2004
Coaster Trips: 2004: Tivoli Gardens (#2), BonBon-Land
Sunday May 2nd
Tivoli Gardens
I felt surprisingly awake this morning given how late I stayed up last night. The breakfast selection in the hotel was not bad at all, and I was able to eat my fill.
We walked down to Tivoli Gardens to be greeted with the news that Daemonen was down, and as such our ERS was being replaced by a tour and walkaround of the Rutschebanen. I got some fantastic photographs again, and managed to walk around about two thirds of the track. I would have finished it, but ran out of time, as the group wanted to get a few rides in. I managed two quick circuits before we were advised that Daemonen was now open. Tivoli kept Daemonen exclusively for us for about half an hour, and as a result I was able to get in six back to back rides.
Unfortunately the coaster we missed last night, the Karavanen, was not due to open until 2pm. The same was true of Det gyldne Tårn and the Monsunen. Instead, I had a quick go on the Tempeltårnet, a self propelled tower ride similar to the one we saw in Legoland Windsor on Friday. While unusual, I didn't find this very interesting, though it did give me a good angle to get some more photos of Daemonen.
Since the wait for Daemonen was practically non-existent, we went for another ride before stopping for lunch. Our last ride before leaving Tivoli for the coach was a final spin on the Rutschebanen.
BonBon-Land
The coach drive to BonBon-Land took a little over an hour. This is one of the parks I have wanted to visit for quite some time for two main reasons; first of all, the fact that is home to the first Gerstlauer 97 degrere drop coaster (Vild-Svinet), and also due to its somewhat unique theming. Among the other rides you can find here is the Hundeprut, literally translated as the Dog Fart Coaster (!). Unfortunately there were only two rides running today (as the park only opens for the season on Friday), but this was made up for by the two rides; Vild-Svinet and Alba-Tossen.
As is obligatory on trips like this, the entire group made a bee line for Vild-Svinet (#237). We were greeted by the park boss, who informed us that new wheels had been fitted to the ride this year, and as such it now runs 4 kph faster than in previous years, for a new speed of 74 kph. The ride runs with eight seater trains laid out in two rows of four. I was lucky enough to take my first ride in the front row, outside left seat. The first question anyone asks about these rides is do they feel like you are going beyond vertical. The short answer is yes - the drop on this coaster is simply superb; leagues ahead of any other coaster of this height, and a candidate for one of the best first drops on a steel coaster.
Alba-Tossen was interesting, but as I had previously ridden the other one of these rides on Friday I was happy enough to settle for one go.
I made my way back to the coaster and began my first marathon of the trip, clocking up ten back to back rides. About half way through I asked for permission to use my camera on board, and this was granted after they used tape to firmly secure my camera to my hand. While I don't feel tape to be necessary, especially when I have my camera secured via its strap, I would gladly use it every time if more parks would allow on ride photography. I would like to thank the ride operators on Vild-Svinet for being so accomodating.
The local Danish TV station, TV2, had noticed me filming on the ride and requested an interview with me, so I answered a few of their questions as best I could. I assume they subtitled what I said in Danish!
After a brief stop for food and drink, which was provided free of charge, I went back to the coaster and clocked up nine more circuits, bringing the total for the day to twenty.
The whole group met up at this point to walk around the rest of the park. While this was all closed, the group boarded the Cowboy Gigantgynge, a people powered swinging ship. This seems like a good idea until you have a load of coaster enthusiasts on board. We were swinging it very high indeed, and I suspect we might well have frightened the normal guests if the park had been open to the public.
I had dinner with Richard and Patrick in an Asian restaurant about half a mile from our hotel. Now it's time to sleep before Legoland Billund tomorrow.