Germany is full of theme parks and home to some of the best parks in Europe including Europa Park, Phantasialand, Movie Park, Hansa Park, Holiday Park and Heide Park however, these parks are quite spread out across the country. Two parks that are situated relatively close to each other are Phantasialand and Movie Park. In this post I will talk about planning a Trip to Phantasialand & Movie Park in Germany, sharing ideal places to stay, the journey to take and how to achieve this on a budget.
Whilst both Phantasialand and Movie Park are, in theory, parks you could get to on public transport from major German cities such as Cologne (Köln) and Düsseldorf in planning a trip earlier this year I realised that relying on public transport for these parks wasn’t going to be cost effective for two people and would also require a couple of changes between busses and trains whereas, even factoring in petrol, parking costs at the parks and the emissions sticker required for driving in a lot of Germany driving was a better option.
Driving to Germany from the UK is relatively simple and the best way is to get the ferry from Dover to Calais or Dunkirk (the driving route you take means either works!). I recently even found ferries to Calais for less than £50 each via Omio! (You’ll save a bit more if you use that link too!)
Once at Calais or Dover you’ll want to toggle ‘avoid tolls’ on your Apple or Google Maps and take the route that will send you through Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany. For this reason you’ll want to make sure your phone’s data works in Europe or get a super-cheap data e-sim for your trip from Global Yo.
This journey is around 5 hours drive from Calais and is largely on main roads which are pretty easy to navigate. I also find driving in Europe much more relaxing than in the UK because people actually pull out to let you in on slip lanes and no-one is a middle-lane-hogger…once someone has overtaken they actually pull back in!!!
If you want to break up the journey then you could even stop off in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and plan in trips to Efteling or Toverland. To go all out you could even stop for a day at Plopsa De Panne which is only 40 minutes from Dunkirk or 60 minutes from Calais…you’ll pass it on your journey! For those who decide to stop off in Eindhoven then the Downtown Gourmet Market is fantastic spot for food and both Efteling and Toverland can be reached from Eindhoven using public transport if you want to leave the car for a couple of days (I’ll post more about visiting these parks and Eindhoven in another blog).
But let’s get back to getting to Germany!
The best city to base yourself in for Movie Park and Phantasialand is Düsseldorf which is around 1 hour’s drive from each park (in opposite directions). It’s also a beautiful city to visit and enjoy some time around.
Düsseldorf has plenty of hotels you can stay in. We stayed at the Dreams Hotel which was about 10 minutes walk from the centre and close to tram stops. Parking in Düsseldorf centre itself is expensive but there are some free park and ride areas where you can leave your car as long as you like and catch the tram into the centre. This is what we did and took advantage of Südfriedhof P+R which is situated near the University. The Park and Ride is also close for getting back onto the main roads for your trips out to the parks.
When staying in Düsseldorf make sure you check out Alt bier. A dark German beer which is exclusive to that region of Germany, most bars you go into will sell it and some even have a system where they’ll top up your glass as soon as its empty (unless your beer mat is on top of it!) and tally your drinks on your beer mat. Alt Bier is delicious!
As mentioned, Phantasialand is around 55 minutes drive from Düsseldorf and a nice easy drive on mostly main roads. Tickets for Phantasialand are best purchased online and in advance as this saves you money and costs roughly €68 per adult. Phantasialand do offer fast track but their operations seemed efficient enough for us to get on everything without this in one day.
Parking at Phantasialand is €7 per car and is payable via cash or card on the day using their machines. There’s plenty of these but you might want to purchase your ticket earlier in the day to avoid queues.
I felt like a day was the right amount of time at Phantasialand. We went during the UK Easter holidays and there were queues but the longest we queued was an hour for F.L.Y and this was largely because it had some downtime. When we got there we headed straight for Mambo which was walk on and even managed some smaller attractions too but didn’t see any shows.
If you only have a day then I think you’ll fit everything in…we even managed re-rides on F.L.Y and Taron but if you want a more leisurely pace you could do 2 days and maybe even stay at one of their stunning hotels (if budget allows…ours didn’t!).
As an aside Phantasialand is absolutely beautifully themed so be prepared to walk around saying ‘Wow’!
Movie Park is around 70 minutes drive from Düsseldorf and is again, a fairly simple drive mostly on main roads. Once again, for best value you’ll want to book online in advance and tickets are around €50 per person. Movie Park also has a fast-track pass you can buy which, again, when we went we didn’t need to get on everything. Parking will cost you €8 and can be booked online the same time as your ticket or purchased on the day.
To put it simply, no. Movie Park isn’t a massive park and whilst it does offer some fun coasters such as Movie Park Studio Tour, Van Helsing’s Factory and Star Trek Operation Enterprise these didn’t seem to gain massive queues. There’s also the wooden coaster ‘Bandit’ to experience if you don’t mind a seriously rough ride (I hope the RMC rumours about this coaster are true!) plus some other smaller coasters and a SLC to check out.
Movie Park also offers a surprisingly forceful drop tower with a stand-up option, a nicely themed rapids and a good variety of other flat rides plus a stunt-car show which was worth watching and some other shows which we didn’t check out.
However, it’s certainly a one-day park and, in my opinion, only Star Trek Operation Enterprise, a Mack launched coaster was worth re-riding. We did re-ride bandit to see if it was more comfortable in a different seat…it wasn’t…this is hands-down the roughest roller coaster I’ve been on…it makes the Grand National at Blackpool feel smooth!
With many car insurance companies covering you for European driving, affordable ferries and great roads in Europe both Movie Park and Phantasialand are easily within reach of the UK and worth visiting. when planning a trip to Phantasialand & Movie Park in Germany the option of driving rather than flying helps bring travel costs down and gives you more freedom whilst out there to explore more of the countries you pass through and even turn it into a mega road trip…I’m thinking Plopsa De Panne, Walibi Holland, Toverland, Efteling, Movie Park and Phantasialand…maybe even through Walibi Belgium in too!
If you have any questions or comments about planning a trip then drop them below or get in touch via social media or email. I’d love to help you out!
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