Sandman
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Earlier last month, my girlfriend and I decided to book a few nights in Copenhagen since we hadn’t had a proper break so far in 2016. I knew that this meant that I’d be able to visit 2 parks I’ve been eager to experience for around 10 years now; Tivoli Gardens & Dyrehavsbakken. I knew bits and bobs about both parks, but generally hadn’t spent enough time researching to know detailed information about either. Once we booked our trip, I actively avoided reading up on the parks or Copenhagen for that matter. The only information we gathered was relative to our hotel location and routes to a handful of tourist attractions we planned on seeing. The plan was to take the rest as it came. We booked our ticket to Bakken for the 3rd, which meant we’d head straight from the airport to Bakken since we were due to land in Copenhagen for 4pm (park closes at 10pm). Tivoli’s opening day for 2016 would be on the 6th, which we booked for. Again, another 10pm close.
3rd April – Arrival & Bakken
After a fairly comfortable 2 hour flight from Manchester, we landed in Copenhagen Airport at around 3:50pm, an impressive example of an EasyJet flight arriving early. Yes, it does happen.
Obligatory wing shot.
We nipped over to the airport train station and sorted our tickets to Klampenborg, home to Bakken. 60DKK each (around £6.50) for a single. Not bad. Noticed that the train station was almost entirely Danish in language which made it slightly difficult for us noobs to confirm we were on the right platform, but we got there in the end. The trains in Denmark were much more comfortable than what I’m used to in the UK, which is usually smelly and cramped with fairly adequate seating and storage. Here, they were spacious, and the seats were actually comfortable. They also have bigger windows so that all passengers get a better view of the passing countryside.
We arrived at Klampenborg St half an hour later, and I remembered Hixee’s advice which was to take the slightly longer walk through a forresty area up to Bakken rather than the street route. I’m glad this was pointed out, because the walk up to the park was gorgeous. The huge oak trees and fresh smell of grass were a fabulous start to my experience. The walk up to Bakken is definitely an anticipation builder. Hearing the distant sound of rides and screams made me hungry for new credits!
Arrived at Bakken at around 4.40pm and noticed that it was fairly quiet at the entrance area. We sorted out our wristbands and walked straight onto the back-row of Mine Train Ulven. This is the first coaster you see prior to entering the park. Its serpentine track twists around a fairly small footprint. Wasn’t expecting too much from my first credit, but came off rather impressed. Solid family coaster right there – decent first drop with a consistent pace throughout. Short but certainly sweet, with a bit of a kick on the back row seats.
Had a quick wander round the park after the first cred since we noticed how quiet it was. The place was pretty tidy, and has a weird ambience which is a mixture between travelling fairground and classic amusement park. Quite a unique place to see.
Let the cheap jokes begin.
Next up was Rutschebanen.
The coaster sits firmly in the centre of the park, and is a gorgeous visual aesthetic in its own right. The ride experience? Yeah, it’s actually really fun. Nobody should ride a classic woodie and expect an RMC. You have to try and appreciate the unique experience it does offer. This coaster actually has plenty of decent drops, and the tunnel finale is great fun. That said, the sections of ride between the drops (nearly all the turns) are braked so heavily it annihilates the flow of the ride. I mean, you’ve got this gloriously quick lift-hill which would no doubt set a great pace for the first drop, but instead you meet the crest with a dramatic halt. At times the train feels like a pensioner crawling to safety, desperate to pick up the speed it probably had in its youth. So, yeah… a really fun woodie being prevented from reaching its full potential. Glad to have bagged a classic though!
Managed to walk onto most of the flats in the park throughout the visit. It got to the point where we were both taking picks on which row we wanted because there was rarely anybody else on the rides. Occasionally we’d get another 2-3 people clamber through the queue line at the last minute, but I seriously didn’t queue for anything.
Had a go on the Gerstlauer Sky Roller ride, which was admittedly better than Pleasure Beach’s version but still… pretty underwhelming. Really not a fan of these flats at all. I just don’t get the fuss.
Next up… Tornado.
Again, strolled right onto the ride without any queue time. Didn’t really know what to expect from this ride type, I just assumed it’d be somewhat similar to a Maurer Sohne spinner except Intamin made. Oh, how wrong was I. This thing packs a punch right from the get go. That lift hill/launch into a sudden turn really does hit hard. The rest of the ride is a bit of a blur, due to the quick pace and compact layout. I can see why some people might take a disliking to this ride, but I thought it was alright. I don’t necessarily think intensity makes a coaster good, but it was an interesting experience. Not very re-ridable in my opinion, but not a total shambles either. Fairly surprised I haven’t heard more about it, though.
With us having ample amount of time left to hammer the remainder of the rides, we decided to get the credits out of the way so we could finish with the smaller attractions and a couple of re-rides on Rutschebanen and the Mine Train. Vilde Mus (Wild Mouse) was next, and we managed to get it as the darkness settled. It looked lovely all lit up at night time. Tried and failed to get a photo, so apologies for that! Thought it was a good ride, fairly predictable layout which adheres to the traditions of the wild mouse ride-type. Definitely more comfortable than most I’ve been on though. The Zierer ‘Racing’ coaster is right next door so that was next. Again, good fun but nothing spectacular (no photos again).
After wrapping up on the coasters and some fantastic night rides on Rutschebanen, we decided to delve into some of the park’s food. I opted for fish and chips which was 60DKK (£6.50) and came with a small drink. Fairly pricey and a bit tasteless if I’m honest.
We were getting a bit tired by this point after the whole flight over and whatnot so we decided to end with The Fun House and Ghost Train. The fun house was a good laugh and something I’d imagine would go down well at a big meet-up or something. Felt quite traditional and had a similar playful feel that I remember was once treasured on the Noah’s Ark rides at Pleasure Beach and Frontierland. This one was themed to a ship, and like all good ships has an onboard piano that allows all the children to arse about with whilst you patiently wait to pass through to the next area.
The ghost train was actually pretty creepy and had 3 decent jump scares contained within. Although it wasn’t particularly modern or advanced, it didn’t have the same heritage feel that you get with BPB’s Ghost Train (comparing a lot to BPB here, but it’s the closest comparison I can make to a UK park). Good ride though. I feel like because there’s a lot more moments of complete darkness on this ghost train, you’re always anticipating what happens next.
Decided to throw in the towel at around 9pm at which point we’d been on pretty much all available rides, some multiple times. Was surprised that we didn’t actually queue once, and walked onto everything so easily. The park wasn’t actually empty either, I mean, there were a good number of guests on site towards the end… it just felt like not that many were going on the rides. Weird. Still, I really enjoyed Bakken. It’s a good one for a few hours, I don’t think you’d want to do a full day here. Probably best visited later in the evening for the night experience, because it felt more alive once the rides and stalls started lighting up. I think something like this in the UK (probably in the north) would work quite well. Although the rides are the main draw in, the atmosphere at night is what a lot of people would stick around for. Like I said further up, it has the ambience of a travelling fair and I know a lot of people want that for a change.
4th April - Exploring Copenhagen
So a minor detail I left out of yesterday’s experience is that we finally checked into our hotel after our visit to Bakken. Not really significant but worth a quick mention in case anybody is planning a trip over. We stayed at Hotel Loven, located just a 10 minute walk away from Tivoli (on the same road). Easy to spot from a distance due to the signpost. An en-suite room cost us £230 for 4 nights, which is reasonable for Copenhagen. Pretty easy access into the city centre too, so it was a very convenient choice for us. The room was nothing special, but we did have our own fridge which was good for storing our drinks.
Hotel Loven
Obligatory window view shot
First up, we decided to wander over to Rosenborg Castle and have a look around the grounds before heading off towards Christianshavn.
The castle and surrounding area is gorgeous and idyllic, the perfect place to spend a summer’s day I imagine. We enjoyed looking at the grounds for an hour but decided not to venture into the castle itself as we wanted to move on.
We routed our journey to pass through Nyhavn, which is one of Copenhagen’s most popular tourist spots, a waterfront area packed with upmarket restaurants and shops. Very colourful and upbeat, it reminded me of Amsterdam in ways.
Around 20 minutes later we arrived in Christianshavn, a fairly bohemian area of Copenhagen known for being home to Freetown Christiania, a self-contained commune of hippies and free thinkers. I heard a couple of rumours about this place and thought it would be worth a visit. Well, after spending a few hours exploring the grounds I can definitely say I’ve experienced nothing like it before.
The commune is situated on what used to be a military base which was taken over in the 70’s by locals who were unhappy with the rising price of living in the city.
Entrance to the site
Their philosophy is that each individual in the community is equally responsible for its upkeep and each other’s wellbeing. It is an incredibly liberal lifestyle, to the point that a lot of their shops don’t charge specific prices instead you pay what you believe to be fair. I got a couple of postcards from the souvenir shop and put down some cash. Didn’t even see any ‘staff’. A lot of the buildings and architecture is makeshift, usually compiled of recyclable materials and old junk.
The outer wall of one of Christiania's buildings
We passed through the most popular area ‘Pusher Street’ which is known for being an open Marijuana market. The whole area is a strictly no photo zone, so you won’t see any photos of inside the grounds unfortunately! But it was really interesting! There were makeshift stages for live gigs, a crazy skate park, a couple of bars and restaurants as well as an unfathomable amount of graffiti and street art. Well worth a visit if you’re interested in any of that stuff. Totally unique place.
Mural upon our exit.
After that we went for dinner at TGI Fridays and wound down for the evening with a couple of drinks. All in all, a nice easy day with no hassle.
Bonus shot of me on a weird street trampoline.
5th April – More Exploration/Being Tourists
Don’t want to bore you all with too much text as I probably have been doing, so I’ll try and paraphrase a bit more. Tuesday was another day of wandering around like clueless tourists. After breakfast we began the long walk up to Langlinie in northern Copenhagen to see The Little Mermaid statue. This was more an interest of my girlfriend who is a fan of the literature of Hans Christian Andersen, and I was just along for the ride.
Along the way up we coincidentally bumped into Amalienborg, residence of the Danish Royal Family. Even more coincidentally, we just happened to be there for the ‘Changing of the Guard’ ceremony, which was cool. Apart from the bit where nobody moves for like 20 minutes.
Decided to test some guard’s patience by taking photos instead. Royal banter.
When we got to The Little Mermaid, it was closing in on midday and I expected a Wembley sized crowd to be circling the area. In reality I was met by around four American tourists and a couple of selfie sticks. Took a couple of photos, had an ice cream and left. Job’s a good’un!
Not far from The Little Mermaid is this pretty cool fortress called Kastellet. Apparently it’s one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe, which is apparently something.
We ended the tourist experience with a quick trip up Christianborg Palace Tower, which is a free admission attraction. It’s a very casual experience except you do go through a metal detector and get your bag searched. Other than that you’re free to make your own way up and linger around till you’re satisfied. You get quite a good view up there (I think it’s about 160ft up). Unlike other tower attractions, there’s no horrible netting or cage obscuring the view.
I see rides.
And that’s about it for Tuesday. Have some bonus photos.
The mythical 'pigeon man' appears in all European city centres research suggests.
PETA Headquarters.
Last orders.
6th April – Tivoli Gardens
And so we conclude with a rainy Wednesday at Tivoli Garden’s 2016 opening day! We arrived around 11:30am and by sorted our tickets. At first, we decided to explore the grounds before committing to any rides as we knew there was so much time to kill here. The park was to be open past 11pm for a fireworks display and rides were expected to close at 22:45pm. My priority was to experience Tivoli at night and get on the rides whilst the park was lit up.
It’s easy to notice upon entering how well maintained this park is. There are lots of visual cues and things to look at as you stroll through the front area of the park. Having walked past the park prior to visiting, you really get an understanding of how limited Tivoli is with land, even more so with it being slapped in the middle of a big city centre.
Ducks and birds seem to do what the **** they want here. It’s quite a nice touch to see natural areas weave seamlessly into an amusement park setting.
Rogue peacock.
I love the lakeside area at the back end of the park. It’s a fantastic place to just sit and chill out, and once again, I can imagine it being a complete hot spot in summer. It feels like the place really encourages a family friendly environment with something to do for all ages.
Boaty McBoatface
The amount of restaurants this place has is ridiculous, how do they fit it all in?! Must be some sort of optical illusion.
My girlfriend decided to try one of the ice cream & waffle kiosks before we started on the rides.
This cost around £3.50, which is probably not too bad considering where we were. She enjoyed it anyway.
First up then, the resident Mack powered Mine Train coaster, Odinexpressen. Decent enough credit thought the layout could be better if it interacted with more of the park though. Probably more enjoyable for the young ‘uns, but I still prefer Runaway Mine Train at Towers.
Worked our way over to the kiddie cred, which was tucked away in the back corner of the park past the majority of the rides. On the way, I managed to get a sneaky peek of Fata Morgana testing, but failed to capture it in a photo. Looks pretty good, fits into the area well and I’m sure it’ll be a hit when it opens. It’s quite weird to see 3 huge tower rides all within such a small space of each other.
The kiddie cred (Karavanen) was actually really fun. It snakes through a small grassy area and has some good turns and bunny hops. We got 5 laps per ride, and surprisingly all the kids came off and went straight back through the queue line and onto the ride. They loved it!
Right, my hands are crippled with the amount I’ve written so time to sum up a few of the flats and whatnot.
The Mine - Interesting idea, interactive dark water ride with some decent theming, except it falls a bit short due to the fact the laser gun things don’t shoot very well.
Aquila – Not a fan. Quite a sickly experience and too much hang time in my opinion. I imagine quite a lot of people in the enthusiast community enjoy it though.
The Monsoon – Sort of an inverted magic carpet ride? Unusual but really fun! Had me and the girlfriend laughing throughout the cycle, would prefer if it wasn’t over the shoulder restraints however.
The Golden Tower – Standard S&S shot & drop tower. Fun but short.
Flying Trunk - Dark family ride revolving around the works of Hans Christian Andersen. 7 minutes long!! Probably not that interesting if you’re not a child or into the source material.
Finally it was time to tick off Rutschebanen, the pinnacle coaster of Tivoli and possibly Copenhagen. It’s one of the hardest coasters to get a photo of, goddamn it.
What a gem! This thing rides incredibly well, and I think its remarkable age only heightens the experience. I adore the interaction between the coaster and its façade. The way each hill and turn is tucked away out of sight creates a sense of adventure when riding. It’s clearly not the biggest or most intense coaster out there, but it does offer a really enjoyable layout and surprisingly some good pockets of airtime! I did a couple of rides on back-row and at the front. Does not disappoint. This is a coaster I’d hope most European enthusiasts would aim to experience at some point in time. Truly fantastic.
Following a couple of great rides on Rutschebanen, we thought it was only fair to tick off the final credit of the trip.
Like the majority of the rides here, we walked straight onto back row seats. A couple of minutes later, I walked off pleasantly surprised. Daemonen is actually a good coaster! The issue with a B&M like this is that there is immense expectation from enthusiasts worldwide. Daemonen is by no means intense, but it a short, decent ride experience. It fits into Tivoli’s line-up quite well!
I’m actually surprised how little space it takes up. This was my first floorless coaster too, so maybe that played a part in how much I enjoyed it. But to be honest, I think it’s a unique layout (the pre-drop helix etc.), the inversions are as good as any and it sits in a great setting. That ticks boxes for me. (Night time riding was also a bonus).
The 'sort of' money shot.
Before I wrap up on this dissertation style report, I forgot to mention Star Flyer. We did get a go on this earlier in the day and it was pretty great. When you’re pinned into a coaster/flat ride via lapbars or OTSRs, sometimes you can become a bit blasé about height and whatnot. Being 260ft up on Star Flyer with just a little seatbelt in your way is part magic, part horrific. I’m not particularly scared of heights, but there was just something about this ride that made me question my own decisions. Outstanding views of the whole city, though.
So, I was going to write a whole load of **** about how fantastic Tivoli is at night. It really does come alive, and I’ll leave a couple of photos to prove my point. They are taken on a phone though, so don’t execute me for bad focus or grain.
Conclusion (yes, it’s almost over).
Copenhagen is a great city, Bakken is an enjoyable couple of hours visit and Tivoli is definitely one of my favourite European parks, not directly because of the rides but because of the presentation of the park and the ambience it creates (if you do visit, make sure you prioritise the evening/night hours). One little critique I have about Tivoli though… where’s the music? The place is gagging for some classic symphonies in areas and something more adventurous around by the thrill rides.
God bless anyone who survived this report. Thank you and goodnight.
3rd April – Arrival & Bakken
After a fairly comfortable 2 hour flight from Manchester, we landed in Copenhagen Airport at around 3:50pm, an impressive example of an EasyJet flight arriving early. Yes, it does happen.
Obligatory wing shot.
We nipped over to the airport train station and sorted our tickets to Klampenborg, home to Bakken. 60DKK each (around £6.50) for a single. Not bad. Noticed that the train station was almost entirely Danish in language which made it slightly difficult for us noobs to confirm we were on the right platform, but we got there in the end. The trains in Denmark were much more comfortable than what I’m used to in the UK, which is usually smelly and cramped with fairly adequate seating and storage. Here, they were spacious, and the seats were actually comfortable. They also have bigger windows so that all passengers get a better view of the passing countryside.
We arrived at Klampenborg St half an hour later, and I remembered Hixee’s advice which was to take the slightly longer walk through a forresty area up to Bakken rather than the street route. I’m glad this was pointed out, because the walk up to the park was gorgeous. The huge oak trees and fresh smell of grass were a fabulous start to my experience. The walk up to Bakken is definitely an anticipation builder. Hearing the distant sound of rides and screams made me hungry for new credits!
Arrived at Bakken at around 4.40pm and noticed that it was fairly quiet at the entrance area. We sorted out our wristbands and walked straight onto the back-row of Mine Train Ulven. This is the first coaster you see prior to entering the park. Its serpentine track twists around a fairly small footprint. Wasn’t expecting too much from my first credit, but came off rather impressed. Solid family coaster right there – decent first drop with a consistent pace throughout. Short but certainly sweet, with a bit of a kick on the back row seats.
Had a quick wander round the park after the first cred since we noticed how quiet it was. The place was pretty tidy, and has a weird ambience which is a mixture between travelling fairground and classic amusement park. Quite a unique place to see.
Let the cheap jokes begin.
Next up was Rutschebanen.
The coaster sits firmly in the centre of the park, and is a gorgeous visual aesthetic in its own right. The ride experience? Yeah, it’s actually really fun. Nobody should ride a classic woodie and expect an RMC. You have to try and appreciate the unique experience it does offer. This coaster actually has plenty of decent drops, and the tunnel finale is great fun. That said, the sections of ride between the drops (nearly all the turns) are braked so heavily it annihilates the flow of the ride. I mean, you’ve got this gloriously quick lift-hill which would no doubt set a great pace for the first drop, but instead you meet the crest with a dramatic halt. At times the train feels like a pensioner crawling to safety, desperate to pick up the speed it probably had in its youth. So, yeah… a really fun woodie being prevented from reaching its full potential. Glad to have bagged a classic though!
Managed to walk onto most of the flats in the park throughout the visit. It got to the point where we were both taking picks on which row we wanted because there was rarely anybody else on the rides. Occasionally we’d get another 2-3 people clamber through the queue line at the last minute, but I seriously didn’t queue for anything.
Had a go on the Gerstlauer Sky Roller ride, which was admittedly better than Pleasure Beach’s version but still… pretty underwhelming. Really not a fan of these flats at all. I just don’t get the fuss.
Next up… Tornado.
Again, strolled right onto the ride without any queue time. Didn’t really know what to expect from this ride type, I just assumed it’d be somewhat similar to a Maurer Sohne spinner except Intamin made. Oh, how wrong was I. This thing packs a punch right from the get go. That lift hill/launch into a sudden turn really does hit hard. The rest of the ride is a bit of a blur, due to the quick pace and compact layout. I can see why some people might take a disliking to this ride, but I thought it was alright. I don’t necessarily think intensity makes a coaster good, but it was an interesting experience. Not very re-ridable in my opinion, but not a total shambles either. Fairly surprised I haven’t heard more about it, though.
With us having ample amount of time left to hammer the remainder of the rides, we decided to get the credits out of the way so we could finish with the smaller attractions and a couple of re-rides on Rutschebanen and the Mine Train. Vilde Mus (Wild Mouse) was next, and we managed to get it as the darkness settled. It looked lovely all lit up at night time. Tried and failed to get a photo, so apologies for that! Thought it was a good ride, fairly predictable layout which adheres to the traditions of the wild mouse ride-type. Definitely more comfortable than most I’ve been on though. The Zierer ‘Racing’ coaster is right next door so that was next. Again, good fun but nothing spectacular (no photos again).
After wrapping up on the coasters and some fantastic night rides on Rutschebanen, we decided to delve into some of the park’s food. I opted for fish and chips which was 60DKK (£6.50) and came with a small drink. Fairly pricey and a bit tasteless if I’m honest.
We were getting a bit tired by this point after the whole flight over and whatnot so we decided to end with The Fun House and Ghost Train. The fun house was a good laugh and something I’d imagine would go down well at a big meet-up or something. Felt quite traditional and had a similar playful feel that I remember was once treasured on the Noah’s Ark rides at Pleasure Beach and Frontierland. This one was themed to a ship, and like all good ships has an onboard piano that allows all the children to arse about with whilst you patiently wait to pass through to the next area.
The ghost train was actually pretty creepy and had 3 decent jump scares contained within. Although it wasn’t particularly modern or advanced, it didn’t have the same heritage feel that you get with BPB’s Ghost Train (comparing a lot to BPB here, but it’s the closest comparison I can make to a UK park). Good ride though. I feel like because there’s a lot more moments of complete darkness on this ghost train, you’re always anticipating what happens next.
Decided to throw in the towel at around 9pm at which point we’d been on pretty much all available rides, some multiple times. Was surprised that we didn’t actually queue once, and walked onto everything so easily. The park wasn’t actually empty either, I mean, there were a good number of guests on site towards the end… it just felt like not that many were going on the rides. Weird. Still, I really enjoyed Bakken. It’s a good one for a few hours, I don’t think you’d want to do a full day here. Probably best visited later in the evening for the night experience, because it felt more alive once the rides and stalls started lighting up. I think something like this in the UK (probably in the north) would work quite well. Although the rides are the main draw in, the atmosphere at night is what a lot of people would stick around for. Like I said further up, it has the ambience of a travelling fair and I know a lot of people want that for a change.
4th April - Exploring Copenhagen
So a minor detail I left out of yesterday’s experience is that we finally checked into our hotel after our visit to Bakken. Not really significant but worth a quick mention in case anybody is planning a trip over. We stayed at Hotel Loven, located just a 10 minute walk away from Tivoli (on the same road). Easy to spot from a distance due to the signpost. An en-suite room cost us £230 for 4 nights, which is reasonable for Copenhagen. Pretty easy access into the city centre too, so it was a very convenient choice for us. The room was nothing special, but we did have our own fridge which was good for storing our drinks.
Hotel Loven
Obligatory window view shot
First up, we decided to wander over to Rosenborg Castle and have a look around the grounds before heading off towards Christianshavn.
The castle and surrounding area is gorgeous and idyllic, the perfect place to spend a summer’s day I imagine. We enjoyed looking at the grounds for an hour but decided not to venture into the castle itself as we wanted to move on.
We routed our journey to pass through Nyhavn, which is one of Copenhagen’s most popular tourist spots, a waterfront area packed with upmarket restaurants and shops. Very colourful and upbeat, it reminded me of Amsterdam in ways.
Around 20 minutes later we arrived in Christianshavn, a fairly bohemian area of Copenhagen known for being home to Freetown Christiania, a self-contained commune of hippies and free thinkers. I heard a couple of rumours about this place and thought it would be worth a visit. Well, after spending a few hours exploring the grounds I can definitely say I’ve experienced nothing like it before.
The commune is situated on what used to be a military base which was taken over in the 70’s by locals who were unhappy with the rising price of living in the city.
Entrance to the site
Their philosophy is that each individual in the community is equally responsible for its upkeep and each other’s wellbeing. It is an incredibly liberal lifestyle, to the point that a lot of their shops don’t charge specific prices instead you pay what you believe to be fair. I got a couple of postcards from the souvenir shop and put down some cash. Didn’t even see any ‘staff’. A lot of the buildings and architecture is makeshift, usually compiled of recyclable materials and old junk.
The outer wall of one of Christiania's buildings
We passed through the most popular area ‘Pusher Street’ which is known for being an open Marijuana market. The whole area is a strictly no photo zone, so you won’t see any photos of inside the grounds unfortunately! But it was really interesting! There were makeshift stages for live gigs, a crazy skate park, a couple of bars and restaurants as well as an unfathomable amount of graffiti and street art. Well worth a visit if you’re interested in any of that stuff. Totally unique place.
Mural upon our exit.
After that we went for dinner at TGI Fridays and wound down for the evening with a couple of drinks. All in all, a nice easy day with no hassle.
Bonus shot of me on a weird street trampoline.
5th April – More Exploration/Being Tourists
Don’t want to bore you all with too much text as I probably have been doing, so I’ll try and paraphrase a bit more. Tuesday was another day of wandering around like clueless tourists. After breakfast we began the long walk up to Langlinie in northern Copenhagen to see The Little Mermaid statue. This was more an interest of my girlfriend who is a fan of the literature of Hans Christian Andersen, and I was just along for the ride.
Along the way up we coincidentally bumped into Amalienborg, residence of the Danish Royal Family. Even more coincidentally, we just happened to be there for the ‘Changing of the Guard’ ceremony, which was cool. Apart from the bit where nobody moves for like 20 minutes.
Decided to test some guard’s patience by taking photos instead. Royal banter.
When we got to The Little Mermaid, it was closing in on midday and I expected a Wembley sized crowd to be circling the area. In reality I was met by around four American tourists and a couple of selfie sticks. Took a couple of photos, had an ice cream and left. Job’s a good’un!
Not far from The Little Mermaid is this pretty cool fortress called Kastellet. Apparently it’s one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe, which is apparently something.
We ended the tourist experience with a quick trip up Christianborg Palace Tower, which is a free admission attraction. It’s a very casual experience except you do go through a metal detector and get your bag searched. Other than that you’re free to make your own way up and linger around till you’re satisfied. You get quite a good view up there (I think it’s about 160ft up). Unlike other tower attractions, there’s no horrible netting or cage obscuring the view.
I see rides.
And that’s about it for Tuesday. Have some bonus photos.
The mythical 'pigeon man' appears in all European city centres research suggests.
PETA Headquarters.
Last orders.
6th April – Tivoli Gardens
And so we conclude with a rainy Wednesday at Tivoli Garden’s 2016 opening day! We arrived around 11:30am and by sorted our tickets. At first, we decided to explore the grounds before committing to any rides as we knew there was so much time to kill here. The park was to be open past 11pm for a fireworks display and rides were expected to close at 22:45pm. My priority was to experience Tivoli at night and get on the rides whilst the park was lit up.
It’s easy to notice upon entering how well maintained this park is. There are lots of visual cues and things to look at as you stroll through the front area of the park. Having walked past the park prior to visiting, you really get an understanding of how limited Tivoli is with land, even more so with it being slapped in the middle of a big city centre.
Ducks and birds seem to do what the **** they want here. It’s quite a nice touch to see natural areas weave seamlessly into an amusement park setting.
Rogue peacock.
I love the lakeside area at the back end of the park. It’s a fantastic place to just sit and chill out, and once again, I can imagine it being a complete hot spot in summer. It feels like the place really encourages a family friendly environment with something to do for all ages.
Boaty McBoatface
The amount of restaurants this place has is ridiculous, how do they fit it all in?! Must be some sort of optical illusion.
My girlfriend decided to try one of the ice cream & waffle kiosks before we started on the rides.
This cost around £3.50, which is probably not too bad considering where we were. She enjoyed it anyway.
First up then, the resident Mack powered Mine Train coaster, Odinexpressen. Decent enough credit thought the layout could be better if it interacted with more of the park though. Probably more enjoyable for the young ‘uns, but I still prefer Runaway Mine Train at Towers.
Worked our way over to the kiddie cred, which was tucked away in the back corner of the park past the majority of the rides. On the way, I managed to get a sneaky peek of Fata Morgana testing, but failed to capture it in a photo. Looks pretty good, fits into the area well and I’m sure it’ll be a hit when it opens. It’s quite weird to see 3 huge tower rides all within such a small space of each other.
The kiddie cred (Karavanen) was actually really fun. It snakes through a small grassy area and has some good turns and bunny hops. We got 5 laps per ride, and surprisingly all the kids came off and went straight back through the queue line and onto the ride. They loved it!
Right, my hands are crippled with the amount I’ve written so time to sum up a few of the flats and whatnot.
The Mine - Interesting idea, interactive dark water ride with some decent theming, except it falls a bit short due to the fact the laser gun things don’t shoot very well.
Aquila – Not a fan. Quite a sickly experience and too much hang time in my opinion. I imagine quite a lot of people in the enthusiast community enjoy it though.
The Monsoon – Sort of an inverted magic carpet ride? Unusual but really fun! Had me and the girlfriend laughing throughout the cycle, would prefer if it wasn’t over the shoulder restraints however.
The Golden Tower – Standard S&S shot & drop tower. Fun but short.
Flying Trunk - Dark family ride revolving around the works of Hans Christian Andersen. 7 minutes long!! Probably not that interesting if you’re not a child or into the source material.
Finally it was time to tick off Rutschebanen, the pinnacle coaster of Tivoli and possibly Copenhagen. It’s one of the hardest coasters to get a photo of, goddamn it.
What a gem! This thing rides incredibly well, and I think its remarkable age only heightens the experience. I adore the interaction between the coaster and its façade. The way each hill and turn is tucked away out of sight creates a sense of adventure when riding. It’s clearly not the biggest or most intense coaster out there, but it does offer a really enjoyable layout and surprisingly some good pockets of airtime! I did a couple of rides on back-row and at the front. Does not disappoint. This is a coaster I’d hope most European enthusiasts would aim to experience at some point in time. Truly fantastic.
Following a couple of great rides on Rutschebanen, we thought it was only fair to tick off the final credit of the trip.
Like the majority of the rides here, we walked straight onto back row seats. A couple of minutes later, I walked off pleasantly surprised. Daemonen is actually a good coaster! The issue with a B&M like this is that there is immense expectation from enthusiasts worldwide. Daemonen is by no means intense, but it a short, decent ride experience. It fits into Tivoli’s line-up quite well!
I’m actually surprised how little space it takes up. This was my first floorless coaster too, so maybe that played a part in how much I enjoyed it. But to be honest, I think it’s a unique layout (the pre-drop helix etc.), the inversions are as good as any and it sits in a great setting. That ticks boxes for me. (Night time riding was also a bonus).
The 'sort of' money shot.
Before I wrap up on this dissertation style report, I forgot to mention Star Flyer. We did get a go on this earlier in the day and it was pretty great. When you’re pinned into a coaster/flat ride via lapbars or OTSRs, sometimes you can become a bit blasé about height and whatnot. Being 260ft up on Star Flyer with just a little seatbelt in your way is part magic, part horrific. I’m not particularly scared of heights, but there was just something about this ride that made me question my own decisions. Outstanding views of the whole city, though.
So, I was going to write a whole load of **** about how fantastic Tivoli is at night. It really does come alive, and I’ll leave a couple of photos to prove my point. They are taken on a phone though, so don’t execute me for bad focus or grain.
Conclusion (yes, it’s almost over).
Copenhagen is a great city, Bakken is an enjoyable couple of hours visit and Tivoli is definitely one of my favourite European parks, not directly because of the rides but because of the presentation of the park and the ambience it creates (if you do visit, make sure you prioritise the evening/night hours). One little critique I have about Tivoli though… where’s the music? The place is gagging for some classic symphonies in areas and something more adventurous around by the thrill rides.
God bless anyone who survived this report. Thank you and goodnight.
) and the park itself was dead, it was the restaurants that were rammed.
