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It came as a surprise for many when the French park Walibi Rhône-Alpes announced its plans to replace the outdated outdoor waterpark Aqualibi with a completely new, nearly twice the size, 14,000 square metre large facility. With a multi-million euro investment, "L'ile aux pirates"-the isle of pirates-will be the most expensive expansion the French park has made ever since opening. Four different pools and no less than nine slides will be attracting guests to the elaborately decorated park from the 17th of June 2006 on.

Apart from the large wave pool with two different types of waves, there is a 1,050-sqm large pool landscape with three more basins: a tropical lagoon with waterfalls, hydrotherapy, and swimmers' bar can be found alongside an adventure pool called "pirates' bayou," which has five small slides, cascades and a 1,000-litre waterfall. Younger visitors can enjoy themselves in a pool created especially for them:  "La Crique des Moussaillons" (shipboy's rocky bay) boasts numerous children's slides and large toy animals. For decoration, not only was the existing terrain and vegetation used, but the entire arena was also elaborately themed. Big investments were also made in the area of waterslides, and guests can look forward to a total of nine new slides: a "multi-lane chute" with four lanes and an even faster-paced 16-metre high "Tornado" right next to it.

Both of the other attractions are even accessible for children over 92 cm tall in the accompaniment of an adult: the eight and nine metre high attractions "Le Serpent de Mer" (sea-snake) and "Le Squale" (the shark) are both ridden with double-tubes. Like the pools' infrastructure, the slides are being supplied by the Spanish firm Action Park (be sure to read this issue's interview on page 42). ...

You can read the complete article in the print edition of EAP - issue 3/2006.