Life Is A Roller Coaster

When we first arrived, we noticed a few of the main attractions did not open with the park. By the time we walked to Black Mamba, it was only about a 10-minute wait before the attraction opened.

Black Mamba has been widely considered one of the best B&M Inverts since it opened in 2006.

The coaster’s integration into the surrounding area is absolutely fantastic. Look at how well hidden the corkscrew on the left is!

I wish I could somehow explain how “close” this feels when you are on the coaster, but this picture is the best I can do. Black Mamba, although not nearly as tall or long as the larger B&M Inverts, is the best overall B&M Invert I have been on.

Black Mamba’s sense of speed is maximized by the low-to-the-ground elements that occur one after the other. It is one of those coasters that if someone asked you to draw the layout after you rode it, you would most likely have no idea where to start. Needless to say, it was an excellent way to start our day!

We then made our way towards the front of the park. I had read prior to my visit which attractions tend to have longer waits, so we tried to knock them out early.

Maus au Chocolat is a highly-themed, interactive shooter. The ride vehicles are akin to Toy Story Midway Mania, but that is where the similarities end. Maus au Chocolat is the best shooter I have ever been on (sorry MIB). It features appealing physical sets and special effects to enhance the gaming experience, instead of solely relying on the screens to do the heavy lifting.

Maus au Chocolat did not have camera-friendly lighting, so I unfortunately did not get any photos of the interior. Regardless, at this point the day has started out with two world-class attractions!

We made our way to Wuze Town, an indoor themed land featuring two of the weirdest coasters we have ever been on.

The Tittle Tattle Tree stands proud as Wuze Town’s main central element.

Winjas Fear and Force are two Maurer Spinning Coasters and they are WEIRD in the best way possible. These coasters were a total unknown to us because the only pictures we’d seen of them were like you see above. Unbeknownst to us, they featured some of the most random track transfers, drops, and track elements we have ever experienced. Yet another “best” for Phantasialand, as Winjas Fear & Force were easily the best spinning coasters we have ever been on!

We made our way back towards the Mystery section of the park, passing through China Town along the way. China town is home to two extremely weird dark rides they you have to experience to understand. A general note about the parks in Europe that we visited is that they all had a very weird omnimover dark ride.

While it was definitely too chilly for River Quest, I was really excited for Mystery Castle.

Mystery Castle is the park’s drop tower attraction. It is fully enclosed, completely unique, and extremely fun. The queue had a few scare moments that got Lex good (obviously not me because I’m tough).

After a having a delicious lunch at Rutmor’s Taverne, Lex and I were feeling up to the queue for Taron.

The queue was about 45 minutes, but it really is visually interesting throughout.

Taron’s twisting and turning through all of Klugheim easily makes it one of the most attractive coasters I have ever seen. There really is no ugly view of this coaster.

Even in the queue, the integrated rockwork and surrounding landscape is spot on.

I think you get the point that it’s beautiful, so I’ll get on to the actual ride experience. Taron packs a punch with an initial launch of 70mph, only to launch you again to its top speed of 72.7mph. It features non-stop speed and constant interaction with tunnels and rockwork. The area development alone makes it one of the best coasters in the world. However, Taron is not as forceful or intense as Maverick. It features a few pops of airtime here and there and some nice twisty transitions, but you do not arrive in the station saying “Oh my word… that was insane.” Instead, Taron is a beautiful conglomeration of an interesting track layout and a visually stunning surrounding area.

Regardless, Taron is a phenomenal attraction. Klugheim, as a whole, is a truly excellent testament to how much of an impact theming can have to an area.

Amidst the dominant layout of Taron is Klugheim’s other coaster, a Vekoma Family Boomerang.

Raik starts riders off with a reverse booster-wheel lift. You are then sent back through the station before traversing a relatively short layout. Raik then takes riders up an adjacent lift before sending them backwards through the layout they just experienced.

Raik was thoroughly enjoyable, although the seats are a bit of a tight squeeze for anyone with long legs. These coasters are excellent for smaller parks who do not necessarily have a huge footprint and are not too concerned with hourly capacity.

We traversed the park yet again to see what the rest of the Fantasy section had to offer.

We were met by more beautiful landscaping and attractions.

Zamperla Magic Bikes can be really impressive-looking if themed correctly (as is the case above).

Temple of the Night Hawk was a strange, yet enjoyable, coaster that seemed to aimlessly wander in the dark for what felt like 5+ minutes.

Here is another view of a guest path showing off Phantasialand’s unbelievable theming.

F.L.Y. had a very active construction site the day we visited. This will eventually open in 2019 as the world’s longest flying coaster. The specifics of this ride are still unknown, which makes me even more excited to find out what the park has up their sleeve!

Das verrückte Hotel Tartüff is a fun-house located near the park’s main entrance. It had plenty of opportunities to slip, slide, and fall. Lex almost knocked me over on one of the rollers.

After walking by Colorado Adventure what felt like a dozen times, it was finally time to ride Phantasialand’s 22 year-old mine train.

Like the rest of the park, Colorado Adventure blended in seamlessly with it’s surround environment.

For being a relatively old mine train, it still ran extremely well. To me, that just goes to show that Phantasialand takes care of their attractions.

Here you can see Colorado Adventure’s iconic turning drop after it’s second lift.

Talocan is Phantasialand’s Huss Suspended Top Spin. It was running a great cycle, but once was enough for us!

Since it was relatively cool in the mid-50’s throughout the day, we saved Chiapas for last.

Chiapas is Phantasialand’s Intamin log flume that opened in 2014.

Chiapas goes both forwards and backwards through a series of scenes and drops. In my opinion, Chiapas is a worthy challenger to Splash Mountain as the best log flume I’ve ever been on. It would have been way more enjoyable if it was hot out, but I can still say it was worth riding despite being a cold day!

I’m beating a dead horse at this point, but once again, the facades surrounding Chiapas are all extremely well done.

We avoided getting soaked, but it was enough for us to have to get to the car and dry off! We had planned on this being our last ride, so we were happy to get the heat going in the car.

Phantasialand is by far and away the best themed small park that we have ever been to. It is unheard of for smaller parks to dedicate this much time and money to detailed theming in the USA. The only parks in the USA that can even compare in thematic quality are owned by Disney or Universal. I think culturally, theme parks in Europe tend to generally be more focused on theming and landscaping when compared to the USA, but Phantasialand is still one of the best.

If you strip away 90% of the theming, Phantasialand still owns an insanely good line up of attractions. Taron, Black Mamba, Chiapas, Winjas, and Maus Au Chocolat are all examples of the best this industry has to offer. I am positive that F.L.Y. will give Lex and I another reason to visit in the near future. Until then, we will be hard pressed to find a park that can offer us a better day then the one we had at Phantasialand.

I am a huge travel and roller coaster enthusiast. I have ridden 504 unique coasters across the world and do not plan on stopping anytime soon. I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and am now working with a creative firm in Orlando, Florida.