PHANTASIALAND — Just finished two days.
I had heard for years about the phenomenal theming at Phantasialand, and the night before I remember thinking that surely the hype has set me up for some level of disappointment. No. No, it did not. The legends are true.
Winjas. Fear a bit better than Force. Got two rides each side. I love all the various little surprises, and I like the way each ride is different — my second ride on Fear featured a moment of fantastic backward airtime down a drop. My only complaint is that the ride is not exactly testicle-friendly.
Raik is the most amazingly themed pointless coaster I’ve been on.
Talocan had me cackling like a madman for both rides, which were rather different from each other, btw. When it really gets spinning, the intensity is on the level of Tivoli’s Vertigo.
Probably the best log ride and the best raft ride I’ve been on — and finally some European flume/rapids rides that actually get the riders wet — first of this trip.
The drop tower has great theming, of course, but the drop was surprisingly wimpy. And I’m definitely not a drop tower guy.
Just considering the ride by itself, Black Mamba is actually a pretty weak invert compared to most I’ve ridden. However, the theming does something. It doesn’t just make the ride pretty or pleasant; the theming actually intensifies the ride and makes it pretty great. I rode this three or four times.
Colorado Adventure is weirdly wild for a mine train coaster. I rode it four times, and it contained moments that had hints of that Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain feeling — not that level of crazy, to be sure, but a hint of the feeling. I felt I had to hold on tight to be kept from being thrown out.
Taron. Yesterday I covered almost all the rides in the park, and saved Taron to the last ride of the night before it closed. My first impression was similar to that of some other Americans I’ve heard: it was very fun, and of course the theming is beyond reproach, but the ride is lacking a little in intensity.
Then there was today. After mopping up a last few things I didn’t get to yesterday, I spent the second half of the day largely marathoning this coaster. The single rider line hit that sweet spot for long stretches when it became nearly a walk-on (despite the regular line being quite long). I got in 22 rides today. Suffice it to say, my estimation steadily increased the more I rode. Really key for me was putting my arms up and keeping them there. Then I got in that zen mode of swaying and bending with every inch of the coaster, anticipating every curve and dip because I’d done it so many times. By the end of the day, I loved this ride so much, and it certainly didn’t seem tame any more.
After a particularly long stretch of riding, I got off with wild surfer hair from the wind and with a now-sun-beaten face, just glowing from the experience, and I walked into a Klugheim tavern that is impeccably themed to a medieval fantasy inn. I sat down in the corner, and ordered a large flagon, er, bottle of fizzy water, then got an amazing and heartily “themed” dish of potatoey fare in a wooden bowl. As I poured myself another mug of ale/water, I suddenly had a moment when I felt I might be Aragorn or the Hound in a moment of medieval-fantasy repose. And only slightly less cool and daunting.
But it was while sitting in such a great little tavern having such wonderful food and drink, and still basking in the afterglow of that Taron marathon, that it hit me: this is probably my favorite park. Period.
