. This is a rough version of my stuff and may need a few edits. Probably needs a team reference or two at least on my end.
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PHANTASIALAND
Our next destination was Phantasialand, an extremely small yet extremely charming theme park in Bruhl, Germany. It was recommended to our group by
@orlando678-, who had been here many times before, but not since Phantasialand’s recent $250 million expansion.
Phantasialand has practiced a recent trend of adding highly-themed mini-lands to improve their existing lands. They’re all Germanic towns set in different genres. In 2016 they added Klugheim to their Mystery area – creating a dark medieval fantasy world anchored by the Taron. In summer of 2020, Rookburgh was added to Berlin – this steampunk mini-land was headlined by F.L.Y.
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MUNCHAUSEN PALAST
Following the trend of Klugheim and Rookburgh is
Munchausen Palast, which has been added to the underdeveloped Fantasy region! Another German town, anoter genre! This detailed new area takes inspiration from the German folk hero Baron Munchausen. The park advertises it as “Tall Tales in the Age of Reason!” It’s a really clever theme for this park. Baron Munchausen somehow bridges the steampunk stylings of Rookburgh with the storybook aesthetic of Fantasy (and its other mini-land, Wuze Town). The theme is quintessentially German, detailing the exploits of an 18th century nobleman/madman who – among other adventures – flew a hot air balloon to the Moon. That story is told in an amazing dark ride,
[NAME OF DARK RIDE].
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Munchausen’s scientific inventions (like his rocket trains) get represented by a new roller coaster,
Rakete (German for “rocket”). This is the world’s first dueling RMC T-Rex single rail coaster! Rakete completes Phantasialand’s collection of mega-thrillers like Taron, F.L.Y., and Black Mamba, bringing balance to the park’s west side. Phantasialan has now become a sort of Mecca for coaster enthusiasts, including our own
@TheOriginalTiki – who later said that Rakete far outclassed Discovery Kingdom’s own T-Rex coaster.
According to
@orlando678-, Fantasy remained empty for so long due to building restrictions. Much of the land’s far perimeter directly abuts against neghborhoods. Phantasialand has ingeniously solved this dilemma by enclosing nearly all of Munchausen Palast indoors. This eliminates noise complaints. By draining much of Fantasy’s lagoon and building below-grade (something done a lot already in the park), Phantasialand’s designers avoided height issues. They even turned their mega-structure’s rooftops, as seen by the neighbors, into a charming, meandering green roof.
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From park guests’ perspective, the building’s inner façade is an intricate Rococo palace (or
palast), gently nestled into Fantasy’s rolling green hills. Part of the lagoon remains at the palace’s base, creating picturesque reflections. Phantasialand’s old splash battle ride,
Wakobato, is still here in the marshlands…slightly rerouted. Everywhere, rides and walkways overlapped on different levels, which we would learn is a trick Phantasialand utilizes all over the place to maximize their limited acreage.
An enclosed pathway loops through Munchausen Palast, circling the lagoon. One lengthy section carries guests down an intricate, multicolored, fantastical Rococo hallway. Phantasialand’s textures and details are astounding! Grand flanking window bays look out onto the lagoon on one side and provide views of Rakete on the other. An enclosed ballroom “plaza” sits at the far end, where we found most of the Palast’s attractions – plus dining, retail, and a flat ride.
The remainder of Fantasy has been improved as well. Phantasialand has removed a massive show building which once sat west of Wuze Town. It housed Hollywood Tour and Crazy Bats, two of the park’s oldest and most outdated attractions. Where that once stood, now there’s a wonderful GCI wooden coaster called
Schwarzwald. Schwarzwald seems to serve the same purpose as Crazy Bats – only much better – by giving families a shared coaster experience. It’s nice to see Phantasialand receive a woodie; it really ties the park together!
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RAKETE
Our first ride of the day, naturally, was Rakete. It tells the story of a rocket race between Baron Munchausen and his rival Baron Raspe. It’s actually
two dueling/racing roller coasters,
Rakete Munchausen and
Rakete Raspe.
The queue through Munchausen’s laboratories provided us with views of the ride to come. It excited some and frightened others! Golden, riveted rocket trains glided over the single-rain track, through a stylized indoors world. It looked like a Rococo painting of the German countryside – extremely stylized, with oil paint clouds and fantastical period architecture. Rockwork was inspired by Extersteine or Bastei, two famous German sandstone monuments. Phantasialand’s rockwork is often favorably compared to Disney’s (I mean, look at Taron’s basalt columns!) and they’ve outdone themselves here. I think the indoors “restriction” let their imaginations really run wild!
The ride, or rides, are just as wild! I mean, it’s an RMC, what would you expect? It’s calm enough going up the lift hill tunnel (inside a brass cannon). Trains ride side-by-side, so you get to taunt your opponents.
@AceAstro rode opposite me, and I couldn’t stop making dumb faces at him!
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After a turnaround, trains plummeted down a near-vertical drop into that rocky painterly world! One train fell into the open mouth of a gigantic catfish, and the other into a gigantic crocodile.
@Disney Dad 3000, who loves German folklore, tells me this is straight from Munchausen’s adventures. The rest of Rakete is sort of a blur. The two trains spun around each other many, many times. We did a “high five” in an overbanked turn. It feels like you can grab the other riders! The trains performed corkscrews. Each train did a “dive stall” inversion over the other train, running upside-down for a lengthy straightaway with some really insane hangtime! The sensation was sort of like Twisted Colossus (when dueling, which is never nowadays) merged with the buttery smoothness of RailBlazer.
I’d have to ride Rakete a few more times – and I rerode it four times already! – but I’d say RMC has built yet another Top Ten roller coaster! (Nothing will ever top Steel Vengeance.)
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After numerous turns on Rakete, we literally had to drag
@D Hindley away from the darned thing, we headed off further into the palace. While we could have ridden it many more times, we just had a day here, and wanted to make sure we caught all of the new additions and updates to the park.
This is going to sound like a broken record, and you are probably going to get tired of hearing it, but there is so much to look at in this place. So many details, oddities and grandeur really capturing the imagination. We passed by Das Observatorium (The Observatory), we will be dining there later thanks to a reservation from our good buddy
@spacemt354 who couldn’t join us on this trip, and came upon what appeared to be what was transitioning to an exit of the palace
Eine verrückte, wunderbare Reise zum Mond
This was in fact the entrance to what can only be classified as the world’s first and most unique garage of sorts. We’d entered the queue for
Eine verrückte, wunderbare Reise zum Mond (German for
A Madcap, Marvelous Journey to the Moon), a mouthful to be sure. Apparently someone on the marketing team here used to work at D.C. This was the new Intamin suspended dark ride we’d heard about, and a great complement to Rakete to assist in furthering the storytelling of Baron Munchausen’s grandest adventures.
Formerly the stables, the Baron has apparently converted it for the construction and storage for the vessel he would use for his most fantastic and ludicrous journey yet. Every corner, crate and wall space was lined with all manner of gadgets, materials, and early drawings and plans for the ship that would sail him, and soon us, to the moon. Towards the end of the queue, we came face to face with the Baron himself, explaining the voyage we were about to embark on, and directing us towards his ship. While not a state of the art audio animatronic, and it didn’t need to be, the outlandishly dressed Baron and his presence makes for a perfect complement to the ride.
Those of you that have ridden Peter Pan at a Disney park will recognize the set up and load for the attraction. This updated Intamin version (similar to Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase in Universal Singapore) and one of the many Intamin products in the park, is super smooth and the ride vehicle itself is fantastic. With 2 rows of seats, it held 4 of us easily enough and the odd looking design of the ship fits perfectly with the story. Completing the look is a large balloon overhead and tethered to the ship, guiding our flight, but also doing a great job in disguising the rig itself.
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Gliding out of the loading zone, the “stable” doors open and at this point you’d expect to start taking off on your flight to the moon. As this is the Baron’s story, the journey is not quite that simple. We found our ship in the palace courtyard, struggling to get more than a few feet off the ground and amongst all manner trees and fountains with not nearly enough lift to head up into the sky. This is where the Intamin really shows off as it weaves beautifully in and out of the obstructions. The audio on the ride is great too as you’ll get a number of entertaining snippets of the Baron shouting some really off the wall phrases and instructions to the crew to get you going.
Crisis averted, we finally made it out of the palace courtyard and started our slow ascent up, only for us to find ourselves in the middle of a random all-out war between man, mythical creatures and who knows what else that has broken out on the palace grounds. If none of this makes sense to you, then you have read the many adventures of Baron Munchausen, and you’re missing out. Cannon fire sounds rain overhead, and simple, yet effective light and smoke effects illuminate the landscape and the army around you. There’s a great musical score not just in this scene but throughout the attraction. Lots of eye candy in this huge showroom to take in with a number of sight gags and just the overall scope of the thing. My head was on a swivel trying to take it all in, so much so I almost missed seeing the folks dining nearby, and fortunately there’s plenty of time to soak it in as you glide about.
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Having survived the Battle of the Barons, things quiet down a bit as your ship continues its ascent above the treetops and fields below, and onward towards a looming mountain range. Getting a bit ahead of myself here, but effects wise, they’ve done a really nice job at creating the sensation of heading into orbit using forced perspective. There is a decent amount of movement up and down in the track, but all of the angles and props used are really spot on and do a great job projecting the story.
Speaking of story, we are almost out and over the mountain range, when the Baron’s voice chimes in and points out he’s not visited this range since his last tussle with the legendary Tatzelwurm. We had no clue what this creature was, but it roars somewhat disapprovingly at you as you fly by. Apparently they did not make nice. The thing looks to be 25-30 feet long with most of its range of motion limited from the neck up. For us, the roar provides just the extra air and boost we need and you’ll feel the wind at your back as you begin to soar into the atmosphere.
At this point, the ride is a very serene one, filled with stars and comets as the moon begins to come into view. The calmness is broken by the sounds of a singular cannon shot and the trailing voice of the Baron on his way to destiny aboard a cannon ball. As the ship makes its close up turn by the moon, the Baron himself can be seen, hanging by his belt from the bottom portion of a crescent moon.
The journey back to the palace is a much quicker affair, but between the moon and the palace grounds, the scene nicely handles the transition for the return to earth. No word if the Baron made it off the moon, but I imagine we’ll see him again. For our gang, all around thumbs up on this wacky adventure in the sky. By this point, a few were grumbling about food, but we had thirty minutes until our lunch reservation, and one more new attraction in this land awaited us.
Making our way back towards the center of the palace, we could hear the faint murmur of music drifting down the hallways. A few moments later, the Grande Ballroom comes into full sight and the gentle tones of the music become much more prominent. Continuing the extravagant Rococo design of the palace, the ballroom is on full display for guests and home to
Der Walzer des Barons (
The Baron’s Waltz).
This simple, yet elegant teacups style flat ride, courtesy of German designer Mack Rides, fills the room with the steady flow of waltz music and makes guests part of the ball taking place. The teacups themselves are a bit different from what we were used to seeing from Mad Tea party and other similar carnival rides, and are modeled after a various assortment of European ball gowns, each distinctly pronounced and flowing to the ground. All of them rhythmically rotate about the room, and the grand scene that has unfolded.
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Around the room you’ll see all manner of exotic instruments brought back from the Baron’s many adventures. At the center of the attraction though stands what was a huge (probably 20 foot tall), self playing violin, with a wild story of its own and how it came to be in the Baron’s possession we’d find out.. High overhead, a series of fresco style paintings depict the fantastical tale and journey to bring back the violin from another far away land and an enjoying sight as you await your turn to take a waltz around the room.The art majors in the group got a small thrill out of the paintings to be sure.
Three attractions down, and thankfully all of them before lunch, we made our way to Das Observatorium. Finally,
@NateD1226 piped in. Based on our experiences so far in this new land, we would have been really let down if the signature dining experience had been a disappointment. Thankfully it wasn’t.
Located not far from The Waltz and Journey to the Moon, the restaurant itself was set inside what would be the Baron’s Observatory, hence the name. Only it wasn’t just an observatory. By all appearances, this was most likely where the Baron came up with his fantastic tales, excuse me, planned his true life adventures. Part library, part map room, and part observatory, it’s what you’d expect to see in the palace of one Baron Munchausen. His passion for observing the moon and stars though was fully evidenced by what you see inside.
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Lucky for us, there was all manner of seating arrangements, so getting 13 in one spot worked out for once. Imagine our thrill when the server led us “outside” onto an additional terrace seating area that overlooked a portion of Journey to the Moon.
@spacemt354 must have greased the wheels to get us this prime spot. One thing we hadn’t noticed during the ride through either was the sky above us was fully aglow in star light, so we obviously enjoyed our spot. Even if you aren’t lucky enough or desire to sit in the terrace area, the restaurant interior itself has plenty going visually to keep you busy while you eat.
The tables themselves look to be made of a beautiful, old world wood and ingrained with 18th century maps, charts and plans drawn out by the Baron. It really is a grand space so if you are lucky enough to dine here, be sure and take a few moments to get up and explore the restaurant and take in all the decor and hidden references. With walls of books, tapestries and a few vintage telescopes, such a fun space.
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Food wise, I don’t think we had a negative word in the bunch to say. Granted we were all pretty famished, but I think we were all pretty satisfied with our meals. The fare ranges from mostly German to a number of Eastern European and Turkish items so a really good mix of choices. The dessert menu was a big hit with a number of themed choices. Needless to say
@D Hindley got his strudel, so he was happy.
I managed to get a pretty good shot of the menu for you all to check out here.
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SCHWARZWALD
After our stomachs had settled a little from our meal, we resumed our thrill-seeking on Schwarzwald. This is a GCI wooden coaster set outdoors overlooking the Rococo facades of Munchausen Palast. Schwarzwald – which is named after Germany’s Black Forest – continues the folkloric themes of nearby Wuze Town. In appearance, it feels like a dwarf’s burrow or something. It’s the family-friendly alternative to Rakete, and the storybook appearance helps to make that point.
The look of a wooden coaster blends in really well with Phantasialand’s aesthetic, especially since they detailed the ride to look like an oversized hand-carved cuckoo clock. Schwarzwald is a joy simply to watch from off-ride, especially with all the fairy tale décor relocated from Wakobato. The wooden tracks meander along rolling grassy knolls – think Hobbiton. There is subtle elevation change throughout, but generally Schwarzwald is a terrain coaster.
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It is incredibly fun to ride as well, like any GCI creation.
@Evilgidgit compared it favorably to Wicker Man at Alton Towers. Schwarzwald's queue simply curlicues its way through the pastoral wood sprite setting. The loading station is like the interior of some magnificent cuckoo clock, which is completed by a ticking countdown mechanism which goes off as the train leaves. Carved oak gnomes on a little device bid riders farewell.
Then we head up the lift hill, which is entirely indoors – this is a pragmatic decision, since otherwise our screams would bother the neighbors
and we’d get unsightly views outside of the park. Instead we rose through a dirt tunnel full of tree roots, and weren’t even made aware of the ride’s relative height upon the first gradual drop. That’s also inside a speed tunnel, a lot like the opener of Gold Striker, and like that ride it’s actually more fun this way! When we finally emerged from the interiors onto the wildly winding raceway outside, that sensation of uncontrollable speed was unmistakable. Schwarzwald has that barely-tamed feeling of chaos common to so many wooden coasters, and I’ve always loved that jittery thrill.
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It’s hard to keep your bearings on-ride, since the track doubles and triples and quadruples up on itself the whole way through. One highlight involved a station fly-by early on. Other highlights include further speed tunnels, and quick “headchopper” moments as the train rocketed underneath arched tree trunks and twisting vines! I cannot wait for a POV video to appear on YouTube, because this ride is a visual masterpiece.
Phantasialand is famed for their compact coasters, and Schwarzwald is no exception. It’s so tiny, a little extra space remained in between it and Wuze Town. Well, they had to throw something in there. They chose
Die Autofahrt, a classic Antique Cars ride – think Autopia with jalopies, but soooooo much better – which was getting lots of attention from the families in the area. It also got a lot of attention from our group for its gigglesome name! Die Autofahrt is a quaint, minor ride, simply a tour through more of that exquisite Schwarzwald scenery.
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OTHER ADDITIONS
All in all, we spent a good half day exploring Munchausen Palast and the improved Fantasy. Eventually we made our way over to Phantasialand’s east side to experience Phantasialand’s older rides. Even then we were mighty impressed! It seems that the recent improvements made it to this side as well!
The “Deep in Africa” land had once been underutilized. Black Mamba (a B&M inverted coaster) was its
only ride! But now Africa has two more! One is
Nkwazi, a simple flat ride. Okay, about that name. Apparently it’s the African Chewa word for “eagle,” which covers the ride’s theme – stunning birds circling above the Mali-esque prairie. Nkwazi is a very simple flyer ride – the sort where riders control their own tail fin and determine their eagle’s sway – but it is simply just pure unassuming awesome fun. A great little addition!
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Better still, Africa has expanded into the eastern portion of the Mexico area. Mostly this was so they could replace the Silverado Theater with
Savannah Flights, Phantasialand’s first screen simulator. It’s their Soarin’, sort of. It’s honestly a better, more immersive experience. It really felt like we were sailing in hot air balloons over the Serengeti! The animal footage, the 4D effects, the scents! It all fused perfectly…and on a budget!
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Thank the Intamin balloon simulator system. We climbed aboard balloon benches and were lifted into the air, legs dangling. The benches sailed majestically through a 360 degree CircleVision-style theater. We flew past herds of zebra, lion prides, more species than I can name. I even once lifted up my legs to avoid an elephant’s trunk, the effect was so convincing! Savannah Flights is a family-friendly expansion which really completes Africa.
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The Chinatown area remains a little forgotten in comparison. I’m guessing money or space ran out a little here, though it’s hard to complain after such a wonderful day. The only noteworthy change was
Verzauberte Rikscha (“Enchanted Rickshaw”), a replacement for the funky old Geister Rikscha. It was once a Chinese-themed Haunted Mansion ripoff. Now it’s a playful trackless dark ride! I guess they’re using a relatively cheaper wire-embedded ride system, like we saw on Efteling’s Symbolica, because it’s amazing how this could be done on its small budget. Our magical rickshaws glided past many scenes straight out of ancient Chinese mythology (think Monkey King, or water dragons). Due to branching paths, we had to ride it several times to see everything.
We did a ton more over the course of our day, of course. We rode Taron, Chiapas, F.L.Y.…okay, we rode everything! I would give more detail on this section of the trip, but I feel like I’ve gushed enough already. The only reason we were able to complete everything was because of light crowds. The on-site hotels were mighty tempting! Phantasialand is small but it is mesmerizing. Its latest attractions have brought the entire park up to the high standard set by Kleugheim, bringing balance and beauty. Phantasialand is truly a world-class destination. Highly recommended!
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