Belgian comic heroes star at new Antwerp theme park
Set over four floors of Antwerp Central, Comics Station offers more than 60 attractions, including Europe’s longest indoor slide
‘It’s magical’, says prince Laurent
Spread across four floors at the station’s southern entrance on Kievitplein, the €13 million Comics Station Antwerp took a year to build and expects 250,000 visitors per year when it opens on 9 April.
“A year ago there was nothing here, and now there stands – in one of the most beautiful stations in the world – the first amusement park devoted to Belgian cartoon characters,” says Wim Hubrechtsen, CEO of the new venture.
While there are still some finishing touches to make, the press and VIPs got a sneak preview together with Prince Laurent and his brood as the guests of honour. “I’ve been a comics fan all my life,” said the prince. “I enjoyed reading Urbanus, and Suske en Wiske as a child. It’s magical to watch them come to life in this new park.”
Whack-a-mole
Urbanus, Flemish comic and cartoonist Urbain Servranckx’s strip mining his own adolescence, and veteran adventure comic Suske en Wiske feature alongside The Smurfs, Lucky Luke, The Kiekeboes and Jommeke in six themed zones spread across 6,200 square metres.
The park offers over 60 activities, spanning old-school attractions like a funhouse, bumper cars and a whack-a-mole game, plus a 4D cinema, a saloon shooting game and a free-fall ride that takes place in a pitch-black room. Visitors can help professor Barabas find Suske and Wiske via a time machine, or gather berries for the Smurfs on an interactive woodland ride.
This was an incredible opportunity to fully engage our creativity
There are also three slides varying from a gentle number to the show-stopping Mega Twister – a 22.5-metre-high corkscrew slide that runs through the centre of Comics Station and is the longest of its kind in Europe.
Comics Station is the brainchild of Hubrechtsen, Jeroen Jespers and Mark Kiekens – all former employees of Flemish media company Studio 100, which also runs several other amusement parks. Firm comic fans, they called on Antwerp publisher WPG, holder of many comics copyrights, to help bring the project to life.
While Julien Bertévas, who’s behind Parc Astérix and Walibi, took care of the scenography, Wijnegem architects Wollaert+Partners were charged with transforming the largely underground space into a bright and appealing theme park.
Choose a language
Their solution was to centre the design on an ellipse-shaped void that brings daylight 18 metres below ground. “This was an incredible opportunity to fully engage our creativity,” said Nils Wollaert. “A bright, airy, open space at the heart of the project makes for a pleasant experience and forms a link between the different levels and the station.”
At street level there’s a restaurant with a terrace, and a glass-walled gift shop that runs down the southern end of the station, terminating on Kievitplein, where guests descend into the park via escalators.
The restaurant will serve traditional Belgian dishes, catering to passengers and locals as well as park visitors. With an indoor playground, accessible after the park closes, “parents can enjoy the restaurant and [children] can play to their hearts’ content,” added Hubrechtsen.
A visit to the park is expected to last a few hours, and can be tailored to suit requirements. “Visitors give their age and their preferred language when ordering the ticket,” Hubrechtsen explained. “The visit is completely personalised.”
