Phantasialand is a popular theme park near Cologne in Germany that offers fun and adventure for everyone with its unique rides, attractions and shows.

New for 2019, the Temple of the Night Hawk indoor roller coaster has been transformed into the virtual reality experience Crazy Bats.

We were given a sneak peek inside the attraction before it opened.

The new attraction invites you to go on a cool mission with three crazy bats and experience an action-packed adventure.

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The entrance, queue and station of the former attraction have all received a complete makeover. All the inside areas are a stylish mix of black and icy blue, with touches of gold for lights and frames around digital screens.

Crazy Bats was produced by Ambient Entertainment, so you may recognise the bats from their 2017 animated feature film Happy Family, also known as Monster Family.

The high resolution Pico G2 virtual reality headsets adjust automatically and are very easy to put on. There are integrated headphones for the specially composed soundtrack and various sound effects.

With its 4 minute duration, Crazy Bats is the longest virtual reality coaster in the world. On the ride you are frozen inside a huge block of ice and are sent on a wild journey around a mysterious castle as the bats do everything they can to free you.

The world's first virtual reality roller coaster opened at Germany's Europa-Park in 2015 so Phantasialand is late to add such an attraction, but the park wanted to wait for the technology to be better, and have worked with the specialists VR Coaster.

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Phantasialand is a compact theme park, but what it lacks in size it certainly makes up for in quality. Several of the themed areas are amongst the most immersive you will find at any theme park in the world.

We started our day in Mystery, the most impressive area of the park, and went first to the Mystery Castle indoor tower drop ride. It was dramatic, forceful and surprising. We can't say any more, as it would spoil the experience!

It was a very hot day when we visited, perfect for the water rides. We got completely drenched on the superb River Quest water rapids, a huge multi-level medieval fortress with some of the most extreme drops we've seen on a ride of this type.

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An area within an area, Klugheim is one of the most impressive theme park environments we've ever seen. The sheer scale and attention to detail is quite remarkable, and combined with music and sound effects it transports you to another world.

Taron is an incredible multi-launch roller coaster that redefines the genre. 2 powerful launch sections accelerate the trains to a whopping 117 km/h (73 mph) for the 1,320 m (4,331 ft) long ride, making it the fastest and longest multi-launch roller coaster in the world. The experience is so packed with dramatic manoeuvres and many airtime moments that it feels totally out of control, and we were lucky enough to ride it in the front and back rows during Extra Ride Time - more on that later.

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Raik is a fairly basic family boomerang roller coaster, but as part of this highly themed area and being intertwined with its surroundings it is a perfectly enjoyable ride.

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Just footsteps away is the next themed area, Mexico. Another very impressive water ride, Chiapas, is the centrepiece of this beautiful part of the park. This is no ordinary log flume, with a ride duration of 6 minutes and 3 spectacular drops, the last of which at 53° is the steepest in the world!

Talocan is an extreme thrill ride, a Suspended Top Spin built into the remains of an ancient temple. Riders are spun over and over again, as the gigantic arms rotate the whole ride through a barrage of special effects including fog, water and fire. It's a genuine spectacle, whether you're riding or just watching.

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Nearby in the Wild West area, Colorado Adventure is in many ways a classic 'runaway mine train' roller coaster, but at 1,280 m (4,200 ft) long with a ride duration of almost 3 minutes, featuring 3 lift hills and both indoor and outdoor sections, this is a seriously impressive family ride.

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Black Mamba is a sensational inverted roller coaster, and the star attraction of Deep Africa. An 88.6 ft (27 m) first drop leads into 4 inversions; a loop, zero-g roll and 2 corkscews. The ride reaches a top speed of just under 80 km/h (50 mph). However, the statistics don't do it justice, what makes it so unusual is that two-thirds of the ride are below ground level and the trains rush under, through and over multiple 'near miss' moments. We opted for the front row where the effect is best experienced.

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China Town is another beautifully themed area with temples, pagodas and gardens. There are two indoor attractions here, Feng Ju Palace is a typical 'mad house' attraction that appears to turn riders upside down during the ride, and also the very dated Geister Rikscha which is described as a ghost train. Both are worth experiencing once, but only if there isn't a queue.

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The park's Fantasy area has a wide range of attractions for children, many of which are located in the Wuze Town building.

Winja's Fear & Force are two spinning roller coasters that offer slightly different layouts, with the latter being slightly more intense. What sets these rides apart from similar attractions, are the special elements that cause the ride cars to tilt or drop in unexpected ways.

Hollywood Tour is an oddly placed indoor boat ride through various scenes inspired by some classic movies, sadly it's well beyond its best and doesn't stand up to the standards elsewhere in the park. 

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In the centre of the park, Berlin is a main street lined with shops, cafes and a few attractions including the classic carousel Pferdekarussell and chair swing Wellenflug. The indoor fun house Das Verruckte Hotel Tarkuff was so much fun, with weird and wacky illusions throughout from rotating rooms to wobbly walkways. 

Maus au Chocolat is a charming interactive 4D dark ride. Armed with icing pipers, we were sent on a mission to hunt down the cheeky mice invading the cake factory. The combination of detailed sets, projection screens and effects such as smells and water sprays really enhanced this delightful attraction.

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We stayed at the on-site Hotel Matamba, an impressively themed hotel with authentic rooms, two excellent restaurants and a bar. Our room had a park view, so we woke up to the sight of Africa and the mighty Black Mamba roller coaster.

As hotel guests we enjoyed an hour of exclusive access to Klugheim for extra rides on Taron and Raik. Another perk is being able to enter the park via a special gate at the neighbouring Hotel Ling Bao, avoiding the queues at the main entrance.

The hotel also provides a free buffet breakfast, free WiFi and free parking so we would thoroughly recommend staying here.

• Book a stay at Phantasialand's Hotel Matamba
• Book a stay at Phantasialand's Hotel Ling Bao

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