What's new

Phantasialand | F. L. Y. | Vekoma Launched Flying Coaster | 2020

So guys. Guess season's opening won't be a thing for Rookburgh :eek: As Nordrein-Westphalen has the heaviest outbreak of Corona, I assume PHL won't be opening anytime soon
I phoned the park yesterday and they are still planning on operating until either the government or Brühl city council force them to close. Attendance will be extremely low if they do open no doubt about that.

We have a separate topic about it so probably better to discuss it here:
 
It’s looking good but in light of everything going on 2020 will not be a good year to push a brand new investment. Wonder whether the park are contemplating a late 2020 opening now or considering pushing it back another year to try and maximise gate figures next year, as this year will be a disaster for the whole industry regardless of new attractions.
 
You can get that disaster full force or you can weaken it by opening a new attraction and getting a lot of visitors in the time your park is open. It doesn't make any sense to keep a finished attraction closed. We'll have to wait and see how the whole thing develops. Nobody knows what's it like in a month.
 
You can get that disaster full force or you can weaken it by opening a new attraction and getting a lot of visitors in the time your park is open. It doesn't make any sense to keep a finished attraction closed. We'll have to wait and see how the whole thing develops. Nobody knows what's it like in a month.
I'm not sure about this though, if people aren't coming due to Covid-19, then they aren't coming, regardless of a new attraction or not. It makes sense to keep the new area shut so that it can be fully launched with a grand opening once coronavirus concerns are over and people are back to their normal way of life. There is no point advertising a new ride and having a grand opening day with no one turning up because people all over the world are self-isolating or in lock down, even if the situation in Germany is recovered. The virus will have a knock on mental effect even once this is all over, and people won't want to go back to public spaces for a while. In my opinion it just doesn't make sense for big investments to launch this year anymore.

Berlin has banned public events over 50 today, with cologne supposedly following suit soon. If this is the case that cologne follow suit with similar measures, Phantasialand is 100% shut for season start.
 
Rideonblog made the most recent pictures:
2_2289-2336-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.thumb.jpg.531cd6aa8836c8837b5f9e2085f4...jpg
DSC01803_2293-2340-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.thumb.jpg.f1af3fa7abd5615e6b258...jpg

DSC01807_2295-2342-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.thumb.jpg.07a73c7f4642dc8510559...jpg


My answer to the discussion above:
I don't thinkt Covid-19 will have such a big impact at all. A large amount of people will quickly resume their social life as soon as the lock downs are over.

There won't be any problem with Rookburgh en F.L.Y. opening this summer vacation. Everyone knows the virus gets killed when the temperature rises above 26 degrees. So from the day the temperature hits the 26, the last anxious people will come out of their houses and start picking up their social life again. :)
 
Last edited:
(...) Yes, transmission rates will decrease with warmer weather, but the virus will not just "disappear". (...)
The flu comes and goes seasonally, however we don't know the behaviour of Covid yet as it is a brand new virus and we therefore don't know how long it is going to stick around for. If we follow UK modelling (which I don't trust anyway), then the peak of the virus will be in 14 weeks which will take us to June and then cases should slowly start to decrease over time.

You also have to consider how many lives and loved ones are going to be lost from this virus. I don't think visiting rook burgh is going to be the public's priority once cases start to decrease.

What can I say? I'm just very curious. We no longer know what to believe. Nobody has a correct answer. When this virus comes and go like the flue, then we just have to deal with it I guess. When will their be a vaccin against it? We can't stay inside until that day. Our social life is on hold but people still need to go to work? My guess is that this way they can't stop the virus at all, if they ever can...

The flue also makes a lot of victims every year. Any disease or virus costs lives so does this one. I guess that's just the hard reality but that's something people don't wanna hear because it makes them upset.

Grand children that go to their grandparents because schools are closed, people who invite their friends that afterwards go home again and see their family again, the public transport is still running... The virus still gets spread this way so I don't see the utility of this whole "lock down" (I speak for my country, Belgium). I just see 1 big political puppet show.

We will never be able to take all the answers to the questions into account for the coming months...

So, I just start to lead my normal social life again when our lockdown ends because I'm not going to live in fear for months.

I hope and guess many people will think this way when we are a few weeks further. So Phantasialand can open up the new area, we're coming*. :p

I will not discuss this further. This is not the right place for this topic. :)


*Contains humor to get through this difficult period.
 
Last edited:
Since it was already discussed here before and is not worth its own thread - an update on the construction work at Hotel Matamba.
1-2320-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

Restaurant Bantu has had its roof rethatched and a new park entrance for hotel guests has been built.

10_2309-2330-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg.3e54b8f4c3cb2e57886252df607d2a32.jpg

9_2308-2329-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg.36242619726c54feb8a0f715558bcef2.jpg

The new park entrance from the hotel garden.

5_2304-2325-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg.de67f60378c048e8bd0422d511b12f4a.jpg

New thatched hut and gate to block the path on the other side of the hotel garden pond beside Restaurant Bantu.

The path behind directly alongside Black Mamba has been incorporated into the Africa area - essentially extending the area with a new path loop from the gateway beside Bantu and Mamba's first drop and the bridge through Mamba's vertical loop (see the first picture).

15_2314-2335-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg.0a88c1e10561b432817fd38f565f1f3f.jpg

Beside the loop bridge from new area pathway this new thatched viewing platform has sprung up beside the zero-g roll - creating a nice new photo opportunity spot no doubt.

Source - RideOnBlog.com

ESxkGbdX0AEL4DN
(my picture)
Beside Bantu the wooden fence and gate are gone opening the way up from the park. Also on the right this doorway to the hotel restaurant Bantu has sparked some speculation that it may also be opened to park guests during the day. In similar fashion to how the new Restaurant Uhrwerk in Rookburgh will be shared between the park and hotel.

Also from RideOnBlog some looks at the conference rooms and Dragon Bar of Hotel Ling Bao which have been refurbished as part of the gradual programme of modernisation and theming change to be more Tibetan in style that has been undertaken over the past few years.
_FRD9353_comp_f-2282-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

_FRD9417_r-2283-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

_FRD9450_r_Kopie-2286-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

2-2365-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

5-2368-1920-1276-100-wm-left_bottom-100-Logoneupng.jpg

With the modernisation of the park's China area widely speculated to be the next project after F.L.Y./Rookburgh it will be interesting to see if the area will also follow suit with this style change.

Also for anyone not following the Coronvirus thread in General Discussion the NRW has today announced a lockdown on leisure/free time locations until 19th April. Undoubtedly Phantasialand will now have to postpone opening for 2020 season, would expect an announcement tomorrow.
 
Just a small nice update in these difficult times: Progress has been made concerning the retheming from the staff building. The facade is colored gray.
IMG_20200317_193015.jpg
IMG_20200317_193043.jpg
Source: Phantafriends

FB_IMG_1584470911570.jpg
Source: Freizeitpark Blog

That aside, I wish everyone a strong resistance and good health. Please stay inside. We are stronger together, but each separately.
<3
 
Last edited:
Phantasialand has confirmed closure of park, Fantissima and (indicated) hotels until April 19th.

However, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation all over Europe, with Spain and parts of France now getting as bad as Italy, I consider it VERY unlikely to have the park re-opened then. I expect April and May to be extremly hard months, with countrywide lockdowns. If we survive this period (literally!), we may see an opening some time in summer, hopefully with Rookburgh open. But I expect quite extreme rules on hygiene and distance to be implemented, probably for a couple of years. Much like in those pictures from train and subway stations in Japan, with people wearing face masks.
 
Top