Freizeitpark Plohn is a heavily wooded theme park in east Germany. Opening in 1996,
the park combines fairy tale and western theming over its 62 acres. And the park also has some
notable attractions such as the lesser talked about El Toro and the recently opened Dynamite.
But is this park worth visiting? Find out in this review of Freizeitpark Plohn.
Going into my visit, I hadn’t heard much about this park. And the primary
culprit is its location. Most coaster enthusiasts visit the major parks in western
and northern Germany, but few make it to the east German parks. Since my trip included both
the west German parks and the Polish parks, Freizeitpark Plohn was the perfect pit stop.
Freizeitpark Plohn has a unique feel. In some ways it feels like Knoebels
since it’s tucked entirely in the woods and features a mismatch of pathways.
Some parts of the park are paved while other sections have dirt or cobblestone paths. At
points, I questioned if I was even on a walkway that was supposed to accessible to guests.
But along with that woodsy feel, Freizeitpark Plohn also had more theming than expected.
The park had a fairytale forest section plus an extensive western themed area. A
lot of attractions either had themed queue lines or dark ride sections.
As of 2021, Freizeitpark Plohn cost 32 Euros for adults. While the park may not have as many
rides as Germany’s major parks, there 6 roller coasters- including two large and unique ones-
plus a few notable non-coasters. I thought it was a fair price for what the park offered.
One thing to watch out for is that the park has a no re-entry policy
as of 2021. I’m not sure if this was just due to covid or the norm, so definitely let me know
down in the comments if you know. One issue with Freizeitpark Plohn
is the capacity of their attractions. 5 of their 6 coasters can only run one train and
the one that can run multiple trains in Dynamite, only seats 8 riders per train…and I’ve heard it
has a tendency to run just one train anyway. I visited on a dreary summer weekday and most
rides had full queues. The worst two were Miniwah and El Toro, which had roughly 45 minute waits.
Then Dynamite had roughly a 30 minute wait once the second train was added.
Even the trio of kiddie and junior coasters were roughly 15-20 minute waits.
The few flat rides the park had and the water rides had much shorter waits, although the
latter may have been due to the weather. I was not expecting the lines to take as long as they did at
Freizeitpark Plohn since crowds seemed much less of an issue in the other trip reports I had seen.
The two headlining attractions are El Toro and Dynamite.
El Toro was the third GCI in Europe and it’s one of the company’s smallest coasters,
standing just 80 feet or 25 meters tall. But it has a unique layout. It has an aggressive first
third with some quick turns and rapid pops of airtime as it dives over and under the flume.
Unfortunately, the ride gets progressively weaker as it goes. The quartet of bunny hills in
the middle of the ride had weak airtime at best and the final few hills had no airtime at all.
The ride did mix in some decent laterals and the heavily wooded setting amplified
the sense of speed. While it may be one of GCI’s weaker coasters, it’s still a fun ride for the
reasons I go into in a separate review. Dynamite is the park’s largest coaster.
Opening in 2019, this Mack Big Dipper is a super compact ride with 3 great inversions. I love the
hangtime on the wingover first drop and the zero-G roll in particular. Then the coaster also mixes in
some forceful valleys and pops of airtime. The ride is short but it packs a solid punch and
offers an experience comparable to a Gerstlauer Euro Fighter. Plus this ride has a super
well-themed queue line loaded with western theming and even an animatronic. I go into more detail in
a separate review, but this is a decent coaster. The other four coasters offer much less thrills.
Miniwah is an interesting indoor Mack powered coaster. It feels more like a dark ride to be
honest. You get 3 laps on this coaster. The first is taken very slowly so you can admire
all the details while the next two laps are faster like the average Mack powered coaster.
And to be honest, I wish all laps were slow since there were so many details in
the expansive set pieces. I wasn’t expecting this ride to have as much theming as it did.
Plohseidon is a Zierer junior coaster plussed by some Atlantis theming in the pre-lift
and a location above the water. It’s a smooth and comfortable ride for all ages
and if you ride in the back, you get a surprising pull over the first drop.
The final two coasters are nothing special. You have Drachenwirbel,
which is a 3 loop SBF Visa spinner and Family Coaster, which is a wacky worm.
Moving onto the water rides, you have two notable ones. Wildwasserbahn is a Mack log flume that
starts by going through a devil’s mouth and through a dark ride scene. The rest of the
ride interacts with El Toro and the final drop is quite tall and features an awesome headchopper.
Then you have Fluch des Teutates, which is one of those spinning rapids rides you commonly find
in Europe. This one felt more like a spinning ride than a water ride since you spin non-stop.
The biggest issue with the park’s ride lineup is the lack of flat rides.
There are only a few for both kids and adults. I think a flat ride package scattered across the
park would be a worthwhile investment for this park. The biggest benefit is
that these attractions could help pull guests from the headlining attractions.
The lack of rides is one of the reasons the queues for the roller coasters were so busy.
The park does have a wide range of themed walkthrough exhibits and play areas though. The
latter were particularly popular amongst kids. Since the ride queues took more time than
anticipated, I didn’t have time to try any food. From what I saw, the park didn’t have too
many food stands. Most were located towards the center of the park on the western themed street.
So do I recommend Freizeitpark Plohn? It’s a decent park if you’re either in
east Germany or passing through. El Toro and Dynamite are two enjoyable coasters.
And then the rest of the park looks great between the theming and woodsy feel. This park just
has a relaxing feel to it. Hopefully you have better luck with the queue lines in the future
and/or the park can add some additional attractions to better disperse crowds.
Freizeitpark Plohn probably isn’t a full day park for a coaster enthusiast,
but there are several other attractions nearby. I think the best strategy for a coaster enthusiast
is to combine both Plohn and the nearby Belantis into one day.
If you have young kids, there are enough play areas to keep them busy for a full day.
So those are my thoughts on Freizeitpark Plohn, one of the largest parks in east Germany. Have
you been to this theme park? What do you think about the rides and/or theming? I would love to
hear what you think about this place down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!