A cold day at Phantasialand: Rookburgh, F.L.Y. & Wintertraum

[multimueller]

As some regular Theme Park Review readers might know, I live in Bonn, which is not only the former capital of Germany, but also very close to Phantasialand. The park has a solid reputation for building excellently themed roller coasters like the “Colorado Adventure” Vekoma mine train, the B&M inverter “Black Mamba” and most recently the Intamin multi launch coaster “Taron”, embedded in the genuine world of “Klugheim” that opened in 2016. Phantasialand is a family owned park, so it came quite as a surprise that they announced another world class rollercoaster to open in 2020: F.L.Y., located in the new themed area “Rookburgh” – a steam punk type of land. This flying coaster, build by Dutch manufacturer “Vekoma” features 0.75 miles of track, two LSM launches, a “dark ride” part, two inversions and the most innovative loading system I have ever seen on the flying coaster: to enable riders to board, the track is mounted against the station wall and the seats are rotated 90°. To put passengers into the “flying” position, the seats rotate back seamlessly after the ride has passed the short “dark ride” section. The whole setting of the attraction is amazing: steam emerges from the underground, there are tons of details and the sound design creates a perfect immersion. But it is at night, when “Rookburgh” really shines. A visit during the “Wintertraum” event is greatly recommended, as the park stays open late and there are little to no wait times – even at top attractions like F.L.Y., Taron and Black Mamba.

The steam effects and the low winter sun make for some cool "god rays"

The coaster interacts with the elaborate themeing. I really love that shot.

Speaking of themeing …

They use metal detectors and a clever locker system, so F.L.Y. flies literally over the guests heads.

Tracks and trains and winter sun and blimps and Vekoma goodness

This inversion makes the cars look like a petal.

Pier 5

Just one of many "airtime" moments. And yes: that's ice on the top of the backbone. 30°F.

A panoramic view of F.L.Y. and the whole "Rookburgh" area. Pretty, uh?

To the left you can see the first straight LSM launch segment.

For the real enthusiast, there is a capsule style hotel embedded into "Rookburgh": "Charles Lindbergh" gives guests some exclusive views of "F.L.Y." (as the trains literally travel around your rooms) and front of line access.

I did mention the excellent themeing, didn't I?

It's all about flight.

They might not completely follow german mask policies, but at least those girls seem to have fun.

They do way better (as most of the guest do)

One of the infamous steam effects.

This gauges turn red before those effects go off.

Did I mention the themeing?

I'm pretty sure, I did.

And there is lot of it.

When the sun sets the whole area becomes even more "magical".

After sunset. That's some impressive view, isn't it? They even do a short "light show" when the lighting turns from "day mode" to "night mode".

Another panoramic view of "Rookburgh".

Track and lights and steam.

This is the second launch stretch. It catapults you upward.

[bert425]

^ wow. . . STUNNING pics!

[Invertalon]

Excellent photos! Refreshing to see proper (well done) photos that are not coming from a phone. Makes me miss my camera gear that I sold a few years back!

I can't wait to get back to Phantasialand to ride FLY! Looks so much fun (and I love that park!). 

[Nrthwnd]

I think I would actually like to be 'lost', wandering around that whole area...

.... oh yeah right, ride the coaster, too!

Gorgeous photos you took, especially those panoramic ones! And the nights shots are really lovely.

Thanks for sharing all of the photos you took!

[multimueller]

Skimming through my photo collection I found some more shots of Rookburgh:

As the whole area revolves around flying, there is some artwork about Amelia Earhart.

The entrance hall of the embedded hotel "Charles Lindbergh"

More "god rays".

People can fly

The area looks awesome from dawn to dusk.

[cfc]

Rookburgh looks very impressive, and Vekoma has really upped their game in the last few years. 

[jedimaster1227]

Amazing pictures! Phantasialand has always been on my to-do list for an eventual Europe trip. Rookburgh only makes me want to plan that trip sooner!

Thanks for sharing this great report!

[multimueller]

On 1/1/2022 at 2:06 PM, cfc said:

Vekoma has really upped their game in the last few years. 

Yes, this is nothing near your childhood's SLC …

I went to the parks the other day and brought some new photos. This time in black and white. Enjoy:

American first time visitors are often surprised how blurry german people are.

Trains cross this trench a couple of times during their flight.

And here's where they come out again.

As the old Lufthansa slogan said: „There's no better way to F.L.Y.“

If you look really, really close, you can see the Vekoma train in this picture

When it comes to fog effects, you just can't "overdo" it!

[Nrthwnd]

I love how a black & white photo can sometimes make things look so 'retro', compared to in colour, etc.

Again, wonderful photos you took! Thanks for sharing, again.

[coasterbill]

Great photos!

I’ve always wanted to go to this event since they’re happy to run their log flume in the snow and those are my kind of people…

[805Andrew]

I love Phantasialand! It was one of the parks in Europe that impressed me the most especially by all the immaculate theming of the rides and areas surrounding them. Seeing all these amazing pictures definitely makes me want to return for Rookburg and FLY.