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(A bit of) Denmark

davidm

Strata Poster
Spurred by the need to do something over the August bank holiday, I gave into my FOMOOF (Fear of missing out on Fønix) and nipped over to
Denmark for a few days.

Not going to do a super long TR, just a few photos to space out some random waffling...

Reasonable afternoon flight into Billund, but every hotel in Billund was stupid expensive so I drove 1/2 hour to the nearest town I could
see on a map for a much more reasonable budget hotel and an opportunity to wander the streets in the evening in search of local libations.

So the town (Vejle) was quite pleasant - had a nice pedestrianised centre with lots of shops and the like, but it was very dead of a
Wednesday evening, lots of shut bars (even the ubiquitous Irish pub was closed) and not many people about.





I did find a food court where I could get beer and Tacos though, which was pretty much what I wanted



About the only other place open was a vast place called Megalounge, which turned out to be a hotel-lobby / Italian restaurant place with very
pricey beer



Anyway next morning, after a frankly rubbish hotel breakfast (budget hotel, what do you expect Dave!) I went back to Billund to try out a
totally-new-for-me-thing.



New because I'd never been to any Lego-park, despite driving past a few of the often enough.

In truth I had not really wanted to go here, it was just that the opening hours of the places I did want to visit meant I was killing time so
I figured I'd see what was going on ad pick up a +4.

Unusually, they did not open the gates until right on the advertised opening time (i.e. they weren't letting people in to the front area
to spend money in shops/cafes before opening the park) and it was a bit of a mess of people all charging through the gates at opening. Not a
great first impression then.

I did not really have a plan for the park so I just wandered towards the first coaster I could see on the map which turned out to be their
newest, Flying Eagle. It seemed pretty popular with the people who had got through the gates before me as I had to queue 20 mins or so for
it - took me a while to notice that they were giving everyone 2 laps which explained the slow moving line.



Nearby was Dragen and I was now expecting more burdenous queues, but seems like only the Eagle generated those as that was walk-on. Yay.



A bit more interesting this as it had a reasonable "dark ride" section full of lego-stuff before the (powered) coaster got going. The coaster
itself whizzed around a fairly pleasant bunch of trees and other green stuff, so that was nice.



Moving on, there's a mouse ride, X-treme Racers but a large park model rather than the more compact mice, and that was good (for a
mouse)



Was also walk-on (15m sign is lying to you)


Favourite of the coasters was the last one, Polar X-plorer - I did know about the "trick" to this one so that was no surprise, but due
to that "trick" probably the most interesting of the rides here, so much so I had another ride. :)



OK creds done, wander around the park for a looksee - its all quite pleasant but clearly not "for me". I do have a go on a couple of the
dark rides just to see what was going on really. "Emmet’s Flying Adventure – Masters of Flight" is a (fairly new) flying theatre and was OK,
quite a lot more "budget" than any of the other flying theatres I've been on (not many to be fair) and I got the end seat too so my visual
experience was not great either. But it was OK, would not object to Alton getting one of these (with a better film).

Did the Ninjago ride too, I had no idea what to expect with this, but it was very poor. Some screens were not working (so just sat there
looking at a black wall while stuff went on on adjacent screens) and the shooting mechanism just did not seem to work either - perhaps I got
a dud vehicle? anyway it was very poor.

And there was was a Haunted House thing - which I quite liked. Spooky walkthrough (all lego-ghosts and ghouls of course) and then a mini
drop tower/glorified frog-hopper thing at the end which was only running one of its two sides so that caused a big queue back into the
walk-through bit which was not great.

They have a small observation tower thing too, and I like them, so did that.





But that was about it for any amusement I was going to get from the place!

We've all seen better days...


But I was not done with Billund after my couple of hours at the park, I'd spotted that there was advertised sculpture park nearby so wandered
around the back of the Legoland hotels to find it.



To be honest, it was not great. A wander down a pleasant enough walk through the woods, with the odd lump of sculpture to walk past. Some of
them more successful than others.









When you get to the other end of the walk, you are towards downtown-central Billund, which is all quite pleasant and twee as company-towns go.



But being as that company in the company-town is Lego, there's also a Lego-visitor centre place here - its got a bunch of (charged)
"experiences" that you can do (I didn't) but also a reasonable amount of free public space (mostly up on the roof space of the place) that
you can wander around and that was quite cool.













After that almost-culture diversion, I headed up to Aalborg for the night in another city-centre budget hotel.

The previous time I'd been to Aalborg, it had been mostly shut (really) so this time I had scoped out some places that should have been open
(and were) for some beer-based culture.



But they were a bit "touristy" for me, either like the above (where I did have a food and beer) or Tuborg-based party bars


And there was something off with that burger too, as I did not feel too well afterwards (nor for a couple of days to be honest)

I persevered though and after a bit of wandering did find a couple of bars much more to my liking so all was good in the end.

 

davidm

Strata Poster
I was at the time slightly nervous that this trip was going to end in rain-based spite - despite yesterday at Lego being lovely warm summers
day, the forecast for the remaining days was awful - they were predicting heavy thunderstorms and lots of rain right through the weekend. I had
a spare day in my itinerary, but that would have involved some annoying back tracking if today got washed out and if storms were happening
then I had fears the next day might also be a write off...

(Spoiler:It was all OK in the end)

So after another disappointing budget breakfast (same chain, you'd think I would have learned) I headed off in the morning towards Fårup Sommerland (obviously) somewhat nervously watching the big grey clouds overhead (it wasn't raining, but it was looking threatening).

I must have been keen as I was the first car in the queue to get in, even had to wait for them to open up!



Sensibly they let people in before they opened the rides, so milled about a bit (annoyingly could not get a coffee though) until they let the,
relatively few, punters at the rides. Obviously I headed in the general direction of the new machine but the place is a little confusing as
its all in amongst the woods and I could not really remember much of the layout from my previous visit >10 years ago.

One young chap beat me there though, so while he got the front I grabbed the back for some of that highly anticipated Fønix action.

And it was good (just going to intersperse some pics from all over the day now as I was busy riding it first thing)





Since no-one had turned up they were letting you (nay, encouraging you to) re-ride without leaving your seat, so did that, only getting out
to grab a front row ride or if someone turned up on the row. Lovely stuff.





The twist through the station is fast, did notice that the ride-op kept his earplugs in until it had gone past.








So yes, its very nice. Its not earth shattering by any means, Lech is more intense, the odd stall was fun but not in the RMC-league but the
rest of the ride is full of decent hops and airtimes. Just a very good coaster.

I was starting to feel a bit dodgy though after several rides, I am blaming that burger last night for this rather than my old age though ;)

There were other creds to get though, and since it had not started to rain (yet?) I went off to grab them to sate my cred-anxiety.

Nearest one was the family boomerang, Saven (pics from later in the day when it was clearly NOT raining)





That was pretty cool - done a few of these but this one was really well "landscaped" into the park too which was nice. However the going
backwards business was not helping my stomach much.

I knew that I had to get to other side of the park for another cred and I was struggling to spot where the last new-to-me cred was so I headed
that way. And walked past the other +1, so paused to +1 it. Pindsvinet - was as exciting as you may expect.



Last cred though was a lot more worthy, the family suspended Orkanen.



And that was fun, again they let you re-ride if no-one was waiting (like no-one at all was waiting for any seat so they sent it round again)

I figured I should at least give the woody Falken a courtesy lap. Read some not-complementary things about this since I had ridden it
years ago so I was a bit worried. It was shaky and potentially painful but did not give me too bad a ride (zen ride at the front). When I
got back to the station I thought I was going to get another zen ride but one other punter had turned up - I still rode it again though.

The threat of rain had lessened somewhat, I was still feeling a bit rough though, but braved a lap on the rather quick Lynet which I
had enjoyed a lot on my previous visit.



It was still good I thought - and in keeping with the theme of the day, also got sent around twice. :)



I did ride the spinning mouse Flagermusen (ugh) and the Mine Expressen junior (2 laps again) as well, but there's nothing to write home
about either of those.



After a bit of a chill for a while to see if I could get my insides to calm down any, I headed back to Fønix and rode that a fair few times
again - that did not help my ill feeling at all though and I needed several breaks between rides to keep going - ha ha, perhaps it is my age
after all :)

--

I was in a much nicer hotel that night in Randers, but it was a little more of a trek out of the town-centre. Found a decent (but empty) bar
and then the street food place for some food, which was pretty cool





The rain had turned up by then though, it was chucking it down which rather killed my plan of wandering around looking for places I'd like
so I just dived into a grotty looking bar called "Barry's" which amused my because my mate Barry used to work in Randers on and off for a
while a few years ago - I messaged him while sat in the bar and it turned out it was him and his colleagues "local" when they worked there. It
was not at all good though. ;)

 

davidm

Strata Poster
Seeing as this was a much nicer hotel, that breakfast was so much nicer than the budget hotel. Positively enjoyed it. Great start to the
day. The weather was still looking threatening even after the downpour the evening before so I was still slightly concerned about rain-spite.

I'd asked my mate the night before whether there was anything exciting in Randers, he said there wasn't and the highlight of the town was the
fake Graceland (as in Elvis). Its an American/Elvis themed restaurant apparently. This amused me greatly, so I made a point of going to have
a look at it on my way out in the morning (it was not much of a detour).



Yeah, tacky as anything ; info here https://www.memphismansion.com/ / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Mansion



Anyway enough of that silliness, I have creds to get and rain to avoid.



Today is a Saturday (and seemingly the same Saturday Mr Heartline was here, but I missed the Heartline cred and so his internet-anonymity
remains preserved ;) ) so I was a little concerned about crowd numbers (annoyingly Djurs was not open in the week, it was this that had made
me visit Lego earlier).

At rope drop the Saturday masses charged into the park - I thought I'd be smart by charging to the back of the park for creds first rather than
the nice looking inverted to the left of the main entrance or the awesome pirate ride to the right of the entrance. I even dashed past a
kiddy cred that was starting to draw a queue (ended up being a possible error as I waited ages for it later) on my way to find the "straddle
coaster" Juvelen. Was quite looking forward to this as I had only heard good things about it over the years.



And it was good - very much liked this. Even better as my goon-plan was working here and there was no line and they sent us around again
straight away (alleged 45 min queue later in the day).



Plan for the next cred was the new-ride for the season, T-Rex Family Coaster so headed over to that all-new area (I think). The area
was pretty good, all very swish dino-exploration type thing going on and I walked straight onto the back row of new ride - only it broke
down then. Leaving me the only person in the station standing at the airgate while they called the engineer and a big line starting to build
behind me.

After a while it was fixed and could ride - 2 laps standard it seems, and the first lap seemed slower than the second (and some of the
plastic dinos squirted water at you on that lap).

OK more worthy cred now, the invert DrageKongen. A fair queue had built up by now though, and I made it worse by opting to wait for the
front. I liked this and I did not know much about it so some of its tricks were surprises to me, which was nice.







I rode it again later in the day at the back and that was good too. Really good that and a winner of a family ride.





Since it was there, rode Jungle Rally. It was not good, but it did what it was aiming to I suppose.



Sucked up a 40 minute wait for that kiddy coaster I walked past earlier, but it completed my creds for the day Vilde Hønsejagt. Two
laps again as standard, contributing to the wait but I'd rather them do that to be honest (not as though I would have ridden it twice
otherwise)



Cred-sated I got some lunch and went back to ride the stuff I'd ridden on my previous visit (and pretty much liked back then).

Happy to see straggly goat was still there





And still really liked Thor's Hammer





Got slightly moist on the water ride (which was brand new on my previous visit) Skatteøen





Then on to the main event, the glorious pirate ride; Piraten. Queue for this varied, couple of times it was walkon, couple of times
10-15 mins or so. Anyway no hardship and could ride it front/back and in between to my hearts content. Lovely.









Even with it being a relatively busy Saturday I had done everything I wanted to, no rain had appeared so I reckon this was a great day
and I headed off to the next hotel a happy little bunny.

--

Kinda coincidentally I had booked the same hotel (albeit refitted and rebranded) that I had stayed in before in Arhus - so I knew the
general layout of the city.



There was a Mikkeller bar 5 mins from my hotel heading out of the city, so started there



But ended up with pizza/beer combo in a Italian cafe back in the city (was nice pizza)



Arhus was quite busy at night, and there was some street art to look at too. Nice.



That's it for the coasters, will do final instalment later.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
You and Heartline (and some others on Twitter) are making Denmark creep up the list from "nice to do" to "really must do" in the next few years. No bad thing, mind. ;)

Sounds great and enjoyed the report, as ever.

Mind...
That's it for the coasters, will do final instalment later.
360_F_258170897_Ewq7Qo0fXziFv5MMxEUkt2RUj61owsC0.jpg
 

davidm

Strata Poster
(just for Hixee)

Last full day here (I left the next day but nothing happened then apart from driving back to Billund for the flight home) I was just in Aarhus.
I'd spent a day in Aarhus and really liked the place (linky) so I was very happy that my rain-contingency day was not needed and I could have
another day messing about around the city.

After a decent hotel breakfast (not quite as good as the day before but miles better than the first places) had a wander around for a while
until the Aros art museum opened up - to be honest the draw of this place was one of the main reasons I wanted to be here, I thought it was just
fab the first time I came here. https://www.aros.dk/en/



A few of the major installations were the same as my previous visit, but the majority of the stuff to look at was new and again I thought it
was really good - probably the best modern art museum I've been to anyway (and I try to visit a few when looking for some "culture" to break
up the cred-runs)



One of the first things I came across ended up being one of the best - I just wandered into this huge room with several large screens showing
various people kinda dancing away in all these different styles.



So I sat down to watch it for a while and it got a bit hypnotic. Slowly the various videos seemed to be syncing up - not like they were doing
the same dance but the dances/things they were doing all seemed to start to complement each other.

And the music - the music was fantastic, and building slowly to a crescendo - it wasn't M83 but kinda felt like when you listen to that M83
track (this one) and it just stops you functioning in awe.

And then it all goes bonkers - the seven screens all start to distort for a while (actually did not like that bit so much) and then everything
turns into stars and its all over.

It all lasted about 35 minutes (I'd caught it right near the start) and it was just great. This is the blurb on the wall;



And it was called 'Phase Shifting Index' by a chap Jeremy Shaw - here's a bit of it on YT from the place where it is now (its moved from Aarhus now to Frankfurt) which doesn't get the whole psychedelic awesomeness of it all but I can't help that ;

(so if you are near Frankfurt at the moment - I recommend)!

The rest of the museum is very good too and I can happily spend a few hours wandering around.





This one is famous





Up on the roof is a big installation, which was there on my previous visit but worth another wander around ; Your Rainbow Panorama by Olafur
Eliasson which I had found so cool on my previous visit that I'd made a point of going to London's Tate when there was exhibition on by the
same chap (was after the last London meetup back in 2019 if I recall correctly) - and that was fab too.



Panorama pic did not really work - only had a compact camera with me, there's better pics of it in the old thread.















After I'd wandered around the whole place I went back to that Phase Shifting Index and watched it again.

And then I walked into it (there are seats within the screen area, and the screens are transparent so you can see them from both side)
and watched it again from inside it. Mind blowing.

Thoroughly recommend Aros then. I'd happily go back again to see what new stuff they are doing - the place is actually just starting an
expansion, so I'd like to see what happens with that - ideally when Djurs gets a (proper) T-Rex or something to give me an excuse :)

--

I was not planning to go to the other major tourist sight in Aarhus though - so if you want to see Den Gamle By (The Old Town) go look at the
old thread where I did have a look.

My afternoon's plan was more beer and football (then more beer) related, quick lunch (and the only Tuborg I had) in some popup in some old
hall near Aros



Then find the football in a non-British/Irish bar (disappointingly Newcastle equalised right at the end otherwise my weekend would have been
even better). The beer was better than the Tuborg though.



I carried on with that plan for some time, ending up needing food so went to this Aarhus Street Food place which I'd spotted



And that was fab - probably the biggest "street food" place I've been too - huge hall, probably 40+ food vendors and given it was a Sunday
about the only busy place I encountered.





So that place is recommended too. https://www.facebook.com/aarhusstreetfood/

--

Final Score

Legoland Billund
Flying Eagle
Dragen
X-treme Racers
Polar X-plorer


Fårup Sommerland
Fønix
Saven
Orkanen
Pindsvinet

Falken
Flagermusen
Mine Expressen
Lynet

Djurs Sommerland
T-Rex Family Coaster
Jungle Rally
DrageKongen
Vilde Hønsejagt
Juvelen

Skatteøen
Piraten
Thor's Hammer

So that's 20 coasters, +13 and no spites, not bad at all.

:)
 
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