The Strange and Defunct Attractions of Phantasialand
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- I've covered Phantasialand before and it's certainly an incredible and well themed park in its current state. However, it does does have a pretty interesting history of defunct attractions that range from shameless Disneyland knock-offs to strange and bizarre nightmare fuel. Today, we instead travel back in time to see what these attractions offered, breaking them down and offering commentary on what the park used to be like.
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It's so interesting how Phantasialand looks completely different compared to 20 years ago. I went with some people who haven't been there since their childhood and after almost every attraction they mentioned they wanted to ride I had to tell them "That's where we are standing on right now" or "That's where that hotel is".
20 years ago I wouldn't have bothered visiting, today Phantasialand absolutely wipes out its competition in one fell swoop, and it's reinventing what a theme park can really be. They're fundamentally changing the game and that's why they're the best. It's really crazy to think about how all of that happened so suddenly
@@ItsAmaliaB 20 years ago Phantasialand was pretty much only visited by locals of course! I live 40 minutes away from it.. Another interesting thing is, around 35 years ago Phantasialand was still Europe's biggest theme park...
@@ItsAmaliaB You wouldn't of visited the park 20 years ago, are you for real??
If we all thought like you then it would of shut down decades ago 😤
@@mstrmren Not at all, remember first going there as a kid in the 80's, and me and my family spoke to many people from Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, and other people from the UK there as well!
@@mikekaraoke Belgium, France and the Netherlands are local!? I live 40min away from it in Germany, right at the Belgian/Dutch border. Just because it's another country doesn't mean it isn't local.
Dark rides are such an underrated gem at Theme Parks we honestly could use more nowadays.
Yeah for sure. I understand that they're expensive, but it's telling that they're located in the most popular parks.
@@princessmarlena1359 I agree.
They speak to the soul
@@princessmarlena1359 yes! Projections are useful and can definitely add, but At least don't rely on them 90% of the attraction... Focus more on the physical and lighting effects IMO.
I think the problem with Dark Rides today is this very medium.. .the Internet. Back when Haunted Mansion opened in the 60s or 70s, it was mind blowing. And you had to go to Disneyland to experience it. There were no Videos around that could spoil the mood. Today Videos of all the details will appear as soon as this stuff opens. But even, when you avoid Spoilers, Dark-Rides kinda lose their charm after knowing what to expect. Unless you utmost love the theming, it is simply nothing new going on them again.
Here is a list of corrections to fix mistakes I made in the video:
- EftelQuint in the comments pointed out that while I made the claim that Dreadstone Castle took inspiration from Efteling, it actually opened in 1972 before Spookslot, which opened in 1978.
- Ricky Davis made the correction that both the dimetrodon and Pterosaurs are not considered dinosaurs. Labelling them as such was a colloquial short-cut for the script, but in the interest of not spreading misinformation, I think it's important to highlight my mistake.
- I'm also going to copy and paste corrections and facts pointed out by mario64remix in the comments:
----------------
- The Seeräuberfahrt nach Carthagena, especially the outdoor section, was continuously updated with new scenes and figures. It was because of a storm in 1978 that the old pirate scenes (which did indeed have a few moving figures) got damaged and were (more or less) rebuilt. I'm sure that's why the jail scene for example was kept intact.
- Schloss Schreckenstein, the haunted castle walkthrough, opened before Efteling's Spookslot. I wonder why no one ever accuses Efteling of ripping off Phantasialand? :)
- Klimbimski being the first animatronic show in Europe is a fact in which often an important detail gets 'lost in translation'. They claimed it was the first animatronic monkey show. See, big difference. Europa-Park already had a show with bears in 1975.
- The ''dragons'' you mention in Tanakra were actually crocodiles. They were moved to Geister Rikscha and are still there now, where they are in fact retrofitted to look like dragons (the figures at 22:05).
- Hollywood Tour opened just a year after Great Movie Ride did and the ride had been in development since 1988. So I doubt it was actually inspired by that. Universal's Backlot Tour though? Yes, undoubtedly. Richard Schmidt was a movie fanatic and I'm sure he loved Universal and their parks.
- The reason for the collapsing of the temple in the Sindbad scene is that it originally represented Samson and Delila. Phantasialand often changed scenes on their dark rides, but I wonder why they didn't care it made no sense here. Also, the ride randomly, one day, closed (instead of never reopening after a lock down closure).
About the couple on the balcony at the Tanagra Theatre: The Muppet Show was first broadcast in Germany in 1977, four years before the show opened. It was pretty popular in Germany. I am pretty sure they ripped off the idea.
Probs need to add how every instance of the name of the park is mispronounced too.
I used to live an hour away from Phantasialand, and went there as a child and teenager, and remember all these old attractions. It's great to see all these videos in one place now, a real trip down memory lane. I especially have fond memories of the Monkey theater show, and no, it was not scary at all. It was very funny actually, with the two parrots commenting on the show. I remember one comment where they were asking why they have to see another bear in a monkey show?
The original Tanaka theater show was a bit cheesy but still fun to watch. I only saw the new Tanaka show once and it was mainly about the water fountains then, and not as fun as the original show.
As an adult now I live in the US, but once in a while I still return home, and now take my own kids to Phantasialand, and they love it! But it is now more about the thrill rides than the shows and dark rides. But the thrill rides are still themed very well.
Thank you very much compiling this video! I love your channel!
Quick correction that I haven't seen mentioned yet: Space center is still open, its just called crazy bats now. (its a vr coaster). The queue elements all still exist, but the windows have been painted over so you cant see them. Hollywood Tour was underneath space center. They operated simultaneously. Infact, the ride is still SBNO (although I think they have started taking it apart just early this year. Crazy bats continuous to operate to this day, and you can see Hollywood tour boats near the break run if maintenance lights happen to be on. And finally, the showbuilding these two rides were in was built by vekoma. Phantasialand is actually pretty unsure about what to do with this area of the park, as the city has already signalled they won't get permission to build a similarly large building there again. But re-using the old building is hard, due to the strange floorpan.
Wasn't Space Center the specific theming of the coaster though?
@@PoseidonEntertainment YES. I Rode what was Space Centre (now Crazy Bats, it was also caled "Temple of the Nighthawk" at some point) in January and nothing of the old scenery is left. It's now a VR Coaster. I rode it without the glasses and there's nothing to see.
@@PoseidonEntertainmentin fact it was a "space battle roller-coaster laser-show" and great fun! Really loved that ride
I still hate to see one of the best and smoothest Vekomas I rode in Europe "rotting" away inside rhis empty husk of a building. The free VR-ride is decent, but a real retheme of the hall could do so much more to this iconic (and long!) indoor coaster...
temple of the nighthawk whas an awesomd thrill right bc it whas so dark you lost all sense of space @@RunawayTrain2502
While a lot of these rides are clearly inspired by Disney, I think it's cool that they seem more "inspired by" than direct copies. Ghost Rickshaw, for example, is a pretty creative way to use the Haunted Mansion concepts without just building a Haunted Mansion.
Better than what Europa Park did (and still does for some weird reason)
@@mstrmren Ah see, I disagree. I actually thought that Europa Park did a better job of differentiating itself because it didn't directly rip scenes from Disney.
@@PoseidonEntertainment Really? The literally copied everything from them. At least Phantasialand switched the ride system or something, but Europa Park used to literally translate Disney attraction names 1 to 1. They also kept opening ripoff Disney scenes in rides until 2017 when their Soarin' rip off opened with exactly the same pre show video as Soarin', just sponsored by a German airline. Some of the rides they directly copied were for example "Universum der Energie", I think you can guess what that ride directly copied. They also had a Country Bear rip off literally named "Bear theater" in German.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I only ever went to europa park since I grew up around that area of germany. They 1:1 copied Pirates of the Caribean (Piraten von Batavia), have an exact copy of Spaceship Earth which only now received a different, unique theming that doesn't fit into the building whatsoever.
I agree that Europa-Park is the worse offender when it comes to copying Disney. Then again it's also a bigger park with more rides so there are bound to be more similarities.
One major difference though, is that Europa-Park has kept many of their old rides and rethemed them, while Phantasialand removed them entirely. So when doing online research, you're less likely to stumble upon the old versions of the rides at Europa-Park as they are technically still there.
I don’t know if it is mentioned already, but at least according to you, the dreadstone castle (if I remember correctly) opened in 1972. Efteling’s spookslot opened in 1978, so that would actually mean that Efteling ripped off Phantasialand with those monks. And this is coming from an Efteling fan
Oh that's a good catch, I had forgotten that Spookslot opened later
I must also say that I believe a year before Dreadstone castle opened, a Spanish movie called “La noche del terror ciego” released. It also featured monks like that and other elements that would appear in spookslot, so maybe it also was the inspiration for this attraction.
One of my fondest memories with Phantasialand: A friend of mine didn't like rollercoasters, so he would only ride "Silbermine" (a slow ride, themed about mining). One time there was a group of teenagers. After some time, they asked if the ride would go any faster. They thougt they were on "Colorado" (Rollercoaster). For them it must have been the most broing 5 Minutes after we said no 😂
Colorado Adventure is such a good mine train. Long, many laterals, and just the right amount of 90's Vekoma jank.
Welp, this video came right on time since im going to phantasialand tomorrow 😂😂
I hope you have a wonderful time tomorrow!
This has been my favourite video of you to date! Even introducing me to stuff I didn't know about! As a European theme park fan, it's so refreshing to hear an "outsiders" take on that delightful 70/80/90's era when European theme parks got... weird. Well done sir 😁👌
To be fair, the "weird" part is really just embellishment to market the video to the UA-cam algorithm better. All of these defunct attractions are really interesting to me.
Have you ever considered covering the strange world of dark rides that exist OUTSIDE of theme parks? I can think of two notable UK ones, that being the Jorvik centre in York and the dark ride inside the Cadbury’s factory
I have, but it seems like they either work on a case-by-case basis (like with Hershey's Chocolate Tour) or if we're looking at old ghost trains, I would want to go and experience them myself and invest in a low-light camera.
I am sad I didn't get to see these rides before they closed because I have a soft spot for really bad attractions that I affectionately refer to as "Craptastic". That being said I would love to see their creative energy pushed towards a new dark ride, but sadly it seems that dark rides are being produced less and less as time goes on... so I really wish these rides had been either maintained in all their confusing glory or had been updated into more cohesive experiences instead of just being torn down for more roller coasters.
Well, I wouldn't consider them bad by any means. I just think there was a fundamental lack of understanding of how to craft an attraction with a satisfying narrative flow and pacing.
Yeah, I first visited in the 80's the old rides were great for the time. Most Europeans had never been to Disneyland.
Luckily today, Phantasialand has created its own identity, and it's more original than ever.
A unique theme park!
I suspect that Euro Disney probably led a significant shift in how people viewed these rides. I'm glad that it's branching out in more interesting directions as well.
It's my home theme park and big part of growing up.
Fact for you.
Phantasialand isn't really aloud to do much with the lake part because of regulation and noise pollution.
And die to limited space Phantasialand has to find clever methods.
Thank you for your video
I do find it fascinating how they manage to get around those regulations. Are there currently any plans for anything around the lake?
@@PoseidonEntertainment There were plans to expand the parc, but nothing around the lake that I am aware off. The Prolem with the lake is that close to it, people are living who don´t want the big theme parc noise.
And it doesnt seem there are an plans for renovating. The whole section (The Kids Section+Lake) would be my first target for a big retheming, if I would be the Boss there.
When I was there for the first time this year, I found the part with the big lake around it (where the boat tour and the fairytale stuff used to be) was quiet, but you could still walk around it. It was basically an entire corner of the park that was unused, since nothing was open there, and it struck me as a bit odd, since they have such a high density of rides in the rest of the park. I really hope they can create something family friendly there, since most of their ride offerings seem to be rollercoasters nowadays.
Doing darkrides nowdays is just way to expensive. People expect lifelike animatronics like at disney, something these parks just can't afford. These things don't really lend themselves anymore to tight budgets.
I know they had a splash battle on the lake but even that generated too much noise and they had to remove the water nozzles. I think their only option is to build indoor attractions around the lake but I don't even think they have the space.
@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 I think you underestimate the budget of Phantasialand. They have the amazingly themed areas Rookburgh (F.L.Y.) and Taron, there's also the wacky but insanely fun shooting darkride 'Maus au Chocolat'. If they wanted I'm sure they could create an insane darkride with animatronics.
@@Soepsas exactly. They made 2 lands with multiple coasters. Neither of them have these old fashioned physical dark rides in them. And i really don't see them do anything like rise of the resistance.
Rolercoasters are just better investments for these parks. Coasters attract and boost visitor numbers much more then anything else.
Perhaps that might change again when these parks get saturated with them again. I'm all for it.
I live about 3 hours from Phantasialand and it's definitely worth that drive! It's becoming a kind of tradition to ride 'Geister Rikscha' first; there's never a line and it's close to the entrance in China Town. It's old, it's weird but we love that. It also feels like it won't be around much longer, so I enjoy riding it while it's still there.
Yes, the Corsair cave was full of animatronics of Vikings having a blast of a time, drinking and enjoying therself. It was a lot of fun for me as a kid ride that ride.
This whole video chronicles Phantasialand's attempts to copy Disney's ideas, only to evolve into a creative park that in many ways surpasses Disneyland. It's a great look.
Hey dude, thank you so much for this video!! This is actually my childhood theme park and one of the few I've ever been to, and it was both incredibly fun and fascinating to see it covered from the perspective of another, non-german theme park enthusiast. Having grown up in the early 2000's, I don't have any recollection of the really old rides/attractions, but gosh do I wish I had experienced some of them!! Also, fun fact, my very first visit was mere months before the silver city area caught on fire, and I never heard of it at the time, so you can imagine my surprise when I returned about a year later only to have the entire land be gone, I truly thought it hadn't existed and I'd just imagined it for a few years haha!
The park feels a little disjointed in the old areas, with attractions like Mystery castle and Riverquest being somewhat "landless" and shoved into the asian area, (which in and of itself has some issues for sure), but it also feels like both the staff as well as the investors really do care about the park greatly, and all new additions have had absolutely incredible theming, so I'm excited to see how it'll develop from here!! Thank you again for the great video!! 💕
I do agree that the park is disjointed thematically, especially with Mystery specifically. If Hotel Ling Bao didn't exist, I don't know if Chinatown would still exist either.
Totally agree, and I am quite excited to see if/when they'll replace it with something else, maybe something to tie the leftover medieval rides to Klugheim? Chinatown is quite old now, and as much as I like the preservation of those older aspects of the park, the ghost riksha, which at this point really is the only thing anyone goes there for except the food (sadly) is horribly maintained, so I feel like a fresh coat of paint could really help the area and just feels long overdue.
always loving when you cover european theme parks
when i saw this video in my feed i thought “no way this is about the phantasialand like 30km away from me” but i’m so excited you covered this park since based on the fact i used to live so ridiculously close to the park AND had an uncle who worked at an attraction and got us free tickets a lot when i was little, this park has always been very near and dear to my heart 🥺 thank you for this video 🥰
THE 1001 NIGHTS CABLE CAR OH MY GOSH I USED TO LOVE IT BUT I COULDNT REMEMBER WHAT EXACTLY THAT RIDE HAD BEEN 😭😭🥹🥹🥹
silver mine is also an atttaction that i miss dearly. i used to make my mom ride it with me like 5 times in a row. i don’t know why but those scenes and the glittering paint in the mine captivated a 6 year old me so much i wanted to see it again and again… it was one of my favourite things about the park when i was little!
oh ghost riksha is a TERRIBLE dark ride but gosh i love it. last time i rode it (in like 2020) we got stuck in there for 20 minutes. the animatronics are so uncanny and worn out. but that’s part of the charm of this ride. it’s bad and weird and disturbing and i actually always try to ride it when i’m in the park because it’s just part of the experience. last time i was there (last year) it was closed that day which made me very sad
a fun thing about hollywood tour is that it used to have a thing where some birds “fell down on you” in a scene that was supposed to mimick the birds by hitchcock. or at least i’m pretty sure about that because that area traumatised me as a kid. ive talked with multiple people about it. like 50% of them remember that element, the others dont. so i don’t actually know if it REALLY existed or if it’s a mandela effect thing. but gosh those birds dropping down on you are part of why i’m still scared of birds. i miss this ride. dorothy and the witch looked so so bad right before it closed - more terrifying than anything you could see in a haunted house. just in general this ride looked SO BAD in recent years. and yet i never not went on it. it makes me extremely sad that it’s gone actually.
i fully agree with you by the way that those dark rides all had rather poorly executed storytelling and the scenes looked SO BAD especially in recent years because of the lack of maintenance. i do love them so much though and also miss the ones that don’t exist anymore. however it’s definitely a good thing the park is moving in a different direction (i actually was never aware that they are basically ripping off disney attractions btw. as a german growing up in the 90ies, those parks were something that existed in the distant lands of america but i had no idea how those parks were like…). but gosh what i would give to ride the 1001 nights dark ride again or visit the fairytale forest once more. but yeah, thank you so much for covering my “home” theme park (i think the 30 km from my original comment was an exaggeration it is actually closer to my home town. by car i grew up like 20 minutes from the park.) and giving me the biggest wash of nostalgia there ❤
One thing to remember is that before Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, very few Europeans had ever been to a Disney Park or other US-style theme park. So very few people noticed that many rides borrowed ideas from Disney Parks.
And Disneyland Paris was met with a lot of hostility both by other European theme parks and by theme park goers. A common comment was "We don't need this American crap here. We've got our own."
I'm one of the fairly few Germans who got to visit a American Disney Park in the 1970s and 1980s and even talking about how awesome Disney World was was met hostility and telling me to shut up about Disney World.
Phantasialand was always one of the best German theme parks compared to the likes of Heide Park or Hansa Park or Fort Fun and rides like Geister Rikcha were unique for their time.
this is my childhood right there, woooow, never thought i would see all these shows and rides again!!
Phantasialand had so much Charme in the Past. I'm a 90s Kid, I was almost every Year there. I miss the Animatronic shows and the Dark Rides and the Water Lillies from these days... today there are mostly Roller Coasters, and I am not an adrenaline junkie. I have no reason to return to this park again, because there is a huge lack of the calmer attraction, wich Phantasia Land had these days!
Despite the obvious inspirations I find this theme park fascinating. This is my first time watching a vid about it and i am impressed by the quality and design of a lot of the experiences. Sure some just feel like a jumble of references to existing disneyland/universal rides, but it tries a lot harder than most disneyland "ripoffs." There is a lot of quality and thought put into the effects and everything and i'm sure a lot of people have really amazing memories from visiting here ^.^
Phantasialand is such a fun and intressting park. Been there 3 times now
I was there 3 times in one year 😊 it's amazing
I really hope they dont close Rikscha i love it too much, Im from the Netherlands been to Phantasialand 2 times. And i truly loved the ride. Also they should make new darkrides yes. Mous Au Chocolat is already way better then their older rides (more cohesive) whilst not even being a darkride but a shooter. But i'd rather see them renovate and upgrade Rikscha
honestly i love seeing how other parks try to recreate scenes from disney or bigger parks, especially when they put a whole new spin on it like the chinese mythos ballroom scene. it’s like fanfiction for dark rides.
you know you are getting old when you can fondly remember almost all the defunct rides
"Hollywood Tour" closed mid-season because there was a major leakage that flooded the adjacent dinner show area "Fantissima" and caused a lot of damage.
I wish you would have covered the history of "Space Center" a bit more though. It's a troubled an interesting "ugly duckling" story.
I went there with my parents when I was little. Specifically I loved the ride through the dragon mouth. I always expected it to close behind us.
With these animatronic theaters I connect a strange smell that inhabited the rooms and ugly creatures that had creepy movements.
It was so nice to be able to see the old attractions that I rode as a child und seeing the places how they once were, refreshing my memories.
But there were also attractions I had no memory of. Maybe they existed in a time when I wasn`t visiting the park.
I`m so happy Phantasialand moved away from these attractions creating a truly jawdropping experience that rightfully deserves the name Phantasialand.
I suppose it's something that no one really speaks about, but so many old attractions do have very distinctive smells. It could just be the old building, wood, paint or even mold, but there are so many ubiquitous smells that have a nostalgic factor to them.
@@PoseidonEntertainment can’t be. The attractions were quite new at the time. You see , I’m on my way to be a fossil 😂
I truly get excited every time I see a new P.E. video uploaded. Keep up the great work.
I'm glad to have an excited audience lol
I mean, I too love pirates but oh my god guys. I like how every ride on the list draws a random or direct line of inspiration.
I’m Australian and stumbled upon this channel. As a dark ride enthusiast, I found the content fascinating and immediately subscribed. I can’t wait to dive into these videos!
I've been on Geister Rikscha, Atlantis and Hollywood Tour. I remember liking Atlantis back then (Keep in mind, I was 10 at the time), but looking back now, it really wasn't anything special. As for Geister Rikscha and Hollywood Tour, I last rode both in 2018. I found Geister Rikscha to smell incredibly old, and it was very boring. As for Hollywood Tour, it has basically become a meme in the European theme park community to the point where people were leaving hilarious 5 star reviews on it on Google Maps that emphasized things like the creepy animatronic sharks, cobweb infested scenery and horrible lighting. That ride sucked. And I've recently seen some pictures of its props from during the demolition. It's nightmare fuel.
It's hilarious that you said niche for your audience meanwhile i am from germany only an hour away from Phantasialand 😊 Though i have not seen most of these since i am quite young still. I did see the holllywood tour, Silver mine and Ghost Riksha ofc. Only Ghost Riksha is still open to this day but in super poor condition sadly
First time here 😊 this was awesome!!!! Gonna check out some more of your videos. ✌️🙂
this video helps explains why the lake area is such a barren dead end when I went, all the stuff that was there's been ripped out. That part of the park, which is otherwise wonderfully themed and seems to have spard no expense, wierded me out but now I get it a bit more.
I believe that the lake's proximity to residential areas caused too much of an issue. It also makes sense why they can't really develop it any further today.
12:45
Ok, but seriously, that's a pretty impressive animatronic for the time.
Ikr, Phantasialand was an animatronic goldmine. The Elvis dog was manufactured by the German company Hofmann Figuren.
2026 will be my 50 year anniversary in the park. Thank you for editing all those memories into one video!
I'm dark ride obsessed--the weirder the better, and live for videos like this. Wonderful vid!
🎶From out of his coffin, Drac's voice did ring.
Seems he was troubled by just one thing:
He opened the lid and shook his fist,
And said, "Vhatever happened to my Transylvania Tvist?"🎶
(8:41-8:45)
16:07
The impact-damage to the bottom of the tunnel is somewhat concerning.
I love German theme parks. Phantasialand is great, but my alltime favorite is Tripsdrill. It's an older park that not a lot of people seem to know about, but it was one of my favorite childhood theme parks.
Yep, the dog holding the keys was a recurring theme. I often when to Phantasialand as a kid, back in the 90s. I still remember the smell of those rides with the animatronics. I don't find this footage as creepy as it is very nostalgic.
This is a real nostalgia fest for me.
When I was little my family and I used to always stop at the Frog Prince Fountain to eat lunch when we were there
I completely agree with you, Phantasialand should build more darkride with the same level of theming they have done with their recent coasters. I don't go there often now since my wife gets nauseated easily but we both like the theming. The problem is that since they invest only in rollercoasters that there is less and less for us to do together.
I hope somewhere in the future you will cover the original Movie Park Germany. That park had some great unique themed rides but sadly is a shadow of itself since they had lost the IP after Six Flags sold the park. In the early 2000s it could rival Efteling and Europapark in theming but now it's a so-so park. They had a great ALF and Gremlins darkride, a Batman themed simulator, Looney Toons boatride and Never Ending Story river rapids. The only great attraction of that era to remain is Bermuda Triangle (now called Area 51) but it's a bit tamer now.
I know very little of what that park really entails, but it's certainly an interesting video idea. I think it would probably be like Phantasialand, one video covering the contemporary park and the other focused on the history.
Verry sad that i never could experience these rides. Phantasialand is an amazing park nontheless, love the theming and coasters there! Btw amazing video again!
If I had a time machine, these attractions would certainly be on the list.
I agree with you on the fact that their newer rides show that they have a team that is dope AF at detail and emerging guests into a realm of a ride.... I think if they were to let those teams (or teams like them) just create their own dark ride, telling WHATEVER story or theme with their great eye for world building within a contained space...... I bet it would be amazing AF.
If I had the money, I'd invest in that park to continue to explore, minus the choke hold of intense profit hungry owners (yeah, Disney put profit before creativity..... you can at least have both ffs).
Thank you again for sharing more details/videos about this place!
The effect at 21:16 is actually resemblant of something that happens in Disneyland Paris's Phantom Manor, in which omnimovers move backwards into an open grave that leads directly into the Underworld and a set of catacombs.
I thought of that as well, but I didn't know if it was intentional or not.
But Phantom Manor didn't open until years after? lol
This is by far my biggest bucket list park
Love this park, we’re going on Wednesday as it happens. Fab video as always, thank you.
such a shame that animatronic show burnt down, i wonder how long it wouldve been operating if the fire didnt happen, it looks pretty cool and i wouldve loved to see high quality footage of it...
At the very least, the fire led to Chiapas which looks fantastic.
@@PoseidonEntertainment iirc the ride that replaced the burned attraction is RiverQuest (the other water based attraction besides chiapas)
@@katyesyes Ah I see, I thought that Mexico was part of the Silver City rebuild. That makes more sense though.
@@PoseidonEntertainment
Chiapas was the Silver City rebuild (replacing the two preexisting log flumes and the silver mine), but the Mexico-themed area was first created after the fire, along with River Quest. Before Chiapas the Mexico section was essentially a row of food stores, a show building and the Aztec-themed Phantasialand jet station to the side of the Western area. Later this was expanded with Talocan, before the full rebuild. The show building is the only part of the original Mexico area left today. Some western-themed sections also still remain, another show building and the roller coaster Colorado Adventure.
I think the King Kong animatronic was an old travelling fairground figure that found it's permanent resting place in there (after the owner scrapped/rethemed the travelling dark ride)
There were multiple King Kong animatronics manufactured by the same company (Hofmann Figuren), so it's not the same one.
I’ve seen that shark and fisherman on so many Submechanophobia videos hahaha
I was an avid Phantsialand goer, I’m looking forward to this!
Another comparison to Disney just came to me while watching this fantastic video:
While Disney alsmost exlusively used Arrow Dynamic to build the rides and transportation systems, Phantasialand relied heavily on Schwarzkopf in its early years!
The Monorail, Silvermine, Ghost Rikshaw, 1001 Nights (suspended drakride), Polyp (Monster), Mountain Coaster 1 & 2 were all built by the late, great Anton Schwarzkopf. I think only the flume ride and an oldtimer ride where purchased from Mack.
They also had another walk-through show attraction called Casa Magnetica, which was basically a rip-off of the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.
Statler & Waldorf first appeared on “The Muppet Show” in 1975. While not a direct attraction “rip-off,” the concept was definitely purloined from The Muppets TV show.
Interesting how that one Elvis dog looks eerily similar to the Rockafire Explosion's King! The movement is actually incredible, despite the.. um.. offputting look of its face.
Thanks for the upload and best wishes from Columbus Ohio USA ❤️
Wouldn't say that animatronic monkey show was short lived-lasted for 6 years not a year lol
Could you do a full history video for Efteling, Duinrell, Europa Park, Bobbejaanland, Futuroscope, Gardaland, Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement Park, + the oldest theme park in the world in the UK is :Blackgang Chine!
At the very least, I felt that my Efteling video did cover the majority of its major historical milestones. I'm always interested in researching other parks though.
@@PoseidonEntertainment Fair enough about Efteling, but be great if you could do videos bout the other theme parks I mentioned 😃
Sure you will, As you did say: I'm always interested in researching other parks though.
Have you been to the UK before??
Another fantastic video!
Very cool video essays on theme parks 📹 🏰
Fun little side facts you didnt mention: The Ghost Riksha ride used to have a scene with a Animatronic whipping two underlings, but they removed it around 2003 and replaced it with that giant being captured scene because slavery/whipping people was considered too "extreme"
And in the Hollywood Tour the Oz scene used to be Hitchcocks "The Birds" and had a quite brutal scene with an animatronic woman screaming for her life while being attacked and pecked at by birds. I even question some higher ups in the Park once on why they changed it and apperently it made smaller children cry and alot of Parents complaint about that particular scene, so they made it all friendly with a princess and no more terror screams :) (Luckily they exist old POV videos on youtube that do show the old scenes: ua-cam.com/video/c-luB6cj3r0/v-deo.html around the 5min mark is "The Birds" scene in that video)
I'd love to see a modern, high tech dark ride in Phantasialand, with modern projection mapping and high-articulation animatronic technologies. But they seem to go all in with thrill coasters nowadays
I'm not sure whether this is relevant, but the rotating textured tunnel on the Silver Mine ride looks a lot like an "earthquake simulator" that was part of Ripley's Odditorium in Buena Park, CA when I was a kid. The tunnel in that attraction would rotate about 60 degrees off its resting position, then slowly rotate back and keep going another 60 degrees past it. Back and forth, like a swing or a metronome. It was a strange attraction to have in a place where so many visitors had experienced real earthquakes and would find it unconvincing. It didn't even feel similar to a real quake. It was so laughable that one of my brothers tap-danced inside it to show how silly it was.
Since the Odditorium was just down the street from Knott's Berry Farm, it's possible that whoever took notes on the Calico Mine Ride also experienced the world's lamest tectonic simulator.
I went to Phantasialand as a child, I barely remember any of it, I think I went on the Gondola, I remember an Old West town, but those are a common area in many theme parks… those dinosaurs… now that fills in a blank, I thought I’d seen something like that before but I’ve only been on the Tokyo Disneyland Railroad and that was quite recently.
The Hollywood Tour however is seared into my brain, I remember almost every part of that ride very clearly.
We’ve just done Disneyland Paris and Efteling, look for another European park to visit…
This was uploaded the day I went to the park for the first time. I had a great time at the place and I’m glad to call it the first park I visited in Europe.
I must say, I feel like this park is magical in a way! I loved the dancing frogs! They were my favorite.
Thank you. Awesome content.
22:04 fun fact, these dragons actualy came from the Tanagra theater.
Are they reskinned? They don't seem to resemble the ones from the show.
@@PoseidonEntertainment i dont know if they are reskined but theye are 100% reused from the show
When they were put in Geister Rikscha, they still very much resembled their original selves. But they got new masks and clothing on multiple occasions, and thus have become almost unrecognisable. There used to be a 4th one also, I assume it became a part donor.
Thank you for branching out to other park's history.
Those rides looked great !
The spinning effect is making you feel like your going through a low tunneled mine like your crawling through the moving us like it supposed to be of vertigo or dizziness making a fear of the enclosure and darkness both and motion too.
Tarantula from Hollywood Tour traumatized me back in the early 90s when was 7 or 8 years old and probably is the reason I now have arachnophobia 😅
oh man, what a blast from the past! I went to Phantasialand once or twice with my family when I was little (afterward my parents said it's too expensive lol) and though I only remember the space-themed rides and the wild west and chinatown stuff this video is really nostalgic... I did have a plush of the green alien from the galaxy ride though lol
That giant tarantula is the most frightening thing ive ever seen
I love dark roses. Seems like they have been forgotten for roller coasters. Hopefully US parks will add some new ones in The future.
Great Video, i am always happy seeing international recognition for our "small" local european parks.
But i have a question: Can you point me to your source for the claim that the Phantasialand tried to license the Back to the Future Ride?
As a huge Back to the Future and Phantasialand Fan i tried to find more info on this but i just couldnt find any.
Woah. Flamboyance of flamingos is lit!
Phantasialand builds theme parks on a terraforming level, there is not even a lake left anymore
You should do a video about the knock off Disney parks from around the world like Nara Dreamland and Shijingshan amusement park.
I'll put it down on the video idea list lol. I think that Nara Dreamland has been covered pretty well by others, but a shorter video wouldn't be out of the question eventually.
When I was a teenager, we would smuggle our asia noodles onto the silver mine ride, because we didn’t want to take a break from doing attractions while eating. Still have fond memories of eating them on there 😂
I think the random Buddha is an homage to the ancient stone Buddhas In Afghanistan that the Taliban partially destroyed in the 80s/90s
Phantasia land is my favourite theme park and I've only been once, it smashes the UK theme parks out of the water
As local to Phantasialand and knowing its History... at least in some facts, I can tell you why a few things are Disney related. Records told that Disney himself visited Phantasialand and otherwise, Löfferhardt and Schmidt visited Disney. Thats how they got in contact and thats why actually some Attractions in Phantasialand looked in the early years like a rip off from Disney. I do not know if this is true, but everybody who knows Phantasialand said so.
And why the Monkeys in the Climbimski show? The Main Mascot of Phantasialand was a Monkey in the early Years.
The old Space Center Coaster still exists, it was rethemed to Temple of the Nighthawk, removing the Animatronics in the Q- Line and also set a Wall in front of the Windows. You still can see the Window frames Today. The Ride itself had some Special effects that were removed. Only thing in the Building itself was a projection of a Hawk, giving the Name Temple of the Nighthawk. That also has been removed after a few Years. Now the Coaster is completly rethemed to Crazy Bats, a VR Coaster.
The Rikscha however was... always a problem. starting with the Dragon. The Dragon once was in a straight position and working well.. but the maintenance lift next to the Dragon does not work anymore and the infrastructure of the Dragon (which weights over a Ton) is also damaged so it fell down. The Dragon had also a Soldier next to it who led a Spear trough its chest. It was also an Animatronic with simple movement. Sadly that animatronic also died and fell down. Now laying on its chest and not moving anymore. Thats why they set up a Skeleton Soldier on that spot. But you still can see the old Solider on its chest.
The Dragon Fighting scene is an old scene of the Taganda Theatre. The Scene was already there before the rikscha opened, but it has been modified over the years. At the beginning, Lizardmen fought each other, then Skeletons, now the Dragons from the Taganda Theatre.
The Treasure Scene had also a Change. Before you could see at this Spot a Star and Moon Scene with a Ghost and an actual Rikscha who took naughty Children and always said " He... heyo" Parents argued that this scene was not suitable for children and removed it.
The Ballroom Scene is actually a Scene from the Haunted Mansion which, rumors said, disney provided them himself.
The Hollywood Tour also had a Change. The Oz Scene was the Crows (i believe the movie was called that) and rethemed cause it wasnt suitable for children again. Also the giant Kong Animatronic lifted once its hand over your Boat. That function was disabled because of safety issues.
Update: The Hollywood Tour is now also Defunct and was announced to be demolished a few Month ago. The Coaster a fllor above is still functioning. But Phantasialand wants to get rid of the whole complex, meaning Demolish the whole Building. (Has to do with Infrastructural Problems)
Great video! Love your channel, I just subscribed. Europeans are not shy about ripping off Disney at all, are they?
I believe the waltzing scene is supposed to depict the new year's day ball in Vienna.
Anyway I think Linnanmäki in Helsinki, Finland, might have further copied certain animatronics and other stuff from Phantasialand. At least I recognize the one with 3 explorers climbing a tree escaping a rhino, and the gorilla pounding it's chest. And the wagons used in the Chinese underworld look the same as Linnanmäki had in their jungle ride. It was themed as an exploration to Africa, and was operating in the 80's, possibly still in the 90's. I rode it multiple times as a child, and it was exciting when I was still small. But somehow I think I remember the animatronics becoming worn out, and the ride had also otherwise lost it's appeal - which must have been in the early 90's. Linnanmäki later built a space themed roller coaster in the same place, so the jungle ride has been defunct for at least well over 20 years now.
I think they got the ideas from Phantasialand, because there are so many similarities, and it would have been easier to visit, as Germany is closer. Of course that's just my speculation.
That's easily explained, the animatronics of Linnanmäki's Safari were manufactured by the same company and it was that company that reused the ideas and moulds.
@@mario64remix ok, thanks!:)
Oh boy a video of my home Park. Let me grab the Popcorn
What did you think?
@@PoseidonEntertainment I love how you tried to make sense out of the different scenes. Especially in Geister Rikscha and thousand and one Night.
For me these scenes never had a specific story or meaning. They were just cool to look at.
All in all the Park is missing a quality dark Ride. While all the action rides are really well made and bring attention from other countries, the parks origins are the animatronics. I hope the next project will be a modern dark ride.
Maybe in the old space of Hollywood Tour....
I love Ghost Riksha up to this day, actually its age helps the creepy factor.
Love seeing new video pop up
I don't think I thought much about narrative cohesion when I rode those dark rides, but now that you mention it I do see that there might be something missing. ignorance is bliss i suppose, at least you get to see a variety of different things with completely unrelated scenes?
Unrelate Note, but the park did sure love its stalactite caves :)
I think that attractions can do fine without a narrative and I think that the Haunted Mansion is a great example of that. However, each scene seems to be tied together by progressing through the mansion in a natural way which Phantasialand's old attractions don't seem to really attempt, other than perhaps Silvermine.
Being German I actually feel pretty bad about how much was ripped off from Disney back in the days :-), but nowadays PHANTASIALAND and also EUROPAPARK are definitely fully immersive awesome parks, with lots of innovative ideas and rides, even better than some parks in the US; and I have been to a lot there.
I think that the house in the hollywood tour used for the wizard of oz was once used for a scene from the birds, though i font have proof of that, a person i know who has been going there sknce she was a child told me.
why did I have to find out Hollywood Tour closed down through this video 😥 I loved that ride even tho it did creep me out every time I went on it lol
also I live close to the park so all schools would go there on field trips, except the one I went to so everyone was always complaining about that lmao
You should look into Knobles strange dark rides
I went there last week, geister rishka was in very bad shape... Look like they stopped maintenance about a year ago, every time more and more is broken and more paint is pealing off (off of everything, the carts, the animatronics, the walls etc). I expect it to close as soon as the replacement of Hollywood tours opens (lots of activities there the last few months). Every day you ride "the Chinese ghost train" it could be your last 😢
Pretty sure it's closed down now.
26:11 ...when has King Kong ever been particularly strongly associated with water? I feel like someone wanted to do Godzilla there but got vetoed.
There was enough video of Pirates on TV before the attraction opened for them to replicate the scenes.
Its a great park. And the foooood is Soooo epic good. Disney can learn from it.
I bet you were good at writing prompts on the SATs
If I remember correctly, I think I did do fairly well.