Another summer, another adventure. After much debate, some late planning and bookings, Dave & myself finally decided to take a tour around Scandinavia, visiting Denmark, Sweden & Norway.
Between 26 July and 8th August we visited Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen & Bakken near to Copenhagen; Legoland Billund; Djurs Sommerland; Farup Sommerland; Liseberg; Tusenfryd; Gronalund in Stockholm and finally Kolmarden. Many new creds from the embarrassing to the sublime and a lots of average at best. Not as expensive as envisaged though a beer in Norway broke the bank.
Will split up report in to a number of parts over a few days
First port of call was getting to Copenhagen. We flew from Manchester and the Friday eve (26th). Parking at Jet Parks Ringway, spending 15 minutes trying to find a parking space and then waiting for a bus to take us to the terminal and hoping it turns up (Spoiler, it did, quite quickly, unlike last time I used said car park back in 2019 when I gave up waiting after 30 minutes and walked). No issues through security and no major delay to flight. Arriving in Copenhagen around 21:50. Using the metro to take us in to town (which is driverless) and then a train to our hotel, which was quite badly graffitied inside and out (which as we found seemed to be the norm in Copenhagen). Our hotel for the next 3 nights was The Moxy in Copenhagen. This was a little way out of the city but perfectly walkable in decent weather and there was a train station 5 minute walk away. Did take a 30 minute walk to nearest watering hole where we discovered that smoking seems to be the norm here inside (and the outside area was closed)
Saturday 27th July: Tivoli Gardens.
First park on the trip was Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen City Centre. Park was open from 11:00-00:00, which as we commented would be a two day visit to Alton Towers. Nice 40 minute walk via a coffee shop for some coffee and cake.
This park, whilst not massive, has plenty to keep you entertained all day. Coasters, flat rides, beautiful surrounds as well as plenty of places to satisfy your thirst and hunger. This also was the most expensive park we visited entrance cost wise. Even with a small discount of around 10% it still cost us around £50 each
First port of call of course would be non other that Rutschebanen, which is a classic wooden coaster with a brakeman. I wasn't expecting a great deal with this, but it was surprisingly good, with some decent airtime in places, and that was just first ride of the day. One of the surprises of the trip coaster wise. Second port of call was the Biergarten (would be rude not too as we were passing) with a litre beer costing around £13 which is quite reasonable as I have paid as much in London/Liverpool/Manchester. Also ate here later on with a large Chicken Schnitzel with chips costing around the £17 mark
Other coasters at Tivoli include Daemonen, a B&M floorless, which sadly was a massive disappointment. very bland and never really did much. Was hoping for a night ride but this shut around 22:30 in preparation for fireworks later on and it wasn't quite dark at that point anyway. Then there was Kamelen and also Maelkevenjen which is a Mack Powered Coaster.
Other attractions ridden was some awful dark shooting ride called Minen, Fata Morgan (No relation to Efteling), Bumper Cars which were pretty epic, just a shame the duration was probably no more than 90 seconds. The Fun House, which wasn't the best I've done and seemed a little Chaotic but was OK.
There was a Fireworks show at end of night around 23:30 which lasted a bout 10 minutes which was OK, but my view was blocked by a tree that had parked itself in front of me.
Pretty decent day overall. Fairly busy but waits for rides were pretty minimal, with waiting no more than 10-15 minutes maximum for anything. Atmosphere was pretty great. lots of places to sit down, relax, eat drink. 4 new coaster creds and many a new toilet cred. Staff there seemed to enjoy their jobs too which is always good to see.
Whilst pricey to get in, costs for food/drink were not expensive. Way cheaper and vastly superior quality than anything one can get at towers. Also open for 13 hours (though attractions do start to close for around 22:30 as areas need to be cordoned off for Fireworks. Well worth a visit if in Copenhagen.
Overall ride count :
Rutschebanen * 4
Kamelen
Daemonen
Maelkevejen
Fun House
Fata Morgan
Minen
Beer * Plenty : Food * lots
Overall rating out of 10. 8
Sunday 28th July Bakken. Cost of entry circa £30 each
This park is located outside Copenhagen to the North and is located in a large recreational area. Park hours (11:00-22:00, or almost 2 days at Towers)
Was about a 40 minute train journey with cross platform change at Copenhagen Central. Again, lots of Graffiti inside and out. Inside already is drab with poor lighting and dark blue seats. But at least the lights worked on this train. Had Rome Metro VIBES (just not quite as sketchy).
Arriving in time for opening, picked up our wristbands and went off to see what delights the park offered. First stop though was coffee and cake. Had heard mixed reviews about this place, with one calling it a poor persons Tivoli Gardens. It certainly did have a bit of a Ghetto feeling about the place. Almost like I was revisiting Six Flags New England all over again but without the big rides.
Bakken is also home to another classic Wooden Coaster, however this has been upgraded(?) to remove the brakeman and new trains with much more restrictive restraints. This was OK over all, but the brakes did seem to slow the train down way to much in places.
Lets not forget though Tornado. This thing is just bonkers. Quite literally get thrown off the top of the lift hill which snaps your spine in half and leaves you head resting on the remains or your Torso, and that's not boost mode. Short layout but I don't think your body could take much more pulverising tbh.
Other credits include an Intamin Mine train, which was surprisingly very good. Vilde Mus, a Mack Wild Mouse which was pretty average and Mariehonen the embarrassing kiddie coaster that needed to be done. None coaster wise, of course there are Dodgems, a ghetto Ghost train which was that bad it was good but never expected anything else really.
Again, like Tivoli, plenty of places to eat and drink. tons of games store to win lots of chocolate. Did find staff here a bit miserable. Going to one place to get a beer to take out after purchasing a Pizza from somewhere else was told, no it is not allowed to have a beer with food purchased from elsewhere even though it was to take away. Did find a nice bus bar where we had a few beers over the course of the day, and one of the few nice members of staff we encountered.
Costs on park were OK, with a 500ml beer coming in around £6. Food was average. Beer selection was good.
Overall had a decent day. Did stay to the end of the day, but was tempted to leave earlier at one point. Not the best place. A bit ghetto, run down in places. The large park it is in looks a bit bland too.
Ride Count :
Mariehonen
Tornado * 3
Rutschebanen * 5
Mine Train Ulven * 3
Vilde Mus * 2
Sky Roller
Radio Bilen (Dodgems)
Spogelsestoglet (Ghost Train)
Overall rating out of 10. 6
Monday 29th July
Today was Hire Car pick up day and continue our adventure by road, with a first port of call being the original Legoland in Billund. First had to head to get our hire car from Europcar located again just North of Copenhagen, which again meant 2*trains which were quite heavily graffitied inside and out, and the second train had no working lights which meant tunnel sections were dark. Still better than Ghost Train though at Thorpe
One thing we picked up on travelling around by train is everyone pretty much sits there in silence, and at stations they allow people to get off the train first before boarding. this is in stark contrast to travelling on train in Germany where everyone seems be be playing music/videos on their phones without ear buds and at stations everyone piles on before anyone has a chance to get off (Having a case to use as a battering ram to get off has come in handy a couple of times in Germany.)
Our car for the next 11 days would be a VW polo, which also was an automatic which was a nice. After some paperwork faff, started heading off towards Legoland which was about a 3 hour drive and involved crossing the Storebelt toll bridge which set us back about £35 to cross. We arrived at Legoland around 11:45 and proceeded to park up about 20 miles from the main entrance. Well OK, probably about same distance as it is from Hotels at Towers to main entrance there, but at least the terrain here is flat.
Park opening hours 10:00-20:00 (Yup, better than Towers)
To be continued......
Between 26 July and 8th August we visited Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen & Bakken near to Copenhagen; Legoland Billund; Djurs Sommerland; Farup Sommerland; Liseberg; Tusenfryd; Gronalund in Stockholm and finally Kolmarden. Many new creds from the embarrassing to the sublime and a lots of average at best. Not as expensive as envisaged though a beer in Norway broke the bank.
Will split up report in to a number of parts over a few days
First port of call was getting to Copenhagen. We flew from Manchester and the Friday eve (26th). Parking at Jet Parks Ringway, spending 15 minutes trying to find a parking space and then waiting for a bus to take us to the terminal and hoping it turns up (Spoiler, it did, quite quickly, unlike last time I used said car park back in 2019 when I gave up waiting after 30 minutes and walked). No issues through security and no major delay to flight. Arriving in Copenhagen around 21:50. Using the metro to take us in to town (which is driverless) and then a train to our hotel, which was quite badly graffitied inside and out (which as we found seemed to be the norm in Copenhagen). Our hotel for the next 3 nights was The Moxy in Copenhagen. This was a little way out of the city but perfectly walkable in decent weather and there was a train station 5 minute walk away. Did take a 30 minute walk to nearest watering hole where we discovered that smoking seems to be the norm here inside (and the outside area was closed)
Saturday 27th July: Tivoli Gardens.
First park on the trip was Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen City Centre. Park was open from 11:00-00:00, which as we commented would be a two day visit to Alton Towers. Nice 40 minute walk via a coffee shop for some coffee and cake.
This park, whilst not massive, has plenty to keep you entertained all day. Coasters, flat rides, beautiful surrounds as well as plenty of places to satisfy your thirst and hunger. This also was the most expensive park we visited entrance cost wise. Even with a small discount of around 10% it still cost us around £50 each
First port of call of course would be non other that Rutschebanen, which is a classic wooden coaster with a brakeman. I wasn't expecting a great deal with this, but it was surprisingly good, with some decent airtime in places, and that was just first ride of the day. One of the surprises of the trip coaster wise. Second port of call was the Biergarten (would be rude not too as we were passing) with a litre beer costing around £13 which is quite reasonable as I have paid as much in London/Liverpool/Manchester. Also ate here later on with a large Chicken Schnitzel with chips costing around the £17 mark
Other coasters at Tivoli include Daemonen, a B&M floorless, which sadly was a massive disappointment. very bland and never really did much. Was hoping for a night ride but this shut around 22:30 in preparation for fireworks later on and it wasn't quite dark at that point anyway. Then there was Kamelen and also Maelkevenjen which is a Mack Powered Coaster.
Other attractions ridden was some awful dark shooting ride called Minen, Fata Morgan (No relation to Efteling), Bumper Cars which were pretty epic, just a shame the duration was probably no more than 90 seconds. The Fun House, which wasn't the best I've done and seemed a little Chaotic but was OK.
There was a Fireworks show at end of night around 23:30 which lasted a bout 10 minutes which was OK, but my view was blocked by a tree that had parked itself in front of me.
Pretty decent day overall. Fairly busy but waits for rides were pretty minimal, with waiting no more than 10-15 minutes maximum for anything. Atmosphere was pretty great. lots of places to sit down, relax, eat drink. 4 new coaster creds and many a new toilet cred. Staff there seemed to enjoy their jobs too which is always good to see.
Whilst pricey to get in, costs for food/drink were not expensive. Way cheaper and vastly superior quality than anything one can get at towers. Also open for 13 hours (though attractions do start to close for around 22:30 as areas need to be cordoned off for Fireworks. Well worth a visit if in Copenhagen.
Overall ride count :
Rutschebanen * 4
Kamelen
Daemonen
Maelkevejen
Fun House
Fata Morgan
Minen
Beer * Plenty : Food * lots
Overall rating out of 10. 8
Sunday 28th July Bakken. Cost of entry circa £30 each
This park is located outside Copenhagen to the North and is located in a large recreational area. Park hours (11:00-22:00, or almost 2 days at Towers)
Was about a 40 minute train journey with cross platform change at Copenhagen Central. Again, lots of Graffiti inside and out. Inside already is drab with poor lighting and dark blue seats. But at least the lights worked on this train. Had Rome Metro VIBES (just not quite as sketchy).
Arriving in time for opening, picked up our wristbands and went off to see what delights the park offered. First stop though was coffee and cake. Had heard mixed reviews about this place, with one calling it a poor persons Tivoli Gardens. It certainly did have a bit of a Ghetto feeling about the place. Almost like I was revisiting Six Flags New England all over again but without the big rides.
Bakken is also home to another classic Wooden Coaster, however this has been upgraded(?) to remove the brakeman and new trains with much more restrictive restraints. This was OK over all, but the brakes did seem to slow the train down way to much in places.
Lets not forget though Tornado. This thing is just bonkers. Quite literally get thrown off the top of the lift hill which snaps your spine in half and leaves you head resting on the remains or your Torso, and that's not boost mode. Short layout but I don't think your body could take much more pulverising tbh.
Other credits include an Intamin Mine train, which was surprisingly very good. Vilde Mus, a Mack Wild Mouse which was pretty average and Mariehonen the embarrassing kiddie coaster that needed to be done. None coaster wise, of course there are Dodgems, a ghetto Ghost train which was that bad it was good but never expected anything else really.
Again, like Tivoli, plenty of places to eat and drink. tons of games store to win lots of chocolate. Did find staff here a bit miserable. Going to one place to get a beer to take out after purchasing a Pizza from somewhere else was told, no it is not allowed to have a beer with food purchased from elsewhere even though it was to take away. Did find a nice bus bar where we had a few beers over the course of the day, and one of the few nice members of staff we encountered.
Costs on park were OK, with a 500ml beer coming in around £6. Food was average. Beer selection was good.
Overall had a decent day. Did stay to the end of the day, but was tempted to leave earlier at one point. Not the best place. A bit ghetto, run down in places. The large park it is in looks a bit bland too.
Ride Count :
Mariehonen
Tornado * 3
Rutschebanen * 5
Mine Train Ulven * 3
Vilde Mus * 2
Sky Roller
Radio Bilen (Dodgems)
Spogelsestoglet (Ghost Train)
Overall rating out of 10. 6
Monday 29th July
Today was Hire Car pick up day and continue our adventure by road, with a first port of call being the original Legoland in Billund. First had to head to get our hire car from Europcar located again just North of Copenhagen, which again meant 2*trains which were quite heavily graffitied inside and out, and the second train had no working lights which meant tunnel sections were dark. Still better than Ghost Train though at Thorpe
One thing we picked up on travelling around by train is everyone pretty much sits there in silence, and at stations they allow people to get off the train first before boarding. this is in stark contrast to travelling on train in Germany where everyone seems be be playing music/videos on their phones without ear buds and at stations everyone piles on before anyone has a chance to get off (Having a case to use as a battering ram to get off has come in handy a couple of times in Germany.)
Our car for the next 11 days would be a VW polo, which also was an automatic which was a nice. After some paperwork faff, started heading off towards Legoland which was about a 3 hour drive and involved crossing the Storebelt toll bridge which set us back about £35 to cross. We arrived at Legoland around 11:45 and proceeded to park up about 20 miles from the main entrance. Well OK, probably about same distance as it is from Hotels at Towers to main entrance there, but at least the terrain here is flat.
Park opening hours 10:00-20:00 (Yup, better than Towers)
To be continued......
Last edited:
