We didn’t realise it at the time but visiting Phantasialand was THE highlight of our trip. We only planned to go there for one day but did take up the offer of the free return tickets. At least its location isn’t too far into Germany. The boys have always been into adrenaline activities with speed and height etc and the youngest is waiting to reach that magic 1.4m to go on the bigger rollercoasters. In fact we are planning on going somewhere with a loop with a height restriction of 1.35m as he has just about reached that. But at Phantasialand there was very little that he couldn’t go on – notably River Quest (which is also aged 10 and over) a River Rapids so high that you go up in an elevator! My husband enjoyed this ride whilst I bought The Sensory Seeker a Pretzel and we soaked up some of the finer detail of the park.
Another Ride Over 1.4m
Another 1.4m/age 10 ride was Black Mamba and I loved it so much that with only a 10 minute wait time it made sense for my husband to go on it too! There were a few other rides we didn’t do because of the height and The Sensory Seeker having to wait around but we certainly went on a lot too. This was particularly good as there was no ride access pass but the queues were a maximum of around half an hour – in fact we got to go on Taron twice! Taron has several things to boast about – it is the fastest and longest multi-launch coaster in the World; fastest catapult drive in the World (LSM). Its tracks cross a World Record 116 times.
Phantasialand Log Flume
With it being so hot then cooling rides were much welcomed. Chiapas Die Wasserbahn is a 6 minute log flume ride with 3 drops – one boasting the steepest in the World at a 53 degree descent.
The park also has some quirky characters dressed up and walking around – and if you are lucky enough they will shoot you with their water bottles.
Conclusion of Phantasialand
Phantasialand isn’t no Disneyland, but it isn’t trying to be either. Yes it has the detail and great rides the same but that’s where the similarity probably ends. Not seeming a very touristy place it was great for our teen to practice his German as very little English was said there. Unfortunately my experience wasn’t completely positive and there were only a handful of people (staff and customers) who were friendly.
My son heard (and understood) people swearing (at least it wasn’t the staff) and one man was very rude that we tried to order drink (we were about to collapse it was so hot) from the food stall (it was like a couple of steps up to the next person). Don’t get me wrong the language barrier was not all bad and one very lovely lady served The Sensory Seeker his ice-cream that he tried to order in his best (yeah not very good) German – and smiled at him. Least he perfected his thank you. Also, and totally not Phantasialand’s fault, but there was smoking everywhere, even where people eat – which was very strange for my children.
We have visited a lot of theme parks and this currently sits at number two just under Disneyland Paris (we have only ever visited theme parks in Europe) and will definitely be wanting to visit again. My top tips for visiting are to make sure you can speak some German at the very least and carry water with you. We then headed off to Flomborn for the night to continue on our journey.
This adventure was planned around our teen for our teen to help him have a better understanding of German and Germany for his GCSE exam. Mandi from Big Family Little Adventures shares more ideas on how to survive a holiday with your teenage kids.
See also Germany’s Europa Park, France’s Puy Du Fou and Claire from The Ladybirds’ Adventures shares her insights into Efteling Theme Park in the Netherlands