• Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Inversionen Dauer Enttäuschend!

    Is the extra wait for the first row worth it? Well, unless you don't mind having a mediocre and underwhelming ride rather than a wordclass and stunning experience, it certainly is worth it. That's why my first ride was very "disappointing", as I rode towards the back, and it was just fun, but not much more. Taron and even Black Mamba can be enjoyable on any rows, but FLY is different. The views are what make this coaster, soaring over gorgeous Rookburgh with plenty of awesome near misses if you let your hands hang (almost as good and as many as on Taron). I personally like Klugheim more than Rookburgh, as the first one is more intrincate and complex, whereas Rookburgh seams a bit "flat" in comparison, with not many walk paths and stairs. Yeah, the lines offer great views, but the area itself is "simpler" than Klugheim (though not "simple" at all, actually). The hotel (which I couldn't experience) takes up much space. However, although walking through Rookburgh isn't as breathtaking as doing it through Klugheim, Rookburgh is more beautiful when seen from above.Therefore, the wonderful views from the first row, seeing everything, really make the experience. The park was extremely quiet on my visit, so many of my rides could have been walk-ons (that is, a 10-min marathon to walk through the lines, but with no standing wait), and several trains were being dispatched with a few empty rows due to the lack of riders (and they had two trains operating!!! Thank you, Phantasialand; others should learn from you); I, however, waited around half an hour for the first row. That shows how much it enhances the experience of FLYing. It was my first visit to the park, so I rode Taron and FLY the same day, without any sort of nostalgic preference towards Taron. Actually, I expected them to be rightful contenders for the park's best, and I even thought FLY may be my favourite. However, Taron is better for me: the theming, the launches, the airtimes and coaster elements, the near misses, the soundtrack... Everything is a tiny bit better than FLY and Rookburgh. Anyway, FLY is wonderful, a unique experience, and it has several very pleasant (floater) airtime moments, along with an awesome "ejector" (if it can be called that on a flyer) right after the second launch. That ejector is one of the highlights, and the two inversions also stand out. They are great on the flying position. Finally, do not expect any preshow. I did, and that added to the initial disappointment. I expected some sort of short dark-ride section to build anticipation, with a couple of animatronics and great theming (something like Blue Fire's preshow), and there was nothing. Some dark, "un-themed" tunnel with plenty of space. It's a pitty they didn't build something "decent" there. Overall, FLY is great despite the initial disappointment, and it was worth my seven rides on it.

  • Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Intensität Enttäuschend!

    This was a huge disappointment. I probably came with wrong expectations, but for some reason I expected great whip in the inversions, which were just floaty. As most inverts, the drop is quite pointless (it's more aggressive and enjoyable at the back), and the only good thing to say about it is the intensity, which is really high. All those turns, as well as the bottom of the drop and the loop, provide great positives, but that's just what the ride is about: positives, weakish inversion, turn with positives, calmed banking transition (required to survive) into another intense turn... The issue there is that I'm not a fan of positive G's (yeah, I may be weird), and I prefer airtime, hangtime, laterals and whip, so this ride simply didn't offer much. Well, the theming is awesome, of course, yet it doesn't stand out (Taron's and FLY's fault), and the near misses, although excellent, weren't as good as others at Phantasialand. First row is the only one to enjoy that, the views are great, and a first-row-queue is urgently required for this ride; however, it doesn't change the experience as much as on FLY. Nevertheless, I think I prefer the back by a tiny bit. Overall, maybe I just had (4) bad rides, because the coaster had some issues and it didn't open until later on the day, so, when I rode, it had hardly had time to warm up; however, I would have liked it to be more aggressive, especially at the inversions.

  • Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Kapazität Dauer

    What else can be said? I expected a disappointment, as the POVs didn't look very impresive and I tend to disagree with the widespread opinions. How wrong I was. Firstly, Klugheim was breathtaking. Even though I knew that it was one of (if not the) best themed area in the world, pictures can't really show how intricate, complex and full of detail it is. The only way to start to acknowledge it all is to walk through the area, a single shot doesn't take in what Klugheim is. Track above and below and all around you, extremely close. The quite nice soundtrack. The wonderful, unique rockwork hiding the rest of the park. The storyline behind Klugheim and both its coasters, the most detailed one I've ever seen (it's out there on the Internet, though quite hard to find). The many stairs, tunnels, trenches and so, making Klugheim not at all flat. Left me wordless. And so did Taron, which, by the way, has nothing to do with what it seems on the POVs. I'm not a fan of laterals, but Taron has plenty of them, and, to my surprise, I did enjoy them a great deal. Whippy transitions, a few intense turns, some decent airtimes, a hell of a ejector twisted hill (the one everyone mentions) and a non-stop, never-ending ride experience. After my first ride, I couldn't tell what good things Taron had, as it didn't have any particularly strong element or forces, but it was sooo much fun. And it didn't get boring after 15 rides, one of them in the rain (had to close my eyes at the second launch, the laterals afterwards almost killed me XD). Intamin's new trains are great, and the raised seats are so much better than the ones on Red Force. On pair with Mack's for me. The near misses are the best I've experienced yet, beating even other Phantasialand rides. Loads of them, and extremely "near". Riding Taron hands straight up is a unique experience. The launches, thought, aren't as good as people say. Maybe I've been spoiled by hydraulic launches, but the ones on Taron didn't feel THAT forceful and they were too short. I hardly had time to enjoy them. Great anyway, only they're not the bests. Right seat is better for handchoppers, it has more, but the left seat is great as well, and I prefer it due to some better forces on some turns of the first half. And the capacity. Wow. I'd never seen something like that, not even at EP. Three trains operating, with loading and unloading station, all quite fast. That's more or less normal. But not when the park is EMPTY. On an extremely quiet day with a horrible weather forecast, the line was physically 20 meters long. And three trains were operating. Almost no wait! (hence the 15 rides) Finally, before I shut up, I must say that I don't have any nostalgic preference towards Taron. I rode it and FLY for the first time the same day. However, and contrary to expectations, Taron (and Klugheim overall) beats FLY by a fair bit. Better near misses, more intricate theming and Taron is still a solid ride without the theming, whereas FLY... I'l talk about that on its review.

  • Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Spaß

    It was such an empty day that the wait was always under five minutes. My first ride was a walk-on, and I had lots of chances to re-ride without barely waiting. However, I didn't. This comes to show how underwhelming Raik was. Well, maybe an important factor is that whenever I came close to Raik, Taron was there as well, with usually less than 20 min. wait, so, why go on Raik instead? Anyway, this boomerang's theming is as great as expected, since it's right into beautiful Klugheim, and I really love both the ride's and the area's storyline (it's there on the Internet, though quite difficult to find). The green-red lights at the station are a nice gimmick. Overall, enjoyable familly ride, but not much more.

  • Daniel Stark

    Spaß Thematisierung

    It's a long, fun mine train, and the dark section is the highlight. Theming doesn't meet Phantasialand's standards, the queue and station are poorly done and the coaster itself doesn't have as much rockwork I'd like; it's quite evident that this is a pretty old ride for Phantasialand. The trains aren't the most comfortable ones, with those too ample seats and lap bars, which, together with the jolty transitions, make for a bit uncomfortable ride. Nothing too bad, but it's more enjoyable if you hold on to the bar.

  • Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Spaß Thematisierung Enttäuschend! Intensität

    First, the whole indoor area is awesome, with three floors, lots of stairs and many details. Quite impressing. The "Tittle Tattle Tree" is a great central decoration element, and the coaster is nice to look at, with those wooden-themed supports. The trains are quite detailed, I love them. The ride, however, lacks theming, other than going through the beautiful area it doesn't have any theming at all. Too many dark parts without decorative elements. I expected a bit more from Phantasialand. Besides, it's quite tame, I've ridden way better Maurer SCs. Probably it's all my fault, I had wrong expectations: this is not a beautifully themed, indor intense spinning coaster; it's just a fun, familly ride in a gorgeous area with some surprises. The best word to describe the coaster is "weird". Please, avoid spoilers about it, but the surprises (only three, don't expect many) are a lot of fun the first time. "Fear" is slightly better than "Force".

  • Daniel Stark

    Thematisierung Spaß Thematisierung Enttäuschend! Intensität

    First, the whole indoor area is awesome, with three floors, lots of stairs and many details. Quite impressing. The "Tittle Tattle Tree" is a great central decoration element, and the coaster is nice to look at, with those wooden-themed supports. The trains are quite detailed, I love them. The ride, however, lacks theming, other than going through the beautiful area it doesn't have any theming at all. Too many dark parts without decorative elements. I expected a bit more from Phantasialand. Besides, it's quite tame, I've ridden way better Maurer SCs. Probably it's all my fault, I had wrong expectations: this is not a beautifully themed, indor intense spinning coaster; it's just a fun, familly ride in a gorgeous area with some surprises. The best word to describe the coaster is "weird". Please, avoid spoilers about it, but the surprises (only three, don't expect many) are a lot of fun the first time. "Fear" is slightly better than "Force".

  • Daniel Stark

    Nette Überraschung! Spaß Dauer Zuverlässigkeit

    I really enjoy this new concept of VR coasters, and this one exceeded expectations. While the surroundings, queue and station don't meet the park's theming standards, the VR once you board makes up for it. Despite not being an intense ride, it's long as hell, so it offers a really enjoyable and never-ending experience with those funny bats. The movie is great, I was laughing all the time through. The bats are certainly crazy. The only issue I had with this ride is the malfunctioning of the glasses. They had technical problems on both my rides. Firstly the image was frozen all the time, so the ops let us re-ride with working glasses; again, my companion's glasses got frozen this time. And on the second ride, next day, I had to complain before riding, as the movie was already on before the ride had started. Consequence: I was nervous every time I rode this, as a ride with an unsynchronized or stopped VR is quite uncomfortable. Despite this technical issue, Crazy Bats is an awesome family ride.

  • Keegan M.

    Inversionen Rütteln Headbanging Zu kurz

    Classic coaster of course but never was a fan of the short corkscrew style, glad it's gone

  • Samuel H.

    Airtimes Tempo Intensität Zu kurz

    For a coaster of this length, it is near perfect.