James F
Hyper Poster
I first visited Phantasialand 5 years ago back in 2019. I don't know how it's been 5 years since then! Honestly feels little more than a year ago since I was walking down this main street excited for my first rides on Taron. The reason for returning was kind of impromptu as I had found a really good deal with flights and hotels thanks to the loyalty program I have with booking.com (not an advertisement, but I wouldn't turn down a sponsorship)
While the weather was pretty naff for the most part and I had faced plenty of delays due to both Ryan-scare and the moribund scheduling of the Deustche Bahn, I was happy to get back to one of the best parks in Europe.
As I had been here before I decided to just stick to a day trip this time around as I didn't feel the need to re-ride everything.
Indubitably the main reason that brought me back was to finally experience FLY.
While I have always enjoyed flying coasters (okay - the two B&M ones I have actually ridden) I have never been enamoured with them. I don't know if it's because they became a fairly novel concept in the amusement industry or if it's just the feeling of riding in the prone position becomes more unconfutable as you get older.
What drew my interest was that FLY appears to have a different design language to it predecessors, not only with it's track and trains, but more so they way it focuses on the feeling of actually flying by using the terrain and buildings to create scope and awe, rather than just fecklessly putting you through inversions (looking at you pretzel roll)
#226 - FLY
For my first ride I has assigned to row 4. As with most first rides on highly lauded coasters, I came off a little underwhelmed, but as I was in a middle seat and it was a morning ride, I knew I had to give it chance to warm up later in the day.
My initial impressions were that the 75 degree pitch riding position was more comfortable than facing straight down like on a B&M. I had heard that the launches were sluggish, but in my experience they were more punchy than I was expecting. The biggest surprise for me was
the dark ride section. I had no idea going in and while it's only moving passed a screen for a couple of seconds I felt that it did add to the experience quite significantly.
Overall I was impressed, but not blown away.
While I understand that FLY needs a strict no loose articles policy, I do wonder if there is a more efficient way of enforcing it rather than using a full body scanner. It did seem to be holding up the queue by some margin, to such an extent that the station was almost empty despite the amount of people flooding the locker room.
Last time I visited this park, the indoor family coaster 'Crazy Bats' was closed due to it going under it's VR makeover, So I took the opportunity to get the credit here and now.
#227 Crazy Bats
Considering all the negative things I had heard, I found myself enjoying this little Vekoma. Although given the fact it's over 3000ft in length it's actually not that little. I decided to opt out of the VR headset as I prefer to avoid it where I can. It can make me feel a bit nauseas if it's not synced up.
For what it is, it's a decent and smooth family coaster, while it's admittedly not the most exciting ride I appreciated the chillness. Maybe Chill Bats is a more appropriate name?
Sometimes when you return to a coaster you once rated so highly, you worry that that it will no longer live up to it's past glories. I think it's the reason why many of us have become so jaded at times, as if everything we experience needs to be better than the last thing we experienced.
I am glad to report that those fears were unfounded with my re-rides on Taron. It's still as awe-inspiring and breath-taking as it was 5 years ago. In fact I may even prefer it slightly more now.
Taron's single rider line is a god-send. I never had to wait more than 5 minutes which meant I got plenty of re-rides. Intamin just make them different, On paper a coaster which is mostly just twisting left to right doesn't seem that exciting, but somehow Taron makes it feel more dramatic and dynamic than 95% of other coaster elements.
The theming, of course is paramount to Taron's appeal. The way the train seemingly carves it's way through the rockwork and recklessly whips through medieval buildings makes it feel like an immersive video game come to life.
It's a perfectly balanced ride in my opinion, between the sense of speed, airtime moments and aggressive whip. While it might not have some of the big "wow" elements of coasters that I have personally ranked ahead of it, Taron firmly remains in my top 10 for now and the whole trip was worth it just to experience this beauty once more.
While it was on a 5 minute wait, I gave Colorado Adventure another go. I don't have an awful lot to say about it other than it's one of the most deceptively thrilling coasters out there and is certainly once of the best mine train coasters.
Another walk on was Black Mamba. Having experienced 8 B&M inverts now, Black Mamba still holds it's position at the number two spot, just behind the beloved Nemmy. This invert is basically takes most of Nemesis strengths and improves the theming and landscaping. The only reason Nemesis is one spot higher for me is that it is slightly more intense. I feel that Mamba is kind of overlooked in the wake of Taron and FLY, but in all honesty Mamba really completes the set for me for Phantasialand having 3 outstanding roller coasters to headline the park.
Later on, I returned to Rookburgh to get a couple of more rides on FLY. As I didn't get the opportunity before, I took some more time waking though the queue to take in some of the details. Nerdy of me; I know.
My second ride on Fly was towards the back and I have to say it felt a lot more intense. I had been told that the back pulls more positive G's and I from what I felt I can certainly attest to that. I don't usually grey out on rides, but I was starting to feel it during some of the valleys.
With that being said, FLY didn't feel like it was trying to kill you. It was the right amount of intensity.
Chiapas had been closed for most of the day, but it did open around half past two. Outside of Splash Mountain, Chaipas is my favourite flume. From it's impressive and at times irreverent theming as well as it's upbeat atmosphere, Chiapas is simply a good time.
Unless ...
Unless, you are wearing Skechers which soak up all the water into your socks. I never remember getting soaked back in 2019, but I came off dripping this time, which wasn't great as it just starting raining and I had no change of clothes with me. After using the 3 euro stand-in dryer I had to try and drain all the water from my socks and shoes, thankfully this was towards the end of the day, but still; smelly shoes aren't fun, Life lesson, don't wear Skechers on water rides.
The final couple of hours was dedicated to re-rides on Taron and FLY. Thanks to the single rider queue I managed to get 7 rides on Taron, they just automatically assigned me to the back most times, so it was pretty much a walk on and I got the back so I certainly wasn't complaining.
After experiencing three final rides on FLY to round up my day (with two being at the front) I was able to conclude my thoughts which were that FLY delivered on what I expected, but it's ultimately dependent on where you are sat. The front is the best for airtime (not a lot, but there are 2 good moments) and the back is intense in terms of positive G's. The middle is still fun, but nothing world class, the front or back is definitely where it's at and It's undoubtedly going to get extra brownie points form me for being one of the best themed coasters in the world.
That's as interesting as it's going to get in this TR, but I have also experienced a new-to-me park in Movie Park Germany, so I'll keep this updated if anyone is at all interested in my insignificant jottings.
Thanks for reading!
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