Germany + Denmark 04/16 – Djurs Sommerland
The operating season of parks on this side of Denmark are surprisingly short. Even by the end of April, only one other had opened its gates for the year and fortunately for me it was the place that I was most interested in.
Day 6 – Djurs Sommerland
It seems I neglected to get a park entrance shot, but you see this beast on the way in anyway and that can only encourage me to head straight to the main event.
The Intamin megalite is often heralded as the best clone on earth. If a park is going to be lazy and not get a custom ride, ‘please let it be a megalite’ will be the first words on many enthusiasts lips. Piraten exists as the only version in Europe and stands as the perfect demonstration as to why this is.
From the intense first drop (taken at unusually swift speeds thanks to the cable lift hill) to the brake run, the layout has no deadspots at all. Every single element is designed to hit you with airtime, hard, no matter where you are seated in the baby Intamin mega trains.
Aside from sheer efficiency, it offers moments that are almost difficult to deal with. The two twisted hills throw you from side to side in a brutal manner, I often found myself shifting positions in the seat and getting put out of my comfort zone. Before you have time to readjust, the final straight of consecutive hills comes so fast that there’s no time to process any of them in turn, sometimes resulting in minor neck injuries (in a good way of course) from the rapid shift in negative to positive to negative force.
Piraten is a physically challenging coaster to ride repeatedly, but the amazing experience it provides will always demand that I do just that anyway, no matter the cost. And that’s the perfect combination.
Djurs’ other Intamin coaster is also a winner. The train design mimics that of a quadbike, with each rider getting their own seat and handlebars. This is a vastly superior seating position to any of those motorbike ones.
Upon leaving the station, the train remains indoors for a slight dark ride section in which the I assume the temple guardians are shaking their sticks at you for trying to steal the jewel. The door opens, light floods in and the launch fires up. Away we go.
The first portion of the ride is good fun, with some light twists and turns, but where Juvelen really shines is through the second, rolling launch. For a more family orientated coaster this element really wrenches you through it at a wild pace, feeling particularly out of control if you are seated toward the back as it snaps into significantly heavier cornering with sharper transitions and some good near misses with the surrounding rockwork and water features.
The pace dies out a little towards the end as the train traverses a couple of drawn out hills that don’t deliver particularly well, but overall it’s a fantastic attraction.
Moving further down the family spectrum we have this Zierer coaster with a quaint little queue full of animals and vegetables.
The ride is decent enough for the size, but the main highlight is the front of the train decorated with a fox chasing a chicken. Will he ever catch it?
As the largest of the standard Gerstlauer Bobsled models, this ride delivers a reasonable amount of force with a particularly stand-out bunny hill through a shed. The cars have me seated in a very relaxed position, almost lying down in some instances with the how low to the floor it is and this enhances it slightly for making me feel less in control of my movements.
The final cred in the park is a Mack water coaster. The weather hadn’t improved at all today so it wasn’t receiving much love. The themed portion before the lift hill is rather attractive and beyond that it’s a simple experience, with the final moments taking you through some tight rockwork, an airtime hump and signature splashdown .
That concludes the coaster package here at Djurs Sommerland and it’s a strong lineup. There isn’t a huge amount in the way of other rides to compliment it though, I believe the highlight on nicer days is to sit in the ample green space, cook some bread on an open fire and relax.
Instead we tried another water ride which was fairly forgettable other than containing a large King Kong statue towards the end.
Piraten kept me going until closing time with some especially violent laps in the rain and I left the park very happy. It’s a fantastic place.