Skyscraper
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How long does it take between the two stations, and is it direct?
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Phantasialand: General Discussion
AstroDan
TS Team
It's not direct - no. The stations near the parks are regional stations not main stations (a bit like, say Uttoxeter as a regional station vs. Stoke as a mainline station)
Typically, the journey is around 4 1/2 hours including connections and is as follows:
Phantasialand Shuttle
Brühl - Köln (c20 min)
Köln - Offenburg (c2 1/2 hours) (this train runs a few times per day, there are more services but require further changes)
Offenburg - Ringsheim (c20 min)
Europa-Park Shuttle (7231 to Rust/Europa-Park)
Have a look on the bahn website and you'll see the offer!
Fares vary between about €40 (£34) and €80pp (£69) each way depending on the time of day and day of the week etc. Heavy discounts for groups of 6+.
RicketyCricket
TS Member
How old are/is your kid/s?
Cologne is a great city but it may not be the best base for a family holiday. Germans love the outdoors and there are plenty of holiday camps around the forest regions which may be better.
Unless of course you go to Europa which has everything you could possibly need to keep all amused.
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
Next year my daughter will be 10 and hopefully will be 1.4m and my son will be 3. My wife not into thrilling rides anymore but my daughter loves flat rides and coasters. That’s why I asked if there was much to do as it be a 4 night break 2 days in Phantasialand and 2 days in the city. I also want to see how my son is on a plane as we hope to go back to Orlando in 2023.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Phantasialand is only really a 2 day park when busy, it’s very small and easy to get around so would depend on when you go. I would imagine if your wife is not into rides she may get a little bored across two days (unless you stay on resort, when the weather is good the hotel pools are lovely and you get cocktails).
Cologne is a lovely city, much like any city it would depend on what your children like doing really. If your budget can stretch I would consider hiring a car (Germany is an easy country to drive in so long as you don’t mind being on the wrong side of the road) then you have a bit more freedom to explore (and drive to Europa-Park which is also a must do).
jon81uk
TS Member
We did Phantasialand & Cologne in October 2019 and the park was quiet enough that one day was plenty enough time, although we only did Taron and Raik during hotel ERT when there was zero waiting.
We did all coasters at least twice except Crazy Bats and got everything else in except River Quest (didn't fancy it due to weather) on a Saturday.
Our trip was
Friday - Arrive in Cologone, visit cathedral and climb the tower, look round shops
Saturday - Train to Phantasialand and drop bags at hotel, day at the park and evening in hotel
Sunday - breakfast and travel back into central cologne then visited chocolate museum
Monday - planned to visit gallery but was closed so went to sculpture park. Fly back to Stansted in evening.
We did all coasters at least twice except Crazy Bats and got everything else in except River Quest (didn't fancy it due to weather) on a Saturday.
Our trip was
Friday - Arrive in Cologone, visit cathedral and climb the tower, look round shops
Saturday - Train to Phantasialand and drop bags at hotel, day at the park and evening in hotel
Sunday - breakfast and travel back into central cologne then visited chocolate museum
Monday - planned to visit gallery but was closed so went to sculpture park. Fly back to Stansted in evening.
Matt N
TS Member
Sorry if this seems like a random question, but; if anyone on here has ever timed the throughput of Colorado Adventure, what sort of throughput does it get?
I was only intrigued because RCDB lists the ride as having a throughput of 2,300pph, but given Colorado only seats 32 riders per train (RCDB says 36, but notes that the first car only has 1 row as opposed to 3, making the actual number of riders per train 32), that seemed almost impossibly high to me...
Does Colorado get anywhere near 2,300pph, if anyone here has timed it? Would that figure even be possible? (Let's assume the ride is running its full capacity of 5 trains here)
I was only intrigued because RCDB lists the ride as having a throughput of 2,300pph, but given Colorado only seats 32 riders per train (RCDB says 36, but notes that the first car only has 1 row as opposed to 3, making the actual number of riders per train 32), that seemed almost impossibly high to me...
Does Colorado get anywhere near 2,300pph, if anyone here has timed it? Would that figure even be possible? (Let's assume the ride is running its full capacity of 5 trains here)
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CSLKenny
TS Member
It does not run 5 trains only 4. The 5th is a spare kept off site for spare parts/maintenance swap.
Matt N
TS Member
Ah right; I never knew that. Thanks for clarifying!
In that case, then, let's assume that the ride is running 4 trains! Would 2,300pph be possible (and is it ever attained) on 4 trains?
John
TS Member
That calculation doesn't include any loading time though, so it'll be less than that.
If you (very optimistically) allow 45s to load each train that would give a total cycle time of 4 minutes resulting in a train being dispatched every 60s on average. That'd give a max throughput of just over 1900/hr.
If you (very optimistically) allow 45s to load each train that would give a total cycle time of 4 minutes resulting in a train being dispatched every 60s on average. That'd give a max throughput of just over 1900/hr.
Matt N
TS Member
I did think 2,300pph seemed rather high… with the ride duration @Rob F said, that would leave about 8 seconds parked… I’m not sure even Europa Park could have a 32-seater train parked for only 8 seconds!
Cheers, both!
In terms of park time, I did watch a Coaster Studios operations video where the ride was only parked for 48 seconds. That would have made the throughput about 1,888pph, and that was with Phantasialand’s equivalent of Fastrack operating, meaning that riders using FT are coming up the exit.
If FT didn’t operate, and riders didn’t need to come up the exit on Colorado, would that shave time off the load/unload time? Also, would not having baggage in the station make a difference too?
Cheers, both!
In terms of park time, I did watch a Coaster Studios operations video where the ride was only parked for 48 seconds. That would have made the throughput about 1,888pph, and that was with Phantasialand’s equivalent of Fastrack operating, meaning that riders using FT are coming up the exit.
If FT didn’t operate, and riders didn’t need to come up the exit on Colorado, would that shave time off the load/unload time? Also, would not having baggage in the station make a difference too?
Ian
TS Team
Colorado is, generally, far from poorly operated. QuickPass usage isn’t normally too heavy and the restraint and bag checks don’t usually take too long (most of the time it’ll be a quick walk and cursory glance down the train). There’s little point really looking into things like bag stores or merging lines. The hardware and its core operation doesn’t really require any additional support like that. It is perfectly adequate for its needs.
Black Mamba on the other hand…
Black Mamba on the other hand…
Matt N
TS Member
Ah, that’s good to hear! I only asked about Quick Pass because when Fastrack users are loaded on from up the exit, I was under the impression it often slowed the throughput? That was always the impression I got from the likes of the BPB thread what with the way people talk about Speedy Pass slowing operations, or even the Towers threads (for instance, many always say that Oblivion’s FT coming from up the exit is one of the things slowing down throughput on it).
In terms of a baggage hold or some other form of out-of-station bag storage; I only meant theoretically. I’d imagine a baggage hold or whatever would in theory edge the capacity up to 2,000pph or above. Of course, I’m not suggesting for a second that it’s needed, as from what I can gather, Colorado copes incredibly with the crowds it gets as is; given that Phantasialand gets only ~2m guests per year and the throughput of Colorado seems to be at least 1,800pph at a minimum, I shouldn’t think it struggles in the slightest!
What’s so wrong with Black Mamba’s operations, out of interest? In the CS operations video I watched from the park, it was admittedly the only coaster with a park time of over a minute (and literally only just over), but it still seemed pretty well operated!
Also, I’m slightly perplexed as to why people always say Taron is so poorly operated; in CS’ video, it had a park time of just 48 seconds, which I’d say is phenomenal, myself!
In general, Phantasialand’s operations seem to be absolutely excellent, from what I can gather; almost up there with EP’s! Do note that I haven’t visited the park, however.
Ian
TS Team
Dispatches on Black Mamba can, and often do, extend into the minutes. In all my years of visiting I can only think of probably one or two times where I haven’t stacked in the darkness on it, and that is when it was running a single train!
There’s generally very little rush about it, and being sat in a dark, silent room waiting to return to the station is just a bit meh.
Like anything, they have good days and bad days, but it seems to be more often the latter. I don’t think you can truly base an experience on just a video or two.
There’s generally very little rush about it, and being sat in a dark, silent room waiting to return to the station is just a bit meh.
Like anything, they have good days and bad days, but it seems to be more often the latter. I don’t think you can truly base an experience on just a video or two.
Skyscraper
TS Member
Canobie Coaster just posted a great review of Black Mamba on YouTube. Makes me want to ride it so bad!
Dave
TS Founding Member
As mentioned before it’s a very very pretty coaster, it just doesn’t do much in the last third. I would say track and train it’s the weakest B&M invert I have done. The theming lifts the overall experience though.
CSLKenny
TS Member
Never thought I'd live to see the day... but the NRW state government have at last approved the sale of the land west of the park for Phantasialand's expansion.
However before we celebrate too early - now the final hurdle is the local council to approve planning. However the current council is anti-expansion so they probably will need to wait until the next election in few years to see if there’s a change in parties. Nevertheless this is a big unexpected step towards expansion and the most significant development in 20 years for them. One major hurdle down, one more to go...
The land in question. Phantasialand's owner Robert Loffelhardt spoke about the park's master plan in an interview with Parkworld Magazine in 2014 at the opening of Chiapas. Obviously his hope they'd get it in 2014 didn't work out but I imagine this evening he is finally somewhat relived.
However before we celebrate too early - now the final hurdle is the local council to approve planning. However the current council is anti-expansion so they probably will need to wait until the next election in few years to see if there’s a change in parties. Nevertheless this is a big unexpected step towards expansion and the most significant development in 20 years for them. One major hurdle down, one more to go...
The land in question. Phantasialand's owner Robert Loffelhardt spoke about the park's master plan in an interview with Parkworld Magazine in 2014 at the opening of Chiapas. Obviously his hope they'd get it in 2014 didn't work out but I imagine this evening he is finally somewhat relived.
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Ian
TS Team
A great positive step in the right direction. No doubt it’ll still be some time before we see anything else happen on this front, but it’s great to see some progress after all these years.
Once Nighthawk/Hollywood Tour and Geister have been renewed/replaced the park really will have run out of options in the current space, short of removing attractions which are much more recent and still to a high standard.
Once Nighthawk/Hollywood Tour and Geister have been renewed/replaced the park really will have run out of options in the current space, short of removing attractions which are much more recent and still to a high standard.