Phantasialand, Germany
I first visited Phantasialand just 7 months ago (at the time of writing) in June of 2022. The weather was gorgeous, with temperatures nearing 30 celcius, clear blue skies and long sunny days. But with 6pm park closes and 10pm sunsets, it’s safe to say I never even came close to seeing what this park could look like at night (with the exception of Rookburgh – we stayed in Charles Lindbergh!) With so many European parks still on my to-do list, I certainly did not expect to be returning to Phantasialand within a year, but with the park’s Wintertraum event stretching late in to January (the final day of operation being January 29th) when very little else is open and I had a little free time, what’s a girl to do?! Particularly when the event offered that rarest, and most wonderful, of opportunities: the chance to see one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world at night.
As well the joy of late evening opening, Wintertraum also offers a whole host of entertainment, food, drink and decorations to be enjoyed – and enjoy them I certainly did!
But still, it was the darkness that brought me to Wintertraum, so where else to start on this tour of the event than the singular experience that had me pricing up flights in a heartbeat…
Night Rides
Taron, at night. This entire trip happened for one reason and one reason alone. I needed to know what Taron at night felt like. After all, I knew how it felt in the day. An elating, overwhelming, immersive experience comparable to almost nothing else in the world – only VelociCoaster comes close in my opinion! But at night? I could only imagine what a coaster that made me cry in daylight would do to me when I also had the lighting design to enjoy. And what lighting design it is. I’d seen the photos. I’d seen the red ethereal glow emenating from the ride’s second launch, the smoke filling the crevasses of Klugheim, the ominous blue glow against the rockwork. But nothing could prepare me for seeing it in person. That sentence originally read ‘in person for the first time’, but that’s total rubbish. Klugheim at night stole my breath each and every time I passed through, safely securing it’s place as my favourite theme park land in the world. I already knew that it was a themed design masterpiece, but having seen the land lit so meticulously, it has simply become transcendent for me. I’ve gone on a little bit of a tangent here, we were meant to be discussing Taron after all, but to talk about Taron is to talk about Klugheim, the two are so intricately interwoven. But the ride experience itself? Like almost every rollercoaster I’ve ever experienced, the darkness elevated the experience enormously. Thanks to that incredible design, and the theme of the ride, Taron becomes an entirely different beast at night. Taron is a moody coaster. It’s atmospheric. It’s dark. It lives for the night. The incredible dispatch music just sounds all that more ominous when you’re rolling in to a sea of red smoke, and once you launch and begin to twist and dive through the vast rockwork, those nooks, the corners, the tunnels, they’re all so much more intimidating when they appear to be nothing more than a void. Eventually you reach one of my favourite rollercoaster elements out there: the second launch. Here, you once more roar in into a sea of red smoke, utterly disorentating and delighting in equal measure (they managed to make my favourite part even better!) before emerging from the top of the rockwork to be greeted by the sea of lights beneath you. Sightlines be damned, there are few things better in life than being on an elite rollercoaster and seeing a theme park sparkle beneath you. Big Thunder, Zadra, VelociCoaster… each and every one made better by the thematically-inconsistent lights in the distance. Likewise Taron. On one ride we were lucky enough to fly past both the projection show on Mystery Castle and the wild flames of the Tiempo de Fuego show at in Mexico, a ride that is up there amongst the best ride experiences of my life.
Taron night rides were worth the trip to Wintertraum alone.
Oh, and it’s back to being my favourite rollercoaster in the world.
But I know that for many people, a Taron night ride isn’t their main goal. Their target instead lies over in Rookburgh, and with the land’s only attraction, the stunning, one-of-a-kind Vekoma flying coaster F.L.Y. It’s not hard to see why. Rookburgh is astonishing at night. Its steampunk, industrial theming just screams out for incredible lighting and it goes without saying that the park did not fail to deliver. The uplighting? Spectacular. The yellow light tube things that I wish I knew the name of? Gorgeous. The steaming, glowing grates on the floor? Jaw-dropping. So why on earth wouldn’t you want to FLY through all of this?! Well, for me, F.L.Y. actually had a little bit of a redemption arc this visit. On arrival at the park, it’s safe to say I wasn’t exactly excited for a F.L.Y. night ride. I’d accepted that I ought to get one whilst we were here, but my previous three rides had all been so abysmally painful that I wasn’t much looking forward to the experience. In the past, my chest had been so forcefully pressed into the restraints that I struggled for breath, only ever catching a gasping breath during the moments of (insane, beautiful) airtime. But, and I’m so happy to say this, my two rides this trip were comfortable, fun experiences! I don’t know what it was that changed. I’d been given the advice to push my shoulders up when fitting the restraint, in order to give myself additional chest space, so perhaps it was this? Perhaps it was all the layers I was wearing? Or maybe it ran slower in the cold? Whatever it was, I finally fell in love with F.L.Y. I get it now. It’s a beauty. A real beauty. And the night ride was spectacular. The environment of this ride always makes for a special experience, but with that glow, twisting and soaring around the Hotel Charles Lindbergh, it really is something else entirely. It’s still not a ride that makes my top ten – I just don’t think I’ll ever be enough of a fan of the flying position really – but it’s certainly made it’s way on to my must-do-every-time list, and I cannot wait to experience it again!
Am I awkwardly, but hopefully briefly, going to talk about a night ride I didn’t even experience? You bet I am! Black Mamba looked phenomenal at night. I mean the whole park did, but I couldn’t believe the level of decoration surrounding this B&M monster. There was atmospheric lighting aplenty, but what got me was the number of Lightopia-esque animal-shaped lanterns lining the layout, almost seemingly exclusively visible from the ride. Why pay £20 at Alton Towers when you can experience Lightopia (RIP) from a rollercoaster?! I really wish we’d gotten a chance to experience this, but a few technical hitches got in the way (more on that later!)
Hopping back to rides I did experience, it’s time to talk about Talocan. Talocan was the one ride at the park that I purposefully did not experience on my previous visit. The Huss Top Spins are intimidating. I’m no great lover of flat rides, in fact, they scare the living daylights out of me, but that’s been something I’ve actively been working on over the previous few years. I’m happy to say that in that time I’ve added Rush, Cyclonator, Maelstrom and many, many more to the list of flats that I actively adore, and now? Talocan is up there. Near the top of the list, in fact. I am so proud of myself for finally getting on this one – and even happier than I adored it! It turns out that delicious hangtime isn’t only found on rollercoasters, Talocan offers bucketloads of the stuff! Not only that, but surely some of the most incredible theming on any flat ride out there, combined with water and fire effects for a true experience. Whilst we were lucky enough to score the front row on our first (daytime) ride, our Talocan night ride found us on the back. But, despite the moment where the front row is lowered toward the fountain being very awkward back there, I didn’t really mind, given how glorious the lighting of the rear wall was. Spinning and dangling my way through gorgeously carved and lit rockwork made me not quite so mad to be turned away from the effects – there was even a thrilling near miss with the wall! We were hoping to loop straight back around to achieve the ultimate front-row night ride, but somehow ended up being on the final ride of the day, despite riding several hours before park close! (Is this a regular thing?) One for the bucket list I think.
I’m going to be a little bit cheeky here and have a little chat about Raik, even though our ride was technically only at dusk, but the smoke effects throughout the land had already been turned on for the evening and oh boy. I already had a massive soft spot for Raik. Family boomerangs are very solid family coasters in my opinion, and to have one dart through Klugheim, and interact with Taron is nothing less than inspired. But again, that moodiness that Klugheim exudes was just captured all the more spectacularly by the emergence of thick fog throughout the ride course, making me practically skip away from this ride with joy. You know it’s good if you’re elated after waiting 40 minutes for a family boomerang!
Seasonal Decorations
If I had to sum up the decoration around the park in a word, I’d use ‘tasteful’. Each land has been given its own unique decor, as befitting its theme, and this decor is flawless! So flawless that I simply couldn’t write a piece about Wintertraum without a full tour of the decorations. They’re that good!
Rookburgh’s decoration is minimal, with little more than a few aged metal stars strung up from the land’s lighting fixtures, but just look at them! How perfectly they blend in to Rookburgh. It’s ridiculous really how emotional these silly red stars made me, but they’re just the perfect manifestation of a park that cares about it’s product. That understands thematic integrity. I shouldn’t have expected any less!
In Klugheim, subtlety remains the name of the game, with simple felt stars – that could easily have been handcrafted by one of the residents of the mythical Norse village – dotted throughout. White lights accentuate buildings in the village’s main square in a way that also feels just like the sort of decorations the residents would choose to put up themselves, offering just a little more magic to this dark, but beautiful, land.
In the park’s most whimsical land, the decorations tell a very different story. Here you’ll find the only stuff that comes close to being ‘tacky’. With Santa hats strapped to fence posts and plasticky Christmas gifts dangling from rafters, Wuze Town is Christmas as viewed through the eyes of a child, as it should be! The colours on the exterior of the land’s main building are gorgeous jewel tones, paired with the most colourful strings of lights in the park this whole area just exudes happiness and light.
Over in China, the festive decorations fittingly focus on lanterns, with strings of suspended lights over the walkways and a jaw-dropping centrepiece dominating the main square. I’ve already mentioned the lanterns around Black Mamba, which were only viewable from a distance, but being able to get up close and personal with these magnificent dragons was really quite moving. I’ve never attended one of the many lantern trails back home, but this sample at Phantasialand has made me really, really want to. I just hope they’re as impressive!
In Mexico, similar to Klugheim and Rookburgh, it’s all about minimalism. With fairy lights strung in amongst the land’s usual bunting, and some additional garlands for good measure, this is another land that benefits from some subtle, but beautiful festivity – with the exception of the enormous baubles of course!
Dramatic hues of red and pink illuminate Africa, with the Black Mamba bridge being a highlight. It’s festooned in gorgeous colourful fairy lights, which made crossing the iconic bridge feel like stepping in to a magical portal – especially when you can just about spy giant illuminated animal shaped in the distance!
But the centrepiece of the whole shebang is, unsurprisingly, the park’s answer to Main Street USA, Berlin. The heart of Phantasialand glitters and glows in a way that Regent Street could only dream of, with even Wellenflug – the land’s centrepiece chair-o-plane – getting a jaw-dropping lighting package. I’d give anything to know how many lightbulbs are a-glow in Berlin during Wintertraum because it is undoubtedly a ridiculous, ridiculous number. It’s late January, and I think this theme park land may have made me feel more festive than anything did during the true festive season. There’s even a real ice skating rink! It’s practically a Christmas card.
Shows
Having spent our first evening of the trip dedicated to night rides on Taron, night two was all about Moments of Light, the illumination shows spread throughout the park for the event. First up: Pulse of Rookburgh. With Rookburgh already housing a jaw-dropping lighting package, I couldn’t wait to see it used to it’s fullest in a show setting. We didn’t really know what to expect from Pulse or where we should even stand for the show, but it didn’t matter. For a few minutes, the entire land came to life – even more so than usual! Whilst a pounding soundtrack played, lights in hues of reds, greens and blues illuminated every inch of Rookburgh. The surrounding city was uplit, whilst deep in the pits at F.L.Y.’s lowest points, a rich hazy glow emanated. Of course, the lights changed and danced along to the music, with the finale being a brief shot of silvery pyro from within the pit. Ever seen fireworks light up directly around rollercoaster track before?! The whole thing lasted about two-minutes, but was a beautiful shot of drama in to a magical evening.
Listed on the boards around the park as the Wintertraum show highlight, Tiempo de Fuego is a large-scale projection mapping and fire show in Mexico, taking place on the front of Chiapas. The first I actually saw of this show was from Taron – zooming past huge shots of fire isn’t something I’ll forget in a hurry – and though we were already keen to catch it, those views made it a total must-do for us! And I’m glad we caught it! Was it the show stopper I expected? Eh, not quite. Honestly, it’s a bit dis-jointed. Instead of being a projection mapping and fire show, Fuego was honestly more of a projection show, followed by a fire show. Both were impressive, but could have totalled more than the sum of their parts if used in unison to tell a story. It’s still very worth catching if you get chance, but given the choice between watching again or grabbing a night ride on one of the major coasters, I know which I’d choose!
But my favourite show, and one of my absolute favourite things about the entire event was Kaiserplatz Illumination. This very brief (two minutes maybe?) show is simply the turning-on of the Berlin lights for the evening. But they do it with such style, such swelling, emotional music that it had me breaking down in tears. There’s even fake snow – which felt very weird given that it had been really snowing earlier in the day – just to make it that little bit magical. For the sake of five minutes, do not miss this!
Wait Times
Whilst I wanted to write this post predominantly as a review of Wintertraum and it’s various offerings, I’d be remiss not to talk a little bit about our general experience at the park during our visit. We experienced the event on it’s penultimate weekend, visiting on both Saturday and Sunday in late January. And it was busy. This was completely expected, having looked at patterns in previous years, and used queue-times.com to see what a ‘busy’ day at Phantasialand looked like, we weren’t too fussed. Most things tended to cap out around a 45 minute wait, maybe up to 70 for the headliners. Basically just a Saturday at a major UK park! And for the most part, that was the case. Except for those headliners. Operations on Taron, Black Mamba, and to a lesser extent F.L.Y. were, well, they were abysmal. On our first day, we had friends visiting the park who would only be around for the first two hours of the day, so we made a plan. Arriving one hour before park open and dashing straight in to Rookburgh, we were the third group in line to ride F.L.Y. making sure we could secure that rope-drop ride with plenty of time to catch up with our friends – or so we thought! We exited the ride 100 minutes later. For those who are unaware, to ride F.L.Y., all loose articles must be secured in a locker prior to passing through a metal detector. Thanks to this, we spent a solid 90 minutes stood in the station with no food, drink or phone. No way of contacting our friends and absolutely no information, or even an offer to leave the line. They were clearly having technical issues with at least one of the trains – we stood at the air gates and watched trains enter and leave the maintenance shed for quite some time. And to be fair, given the freezing conditions, you can forgive downtime – it’s amazing the ride was even running! But the whole experience was just awful. Honestly, I wish they’d just closed the ride and let us out! But that still managed to pale in comparison to our attempt to get a front-row ride on Taron. We knew this one would be painful, but lord this was the worst queueing experience of my life. Posting 90 minutes, about our expected wait for a Saturday night ride honestly, we hopped in line so full of enthusiasm and excitement. Even more so when we saw that the line wasn’t actually that long. 90 minutes? Not with Taron’s ops! 2 hours and 20 minutes later, we entered the station a broken husk, having spent an hour and a half in the cattle pen area of the queue alone, going vast stretches of time with absolutely no movement, moving just a few feet each time the line did shift. I just couldn’t understand what was happening. Taron was an operations beast. Those lines shift. What was going on? The answer, as it so often seems to be these days was, of course, Quick Pass. This was a reason I’d never even thought about, as it simply felt below Phantasialand to so willfully destroy guest experience, but as we reached the station and watched three full trains of Quick Pass guests dispatch in a row, everything became very clear. The train we departed on was 50:50 standby:quick pass, so standby was seemingly heavily limited even when permitted to ride. To say this left a sour taste is an understatement. Having waited our time once, we rode a further three times across the weekend, paying for Quick Pass each time, and never did we wait more than 5 minutes. #PartOfTheProblem.
But thankfully, with the exception of Black Mamba, whose two train ops were so dire that we were certain it was running just one, the rest of the park caused us no issue at all. Sure, we had a few more long-ish waits, but without being hampered by Quick Pass to the same extent, they were nowhere near as painful and simply to be expected on a busy weekend. In fact, outside of our initial experiences on Taron and F.L.Y., the rest of our time spent in the park throughout the weekend was a delight. Even our second (night) ride on F.L.Y. was fine with just a 40 minute wait, thanks to a three train service – hooray!
Overall
I adored Wintertraum. Adored it. Taking one of the most beautiful theme parks out there and filling it to the brim with festive cheer and light makes for a special event. A really special event. Additionally, I will never cease to be amazed by the level of operation they are able to achieve in winter. It was -3, snowing and only Chiapas (and the seasonally closed River Quest) was closed! A bizarre, wonderful experience that you’ll not get in many other places, and one that elevates what would already be a fantastic event to another level. It feels almost criminal to have written about a trip to Phantasialand, having spoken so little about my ride experiences (for my full thoughts, check out my first visit!) but with the exception of the dark – and the cold – the standard operations are much the same as the rest of the year. You really do get the full Phantasialand experience (except you River Quest), but with an extra dose of sparkle. How could you ask for more?
Phantasialand remains one of my favourite parks in the world, and Wintertraum just helped me love it all the more.
Just get a Quick Pass for Taron.
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 