Phantasialand

Phantasialand is a theme park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. It was opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt. Although starting as a family-oriented park, it has added thrill rides, especially in recent years. Following the example of Europa-Park, it has also decided to attract business customers, calling spring the slogan "Business to Pleasure". Phantasialand is known for its high theming detail. It introduces new attractions more often compared to other German theme parks, to compensate for its small area; and is regularly voted one of the world's best theme parks. Among its thrill rides is Taron, the world's second fastest multi-launch coaster; Black Mamba, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster; and a themed Mine Train roller coaster called Colorado Adventure, which runs between some of the mountains in the park's Wild West section, and was opened by Michael Jackson. The most recent addition was F.L.Y., a Vekoma launched flying coaster. Phantasialand opened in 1967. On 1 May 2001, a fire destroyed two roller coasters, a theatre and parts of the Westernstadt. It was the result of a cable fire in the Grand-Canyon-Bahn caused by faulty wiring. The blaze covered about 38 million Deutsche Mark (US$17 million) in damage and 54 people were injured. Phantasialand reopened the park about two weeks later and invested about €2 million in fire safety, equipping every building with sprinkler systems. Phantasialand is also home to "Mystery Castle", an indoor Intamin Ride Trade Bungee Drop featuring a walk through a haunted castle. Next to the castle is "River Quest", a rapid river ride which features a lift, built by Hafema in 2002. It replaced the attractions destroyed by the fire one year before. In 2002, Winja's Fear and Force, two indoor spinning coasters built by Maurer Söhne, were built along with a new area called Wuze Town. New for 2006 was an African-themed B&M inverted roller coaster called Black Mamba.