Phantasialand: General Discussion

[Tim]

Flying Launch Coaster! Sounds great, been longing to see this concept. But on such a small site and potentially not B&M concerning. This might not be the ride I've longed for... but i have faith that Phantasialand can pull off something interesting.

Also a very unique concept, scratch what I dead about most their rides being iterations on other popular models.

 

[ClaraCat]

Wow, just saw the advertisement looks really interesting.

Missed out on Taron last year, so add in this as well and think I definitely need to try and revisit the place next year!!

 

[Marcus]

Could be that it has more of a compact dark ride section moving at a slow speed before launching at the end of it, I suspect the ride system will be different to the flyers already out there, or presented in a different way. I am intrigued to see what they do seems like phantasialand are firing on all cylinders at the moment!

 

[Rick]

Indeed. Let's hope that Vekoma have really worked on the concept since the Flying Dutchmans and can offer a proudct on par with B&M's. Their new sit down coasters looks great so that is promising.

Do you not think the Flying Dutchmans give a better feeling of flight? I know they're not quite as graceful (in the loading or ride experience) but I quite like them.

Not tried a Stingray yet.

I am sure they will make sure something visually stunning, fingers crossed it's a good coaster too.

 

[John]

Flying Dutchmen are laughably terrible, but I quite enjoyed the one at Carowinds in a "so bad it's good" way.

Vekoma have improved a lot recently though, so hopefully their new version will be a bit more refined. I'm cautiously optimistic, but slightly concerned about capacity.

 

[Rick]

Flying Dutchmen are laughably terrible, but I quite enjoyed the one at Carowinds in a "so bad it's good" way.

Nighthawk is certainly the worst, the Mark 2 versions are much better. Parks buying Vekoma prototypes have been stung more than once!

Vekoma have improved a lot recently though, so hopefully their new version will be a bit more refined. I'm cautiously optimistic, but slightly concerned about capacity.

Vekoma have some of the best capacity in the industry on many of their models - if you're willing to pay for it. Look at the Disney rides. No moving floors, no seatbelts or complicated seating positions... that's certainly hard to replicate on a flying coaster, or has been so far.

The Zamperla loading system is fairly straightforward. The ride experience... well, less than stellar.

 

[CSLKenny]

To those who think B&M would have been better, wait until it opens before judging.
You've got to remember this is a new type of flying coaster never seen before so you can't already write it off as inferior to B&M.

Like most of their projects the park have been planning this for many years so they will have not made a bad choice in ride type.
The Vekoma prototype sounds cool. Especially the possibility of dark ride sections. It is probably way better suited to what PHL wants, than a standard B&M flyer.

There are also rumours of two other family attractions in the area. Shall be interesting to see what transpires in Rookburgh.

 

[CGM]

Vekoma still get a lot of stick for building rough, uncomfortable coasters but the reality is that these days, they know what they're doing and most of the criticisms aren't really relevant any more. The problem is that Vekoma haven't had much of a chance to demonstrate this outside of small family coasters.

Big Grizzly Mountain at HKDL is one of the smoothest, most refined coasters I've ever been on. There is not one perceivable jolt or shuffle. Considering it's themed around a mine train, it's almost too smooth! What really sets the ride apart though is the smoothness of the transitions between the coaster's many sections. Each switch track, brake or transport section passes seamlessly. The flow of the ride is never interrupted from the moment you leave the station to hitting the final brake run. Considering the complexity of the ride, this is a massive achievement. When it comes to handling trains and maximising capacity, Vekoma have every other manufacturer beaten.

Seeing as it's a new concept, I'm genuinely excited to see what Vekoma come up with. I think that they could surprise a lot of people. Plus it's at Phantasialand. Given the run of form they're on, I think we can be fairly optimistic.

 

[Rick]

Great post @CGM - I agree on all points.

I think some of the great new rides come out of Vekoma realising that they wanted to achieve a quality of ride that couldn't be achieved with the Arrow track and the couple of experimental versions that followed.

Arrow took that technology too far (think about the hypercoasters, which are essentially 200+ft mine trains) and Vekoma took it even further, not least with the SLCs.

 

[Benzin]

The SFCs are fantastic coasters, those kind of kicked off this Renaissance... Plus their new trains are quite fab...

I get the feeling this will disappoint people expecting some thrilling flyer, certainly think this will be more of a dark ride focus, especially with Night Hawk on the chopping board soon...

 

[Russ]

Not sure if someone mentioned this, but where in the park are they putting this?

I think it will be a great addition for the park, A LAUNCHED FLYER! Let's hope Vekoma get it right if they are the manufacturer.

 

[Rojo]

Not sure if someone mentioned this, but where in the park are they putting this?

I think it will be a great addition for the park, A LAUNCHED FLYER! Let's hope Vekoma get it right if they are the manufacturer.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure the whole Rookburgh area is between the Ling Bao and Klughiem by mystery castle. CSLKenny posted some maps a few pages back I think.

Pinfari could make it for all I care. I just can't wait to see what Phantasialand come up with using the steampunk theme.

 

[CSLKenny]

Not sure if someone mentioned this, but where in the park are they putting this?

I think it will be a great addition for the park, A LAUNCHED FLYER! Let's hope Vekoma get it right if they are the manufacturer.

In the new Rookburgh steampunk themed area currently under construction which replaced Race for Atlantis and a few event tents. It is situated inbetween Berlin and Wuze Town.

 

[Spike]

If you look at an overhead satellite image of Phantasialand you can see the area they have to work is about the same size as Klugheim and they managed to squeeze a lot into that area. Don't forget Phantasialand are experts at making use of space.

I'm excited for this, I never need an excuse to return to Phantasialand as they house Taron so this is an easy decision to return next year if it's pegged for a 2018 opening which I assume it will be.

 

[Rob]

Vekoma still get a lot of stick for building rough, uncomfortable coasters but the reality is that these days, they know what they're doing and most of the criticisms aren't really relevant any more. The problem is that Vekoma haven't had much of a chance to demonstrate this outside of small family coasters.

Big Grizzly Mountain at HKDL is one of the smoothest, most refined coasters I've ever been on. There is not one perceivable jolt or shuffle. Considering it's themed around a mine train, it's almost too smooth! What really sets the ride apart though is the smoothness of the transitions between the coaster's many sections. Each switch track, brake or transport section passes seamlessly. The flow of the ride is never interrupted from the moment you leave the station to hitting the final brake run. Considering the complexity of the ride, this is a massive achievement. When it comes to handling trains and maximising capacity, Vekoma have every other manufacturer beaten.

Seeing as it's a new concept, I'm genuinely excited to see what Vekoma come up with. I think that they could surprise a lot of people. Plus it's at Phantasialand. Given the run of form they're on, I think we can be fairly optimistic.

Good points and I do agree. I think when people first hear Vekoma we all tend to think something along the lines of "great kids/family coasters, awful when it comes to anything bigger and more thrilling." Their reputation is still determined by the likes of their SLCs and sit down looping coasters. This is understandable but probably unfair, they have come on a lot in these very recent times.

Lech Coaster looks incredible and they were unlucky not to get the contract to build Energylandia's hyper coaster, again there proposal there looked light years away from what we have come to expect from Vekoma.

I'm certainly not writing them off with this coaster, I'm more wary than I would be if it was a B&M but I have more confidence now than I would have say 5 years ago that Vekoma can produce something good. And even if the coaster isn't that great you know that Phantasialand will ensure top notch theming!

I get the feeling this will disappoint people expecting some thrilling flyer, certainly think this will be more of a dark ride focus, especially with Night Hawk on the chopping board soon...

I think when the initial marketing from the park is that it will be the worlds first launched flyer and worlds longest flyer people are quite right to assume this will be something fairly thrilling. It would be strange to announce that yet then go on to build a more sedate family dark ride with a coaster section a la Arthur.

 

[Funcone]

If this is the world's longest flying coaster I believe this means it will be longer than Flying Dinosaur at Universals Japan which is 3,688 ft long, although not necessarily as long as Taron which is 4,331 ft long. That's long enough to potentially have a dark ride section and a coaster section. Flying coasters are generally quite expensive to build and launches also tend to be quite expensive, so to have a launched flying coaster of this length (which will no doubt have exquisite theming) must represent a massive investment.

Disney and Universals are generally the benchmark for theme parks, but Phantasialand's rides really wouldn't look out of place in one of those parks. I prefer Mouse of Chocolate to Midway Mania, whilst Chiapas is in my view better than Dudley Do Rights, but not quite as good as Orlando's Splash Mountain (my absolute favourite Disney ride). For me Taron beats Rock 'N Roll Roller Coaster and the Incredible Hulk, although all three are great rides. That Phantasialand gets about the same number of visitors as Thorpe Park and fewer than Legoland Windsor certainly feels like an injustice.

 

[Rojo]

In the new Rookburgh steampunk themed area currently under construction which replaced Race for Atlantis and a few event tents. It is situated inbetween Berlin and Wuze Town.

I was way out. I need more coffee I think

I need to go back to check, wasn't there plans for something between Klugheim and Ling Bao. A third hotel?

 

[Rob]

Phantsialand posted this photo of a huge advertising billboard that they have erected:

No news of an opening date but surely this will have a 2018 opening? Far too early for such substantial marketing if it was to be 2019, is it not?

 

[Spike]

Looking around Vekoma have been messing about with this launched flyer at their factory

Track with Train

 

[Ian]

A kicker wheel launch combined with those rather simple looking bogies would certainly suggest something more family friendly to me. The wheel assemblies look very similar to the ones used on the SFC. Also, the track clearance on that last support, coupled with the distance between each bogie does look like it could be just two seats wide.

The illustration on the billboard also looks very akin to the Vekoma vest restraints being fitted to some of the new SLC trains (but we probably shouldn't read too much into promo imagery, given The Smiler would have been a sit-down B&M and Krake a Eurofighter ).

Guess if this is just a proof of concept there could be scope for something bigger if this is what PL are getting, but it certainly looks like this could be very different from fliers we have seen to date.

Agree with Rob that the marketing could be sending out rather mixed messages at this stage if this is the case...