Phantasialand: General Discussion

[CSLKenny]

Phantasialand has demolished one of the buildings on their Berlin street. The building housed a crepes stall, and was inbetween the cafe and Waffles bakery.

From Marcus Schmidke @ Achterbahn-Fans-Deutschland Facebook group

Presumably this is for a passageway into Rookburgh, connecting to the openings/tunnel (circled in red) already built behind it under the facades and coaster track.

Graphic from PhantaFriends.de.

 

[CSLKenny]

For a while now Phantasialand have been slowly but surely renovating parts of Hotel Ling Bao. This off season the lobby has been renovated, and both restaurants have been shut for over a month for a massive renovation. Restaurant Bamboo has just reopened, while the other Lu Chi is still shut but will reopen before the summer season starts this Saturday.

Pictures from cephista on PhantaFriends.de.
It is quite a drastic change for Bamboo. Apart from the the tables and chairs everything has changed. The new look is brighter, more open and more modern. However it no longer has the traditional Chinese theme/look as before.

For comparison a before picture.

I think is still too early to really call it, but given that the changes are moving away from the traditional old worldly Chinese style of the rest of the hotel and area, it made me think of the rumour that popped up a back in October on Freizeitparkcheck.de which claimed the next project after Rookburgh would be a complete modernisation and restyling of the China area to look Tibetan and Geister Rikscha being replaced by a new dark ride.
Maybe the park simply wanted to modernise the restaurants, and it is all just a coincidence.
Or maybe it is a sign of things to come, and for Geister Rikscha is end is nigh...

EDIT: They have also released today this video about the new rockwork around Black Mamba.

 

[CSLKenny]

A press release about the new season has revealed a few more, so far unknown, changes that have happened in the park. Also it gives details of the offer they run that if you visit between 24th March and 30th April you get a free entry ticket for any day during the summer season, except July and August.

- Around Chiapas they have renewed all the plants.
- The Waffle Bakery in Berlin has been redesigned and modernised. A new recipe and 10 new toppings have also been introduced.
- Next to the Waffle Bakery will be a brand new small barista cafe called 'Lilli's Café'.
- The renovations of both of Hotel Ling Bao's restaurants also sees new food offerings from all over Asia; to take guests on a culinary journey from China via Thailand and Vietnam to Japan. For the first time there will be live cooking on a wok and teppanyaki grill.

The park have also shared an article with photos and a video about the new huts which have been built on top of the new rockwork.

The African Huts

A small African village high up on sun-bleached rocky outcrops. From the hustle and bustle at the foot of the mountain rousing drum rhythms and happy conversations arise. On the summit, on the other hand, there is serenity - until the Black Mamba suddenly brushes very close to the thatched round buildings. So close that it almost seems possible to look inside at the inhabitants.

What has emerged in our Africa theme area could well be the home of a traditional African tribe. Detailed round huts have found their place on the newly designed rocky landscape. Small windows, cracks in the façade, seemingly caused by heat and humidity, and elaborate ornaments on the walls make it easy to imagine that someone actually lives up here.

With such effort and what finesse the rock experts of Universal Rocks created weather-torn, sand and sun shaped mountains in our theme area "Deep in Africa", so to accompany their work and in order to make the fascination and the history of the African continent even more tangible, we have in the truest sense of the word added something extra with the specially made thatched roof huts. And we are guided by traditional African construction. In the real Africa itself you can often find these practical thatched round buildings. They are made for the climate there. The special roofs help to keep the heat out, so it's always pleasantly cool indoors.

These robust huts are made from logs and weather-resistant dried reeds. And for the expert handling of this unusual building material, we have relied on master carpenter Marcus Jütten. The challenge for him already started with the procurement of the special material. In northern Germany, much is still being worked with reeds today, but the demand is so high that the German farmers can not satisfy them. On the German island of Sylt many roofs are still covered with dried reeds today. The thatch for our African huts had to be brought in from China, via Kiel, to Phantasialand.
According to our design templates, Marcus Jütten created the thatched roofs in his carpentry workshop in the Eifel. The dry stalks must not break and at the end have to form a closed "ceiling" on the roof truss of round timbers. Marcus Jütten then takes care of the final touches on site. He ties ropes around the thatched roofs and punches the last trunks. Driven laterally into the thatch, they look as though African tribes had actually put their hands into making their huts even more stable and stable.

A big crane heaves up the specially made unique pieces where helping hands receive them. Marcus Jütten still trims the reed here and there until it fits snugly on the round buildings. After the last corrections, it seems that our African huts have been rooted for decades in the weathered rocks they stand on.

The small village on top of the impressive mountain in our Africa can be seen from afar. And the closer you get, the more details emerge. Like the original African masks that line the walls of our theme hotel Matamba. Or the fence on a ledge, which is supposed to protect the inhabitants of the hill village from falling. A world of its own has arisen up there, inextricably linked to the big and small changes in Africa that you can experience on your next visit to Phantasialand.

Video:

 

[AstroDan]

Nice.

I always felt Black Mamba was the best integrated/landscaped coaster in the park.

 

[Tuggerz]

Thank you for sharing this!

I absolutely love Black Mamba, so to see it getting some extra attention is very pleasant indeed.

 

[Dogdangling]

Got to love Phanta for there attention to detail

 

[Martin]

Lovely additions to Black Mamba, and I adore Tepanyaki. The efforts Phantasia go to every year to improve their already wonderful park is so great

 

[CSLKenny]

Last week the park reopened giving us a look at the changes for 2018.
The new rockwork and huts in Africa.

This is now the last remaining section of old rockwork in Africa. The trees on top have been cut down, presumably in preparation for next year when they'll redo this rockwork and then after 4 years the Africa renewal project will be done.

The park have also added these new shelters and seating in the central hub area in Africa.
https://phantasialandblog.de/pfahlbauten-in-afrika/

The new entrance canopy and hand painted signs for Tacana.

The trough and basin between River Quest's station and lifts has been repainted. A new grey colour that looks a lot better than the previous yellowish colour. In the past couple of years the ride's pumps have been having serious technical issues so this season they have had new pumps, from a different supplier this time, installed.

The 4D cinema has grown in the offseason. The central tower has been extended to hide a new transmitter tower to improve mobile signal in the park.

In Berlin there is the brand new Lilli’s Café.
https://magazin.phantasialand.de/lillis-cafe/

And the wafflebakery has been refurbished and modernised. There is now a larger counter and new menu on offer.

One of the new waffles...


A surprise new addition that the park hadn't previously announced were these Prayer Flags across the Geister Rikscha street. Prayer Flags are found in the Himalayas, interesting considering the Tibetan rumours mentioned a few posts above...

And last but not least replacing the demolished building which formerly housed a Crepes stall in the Berlin street there is now this new steel riveted gateway. There is a glass roof/canopy over the alleyway that has formed behind it. This will be a passageway into Rookburgh next year.

 

[Robert.W]

Great pictures, nice to see all the changes and improvements they've been making during the closed season!

 

[Tuggerz]

I am always in absolute awe of the dedication the Phantasialand have to the upkeep of their areas!

Absolutely beautiful and something to be proud of, I just wish we would get this treatment over here.

 

[CSLKenny]

A significant section of the roof for F.L.Y.'s underground station, first tunnel and the rooms in between (that will presumably be housing technical stuff) has been poured. There are also already footers for another part of the coaster in place on top.
This surface is also on the same level as Wuze Tal/Wuze Valley so presumably there will be a path there and an entrance where the Rookburgh teaser/advertising sign currently is.



And a view from the other side from Freizeitparkcheck.de.

Despite being demolished 2 years ago the entrance signage for Race for Atlantis is still up.
There's also still behind that door the concrete hall that served as RfA's queueline after Maus au Chocolat was built. Considering F.L.Y.'s station will be right next to/underneath it perhaps we'll see it being used as part of F.L.Y.'s queueline.

 

[AstroDan]

These updates remind me. When I visited last year, I felt the Wuze Town facades were in many places very dirty.

I do hope they clean them. I felt they were most out of character with the rest of the park!

 

[CSLKenny]

^ They currently are cleaning Temple of the Nighthawk building, so perhaps Wuze will be next. Or it will be done for next year. After all to block Rookburgh were the temporary wall is they will have to build a soundproofing facade in the Wuze style, so maybe they will have then that whole area looking shiny and new.

Also thought it might interest some on here. Michael Mack visited PHL yesterday with a delegation. He was kind enought to pose for a photo with someone from the Phantasialand fan forum. Despite some people trying to read into I imagine it was just a normal visit (although I'd love it if they were selling them a nice Suspended Powered Coaster to replace Temple of the Nighthawk).

Picture from PhantaFriends.de.

 

[PhantaDad2017]

It would be nice if they instructed Phantasialand how to re-theme the Temple of the Night Hawk, or how they should have done back in 2001. Their change of Eurosat into CanCan Coaster is what it should have been like, in level of theming.

Probably just wishful thinking, since TotNH just had it's 30 year anniversary, which is usually the expected lifespan of a roller coaster.

At least, they're cleaning it, after the minor 2015 refurbishments, an indication that they don't leave their old attractions in a dilapidated state, something of which they had been accused from time to time.

 

[Benzin]

To be fair, Hollywood Tour and Geister Richter aren't exactly in top condition...

 

[PhantaDad2017]

At least, they are doing minor maintenance and repairs, so they don't appear completely neglected. They are definitely sore spots, but maybe the park slowly reacts on the lots of criticism in forums. They have outdated technology, Phantasialand has given up on classic dark rides, and they are clearly waiting to be replaced. So they will not get a major refurbishment, like Africa in the last off-season, but hopefully some kind of palliative care.

 

[AstroDan]

Great to see Michael Mack at Phantasialand!

 

[Martin]

The two leading theme parks in Germany (Europe?) are family run independents in friendly competition. Somewhat undermines Merlin's reason for being.

 

[CSLKenny]

It is great to see that many parks are all friendly with each other. Despite the fact you'd think they are in competition.
I know last year Phantasialand's social media sites posted to congratulate Efteling on opening Symbolica and Movie Park Germany on opening Star Trek. Movie Park also posted to wish Phantasialand a happy 50th birthday last year.

 

[Smilertron]

Theme Park Fwends!!!!