Phantasialand | F. L. Y. | Vekoma Launched Flying Coaster | 2020

[JoshC.]

As a coaster, this will be no where near the quality of Taron. Taron combines speed, airtime and ''out-of-controlness" in a way a flyer never could. Everything which makes Taron objectively good is simply incompatible with the set up of a flyer.

Doesn't mean Fly won't be fantastic, and in terms of theming and immersion, Rookburgh has more than enough potential to top Klugheim. But comparing coasters / layouts, put bluntly, Fly won't be better than Taron.

 

[Ethan]

You could argue that the quality of a coaster is subjective though. I imagine they'll be plenty of people out there that prefer the sensations and forces that Fly provides over the intense nature of Taron. Depends on what tickles your pickle really.

 

[JoshC.]

Oh definitely, everyone will be different and want different things. There will be those who ultimately end up preferring Fly to Taron.

But if you ask people what makes a good coaster, the overwhelming majority will list qualities which Taron has (airtime, speed, good length, smooth but out of control, etc., with the only noticeable thing missing being inversions). One of the reasons Taron is so well received is because it has those qualities, and combines them well.

A flying coaster has its pluses over standard sit down coasters, but in my opinion, it really can't combine the universally-appreciated qualities in the same way.

 

[Phantasiastisch]

Oh, I see everyone is comparing F.L.Y. and Taron already. Then tell me, how was the ride? What about the amount of airtime? The speed? What about the turns and twists?

Funny to see how there has been a discussion about how good the coaster is while it is not even fully erect and no one has made a ride yet...

 

[Jared]

I don’t think they’re discussing that. More, suggesting that they feel it won’t quite be as intense as Taron and realistically it can’t be due to the riding position.

 

[VikingsAf]

@JoshC. I think you're completely talking nonsense.
"Universally appreciated elements" don't exist first of all. As to speed is relative (From the top 10 fastest coasters you'll almost never see 8 of them in people's favourites), the sensation of airtime is relative (can't find a ranking of most airtime), intense ride experience is relative, etc.... And btw... who even cares about inversions today, there are plenty of non-inverting elements delivering as much, or even more thrills. (Rollercoasters with more than 3-5 inversions are most of the time not good and don't come anywhere close in people's top 10's)
But getting into detail (so going further from your assumptions).
The speed of FLY could be close to 100kph (as fast as, or even faster than plenty of launch coasters which are seen as good)
The entire experience can pretty much be as intense as any other coaster, just because of the fact you are in a flying position instead of a "relax" sitting position.
The only of your aspects that will really miss in this coaster is airtime, as a flying coaster just can't get that in a good way. (Altough weightlessness in itself can be achieved, which is kinda like airtime)
Oh and well... it has inversions
Also. Flying coasters can't be good => Flying dinosaur is nr 19 on Captain Coaster atm and Eejanaika is 11 (which isn't a flying coaster, but also a coaster type which was hated upon a lot)

I'm not saying this coaster will be better than anything else or even that it'll be good at all. I'm just saying that you can't say from some coaster type, rails and a wall how a coaster will be. We don't know anything about that at all.

In fact I do agree with Brian that it has more potential than Taron as a total package. (Taron without themeing wouldn't be a top 20 coaster)

 

[roff]

According to Phantafriends.de there was quite a bit of movement in terms of new Track installation in the last days..
Would be interesting to get a new peek at the actual construction site, as the last pictures we had are now over 6 weeks old.
Also they now put up the scaffolding on the other side of the wall, so we'll hopefully get to see how the steampunk side progresses soon.

As for the wall, as i mentioned before it looks better in real life, so i'll keep my final judgement until i see it again when everythings ready (without the big banner in front, with plants and smaller theming details in etc.), but i quite like this view, it fits the fantasy area:


Source: instagram

 

[Ethan]

Furthermore, you hear a lot of people say they prefer other coasters over Taron, or even that they didn't think Taron was very special at all. I think, like the post by VikingsAf and my previous post, the quality of a coaster is almost purely down to opinion. The only factors I can think of that are universally despised are roughness and bad pacing, but even those things don't stop people loving certain coasters. As much as Taron is special, I don't agree with JoshC that Taron or any coaster is objectively good.

 

[VikingsAf]

EDIT/ seems I forgot to add the picture

(so here is the link)
To get a bit back on topic. I was looking on Google maps and found that 2 things I noticed could be interesting to speculate about.
First of all the part in the red markings.
It looks to be as high as the Wuze Hall, and isn't too small in surface neither. I think there could fit an attraction (but I doubt so). But it could also be some kind of expo-/event- hall. Or maybe the family friendly part of Rookburgh (some cool stuff for Kids)

And secondly, which has been discussed before, but it has been a while. The part in blue. It has the same surface area as one of the Vekoma simulators (I tought it was the V-ride https://www.vekoma.com/media-based-attractions/v-ride-360-balloon-ride but I can't seem to find the dimensions anymore on that site, so I'm wondering if I was imagining it)
So that could fit well with both theme and area.

Toughts?

 

[Antinos]

Alright, somebody help out the American who's never visited the park. Even after looking at Google Maps, I'm still struggling a bit to understand what the deal is with this wall. I get that they're essentially enclosing Rookburgh to give the land a dark feel to it...makes sense. Regarding the exterior of the wall as seen above...are they trying to blend the wall with Wuze town or is there some odd theming aspect of Rookburgh that I either missed or that we don't know about yet?

 

[roff]

Well, the wall is a necessity as the residents houses are only 300 feet away from the track of F.L.Y, and Phantasialand had a lot of issues with complaints about noise in the past.
Its theming just incorporates the elements already seen in the Fantasy themed-area of the park. You won't see it from inside of Rookburgh.
It's just so heavily documented here because we have so little information / insight to the actual Rookburgh-Project right now.

 

[Crazycoaster]

Phantasialand is so difficult to work out if you've never been there.

Okay, so here in this image you can see both the Rookburg construction on the right, and the Fantasy area (highlighted in light blue) of the park. Fantasy consists of a massive orange building that contains Temple of the Nighthawk, Wuze town (highlighted in dark blue), and a big lake, which backs onto the gardens of local residents (in red).

Now, the massive wall that everyone has been going on about is in Green, and the arrow is roughly where this picture is taken:

What we're seeing is the "outside" wall of Rookburg, which has been themed to fit along with the Wuze town facade.

 

[Dar]

Does anyone else think the arch could be another portal to Rookburgh? The tunnel to Wuze, and Berlin street, can get quite crowded, so an extra path would be helpful at busy times.

 

[VikingsAf]

Does anyone else think the arch could be another portal to Rookburgh? The tunnel to Wuze, and Berlin street, can get quite crowded, so an extra path would be helpful at busy times.

What do you mean? The arch is going to be the entrance alongside the one in Berlin... What is the tunnel in fantasy you are talking about?

 

[Ethan]

EDIT/ seems I forgot to add the picture

(so here is the link)First of all the part in the red markings.
It looks to be as high as the Wuze Hall, and isn't too small in surface neither. I think there could fit an attraction (but I doubt so). But it could also be some kind of expo-/event- hall. Or maybe the family friendly part of Rookburgh (some cool stuff for Kids)

If I remember correctly, that raised platform isn't very tall at all. I think it just covers the first part of the coaster (and partially the load station I presume) and will act as the entry level when entering from Wuze. I'm pretty sure it's only a couple of steps taller than the path at Fantasy.

 

[Flying Pilot]

You can see some parts of fly if you look closely.

 

[Dar]

What do you mean? The arch is going to be the entrance alongside the one in Berlin... What is the tunnel in fantasy you are talking about?

I was asking if there would be another way into the new area under the big dragon shield on the new wall. Tunnel was a poor word choice, I meant the covered walkway from Berlin to Fantasy.

 

[CSLKennyNI]

EDIT/ seems I forgot to add the picture

(so here is the link)
To get a bit back on topic. I was looking on Google maps and found that 2 things I noticed could be interesting to speculate about.
First of all the part in the red markings.
It looks to be as high as the Wuze Hall, and isn't too small in surface neither. I think there could fit an attraction (but I doubt so). But it could also be some kind of expo-/event- hall. Or maybe the family friendly part of Rookburgh (some cool stuff for Kids)

And secondly, which has been discussed before, but it has been a while. The part in blue. It has the same surface area as one of the Vekoma simulators (I tought it was the V-ride https://www.vekoma.com/media-based-attractions/v-ride-360-balloon-ride but I can't seem to find the dimensions anymore on that site, so I'm wondering if I was imagining it)
So that could fit well with both theme and area.

Toughts?

The red section is not a raised platform or hall. It is actually at the same ground level as Wuze Tal. It encloses the underground On-Load Station, some presumed technical rooms and the dark ride room.
Its an understandable confusion though when that image was taken in April 2018 the rest of the site was still mostly just the underground level. A lot more of the ground level (enclosing the underground spaces) has been built since so this no longer stands out as much. But it can be seen in older site images.

I was asking if there would be another way into the new area under the big dragon shield on the new wall. Tunnel was a poor word choice, I meant the covered walkway from Berlin to Fantasy.

The arches and wall there are actually built on top of a 1 storey concrete building (not visible due to the F.L.Y. advert banner). The function of the building is unknown at the moment - although I'm thinking it will be new toilets for the outdoor Wuze area.

To the right of this building and the arches beside Wuze Town is/will be the gateway/passageway into Rookburgh.

^location expertly drawn
The crest is also smaller on that section to accommodate the gateway below.
And as I said above the area, space & paths behind are on the same level, all the way to the Berlin street gateway tunnel - so the route between should be step-free.

 

[Peet]

Seems like a long time since we saw inside the wall, here's an update posted on Twitter:

 

[Hixee]

Wow, that piece of track coming in to (or going out of?) the tunnel to the right of the covered piece is at quite an angle! Perspective also probably playing a trick here, but it looks like a tight squeeze! Awesome.