Sliding & Splashing in the Morning

Preface

When I planned my Something with Portugal tour I knew from the start that it would not be dominated by theme parks or even roller coasters. A little bit of culture and the one or other water park was allowed. As so often in Portugal, the number of such destinations is manageable, but a look at Parkscout helped to find out at least the names of these parks. A little research later the water park Slide & Splash near Lagoa turned out to be especially interesting to start the day there.

Slide & Splash

Banzai

Shortly after the opening I went into the park, changed my clothes and together with some English people I searched for an already opened waterslide. Whilst the other slides were being prepared, I grabbed a mat and climbed up the rather impressive hill for the first time, only to slide down the rather steep section of the Banzai slide on my belly and then hop over the water surface of the landing pool.

Rio Rapido

Right next to the mat slide Banzai is the relatively inconspicuous tube slide Rio Rapido. On this slide you race down the mountain in a straight line. But Rio Rapido wouldn’t be Rio Rapido if the slide wouldn’t have a hill on which – thanks to the pronounced airtime – you are almost thrown out of your tube. Shortly afterwards and after a small jump you reach the landing pool of the slide.

Escorregas Grandes

The Escorregas Grandes start from the highest point of the Slide & Splash water park, seven slides, each with creative names, all of which are characterised by a multitude of curves and jumps. Unfortunately, these body slides are all a bit older, so you can unfortunately feel the joints a bit. Furthermore, the speed of the slides is not high enough to take off during the jumps. Nevertheless, the Escorregas Grandes offer an extremely solid sliding pleasure for the whole family.

Rio Turbulento

The Rio Turbulento is another tube slide that starts at a similar altitude. The beginning of the slide is a credit to its name. Unfortunately, before the final and quite steep shot, there is no speed at all, so that one struggles a little through the channel.

Kamikaze and Tornado

The starting point for the kamikaze slide and the Tornado funnel slide are located on an annex. While Kamikaze precisely reflects what is to be expected, the Tornado turns out to be a rather boring slide. The speed is just enough to make one lap in the funnel and let yourself drift in the direction of the exit by the water jets.

Black Hole

At the back of the mountain, next to the show arena, where a parrot, reptile and bird of prey show takes place, there are also the black hole slides, which I could not test. Two persons are required to ride in the mandatory double rings. Too bad that nobody ever gets around this part of the Slide & Splash water park. In addition, the park was generally very empty.

Pistas Brandas

Next to a spacious restaurant, you will find the small and large wide slide Pistas Brandas. As I have already ridden a similar ride in the Danish Djurs Sommerland, I was very curious to see how quickly one loses one’s footing here and was surprised to find the wettest slide in the park due to the spray coming up during the slide.

Saltos

Nearby are the small Saltos slides, which you should not underestimate. The speed here is relatively high, the jumps accordingly pronounced and at the end the fall into the cool water is waiting. With the right technique, a rollover is possible at least on the left slide, which initiates the fall during a turn.

Pictures Slide & Splash

Conclusion Slide & Splash

Slide & Splash is a really good water park, which is not only nicely designed, but also has a lot of good slides. Due to the emptiness of the park I could slide everything interesting several times, so that the slightly higher entrance fee was definitely worth it. On the way to the next destination of the day, the zoo and amusement park Zoomarine, I also passed Aqualand Algarve, but I skipped this one because of budget and time reasons.

 

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Sommerland Syd



Amusement Park:Sommerland Syd (1984 - 2012)
Address:Sommervej 4
6360 Tinglev
Operation:Closed

Sommerland Syd was a Danish amusement park and water park near the German-Danish border. It was finally closed in 2013. The amusement park offered a very balanced range of rides, play equipment and sporting activities for the whole family. Most of the rides are now in the Legendia amusement park in Poland.

 
 
 

Highlights of the former Sommerland

 




 

Amazonas

The very macabre log flume

 


 

King Kong

An unique ride

 


 

Tornado

A Vekoma Invertigo

 


An Afternoon in South Denmark

Preface

After Tolk-Schau I moved on further north. Just behind the Danish border, there is the Sommerland Syd. As always in Denmark, the park is lacking a good signposting. If you didn’t know that the park existed, you would not even notice it. The first attraction you will see, is the Tornado when driving onto the parking lot. There is an afternoon ticket to the park, interestingly none of the pay offices were opened at my arrival.  

A visit to Sommerland Syd

Family Star

When entering the park, and taking a tour to your right you quickly stand on the site of the former Interpark roller coaster Kaemperutschebanen. This site is occupied by the small Fabbri spinning coaster Family Star by the German showman Alberts. A year before the same place was used by Kinzler’s Wild Mouse. Wonder what will be next…

One of the great strengths of the park is to encase their rides, so that they look integrated into the landscape. The park’s entire botany looks just beautiful and the rides support this image. Playing a game of adventure golf never looked so appealing.

King Kong

For fans of bizarre amusement rides, a ride the Hula Hoop King Kong by the German manufacturer Klaus is a really good choice. The calypso-like ride surprises  by its fast paced motion, which is somehow reduced when the main plate starts to lift. The ride is fun and definitely unique. Unluckily, only a few of these were build.

Afrikaland

If this unique ride is not special enough, you can have fun in Afrikaland – the dark ride next door. This rides features not only very narrow clearance gauges, it also offers a fun descent and lots of (somewhat) trashy scenery. For such a small footprint, this ride is very entertaining, even through it is not as good as the Ocean of Darkness of the Dutch amusement park Attractiepark Slagharen.

Amazonas

If all of this was still not bizarre enough, you can hop to the other side of the park for a ride on the Shoot the Chute Amazonas. To be honest, this ride needs a disclaimer before boarding as not everybody will understand the brilliant cannibalism jokes during the dark rides section of the ride; some kids might also start to cry. Apart from the Danish Humour, the rides features two drops which will get you wet.

Tornado

The most beautiful and largest gem of the park is the Vekoma Invertigo Tornado. It was once installed in the Swedish Tivoli Liseberg where it was removed – although very popular – due to noise issues. Before coming to Sommerland Syd, the ride was relocated to Greece, where it was never been rebuild due to missing permissions.

Back in Scandinavia, the ride offers the perfect occasion for those who always wanted to try ridding the first half of the popular Boomerang coasters backwards. This can even be spiced up a little when looking at your friends and family (or any other park guest) when sitting in the middle sections of the train. The ride itself is smooth and fun. Due to the suspended design of the train, it is also quite thrilling one.

Pictures Sommerland Syd

Conclusion Sommerland Syd

I was very pleased by my visit to Sommerland Syd. The park offers some good rides and even some gems. While the swimming pool of this sommerland is not the biggest, it is perfect enough to just spend some time over there and having fun on the water slides. For children the park is a pure play, climbing and hopping paradise, where you can be sure that they will fall asleep just a few minutes after leaving the parking lot at the end of the day.  Although there are still some places in the park that should be better renewed, I’m in good hope with new owners of the park.

PS: Sommerland Syd closed just one year after my visit. Most of the rides could be sold to the Polish amusement park Legendia, where they support their incredible portfolio. The Invertigo coaster by the dutch manufacturer Vekoma can now be found in the French theme park Bagatelle in the region Hauts-de-France.

 

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