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Phantasialand 2014: Chiapas

Re: Phantasialand

Phantasialand have caused quite a stir on German theme park forums, by raising their admission prices from €39.50 to €45.00 - a rise of nearly 15%. This makes it by quite some distance, the most expensive theme park in Germany. Typically, the park have been around €0.50 to €1 more expensive than the likes of Europa-Park, but still, now they find themselves 10% more expensive.

2014 tariffs:
1 day: €45 (£36)

By contrast, all the other (major) German parks have only raised their prices by around 3 or 4%...

Europa-Park: €41 (£32.80)
Movie Park: €35 (£28)
Heide-Park: €42 (£33.60)
LEGOLAND Germany: €40.50 (£32.40)

I cannot help but feel Phantasialand are pushing it a bit. They have less rides and attractions than both Europa-Park and Heide-Park for starters.
 
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I hope this isn't a sign that they are struggling for money after the fiasco of The Log Flume That Never Was. :/
 
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Wow that's a big rise. I have no idea how they are possibly justifying it!?

:)
 
Re: Phantasialand

Oh joy, it's working it's way up again (Though still cheaper than a lot of UK parks). I know the park have said before that it's the hotels and corporate side which make up a majority of the parks revenue, so I wonder if they've seen a slump in this area which has resulted in the increase :/

Something interesting I've noticed with regards to ticketing is that the BOGOF offer is returning this season; Buy a full price adult ticket throughout April and return to the park in summer completely free. A sign Chiapas will possibly still not open at the start of the year?..
 
Re: Phantasialand

Ian said:
Something interesting I've noticed with regards to ticketing is that the BOGOF offer is returning this season; Buy a full price adult ticket throughout April and return to the park in summer completely free. A sign Chiapas will possibly still not open at the start of the year?..
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I hope it opens at the start of the season! Jeeez...

It's still a surprise how they're more expensive than any other German park, though.

The price is the same as the standard online rate for Alton Towers (£36).

It's shocking how much cheaper Movie Park is, considering it's just up the road. In fact, when you look at the parks main competitors within the region:

Movie Park: €10 less
Toverland: €20.50 less
Efteling: €10.50 less
Holiday Park: €16.50 less

Surely savvy families will take this into account... based on a family of 4, Phantasialand is suddenly a lot more expensive than the above options.
 
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If Chipolata is not open at the start of this season then it will be a hugely embarrassing farce for the park.

With Phantasialand being that much more expensive than other parks in the region you have to worry. People are surely going to latch on to this.

:)
 
Re: Phantasialand

AstroDan said:
In fact, when you look at the parks main competitors within the region:

Movie Park: €10 less
Toverland: €20.50 less
Efteling: €10.50 less
Holiday Park: €16.50 less

Surely savvy families will take this into account... based on a family of 4, Phantasialand is suddenly a lot more expensive than the above options.
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I've not been to Movie Park, so can't comment on that, but Toverland and Holiday Park are hardly compareable to PL. Efteling may be a good park (personal vendettas against the place not included), but it has very little to offer for thrill seakers. So I don't have an issue with PL being the most expensive park in the region...

... That's not to say I back this price hike, of course. ;)
 
Re: Phantasialand

...but the family market is the main market. Thrill markets alone do not work which is why Phantasialand haven't added anything thrilling since 2007.

Price will come into play.

Phantasialand only have 3 bona fide thrill rides anyway. Movie Park has at least 6. Holiday Park has more for thrills, too. Of course I prefer Phantasialand to all these parks but I still find it baffling.
 
Re: Phantasialand

And what are cash-strapped visitors getting for their wad? A water ride that should have been open last year and one less dark ride.
 
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Well in slightly cheerier news, a few weeks back an image came up showing Black Mamba's lift towers covered in scaffolding. Apparently, the tower is currently grey as it's being completely re-plastered. Just as well too, as for a fairly new attraction it looked a shambles most of last season, with dirty marks and water stains all over it.

Mystery Castle has allegedly had all of the wooden structure which forms to entrance bridge removed and is in the process of being replaced. Wether this is down to it simply needing a refresh or becoming unstable I have no idea.

On the construction front I understand that Silver City has now been more or less completely flattened, along with the old Hacienda restaurant. Fences have been erected on the side facing the road under the park to screen it from view, and they've apparently done the same around the path to River Quest and China Town.

Park management have supposedly confirmed that the former Silver City area will form an expansion of current Mystery area, which at present is home to two rides (Mystery Castle, and River Quest), and is rather devoid of theming. Hopefully it'll actually feel like a complete area when they're done.

Silbermine, from the sounds of it (Images of PL in the closed season are usually scarce), has had the station area cut away, and excavators are working through the building, but it sounds as if they have left the rock face intact for now, presumably as a sound barrier whilst they're ripping down the building.

There's no real evidence or rumours as to what a new attraction could be, but as the area is so close to the locals noise will no doubt be an issue. In view of this many fans seem to be holding out for either:

A) A dark coaster similar to Mummy at Universal

B) A dark ride similar to DarKastle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvfTfZLiVHM#ws

Personally, I'd hope if we're seeing another dark ride for something a little more creative than all those screens and projections. We already have one 'digital dark ride' with Maus, and I don't think we need another like that. If they're going to use projections I'd at least hope they're used for something creative and unique like Mystic Manor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwM2d4Wug4A#ws

Either way though it'd better be something decent. At least with the Mystery area they have a theme which is rather unlimited, and a pretty extensive catalogue of characters to work with. Now would be the perfect chance to finally convey it all, rather than leaving it to a couple of pages in one of the books (Lets face it, Mystery Castle really underutilises the whole story, and does a pretty poor job of telling it in my opinion). A dark ride of some form does seem like a good way to bring it all together.
 
Re: Phantasialand

They won't be able to afford something like Mystic Manor.

However, the could reasonably budget €20m (similar to Arthur at Europa-Park) if they are going to class it as a MAJOR new attraction.

My heart is set on a new indoor rollercoaster themed to the Mystery area. I love the concept of Mystery, but as you say it's not yet reached its potential.

Once the new coaster opens, if it's that, then it will pave the way for the removal and replacement of Hollywood Tour and Temple of the Night Hawk to become either more Wuze Town extensions or something different.

:)
 
Re: Phantasialand

AstroDan said:
They won't be able to afford something like Mystic Manor.

However, the could reasonably budget €20m (similar to Arthur at Europa-Park) if they are going to class it as a MAJOR new attraction.

My heart is set on a new indoor rollercoaster themed to the Mystery area. I love the concept of Mystery, but as you say it's not yet reached its potential.

Once the new coaster opens, if it's that, then it will pave the way for the removal and replacement of Hollywood Tour and Temple of the Night Hawk to become either more Wuze Town extensions or something different.

:)
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I was more using Mystic Manor as an example of how projection should be used in a dark ride, rather than just countless screens :p I'm unsure on what we should be expecting in terms of budget really, as Phannyland rotate with a big ride, then a smaller ride, sometimes followed by or split with a year off. Obviously if Chiapas had opened when it should have 2014 would probably be the year off, with 2015 being the year for the new area and attraction(s) (Which I believe is the date they're aiming for here). I'd expect at least double figures for the budget, but perhaps not as high as €20M.

With the continued rumours of the third hotel, entertainment centre, and waterpark being in the near future I'd imagine they're perhaps going to try and become a bit more conservative for a couple of seasons now they've sorted out two of the parks poorer areas (Mexico and Mystery). I guess you could say that the increased admission is another sign of this, if they are indeed trying to raise funds. They're probably now in a better position to let the park 'tick over' for a bit now than they were a few seasons ago though.

And on the subject at pricing wether it's responsive it the outcry or was intended all along I've just had an email from the park with a group ticketing offer:

Secure your early bird packages and save - For example, 4 tickets for €110 instead of €134. Tickets are valid from 1 to 30 April 2014. The best: The tickets are valid also for the spring action "1 x Pay, 2 x Fun."
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There's three different combinations of tickets in the deal:

xJEgnt4.png


I hope they aren't considering going to way of some UK parks with an inflated gate price but shoving offers in at every opportunity. Deals are great, yes, but a low standard price is even better in my eyes :/

Whilst I agree that a new coaster would be brilliant personally I'd be looking at doing it the other way around to what you suggest. My concern with putting an indoor coaster in this area is that it'd have to maintain quite a low overall profile so as not to encroach on the surrounding areas. Whereas with the Fantasy area they have a lot more space to play with (Imagine if you ripped out Night Hawk and Hollywood Tour, and removed the upper floor. You'd have a massive space to play with a coaster in!

I think a dark ride would be much better suited to this area, and would be a great part in finishing to tell the story :)
 
Re: Phantasialand

Will shutting the Silver City affect the Mystery entrance to the park? They seemed to be sending a lot of people through there on my visit last year.
 
Re: Phantasialand

Dar said:
Will shutting the Silver City affect the Mystery entrance to the park? They seemed to be sending a lot of people through there on my visit last year.
Click to expand...
I'd be incredibly surprised if it had an affect on the Mystery Entrance as there's a fair bit of distance from there and Silver City, and Mystery gate is one of the main entrances as it's connected straight to the main car parks.

KzvKwR1.png


The pink shows Mystery gate, and the yellow lines show where they could block the paths. They could even move the one from China Town right up the River Quest's entrance as there's nothing beyond that point from there.



Just a thought though! If they're removing the building for Silbermine they could also take the shed off of Colorado Adventure, as this was retrofitted to the ride to limit the noise, but Chiapas has provided a decent rock work screen. Could be a great chance to tart it all up and landscape it :)
 
Re: Phantasialand

Screamscape have just posted that along with the eventual opening of Chiapas this year (Expected April 1st) the park will also be introducing a new 4D film to their theatre, Schauspielhaus, located in Berlin.

For the past number of years the park have been running Pirates 4D, staring Leslie Neilson, a film which has graced several parks around the world, including Thorpe, Seaworlds, and the Buschs. If I'm not mistaken though, Phannyland is probably one of the last parks in Europe at any rate still running the film.

Personally I'm not going to miss it. As fun as the film is it's certainly very dated, and the quality of the projection in Schauspielhaus is abysmal. I really hope they'll be digitising with the new film. The theatre itself and the effects are still half decent, if a bit dated, so I'm not expecting anything massive to be happening here other than minor touches, although anything extra would be most welcome!
 
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I have been browsing PL forums and they all reckon it's ready to open, but they aren't going to advertise it as such just yet so it's not too busy at first.
 
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ymy8e6em.jpg


Based on this email I've just had from Phantasialand, looks like Chiapas will be open on April 1st!

Fitting that it's April Fools day...
 
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So everyone's going to arrive on the moring of April 1st expecting to ride it. The park managers will be at the ride entrance ready for the grand opening ceremony. The speech begins: "Haha, April fools everyone, it's not really opening. See you in 2015!" ;)

In all seriousness, good to see that it may actually open!

:)
 
Re: Phantasialand

Yes!

Arthur might be delayed but at least I wi get to ride Chip Shop!
 
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