Phantasialand
Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. It was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, it has added thrill rides, especially in recent years. Following the example of Europa-Park, it has also decided to attract business customers, calling spring the slogan "Business to Pleasure".
Phantasialand is known for its high theming detail. It introduces new attractions more often compared to other German theme parks to compensate for its small area, and is regularly voted one of the world's best theme parks.
Among its thrill rides is Taron, the world's third fastest multi-launch coaster; Black Mamba, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster; and a themed Mine Train roller coaster called Colorado Adventure, which runs between some of the mountains in the park's Wild West section, and was opened by Michael Jackson. The most recent addition was F.L.Y., a Vekoma launched flying coaster.
History
Phantasialand was opened by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt on 30 April, 1967.On 1 May 2001, a cable fire caused by faulty wiring in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and parts of the Westernstadt. The blaze costed about 38 million Deutsche Mark in damage and 54 people were injured. Phantasialand reopened the park about two weeks later and invested about €2 million in fire safety, equipping every building with sprinkler systems.
Phantasialand is also home to "Mystery Castle", an indoor Intamin Ride Trade Bungee Drop featuring a walk through a haunted castle. Next to the castle is "River Quest", a rapid river ride which features a lift, built by Hafema in 2002. It replaced the attractions destroyed by the fire one year before.
In 2002, Winja's Fear and Force, two indoor spinning coasters built by Maurer Söhne, were built along with a new area called Wuze Town.
The area of Mystery was expanded with a ride named "River Quest", which is a river rapids ride. It was built by Hafema and has two lifts near the start of the ride to take the boats to their highest point. It previously held the record for the largest drop on a rafting ride. This record was broken in 2018 by Infinity Falls at SeaWorld Orlando.
It was built next to Mystery Castle. The two rides were the only ones in Mystery until Klugheim opened with Taron and Raik in 2016. This led to River Quest being slightly rethemed in 2017 to fit in with the Klugheim theme.
Construction of River Quest was made possible by a fire that devastated part of the park on 1 May 2001, which destroyed two rides and left space requiring redevelopment. Even so, the space available was relatively small for a river rapids ride so, to save space, two elevators are used to take boats to their highest point rather than the more traditional lift hill.
New for 2006 was an African-themed B&M inverted roller coaster called Black Mamba.
A four-star on-site hotel called Hotel Ling Bao, which is Chinese themed, opened in 2004. The hotel's roof tiles were imported from China, and every room door was hand-engraved. The hotel has two restaurants; one of them - the LU CHI - is renowned for its Euro-Asiatic cuisine, a bar, a pool with sauna, garden area, spa and its own entrance to the park. A second hotel called "Matamba" opened in August 2008 in the Deep in Africa section.
Phantasialand opened another ride for 2007 called Talocan, a Suspended Top Spin by Huss Maschinenfabrik. It is located in the Mexican section of the park.
In 2008 a splash battle ride, Wakobato, opened in the lake in the old fairytale forest. The attraction is highly debated amongst residents living next to the park, who complain about noise pollution.
In 2010, Phantasialand opened five new attractions for children in Wuze Town: Baumberger Irrgarten, Die fröhliche Bienchenjagd, Wolke's Luftpost, Der lustige Papagei, and Würmling Express. The Berlin part of the park has also been reworked, with many Berlin-themed houses, fountains and a tribune for shows. Also new in 2010 was the show 'Sieben' by Jan Rouven.
In 2011, Phantasialand opened two new attractions: Maus au Chocolat, an ETF dark ride in Alt Berlin and a chair-swing on the Kaisersplatz.
The old shop in Berlin was replaced with a funhouse-style attraction called "Verrücktes Hotel Tartüff", built by the park's engineers and opened in 2012.
For the 2013 season, Phantasialand built a new log flume-style attraction to replace their two previous water attractions. It is embedded in a large area of canyons and mountains, as a miniature model on display in the park had already revealed during construction. Chiapas: DIE Wasserbahn opened on 1 April 2014.
After the winter season 201314, Silver City and the dark ride Silbermine were removed to allow construction on the park's 2016 launched roller coaster, Taron, and the new themed area Klugheim, which was to become a part of the Mystery area. Another roller coaster, Raik, is located in the Klugheim area, and is more family-oriented than the likes of Taron. The coaster is a Vekoma family boomerang model attraction.
Also in 2016, Race for Atlantis was removed to make way for a new themed area called Rookburgh with a rollercoaster named F.L.Y., the world's first launched flying roller coaster and the longest flying roller coaster in the world. Rookburgh and F.L.Y. opened to the public on Thursday, September 17, 2020.
Theme areas
Removed attractions
Due to its particularly small area Phantasialand is known to remove attractions more frequently than other theme parks to gain space for new attractions.| Ride | Picture | Opened | Closed | Manufacturer | Description | Theme |
| Autoscooter | 1968 | 1986 | ? | Bumper cars | none | |
| Ballonfahrt | 1993 | 2009 | Zamperla | Balloon ride | none | |
| Baumberger Irrgarten | 2010 | 2021 | Phantasialand | Maze | Maze | |
| Bienchenflug | 1979 | 2009 | ? | Carousal with bee-looking gondolas | none | |
| Bolles Spieleland/Penaten Kinderparadies/ Ronnies Spieleland | 1970s | 2010 | Phantasialand & Penaten | Playground | none | |
| Bottichfahrt | 1971 | 1993 | Phantasialand | Water ride with tub-looking gondolas | none | |
| Bullenreiten | 2004 | 2009 | Phantasialand | Mechanic bull | American frontier | |
| Cine 2000 | 1978 | 1995 | Omnivision | 180-degree Cinema | none | |
| Condor | 1986 | 2006 | HUSS rides | Condor | none | |
| Djembe Musikschule | 2006 | 2020 | Phantasialand | Djembe drums | Africa | |
| Crazy Loop | 1995 | 2004 | Fabbri Group | Breakdance | 1995-1996: none 1997-2004: Mexico | |
| Galaxis-360 | 1982 | 1985 | ? | 360-degree Cinema | none | |
| Galaxy | 1994 | 2005 | Simtec Systems & IMAX Corporation | Simulator ride | Science fiction | |
| Gebirgsbahn | 1975 | 2001 | Schwarzkopf GmbH | Speed Racer | Mountain range | |
| Gondelbahn 1001 Nacht | 1970 | 2009 | Phantasialand | Dark ride | Stories from One Thousand and One Nights | |
| Grand-Canyon-Bahn | 1978 | 2001 | Schwarzkopf GmbH | Powered roller coaster | Mountain range | |
| Hollywood Tour | 1990 | 2020 | Intamin | Fantasy | Hollywood movies | |
| Jumbo | 1979 | 2000 | ? | Aerial carousal ride with elephant-looking gondolas | none | |
| Käpt'n Blackbeards Piratenflotte | 2001 | 2004 | Phantasialand | Model ships navigated by water guns | Pirates | |
| Kinder-Riesenrad | 1993 | 2009 | Zamperla | Ferris wheel for kids | none | |
| Klettergarten | 2009 | 2012 | Phantasialand | Climbing parcourse | none | |
| Märchenwald | 1967 | 2007 | Phantasialand | Fairytale Forest | Fairytales | |
| Octowuzy | 2003 | 2023 | ? | Water playground | Fantasy | |
| Oldtimerbahn | 1967 | 1986 | Phantasialand | Vintage Car Adventure | none | |
| Phantasialand Jet | 1974 | 2008 | Schwarzkopf GmbH | Monorail | 1974-1996: none 1997-2008: Mexico | |
| Polyp | 1975 | 1983 | Schwarzkopf GmbH | Octopus | none | |
| Ponyreitbahn | 1967 | 1975 | Phantasialand | Pony ride | American frontier | |
| Professor Wuzipuh's Clever-Bollen | 2003 | 2016 | Phantasialand | Edutainment | Fantasy | |
| Race for Atlantis | 2005 | 2016 | Simtec & IMAX Corporation | Simulator ride | Atlantis | |
| Ruderboote | 1967 | 1967 | Phantasialand | Rowing boats | none | |
| Schloss Schreckenstein | 1972 | 2008 | Phantasialand | Walkthrough | Scary castle | |
| Seeräuberfahrt nach Carthagena | 1968 | 1978 | Phantasialand | Themed water ride | Pirates | |
| Silbermine | 1984 | 2014 | Schwarzkopf GmbH Hofmann | Dark Ride | American frontier | |
| Silverado Up 'n' Down / Wamazonen-Flugcenter / Wuzi's Going Up | 2004 | 2015 | Phantasialand | Bungee-trampolines | none | |
| Space Center | 1988 | 2001 | Vekoma | Roller Coaster | Space | |
| Spider | 1984 | 1985 | Schwarzkopf GmbH | Octopus | none | |
| Stonewash Creek | 1974 | 1992: split into two water rides 2011 | Mack Rides | Log flume | American frontier | |
| Temple of the Night Hawk | 2001 | 2019 | Vekoma | Roller Coaster | Jungle | |
| Tretboote | 1967 | 1968 | Phantasialand | Pedal Boats | none | |
| Walzertraum | 1993 | 2009 | Mack Rides | Themed water ride | Flowers | |
| Wikingerbootsfahrt | 1979 | 1999 | Phantasialand | Themed water ride | Vikings | |
| Wildwash Creek | 1974 | 1992: split into two water rides 2011 | Mack Rides | Log flume | American frontier | |
| Wosi's Abenteuerpark | 2003 | 2013 | ? | Indoor playground | none | |
| Yeti | 1989 | 2004 | Phantasialand | Animatronic | Yeti |
Performance shows
- Silverado Theatre: Battle of the Best – a show featuring basketball and trampoline stunts as well as dance-offs
- Arena de Fiesta: Rock on Ice
- Wintergarten: Nobis - Der lange Weg vom Ihr zum Wir
- Deep in Africa: Miji African Dancers
- Wuze Town: Hack and Buddl Children's Show
A dinner show called Fantissima is also offered on select evenings, for an additional fee. The show run-time is approximately four hours.