It has become a tradition to celebrate my birthday at the Efteling. Although I took a different approach this year. This year I chose to visit another park for my birthday, Phantasialand! I combined the Phantasialand trip with an overnight stay at Hotel Matamba. I’ve been to Wintertraum before so I knew what to expect from Wintertraum, but I’ve never stayed overnight in one of the Phantasialand hotels before. The stories being told about the hotels, and the online reviews give more pluses than minuses, that made me book hotel Matamba. Did the stories and reviews live up to it, or did I still find Wintertraum and especially Hotel Matamba disappointing? Find out in What does Bart say about.. Phantasialand’s Wintertraum and Hotel Matamba š
We arrived at Phantasialand around 11:00 am, leaving our suitcases in the car with the thought that we could get into our room at 3:30 pm. Know that the hotel offers the service of leaving your luggage at the check-in until your room is ready. This is a service the hotel offers for free, we did not take advantage of this since the hotel parking lot is across the street.
As soon as the doors of the hotel Matamba opened, you immediately immersed in the African atmosphere the hotel wants to exude. I recommend checking in online which speeds up the check-in process at the hotel, and allows you to enter the park faster, or for you to grab a drink at the Jafari Bar. At check-in, it was indicated that our hotel room was already ready, a nice surprise we didn’t see coming. After handing over our room key, a Kroka birthday badge and chocolate from Emily’s Werkstatt (I will come back to this later in the blog), we went back to the car to collect our luggage, and went upstairs to check on our room.
Our room was on the third floor overlooking the park (We paid ā¬10,00 more for parkview. You don’t have to pay for parkview, depending on room availability it’s possible that your room has parkview without paying the extra ā¬10,00). On our left we had the Black Mamba’s lift hill, and on our right we could see the Colorado Adventure helix. After discovering our room, it was time to enter the park.
As a hotel guest of Hotel Matamba, you enter the park through a special hotel entrance. The hotel entrance is located in the middle of the Deep in Africa theme section. To get to the hotel entrance, you walk through the gardens of Hotel Matamba. The dense gardens with play equipment and the terrace of the Jafari Bar are illuminated in purple/blue during Wintertraum, the same colour scheme as the rest of the Deep in Africa theme area.
Upon entering the park, the waiting times in the Phantasialand app immediately stood out. Phantasialand is one of the best-known theme parks in Germany, and with a fairly extensive ride line-up, it can get very crowded. Especially the queues at the rollercoasters. The average waiting time of the attractions was around 20 minutes (or less!), and since we were in the middle of the African area, we started the day with a ride on Black Mamba. Black Mamba is an inverted rollercoaster by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). Black Mamba is one of the few inverted coasters in Europe. I have done 3 of them myself (Black Mamba, Nemesis Reborn and Nemesis Inferno), Black Mamba and Nemesis Reborn are both great inverted coasters and it’s hard to pick my favorite.
Black Mamba is almost impossible to see from the park, which is what makes the track so surprising. If you want a good view of the track (and get very close to it), it’s highly recommended to visit the D.I.A. trail, the Deep In Africa Trail. This climbing and scrambling trail runs between supports of the Black Mamba. Please note that some sections are not accessible during Wintertraum due to icing and slipperiness. Don’t forget to meet Kroka while youre in Deep In Africa!
Phantasialand is divided into several themed areas; the themed areas all flow into each other. For example, you’re walking from Africa to Germany (Berlin to be precise). Where a few metres ago you were walking in the dense jungle of Africa, now you walk between houses, shops, terraces and restaurants. The Berlin section of the park also houses the main entrance to Phantasialand. I have the impression that the main entrance is hardly being used anymore as most park visitors travel to the park by private transport, making it quicker to enter the park via the entrance at China Town or Mystery.
In the Berlin themed area, you will find mostly flat rides and catering which, for me, as a coaster enthusiast, makes it a not too interesting area. Don’t get me wrong, the park section is nicely decorated (the various buildings have extra lighting for Wintertraum, and in restaurants, shops and even the toilets Christmas trees and other winter decorations are visible). The attractions in the Berlin themed area are fun and necessary for a park like Phantasialand to improve the guest flow, but I prefer to be in one of the other park sections with a bit more excitement.
During Wintertraum Berlin is the place to be if you want to go ice skating, and at 5:30 pm the illumination of the christmas tree takes place including a short firework show and fake snow. Where the excitement is lacking in Berlin, you will find it in Rookburgh. The main entrance for this themed area is located in the streets of Berlin, over the years Phantasialand has been quietly building this themed area, to open it without any announcement in September 2020.
Rookburgh is a steampunk themed area where you can find rollercoaster F.L.Y. – a newly developed rollercoaster by Vekoma. While you explore Rookburgh it’s possible that you stumble up a check-in desk, this is the check-in for Hotel Charles Lindberg. In this hotel you sleep next to the rollercoaster F.L.Y.. – In this experience hotel, you stay in pilot cabins with a view of Rookburgh. Besides Hotel Charles Lindbergh, you can find restaurant Uhrwerk (when you stay in Hotel Charles Lindbergh you have dinner here), various catering establishments and chocolaterie Emilie’s Werkstatt in Rookburgh.
Mentioned earlier in this article was Emilie’s Werkstatt. As soon as you take a step inside Emilie’s Werkstatt, the sweet smells waft towards you and the temptation to take something outside and/or home is very strong. A visit to Phantasialand is not complete without a visit to this chocolate shop. Will you manage to walk out without a purchase? Good luck with that!
Once night falls Rookburgh turns magical, and will show the Pulse of Rookburgh. This laser and fireworks show is located in and around F.L.Y.. The show lasts about 5 minutes, show times can be found in the Phantasialand app. Please note that roller coaster F.L.Y. is not operational during the Pulse of Rookburgh. While F.L.Y. isn’t operational during the show, the queue times may increase.
In 2016, Phantasialand expanded the Mystery themed section to include Klugheim. An area with a medieval touch where you find the roller coasters Taron and Raik. Taron is a roller coaster by Intamin, and has broken several records over the years, including the world’s intensive multi-launch coaster (a multi-launch coaster is a roller coaster where you are brought to high speed several times within a few seconds).
I had the opportunity to experience several roller coasters over the years but Taron is still my number one roller coaster to date. Taron is a roller coaster that doesn’t get bored easily, and the sound of the 2nd launch is amazing. I forgot that I was wearing my Kroka birthday badge, and this was not lost on the Taron staff. The staff spontaneously started singing ‘happy birthday’, after which the rest of our train and the people in the queue also started singing along. It’s something small, but that makes your ride Taron extra good.
After Taron, a ride on Raik could not be missed, this Vekoma family-boomerang coaster has great interaction with Taron, and shows you parts of Klugheim that you will not see from the pathways. Raik is a great family coaster and for us coaster credit hunters, a great +1 credit. A small point of criticism about Raik is the very small train, for taller people, like me it can be an uncomfortable ride.
Besides the roller coasters Taron and Raik, Klugheim also has a very cosy village square. The buildings in the village square are decorated with garlands and lights during Wintertraum. Garlands are usually decorated with Christmas ornaments, but the garlands here are decorated with attributes appropriate to the area. This part of Phantasialand is one of my favourite places to have a beer (and this beer is tapped in glass!). Keep in mind that you have to pay a deposit for the glass, the deposit is ā¬2,50 and will be given back to you by card or cash. When night falls you have a great view on the Mystery Castle tower where the backstory on Schneck will be projected.
China Town, one of Phantasialand’s older themed areas, is home to the darkride/haunted house Geister Rikscha. If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of this kind of attraction myself, but visiting Phantasialand without Geister Rikscha does not feel right. The attraction is rumored to leave the park, and with in mind that Phantasialand projects are (often) not announced everyday could be its last.
China Town is a nicely landscaped themed area, and during Wintertraum one of the most beautifully lit areas of the park, although the attraction offerings here are moderate. Besides Geister Rikscha, and Feng Ju Palace (a Vekoma Madhouse, similar to Villa Volta in the Efteling) is China Town more an area for shops and food outlets. During Wintertraum the buildings in China Town feature extra lighting, which is overpowering in some places. The extra lighting on the buildings is beautifully done, but on the way towards the Deep in Africa area they added so much lighting that the lanterns no longer come into their own. A few years ago, only the lanterns hung here which gave enough atmosphere. In this case, less is more.
China Town is a separate part of Phantasialand, if you look at the major projects they have realized over the years (Rookburgh, Klugheim, Mexico with Chiapas water ride, adaptations to Berlin) there is a good chance that China Town is the next area to be revamped, an extension of Mexico perhaps, or something completely new? Time will tell.
New this year is Avoras, an indoor playground in the entrance hall of themed Fantasy section. The bicycle mill Wolke’s Luftpost has been moved outside for this addition. Fantasy is one of the older areas of the park, yet it seems Phantasialand is done with this area of the park. Both Winjas (Fierce and Force) are still very popular, so is the VR roller coaster Crazy Bats. Besides Avoras, recently being added to the Fantasy area, work is taking place next to the pathway to Berlin. Seen from the WĆ¼rmling Express, the foundations of a new attraction and/or building can already be clearly seen. Fantasy is on the park boundary, a tall attraction and-or building I don’t see appearing here anytime soon, but it sure is an interesting project to follow when the park is back open in March.
On the ground floor of Hotel Matamba you can find the Jafari Bar, a cosy African-themed bar with an extensive menu of drinks, and various cocktails. One of the cocktails was named after roller coaster Black Mamba. I’m normally not a fan of sweet cocktails, but this cocktail was very much to my liking. And that wasn’t the only cocktail that was to my liking, the ‘See you tomorrow’-cocktail (a cocktail with vodka, rum, tequila and whisky) had such a great name that I had to try it, after you had a few you know where this cocktail had his name from, haha.
Breakfast is included during your stay at Hotel Matamba. During check-in you have to give a preference for breakfast, in our case 09:30 am – upon arrival at breakfast you will be escorted to your table by a staff member. During our stay no time slots were used for breakfast, keep in mind that time slots might be used during busy periods and/or weekends. Breakfast is very extensive, with a choice of various sandwiches (sweet or savoury), a salad bar, fruit and various types of yoghurt. My breakfast usually consists of coffee and a yoghurt, I highly recommend going. You will not be disappointed. If you’re lucky, Moyo will visit while you’re having breakfast. If you miss Moyo in the hotel, you can meet her in the park – this mascot will walk around the entrance of Hotel Matamba.
If you would like to have dinner in Hotel Matamba it is possible to reserve a table in restaurant Zambesi. This restaurant offers daily African BBQ. The restaurant is open daily from 18:00 to 23:00 pm (times subject to change, check the current opening hours on Phantasialand’s website). We chose not to take advantage of dinner at Zambesi restaurant during our 2-day stay,and had dinner in the park. It’s recommended to reserve a table online, the restaurant is open for park guests and non-park guests and parking is included if you dine here.
Is Phantasialand worth a visit during Wintertraum? Absolutely! The park is heavenly decorated, and the night rides(especially those on Taron and Black Mamba) are worth visiting. Phantasialand doesn’t have opening times late, so the only time you can experience the night rides is during Wintertraum.
We were lucky that our first day was very quiet, and we could ride all the attractions we wanted to. As mentioned earlier, Phantasialand can get very crowded, especially with an event like Wintertraum. A combination with an overnight stay in one of the Phantasialand hotels is definitely a godsend then. If you make a reservation online for an overnight stay early, you can reserve a room including 2 days of park and breakfast for a decent price.
Should I have plans to visit Phantasialand again, I am considering staying at one of Phantasialand’s other hotels. Hotel Matamba is a beautifully decorated and atmospheric hotel, and this has set my expectations high for Hotel Ling Bao and Hotel Charles Lindbergh.
Thanks for reading, and until the next one!
Bart
What does Bart say? - A Theme Park blog! 
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