Phantasialand: General Discussion

[Sam]

Late night Screamscape update with two bits of Phanny good news!

2015/2016 - KLUGHEIM - Rumor - (2/17/15) I'm told that the new Klugheim project coming to Phantasialand is actually a new "LSM Launch Coaster", possibly from Intamin that will feature two separate launch moments. There are also reports that this could be a themed SFX Coaster style ride experience, similar to the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott’s ride that opened last year at Universal Studios Florida. Anyone know more?

???? - Future China Town Project - (2/17/15) Screamscape sources tell us that a future project for Phantasialand will take place in China Town that see the removal of the Geister Rikscha (Ghost Rickshaw) dark ride that opened back in 1981. You can see a fun video ride-through of the Geister Rikscha below.

I'm not surprised at all to learn that this'll be a Floridian-style blockbuster dark-ride-come-coaster project, and I'd imagine it'll come out looking something like the Mummy at Universal in scale, quality and budget. Hooray for Europe, let's show Orlando up at their own game! Hooray for Phantasialand!

And then... the really interesting news. The dawning of the next Phantasialand mega-project. There is usually sadness from some when any ride is removed. But I don't think a single person on earth will shed a tear for Geister Rickshaw.

send... in... the bulldozers!

 

[AstroDan]

Whilst I don't doubt the parks abilities to deliver a very, very good ride - please remember that the budget for this ride will be vastly inferior to what Universal dip into and we all know that dark rides swallow money like anyones business...

Also - as much as it's not great... it is *slightly* regrettable that every piece of history in the park is just being removed. I mean, I know they haven't the space - but old stuff adds to the organic feel of parks and makes them what they are today. Parks like Efteling and Europa-Park are lucky, I guess.

I expect the next major large project after the launch coaster will very much be a family attraction but I doubt we will see it until at least 2019.

 

[Sam]

Also - as much as it's not great... it is *slightly* regrettable that every piece of history in the park is just being removed. I mean, I know they haven't the space - but old stuff adds to the organic feel of parks and makes them what they are today. Parks like Efteling and Europa-Park are lucky, I guess.

I know what you mean about park's removing their history, but the problem is that none of Phantasialand's old rides have any soul or charm for me. I don't go on either Rickshaw or Hollywood Tour and well 'aww', I just think 'eurgh'. Silver Mine was the same. It looks like that old Schwarzkopf dark ride might have had some charm (photo below), but they got rid of that before I first visited. Clearly their most charming old ride got ripped out by the massive fire, which is unfortunate! The nearest the park has to historical charm for me now is, I guess, Mystery Castle...

 

[AstroDan]

I am inclined to agree with you. But Geister Rickshaw is far better than Totnh or Hollywood Bore or Race for Atlantis!

 

[Rowe]

The closest that I'd ever shed a tear for dear old Geister Rikscha is if I were to accidentally spill a bit of my beer whilst celebrating its demise on a future visit.

 

[Dar]

Some rockwork around Taron

Looks very dark and intimidating so far! Hopefully that rockwork will lead to some nice near misses

And a nice trench running straight towards those rocks!

From PHLInfos facebook and RideOnBlog

 

[DiogoJ42]

Am I the only person on Earth that liked Silver Mine? Don't get me wrong, all the other shite rides listed can hang, but I liked Silbermine. :'(

 

[Tim]

No you weren't. I thought it was interesting, one bit even made me jump. With an animations upgrade it could have still been on par with the other rides but then this sounds more interesting.

I'm very interested as to what might replace Geister Rikscha as from what I could work out from the layout and a few access points they'd have to rip up half of China for the replacement (unless they intend to keep the same ride system/building)

 

[Dar]

Am I the only person on Earth that liked Silver Mine? Don't get me wrong, all the other ****e rides listed can hang, but I liked Silbermine. :'(

Only because the diesel fumes took you back to the good old days of yore

Joking aside, I also enjoyed Silbermine much more than Follywood Bore!

 

[Benzin]

Can't they just spite Hollywood and Night Hawk first?

THOSE are absolute wastes of space...

 

[Rob]

Some new rumours/information from Screamscape:

Rumor - (2/24/15) Screamscape source have sent us a bit more information about Phantasialand's new Klugheim project. For starters, apparently the new coaster itself is likely to be named "Taron", as the park has filed for a new trademark to use this name and logo as seen here.
As for the coaster itself... again, the information seems to lead us to think that this is an Intamin made coaster, but with a design that may be more of a mix of Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa and Thirteen at Alton Towers. Our source says that the layout they saw had the coaster leave the station and go through a short dark-ride style indoor section before hitting a launch track and going outside and into a figure-8 style element labeled the "Panorama Curve", which is said to look a lot like the elevated figure-8 element on Cheetah Hunt. From here the train will drop into a series of S-curves before entering a building for another dark ride section that looked to include a 10-meter free-fall drop track element, much like Thirteen. Leaving here, the train appeared to load into a tilt-track style element, much like the one on Escape from Gringotts, dropping the train down and into a second launch track, into an Immelman style inversion, a series of overbanked curves, an into either a corkscrew or zero-g-roll inversion before sliding back into the station one again.
Our source also described the trains as looking quite a bit like Skyrush at Hersheypark, seating 4 across with the outer two seats hanging out over the edge of the track. The trains wont be very long however, featuring just 2 cars per train, and each car only having 2 rows, for a total of 16 riders per train.

Interesting! When construction of Chiapas begun there were rumours of an Intamin drop coaster. If this source is reliable and accurate then it does appear to be a modified ride concept from Intamin. Shorter trains in the style would make sense as a full length Skyrush style train would be heavy on the drop track.

Whatever happens this is going to be one to keep an eye on and is sure to get my back in 2016!

 

[Sam]

You missed some Rob!

???? - Future China Town Project - (2/24/15) In other news, my source also says that the Geister Rikscha dark ride is safe for at least a few more years. There is no plan to tear this area up in the immediate future, as the park wants to avoid another giant construction mess like they had with Chiapas.

???? - New Land / New Main Gate / New Parking - Rumor - (2/24/15) I'm told that the next major attraction in the future will be located in the old parking lot in front of the Berlin themed entrance. Phantasialand is currently starting to clear space next to China Town and Mystery to me used as a new main parking lot. Once complete, the old Berlin entrance lot and main gates will be demolished and a new park entrance built to enter into the Mystery area that will use a bridge over the adjacent street. A new themed land will go onto the site of the former parking lot once demolished, which may have another major new coaster when it opens, but that is still a few years out, so stay tuned.

The first bit doesn't make much sense. "the park wants to avoid another giant construction mess" implies that they've scrapped the project, but the story is that it's been delayed. Why would they delay it if they're going to have to do it anyway? Perhaps it means they were going to shut the ride before Taron opens but now they'll wait until after.

I don't really understand the second bit. They're going to put a major new attraction on the other side of the ride from the main entrance? I guess that would involve moving the main entrance to where Mystery Castle is. But then the Berlin street - in the middle of the park - would simply lead to a bridge to cross the road to get to a new area?

I thought there were rumours of all the land on the other side of the road being used for a waterpark/hotel/conference facilities. Maybe they've instead decided to extend the theme park onto that land, and simply bridge the two halves of the park together. I don't understand the bit about the "bridge over the adjacent street". Can someone who knows Phannyland better than I do draw on a map for us?

I have to say, if they've decided to expand the theme park onto new land, that is unbelievably exciting news. An extra layer in the box of exquisite chocolates. They still need to spite Night Hawk first though.

 

[AstroDan]

The potential for Taron is one of the best rides in Europe.

I do wonder where their money comes from with only 1.8m guests a year.

Sounds cracking.

 

[Rob]

Some new photos from Themenparks Germany's Facebook page:

 

[Rowe]

From Looopings

 

[Rob]

Supports already? Wow, they are pressing along with this, clearly they don't want a repeat of Chiapas. I am very excited for this!

 

[Dar]

Quick! Which manufacturer has supports like that?????????

 

[Dar]

Apologies for the double post, but someone on *shudders*TPR posted a link to theses photos from a construction worker!

A quick aerial shot before the major construction started:

Source: Facebook

Looks really interesting and I can't wait to see this develop!

 

[GeorgeT]

I think this coaster could be absolutely stunning !

Regarding Sibermiene...I REALLY liked that ride a lot !

Regarding TPR and Robb Alvey : I`m absolutely done with that site

 

[Rowe]

Here's a new photo from Looopings.