A day at Plopsa Indoor Hasselt

We've recently returned from our second stay at Center Parcs, Erperheide in Belgium, and this time we decided to venture off site and spend a day at Plopsa Indoor Hasselt. It's about half an hour drive from the park and we chose to visit on a Monday.

As the name suggests, most of the attraction is housed indoors in a large warehouse style building. But it has been decorated and themed wonderfully, and so it feels really welcoming and friendly, with lots going on and lots to see. Everything felt well maintained and the whole place was spotless.

It was a quiet day when we visited and so not all the attractions were open at the same time, but we just had to wait outside and someone would soon be over to open it, and it was great visiting when it was so quiet. We just kept an eye out to see what was open and rotated around. Harry is a bit timid when it comes to rides and he prefers the slower ones, and fortunately there were several that he enjoyed. Although even on the carousel he wanted to sit on one of the static seats! We had a nice ride on the top deck and it's a good spot to look out over the rest of the park.

Mia is a little more adventurous and happily tried out all the rides, loving every minute. There's a good selection including slower roundabout style rides, a rocking pirate ship, swinging chair ride and a small drop ride. The fastest ride is the Wickie Coaster which Mia really loved. All the rides were quiet enough that we could go round again and again without waiting.

Quite a large area forms a small indoor lake. Harry and Mia loved the raft that they could pull along themselves to go over the lake. I was a bit nervous at first as I had visions of them getting stuck in the middle and having to wade in and rescue them, but they worked it out brilliantly and spent ages going back and forth, giving each other rides!

Also on the lake were some little boats which I was quite relieved to find were for children only! This was Harry's absolute favourite activity, and he was able to spend as long as he liked powering himself about by turning the handles in the sides. There's a big play pirate ship in the water too and I could see that he was having a fantastic time imagining himself sailing about in the sea.

Nearby is an enormous ball pit which connects up to a large tree house themed soft play area that the children spent ages in. I couldn't really see what they were up to but it looked like a lot of fun!

Next door is the long wavy slide, one of the longest in the country, which goes from the top corner at the highest point almost all the way across the building. Great fun!

A couple of times during the day the Bumba show was performed, with separate shows in Dutch and French. We chose the Dutch show as I thought that I'd have a better chance of translating, but as it turned out I didn't need to, as it was very visual and the children easily understood what was going on. We aren't familiar with the Bumba clown character and to be honest it's probably aimed at children a bit younger than ours, but it was a sweet little show and they both enjoyed it, it was also nice to have a bit of a sit down after all their running about!

There are also a few attractions outside although they weren't all open as it was a cold day and it was pretty empty. We didn't stop outside for long but we did have a lot of fun on the climbing tower. It's a lot harder than it looks (I was the only one that managed to get to the top!)

We ended up staying for most of the day at Plopsa Indoor, and had a brilliant time. The children loved it, everything was perfectly suited to them with a good mix of rides and other attractions. The fact that it is mostly indoors is great for cooler and wet days and also gives a sense of security for parents as it's all enclosed. With slightly older children I would think that you could easily sit in the large cafe in the middle with a drink and let children roam around by themselves.

We'll definitely be coming back if we return to Center Parcs Erperheide!

Thank you to Plopsa Indoor Hasselt for providing us with complimentary entry in exchange for a review. Children under 85cm tall are free, children between 85cm and 1m are 9.99 Euros, and anyone over 1m is 18.75 Euros, or 17.75 if booked online. Parking is right outside and costs 6 Euros. Season tickets are also available, and it's something that we'd definitely consider if we were locals! 

Find out more information and opening times on the Plopsa Indoor Hasselt website.