What Makes Phantasialand So Magical?
BRÜHL, GERMANY — From outside the walls of Germany’s Best Theme Park, you’d think that you couldn’t possibly be in the right place. Traces of theming can be found in Phantasialand’s three resort hotel entrances, two of which straddle the official park entrance, and you’ll no doubt notice a bus wrap with the Phantasialand logo - but the actual entrance, the perimeter, the parking and turnstiles, etc. are as unassuming as a park entrance can get. Many have said, and go on to say, that this lack of fanfare does the park a disservice…but after visiting Phantasialand for the first time this past summer, I’d argue that this is where the magic of your park experience truly begins. After arriving, scanning your tickets and making your way inside the gate, you are immediately overwhelmed by music loops, sightlines, smells and sounds that you’d never have guessed were there - an entire world of boundless possibilities, once hidden but now throwing its doors open to greet you.
Phantasialand first caught our eye in 2018, shortly after our first visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA awoke the slumbering theme park enthusiasts deep within us. We’ve always been lovers of storytelling, original soundtracks, world-building and immersion, which is why the big, bold East Coast wonderlands offered by Walt Disney World and the Universal Orlando Resort always captivated and enthralled us. But we agreed that Disneyland, occupying little more acreage than the Magic Kingdom’s parking lot, somehow offered a more magical experience. Attractions stacked on top of one another, guests being routed through cleverly hidden queues underground, costumed characters roaming freely through a space that felt more like a delightfully whimsical neighborhood than a crowded tourist destination. We’ve fallen in and out of love with the Disney brand over the years, but we will always credit Walt’s original park for igniting a spark that would turn into a raging fire…and for teaching us that the most magical things sometimes come in the smallest, most compact packages. After splurging on an terminally slow wifi connection for our flight home, we were already planning our next several adventures and googling the ‘world’s best theme parks’…which is how another small, but magical park in Brühl came across our radar. In the years that would follow, there would be more cancelled trips than completed trips (thank you, Covid-19), but Phantasialand would remain at the top of our bucket list.
Our arrival on the front steps of the Hotel Matamba was the deeply surreal realization of a five-year dream. The doors of this African-themed hotel are automatic and motion-sensitive, and swung open for us as we approached. This would be the last we would see of the outside world for five full days, resort hop notwithstanding. We were coming from a previous resort stay at Europa Park and had been ferried for more than four hours. We were tired, we were hungry and we were stiff from the long car ride - but when the desk clerk at the Hotel Matamba informed us that our three-day resort stay came with complimentary entry into the adjacent theme park that very afternoon, it was as if we’d just pulled the golden ticket from the wrapper of a Willy Wonka candy bar. It’s a dated metaphor, but I can’t think of anything else that even halfway reflects the excitement that overtook us. The moment had come at long, long last - we were about to enter Phantasialand.
During our stay in Brühl, we spent three nights at the Hotel Matamba, and two nights at the Hotel Charles Lindbergh. Between these two resorts, we were able to enjoy a cumulative six days of theme park experiences at Phantasialand. We saw beautiful days, hot days, and cold, rainy days. We saw attractions open and close for maintenance. We saw characters come and go (some of them harder to find than others), we tried food from every region of the park and we claimed a ride on every major attraction in the park - some rides more than once. We could spend hours gushing about any one thing that stood out about Phantasialand over so many other parks we’ve visited globally - and there were many - but if we were to dilute all of our experiences in the park down to one word, it’d be the same word that we’d used to describe our first visit to Disneyland all those years prior…magical.
So - what is it that makes Phantasialand so magical? For us, it begins with immersion. Phantasialand is landlocked, surrounded on all sides by city streets, small businesses and even family homes. It has roughly 28 hectares (69 acres) of available space to leverage - which, to put it in perspective, is less than half the available space that Disneyland (160 acres) has to leverage in Southern California. Coupled with the fact that the neighboring communities have enforced strict noise and height restrictions on the park, most entrepreneurs would see this as a money pit. But that’s not what founders Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt saw in 1967, and that’s not what Eric Daman, a Belgian-based artist and designer saw in 2002, 2016 and 2021. Where practical minds saw only red tape, innovators saw possibilities. Phantasialand, aptly named, took on its truest form with the opening of realms known as Klugheim, Wuze Town and Rookburgh, adding to the already distinctive realms of Mexico, Africa and China to create a blend of real life and imagination…each land wholly its own, with at least one keystone ride or attraction to anchor it. And here’s the thing - from the center of one themed land, you’d be relatively easy to convince that the others simply didn’t exist.
Sightlines and music loops isolate every themed area of the park into its own pocket universe. Crossing between one realm and the next (as most parkgoers will do multiple times a day) is an experience unto itself. Take, for example, the barrier of rockwork between Mexico and Klugheim. Mexico is a well-known country with a well-known esthetic, which wouldn’t necessarily play well with a fantasy realm of Norse-adjacent castles and stonework. Yet, the two lands sit right next to each other, with only a shallow cave to separate them. As you leave the Catinas and Haciendas behind, you enter a red rock cave mouth. The salsa music begins to fade into an echo. You hear a ‘woosh’ sound effect which might be wind or smoke, but is - in either case - just ambient enough to go undetected by the majority, while effectively blending two competing sound loops together. Then, Klugheim’s whimsical, mysterious woodwinds take over the soundscape, and you step out of a cave mouth covered in charcoal-colored “french fry rocks” and catch your first glimpse of the mythical Taron zipping around a mysterious fisherman’s village. Tell me that what I’m describing can be perceived as anything but magical.
Above: Few things are more exciting than walking into Phantasialand’s Klugheim area and seeing the mythical Taron launching around the canyon at speeds of 73mph!
But it’s not just how immersive the space is, it’s also how well the space is used. Stairwells, hidden passageways, footbridges and caves are used to move people around, over and under attractions; and attractions themselves are layered with staggering proximity that might never be seen in the United States. You might find yourself walking right under Chiapas die Wasserbahn and Colorado Adventure as they intersect, then taking a tunnel to Klugheim and taking position on the bridge overlook, all within the same forty feet (12 meters). That, of course, is to say nothing of the way that F.L.Y. wraps tightly around Rookburgh and zooms straight through the Hotel Charles Lindbergh - we have a whole separate video and accompanying blog post about that experience, and it’s not to be missed. My point is that Phantasialand finds ways to navigate the challenges of space while making the worlds of its property that much more believable. Black Mamba may not be a particularly tall roller coaster, but by digging down deeper into the ground beneath Africa, the park has given it a particularly intense route. Chiapas may not have the longest flume track in the world, but the use of turntables and switch points allows it to go up and down to reach one of the tallest (and steepest) peaks in flume history. River Quest may not have the space it needs to take you on a full tour of Klugheim, but its unique elevator lift and spiral course give riders a pretty intense and lengthy rapids ride. In many ways, it’s the lack of space at Phantasialand that makes many of these attractions, lands and thruways stand out.
So we have these remarkable, immersive themed lands full of rides that make great use of the available space. Those two things, on their own, would create a somewhat ‘magical’ atmosphere…but let’s not sell Phantasialand short. It’s the commitment to these themes - with realm-specific and land-appropriate food, bathrooms, costumes and music loops - that can take an afternoon at Germany’s best theme park from good to great. The way that the African dancers greet you in the land’s native tongue, the way that the citizens of Rookburgh are always dressed in their finest overalls and aviator goggles, the way that the bathrooms nearest Chiapas are layered in hand-painted ceramic tiles…no expense is spared in convincing you that you’ve left your world behind, and entered a world unknown and unwritten. Live entertainment helps to bolster these environments, with some of the most talented performers in Europe dancing, singing, skating and flipping through acts like Nobis (Berlin) and Rock on Ice (Mexico). And, though fewer here than in some other parks we’ve visited, Phantasialand does have its own characters to support the narrative, too. Six realms, six dragons to meet…and, for the record, Schneck the Dragon can be found hiding behind a large curtain just outside the exit doors to Mystery Castle (if your experience is in any way comparable to ours, I just saved you days of hunting).
And the food at Phantasialand…where do I even begin!? I recognize that when you’re accustomed to the food at American theme parks, you’ve nowhere to go but up. That said, Phantasialand was technically the third park that we visited as part of a longer trip to Germany (following Europa Park and Rulantica, respectively) - and the food at this park was easily the best of the three. Everything from the ice cream at the snack stands to the crêpes in the market to the home-baked Bavarian meatloaf at Rutmor’s Taverne (Klugheim), every morsel was freshly prepared right in front of us and felt authentic to the area in which it was served. The portion sizes were excellent, too - theme park food can be expensive, and sharing a meal isn’t always possible. But here, in the interconnected realms of Phantasialand, a sandwich from Zum Kohleschipper or a quesadilla from La Cantina Tacana is enough to feed two people for plus or minus €14 ($16.21 USD). It might be a stretch to consider food prices and quality “magical”…but when you’re watching raw meat cooked and seasoned right before your very eyes at a quick service restaurant, you can’t help describing it that way.
So, what is it that makes Phantasialand so magical? For those seeking an answer as simple as the question, I’ll meet you where you are….the one, fundamental thing that makes Phantasialand so much more magical than so many other parks and resorts we’ve visited is creativity. Whether it’s stumbling across the logs and rocks on the Deep In Africa Adventure Trail, meeting Phenie the dragon in Wuze Town or chowing down on a crepe in Klugheim…you never feel like adventure is far off and you never worry about what the next workday might bring. There’s something for everyone, and every detail feels lovingly designed to spark imagination and wonder, pulling you deeper into its world with each and every step. Phantasialand is the rare kind of place that reminds you what it feels like to dream with your eyes open - and we can’t wait to get back to dreaming again soon.
Phantasialand (Berggeiststraße 31–41, Brühl, Germany) will reopen for its Wintertraum celebration in late November 2025, transforming the park into a dazzling holiday wonderland of lights, music and themed entertainment. Following the winter season, guests can look forward to the park’s 2026 spring and summer seasons, featuring extended hours, live performances and new surprises across all of its themed worlds. For park hours, events, and tickets, visit https://www.phantasialand.de.
