Phantasialand

Phantasialand

Logo
Slogan	Hier ist dein Spaß - (Here is your fun)
Location	Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Coordinates	50°48′00″N 6°52′46″E / 50.80000°N 6.87944°E / 50.80000; 6.87944Coordinates: 50°48′00″N 6°52′46″E / 50.80000°N 6.87944°E / 50.80000; 6.87944
Opened	1967
Area	28 hectares (69 acres)
Rides
Total	34
Roller coasters	5
Water rides	5
Website	http://phantasialand.de/en

Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 1.75 million visitors^[1] 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,^[2] they have decided to attract business customers beside the regular ones, calling it "Business der neuen Dimension" ("business of a new dimension").^[3]

Among the park's thrill rides is 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

The park opened in 1967.

Attraction "Deep in Africa"

In 2001 a blaze took place that destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and parts of the Westernstadt. It was the result of a cable fire in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn which was caused by faulty wiring.^[4] The blaze caused a material damage of about 38 million Deutsche Mark (~ 15 mio. USD) and 70 people were slightly injured. Phantasialand reopened the park about two weeks later and invested about 2 mio. Euro in fire safety, equipping every building with sprinkler systems.

The Phantasialand is also home to "Mystery Castle", an indoor Ride Trade/Intamin 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 which were 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 the season 2006 was an African-themed B&M inverted roller coaster called Black Mamba.

There is also a four-star on-site hotel called Hotel Ling Bao, which is Chinese themed and 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 - renowned for its good Euro-Asiatic cuisine,^[5] a bar, a pool with sauna, garden area, spa and its own entrance to the park. A second (three-star) hotel called "Matamba" was opened in August 2008 in the Deep in Africa section.

Phantasialand opened another ride for the season 2007 called "Talocan", a Suspended Top Spin by Huss Maschinenfabrik. It is located in the Mexican section of the park. In 2008 the splash battle Wakobato has been opened in the lake in the old fairytale forest. This attraction is highly debated amongst residents living next to the park, who complain about noise pollution.

In 2010 Phantasialand has opened 5 new attractions for children in the Wuze Town: Baumberger Irrgarten (Maze), Die fröhliche Bienchenjagd (Jump Around by Zamperla), Wolke's Luftpost (Magic Bikes by Zamperla), Der lustige Papagei (Crazy Bus by Zamperla), and Würmling Express (Monorail). The Berlin-part of the park has also been reworked. The area has been renewed with many berliner houses, fountains and a tribune for shows. Also new in 2010 was the show 'Sieben' (seven) by Jan Rouven.

In 2011 Phantasialand opened two new attractions: "Maus au chocolat", an ETF dark ride^[6] in Alt Berlin and a waveswinger on the Kaisersplatz. The old shop on Berlin has been replaced with a new funhouse-attraction called "Verrücktes Hotel Tartüff", which was built by the park's engineers and opened in 2012.^[7]

For 2013 Phantasialand had been building a new log flume-style attraction that now replaces their two old water attractions which did not pass the TÜV safety inspection due to their age. It is embedded in a large area of canyons and mountains, as a miniature model on display in the park had already revealed during the time of constructing the ride. 'CHIAPAS' was opened for park guests to ride on on 1 April 2014. ^[8]

In 2014 was the Silver City (a western theme town) and the dark ride Silbermine destroyed to enlarge the mystery theme of the park.

Drop tower Mystery Castle

Attractions

Performance shows

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phantasialand.

• Phantasialand website