Denmark/Germany Trip Report

[Mega-Lite]

Over the past couple of years I've really enjoyed reading trip reports on various forums, so I figured, for the people like me who enjoy reading these things, I'll take a shot.

 

3 weeks ago me and my friend went on a weekend trip to Denmark, I had never been to this part of Denmark before, instead having only done Tivoli Gardens (which I love) and Bakken (which I don't). This trip had been on the cards for a while and the opening of DrageKongen was the reason for waiting.

 

Day 1

 

After a stupidly early flight out of Heathrow, with equally stupid BA we landed in Billund. Seeing Polar X-plorer from the runway was fun and got me to thinking, how many other creds can you see from runways? Do you guys know any? Very relaxed and calm security checks done and we were in arrivals. We went with Sixt car hire for 2 reasons, they were very cheap compared and they promised us if you entered details online, the wait at the desk would be short. After waiting in a 20 minute queue to get to the desk then another 10 minutes at the desk we soon realised this was all lies. We ordered a small hatchback, got an Opel estate, great.. Extremely short drive later and we were at.

 

Legoland Billund

 

Now let me start by saying, I really don't care for Legoland parks anymore. I've watched Windsor decline in quality for many years and turned down a trip to Legoland Japan because it didn't interest me at all. So why Billund one then? Simple, Polar X-plorer! We got to the park and began to get worried when the main car park was closed because it was full and we had to park about 500 miles away in the 2nd of 3 car parks owned by the park, spite! After walking the entire length of the park from the outside to reach the entrance, it was time to buy tickets. Now correct me if I'm wrong (normally am) but as a UK Merlin Annual Pass holder I assumed I got half price entry, I told this to the friendly man in the ticket office and he replied, "I think it's free for you with that pass", I tried my best to explain I didn't think this was the case however. 5 minutes of him searching through his paper work and phoning people, he gave up and told me, "I'll just give you a free ticket, I really don't know how this works", thank you sir!

 

We were now in the park and it was heaving, elbows out levels of busy for as far as I could see, oh god. My friend who had visited before powered us over to a queue board, 30 minute queue for powered Dragon and rest was 10, I guess everyone else is here to get sun burnt for the fun of it then. I'm no good at remembering the order we did things in, so I'll just recap the attractions we experienced.

 

Dragen - Powered version of the classic Legoland star attraction, the dark ride section before the coaster begins is in a much better condition than it's Windsor counterpart, as for the rest of it, meh.

Ghost - To anyone wanting this to come to Windsor, go ride it right now, then please tell me if you still feel that way, terrible.

Ninjago - Quite fun for what it is, but really didn't do much for me.

Polar X-plorer - Great little coaster this, this is what Windsor needs, but I'm not sure it deserves it. The coaster section before the drop track is great fun, with some good forces and nice pops of air. The drop track section to me feels more forceful than 13 and you really do come out of your seat. Fantastic trains too. Had 3 laps on this and cherished each one.

Temple - If you think Laser Raiders is bad (which I do), this is even worse. The whole ride is just a big circle, then back to station, with almost nothing happening.

X-treme Racers - Been many years since I last rode Jungle Coaster but I don't remember it being this bad. Rough, slow and pointless, why do Legoland have so many of these things?

 

Legoland Billund final thoughts? The park is much nicer than the Windsor one. The park is very clean, all Lego models in the park are still moving (unlike half of Windsor) and the staff are lovely (I put that one down to Denmark in general though). Polar X-plorer alone is worth the effort of visiting this park, however if this coaster wasn't here I certainly would not have made the trip.

 

Tivoli Friheden

 

About an hour in the World's longest car later and we were parking in the car park of the local baseball stadium for a couple minute walk to Tivoli Friheden. This park was something of a surprise for me. This was my knowledge before arriving, it was ghetto, it had a SCAD tower and the SLC had derailed. The park was only on this trip as a means of gaining more creds for the list but I walked away quite impressed with the place.

 

Bisværmen - SBF Visa childrens spinning coaster, a bigger version of Whirlwind in Yarmouth. +1.

Cobra - Certainly not the worst SLC I've ridden and the fear of derailing again, trust me it felt like it was trying, made this quite a funny experience.

Dragen - Wacky Worm. +1

Orkanens Øje - Clone of Turbo on Brighton Pier, what more can I say, managed to have a conversation on this though.

Tyfonen - Zamperla's attempt at a Reverchon spinning, not as good and for some reason our car didn't spin, weird.

 

My friend did the SCAD tower, I opted to eat an ice cream and watch him fall to his death, he survived and told me it was a very fun experience. We then played mini golf which was brilliant fun, one of the more messed up courses, several moments of thinking the designers must of been on something with this one. Off we went hitting the dusty trail. This park is a lot better than I've ever seen it get credit for online. Sure it's a bit wacky in places and none of the rides are that impressive, but it doesn't matter. Friendly staff, pretty setting and everyone having a good time speaks more than enough for this place.

 

Another short drive to Randers to our very reasonably priced hotel and thus ended our first day.

[Benin]

Polar X-Plorer is a weird one, because the coaster section is really good, but the drop onwards is awful... Thirteen's drop system is far superior in my book...

 

Ghost is fab too <3

 

Should've done the SCAD Tower, certainly one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done...

[Mega-Lite]

I'm not going to deny the section after the drop wasn't extremely underwhelming, not a patch on the backwards section of 13 that's for sure. Think we will have to agree to disagree about Ghost though, the build up to the ride was quite impressive I must admit, but the ride itself, pass.

 

Day 2

 

After a good nights sleep in the World's most quiet hotel, despite many teens lurking in the car park the night we arrived, it was dead silent, great! About an hour and half of driving later we arrived at..

 

Farup Sommerland

 

You buy your park entrance tickets while still in the car from little admission huts either side of the road, first time I've ever seen this and I like it! Spent about 20 minutes glazing myself up in sun screen, all 3 days of this trip it was 30 degrees and I burn like nothing else on Earth. This park claims it's Denmark's best sommerland, I'll be the judge of that!

 

Falken - My first S&S woodie, I wasn't expecting much from it and I came off very happy indeed. Fast, quite forceful, strong pops of airtime throughout and just the right amount of a beating to know it's a woodie but not enough to hinder the experience. Got 3 laps on it, good little ride this. If you forced me to place it in terms of a ranking, I'd say I prefer it to the Gerts and Vekoma woodies but it's quite a way away from the CCI/GCI/Intamins, great fun though!

Flagermusen - Reverchon spinner with an amusing name. +1.

Lynet - Was apprehensive about this Gerts launch coaster and I needn't have been as it was rather good. The launch is great and quite forceful and the rest of the layout is littered with great pops of airtime and smooth inversions. If this thing had the same restraints as Karacho and Karnan (lapbars) it could have been fantastic, but for now I'll leave it at great.

Mine Expressen - Getting a bit bored of these Vekoma junior coasters now, oh well, got the cred.

Orkanen - My first ride on the biggest of the Vekoma Family Suspended coasters and it was great. Definitely an improvement on the smaller model (Pterosaur at Paultons/Kvasten at Grona Lund), faster and slightly more forceful. The setting over the water, the theming and the fact it rode smooth as butter made it worth a couple of laps for sure.

Pindsvinet - Don't judge me. +1

 

Farup Sommerland is a very good looking park with a lovely nature feeling throughout, the atmosphere was very nice and I enjoyed the coaster line up a lot more than I expected to. Is it Denmark's best sommerland then? Nope! Djurs is and leads me nicely onto. We had planned to spend a whole day at Farup but managed to finish everything we wanted with re rides by half 12, my friend jokingly said, "we could ditch this place, do Djurs now and go Hansa tomorrow", this was only a joke, but as our eyes met we both knew this had to be done! Hitting the trail hard and eating the remains of our breakfast pastries (as we left before eating) we made the almost 2 hour drive to..

 

Djurs Sommerland

 

As we pulled into the car park, my stomach hit the floor, cars for as far as the eye could see, I promise you I am not exaggerating, that's it game over we thought. Walking up the main entrance with Piraten on my right and DrageKongen on my left I was both very concerned and completely overwhelmed. We bought our tickets and entered the park sweating, and not just because it was 32 degrees. Walked swiftly to Piraten and it was a 10 minute queue, as with Legoland I guess the masses aren't here for the rides and for that I thank them.

 

DrageKongen - Oh boy, probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I'm almost certain I haven't see anyone else even mention this thing online, maybe they are too ashamed to comment. We queued first time 30 minutes and the next 2 times 10 minutes for Djurs' brand new Intamin Family Suspended coaster. There is no denying this thing looks fantastic as does the Asian themed area it sits in, more parks need Asian themed areas in my opinion. On all our rides, every other train that was sent, a problem would appear to occur, with a slightly racist breakdown announcement playing and the engineer who was sitting behind the op jumping up to coax it back to life. The ride then, I'm so sorry to be the one to break this news, it's nothing special. Some people online seem to think because of this things size and speed it's going to either ride like either a family version of Nemesis Inferno or an inverted mega lite, it rides like neither. Remember Orkanen from Farup Sommerland earlier, that is easily it's closest comparison, however (and I hope it's a bedding in thing), the coaster currently rattles around the track, a rattle you can quite clearly see and hear, even offride.

Juvelen - Loved this thing to pieces. First launch got me thinking this is a great family coaster, then you hit the second launch and suddenly things get real, intense, a lot faster than I expected but still extremely smooth. Fantastic family coaster, we need more of these things! I plan to do a trip report of my recent Asia trip soon (quite enjoying writing these I must admit) and Juvelen is almost as good as Atlantis Adventure in Korea.

Piraten - Straight into my top 5 goes the incredible Piraten, I can see why (still don't like it though) this layout is a clone, it's perfection. There are absolutely no dead spots or pacing issues on this relentless little coaster, from the bottom of the first drop to hitting the brakes hard with your shirt half off your body and your internal fluids now external, it's non stop. Shames Expedition Geforce and Goliath in my opinion. The sideways airtime hills are some of the most intense airtime moments I've ever experienced, you literally don't have time to prepared yourself for them, even after 10 goes. On my 9th run it managed to make me loose vision in my right eye (being a pirate themed coaster, maybe it thought I needed an eyepatch?), my eyesight and my shirt in danger we ended at 10 runs, could ride this all day I reckon.

Skatteøen - Mack water coaster, I count these, do you? +1

Thor's Hammer - Done too many of these damn things by now. Cobra at Paultons is still my favourite and the one at Tripdrill is my least favourite, Thor's Hammer was exactly average.

Vilde Hønsejagt - Great looking train! +1

Rio Grande Rafting - Love a good rapids ride, this one was very good fun.

Ørnen - My first topple tower, spent the whole ride laughing at how dumb it was, fun though.

 

Djurs Sommerland is a fantastic park with a criminally good coaster line up, Piraten and Juvelen are World class, with Thor's Hammer and Skatteøen being very strong back up rides. I believe DrageKongen is a strong new member of the lineup, though I have to be honest I did expect more from it, oh well, gave me more time to injure myself on Piraten I suppose. Quick phone call to Hansa Park, which went something like, "hi, would it be ok to speak English please?", "I'll give it a go!", "at present are you likely to have all rides in operation tomorrow?", "yes!", fantastic. Off we went back to the hotel feeling extremely satisfied with our day, with me still nursing my sore eye, this hilarious injury with crop up again at Hansa.

 

[Mega-Lite]

Day 3

 

Woke up at half 5 and checked out of the hotel swiftly, as we had a 3 and a half hour drive to Hansa (I'm almost certain I'm getting too old for this). The car park had about 50 smoking teens in it at 6am, I guess that's why the hotel was so quiet at night, they clearly were pulling an all night smoking session, each to his own. Music on, another breakfast in the car and we were soon on the autobahn doing 127mph in an Opel estate, amazingly this wasn't the scariest thing I experienced this day!

 

Hansa Park

 

We got to Hansa Park just before half past 9 and for the first time on this trip we experienced a relatively empty car park, seeing Karnan's tower from the car park made my legs slightly weak, so off to a good start I think! In Denmark everyone speaks English extremely well, which is great for stupid tourists like me, forgetting we had crossed countries we almost managed to completely confuse the poor man selling tickets (wouldn't be the first time on this trip), thankfully managed to sort it all out and can I just say I think the entrance price for Hansa Park is very acceptable. Almost as soon as I entered the park, which is beautiful for the record, I manage to experience a massive headache. Knowing I needed painkillers, something to eat and a Coke, I powered back to the car to get the pills, friend got me a coke and I ordered some chips, which I then proceeded to pour sugar on at the counter while the German lady exclaimed "SUGAR!!", oh well, the more sugar the better at sorting this headache. Now feeling better it was time to hit the park and oh boy it was great.

 

Crazy Mine - +1

Fluch von Novgorod - Just yesterday I noticed this ride is in Benin's top 10, I'll try to play nice. As an experience this fantastically themed Eurofighter is wonderful. From the beautiful area the coaster is located in (the very area I sugared my chips no less), the fascinating story attached to the ride, through to the awesome looking buildings the coaster flies in and out of, it's all rather impressive. The queueline is awesome and let me tell you, when my friend ditched me later in the day and owing to the park being empty, I had to do it all by myself and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely on edge the whole time. The thing that will probably cause Benin to curse my name (and that's fine) comes now. At the end of the day it's a Eurofighter and in my opinion not one with a fantastic layout at that. The launch with the air time hill straight after is great, then the rest of coaster it just sort of rattles about doing nothing of note in my opinion. The enclosed lifthill only managed to confuse me and stop my breathing (I'm not joking I really can't handle vertical lifts in most cases), then a drop into the darkness for some more rattling, brakes, a weird hill and the final brakes. The experience as whole is very impressive, it's a shame the coaster in my eyes does not deserve such a fantastic premise.

Kleine Zar - +1

Nessie Superrollercoaster - Only rode this once and it was during my headache so I don't feel satisfied enough to review it.

Rasender Roland - Another freaking Vekoma Junior, sigh.

Schlange von Midgard - Lovely little Gerts family coaster with a dark ride section, you get 2 laps and the dark ride section changes on the second, rather impressed.

Schwur des Karnan - So it turns out the best coaster on the trip is a coaster that wasn't meant to be on this trip. Where should I begin.... Just look at it! This coaster shouldn't exist in real life, a near 300 foot fully themed tower structure with green track flying everywhere the eye can see, madness! The attraction both inside and out is themed to a standard that would make Disney blush, so much work has gone into it theming wise, it took my breath away and thinking about it now I'm getting shivers. I believe 6 different 15 minute mini documentaries are played throughout the earlier parts of the incredible queue line, explaining the story, which is based on a real castle located in Denmark (I really hope I've remembered this right). Once inside you are batched by magical forces (in one of the coolest preshow sections I've ever come across) into which row you will be experiencing this beast from, fingers crossed it's the back or front! You may already know what happens on the lift hill of Karnan but for those who don't I refuse to ruin this awe inspiring experience. While on the lift, with the music blaring, everything swaying, my heart about to explode from fear many thoughts crossed my mind, the best one being, this is why I love this hobby. Karnen uses tiny lap bars, the same as Karacho, the feeling of freedom on this ride is terrifying at points. As you crest the lift in the back row you are violently ejected almost into the side of the tower, scary stuff. From here on you experience an over 200 foot drop, relentless pacing, positive g so intense the seat tries to cut your thighs open from underneath, air time moments that attempt to break your leg from the top this time and one of the scariest inversions I can think of. The only flaw I can think of is, if you aren't sitting on the wheels over the track, as with most Gert's creations, things get rather rough. I didn't think I'd enjoy Karnan when it was explained to me but I've fallen completely in love with it, let this be a lesson, go out and ride this machine, see for yourself how brilliant it is.

 

During the day we had a cheap and delicious pizza meal, our first proper sit down meal of the trip, it was great, we also did the observation tower, the park is just as lovely from above. Hansa Park then, it's fantastic, I'd put it right up there with Efteling and Tivoli Gardens for parks I could just stay all day at with a big smile on my face. The ride line is strong and Karnan is certainly World class and worth the trip alone.

 

Bought the Karnan soundtrack, a couple ice creams and we hit the dusty trail for the long ride back to Billund airport (which according to the sat nav was a mans house 2 miles from the airport). Ditched all the liquids above 100ml in the car, don't feel bad for Sixt car hire though for having to clean because after we returned home we discovered they screwed us over and charged us about 60 pounds extra for something we didn't ask for, idiots. Plane was an hour delayed and at this point I'm starting to question if BA has any customers who swear by them anymore. Got home after a great little trip, hitting some parks I've wanted to experience for a while now and I fought the post trip blues by blasting the Karnan soundtrack on my ipod for the next couple of days. Thank you for reading.

 

[Benin]

Fluch is in my top 10 for the overall experience aspect, the level of theming and atmosphere it gives off is why it's in the top 10...

 

The singing knight and the exit slide/maze also help

 

The layout itself isn't great, but the theatre involved in the ride makes me forgive it (and it's been a while since I rode it last now so it's probably aged HORRIBLY)...