Phantasialand in Bruhl, Germany

Phantaisaland is an amusement park in Bruhl, Germany which is just outside of Cologne, Germany. It’s about 1.5 hours from Spangdahlem AB. It’s a neat park with themed areas; China Town, Mexico, Mystery, Fantasy, Africa, & Berlin. There are attractions, shows, food & shops in each area and are themed to that area. Our favorite areas were Mexico & Berlin. I will say that if you have problems walking up hills and stairs this park may be a bit tricky. There are routes that can be used without the stairs but unfortunately you can’t avoid the hills. This is not somewhere we could take visiting family members who can’t do a lot of walking, but it was fine for our family. Also another great thing about this park is that you can take food & drinks in with you, we took in water but planned on buying food while there. Another thing we noticed is that the rides lasted much longer than rides at US parks. Also maps are available when you enter the park and they have English versions as well, look for the British flag.

I wanted to get to it before April 30th because they are offering Buy One, Get One tickets right now. If you visit by April 30th you get another ticket to visit again by November 2nd, 2014 (more info below). I figured this was the best deal for our family of 5. It was €208 ($285) for all of us. We were all €45 except Bea who was €22 because she was under 12. But if you have a child who is 4-11 make sure you take their ID as they will not give you the kid rate if your child is taller than the marked stick if you do not have an ID. Luckily we had her military ID with us and was able to use it.

To get there we searched for Phantasialand in our GPS and chose the one with the parking box next to it. If your looking for info about it in the Panther Paws it is in the Cologne section, although I’m not sure why because it is actually outside of Cologne. The GPS took us there with no issues. However the road that you use to get there is a pain because there is a speed trap camera on the road and the speed goes from 100 k, to 70 k, to 100 k, to 70 k over and over…super annoying. We seen the camera…it’s about 47 k from Phantasialand but didn’t see anyone get flashed by it. Coming back it’s further from Phantasialand and more toward Spang.

The parking area is easy to find because they have people out there directing you to the Mystery Entrance parking. We got there at 10:30 am and was able to get a spot close to the entrance. Make sure you have €4 to pay for parking on the way out.

The kids did not want to get in this pic, so Mr. B & I jumped in and took a pic with this dragon.

I had heard the best time to go is on the American holidays so that it won’t be crowded, so we went on a Friday that was a base down day. While there were people there it was NOT crowded at all and the longest we had to wait was 5 minutes for a ride. Well until the last ride when Mr. B & the kids wanted to do the River Quest on the way out…I think that was everyone’s plan…and it was a 15 min wait, which really still isn’t bad. We were there from 10:30 am until closing at 6 pm and were able to hit all the rides, many we rode several times. Next time we visit it should be faster since we know the ones we don’t need to bother with after trying them all this time. We did not watch any of the shows either.

Walking in from the Mystery entrance you enter Mystery which only has 2 attractions, we did one on the way out (River Quest) and skipped the other.

Then you enter China Town. The Fenj Ju Palace as the least liked attraction of all and will be skipped next time. It was really boring and I’m not sure the whole point of it, no one thought it was worth the time. The Geister Rikscha is a ‘ghost’ train underground so the the younger kids in our group didn’t go, but Mr. B said it was boring & not scary. The older boys weren’t impressed, LOL.

Next up is Mexico where we spent a good deal of time! The Colorado Adventure is a fun & fast roller coaster (with no large drops, cuz I’m not a fan of those) that we rode many times! We went with some friends and the youngest in our group was 8 years old and he loved it, and it was ‘fun’ enough for Boo & Bub to enjoy as well, and even Mr. B & I.

Bea rode the Tikal MANY times…even talked Mr. B into riding with her the first time. I love her face because she kept riding it over and over, LOL!! It took them up and dropped them down over and over, it was hilarious watching them.

Mr. B & the rest of the crew (minus me & the 8 year old) rode the Chiapa water log ride on the way out, which was around 5 pm. We watched the scream on the way down, LOL. This was the attraction that had the longest line, I think because it was new…the wait was going to be an hour BUT they had a Quick Pass so they were able to use that, more about that later. If you want to do this one I would suggest heading to it as SOON as you get in the park. My crew didn’t get really wet, so that was great. We were watching people and no one was coming off it soaked.

Also in Mexico by the Tacana Resturant is a little white shack to the right, this is where you get your free tickets for your return visit. It does not open until 12 noon, and EVERYONE in your party has to be there to get the tickets…we learned that the hard way. They make each person (including the kids) sign the ticket, I am guessing so it can’t be transferred to someone else.

As for the food we found amazing churros at Churro Mexico, and yes I’m kicking myself because I took ZERO pics of the food…I know so unlike me! We also found that food prices were really reasonable which shocked us because we are not used to paying reasonable prices at an amusement park, LOL! For 3 churros it was only €2,60 ($3.56), I mean in what US park can you get something like that for that price?! Pizza was also €2,60 a slice ($3.56) and good, according to the friend with us. They also had waffles, I was SO excited!! It was €3.50 ($4.80) for a waffle with hot cherries & cream! For lunch we hit Kaiser Snack in Berlin and got 3 sausages (which is a long sausage in a roll), 3 fries, and 3 sodas for €25 ($34.26) that was enough for 4 people…I ate a waffle 😉 Also note the sodas were expensive at Kaiser Snack and could be found for much cheaper at other places. My friend also tried out the chicken, veggies & noodles in China Town, and said it was good. She ‘thinks’ it was around €5.

Of course we could not leave the park without having some Eis (ice cream)! It was €1,50 ($2.06) for 1 scoop or €2,50 ($3.43) for 2 scoops. Try getting that at any US park for even close to that price!

After Mexico & eating we hit Berlin, this guy was entertaining to watch ride around.

Boo & Mr. B went to ride Tolocan, Mr. B did not see the ride before he got on…had he seen it he may have changed his mind! Bub & I were extremely entertained watching Mr. B & Boo on this ride…while Boo had a smile on his face the whole time, Mr. B’s was more of a look of terror, LOL!

While we were watching the guys Bea & her friend rode the swings, she loved that it went over these foundations of water. I thought it was neat as well.

The Mau-au-Chocolate was a ride kinda like Buzz Lightyear at Disney…except longer and I thought it was boring. The kids seemed to enjoy it but no one wanted to ride it again. Apparently it’s a hot attraction on crowded days though because your only allowed to use a Quick Pass once here. So if your there on a busy day and want to ride it I suggest you head over there early and get it done.

The favorite in Berlin was the fun house, Das verruckte Hotel Tartuff, we all went through it and had fun! Mr. B about bit it on the sliding rollers and I ran into myself in the mirror maze but we sure had tons of laughs!

There is also a double decker carousel as well.

Next we headed to Mexico so the the group (minus me & the younger 2) could ride the roller coaster Black Mamba, line was so fast the boys were able to ride it twice quickly.

The younger 2 entertained themselves at Djembe beating on the drums while they waited.

Our last area to check out was Fantasy, although if you have smaller kids this may be where you spend a large part of your time. We don’t so we just hit the highlights and moved on.

Watch out for the characters here, they are feisty. The dragon all but tackled me and my friend thought it was hilarious and had to get a pic and then this green lady jumped in as well!

There are some great coasters here Winja’s Fear & Force, 2 coasters same ride with slightly different tracks. We split up the first time and we took Fear and the other half took Force. Lucky us we picked the one that broke down! So we were stuck for a bit on the roller coaster. We were high enough that if we would’ve tried to have gotten out and fell it would’ve been an ouchie for sure but luckily they and it fixed in about 5 minutes and then the coaster was back in action. When we got off each of us in our party of 4 was given a Quick Pass to use, which is how they skipped the line on the log flume. These were also some of our favorites and rode by all. They are also located inside so great if it’s raining as well.

Two of the rides are located up a steep hill, Temple of the Night Hawk and Hollywood Tour. It’s best if you do the Hollywood Tour first and then the Temple of the Night Hawk because the exit for the it is back at the bottom of the hill! And there is nothing else up there to do. We didn’t know that so we did the Temple first and had to climb back up the hill to get to the Hollywood one and then walk back down the hill! I thought about taking the Temple ride down but we had someone in our party who had a hard time on stairs and there were a ton of stairs in walk to the ride to get on it. That was another weird thing about this park, there were often stairs in the walk to the rides, I guess it speaks to the Germans taking walking as a hobby seriously and a few flights of stairs are not daunting to them 😉

Then we went out to the maze which is across from these weird houses. The maze is for little kids so Bea & her friend enjoyed it but the older boys just waited with us. Well Boo ran through it once to beat the younger 2 but that was it for him.

Then he deiced to wait on top of the fence. We were laughing so hard when we seen tourists taking pics of him!

As we walked back through the park we decided to hit up a few of our favorites (Fun house, Colorado, Tikal for the younger 2) and hit the River Quest on the way out.

Overall we had a great time. The kids all had fun and it was a great experience. The park was clean and the staff was great as well. I was thrilled at the food costs and glad that you also have the option to bring in your own stuff as well. We seen one family there with a wagon full of drinks…I guess they were gonna be real thirsty, LOL! If your in the local area or close I’d say the park is worth checking out. Even better when you can score a deal where you get 2 admittances for the price of one!

Have you visited Phantasialand? What did you think?!

Know Before You Go 

What: Phantasialand Amusement Park – Bruhl, Germany

How To Get There: It’s about 1 hour 20 mins from Spangdahlem, and  2 hours 15 mins from Ramstein.  GPS addy: Berggeiststraße 31-41, 50321 Brühl, Germany

Parking: There is a huge parking lot, it’s €5 for parking for the day, have Euro when exiting the parking lot to pay.

Cost: €45 adults, €29 kids (4 to 11 years), Free for kids under 4. Also check out the discounts! The often offer a 2 for 1 ticket where you can go twice for the price once! And Early bird specials as well.

Traveling with little kids: There is not a large section for smaller kids however they do offer a baby swap and there some activity areas. Check the website for height requirements for the rides.

How long: Plan on at least a full day to experience the park.