to Wonder Woman at SFMM, it's different, but for a regional park, it's really incredibly good and perfectly matches the target audience.

The area is super nice, and so is the theming. It's a very, very good execution.

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