Phantasialand 2014: Chiapas

[AstroDan]

Re: Phantasialand

I can appreciate it more now I know where it's going.

I hope there's something unique about the ride system.

Theming I know will be excellent, but it's whether the ride is special that will really determine how good this is.

Had this been built for 2012, nobody would be bothered due to the plethora of major projects in Europe this year - but for 2013, it's pretty much the most major project in Europe after SW7.

 

[Rupert]

Re: Phantasialand

Do we have any idea what manufacturer, let alone ride type, this will be yet? Are thoughts still with Intamin (and was there any base to those thoughts?)?

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

Anyone remember that PL are in the middle of building a new wateride, or did we all forget?

Well construction has been steaming ahead, with what look like some part of the channel already going in! These images are all from Phantasialand Fans.de, and range in age. I've put them in chronological order, and they cover about the past 4-5 weeks of construction.

Workman working on part of the channel in the far corner of the site (Closest to Matamba)

Bit wider shot of the last image

Arial shot from CA's lift

Scaffolding in place for facade work on the CA warehouses

What will presumably become the station and queueline building

Channel construction continues

Various foundations near Black Mamba and Talocan

Looks a bit less tidy than SW7!

Another delivery of metal

Foundations continue

The facade on CA being rebuilt. Hopefully this is all going to give the ride a new lease of life when complete (Lets just beg they deal with the interior...)

The station is growing! Looks a lot like the existing Mexico archetcture...

Work continues over the oposite side, alongside Mamba's lift

Station with Phalic Castle in the background

Starting to look more solid now!

Rockwork looking good. This shot really shows how small the park is. The photographer is stood about 2/3s of the wa through the park, and the round Chinese tower is part of Hotel Ling Bao, sat right on the edge of the other side! Gives you an idea of the limited space the park are playing with.

Ohai square opening and tunnel next to Mamba! Verticle lift anyone?

Station continues. It looks like the walkway behind this may open out onto the roof when it's complete. Could be a good overview point.

Rockwork looking nearly done

Looking towards Mamba from CA

So lets just familiarise ourselves with the finished article again:

It's starting to take shape!

I'm really looking forward to this now! Having just seen this image over at freizeitparkinfos.de I reckon we're looking at some form of Intamin Super/Mega Splash here, similar to Valhalla or Hydro, or at least in that catagory of ride.

It looks to me like the ride station is in the base of the new building. It'll travel around the edge of the lake benieth the building, behind the white tower depicted, and enter an indoor section in the mountain, more or less parallel to CA's lifts. No doubt where there'll be some form of dark section, and I guess a small drop is feasible within. It'll then head towards Talocan and Mamba's exit where it'll enter a verticle lift in the concrete tunnel we saw above. This will take it to the top of the mountain, where it'll then travel down a steep drop into the lake again, before returning to the station.

That's my theory anyway... Hopefully this will breath new life back into the heart of the park, and hopefully improve both the Mexico area and Talocan, and also Colorado Adventure

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

Oooooh, hang on, I've just spotted something!

Take a look at the bottom of the drop, under the big bridge. I spy a hop. Atlantica Super Splash ride with verticle lift anyone? Do Intamin do an equivalent ride, or is this enough to call it Mack do you think?

 

[Dar]

Re: Phantasialand

I'm a sucker for water rides and I love good theming, so this looks right up my street!

TST RoadTrip 2013 anyone?

 

[GeorgeT]

Re: Phantasialand

This could become Europe`s best watercoaster easily !

PHL is sooo good at theming rides...and with some nice gimmicks which are typical for that park...I guess this thing will be amazing !

For me PHL is a must next season ;D

Greeds...George

 

[Sam]

Re: Phantasialand

Bit wider shot of the last image

That photo isn't exactly inspiring hope that this'll be a world-class cutting-edge ride system.

Why is everyone presuming it's an Intamin? Has there been any solid evidence for this, besides the rumours of them considering building a Th13teen-style ride in the same spot?

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

There were several reports on various PL sites that the park had been in communication with Intamin, even after it was announced this would be a water ride. Plus, PL are known to have a good relationship with Intamin. All parks have their preferred manufactures, and ones they like to avoid (BG Williamsburg and Intamin for example). When it comes to big names in water rides Intamin and Mack are two of the big players. Hafema isn't too unreasonable to suggest, but considering Intamin has the largest portfolio of ride's in this area it doesn't seem too unfair to guess at them. The hop at the bottom though now has me considering Mack more than before.

As for the photo... It's a segments of a former for a water channel... How can we write off a whole ride based on that? I guess we'll condemn every other ride which has ever used a water channel. Sorry Valhalla and Splash Mountain...

 

[Pedro]

Re: Phantasialand

Today parcplaza.net posted the new plans for Phantasialand Expansion :

Nothing planed for the park to get bigger, but a new parking, Aquapark and hotel.
The goal is to have 3000 or 4000 beds (instead of 1200 today), and to make Phantasialand opened every day in the year.
Investment : 100.000.000 € and 830 New jobs.

This as to be approved by the Shire, and the construction could begin at the end of 2014.


Looks interesting! Shame the park is going to stay so small!

soucrce (in french)

 

[AstroDan]

Re: Phantasialand

New hotel? The existing hotels always seem dead at present!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

So they're essentially going to expand the resort offerings so it's almost the size of the park? Awesome!

If the park can really start to push their resort offerings further it can only be good for the future, and increasing return custom. And a waterpark! Yaaaay!

 

[Sam]

Re: Phantasialand

This is utterly stupid.

The park is chronically undersized and cramped, while the hotels are far too big, given the number of people in the bars. They do not need an expansion in the hotels, or a waterpark (much too cold up there). What they desperately need is an expansion in the park, if they want to have any hope of competing with EP, DLP and Efteling, who all have a lot of room for expansion.

 

[Tim]

Re: Phantasialand

I can sort of understand this. While I want to agree that the Hotels are currently underused I don't think that's actually the case. When I was there it seemed quiet but they had a lot of conferences on so while the Hotels seemed quiet the rooms were full.

I suspect that's why they want to expand the resort side; they must see real potential having the site open all year. The site is definitely accessible enough from Cologne to make this a feasible option.

However I do have to agree that at least part of this expansion should be for the park. They are already pushed for space and having to replace older rides just to make room. Plus expansion would have been easy. All they’d need to do is extend the Berlin Street through a tunnel under the main road and create the new area where the Tepee Camp currently is (I'm sure that can be moved to another site quite easily).

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

I don't deny that the theme park itself needs expansion, but at the same time I'm glad that this is going where it is, and expanding the park as a resort. I'm sure it's been said before that the park cannot remove the roads around the area, and the last thing they need to do is split the park in two. Berlin is a lovely entrance area, and should stay as such.

Splitting the park over the road like that would have created too much segregation between them. With the road going through the middle at present it's barely noticeable, as the shape of the park allows for plenty of connecting points. From within the park you wouldn't even notice the road is there. However, the other road is much larger, and that whole side of the park is built as a boundary to screen off the road, and attempt to reduce its impact as much as possible. If they tried to create connections I think it would ruin this effect, especially in Deep in Afrika. Berlin would seem to be the only suitable point, but they need multiple connections to cope with the footfall.

I think placing all these additions where they are is a good move. It'll create two very distinct areas for the two very different attractions on offer. Hopefully, by having this independence they'll be able to do something amazing with the waterpark, without worrying about its impact on the rest of the theme park.

I'd much rather see the theme park try to expand out from the Mystery Entrance, over the carpark, as it'll keep the areas all knitted together nicely, and link the new areas in perfectly, while simultaneously offering vast new areas of land for expansion. If you ripped out what's left of the old Western Town area there'd be ample space on offer, and the perfect connections to the surrounding areas so as not to affect guest flow

I'm really looking forward to the addition of the waterpark though, and hope it gets planning approved. It's nice to see the park trying to branch out and do something new. Hopefully it'll be something different, and help bring in new custom to the business (Which, naturally means more income). It's one of the big things which will plug a big hole in the resort lineup - what there is to do outside of the theme park. If they're planning on adding entertainment facilities to this area too it'll be a good chance for the park to expand their offerings in this area, and hopefully bring more new ideas.

Just a theory, but what if the park were to move Fantisima into the new theatre, then flatten the old one in the park, Hollywood Tour, and Temple of The Nighthawk... It'd give them a lot of new space, and a massive building for a darkride if they wanted...

 

[Ramius]

Re: Phantasialand

Some more information:

Phantasialand gets 37€/day from a normal visitor.
From a hotel visitor they get 145 €/day.

So it's clear that they want to expand their hotel capacity and make the park more attractive for hotel visitors. At the moment only 10% of the visitors are hotel visitors. In the future they want to have 25% - 30% hotel visitors.

The Concert/Theaterhall is planed for 30.000 to 60.000 visitors.

 

[AstroDan]

Re: Phantasialand

I have been thinking much more about the proposed plans for Phantasialand, and from a theme park visitor point of view - it really is desperately saddening.

Basically, what they are saying is - they will be adding a large hotel and waterpark with entertainment venue. OK, this is all very well and good - and I am also sure that some older theme park rides will also be refreshed over the coming years, but - so what?

This new hotel/waterpark is not going to next to Matamba or Ling Bao, either. Instead, it will be built behind the current Tipi Village.

I fail to see why they are going for this approach. They need to build capacity within the theme park. It is one of the smallest major theme parks in Europe. In terms of high capacity attractions - there are very few!

The combined expansion for the hotel and various entertainment venues is almost the same size as the existing theme park... yet there won't be any theme park expansion?

Sad.

 

[Ramius]

Re: Phantasialand

There are other facts they have to think about.

1. They talk now since 10 years about this expansion and it is still not through the council.
2. Maybe this will be the only expansion in the next 20 years
3. They don't have that many visitors. The last number i have heard is 1.3 million.
4. They have a lot of restrictions to build new attractions because of the nearby habitants.
5. Theming costs a lot of money and in the future it will cost even more.

They want to get different kind of visitors - not only theme park visitors.

 

[Ian]

Re: Phantasialand

They want to get different kind of visitors - not only theme park visitors.

This is my point exactly. If the park really are so stuck in terms of the theme park and expansion, it makes perfect business sense to look into expanding in other areas and offerings, in an attempt to maintain revenue

As I said earlier, theme park expansion is needed, but if the council says no then there really isn't much they can do about it. The park have been trying for some time to expand, with no avail. If they can expand in this way though at least they are trying to do something within their restrictions.

 

[Sazzle]

Re: Phantasialand

I can't say as I blame them for going down the route of confertainment - it brings in a large amount of money, which the leisure sector is universally fighting for. By filling their hotels to the brim with business types (which wouldn't be difficult, being so close to a major city), there will be HUGE spend-per-head (as already pointed out by Ramius, thanks for the interesting facts!).

However, I do feel that Phantasialand absolutely must balance this with some heavy investment and attempt at pushing the park boundaries - literally! Any new attraction has always been intricately themed, excusing Colorado's tin sheds, and so I have no doubt that whatever is installed will be done to a high standard... they just need more.

The entrance post-barrier is impressive, with the large decadent carousel and the wonderful street setting, however the ACTUAL entrance from the outside is appalling! 1970s airport, anyone? It can often feel very cramped, disorganised and at times dangerous - the crowds swell out onto the very busy main entrance road! This is one thing I really hope can be sorted.

I realise infrastructure is a massive issue for the park, what with them having an autobahn next door, and then access roads surrounding the park, and so they will simply have to remove existing rides to accommodate new projects. Personally I'd like to see the Temple of the Nighthawk and Hollywood Tours building used to spectacular style for something compact like as Gerst euro-fighter (the closest similar ride would be Anubis/Fluch?).

Personally, I adore Phantasialand, and I can't wait to see what they do in the next ten years or so. The park has already changed tremendously since I first visited in 2007! I have to admit though, I'm less than enthused with the expansive and bland entrance plaza that now exists... I hope we don't end up with more like that .

 

[Sam]

Re: Phantasialand

2013 - Chiapas - Under Construction - (11/26/12) New construction pictures and artwork promoting Chiapas at Phantasialand has been posted to AirTimers this week. According to the new stats listed on one park poster, the new themed flume ride will be 6 minutes long and feature a 53º plunge at the end.

And here's the new concept art from the Airtimers forum:

I hope this pushes DLP to consider building Splash Mountain!