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Phantasialand 2014: Chiapas

Looks like the web's biggest Phantasialand fansite is shutting down for good in a week because their community is a bit horrible.

Reading through Google's translation (point three), it also seems that some members were speculating that the fire on the Gebirgsbahn was started deliberately, which triggered threats of legal action from the park.
 
It's a private park, founded and ran by two businessmen, Schmidt and Löffelhardt. Both names still show as the company, but I don't think there's anyone from the Schmidt family involved anymore. These days the park is ran by Löffelhardt's son and his wife. It seems to be a case of he deals with the park, she does the shows.

I don't know if either of the original pair are still around. If I remember rightly, one of them was at the opening of Black Mamba, but I don't know since then.

It's a shame PLFans have decided to close, though I do understand where they're coming from. Their forums were a bit catty at times, and there did seem to be an elite few who thought they we're better than anyone else. A great resource lost :(
 
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Today marks the 2014 summer season comes to an end for PL. The park will now be closed until 22nd November, when it reopens for Wintertraum, which will run through to the first week of January (Bar Christmas Eve and New Years Day).

Roll on 2015 when we can hopefully see some interesting development for 2016 :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to pray to the Premier gods ;)
 
Can we talk about Misery Castle?

I'd never experienced it before my trip to the park this week, when three out of my five rides on the Castle were on 'misery' setting (straight up to the top and straight back down without the mini-launch and spiel first).

Why do they do this? All three times we experienced Misery was when the ride was walk-on or had a one cycle wait later on in the day. When we had it on proper 'Mystery' setting it was in the morning and the ride had a 5-10 minute queue.

It doesn't make any sense - why would they run a shorter cycle when it's walk-on? It just means more work for the staff. It also significantly detracts from the quality of the ride. Does anyone know why they deliberately decimate one of their greatest attractions like this?
 
I imagine it'd be down to the ride itself - probably a bit knackered. I noticed that regardless what setting it was on, the loading of the ride took an absolute age. They'd finish the cycle, empty the vault area... deliberately wait around for a while, then load as slow as possible (Mystery also had 4 hosts when we went on it.. so it's not like they couldn't have gone quick). The park isn't bad for throughputs, so can only imagine it'll be the ride itself.
 
Being air powered as well, there's probably a minimum amount of time they can send the ride within while it builds up pressure for the next launch. As the Mystery cycle is longer it no doubt takes much longer to prepare itself to run.

As above, as the ride has aged (Remember, it's 15 years old now!) the compressors are probably efficient than they used to be, so perhaps it's now less viable to run the full cycle every time. I do however agree that it is stupid to run the short program with no queue. Obviously, part of the resason it probably has no queue is owing to the fact it's running the reduced cycle, but it would only increase it by a couple of minutes I expect.

It could also be the fact that it's now the end of season, so they were trying to limp the ride through to the end when they can carry out more extensive maintenance. This was very much the case with Talocan throughout my visits last season.
 
Well after visiting last week I can say that Chiapas is a beautiful addition to the park. It is just what I expected, a damn good fun and exeptionally themed log flume with a very good ride system. It also fills the huge void that was present in the park when I visited in 2012.

In terms of the 2016 ride, they have already done a lot of groundwork with concrete being poured. Seems like some sort of tunnel/trench being built.

:)
 
Does anybody know whether Phantasialand operate a full park for their winter season? I've booked to go to this park as a part of a European trip next month and I'm curious as to what actually opens at the park.
 
Yes, the full park will be open except Chiapas, River Quest, and Wakobato. Colorado Adventure may not be open first thing if it's been particularly cold and damp first thing, but when I was last there it managed to open every day, sometimes a couple of hours after the rest of the park.

The usual shows are normally replaced with festive counterparts (Last year if I remember rightly was Crazy Christmas, Winter Feelings on Ice, and 12 Nights of Christmas), and they also put on The Magical Rose in Berlin every night, with some small firework and lighting.

Then there's also the ice rink they put in Kaiserplatz. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure last year skates were about €4 to hire, but you got the whole amount refunded when you returned them.

The park was pretty quiet over the few days I was there, and they were pretty laid back when it came to re-riding. Colorado staff would let you stay seated unless there was someone in your bay when the train got back to the station, but you could move to a free seat if there was one with no trouble (We managed 8 consecutive rides!). Talocan was the same. If there was a free seat you could hang back for it. We also had re-rides on Winjas. Didn't ask for them, but when we arrived at the station the staff ran over and relocked our restraints before sending us for another lap :p

It's a nice little event I think :)
 
When is it open? Is it warmer there or something, how do they get so many rides running?
 
As Ian says, most rides open.

I am not really a fan of their winter season though, removing Chiapas and RiverQuest and you're down 2 of the 8 major attractions in the park. It is often so quiet too that you end up rather bored unless you're into ride whoring. I recall foolishly planning 2 days in winter season a few years ago and we'd done everything including a show by about 3pm on the first day.

It's pretty, though - and certainly worth a visit if you haven't been before.

But with no Chiapas...eek.
 
AstroDan said:
As Ian says, most rides open.
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No I said WHEN it is open lol :D - and I am still surprised they get that many rides open at all in winter. And I am into ride whoring, so the quiet days on a park I haven't been to would be great!

Makes it a bit tempting. Maybe this is the key, when the parks over here close, move to Europe!

Thanks for the rest of the info :)
 
They are not all open in winter.

Phantasialand is open from 11am in winter season.
 
Yep, as Dan says, 11am to 8pm, and they only shut on Christmas Eve and New Year's Day between 26th November and 6th January

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As Dan says, not all parks in Europe go to such lengths, but the ones who do open for winter tend to make the effort, with both EP and PL having pretty large scale events relative to their size. It's a little depressing though when a park as small as Phannyland can be open on Christmas Day longer than some UK parks do during the main summer season.
 
CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not entirely sure how many people on here realise that.

Oh. I so want to do that.

Night rides, Christmas day, :hearteyes:

*Rubs eyes*

Is that post a joke? If it is, it's cruel
 
Ian said:
Yep, as Dan says, 11am to 8pm, and they only shut on Christmas Eve and New Year's Day between 26th November and 6th January

oeffnungszeiten_winter2014_2015_en.6eb00693813751c18600bec836f459a6.png

As Dan says, not all parks in Europe go to such lengths, but the ones who do open for winter tend to make the effort, with both EP and PL having pretty large scale events relative to their size. It's a little depressing though when a park as small as Phannyland can be open on Christmas Day longer than some UK parks do during the main summer season.
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To go back to Phantasialand for the winter portion of their season would honestly be excellent and a part of me wishes we were doing that for this year's NY event instead of Disneyland Paris! Ah well, a Myyyyyystery Castle for a Tower of Terror isn't that bad a swap, I guess!
 
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