Coaster Tour Guides

Danish Dash

Looking for a weekend getaway visiting some of Europe’s finest amusement parks? Then you can’t go wrong with a trip to Copenhagen. Within an hour of the Danish capital you’ll find 3 different and very unique parks.

After arriving at Copenhagen International Airport we made the half hour drive to Bakken, the Worlds oldest amusement park. The park dates back to 1583 and is in the heart of the picturesque Dyrehaven Park, home to 2000 red, fallow and Sika deer.

At Bakken the rides and stalls are owned and operated by several different concessionaires with a management team overseeing the general running of the park. You’ll find a reasonable selection of flat rides, roller coasters, unusual side stalls and some real classic rides. Including Rutschebanen a 1932 Scenic railway built by Walter Quinlan an Irish Engineer. Like the Scenic Railway at Margate, Rutschebanen still has a brakeman riding around to ensure the train doesn’t reach dangerous speeds.

Rutschebanen is owned by the local forest authority with it being leased out for operation to individuals. Currently Lars has the honour of having the license. His house is actually built into the heart of the ride and whilst lying in bed he can actually tell which of his team is the brakeman just by the vibrations.

The track is set out into 30 sections and each winter one of the 30 sections has the wood inspected and replaced. The wood comes from neighbouring Norway and Sweden. So in theory every 30 years the whole track will be replaced. Despite this there are still some sections of the original 1932 structure in use today. 

Rutschebanen provides wonderful airtime especially in the back carriage, particularly on the double down section. There's even airtime as you join the smooth and fast cable lift. The 75 year old wooden coaster out performs many modern woodies. 

We left the park for our hotel around 6pm and quite bizarrely it was as we were leaving that the park started to become busy. So just as most parks in the UK close this park comes to life just like our next park. 

The next morning we did a canal and bus tour of Copenhagen city. The bus tour was rather dull and the English commentary wasn't in sync with the trip, consequently you often found yourself looking off into the distance behind you to see what was being referred to. The canal tour on the other hand was enjoyable and interesting. You get great view of the famous Little Mermaid whilst on this tour. So a top tip is forget about doing a tour of the city by bus and instead just do a boat tour.

After the tours we headed to Tivoli which is in the very centre of Copenhagen and is the 3^rd most visited park in Europe. There’s a lot more to it than rides as there are 38 restaurants offering everything from Sushi to Burgers to Gourmet dining, there are regular concerts and shows and plenty of ornamental gardens to stroll around. Only 25% of visitors list the amusement rides as their main reason for visiting Tivoli.  

Of course we were there primarily for the rides and in particular the 1914 Roller Coaster, Europe’s oldest roller coaster. It’s themed to a journey around the mountain side and travels around a large hand built mountain.  

Being a Scenic Railway it has a brakeman sat in the middle unlike Bakken's Rutschebanen where the brakeman sits at the back. It’s hard work holding back the train on the drops. Roller Coaster was incredibly intense for such an old ride and a came as a complete surprise. You can certainly see why even today it is the most popular ride in the park. 

Tivoli is also up to date with a B&M Floorless called The Daemon. It’s very compact and can best be described as “Cute”. New in 2006 was a Star Flyer from Funtime, a cross between a chairoplane and a tower ride offering terrific views of Copenhagen. 

One of the beauties of Tivoli is you don’t have to rush around, instead you can take it all leisurely stopping off for a beer or ice cream as you go. Like Pleasure Beach Blackpool rides are built on top of each other and intertwined. You find something new and exciting around every corner. 

Tivoli have now extended their season to be open in late October for  the increasingly popular Halloween season.  

On our last day of the trip we visited Bonbon Land which is to theme parks what Benny Hill is to sketch shows. Certainly prudish Brits might be some what shocked by some of the things on show whether it be a farting dog, a rabbit showing her breasts or ants weeing on the doors to the toilets. Bonbon Land is owned by a sweet company and features rides and characters that relate to some of the sweets. 

Bonbon Land has a wonderful selection of fantastically themed rides. Vild Svinet the parks signature ride is a Eurofighter and was the first beyond vertical drop coaster from Gerstlauer but sadly on our visit it felt a little rough. For 2007 Gerstlauer are supplying a spinning wild mouse called Hankatten.  

The park has a wonderful rat themed log flume and beaver themed rapids ride and new in 2006 a tower ride that also tips you forward as it drops. Oh and don’t forget the Dog Fart Roller Coaster where yes Henry the Hound actually farts on you. 

Elsewhere there was a rock it yourself pirate ship which with a bit of effort produces some ejector airtime, a self operated small half pipe coaster, a chicken themed Disk ‘O, sewage filled bath themed Condor and a fun round the world boat ride (be warned don’t stick your heads through the wall to watch the ride). 

If you’re hungry the all you can eat buffet at the entrance to the Wild West area of the park is a must visit. 

Over the 3 days we had time to do some sightseeing around Copenhagen as well as visit 3 parks that are all must visits. Bakken has the old time feel, Tivoli a relaxed unique atmosphere and Bonbon Land is modern and well themed. Costing us around £200 it’s not much more expensive than a long weekend in the UK but you’ll experience parks that you just won’t get here. 

“For the real enthusiast each park offers an historic and quirky mix of excellent and unique rides with welcoming hospitality to match. Whilst you may not have been on the biggest, fastest or latest rides, you are left with fond memories of an alternative experience to the larger corporate parks.” L.D.

“Baken, Tivoli and Bon Bon were fantastic parks with such a wide variety of rides. All three parks were so different to each other which made them all very enjoyable.” P.R.

“Tivoli is my favourite of the three, densely packed, great atmosphere, and the scenic is no slouch.” J.F.

The group flew with Easy Jet from Standstead to Copenhagen Easy Jet

They hired a car from Car Rentals

They stayed at the Cab Inn City with views over Tivoli Gardens.