Phantasialand: General Discussion

[Maelstrom]

Normally once the winter season ends and park closes. If I remember when I went in August 2023 tickets were released at the end of Jan. Also I waited I think until tickets where available to book the hotel as I am sure at the time you couldn’t buy multi day tickets separately and could only get the two day ticket with a hotel booking, which was cheaper than buying two separate day tickets. Not sure if that’s still the case.

 

[Manchester1894]

Normally once the winter season ends and park closes. If I remember when I went in August 2023 tickets were released at the end of Jan. Also I waited I think until tickets where available to book the hotel as I am sure at the time you couldn’t buy multi day tickets separately and could only get the two day ticket with a hotel booking, which was cheaper than buying two separate day tickets. Not sure if that’s still the case.

Thank you

 

[Pharaoh]

I'm visiting Phantasialand for the winter event soon. I'm taking a friend who hasn't been to the park and we're both really excited. I had a few specific questions I was hoping you'd be able to help with me.

1. Is there a preferred taxi company to book in advance for getting from Cologne Airport to the park? Or will we be alright using Uber on a Friday morning?
2. Do you still need to book a time for breakfast and dinner if you're staying at Charles Lindbergh? If so, what times to people recommend if we want to make the most of the day during Wintertraum? I'm guessing 9am for breakfast and 8.30pm for dinner so we can see the end of day show and then head back to the hotel.

Thank you!

 

[Burner]

I'm visiting Phantasialand for the winter event soon. I'm taking a friend who hasn't been to the park and we're both really excited. I had a few specific questions I was hoping you'd be able to help with me.

1. Is there a preferred taxi company to book in advance for getting from Cologne Airport to the park? Or will we be alright using Uber on a Friday morning?
2. Do you still need to book a time for breakfast and dinner if you're staying at Charles Lindbergh? If so, what times to people recommend if we want to make the most of the day during Wintertraum? I'm guessing 9am for breakfast and 8.30pm for dinner so we can see the end of day show and then head back to the hotel.

Thank you!

I was fine using an Uber getting too and from Colgone airport in November. Cost about €45 each way.

I've only been once, but they asked what time we wanted breakfast and the evening meal at check in. If I recall we did 8:30am each day for breakfast, and 7pm for dinner. But this was just before Wintertraum when ride close was 6pm, but it gave us plenty of time to get some last rides in and get freshened up back at the room.

 

[John]

Wintertraum can get really busy but beware the queue time info - yesterday we saw the Black Mamba queue stating 50min when it was just 5 and 35 when it looked to be around 60. Similarly Colorado said 30 when it was snaking all the way back to the Silverado theatre entrance and 60 when it was less than half that length.

Charles Lindbergh guests cannot get out of Rookburgh until 11, likewise guests using the main park entrance cannot get into Rookburgh. This caused awkward overcrowding issues when the gates finally opened. Guests using either the Rookburgh or the main entrance at a huge disadvantage if trying to do Taron early as anyone arriving by car will be coming from the other side of the park with a huge headstart.

 

[Pharaoh]

This is really helpful, thank you. I guess we’ll start our day with FLY, then Winjas, and save Taron for later in the day when it has warmed up.

 

[AstroDan]

I visited Phantasialand for the umpteenth time on 3rd and 4th January 2025 - we travelled up from Rust after 3 days at Europa-Park. It was my first return to Wintertraum in some years, and I was very much looking forward to it. However, whilst we had a good time overall - the park has, in my eyes, taken its eye off the ball in some respects. Here are a few bullet points:

• Operations on many rides was below satisfactory. This is all the more jarring after three days at Europa-Park. Taron was routinely getting 6 to 700/hour, Black Mamba was stacking for 1-2 minutes at a time, Winjas was running 3 cars per side. All of this meant that queues were long - especially on Taron.
• Quick Pass sales have massively increased since my previous visit. The situation on Colorado Adventure is a joke. The ride teams allow QP guests to sit wherever they like, meaning that for the back car, around 1/2 of all dispatches were filled with QP guests. The amount of QP is also causing main queues to go even slower and, when throughput is already low enough, this just exacerbates the problem.
• The opening procedures at the park are dreadful. Whilst hours are ostensibly the same as Europa-Park (11-8), they couldn't actually be more different. Europa-Park gates were, like Phantasialand, open around 10am. But the similarities end there. Phantasialand do not open up areas/rides until bang on 11. We were held outside Hotel Tartuffe in a huge crowd of people waiting for rope drop. On our first day, even the café was not open to buy a coffee. We decided to wait for Rookburgh to open, the large gates to the area were closed. However, to make matters worse, there were Hotel Charles Lindbergh guests waiting on the other side to get out. So - we could not get in and they could not get out. At 11.02am, when the gates were opened, this meant that several hundred people were rushing to get in, whilst guests tried to get out. To be honest, it was dangerous.
• It felt like the park had over-filled given the operations. The pathways were horribly busy and, unlike most major European parks, Phantasialand just doesn't have the quieter areas to escape to. Queues for major rides were all 50-90 minutes. This compares with 20-40 minutes the previous few days at EP and it all comes down to operations.
• The park has a glaring lack of indoor seating areas during winter. Whilst there are three of four restaurants, there aren't any areas to sit with a warm drink and keep warm.
• Taron's queue closed at 7pm daily - a full 1 hour before the park closing time.
• Reliability was an issue on some rides - especially Taron. I don't know what is causing the problem, but it had regular bouts of downtime throughout our two days.

I cannot fault the shows we saw nor the quality of food and drink. This was all excellent. The park, as ever, is beautiful and, although there hasn't been anything major open for a few years now, it's still one of the most immersive theme park propositions in the world. However, operations really have taken a tumble and this really is, for me, one of the most important aspects to theme parks.

 

[Matt Creek]

This weekend I returned to Phantasialand, almost 6 years after my last visit and 8 since my last Winteraum. So a return was probably largely overdue.

First things to say are just how stunning the park looks, not only in winter but overall. The glow ups to Africa, Mexico and Berlin look great.

The Winteraum event was just as spectacular as I remembered, from its stunning night time and stage shows to beautiful winter decorations throughout the park.

The (new for me) Rookburgh area looks spectacular and arguably amongst the best park areas ever created. Whilst FLY isn’t my top coaster, it’s still a spectacular ride and feels more of an experience than a coaster. The perhaps extreme security measures are the only thing I can really fault.

As for the rest of the park, Taron was just as great as I remembered (if not a little better), Chiapas delightful and still enjoyed Black Mamba, Colorado, Winjas, Maus and Mystery Castle.

Now the negatives, as great as the park is, I cannot help but feel just how busy and overcrowded it becomes, especially around the shows in the evenings. The park is clearly attempting crowd control measures, but it felt rammed to the rafters at times.

Crazy Bats & Geister Riksha feel like the weak links in the park currently, with Geister featuring many broken effects, poorly synched audio and a general sense of fatigue, as if the park are waiting to rip it out.

For the second time running, my VR broke on Crazy Bats, as the monitor crashed and rebooted at the start of my ride. The park just needs redevelop that whole area of the now because it really sticks out, especially with the abandoned Hollywood ride sealed off. It would be the perfect site for a large scale modern dark ride and more.

Stayed in Matamba this time, had a park view (could see some of Mamba) and a tasty breakfast and dinner meal. Only setback was the service at dinner left something to be desired.

Overall, it’s easily amongst the best festive events at any European park and feels magical in numerous ways. The vast amount of crowds and demand are the only thing I can fault here. I won’t be leaving it another six years for Winteraum, let alone the park!

 

[tayspru]

This weekend I returned to Phantasialand, almost 6 years after my last visit and 8 since my last Winteraum. So a return was probably largely overdue.

First things to say are just how stunning the park looks, not only in winter but overall. The glow ups to Africa, Mexico and Berlin look great.

The Winteraum event was just as spectacular as I remembered, from its stunning night time and stage shows to beautiful winter decorations throughout the park.

The (new for me) Rookburgh area looks spectacular and arguably amongst the best park areas ever created. Whilst FLY isn’t my top coaster, it’s still a spectacular ride and feels more of an experience than a coaster. The perhaps extreme security measures are the only thing I can really fault.

As for the rest of the park, Taron was just as great as I remembered (if not a little better), Chiapas delightful and still enjoyed Black Mamba, Colorado, Winjas, Maus and Mystery Castle.

Now the negatives, as great as the park is, I cannot help but feel just how busy and overcrowded it becomes, especially around the shows in the evenings. The park is clearly attempting crowd control measures, but it felt rammed to the rafters at times.

Crazy Bats & Geister Riksha feel like the weak links in the park currently, with Geister featuring many broken effects, poorly synched audio and a general sense of fatigue, as if the park are waiting to rip it out.

For the second time running, my VR broke on Crazy Bats, as the monitor crashed and rebooted at the start of my ride. The park just needs redevelop that whole area of the now because it really sticks out, especially with the abandoned Hollywood ride sealed off. It would be the perfect site for a large scale modern dark ride and more.

Stayed in Matamba this time, had a park view (could see some of Mamba) and a tasty breakfast and dinner meal. Only setback was the service at dinner left something to be desired.

Overall, it’s easily amongst the best festive events at any European park and feels magical in numerous ways. The vast amount of crowds and demand are the only thing I can fault here. I won’t be leaving it another six years for Winteraum, let alone the park!

Looks like a fab event, I’m really excited for my first ever visit this week.

Is it busy enough to prevent you getting everything done? I have 2 full days Thursday and Friday so hoping to at the least get all the coasters, as well as some shows

 

[AstroDan]

Looks like a fab event, I’m really excited for my first ever visit this week.

Is it busy enough to prevent you getting everything done? I have 2 full days Thursday and Friday so hoping to at the least get all the coasters, as well as some shows

You're visiting on a school day.

Parks often only show how they really cope on medium to busy days.

I bet everything this Thursday will be walk on and you'll have every ride done by 3pm.



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[tayspru]

You're visiting on a school day.

Parks often only show how they really cope on medium to busy days.

I bet everything this Thursday will be walk on and you'll have every ride done by 3pm.



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That’s very reassuring ! Seen a lot of talk of wintertraum being really busy

 

[John_P]

Seems to vary, I went back for the last weekend of Wintertraum in January 2019 and I've never seen the place as busy compared to visiting during a weekend in October, a Sunday and Monday in August, and 2 midweek days in September. Massive queues for everything an hour or so after park opening.

Was quite frustrating really as plenty of friends had gone over that season doing midweek visits and coming back with tales of sitting on Taron for lap after lap.

Still riding Taron when it was -5 degrees was some experience.

 

[Burner]

I went for the first time, a few days before Wintertraum, and the park was dead. Even the woman checking us in at Charles Lindbergh said we wouldn’t need our FLY fastracks, every queue was 0-5 mins. We had the best time, but I’m worried that put a bias on my view of the park, and if I go back I won’t enjoy it as much if its any busier.

 

[Plastic Person]

Phantasialand has massively increased the amount of 'cheap' tickets available through Wintertraum, rendering it perhaps the park's busiest season. A few years ago, you could almost guarantee that a weekday in January or early December would be a ghost town, whereas right now, at park opening on a Tuesday school day, there's a thirty-minute queue for Taron*. Nonetheless, it's still worth a visit.

*According to queue-times.com. I'm not there.

 

[CSLKenny]

Pirates 4D in Phantasialand has closed now forever according to a number of fan reports online from the last day of Wintertraum yesterday. The final screening saw the park owner, management and marketing team in attendance as is custom when an attraction closes. Apparently after the film 4D glasses weren't properly collected rather people could take them home.

Of course no official notice of closure yet until the typical 'disappears' from the website but the writing was on the wall with the relocation of Guest Services and offices out of the theatre building a few months ago. They are now in the new building opposite beside the new large Berlin toilets facility.

 

[Manchester1894]

It's looks like Wednesday at noon (could be noon German time btw) is the limited sale for 2025 summer tickets. Its not clear if full price are on sale from then but has park opening dates listed so can only assume all tickets will be made available

 

[Manchester1894]

So August tickets were discounted to €34 and child to 32. Over 2 days for a family of 4 saved a whack. The rooms have also gone on sale with ticket bundles. This worked out cheaper to do separately