CrashCoaster
CF Legend
I thought it only had 1? How many does it have?
Phantasialand Improvements for 2018
- Thread starter CSLKennyNI
- Start date
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Haha. Er what? Since when have waiting times been top secret?
They have been on the electronic waiting times boards across the park for well over 10 years now. PhantaFriends.de has a thread where people post pictures of the times regularly. Same goes for Facebook groups and pages, no one tries to prevent times being public. haha
The times now feature on Phantasialand's website (not sure why Looopings feels the need to add their to their site as well) as in connection with whatever system/programme has been put in place for the new for this year app which tells you the wait times.
Has nothing to do with the 2-for-1 deal which other than a few on PhantaFriends I've seen nothing but positive responses to? Can't imagine times to be much different to the rest of the year when the same offer runs.
EDIT: River Quest was still on one lift last Wednesday, not heard if they have managed to repair the other one yet.
Last edited:
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
The Phantasialand-App checks via GPS whether you are actually in the park, and will otherwise not give you the wait times. At least it used to do that.
That's a shame that the 2nd lift on River Quest is still having issues.
Phantasiastisch
Mega Poster
When I was in the park on wednesday, the electronic waiting times boards didn't give the right waiting times during the afternoon. Same problem with the App later that day.
It was busy but the waiting times weren't too long (max. 40 minutes, except Taron which was at his highest point on 85 minutes: if it was correctly displayed).
Mystery Castle had been closed in the afternoon because of technical issues.
At the Berlin (main) entrance of the park, guests could only enter through 2 gates because the displays where broken down. The employees had to write down my name and number of my Erlebenis-Pass. Paper tickets were accepted manually.
It was busy but the waiting times weren't too long (max. 40 minutes, except Taron which was at his highest point on 85 minutes: if it was correctly displayed).
Mystery Castle had been closed in the afternoon because of technical issues.
At the Berlin (main) entrance of the park, guests could only enter through 2 gates because the displays where broken down. The employees had to write down my name and number of my Erlebenis-Pass. Paper tickets were accepted manually.
Last edited:
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
*Posting this here as I don't think we need another PHL topic until anything is actually confirmed.
German site FreizeitparkCheck.de claims that a "reliable source" has informed them that Phantasialand have a large demolition project planned for the end of this season, believed to be the removal of Geister Rikscha and part of the China Town area - another poster on there claims that Feng Ju Palace (the mad house) and maybe the restaurant Mandshu will be the only bits of China that survive. They also claim that the China Town name will be dropped and the area will be renamed 'Asia'.
FPC did claim Ling Bao would receive a Tibetan style refurbishment at the end of last year and that did actually happen to the restaurants in Ling Bao. They also claimed Rookburgh will feature a hotel however of course the jury is still out on that.
I'd still be cautious about believing such rumours until there is more evidence. After all maybe they are getting tenders for a demolition project but it is for something else in the park. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens...
Then again one way or another as we approach the completion of Rookburgh the next major PHL project is coming sooner or later... Wouldn't be Phantasia without a construction site somewhere would it?
German site FreizeitparkCheck.de claims that a "reliable source" has informed them that Phantasialand have a large demolition project planned for the end of this season, believed to be the removal of Geister Rikscha and part of the China Town area - another poster on there claims that Feng Ju Palace (the mad house) and maybe the restaurant Mandshu will be the only bits of China that survive. They also claim that the China Town name will be dropped and the area will be renamed 'Asia'.
FPC did claim Ling Bao would receive a Tibetan style refurbishment at the end of last year and that did actually happen to the restaurants in Ling Bao. They also claimed Rookburgh will feature a hotel however of course the jury is still out on that.
I'd still be cautious about believing such rumours until there is more evidence. After all maybe they are getting tenders for a demolition project but it is for something else in the park. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens...
Then again one way or another as we approach the completion of Rookburgh the next major PHL project is coming sooner or later... Wouldn't be Phantasia without a construction site somewhere would it?
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
Very thrilled to hear this. They had to take a lot of undeserved criticism for focussing on a world-class coaster Top 3 and I will be thrilled to see what will happen to Geister Rikscha. Maybe ETF has had some sweet ideas for Phantasia.
I'm pretty sure they weren't talking about Rookburgh itself featuring a hotel, but Rookburgh being the first step towards a 3rd hotel. Remember, they still have that unused plot of land behind the Kaiserplatz (called "Obstwiesen") which has almost exactly the acreage of Hotel Matamba, and think about it: currently their big draw for hotel guests is ERT, as they are naturally lacking other resort activities. However, the Berlin area is very well suited for that, since it allows them to offer plenty of food/dinner and entertainment for hotel guests after park closing, without having to use resort-exclusive space. Additionally, their 4D-cinema is by far the oldest attraction in Berlin and it makes sense that they left it out because they could have plans with it tied to a 3rd hotel: similar to Europa Park, they could use that as an actual cinema for hotel guests. And to top it all of, F.L.Y. with ERT for hotel guests is just around the corner (literally).
Just take a look at Google Earth at how the north-eastern end of the Kaiserplatz looks from a birdseye perspective. It's like they cut the rest of it off, really awkward. It certainly fits another building just behind it. Also, the "green wall" in Klugheim fits exactly against the south-eastern wall of where the hotel would go.
It adds up pretty perfectly, especially considering that they somehow have to finance the massive investment over the past 6 years.
Also we're still taking Phantasialand here, and despite both places being ~500km away, their main competition is DLP and EP. That's just the league they are playing in. And considering how limited they are in space, offering the best coaster Top 3 in all of Europe is a very smart thing to do, as neither of these parks can compete with that. They can't even compete with Taron and Mamba alone, but that's just me.
Last edited:
Phantasiastisch
Mega Poster
I also read this on several sites. I know Geister Rikscha is a classic but I'm happy to see it going and getting replaced with a new darkride.
To add some more thoughts about what @Fluorineer said (which I heard someone saying before and I replied what I'm repeating now): Somewhere in the future the main entrance is going to get demolished. I have a feeling that it will be replaced with a passageway to a new area somewhere in the future when they'll expand on the parking lot at the Berggeiststraße
(the Berlin parking lot moved to the China parking with a reason and this is the only place they possibly could expand with all those restrictions).
This connected to what Fluorineer said, I expect a new main entrance behind the Kaizerplatz with a hotel on top of it, just like Disneyland Paris because all the parking lots are now on this side of the park.
The chance that the name China Town will change into Asia is more and more logical.
To add some more thoughts about what @Fluorineer said (which I heard someone saying before and I replied what I'm repeating now): Somewhere in the future the main entrance is going to get demolished. I have a feeling that it will be replaced with a passageway to a new area somewhere in the future when they'll expand on the parking lot at the Berggeiststraße
(the Berlin parking lot moved to the China parking with a reason and this is the only place they possibly could expand with all those restrictions).
This connected to what Fluorineer said, I expect a new main entrance behind the Kaizerplatz with a hotel on top of it, just like Disneyland Paris because all the parking lots are now on this side of the park.
The chance that the name China Town will change into Asia is more and more logical.
Last edited:
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Yeah they were. There has been a lot of speculation about a hotel in Rookburgh primarily based on the teaser from the Rookburgh sign - "Discover a new dimension of the interplay between themed world, attraction and experience by day & night".
I do think a hotel is the most logical explanation for the teaser staying overnight in Rookburgh is the only way one could truly experience the area by day and night.
Of course a Rookburgh hotel could not take up as much space as Ling Bao or Matamba with their gardens etc. But it would be far more suitably located than the obstwiese site as it would have direct access to the main road and guests could park in Berlin car park opposite.
However I'm not completely convinced by the idea of a Rookburgh hotel I can't see it fitting, unless they demolish the admin/office block next to the Berlin entrance. After having seen the new hotel under construction at Blackpool Pleasure Beach last month I'm confident a similar hotel could fit in PHL. Its site (excluding the Restaurant & Bar in the former Coasters Diner building beside it) is only slightly larger than the site of the Admin Block in Phantasialand. Despite its relatively small footprint the BPB hotel will have 120 rooms, including 10 suites, and a conference centre.
However Phantasialand have extra space with the back end of the Rookburgh site as well the admin block site to make a hotel larger than BPB's. (There was also a suggestion on PhantaFriends.de recently that they could make a Rookburgh/Berlin hotel there even bigger by replacing the Berlin entrance with part of the hotel above it. Not sure how feasible that is though.)
The hotel would also then serve as a thematic backdrop to the Rookburgh area, just as Matamba and Ling Bao do for their respective areas, instead of having a one-sided themed facade wall as Klugheim has.
I 100% agree with your ideas for opening up Berlin for resort guests and a hotel on this site would then also have direct access to Berlin.
Only issue with that theory is they would need to demolish it soon to start construction for a 2019 opening. Perhaps in November when the park is closed before the Wintertraum - a lot of offices are already in Hotel Matamba, the remaining ones could be temporarily relocated and then moved into the new hotel when done.
However if this building doesn't get removed in November then I struggle to see how a hotel could come to Rookburgh even though I think it is the most logical explanation for "by day & night". Maybe some other form of after park hours resort offering will be Rookburgh explaining it.
An entrance behind Kaiserplatz is just not feasible. The small gate in the middle is for fire engines and vehicle access but is far to narrow for mass crowds of people. Also guests from there would be unable to get in during Wintertraum because of the ice rink.This connected to what Fluorineer said, I expect a new main entrance behind the Kaizerplatz with a hotel on top of it, just like Disneyland Paris because all the parking lots are now on this side of the park.
Guests could come in above into the arcade passage at the very back but from the outside this quite a height and sending people up two storeys via steps isn't a very attractive main entrance.
The main car parks are not on that side of the park by choice. PHL simply have no other option as they don't own the land around them.
PHL's most recent expansion plans featured a massive multi storey car park opposite Berlin/Fantasy. This would suggest they hope to force the owners of the Mystery and China car parks to sell the land (as they would no longer be making money from parking) and then they could expand the park there.
The Obstwiese behind Kaiserplatz will certainly be for future expansion but I'd imagine an enclosed attraction of some sort one day there. It would also make the least noise given the neighbours right behind it. Once the Taron overflow queue is removed they could open up a small plaza there between Klugheim and Mexico and the entrance to the new Obstwiese attraction.
Phantasiastisch
Mega Poster
However everything is possible. It's still Phantasialand we are talking about. Thinking most logical isn't always the case with this park.
I leave all options open. We'll see when something is happening. First we just enjoy the Rookburgh project, the probably demolishing of Geister Rikscha later this year and the new River Quest entrance opening up next season.
I leave all options open. We'll see when something is happening. First we just enjoy the Rookburgh project, the probably demolishing of Geister Rikscha later this year and the new River Quest entrance opening up next season.
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
Phantasialand would have to hate money if they didn't make it available for hotel guest ERT.
Last edited:
VikingsAf
Mega Poster
That ERT is the biggest attractor of overnight guests
Not having an ERT would result in a massive decrease in hotel guests and thus in money aswell
VikingsAf
Mega Poster
Yeah but when F.L.Y opens that will be the attraction with the longest queues and Taron and others will be better to do durning the day. So people would rather like a ERT on FLY.I know it's one of the attractive features of overnight stays, but the question was about FLY directly and not if ERT would happen at all around the park
If I went to the hotel now and got ERT on BM instead of Taron I would be dissapointed, because durning the day its not many times over a 5 min wait. When I went to Matamba in april Taron had issues and they opened CE which was rather dissapointing.
Ofcourse:
- Taron will stay an unique attraction which will stay longer interesting than something like BM
- Taron looks stunning in the dark so is always lovely as ERT
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
I mean, first of all BM is 12 years old (which is absolutely bonkers BTW), while Taron will be 3 years old when F.L.Y. opens, I would argue that BM actually stayed interesting for a long time. BM is not part of the ERT because it's already part of the early openings at 9:30, which makes sense as it's relatively far away from all 3 entrances and a capacity monster, so it already has it's slot of extra ride time if you want to call it that.
Technical issues are always a shame, but this is Intamin we're talking about
Honestly, most parks in the world would sell their own grandma if they got such an awesome backup-attraction as Colorado Adventure in exchange. It's not Taron, but I've had plenty of worse ERTs than Colorado in my life.
It's also rumored that Taron will get Quick Pass Access in 2019, as the queue is already prepared for a 3rd line.
Phantasiastisch
Mega Poster
I really do like Taron but after I went on it 6 times during ERT. I still find Black Mamba more impressive and for me is this snake as interesting as Taron tbh.
VikingsAf
Mega Poster
Yeah ofcourse. Im impressed by BM every time aswell, but riding it 6 times after each other isn't healthyI really do like Taron but after I went on it 6 times during ERT. I still find Black Mamba more impressive and for me is this snake as interesting as Taron tbh.
I did 3 times in a row last visit and felt it for the rest of the day.I see I forgot to mention we did get the full hour on Taron (I think it ran for more than an hour and half in the end). Sadly enough it was the same day as the mention above what made it hard for me to ride Taron more than 7 times because I felt dizzy.Technical issues are always a shame, but this is Intamin we're talking about
Honestly, most parks in the world would sell their own grandma if they got such an awesome backup-attraction as Colorado Adventure in exchange. It's not Taron, but I've had plenty of worse ERTs than Colorado in my life.
You shouldn't understand me wrong... I am super happy with what we got
Where will the third line run then? I was always thinking they would just change the solo rider line in a quick pass line after the first few years.
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Next to the single rider line at the station itself there is already a door (which is currently kept shut) and queue built for Quick Pass.
In that corner inside gates and queue fences are in place and the card scanner/reader for annual passes is already mounted on the wall there.