The Xpress / Superman was initially to be called "
Riddler's Revenge" and was painted green at the factory. Shortly before the ride was installed, it was decided that Europeans know of
Batman, but not necessarily all of the
related villains. So the track was repainted with red and blue supports and given a
Superman theme. The station was given the theme of the
Daily Planet offices. The ride was launched in April 2000 in the theme park
Six Flags Holland. Following the sale of all of Six Flags' European parks in 2004, the park was changed to
Walibi World just before the beginning of the 2005 season. Any references to
Looney Tunes and
DC Comics characters had to be removed from the park before opening day. The name of
Superman The Ride was changed to
Xpress. The Xpress has nearly the same track layout as the "
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster" models at Disney Parks (Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Avengers Assemble: Flight Force, Disney's Adventure World). The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster's layout is a bit more spacious to compensate for a higher speed launch due to the trains being heavier with the musical hardware. In 2011, small cracks were found in the
stators, and their metal inside started to rust. New stators were ordered, and were delivered in February 2012. Therefore, the coaster was standing but not operating for the whole 2011 season. In August 2011, Walibi Holland decided to re-paint the track, to get rid of the old Superman colors (Black track and Grey supports.). Xpress Reopened In April 2012. In September 2013,
P&P Projects began working on a renovation of the ride set to reopen in 2014. In 2014, the ride was reopened as Xpress Platform 13 with a new theme based on a backstory about a forbidden subway station. The guests walk through this subway station as they enter the ride, which starts out as a normal subway station but gets darker and more horror-based as the guests progress towards the actual ride entrance. ==References==