Phantasialand


Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. The park was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, Phantasialand has also added thrill rides, especially during recent years. Furthermore, following the example of Europa-Park, they have decided to attract business customers beside the regular ones, calling it "Business to Pleasure".
Among the park's thrill rides is Taron, Black Mamba and a themed Mine Train roller coaster called Colorado Adventure, which runs among some mountains in the park's Wild West section and was opened by Michael Jackson.

History

Phantasialand opened in 1967.
On 1 May 2001, a fire destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and parts of the Westernstadt. It was the result of a cable fire in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn caused by faulty wiring. The blaze covered 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.
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 2013, Phantasialand was building 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. It is not known when Rookburgh and F.L.Y will open.

Attractions

"Land" nameThemeFeatures
BerlinBerlin in the 20sHotel Tartüff, Neptunwellenflieger, Wintergarten, Maus Au Chocolat, many attractions aimed at children
Fantasy/Wuze TownFantasyHollywood Tour, Temple of the Night Hawk, Winjas, Wakobato, many attractions for children
MexicoMexicoTalocan, Colorado Adventure, Tikal, Chiapas
China TownChinaFeng Ju Palace, Geister Rikscha
Mystery/KlugheimMysteryMystery Castle, River Quest, Taron, Raik
Deep in AfricaAfricaBlack Mamba

Roller coasters

Water rides

Thrill rides

Removed attractions

There are several additional 'mini shows' featured in the new leaflets for 2014, most of them taking place at 'Kaiserplatz', as well as a chance to meet up with the park's dragon characters.