Treeis
Mega Poster
My family went on a holiday to Cologne, and I saw an opportunity to go to Phantasialand for the first time. It was a bit scary that I would be navigating another countries public transport on my own, but I made it work ok.
I took the number 18 tram to a town called “Bruhl”, and from the tram station “Bruhl Mitte” I found the bus stop for the Phantasialand Shuttle.
I arrived about 11:00 – 11:30 and my initial reaction when walking into the park was threefold;
1. Boy it sure is cold
2. Boy it sure is damp
3. Where is everyone?
I went on the quietest day I have ever been to a theme park on, and also the coldest, but that was the least of my worries right now. All I could think of was finding Black mamba and riding it.
I ran to the area the Black mamba was in, and tried to find the entrance. I must have been searching for it for about 10 mins. (Note to future self, theme parks have maps for reasons). Anyway, whilst I was searching, I had a growing realisation that the ride itself was not actually moving or making any noise…I didn’t want to believe that the worst had happened but alas, when I did eventually find the entrance to the ride…it had. “THIS RIDE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED”. An enthusiast’s worst nightmare.
I decided to run in the direction of the next nearest major ride… Colorado Adventure. Similarly to Black mamba, it looks amazing when making your way towards it. Lots of lovely snaking, twisting steel to ogle at. Unfortunately, also similarly to Black Mamba, it was being very quiet. Far too quiet. I find the entrance and it says this; “THIS RIDE IS CLOSED DUE TO POOR WEATHER”. Oooph. Right in the chest. Two rides in the same day? I’ve got to admit, I was feeling pretty low at this point. Also angry, because the weather was drizzly at best. If that’s what it takes to close down the ride then there is something seriously wrong with it.
I then decided to make my way to the next nearest major ride…(jesus, I was running out at this point)…Mystery Castle. It was open! Huzzah! I made my way up and into the queue line which was almost completely empty. And also amazingly themed. It looked like tower of terror for adults. The ride itself is pretty spectacular, the bit where you launch halfway and the music is like “Dunn!...Dunn! Dunn! Dunn!....” is so well done. Unfortunatly the drop itself didn’t have as much oomph as I thought I would have. I knew I was falling, but only because I could see it, not feel it…I dunno…maybe I was just really cold.
After mystery castle, I made my way back to Black Mamba because I thought I heard a noise from it. And it was actually open and working! This really took me by surprise because usually when a Merlin park has “temporarily closed” on its ride, they really mean permanently closed. The queue for the ride was also beautifully empty. The only sign of queue was in the station itself, and I managed to get back seat far left. Now, I knew right from the start that this was going to be a very good ride. And boy was it…the way the ride uses its terrain and theming is phenomenal and I did feel my legs flinching quite a bit through the tunnels. Also the turnaround thing after the 0-G roll is something I have never done before and I thought it was fantastic.
I think Winjas was my next ride. It took me a stupid amount of time to find it, since it’s all in a building and there are no signs like “Winjas this way”. Instead they have some kind of weird entrance to a land they call “the Wuze” or something. Anyway, the theming in this building is of Disneyland standard, and the way the ride moves around it is so well done. I had done a small amount of research onto the ride but really not that much, so as soon as it started I had no idea what to expect, which is probably the best way to ride a coaster in my opinion. I ride force first and I move forward into the darkness…there’s probably some kind of lift hill here but I can’t see any-OH MY GOD IM RISING WHAT IS THIS…That hidden vertical lift thing is just good I can’t even begin to explain. The rest of the ride is pretty cool as well, and you do genuinely spin a lot on it. Towards the end of the ride there are a few other hidden treats that are surprising, but I’m not going to give anything else away.
Fear does have a slightly different track to force, which is good because I thought that it might just be a mirror copy of it. In my opinion fear has the edge over force but obviously it’s quite a close call.
I spent the rest of the day just going round the park riding the rides again and again. Other notable rides are Talocan (for obvious reasons, just look it up on YouTube), and the rapids ride which is insane but I would have enjoyed it more had I been with someone else…being in a boat alone makes you feel pretty silly.
I left early because I rode pretty much everything twice in no time, and then got very cold.
So yeah, in all, Phantasialand is a really well run theme park. It could do with perhaps one more intense ride but that’s just my opinion. The theming is however; as good as it gets, incredible…except when I went, there were a lot of cranes building the new log flume area for next year. There’s nothing really the park can do about that. I would say to get the most out of Phantasialand, go on a hot day, and go with people.
^Talo-yes you-can
^Could the dome do with a clean?
^Cranes…cranes everywhere…
I took the number 18 tram to a town called “Bruhl”, and from the tram station “Bruhl Mitte” I found the bus stop for the Phantasialand Shuttle.
I arrived about 11:00 – 11:30 and my initial reaction when walking into the park was threefold;
1. Boy it sure is cold
2. Boy it sure is damp
3. Where is everyone?
I went on the quietest day I have ever been to a theme park on, and also the coldest, but that was the least of my worries right now. All I could think of was finding Black mamba and riding it.
I ran to the area the Black mamba was in, and tried to find the entrance. I must have been searching for it for about 10 mins. (Note to future self, theme parks have maps for reasons). Anyway, whilst I was searching, I had a growing realisation that the ride itself was not actually moving or making any noise…I didn’t want to believe that the worst had happened but alas, when I did eventually find the entrance to the ride…it had. “THIS RIDE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED”. An enthusiast’s worst nightmare.
I decided to run in the direction of the next nearest major ride… Colorado Adventure. Similarly to Black mamba, it looks amazing when making your way towards it. Lots of lovely snaking, twisting steel to ogle at. Unfortunately, also similarly to Black Mamba, it was being very quiet. Far too quiet. I find the entrance and it says this; “THIS RIDE IS CLOSED DUE TO POOR WEATHER”. Oooph. Right in the chest. Two rides in the same day? I’ve got to admit, I was feeling pretty low at this point. Also angry, because the weather was drizzly at best. If that’s what it takes to close down the ride then there is something seriously wrong with it.
I then decided to make my way to the next nearest major ride…(jesus, I was running out at this point)…Mystery Castle. It was open! Huzzah! I made my way up and into the queue line which was almost completely empty. And also amazingly themed. It looked like tower of terror for adults. The ride itself is pretty spectacular, the bit where you launch halfway and the music is like “Dunn!...Dunn! Dunn! Dunn!....” is so well done. Unfortunatly the drop itself didn’t have as much oomph as I thought I would have. I knew I was falling, but only because I could see it, not feel it…I dunno…maybe I was just really cold.
After mystery castle, I made my way back to Black Mamba because I thought I heard a noise from it. And it was actually open and working! This really took me by surprise because usually when a Merlin park has “temporarily closed” on its ride, they really mean permanently closed. The queue for the ride was also beautifully empty. The only sign of queue was in the station itself, and I managed to get back seat far left. Now, I knew right from the start that this was going to be a very good ride. And boy was it…the way the ride uses its terrain and theming is phenomenal and I did feel my legs flinching quite a bit through the tunnels. Also the turnaround thing after the 0-G roll is something I have never done before and I thought it was fantastic.
I think Winjas was my next ride. It took me a stupid amount of time to find it, since it’s all in a building and there are no signs like “Winjas this way”. Instead they have some kind of weird entrance to a land they call “the Wuze” or something. Anyway, the theming in this building is of Disneyland standard, and the way the ride moves around it is so well done. I had done a small amount of research onto the ride but really not that much, so as soon as it started I had no idea what to expect, which is probably the best way to ride a coaster in my opinion. I ride force first and I move forward into the darkness…there’s probably some kind of lift hill here but I can’t see any-OH MY GOD IM RISING WHAT IS THIS…That hidden vertical lift thing is just good I can’t even begin to explain. The rest of the ride is pretty cool as well, and you do genuinely spin a lot on it. Towards the end of the ride there are a few other hidden treats that are surprising, but I’m not going to give anything else away.
Fear does have a slightly different track to force, which is good because I thought that it might just be a mirror copy of it. In my opinion fear has the edge over force but obviously it’s quite a close call.
I spent the rest of the day just going round the park riding the rides again and again. Other notable rides are Talocan (for obvious reasons, just look it up on YouTube), and the rapids ride which is insane but I would have enjoyed it more had I been with someone else…being in a boat alone makes you feel pretty silly.
I left early because I rode pretty much everything twice in no time, and then got very cold.
So yeah, in all, Phantasialand is a really well run theme park. It could do with perhaps one more intense ride but that’s just my opinion. The theming is however; as good as it gets, incredible…except when I went, there were a lot of cranes building the new log flume area for next year. There’s nothing really the park can do about that. I would say to get the most out of Phantasialand, go on a hot day, and go with people.
^Talo-yes you-can
^Could the dome do with a clean?
^Cranes…cranes everywhere…
