Euro-fortnight

[J.S217]

Fantastic Reports here Mark really enjoyable to read and I should really get my self over to some of these places sometime

[Pickles]

I miss our Danish adventure playground adventures :')

[Spider]

Another great trip report. I think I know the answer to this, but if you had to pick one park in Denmark to go to, which would it be?

Also, where is next for you? It's so interesting reading about trips like this, especially this one where you've unearthed some parks and rides that I would never have heard of otherwise, and kind of 'completed' a country in a way that most trips wouldn't accommodate. Are there other European countries with a set of theme parks like this that are worth visiting?

[Mark9]

Thanks Spider, for me Djurs Sommerland was the best park. it's not all based on the top rollercoasters, it felt like a park that a lot of care and love has gone into and for me that counts for a lot.

My next European parks are Disneyland Paris in September and then PortAventura, also in September. My next real aim for countries to hit is Sweden, Holland, Norway and Belgium as despite being so close, are all relatively ignored by UK enthusiasts and there is nothing better then arriving at a park and having no idea how its going to go.

As for country trips, I've only done South Germany, Italy and Denmark and the easiest by far was Denmark. It's a relatively small country and the parks are all very close to the two largest cities so trips are relatively easy if you are able to drive. Italy was a challenge due to the way Italian drivers are and the huge distances between Rainbow Magicland, Miribilandia and Gardaland. With that being said, it's worth the effort when you get on things like Katun and Raptor and discover absolutely fantastic rides that really raise the bar.

[pluk]

Can I be rude and bring up money? How much did this Denmark jaunt cost each?

I'm under the impression everything is ridiculously expensive in all the Nordic countries, having been to Finland I know that was quite true there. When you add up car hire, petrol, food, drink, accommodation and park tickets I can imagine it being a pretty hefty amount? Do you think it is worth it for what is on offer compared to what you can get in other countries for similar or less expense?

[Benin]

Denmark is tres expensive when you're there (food is the main culprit, but I think for the most part it's the weird change of having DKK, 1200DKK for 4 people in Hard Rock Cafe for 2 courses as a base line)... Cost for 4 of us about £500 each for 3 different hotels (all in the centre of their respective towns), flights, hire car and then 4 parks in advance (Farup and Bakken were on the day)...

It depends what you want from a country trip really... There are plenty of cheap alternatives around the continent, but really there are few stand-out smaller countries on a whole, since they all have good and bad parks...

Worth going though...

[Pickles]

I ended up spending in total about £300 in DKK still ran out and had to borrow...

[BenC]

Great trip reports both Mark9 and Benin! I went to Denmark myself last weekend to do a shorter version of your trip, with just Djurs, Farup and Legoland Billund visited. All 3 lovely Parks and well worth a trip over there – Ryanair £50 return flights to Billund win! You’ve covered everything really well, but my thoughts for what they’re worth:

Djurs Sommerland

A really well presented Park, and lovely place to be. However, I felt it was a shame the themeing wasn’t more immersive – there were lots of empty green spaces in between areas, so I never really felt that I was in “Mexico” or “Pirateland”. The Wild West area was the only space I felt this wasn’t true. Nevertheless, Djurs was very clean & tidy, and I would love to visit again when more “developed”. It also has some outstanding Intamin machines:

Juvelen: a complete surprise, I really loved this ride. Unassuming as a spectator, but filled with tight turns, airtime and a really powerful second launch. It was also well themed, lots of fun and (at over 1km) really long. Pitched squarely at the family, this is exactly the sort of investment that Chessington should be making. In fact, Chessie should just get a carbon Juvelen copy right now.

Piraten: completely agree that this gets better as the day goes on, but feel this has been slightly under-rated; after 8 hours’ running, this ride is an absolute airtime MACHINE! Given the tunnel, turns and relentless hills, I actually found that the second half of the coaster was better than the first – how many coasters can you say that of? Don’t think I’ve ever had as much severe ejector airtime from a coaster before. Really, really good fun.

Thor’s Hammer: a long Gerstlauer Mouse-type ride with an excellent first downward helix, and an equally good final helix over water. Better than most of its type.

Special mention at Djurs must also go to Solguden, a Zierer Flying Fish with a horribly catchy theme tune... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWsGax5-lI

Farup Sommerland

My favourite Park of the trip, which felt larger than Djurs and was almost completely surrounded by forest. Less effort made to theme areas to specific themes, though – it was all natural/woodland (but very pretty). The coasters were all fun, although none quite matched Djurs’ headliners:

Orkanen: a brand new Vekoma suspended family coaster with a first drop that dives into the lake and out the other side. One of the new super-smooth Vekomas with lapbar restraints, and was a perfect fit in this family Park. Would like to see more of these – would make a great “step-up” attraction for a Park like Paultons. Good fun, and an improvement on the smaller (and similar) Kvasten at Grona Lund (Sweden).

Lynet: I thought this was good, but not great. I liked the rolling launch, the airtime pops and the length of the track, but it was still a bit Gerstlauer-rough, and the airtime was a bit painful on the legs with the Gerst OTSRs. Would almost certainly be improved with lapbars!

Falken: Riding this in the torrential rain was hilarious, and so the roughness of it all was less of a concern! It was certainly jolty, although not painfully so – and I’ve been on far worse wooden machines (Coaster Express at Parque Warner, Madrid, for one). Not super intense due to the family target market, it certainly ticked the “out of control feeling” box – I liked it.

Legoland Billund

My favourite of the Legoland Parks I’ve been to – large and very little “Merlin” to be seen. Just 20 mins walk from Billund Airport (no joke), it’s just a shame that when on any ride that goes above tree-height, all you see is an industrial park or a runway!

Polar X-Plorer: Would have to agree with Mark9/Benin that the drop sequence here was not an improvement on Intamin’s, purely because the mechanism was totally visible and there was such poor themeing/storytelling during the sequence. Perhaps the Park’s fault as much as Zierer’s. No pre-drop bouncing a la Th13teen, but the actual drop was relatively forceful. The rest of the coaster was pretty good though; a fun first drop went some way to make up for these shortcomings.

X-treme Racers: Categorically the worst Wild Mouse I’ve ever been on, save its (now defunct) sister Jungle Coaster at Windsor, where the ride cars were boxed in with Perspex due to noise complaints (now at Lego Florida, back in its original un-boxed state). X-treme Racers was trimmed to death, to the point where I was just bored. Tedious.

Dragen: Better than Windsor’s Dragon, with a longer indoor section, and more thrilling outdoor section. Went round again because it was impossible to see everything inside the Castle section first time around!

Overall, Denmark is a lovely country, with some lovely Parks and impressive rides (might be slightly biased due to not visiting Bakken/Bon Bon…). Well worth a trip over there for any enthusiast looking to experience some Scandi goodness!

Top 5:

1. Piraten – just (Djurs)
2. Juvelen (Djurs)
3. Orkanen (Farup)
4. Lynet (Farup)
5. Polar X-Plorer (Legoland Billund)