Phantasialand

Phantasialand opened in 1967 on a former open-cast lignite site and is unusually compact for a major park, around a third the area of some competitors, which has forced dense vertical building: rides run over, under and through each other and through heavily themed buildings, and queue lines pass inside the attractions. Taron, a launched coaster in the Klugheim area, opened in 2016 and runs through a landscape of artificial basalt columns; Black Mamba is an inverted coaster set in a themed African village. Themed areas include Berlin, China Town, Mexico, Mystery and Rookburgh, the last built entirely indoors around a flying coaster.

History

Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt opened Phantasialand on 30 April 1967. On 1 May 2001 a cable fire in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and part of the Western town, injuring 54 people, and the park reopened two weeks later with sprinklers in every building; River Quest replaced the lost rides in 2002, with Winja's Fear and Winja's Force in the new Wuze Town. Black Mamba opened in 2006, the Hotel Ling Bao in 2004 and Hotel Matamba in 2008, and the Klugheim area with the Taron and Raik coasters followed in 2016 (Wikipedia, Phantasialand).

What you'll find

• The dense layout - rides stacked and threaded through a small site.
• Taron and Klugheim - a launched coaster in an artificial basalt landscape.
• Rookburgh - an area built entirely indoors around a flying coaster.
• The themed districts - Berlin, China Town, Mexico and Mystery quarters.

When to go

April to October; a winter season runs from late November to January with most outdoor coasters closed. Weekdays outside school holidays have the shortest queues.

What to expect

The compact site means it feels crowded even at moderate attendance. Winter season closes many rides. Online tickets are significantly cheaper than at the gate.

Nearby

The Brühl palaces are close; Cologne lies north.

Key facts