Phantasialand 1/4/2012

[James6]

I'd heard all the reviews, seen all the pictures and eventually saw it for myself yesterday. I also want to point out there will be spoiler throughout. With sky-high expectations I was amazed to find that they still blown out of the water, the place is quite frankly unbelievable. The only problem is that it highlighted just how lacking in quality Alton/Thorpe/Chessington and other UK attractions really are. We arrived about quarter to 10, with the park having opened at 9 and headed to where else but Black Mamba. "Best Coaster in Europe" and other similar claims surround this ride, and I was glad to hear I wouldn't be disappointed. Unbelievably, for me, it topped Nemesis, something I never thought would happen. (This may be down to my last ride on Nemesis being poor by it's standards, but we'll see) The theming, the layout, the forcefulness, everything was perfection and I loved it. The station was also immense, with it blacking out apart from a few green lights upon dispatch, combined with a brilliant dispatch theme.From here I struggle to remember where we went, our longest queue was for Black Mamba at first of 10 minutes, other than that, everything was a walk on all day. Feng Ju PalaceSome rides seemed to suffer from being in a different language, this was one of them. Whilst the ride building was awe-inspiring, the ride and pre-show itself seemed poor. Not a patch on Hex (when everything is working)Winjas Fear and ForceAs someone who loves Fury and Spinball I was extremely excited about these two, like most rides at Phantasialand they had great reviews. Firstly I'd like to point out that even without the cars automatically moving through the station, dispatches were much MUCH faster than both of our UK examples. Anyway on to the ride, whilst I knew there were track effects I'd managed to prevent finding out what they were. Therefore my first ride the lift, and tilt took me by huge surprise. From there cars span, twisted like you wouldn't believe. Absolutely no braking through any of the block sections (unlike S/F) and was glass smooth (unlike S/F) Then came the track effects. Fear was my definite favourite of the two, and had a "see-saw" effect taking me by surprise. And Force had a strange track effect where the whole thing fell to one side!Maus Au ChocolatAs someone who didn't care for Toy Story Midway Mania, I wasn't particularly excited about this ride, and sadly, whilst it was "good" I just don't like the idea behind these rides. I think they are such cop outs when it comes to shooting rides and was actually bored by the end of it. It was better than TSMM, and the queue theming was beyond belief. WellenflugThis wave swinger at the centre of the park was an incredible centrepiece, with the genius idea of adding fountains which followed the oscillation of the seats. Also showed how poorly run Twirling Toadstool is. Temple of the NighthawkThis ride disappointed me as I thought of the potential of what Phantasialand could do with a ride of this magnitude. Apparently the longest roller coaster in the dark in the world, nothing ever really happens due to the fact it's pitch black the whole way. A shame as there were a couple of forceful sections. Even if it was outside it would be improved.River QuestSurprise Surprise, had heard incredible things and it lived up. Luckily we didn't get too wet which was good as despite the sun, it was freezing. Wasn't going to miss out on it though! Brilliant theming topped up with an outstanding ride system. The drops were huge!TalocanI love Ripsaw, and was therefore itching to give this a go. Whilst the newer Huss restraints are an improvement, they are not exactly the most comfortable. Anyway the ride itself was very long, forceful and again themed within an inch of it's life with an explosion of fire after every inversion. One negative, if your facing away from the front, the ride experience is slightly reduced. Much like the ones in our parks, an awesome spectator attraction.Sieber Mine/Hollywood Tour/ Geister Ricke (Haunted Mansion)Nice dark ride filler attractions, A nice break of chilling with various scenes directly taken from Disney rides. The sheer quantity of animatronics was truly staggering, the same with all of the older dark rides. Mystery CastleMindblowing. I was expecting a bit of a "bounce"What resulted was actually a vertical launch that felt a similar force to Rita, before various drops and other launches. Unbelievably good and the queue was astonishing. One of my all time favourite ridesAnd saving the best till last...COLORADO ADVENTUREThose who I talk to know my love for BTM at DLP, for many reasons. It therefore goes to say that Colorado Adventure blew even that out of the water. I love mine trains, it's a family thing and this was seriously top notch. Seemed the last an age and was actually extremely thrilling with huge drops, in the back there were various pops of airtime! (I managed to complete the hands up challenge in the back ) Words don't describe or convey how good the ride is, never laughed or enjoyed a ride so much. It's just a shame some of the theming had been taken out because of the destruction of the log flumes. What. A. Ride.That about wraps up the park ride wise, although I've probably forgotten a few. On to other aspects, the place was just amazing. No fake "fronts" to buildings or cheap replacements or rusting coasters or failing effects or litter or breakdowns, I could go on and on. The park is impeccable in every way. How places such as Alton can't keep standards to even half the level of Phantasialand is beyond me. There were at least half a dozen shows on throughout the day, we only saw one in the end but would have loved to see more. "Jump" was a new stunt spectacular, and really was awesome and beyond anything I'm used to or expected at a theme park! Makes me even more excited for Europa Park in the summer! I don't really know what else to say as nothing I say explains just how great a day we had. Would put it up there with my favourite days at a park. Other notes- World class theming- Group of Chinese walking round China etc, lots of incredible little touches- People in costume everywhere- Awesome theming- Park seemed packed with people but walk on queue's!- Incredible staff all more than happy to talk in English and find out what we thought, one specifically came over to me after my first ride on Mamba to ask my thoughts- Some of the best theming I've seen- One breakdown on Winjas Force which lasted about, 5 minutes?- A perfectly sized park with a huge number of rides, but small enough where rides are near each other- Unbelievable theming - Most rides being on full capacity, and even those not still were walk on.- Annoyingly, the only people to cause any annoyance all day, was a group of Irish people, shouting out very rude remarks throughout very dark rides. They made it quite embarrassing to be British to be honest as apart from that everyone was just happy and enjoyed there day. - Also I found it very nice that by paying for one day of entry, you got a second day later in the season for free, a nice gesture. Overall, Colorado Adventure and Black Mamba are now two of my favourite coasters, Mystery Castle is my favourite dark ride.(Just a note, Mystery Castle is essentially what I was expecting Sub Terra to be, albeit a LOT smaller. Quite scary with a build up and then a small shooting/dropping dark ride, why it couldn't have been along those lines I don't know )Total ride count (approximately)1x Talocan3 x Mystery Castle3x Black Mamba8/9 x Colorado Adventure1 x River Quest1x Feng Ju Palace1 x Sieber Mine1 x Haunted Mansion1 x Hollywood Tour1x Temple of the Nighthawk1x Wellenflug1x Maus Au Chocolat1x Wurmlimg Express3 x Winjas Fear2 x Winjas Force1x Tower ride in the middle of WinjasWORLD CLASS

[JoshC.]

Thanks for that brilliant TR James - really enjoyed it! :DAbsolutely jealous of the fact you got on a quiet day too - those rerides! Glad you had a great day, and it really makes me want to visit Germany and their theme parks all the more.

[Stealthowl]

Great Report there James,Germany for me is a must in the future only ever heard positive things about there parks...Thanks for taking the time to post your report

[Mark9]

Very much agreed with you James. Phantasialand is one of the best parks in the world. It would be the best park in Germany if it wasn't for Europa Park but I digress.Just a few thoughts. I'm not really a fan of this constant comparisons with Merlin, they're kind of unwarranted because whilst Merlin aren't the masters, they are far from the worst (hey Drayton!).I digress, 100% agreed with Black Mamba. It's probably the most thought out B&M inverter out there with an attention to detail that very few rides compete with. What it lacks in an original lay-out, it makes up for in sheer grandeur. Glad you appreciated it! Same with Mystery Castle which is one of the scarier drop towers out there for its force and intensity. Theming also second to none. The thing I found with the Winjas is that Fear is brilliant but Force is just forceless and a bit rubbish. And I didn't really think much of the little tricks as I felt they broke up the pacing of the ride, something which I've never found on Fury, Tarantula or Spinball despite the trims. No doubt that they are really fun rides and are very original in what they do. Surprise Immelman included!I can only remember finding Colorado Adventure really bumpy. Not sure why that is my over-riding memory but I did ride it when I was 12, so maybe my younger memories gave it something that 18 year old Mark couldn't live up to.Wonderful park though, thanks for the report.

[Topsyturvy15]

Brilliant report, makes me really want to go!

[James6]

Cheers guys! Makes doing a TR worth it! :)I agree Mark that I may have been a bit harsh when comparing with Merlin (and Drayton certainly are much worse), I just feel that surely the Merlin parks have a comparable amount of money available to them (if not more) and yet there is such a huge gap in quality. Alton was to have opening times of 10-4, and yet Phantasialand is capable of at least 9-6 every day (at least.) Factor in all the shows, and actors, basically it's just me wishing that we could have a bit of that Also people were making the excuse for Alton this year that they didn't have time and that it was a huge task installing Ice Age and Sub Terra in one year, when in 2002 PL installed River Quest, both Winjas' AND Feng Ju Palace...Glad to hear you agree with my thoughts on Black Mamba. It really was awesome, and surprisingly lengthy with all those helices at the end!It being just the second day of the season may have had something to do with it, but Colorado Adventure was smooth as glass! You'd love it if you went back now