Djurs Sommerland

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 Steel Eel

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History of SeaWorld San Antonio

What hasn’t one already heard about SeaWorld Parks. The park in Orlando has been one of the most famous amusement parks in the world since the 1970s, and the park in San Diego, California, has been offering a successful – albeit still rather critical – mixture of animal and amusement park since 1964. The most exotic park in 1970 was the one in Ohio, which, in agreement with the nearby amusement park Geauga Lake, only featured marine animal shows. Shortly before the takeover by Anheuser-Busch, the fourth and last SeaWorld Park in San Antonio followed in 1988.

First of all, it is important to note that only people who come to the park especially for the marine animals will be satisfied. Thanks to the current expansion offensive on the part of the amusement park, this may change at some point, but without the shows, SeaWorld San Antonio undoubtedly offers far too little for the extremely high admission price.

Tour of the park

Super Grovers Box Car Derby

Now that that has been cleared up let’s start our tour through the theme park. Right at the beginning we come across the large children’s area Sesame Street Bay of Play. Here you’ll find an oversized playground and a handful of selected children’s rides, including the Super Grovers Box Car Derby roller coaster. Known as the Shamu Express until 2018, it featured an orca-shaped train. After the recent rebranding, Grover guides us in his soapboxes through the oval-shaped layout by the manufacturer Zierer.

Steel Eel

Since some areas of the park were closed for annual ticket holders, I was forced to head for the park’s biggest roller coaster, the Steel Eel.

This roller coaster from Morgan has been in the park since 1999 and features the typical out & back layout of the manufacturer. The Steel Eel is the smallest representative of its kind – which fortunately doesn’t mean anything, because the steel eel knows how to entertain its riders very well.

After a short dip out of the station, the train immediately enters a curve, which releases the train into the lift. Arriving at a starting height of 46m, you immediately rush down the increasingly steep first shot. With a speed of65 mph and a good pinch of positive G-forces, the train goes straight through the valley. On the following camelback hills we are lifted out of our seats twice in the most beautiful floating airtime manner, before we head for another valley close to the ground. Immediately afterwards we are already approaching the intermediate brake. With noticeably reduced speed we turn into a steep turn, which serves as a prelude for the brilliant bunnyhop finale. The speed rush takes us over several smaller and smaller hills, which can tear you out of your seat. Last but not least we cross a supply track in a wide S-curve before we reach the braking track of the layout.

The Steel Eel is a great roller coaster with a good amount of floating airtime, which probably gets even more when the coaster is run in and under the (more normal) Texan temperatures. At least I had a lot of fun on this ride, but unfortunately the dispatch was very slow, because first the seatbelt and then the bar are checked, which means you only saw the train rolling over the track every 5-10 minutes.

Wave Breaker – The Rescue Coaster

At the nearby Wave Breaker, fortunately, things looked a bit different and after a short wait, it was possible to go on a rescue mission sitting in the first row. After a short turn you get your mission briefing in a hangar, before you accelerate via a friction wheel launch. Immediately you go up a hill in a slight turn, which you leave in a wide steep turn. After two ground-near swings, you’ll make a right turn, followed by some ground-near maneuvers. A steep left turn leads us to the second launch section, which presses you into the backrest as usual. This is also followed by a high hill, which you leave in a steep left turn. Once again on the ground, we whizz across the lake in slight swings before we make our way back after a left turn. This takes us over a multitude of very flat hills and pressure-laden passages before we even reach the braking section of the layout.

Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster is a very cool roller coaster with a beautiful pacing and a good flow. It is a lot of fun to ride over the high hills and ground level passages. Of course the ride is not comparable to Djurs Sommerland’s Juvelen or Le Pal’s Yukon Quad, but this roller coaster is an excellent and welcome addition to the otherwise rather meager portfolio of the amusement park.

Great White

A good nine years after the amusement park opened its doors for the first time, SeaWorld San Antonio presented its first roller coaster to visitors. The Great White is the seventh delivery of the popular Batman layout from the manufacturer B&M and at that time the only ride of its kind in Texas. Compared to the rides at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas, the Great White is the one where the park took the most effort and adapted the terrain to the ride’s layout. The result is a wonderful ride, which even after more than 20 years of operation is largely without any parallel. The ride through the two loops, the Zero-G Roll and the two corkscrews is simply timeless and mercilessly intense.

Rio Loco

An equally timeless classic are rapid rides. The ride through the rapids is always a refreshing experience, especially since there is also a waterfall here that catches everyone in the boat. The Rio Loco was my first rafting ride through a waterfall and is therefore especially memorable. As well as the Arab family, who entered here with a big suitcase. I have seen a lot of things in amusement parks, and it remains a mystery to me that the employees let them ride.

Sea Swinger and Riptide Rescue

This year, a new area is being created with Turtle Reef, where the rescue of sea turtles will probably be the theme. However, the aquarium was still under construction. The two associated rides Sea Swinger and Riptide Rescue could already be tested. These are a Zamperla Discovery and a HUSS Airboat.

Journey to Atlantis

The last attraction on our trail along the central lake is the Mack Rides SuperSplash Journey to Atlantis. The water roller coaster is similar to the Atlantika SuperSplash from Europa Park, but does without the small hill during the final descent, making the ride more like a classic Shoot the Chute. The wetness level of the ride is however very manageable.

In the end, all that remains is the animal shows and show feeding. Since the combined entrance ticket with the water park Aquatica San Antonio was a little bit cheaper online than the regular entrance ticket, I was drawn to the neighboring water park until the show One Ocean.

One Ocean

Just in time for One Ocean I got myself a tasty beer at the Food & Wine Festival and then watched the orca show. Generally I’m glad to have seen a whale up close, but the show itself was a waste of time and largely consists of soaking the visitors in the front rows with salt water. This was well received, after all it has been part of the concept since the 70s, but honestly, you don’t have to see the show.

Pictures SeaWorld San Antonio

Conclusion SeaWorld San Antonio

SeaWorld San Antonio is a huge theme park, but it lacks attractions. Fortunately, the original concept has been heavily criticized nowadays, forcing the park to expand massively in order to survive at all. The animal shows will give way to another range of attractions over time, so you can look forward to the future of the amusement park with great anticipation.

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SeaWorld San Antonio / Texas Round-Up Day 4

Alpina Blitz and Donjon de l’Extrême

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Nigloland

The last time I visited the Gélis family theme park, the Sky Fly Air Meeting was just one day old and caused quite a stir and enthusiasm among the park visitors. I also remember the huge bruises on my shoulders – but that’s nothing compared to the experiences of the User Bends on onride.de. Well, Jan and I were going wild on the ride at the time; my record was 96 rollovers at one time. In the meantime, many sister installations have been set up, some of them are even heavily throttled. The market seems to be saturated, but should one still look forward to a ride at the Air Meeting? Hell yeah, you should! And with that I welcome you to the fourth day of the Tron-Tron-Trône Tour. Once again we are in Nigloland and we have some novelties in front of us. The most striking and probably best known of these is the roller coaster Alpina-Blitz. Furthermore we drop down from a height of 100m on the freefall tower Donjon de l’Extrême and have a look at the construction sites of Les Zabeilles and Eden Palais, as well as the remains of the roller coaster Bobsleigh. Sounds good, n’est-ce pas?

Niglo Show

But before we look at something new, let’s first take a look at something old. Everybody who has visited Nigloland knows that the park has some very charming dark rides, and the numerous wonderfully presented rides also come to mind – but have any of you ever seen the Niglo Show? Well, I thought so.

Since 1992, the fifth season of the amusement park, this elaborate animatronics show exists in Nigloland. Based on the Country Bear Jamboree of selected Disney Parks, the park mascot Niglo presents a kind of hit parade. The show drifts quite quickly into a very comical and slightly strange direction with the appearance of Hans and Frieda from Bavaria. Marvellous! After about 15 minutes the show is over again. Combined with the cult status in Nigloland and the fact that it is the only show of this kind in France, it is really worth seeing.

Also worth seeing is the western area where the theatre is located. But you already know that. So, after a lap on the Gold Mine Train, as well as the log flume Rivière Canadienne and the Disk’o Coaster Grizzli, it’ s time to move on. After a few metres we reach a castle complex, in whose courtyard are the two free fall towers Donjon de l’Extrême and Tour des Petits Fantômes.

Donjon de l’Extrême

The entrances to the queues of both attractions are located on one side of the castle gates. So come in, be amazed, turn around and then line up accordingly. The queues then follow the course of the castle walls before they end at a turnstile. Theoretically, you are now let into an area where you can store your bags; always in groups, of course. This way both rides can have a very high capacity. On the day of the visit only one employee had the pleasure of operating both rides alternately and when there was a sufficient number of people waiting. Therefore the waiting time was quite long. Understandably, of course, as the Ride-Op in question also has to supervise the rides. So it took me almost 10 minutes until I sat in the gondola of the big freefall tower for the first time. The really well made film with safety instructions and storyline could shorten the waiting time a little.

The almost 100m high tower Dongon de l’Extrême offers its passengers a drop pleasure from 92m height. This makes it higher than the Gyro Drop Tower Scream from the Heide Park near Soltau, which also causes me a slight vertigo of height. Somehow it’s funny, if at a certain point you can say that the tower is now higher than the tower in the Lueneburg Heath. But most probably it is only the power of habit that makes you sit up and take notice as soon as things change. So far this has only happened to me with three towers, but this is not an indication of the quality of the subsequent fall. After all, and you have to admit this to the new restraint system of the Funtime towers, the feeling is enhanced by the freedom of your shoulders.

The free fall on Donjon de l’Extrême fits in perfectly with that of other rides from the manufacturer. That makes for a good mood. The fairly free seating position supports the ride overall, but is not a must-have compared to conventional restraint systems. What bothers me personally is that you let the gondola carrier rotate too fast, so you can see the whole of Nigloland for two laps in total. Somehow I miss the suspense. All in all, the Donjon de l’Extrême is an excellent freefall tower in a beautiful setting with a really good fall experience that you always enjoy getting back into.

All in all, everything has been done right. In principle, a review of the Tour de Petits Fantômes, the Zierer family freefall tower right next door, would now also take place. However, the waiting time was too long for me, especially since at a later point in time there was much more traffic than before at the Donjon de l’Extrême and the waiting time was much longer. But I was standing in line. At some point, however, the waiting time became too long for me, so I preferred to queue at the nearby Manoir Hanté, the magnificent self-built ghost train with carousel feeling. Huiiiiii!

Alpina Blitz

Now we come to the biggest roller coaster of Nigloland, the Mack Rides Mega Coaster Alpina Blitz. When in 2009 the current manager Rudolphe Gélis took a ride on the at that time still new Ferris wheel with his uncle and his father, they noticed a very large green area, on which ideally a large roller coaster could be placed. In the idea finding phase everything was still open. A water coaster was still as conceivable as a spinning coaster or a wooden roller coaster similar to Tripsdrill’s Mammut. But then came Piraten. The layout of the compact Mega Lite Coaster from Djurs Sommerland convinced the Gélis family right away, but the train did not suit the family. They rather wanted seats like the Bluefire roller coaster instead of camping chair-like seats with lap bars. Intamin was convinced of their generation of trains, and as a consequence they contacted the manufacturer Mack Rides.

Once you have taken a place in the comfortable seats, you are ready to go. Via chain lift you are now quickly transported to a height of 33m. As soon as you reach the top, you’ll be thrown into the valley, where you’ll be loaded with 4.3G for several seconds in a curve close to the ground. At the same time the bar is pushed down very far. As a result, the passenger is now pressed between the bar and the seat, which unfortunately does not benefit the following elements at all.

With pleasure you shoot up a hill, on the top of which you immediately change direction. At great speed you pass another valley before a classic Airtime hill follows. Normally it is a moment of complete joy, but on the Alpina Blitz you experience an unparalleled torture. After all, the train tries to throw you off quite powerfully – but it’s no fun without a little bit of space between you and the restraint. In the following curve close to the ground you can take a short break before a series of turns follows. Compared to the Mega Lite roller coasters these are a bit more moderate, which is very much in line with the general ride comfort (due to the closed position of the bars). After another curve close to the ground three classic bunny hops follow each other. At least in theory, these are also very funny. The end of the Alpina Blitz is a beautiful left turn with a Bayernkurve-style upward swing before reaching the braking distance.

The obligatory comparison of the two Mega Coaster variations is easy for me: Intamin wins. In this respect there is actually no room for great discussions, Kawasemi and the later Pirate are the better roller coasters. Of course it would be wrong to talk the Alpina Blitz smaller than it is. The ride can do a lot, but the restraint should be able to withstand the load of the first turn. I also don’t think that this is the norm for this ride, but at the start of this year’s season it was the same on every seat. So I left the ride after just a few laps and preferred to sit in the Spatiale Experience, the park’s magnificent indoor roller coaster, for continuous riding.

Bilder Nigloland

Fazit Nigloland

The Nigloland can continue to convince. The park is pleasant and offers an extraordinarily well coordinated portfolio. Even if I cannot enthuse about the roller coaster Alpina Blitz, the park offers enough other attractions where I like to do this without having to exaggerate. I’ll take a closer look at this year’s new attractions on my next visit, until then I’ll be curious to see what else Nigloland has to offer.

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Nigloland / Tron-Tron-Trône Day 4