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Phantasialand: General Discussion

Made by first ever visit to Phantasialand last week and really enjoyed our two days there. Thanks to @John_P 's recent review of Hotel Charles Lindbergh, we changed our accommodation for a third time and booked the adventure package. Although pricey at €399 I think overall it was worth it as an experience. Hotel Charles Lindbergh is amazing and we were allocated an aeronaut cabin on the top level next to the lookout bench which offered great views.

The park was quiet on both days of our visit with the majority of rides either walk-on or a couple of minutes wait. Unfortunately Fly was down both mornings on opening until around noon, so didn’t get first rides each morning as a hotel guest. With a lack of queues and multiple rides on Taron and Fly the old body did feel a bit achy on our departure!
 
Glad you had a great time and enjoyed the park @IDB!

FLY was down the first morning when I visited as well.

Really great to hear the hotel experience was as good as I'd experienced and written about.
 
Short report on my day at Phantasialand during Wintertraum

I went on tuesday this week. A cloudless cold day near freezing point. I went straight to Black Mamba and got the front row the first time. It was much fun. Rode a second time because it was a quit day. Next the new adventure trail in this Africa section. A few paths were closed because of the weather conditions. It is a beautiful addition. You can get more views of BM and I love this type of playground with obstacles in general.
I did FLY after this. Man I missed this. It's so much to look at. After a few rides during the day I even got front row. That's my favourite row. I don't like the stronger forces at back that much. Rookburgh looks in the night so beautiful. I took so many photos lol. I just wish they sell better merch. I want to share my love for this ride, but the variety is very poor.
As I said in the beginning it was a cold day. Riding Taron in the front row was a good and bad decision at the same time. My face was freezing! Other than that this coaster is amazing. At night you can barely see the track. Rookburgh had more light sources. I like the light in the launch the most because it looks like it was burning.
The main plaza, Kaiserplatz, was very beautiful illuminated. Pictures or videos don't do much justice.
My first time was also Crazy Bats with VR. The last times I went there they didn't offer this service because of the pandemic. It was okay. This was also my first time riding a VR coaster in general.
Good thing I chose a weekday. No line was more than 10-15 minutes. So many re-rides.

My ride counts (the important ones):
5x FLY
5x Black Mamba
4x Taron
2x Mystery Castle
1x Raik, Crazy Bats, Winjas, Colorado Adventure
 
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Does anyone know if Phantasialand is normally open in the first 2 weeks of November?

Does it close for November and reopen in December for winter? Or is the park open all the way through like EP?
 
Graeme said:
Great news, thank you!

Planning on an EP/PL trip. Always wanted to visit Phantasialand and never got round to it.

2023 is the year!
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Bleeding heck. You're too far up old Roland's love tunnels, son.

You'll love Phantasialand even if it's pretty small.

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Something about Phantasia just doesn't quite click for me.

It's a collection of good-very good rides in well themed environments but I have always felt that the experience is less than the sum of its parts.

Much the opposite of Europa in many ways I suppose.
 
D4n said:
Something about Phantasia just doesn't quite click for me.

It's a collection of good-very good rides in well themed environments but I have always felt that the experience is less than the sum of its parts.

Much the opposite of Europa in many ways I suppose.
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Im not sure PL has the same depth of experience as Europa. Whilst you’re initially wowed by the expansive themeing, when you scratch the surface there’s not the same levels of discovery that EP has. Add to that the somewhat irregular service and operations and the overall package doesn’t quite come together in the same way.
 
Phantasialand is a good example of where they don't quite get the 'package' right. The newer rides in particular are incredible, but their inexplicable quirks relating to operations and the hotels don't make up for the quality of the rides.

It's similar to Pleasure Beach in some ways, sometimes it feels like they consider their park to be perfect, ruined only by all the pesky guests.
 
My beef with Phl is after 1 day there, there's nothing else left go discover.

It is probably the world's greatest 1 day park. My problem is I go in gung-ho and end up outstaying my welcome.

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AstroDan said:
My beef with Phl is after 1 day there, there's nothing else left go discover.

It is probably the world's greatest 1 day park. My problem is I go in gung-ho and end up outstaying my welcome.
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I half know what you mean but I think a lot of that comes with repeat visitation. If you feel like you're done with an 8 coaster park (with a wealth of support attractions) after a single day, it feels like you're perhaps only scratching the surface.
 
Rick said:
I half know what you mean but I think a lot of that comes with repeat visitation. If you feel like you're done with an 8 coaster park (with a wealth of support attractions) after a single day, it feels like you're perhaps only scratching the surface.
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I guess it depends really. Unfortunately Europa has a lot of things to reward exploration (the Diamond Mine walkthrough being the best example) whereas Phantasialand (presumably due to the lack of space) doesn't afford the same level. Once you've done the rides what else is there to do? Couple of shows and enjoy the area ambience I guess?

Must admit my one day trip for Taron's opening day felt somewhat rushed but was still able to do the majority of attractions.

Again though, it's unfair to compare many parks to Europa as its almost a blank canvas and pretty much can build whatever it wants with limited restrictions.
 
I suppose it varies what it means to be done with a park. I'll happily spend a day re riding and having a few drinks. EP for example might have more to explore but it has less to re ride (Wodan and Mir are the only mega stand out rides for re riding there for me, compared to say Black Mamba, Taron, FLY, Talocan, Mystery Castle, Winjas Fear and if it's dry, River Quest and Chiapas) which is probably one of the reasons I prefer Phantasia.
 
Poisson said:
I suppose it varies what it means to be done with a park. I'll happily spend a day re riding and having a few drinks. EP for example might have more to explore but it has less to re ride (Wodan and Mir are the only mega stand out rides for re riding there for me, compared to say Black Mamba, Taron, FLY, Talocan, Mystery Castle, Winjas Fear and if it's dry, River Quest and Chiapas) which is probably one of the reasons I prefer Phantasia.
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It’s all subjective but for me it’s the lack of re-rideable attractions and the parks size that lets PL down.

I find Mamba a bit meh, and river quest a one time fun if stressful event. I don’t tend to re-ride flats so that also doesn’t help. Taron is fun but usually has horrific operations so you can’t re-ride even if you want to most days. FLY and Colorado are really the only re-riders for me.

PL is very pretty, I think part of its problem however is it is very hard to stop and take a breather with a nice drink, it’s a bit like Towers but with theming and flats, it’s ride the rides or naff all (though with more flats and at least one ok show).
 
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Having only visited in 2011 (I know I'm long overdue a return trip) I feel like I really understand what is meant by the park not getting the package right.
Back then they'd installed a few of their signiture rides, but not the heavy hitters (Chiapas, Taron and F.L.Y). And at the time I'd say it significantly lagged behind parks like EP. I think I described it as a better quality equivalent to Thorpe Park.
The new rides have clearly added a lot to the park but the ride lineup wasn't ever the issue. What I was after was a park that I could enjoy as much relaxing between rides as I did riding them.

So I get frustrated when enthusiasts from outside of Europe talk about Phantasialand as if its the greatest park in the world. It's great, definitely worth doing, and shines if you are only there for a short time to get all the credits. But I have friends that aren't massively into rides (they love EP) and when they asked where else to visit I could only half recommend Phantasialand.
 
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