The Joshy Horror Picture Show

Entering Phantasialand is a weird one as there's actually 3 'main' entrances. 

 

Entrance 1: Berlin. This is the most "main" one in design,  but practically anyone who drives won't use it, since there's basically no parking for day guests. You enter with the carousel directly in front, and then look down Berlin street towards Wellenflug. It's small and tight but pretty cool. 

 

Entrance 2: Mystery. Probably the most used one since the car park is accessed by using the road under the park next to the main entrance. 

 

Entrance 3: China. The car park for this is found by driving past the main entrance, turning left at the roundabout (going past Hotel Matamba) and following the road along.

 

Neither Mystery nor China entrance is great, in the sense that you just go straight into the park. It's a very harsh contrast (like a lot of Phantasialand's transitions between areas). They're practical, certainly not memorable. 

 

Crucially, the park do know these areas all problems. They want to expand the land they own so more people can use the Berlin entrance, and so they can make it a bit grander, but they have experienced issues getting permission to expand.

 

They don't own the land of one of their car parks (I think Mystery, but could be China). It's owned by a local who effectively leases it to the park and refuses to sell. A couple of years ago he tried building his own train through the car park... So it makes it hard to do work there. And even then, there's limited space to expand their car parks, meaning any work done to improve entrances outside the current perimeter costs valuable car parking spaces. 

 

They do have plans and do want to improve, but their hands are very much stuck at the moment. 

 

On top of that, each hotel has a dedicated entrance into the park (though Matamba's only happened this year). None of them are particularly great either. 

 

 

I agree about Maus being on the long side. It is certainly an arm workout!

 

It's probably a toss up between China and Crazy Bats/Hollywood Tour for what sees the chopping block next. Given the investment in Crazy Bats and current rumours, it's more likely going to be the China area that goes first.

1 hour ago, JoshC. said:

Entering Phantasialand is a weird one as there's actually 3 'main' entrances. 

 

Entrance 1: Berlin. This is the most "main" one in design,  but practically anyone who drives won't use it, since there's basically no parking for day guests. You enter with the carousel directly in front, and then look down Berlin street towards Wellenflug. It's small and tight but pretty cool. 

 

Entrance 2: Mystery. Probably the most used one since the car park is accessed by using the road under the park next to the main entrance. 

 

Entrance 3: China. The car park for this is found by driving past the main entrance, turning left at the roundabout (going past Hotel Matamba) and following the road along.

 

Neither Mystery nor China entrance is great, in the sense that you just go straight into the park. It's a very harsh contrast (like a lot of Phantasialand's transitions between areas). They're practical, certainly not memorable. 

 

Crucially, the park do know these areas all problems. They want to expand the land they own so more people can use the Berlin entrance, and so they can make it a bit grander, but they have experienced issues getting permission to expand.

 

They don't own the land of one of their car parks (I think Mystery, but could be China). It's owned by a local who effectively leases it to the park and refuses to sell. A couple of years ago he tried building his own train through the car park... So it makes it hard to do work there. And even then, there's limited space to expand their car parks, meaning any work done to improve entrances outside the current perimeter costs valuable car parking spaces. 

 

They do have plans and do want to improve, but their hands are very much stuck at the moment. 

 

On top of that, each hotel has a dedicated entrance into the park (though Matamba's only happened this year). None of them are particularly great either. 

 

 

I agree about Maus being on the long side. It is certainly an arm workout!

 

It's probably a toss up between China and Crazy Bats/Hollywood Tour for what sees the chopping block next. Given the investment in Crazy Bats and current rumours, it's more likely going to be the China area that goes first.

Thanks for the info. Yeah it certainly is unusual, the Berlin area definitely is the most entrance like. 

 

And yeah either of those would be good tbf. The China area is meh, and Crazy Bats is just hilariously bad. I guess we're just getting FLY though. 

Who needs the gym when you have Maus lol? 

Phantasialand on the whole is generally a great park and one of my favourites. A lot of their rides such as Taron & Chiapas I consider masterpieces in their own ways.

 

There is definitely room to improve the offering further and a lot of it comes down to the entrance setup and older attractions. I think China might be getting redeveloped next but the entrance setup is definitely a challenging one as Josh’s points mention. 
 

As for food, I consider it arguably the best park for food, from quick service to sit down restaurants. I do recommend Rutmoore’s Tavern if you return or the ice cream place near Chiapas if you fancy a snack.

The Europa vs Phantasia debate is a hard one for me

 

They are absolutely Europe's two best parks. Without a doubt.

 

Europa to me is an amazing overall park, but for me its all about the quality over the quantity. Europa has a massive selection of good to great rides but I personally would have Taron (and possibly Black Mamba) over any one of the Europa coasters and I would have Chiapas (and possibly River Quest) over any of the Europa water rides. Where I find Europas coasters to be good to great, Taron is simply world class and makes me want to go back to Phantasia as much as I can. Europa does not really have that one coaster that makes me want to do that in my opinion. Not to dismiss Wodan though!!

 

Sooner TOTNH is ripped out the better!! Diabolical coaster that makes X look like Rock an Roller Coaster. As others have said, this very well could be the next area for investment (if not China)

 

Foodwise, definitely try out Rutmoors in a future visit. One of the absolute best theme park restaraunts out there.

 

Glad to see you enjoyed the park!!

Agreed on most of your review. Phantasialand has moments of class mixed with areas of complete rubbish. For every Taron there's three rides begging to be destroyed. I can't say the same for Europa Park where every ride has a purpose and is looked after to the highest degree. Yes even snow bench the ride. I value capacity highly and I could rip my hair out waiting for either of the Winja brothers. 

2 hours ago, Mark9 said:

Agreed on most of your review. Phantasialand has moments of class mixed with areas of complete rubbish. For every Taron there's three rides begging to be destroyed. I can't say the same for Europa Park where every ride has a purpose and is looked after to the highest degree. Yes even snow bench the ride. I value capacity highly and I could rip my hair out waiting for either of the Winja brothers. 

Yeah I'm similar with capacity. As marmite as Euro-Mir is, I bet it has a better throughput than Winjas's put together. Yeah not gonna lie, even though Bench is kinda bad, I still find it charming in a weird way.  Definitely agreed with some areas being better than others, China and Crazy Bats could be bulldozed and I don't think anyone would shed a tear lol.

 

On 9/4/2020 at 10:20 AM, Martin Doyle said:

The Europa vs Phantasia debate is a hard one for me

 

They are absolutely Europe's two best parks. Without a doubt.

 

Europa to me is an amazing overall park, but for me its all about the quality over the quantity. Europa has a massive selection of good to great rides but I personally would have Taron (and possibly Black Mamba) over any one of the Europa coasters and I would have Chiapas (and possibly River Quest) over any of the Europa water rides. Where I find Europas coasters to be good to great, Taron is simply world class and makes me want to go back to Phantasia as much as I can. Europa does not really have that one coaster that makes me want to do that in my opinion. Not to dismiss Wodan though!!

 

Sooner TOTNH is ripped out the better!! Diabolical coaster that makes X look like Rock an Roller Coaster. As others have said, this very well could be the next area for investment (if not China)

 

Foodwise, definitely try out Rutmoors in a future visit. One of the absolute best theme park restaraunts out there.

 

Glad to see you enjoyed the park!!

Coasterwise I guess Phantasialand has the edge on quality. Though honestly my main reason for liking Europa more is the atmosphere, theming, and operations. Also a huge dark ride fan. I think it really depends on how much you value those kinda things, Phantasialand does those things, but not quite as well as Europa IMO.

Yeah TOTNH should be bulldozed via live stream, at least Vekoma get to redeem themselves with FLY. 

And will do, I definitely think I didn't get the whole picture with the food.