Phantasialand

Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually.[1] The park was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, Phantasialand has also added thrill rides, especially during recent years. Furthermore, following the example of Europa-Park,[2] they have decided to attract business customers beside the regular ones, calling it "Business to Pleasure".[3]

Phantasialand
Kaiserplatz in the Berlin themed area
LocationBrühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Coordinates50°48′00″N 6°52′46″E
Operated bySchmidt-Löffelhardt GmbH & Co. KG
OpenedApril 30, 1967 (1967-04-30)
Visitors per annum2 million[1]
Area28 hectares (69 acres)
Attractions
Total32
Roller coasters7
Water rides4
WebsiteOfficial website

Among the park's thrill rides is Taron (the world's fastest multi-launch coaster), Black Mamba (a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster) and a themed Mine Train roller coaster called Colorado Adventure, which runs among some mountains in the park's Wild West section and was opened by Michael Jackson.

History

Phantasialand opened in 1967.

Attraction "Deep in Africa"

On 1 May 2001, a fire destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and parts of the Westernstadt. It was the result of a cable fire in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn caused by faulty wiring.[4] The blaze covered about 38 million Deutsche Mark (US$17 million) in damage[5] and 54 people were injured.[6] Phantasialand reopened the park about two weeks later and invested about €2 million in fire safety, equipping every building with sprinkler systems.

Phantasialand is also home to "Mystery Castle", an indoor Intamin Ride Trade Bungee Drop featuring a walk through a haunted castle. Next to the castle is "River Quest", a rapid river ride which features a lift, built by Hafema in 2002. It replaced the attractions destroyed by the fire one year before.

In 2002, Winja's Fear and Force, two indoor spinning coasters built by Maurer Söhne, were built along with a new area called Wuze Town.

New for 2006 was an African-themed B&M inverted roller coaster called Black Mamba.

A four-star on-site hotel called Hotel Ling Bao, which is Chinese themed, opened in 2004. The hotel's roof tiles were imported from China, and every room door was hand-engraved. The hotel has two restaurants; one of them - the LU CHI - is renowned for its Euro-Asiatic cuisine,[7] a bar, a pool with sauna, garden area, spa and its own entrance to the park. A second (three-star) hotel called "Matamba" opened in August 2008 in the Deep in Africa section.

Phantasialand opened another ride for 2007 called Talocan, a Suspended Top Spin by Huss Maschinenfabrik. It is located in the Mexican section of the park. In 2008 a splash battle ride, Wakobato, opened in the lake in the old fairytale forest. The attraction is highly debated amongst residents living next to the park, who complain about noise pollution.

In 2010 Phantasialand opened five new attractions for children in Wuze Town: Baumberger Irrgarten (Maze), Die fröhliche Bienchenjagd (Jump Around by Zamperla), Wolke's Luftpost (Magic Bikes by Zamperla), Der lustige Papagei (Crazy Bus by Zamperla), and Würmling Express (Monorail). The Berlin part of the park has also been reworked, with many Berlin-themed houses, fountains and a tribune for shows. Also new in 2010 was the show 'Sieben' (seven) by Jan Rouven.

In 2011 Phantasialand opened two new attractions: Maus au chocolat, an ETF dark ride[8] in Alt Berlin and a chair-swing on the Kaisersplatz. The old shop in Berlin was replaced with a funhouse-style attraction called "Verrücktes Hotel Tartüff", built by the park's engineers and opened in 2012.[9]

For the 2013 season, Phantasialand built a new log flume-style attraction to replace their two previous water attractions. It is embedded in a large area of canyons and mountains, as a miniature model on display in the park had already revealed during construction. Chiapas: DIE Wasserbahn opened on 1 April 2014.[10]

After the winter season 201314, Silver City (a western theme town) and the dark ride Silbermine were removed to allow construction on the park's 2016 launched roller coaster, Taron, and the new themed area Klugheim, which was to become a part of the Mystery area. Another roller coaster, Raik, is located in the Klugheim area, and is more family-oriented than the likes of Taron. The coaster is a Vekoma family boomerang model attraction.[11]

Also in 2016, Race for Atlantis was removed to make way for a new themed area called Rookburgh with a rollercoaster named F.L.Y., the world's first launched flying roller coaster and the longest flying roller coaster in the world.[12] Rookburgh and F.L.Y. opened to the public on Thursday, September 17th, 2020.

Theme areas

NameThemeDragonOpening date
Berlin
(with Rookburgh)
Historic Berlin with the nostalgic flair of the early 20th century; Boulevard with the Kaiserplatz; Industrial quarter "Rookburgh" in steampunk designDrago1970
MexicoPlaza Mariachi with Mexican buildings; Rockwork of Chiapas; Aztec and Maya culturesQuetzal1973
China TownTraditional Chinese buildings and gardensWang1981
Mystery
(with Klugheim)
Medieval village "Klugheim" with nordic symbolism in a mystical dark atmosphere; Basalt Mountains; gloomy castle complexesSchneck1998
FantasyPlayful, child-friendly fantasy world around the Wuze people in Wuze Town and Baumbergen at the "Mondsee" (moon lake)Phenie2002
Deep in AfricaSavannah and rainforest landscape with West African adobe buildingsKroka2006

Roller coasters

Coaster Picture Opened Manufacturer Area Description
Black Mamba 2006 Bolliger & Mabillard Deep in Africa An inverted roller coaster
Colorado Adventure 1996 Vekoma Mexico A mine train
Crazy Bats 1988 Vekoma Fantasy An indoor steel roller coaster with an additional Virtual Reality experience
F.L.Y. 2020 Vekoma Berlin (Rookburgh) A launched flying roller coaster
Raik 2016 Vekoma Mystery (Klugheim) A steel family boomerang
Taron 2016 Intamin AG Mystery (Klugheim) A multilaunch steel roller coaster
Winja's Fear & Force 2002 Maurer Söhne Fantasy (Wuze Town) Duelling spinning roller coasters

Water rides

Ride Picture Opened Manufacturer Area Description
Chiapas 2014 Intamin AG Mexico A log flume
River Quest 2002 Hafema Mystery A rapids ride
Wakobato 2009 Preston & Barbieri Fantasy A splash battle
Wözl's Wassertreter 2004 Fantasy Pedalos

Thrill rides

Ride Picture Opened Manufacturer Area Description
Mystery Castle 1998 Intamin AG Mystery An enclosed drop tower
Talocan 2007 Huss Mexico A suspended top spin
Wellenflug 2011 Zierer Berlin A chair swing

Removed attractions

  • Race for Atlantis (removed in 2016)
  • Silbermine (removed in 2014)
  • Stonewash and Wildwash Creek (removed in 2011)
  • Gondelbahn 1001 Nacht (removed in 2009)
  • Phantasialand Jet (removed in 2008)
  • Condor (removed in 2006)
  • Gebirgsbahn (removed in 2001 due to a conflagration)
  • Grand-Canyon-Bahn (removed in 2001 due to a conflagration)
  • Wildwasserbahn (removed for Stonewash and Wildwash Creek in 1991)

Performance shows

There are several additional 'mini shows' featured in the new leaflets for 2014, most of them taking place at 'Kaiserplatz', as well as a chance to meet up with the park's dragon characters.

References

  1. "TEA/AECOM 2019 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report" (PDF). Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. Silver Lake Saloon. "Europa-Park – Erlebnis-Resort – Deutschlands größter Freizeitpark". Confertainment.europapark.de. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  3. , http://www.phantasialand.de/en/#business-to-pleasure.
  4. "RZ-Online: Feuer im Phantasialand". Archiv.rhein-zeitung.de. 2 May 2001. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  5. "Germany / U.S. Foreign Exchange Rate - St. Louis Fed". research.stlouisfed.org. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  6. "CNN.com - Rollercoaster fire injures 54 - May 1, 2001". web.archive.org. 1 May 2001. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  7. Busche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. "Fehler - Schlemmer Atlas - Restaurantführer: Restaurants in Deutschland, Frankreich, Österreich, Schweiz, Niederlande, Luxemburg und Italien". Schlemmer-atlas.de. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  8. "Maus au Chocolat". Park World Magazine. 12 August 2011. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  9. "Phantasialand – Unsere Neuheiten". Phantasialand.de. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  10. "Neu 2013 CHIAPAS - DIE Wasserbahn - Seite 10 - Phantasialand". Phantastische Fans. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  11. "Fakten und Hintergrundgeschichten Klugheims" (PDF). Phantasialand.de. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  12. "F.L.Y. announced". Looopings. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
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