Boat Swing

Home of the DrageKongen

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Since my initial visit at Djurs Sommerland, I always wanted to come back. Year after year, the park surprised everyone by its new additions, such as the overhaul of the children’s area featuring the family coaster Vilde Hønsejagt or the new themed area Wild Asia featuring Europe’s fastest and longest family suspended coaster DrageKongen and the large-scale Gyro Swing Tigeren.

Bondegårdsland

The kiddie area Bondegårdsland is home to a large selection of quality family rides, most of them by Zamperla and Zierer. The whole area has a very funny farm theme which neatly suits every ride. Vilde Hønsejagt for example features an impressive front car with a hungry fox and a very fearful hen. The ride itself is a Force Two coaster by Zierer offering a very smooth and fun ride for the whole family.

Wild Asia

The theme area Wild Asia is the makeover of the old area around the log flume Colorado River and the HUSS Topple Tower Ørnen. While the log flume got a new theme and with Long Cun Expedition a fitting new name, the rare HUSS ride sadly had to leave the park after just 13 seasons. It got replaced by Tigeren, a very wild swing ride by Intamin. Due to the open seating position, the fast acceleration and the overall very forceful ride, the ride is much more thrilling than most of the other swing rides out there.

Jungle Rally

Right next to the Long Cun Expedition, you can find the park’s newest roller coaster: Jungle Rally. The small Force Zero family coaster by Zierer features the classic Tivoli layout and hence offers a ton of fun to its riders.

DrageKongen

The mighty dragon king is a large-scale Family Suspended Coaster by Intamin. It dominates the Wild Asia themed area and offers an impressive layout containing a ton of close-to-the-ground curves and manoeuvres.  

The ride starts with a gentle tyre driven launch out of the station. After a short indoor section featuring two small hills and a right-hand helix, we reach the ride’s lift hill. On a height of 30m, we now drop down in a steep lefthander into a fog filled tunnel. A large, overbanked turn and a helix close to the ground complete the clef-like initialisation of the fast-paced ride. After a straight camelback, we now make our way towards the back of the station building in a close to the ground curve combination. Here, we take a small dip before crossing the building featuring two very impressive close call moments. Once again close to the ground, we then make our way over hill and dale, before taking a left hand turn leading into a tapered helix. Soon after, we hit the brakes.

DrageKongen is a fun roller coaster. After the gentle, but fun start to the ride, the dragon king surprises everyone by its fast-paced layout. Overall, DrageKongen is a harmonious yet thrilling ride for the whole family.     

Miscellaneous

To my surprise, the Tarzanland area next to the now demolished Jungle Safari boats ride also had to make place for the new Dinosaurland area coming in 2022. I just hope that a similar large-scale playground will find its way to the park soon.

The two flat rides Søulken and Drageskibet are also a great addition to the park’s portfolio. While Søulken is a modern Polyp ride by Gerstlauer, Drageskibet is the return of the classic Pirate boat swing by HUSS. It’s great to see Djurs Sommerland investing in such classic family rides!

Pictures Djurs Sommerland

Conclusion Bondegårdsland and Wild Asia 

I once again had a blast visiting Djurs Sommerland. The two themed areas Bondegårdsland and Wild Asia simply blew me away and I cannot wait until Dinosaurland is opening. I just hope to visit the park earlier next time.  

Djurs Sommerland

The Flight of the Fēnix

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The changes of Toverland

I haven’t been to Toverland for a long time. A lot has changed in the time since my last visit. There is now a new themed area with roller coaster and boat ride, and a brand new entrance area called Port Laguna. This connects the themed areas to each other and serves as a sympathetic hub to return to in the afternoon for the cliff diving show. It’s a very quiet area, which is very much in keeping with all the hustle and bustle in the rest of Toverland.

This also eases the situation in the first hall – the former entrance area – which a full-grown amusement park fan doesn’t really get to see any more, unless he or she really wants to ride the Toos Express (formerly Boomerang) or the dinghy slide. So this is an opportunity for Toverland to transform the hall even more into a toddler’s paradise in the future.

Meanwhile, the second hall also saw some thematic changes. The log flume became Expedition Zork (although nothing has really changed here) and the Woudracer Bobkart ride was redesigned as the new Maximus-Blitz-Bahn and made weatherproof by adding a roof over the outdoor track. In addition, the ride has been given a new queue, which is now themed after an Austrian inventor. Fittingly, there is now also a beer garden, which, however, mainly serves local beers.

In the outdoor area, the new roller coaster Fēnix is hard to miss. Together with the quiet (yet impressive due to its indoor part) water ride Merlin’s Quest, it forms the Celtic-like themed area Avalon.

Fēnix

Once you have left the queue, which is well worth seeing, behind you and decided which side to take, the ride on the Fēnix wing coaster can start straight away. In a right-hand bend, the Firebird first leads us through a dark hall, which also houses the roller coaster’s maintenance track. Above this, an ice dragon gives us a nasty look and fogs us up a bit. Shortly afterwards we climb the ride’s lift.

Having reached a height of 40m, we can enjoy the view for a while, because unlike other wing coasters, we don’t immediately turn around our own axis, but first ride through a wide right turn. However, it happens here too, as it does on most wing coasters, and we tackle the dive drop. Here we first turn upside down before we plunge to the ground. We now pass the first valley with full force and immediately fly over an airtime hill. After a second valley with a lot of pressure we turn direction in a quite high Immelmann, whereupon we make a right turn and enter a curve close to the ground. We then remain there for a few seconds, with a fair amount of blood pumping into our legs. But far before we reach the critical values, we already climb a zero-G roll and are turned very smoothly around our own axis. Back on the ground, we quickly pass under a footpath before gaining some height in a left turn. We immediately lose this height in a right turn before we reach the starting height for the braking section in a gentle bend. Shortly afterwards, we enter the large station hall again.

Fēnix is an extremely entertaining wing coaster that knows how to surprise with its close-to-the-ground manoeuvres. It is a little different from other roller coasters of its kind, but that is by no means a mistake. Instead of long, drawn-out inversions, you mainly go through curves close to the ground, which leads to a lot of pressure in your feet. However, you are still far away from grey out and other discomforts, which is one of the main criticisms of the ride.

Another point of criticism – and here I agree with each of the critics – are the incredibly steep stairs on the ride, which is especially evident in the exit area of the ride. For sure they were designed according to the current standard, but it turns out that Dutch stairs are basically ladders deep down. Apart from that, Fēnix is of course a great addition to Toverland.

Pictures Toverland

 

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Toverland

Scenic Fun on the Scenic Railway

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Luna Park Melbourne

One of the smallest amusement parks, an enthusiast might encounter during his travels is the Luna Park Melbourne in St.Kilda. The historic theme park is sitting on a triangular spot of land with no space to expand anywhere. The amusement park heavily influenced by Luna Park on Coney Island in New York opened its gates in 1912. Its star attraction is the Scenic Railway, which runs along the outskirts of the park and gives it a beautiful aesthetics. Within the courtyard of the wooden coaster, all other attractions are placed.

When you enter the park through its beautiful yet creepy entrance portal, you directly encounter one of the park’s mayor attractions. The Luna Park Carousel was built in 1913 by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters and features 68 horses and chariots. Each horse is unique and has a name.

Right next to it you can find a HUSS Enterprise, a Meisho built boat swing, as well as the Spider by the Eyerly Aircraft Company. This old-style flat ride has one of the creepiest decorations to be found on the eccentric designed by artist and children’s book author, Leigh Hobbs.

Power Surge

Past the park’s Ferris-Wheel, we quickly encounter a Power Surge by Zamperla. Although these rides are quite common on fair grounds in Australia and in the US, I’ve never encounter one of these attractions in person. I was surprised by its smooth and thrilling ride experience.

Scare Mazes

During our visit to Luna Park Melbourne, the park had hold two scare mazes. Extreme Phobia was located on the top level of the old Dodgems building, which nowadays is home to the Luna Palace room and Haunted Fairytales was located on the top floor of the Stardust room. Both haunted houses were upcharge and a rather expensive experience. My friend Aris went through Extreme Phobia yet did not found it particularly scary nor worth the money.

Ghost Train

An attraction I would have wished to be at least a little bit scary was the traditional Ghost Train by the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company from 1934. The short ride in the small trains featured for the most part just dark corridors with static paintings, some black light effects and just a handful of animatronics. Given that the ride featured the longest line in the park, I was not at all impressed.

Speedy Beetle

The novelty of this year was the small spinning coaster Speedy Beetle by SBF Visa, which just replaced the aging Silly Serpent family coaster. Surprisingly, it was the first spinning coaster of this type, I have come along. The small Figure-8 coaster can be found nearly everywhere around the globe and provides an excellent spinning ride for smaller guests.

Pharaoh’s Curse

The second big thrill ride of Luna Park Melbourne is the Kamikaze Pharaoh’s Curse by Fabbri. Unlike other Kamikaze rides by the company this one is much closer to the Original Sky Flyer by Vekoma and Mondial featuring just a comfy lap bar for the thrilling inverting ride. As good as this ride is, it looks like being in a terrible condition.

Scenic Railway

Something you cannot say about the Scenic Railway, which seems to be overall well kept. During my visit, it was the oldest operational roller coaster as Leap-the-Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania was currently in restoration. However, the ride is famous to be the oldest continuously operating roller coaster.

The ride on the Scenic Railway begins with a small S-Bend into the cable lift. After climbing the (for a coaster of that age surprisingly straight) lift, we pass a curve above the iconic entrance of Luna Park Melbourne. A large drop follows. After another scenic curve at lofty heights, we now descend close to the ground level and enter a camelback covered by a tunnel. With best views onto Port Phillip Bay, we take another turn. Shortly thereafter, the second round in the triangular layout of the ride starts. First, we take a large drop behind the station building of the Scenic Railway, before we take another S-Bend in order to continue our journey in the courtyard of the ride. Now we take a series of airtime hills and a tunnel while following the layout of the previously experienced track. While doing so, the train loses a lot of momentum and nearly crawls towards the station in the last curve.

The Scenic Railway is a historically significant roller coaster. Unfortunately, it is also the weakest scenic railway, I had the chance to try so far. It seems that the brakemen are using the brakes a bit too much and that the ride therefore becomes so gentle. Nevertheless, I am quite sure if you have a well experienced brakeman, you can have a blast of a time on the Scenic Railway.  It is a nice coaster with a fun layout and therefore worth to keep it running as long as possible. Just don’t miss it when you are visiting Melbourne.

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Conclusion

Luna Park Melbourne is not a park I recommend visiting other for their iconic Scenic Railway. The park is expensive and there is a lack of attractions. Overall, it seems that the Luna Park Melbourne had its best years far behind. Everything is just a bit worn off and for a park of its size that does not give the best image you could have.

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Click here for the next report of the Hell Yeah, Schabelteah! Tour

Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 6 to 8 / Luna Park Melbourne