The Wintertraum event at Phantasialand
Winter openings are a wonderful opportunity to get to know familiar parks from a different point of view; discounts from annual ticket holders might help a bit. Since the number of amusement parks that are open at this time of year is limited, only a few destinations are available during the Christmas season. Phantasialand has been an integral part of the club of the few for many years now and was therefore our goal of desire, after all, we also had to ride the quite new dark ride Maus au Chocolat. Something which I was not able to do last year despite having won tickets in a Maus au Chocolat competition.
If you enter Phantasialand you will notice that most of the construction sites of the past are no more. Although the new Intamin Flume Ride of Chiapas will be built this year, this construction site does not fall into the catastrophic picture of last year. Without the many construction sites, Phantasialand is like a completely different park.
Hotel Tartüff
Since the last visit two more attractions were added, which also need to be tested and both are located in the Berlin theme area. First of all the great and crazy Hotel Tartüff. If you want to send your mind to relax, the hotel offers a great mixture of a crooked house and a fun house. Unfortunately, the highest slide has already been closed, the stairs are equipped with disadvantageous railings, and many things are rather repetitive. The special ideas of the house are all well implemented, however the special thing to offer a perfect experience is missing – Villa Fiasco in the Dutch amusement park Toverland has such an experience.
Maus au Chocolat
During the last visit only the façade of the Maus au Chocolat dark ride could be admired at the central square of the park. Now, you can also walk through the waiting queue, which is nicely decorated and offers a lot of room for very long queues. As soon as you have put on the 3D glasses and start to experience the three-dimensional world, you are ready to go. Past beautifully arranged scenes before and after the interactive mouse hunt in front of the screens, the ride slowly but surely runs through the entire building. The interactive part comes in a sufficient quality, but the shooting mechanism is annoying, which consistently excludes repeated rides, unless the right tactics were found. Nevertheless, the interactive dark ride Maus au Chocolat is not bad at all, but the ride duration is just way too long.
Interestingly all roller coasters could convince during this visit. The temple of the Nighthawk went as fast as a couple of years ago and wasn’t as slow as on the last visit, Winja’s Fear offered the well known fun with a very pronounced spin and Winja’s Force is able to do something. It should also be said that the ride on Winja’s Force was subject to the additional factor of a deeply terrified mother who shouted at her daughter all the time.
One Little Moment and Crazy Christmas
The entertainment of Phantasialand consists of four productions during the winter opening. Probably the worst show of all times was one of them. After shortening the show One Little Moment by a good 30 minutes, the spectacle, freed of any story and logic, is actually suitable for good fun. However, the fact that the singer actually couldn’t sing and only the main actor enriched the show with his brilliant voice and his generally nasty – albeit true – comments doesn’t make the show necessarily worth seeing, but this also applies to every other amusement park show. The show Crazy Christmas in the Wintergarten theatre did not only shine with a lot of cheesiness, it also featured the bald head of a very faithful park fan painted with children’s make-up. The glitter head was our highlight and the vaudeville show was quite passable. The stage design known from the show Sieben also shone like a kebab stand at Christmas; nice and colourful.
Die magische Rose
The evening show Die magische Rose, offers a simple story in which an old, shabby looking lady tries to bring roses to the people and is treated very badly by the same people. Only a young woman is able to help and brings the light back to the people who have been driven into darkness. The costumes are looking very nice at first, but when the light is switched on they shine in a wonderful glow, which together with the fireworks creates a great atmosphere.
Conclusion Wintertraum
In winter, Phantasialand is a different world, which you should experience as an amusement park fan. The park performed very well during this visit, which is why I look forward to my next visit; after all, contrary to the general trend, a brand new log flume is being built, which will also break all available records at once.
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