Richard Bannister

On my last visit to Fårup Sommerland I was able to enjoy a powered coaster for children by the name of Lynet. Showing a certain lack of imagination the park elected ro reuse this name for its latest attraction, a double inverting launched coaster from Gerstlauer. The original ride has been rebranded as Mini-Lynet.

The new Lynet (#1231) opens with a small drop out of the station followed immediately by powerful acceleration as the single car train hits a bank of linear synchronous motors. The layout of this segment within the park reminded me very much of Powder Keg, insofar as guests can stand along the length of the launch track in order to make the most of riders' facial expressions. At any rate, riders are shot directly into an outside top hat element, pictured across, which the train crosses at a surprisingly slow speed. It makes it, however, and for the next sixty seconds there is barely any let up as the train negotiates a tight and twisted course. Unfortunately these twists lead to the usual problem for Gerstlauer steel coasters, namely neck bashing inflicted by the over-the-shoulder restraints. The ride could have been a nine out of ten were it fitted with lap bars, but as it is I'm reluctant to give it more than a six.

Some careful balancing on our Flagermusen ride resulted in what is quite possibly the most spinning I've ever experienced on one of these coasters, to the point that we managed eleven complete rotations on the brake run. From there we went to the Mine Expressen, running well albeit badly in need of some hedge trimming. A typical feature of roller coaster safety announcements is the instruction to keep ones hands and arms inside the ride vehicle; those who didn't do so here got hit by considerable quantities of foliage!

Some major work has been done on Falken since my last visit a year ago. The train still suffers from some shuffling, but the only place this is a problem is in the helix at the end of the ride. Presumably this bit will be retracked too at some stage, which should return the ride to where it was when I first rode it four years ago.

The last ride of the morning was taken on Wetracer, the parks speed boat ride and one of my favourites. Unfortunately for me the ride lived up to its name today, as a misjudged wave chose to empty itself all over the inside of my boat. This was needless to say hilariously funny to everyone else, although the prospect of several hours of wet jeans didn't exactly boost my own enthusiasm!

Djurs Sommerland has seen some major expansion since my last visit just over a year ago. The biggest change is a relocated park entrance; the car park has been moved to a completely different location allowing much of the original area to be used for an absolutely stunning new roller coaster. Piraten (#1232) is the second installation of the new Mega-Lite design from Intamin, and it is without question top ten material. An elevator lift hill mechanism brings the train to the apex in just ten seconds, and from there the layout has everything; fast and forceful turns, airtime hills in abundance, and even a token tunnel for good measure. The lap bar equipped cars give an unparalleled feeling of freedom. Detailed theming is simply the icing on the cake. It is no exaggeration to describe this coaster as one of the best steel coasters in Europe, if not the best.

Decidedly inclement weather limited our enthusiasm for riding much more today, but we did manage a lap on Thor's Hammer. The ride was running fairly well, though it was marred by a very nasty bump in the final helix that can't have been doing the trains any good. It would have been interesting to ride again to see if we were just unlucky, but to do so would have involved a drenching. An early dinner seemed an altogether better plan!