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Cookie Goes To Europe (Germany, Belgium, and France)

cookie

Giga Poster
So ever since F.L.Y. was announced literally a week after my first visit to Phantasialand back in 2017, I’ve been planning a return trip to the park. This kept getting pushed back as F.L.Y kept not opening, and the finalised plans in 2020 that were supposed to include a trip through the Netherlands were scuttled by the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, one year later, my long-awaited trip has finally taken off, greatly expanded to eight parks across twenty days including travel days before, after, and inbetween. Originally, my first visit of the trip was going to Walibi Belgium, but uncertanties over wether I was going to be even allowed into Belgium made me hold off on purchasing plane tickets to Brussels until it was suddenly too late. Therefore, my flight instead changed to Düsseldorf, and I decided to make Phantasialand my first park of the trip followed by Movie Park Germany, even if Brühl is closer to the Belgian border than Bottrop is.

For reference, here are my plans for the trip:

  1. I travelled from Copenhagen to Düsseldorf on Tuesday, July 6th. The plane was fully loaded and pretty cramped, which felt very uncomfortable given the times we’re in, but I managed to make it through and tested negative a few days later
  2. Visited Phantasialand for two days (July 6th and 7th)
  3. Going to visit Movie Park Germany for two days on July 9th and 10th
  4. Going to spend four nights in Wavre and visit Walibi Belgium for 2 1/2 days, and make a day trip out to Plopsaland De Panne at the same time
  5. Going to spend the following weekend at Bobbejaanland (July 16th and 17th)
  6. Going to spend the final week outside Paris and visit Disney and Parc Asterix for multiple days.
  7. Traveling home on the 25th.

Plans could easily change if I either test positive or the situation escalates in either Belgium or France, but I feel confident that the delta variant is still a month or so away for things to get really bad.

I’m typing this on an iPad under time constraints, so my initial reports are going to be on the shorter side and divided into multiple sections. Once I’m back home, I’ll maybe give more elaborate impressions.


PART 1 - Rookburgh impressions

Even though I’ve been here before, Phantasialand was one of my more anticipated parks of the trip. Phantasialand is a lovely park even if it has its share of frustrating issues, and being one of the first through the gates on July 6th, I couldn’t be more excited to get on F.L.Y. I waited an hour by the markings on the Berlin street before they let us into Rookburgh, and then it was a mad dash towards the queue entrance as soon as the clock struck 10.00.

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My initial impression of Rookburgh was very good. I know people have been more than happy to bash this and that element related to it, but it all fits together much better when you’re standing there than if you’re looking at it through photos. Rookburgh I would actually say has more character to it than Klugheim, even if Klugheim’s rockwork is more impressive from a visual standpoint. One thing I would criticize is that F.L.Y’s queue line feels like an afterthought, moreso than Taron’s even. Outside of the last bit with the pre-show, it feels like the ride and the decals were planned out first, and then the queue line had to awkwardly weave around it, like if you built this really cool looking coaster in Rollercoaster Tycoon or Planet Coaster and then realized you forgot to include a queue line.

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As for F.L.Y itself — I sadly only had one go at it over the two days, either due to massive lines or prolonged technical issues closing the coaster for large parts of my second day at the park, and my impression of it feels incomplete for that and for another reason: Making it my first ride of the trip, and of 2021, was probably a mistake. I tend to get more nauseaous if I haven’t been on a coaster in a long time, and I have had issues with illnesses over the past few weeks, but given how disorienting F.L.Y. felt going through tight corners and inversions all while lying on your back, I did feel pretty sick afterwards. I really wish I had gotten that second ride at some point, since there’s a lot I do like about it — The dark ride section is much more elaborate than I expected, it’s both pretty smooth and graceful and very intense in some sections, and the loading system where you board the seat as it sits up straight and facing towards you is absolutely brilliant and made dispatches extremely quick for a flying coaster. The launches aren’t the most intense, which I’m kinda glad they weren’t, but it’s a long ride with more than a few surprises given the lack of P.O.V.s available.

I hope to get back to the park once the pandemic’s over, so by then I should hopefully be able to squeeze out a few more rides, my stomach be willing, but for now... I don’t wan’t to say I’m disappointed, since the nausea was probably more of a me thing than a ride thing, but the first impression wasn’t ideal for me personally. Still an excellent and unique addition for the park, but I wish I could’ve gotten the chance to enjoy it more.
 
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Will

Strata Poster
I've noticed I'm a little late in giving this advice, but two days at MP Germany? DON'T do that to yourself, you barely need one!!

If you've got transport, I'd try an escape to Holiday Park, Tripsdrill or maybe even Europa (though perhaps not on a Saturday!)
 

witchfinder

Hyper Poster
Two days at Bobbejaanland also seems excessive 😆 Couldn't you nip over the border to Efteling for one of those two days? (no idea if that's allowed at the moment!)
 

cookie

Giga Poster
I've noticed I'm a little late in giving this advice, but two days at MP Germany? DON'T do that to yourself, you barely need one!!

If you've got transport, I'd try an escape to Holiday Park, Tripsdrill or maybe even Europa (though perhaps not on a Saturday!)
For the record, those are all 5+ hours away from where I’m staying with public transport, and train tickets aren’t exactly cheap at the moment. I don’t see the benefit beating the expense in making those kinds of trips, even for extra creds.

And I don’t feel like pushing myself too hard. My trip initiary is based on me wanting to do these parks at a relaxed pace while wanting to see everything they’ve got on offer and make the most of it, since there’s a good chance I’ll never get to visit some of them again. Plopsa is only a day trip because the situation forced my hand. 🤷‍♂️ I’m saving Europa and the others for when the new coaster opens, anyhow.
 
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