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Phantasialand: General Discussion

RyanY said:
What's Phantasialand arrangement with bags, do they have lockers you have to put them in while you go on rides? Or do they have baggage holds on each ride?
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There's baggage shelves/compartments in the station on Black Mamba and Taron. On Winjas you're able to take smallish bags on - basically ones that can comfortably go between your feet. Others have to go in (chargeable) lockers. On Temple of the Nighthawk and Colorado Adventure you can take your bag on the ride with you.
 
Not going to bother with a massive review or trip report it will be done a hundred times by others more knowledgeable than me. Short version: Rode Taron on the second day of opening it was awesome! Now my number one coaster. Raik is a great family coaster, I particularly love the theming, lighting and smoke effects in the station. The area itself is amazing, so immersive. The soundtrack is great.

Moving on!
Eric Daman, designer for Klugheim, revealed in an interview with a Belgian site that they are not finished with River Quest yet. It already received more theming and a full refurbishment last off season, what more will they do. He teased 'River Quest will undergo a change'.
 
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Good to see a continued investment in River Quest. From when I first visited the ride has already improved dramatically. I'm interested to see where they could go with it next!

... Stupid ride ;)
 
Enter Valhalla said:
What are the average queue times Taron has been getting? I'm considering visiting but might wait until September when it's does down a bit.
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When I was there two weeks ago on the Friday the queues were around 30-45 for most of the day. On the Saturday it was hovering around 70 minutes for most of the day but did go down to 45 at some parts of the day. But it does break down a lot so you could end up waiting an extra 15-20 minutes if it goes down when you're in the queue.
 
I think the highest we saw was about 75-80 minutes also. It did tend to be around 45-50 minutes for the most part. However, the queue does move fairly quickly. The SRQ however, can be quite slow, so expect to wait a while here if you join (about 30 minutes or so we found from the bottom of the stairs).

The queues really did die down towards the end of the day, and we managed a total of 7 rides in one day. It's also worth trying to get a final ride on it, as it warms up a treat, and really pushes the ride to the next level.
 
Surprised that there haven't been more posts here considering so many of us have been over to Phantasialand over the last few weeks!

Anyway, I was at the park for my third visit (previous visits were 2012 and 2014) on Sunday and Monday, the obvious reason for this visit being Klugheim and Taron. I went with high expectations and a slight worry that Taron might disappoint. I need not have worried.

Taron is a brilliant coaster and fits in to Phantasialand perfectly. We went straight there on our first day and joined what turned out to be a 45 minute queue, although as there was almost no front row queue we went straight for that. The main queue line is very nicely themed and a great example of how to do a queue within a big coaster (Smiler and Alton Towers please take note); themed wooden path covers ensure there is no need for ugly netting to protect guests from falling objects. The big cattlepen towards the end of the queue is not ideal but it was thankfully never full during our visit and at least it is fairly wide unlike those at PA.

The station is nicely themed with wonderfully detailed bays and airgates. The trains look stunning and are very comfortable which is a bonus; train comfort has not always been Intamin's strong point. The first launch packs a nice punch and then you swoop around the rockwork and straight into an incredible airtime hill, serious ejector airtime here. The sharp turns and transitions that follow really throw you out of your seat before you meander at a more sedate pace to the second launch.

This second launch has a rolling start and is faster and more intense than the first. You then shoot up into the rocks past a waterfall (you will get wet on the left side of the train) and get some lovely views of the park from the twisty track at the top. Then it is time for some more great transitions before ending up at the final airtime hill. This is the only part of the ride that does disappoint, the trims here (all 3 sets of them) really kill the speed and ruin what would otherwise be great ejector airtime. Instread you are given some short bursts of floater airtime that are not really inkeeping with the rest of the ride.

Nevertheless Taron is an outstanding mixutre of thrill, airtime, intensity and fun. I describe it as Helix but without the inversions. I would say that it rides best overall on the front row, especially the first half of the ride, with the second half being slightly better on the back row.

Reliability was prett good during our two days there also. There had been lots of problems the previous week with high temperatures causing what I assume to be overheating issues with the wheels (the coaster is designed to be able to run in temperatures way below freezing so it would make sense for there to be issues in high temperatures). It ran 3 trains consistently whilst we were there, however on Monday were we just about to enter the station at 2pm (exactly half way through the operating day) when they closed the station doors and announced that there would be small delay. This involved putting each of the trains on to the transfer track, taking them accross to the maintenance bays and presumably carrying out some sort of inspection. It re-opened again on 3 trains so it must just be standard checks because of the problems that they have been having.

As an area Klugheim is beautiful and really completes Phantasialand as a park. There is so much attention to detail which is complemented by the very good IMAscore soundtrack. I particularly like how the area is so multi-leveled, it helps to add more character and create some great visuals. Raik is also good fun for what it is, a good move from the park to install this coaster so that the area appeals to all park guests.

Each time I have been to Phantasialand the park has just got better and better. In 2012 I was somewhat underwhelmed by the whole place yet now I love it. The additions of Chiapas and Klugheim in the heart of the park have given it a new lease of life and both areas come across as very fun and inviting.

One slight negative, seeing as we all bemoan PA for it, was operations. Generally speaking there were poor. Black Mamba was on two trains but constantly stacked for quite while due to slow loading. Colorado Adventure was only on two trains despite the queue being out of the entrance. River Quest had a lot of boats off resulting in some big gaps between those that were in use.

Finally I am not sure how this was possile but Geister Rikscha was even worse than I remembered it being!

:)
 
YAAAAAAAAAAY! Taron!! I was worried I was alone as a few people have said they don't rate it :eek:

I agree the trims do take a bit away from the ride but that last tight turn could be too much for riders at full speed. It's quite the bank. I bought the Soundtrack for it and it's lovely to listen to out and about. :D

Top ten worthy Rob? :cool:
 
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The trims are an interesting one, as they seem to be a lot harsher than I remember on opening weekend.

When it opened you could see the trims constantly changing between trains, whereas now it seems a lot more consistent.

The last dive would still give you a bit of a punch but the final banking out of the curve and into the brakes was pretty rough and violent.

I wonder if Intamin have toned it down a bit between now and then, as I'm certain it's changed.

The trains do seem to be very well received. I think they're certainly some of the best I've ridden. I particularly like how minimal the lapbars are. I think combined with the seemingly shallower seat they provide much more freedom :)

Glad to hear that the reliability has improved somewhat. Having to reduce to single train operation was painful to see the other week. However, credit to the park, they were determined that everyone in the queue would still get a ride on it, despite being well past closing time.

When we had eventually made it into the station they were taking it steady and trying to rest the train. Under the track you could see a row of industrial air conditioners sat in the pit, all blowing cold air onto the wheel assemblies!

As for Mamba, this is unfortunately the norm. I've often visited with it running single train. Fair enough, the ride's queue isn't always huge, but it really is the weak link for operations at the park, when it should have no issue keeping up. These rides are real workhorses, and yet it often seems to have one of the lowest coaster throughputs (8-900pph is not too uncommon)
 
Even a one train B&M has a higher throughput than the entirety of Chessington...

Taron is amazing, not a top 10 for me since it actually probably needed an inversion to break up the constant turn, turn, turn (see also Mamba's second half)... But as a complete package I doubt we'll see many better than it, combines on and off riding majestically...
 
DiogoJ42 said:
They're probably just bitter that Intamin are snapping at Mack's heels. ;)
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Oi! :p I'm an Intamin fanboy, (5 of my top 10 are Intamin, including all of my top 3), and I really didn't find it all that! Don't get me wrong, it is a very good coaster but it just didn't have that 'wow' factor for me. I thought it had 3 or 4 great moments but I found it fairly dull for periods as well, particuarly the 1st half after the airtime hill. Each to their own though, and like I say, I still enjoyed it a lot :)
 
Well I've obviously not been on it yet. But I find it odd that anyone could claim such an epic looking ride is dull.
... Saying that, I'll probably eat those words when I eventually get on it. :p
 
My expectations for Taron based on the POV released were a very good coaster in amazing surroundings, but not something particularly mind-blowing to ride. However, when people who've been on it start slinging words like "ejector" and "relentless" around you start thinking a coaster might deliver more than you're expecting.

First, a few thoughts on its surroundings. Klugheim generally looks fantastic, only being marred by a slightly Merlinesque colour palette of mostly greys and browns (a bit more vegetation would be nice) and the very obvious tangle of tri-rail track over the top, which given the nature of Taron can't be helped. The use of different levels and simulated rockwork keeps things interesting, the attention to detail is as fantastic as you'd expect from Phantasialand, and it's lovely to finally have the larger side of the park feeling complete after having seen Chiapas and Klugheim-shaped craters on previous trips.

Anyway, onto the ride, via a queue that is pretty good aside from the sizeable cattle pen discussed earlier in this topic and sitting at the back of the area. Taking your seat, you start to wonder if the train can really have been made by Intamin, as it's comfortable and easy to board! I presume this was Intamin borrowing some ideas from the Mack Mega, just like Mack borrowed the Intamin Megalite layout for Alpina Blitz. I've not seen anybody comment on the bodywork yet; for those yet to go, make sure you take in the 'work of a local blacksmith' effect, which is particularly impressive for a type of train that doesn't usually lend itself to theming.

The train soon trundles outside to the first launch, stopping briefly beforehand. It's fun but doesn't feel stupendously powerful, so I think I'd prefer the train not to stop and hit the ground running instead. The opening moves bode well, with a big first corner quickly followed by a hill that does indeed provide a good dollop of ejector airtime immediately before a sharp turn to the left. Unfortunately from here to the second launch the train's progress isn't particularly relentless, most of the layout consisting of a long series of smooth corners taken at a Blue Fire + a bit 'actually quite intense, but you won't really notice' kind of pace rather than the "CHRRRRIST!" pace that top Intamin coasters are renowned for.

Anyway, second launch time. This one's entered at a decent speed and left at an impressively high one, feeling more powerful and causing a pleasing VWAAAAARRRP to echo from its trench around the whole area. The section that follows is one of the ride's highlights for me, rushing up the rock wall at the end, dancing from side to side down the length of the area, and then swiping through an overbanked right hand bend before getting back into the serious business of cornering a lot. Perhaps I'm being slightly unfair, as this half does feel better paced and more interesting than the first until the trims, final little hills (nothing special) and brake run are reached.

Taron is undoubtedly a good ride, and certainly meets my initial POV-watching expectations. The main issue preventing me rating it highly is that it blows hot and cold, diving around in a really exciting way at times and pratting about without achieving much at others. Some of this comes down to the huge amount of track in that pit. I've no complaint with the ride's duration itself, but I think I'd take a more focused layout with some inversions and a shorter length any day over the rather samey celebration of corners and transitions that make up the bulk of this coaster.

Alternatively I think the style of layout it has could be much more memorable if the ride was paced more like POVs and anecdotes of Maverick or iSpeed seem to indicate an Intamin LIM coaster can be. At a higher speed the feel of the ride would be totally different, and the lack of variation could well be overcome with sheer craziness.

As it is comparisons with Helix are understandable, as Taron does move quite similarly, but for me there are two main differences. Firstly, Helix has exactly the kind of layout I mentioned above; an interesting progression of great elements, peaking with the final massive airtime hill and only going off the boil slightly in the following slalom section before the last roll. A Helix train spends its time either doing something big or preparing you for the next time it does. By comparison, a Taron train is always looking for a direction to take you in, and does it with much more mixed results. Secondly, you can ride most or perhaps all of Taron with your arms in the air if you so desire (not advised in safety instructions for any coaster of course, but on the right type of ride manufacturers must surely expect riders to to so). However, if you do in the sharper transitions Intamin's seat, like many of theirs, shows some shortcomings. There's a lack of support for your sides, so you can find your upper body being thrown sideways with the meagre side protrusions doing nothing to help. It doesn't get uncomfortable per se, but it would be more a bit more pleasant to ride Taron as a Mack Mega due to Mack's tall wraparound seat back that provides more support.

All in all, it's not earth-shattering but is still the strong addition you'd expect from Phantasialand, and is a good enough reason to go even if you last visited fairly recently. Long may Phantasialand's knack for making excellent additions continue!
 
Just a short video of the first launch when we there for the TS meet. It's sounds way better in person. I like this ride and it puts a smile on my face.


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Taron was a fab ride. It did not disappoint, thankfully had ERT at the end of the day for hotel guests on Tuesday, got a good 6 goes on it in the end. The popularity of the ride is promising and the whole area was great to see. Spent a lot of time taking photos of the ride, and Chiapas! Lol.

One thing I did notice was River Quest struggling with their boats getting stuck before the vertical lift and before returning to the station. Went on it twice during our trip and we got stuck on both of our rides. It was amusing but you could tell the staff were getting fed up with trying to push the boats up the rollers to the next section. On Wednesday, they had a hose sticking out the hole from the maintenance bay just to spray on the rollers to help the boats not get stuck, it helped slightly. Lol.


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