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Djurs Sommerland | T-Rex Family Coaster | Mack Powered Coaster | 2022

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
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One thing to consider, though: Djurs may be a family park, but so is every other park in Denmark. Maybe Tivoli Gardens occasionally dips a little into the higher thrill categories, but they don't have room for a big attraction. Otherwise there's Fårup and Tivoli Friheden, which might have the funds and were the last Danish parks to build coasters with inversions, but both cases were more than ten years ago (2008) and their coasters built since have definitely been of the family variety. Other than those, Sommerland Syd kicked the bucket in 2012 Tivoli Karolinelund closed its doors in 2010, and BonBon-Land is owned by Parques Reunidos. That leaves only a single Pinfari Zyklon at Sommerland Sjælland, built 20 years ago as the only thrill coaster in that park. These are all the Danish parks that ever built inverting coasters.

Or put more succinctly, there's this list. All the operating coasters in Denmark RCDB classes as "Extreme": https://rcdb.com/r.htm?st=93&ol=26269&sc=20&order=8&ot=2
As you may notice, there are only 7, and the newest ones were built in 2008.

But Djurs is definitely the biggest park in Denmark in terms of coasters. They operate the three fastest coasters in the country, as well as the three tallest. Two of the three biggest coaster drops in Denmark are at Djurs as well (the lists don't overlap perfectly, so there are actually four coasters at Djurs that rank among the biggest five in Denmark - the last one is Dæmonen, for those wondering). And the coasters in question have all been built fairly recently, while competitor parks have built Single Helix or Oval coasters from Zamperla and ABC Rides and their likes.

So if there is one park we could hope for something more from, it's Djurs. They're building the biggest and fastest coasters in the country, and do so on a fairly consistent basis. It just remains to be seen whether they will stick to family rides, or if they decide to take the step up to something extreme. Something that finally breaks that 100 km/h speed barrier, or the 40 m height barrier, or maybe the 4-inversion barrier. Djurs is clearly the best positioned to do so. So well positioned, in fact, that it's reasonable to hope, and thus a bigger disappointment if it doesn't. If they decide to play it safe and build "the world's biggest family spinning coaster" or something like that, which is another way of saying "the world's tamest spinning coaster of its size".
 

Pear

Strata Poster
A spinner would be a great fit for this park! It would be really funny if it had a launch as the Intamin tire launch in the same park is stronger than any launch Mack has made.
 

TheCoasterCruiser

Giga Poster
While a spinning coaster would be a good fit for the park, I hope and think that now is finally the time for them to build a coaster with inversions.
It's something that's been teased at for some time and their family line-up is about as solid as they get now. - They also started seriously venturing into the thrill category in 2019 with their Intamin Gyro Swing, so it's not like they won't touch the more extreme rides.
So I'm gonna be optimistic and say that I think we might be looking at a Mack Mega or Launch here, maybe accompanied by a boat ride a la Merlin's Quest.

Safe to say I'm really excited and will be following this one closely!
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Hmm... it doesn't seem easy to discern any reasonable support layouts from the pattern of footers, but that in itself could be a meaningful observation. I would think a conventional coaster, like a B&M or most family coasters, would have a fairly straight and linear pattern of footers. Clusters of footers mean complex structures. Mack's launched spinners could be a good call here.
 

emoo

Hyper Poster
Well yes this is a shame. But with so much enthusiasm for predicting the fad rides, it reminds us that there are other options to Raptors that a park may think is suitable for their guests.

But not even an inverted powered :(
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Meh, adds to the line up and creates something that will be great for families. Sure, it's not something that immediately grabs our attention as enthusiasts, but it's got potential.

Plus given the fact it's a larger investment, there's scope for good theming and landscaping, and an interesting layout.
 

Joeri Dewitte

Roller Poster
Maybe we will see the longest or highest or fastest Mack Powered coaster at Djurs Sommerland, the park is allready on a streak on getting records with tigeren, juvellen and dragenkogen.

Whatever it will be, it will be a great ride for families and I will gladly plan a trip to danmark in 2022 to ride it in its beautifully themed prehistoric theme.
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Did they hype it up too much or did enthusiasts? It's not like the park told anyone there was a huge thrill ride or looping coaster coming. That was all enthusiasts projecting what they want on the park.

They said big and amazing. Haven't seen either of those claims proved wrong yet.

The people hoping for launched coasters or extreme spinners based on some footers really rather set themselves up for a fall in my opinion.

Anyway it should be an excellent addition for the park and should slot nicely into their lineup. Sure its not what enthusiasts want but it will serve them well with their core audiences, a good business move and probably a good credit (for those that count them) to boot.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Did they hype it up too much or did enthusiasts? It's not like the park told anyone there was a huge thrill ride or looping coaster coming. That was all enthusiasts projecting what they want on the park.

They said big and amazing. Haven't seen either of those claims proved wrong yet.

The people hoping for launched coasters or extreme spinners based on some footers really rather set themselves up for a fall in my opinion.

Anyway it should be an excellent addition for the park and should slot nicely into their lineup. Sure its not what enthusiasts want but it will serve them well with their core audiences, a good business move and probably a good credit (for those that count them) to boot.
I think it is reasonable to be a little disappointed, though. Every park in Denmark is a family park, and the last time an "Extreme" coaster (as classified by RCDB) was built in the country was in 2008. Djurs is pretty much the only park in the country with the means to build something on that scale nowadays, and they have a park full of family coasters already. It's not often that the chance to see something big comes along; this was probably the one shot we're getting for several years. It's a little painful to see it's another investment along the same lines they've already gone several times before.
 

Joelpagett

Mega Poster
I visited Djurs Sommerland a few weeks ago, and although it was a gorgeous little park, this definitely wasn't the ride they were crying out for. There were a lot of teenagers there, so there is definitely a market for something a little more extreme, as the longest queues of the day were Piraten and Dragonkongen.

It also seems a very lengthy build considering the track is on-site already, but they're not opening it until 2022. Hopefully there will be a thrill ride in the mix as well.
 

MouseAT

Hyper Poster
I've definitely got mixed feelings about this. Djurs is such a great park, and I really hope they've got something special planned here.

For one, I'm actually sad to see Jungle Safari go. From what I can remember, it was one of the more original takes on the concept, and whilst it was getting a bit old and worn, I remember it being quite entertaining. I'd be a bit gutted if the replacement ride turns out to be less interesting than what it replaced.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit disappointed to see them adding a powered coaster instead of something more exciting, but to be fair to the park, it's possible that they could create something really interesting if it's a decent size, has an interesting custom layout, and makes good use of theming throughout. It's a long shot, but there's scope for creating something worthwhile here, and Djurs is the sort of park that just might try to push the boat out a little here.
 

Joelpagett

Mega Poster
I've definitely got mixed feelings about this. Djurs is such a great park, and I really hope they've got something special planned here.

For one, I'm actually sad to see Jungle Safari go. From what I can remember, it was one of the more original takes on the concept, and whilst it was getting a bit old and worn, I remember it being quite entertaining. I'd be a bit gutted if the replacement ride turns out to be less interesting than what it replaced.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit disappointed to see them adding a powered coaster instead of something more exciting, but to be fair to the park, it's possible that they could create something really interesting if it's a decent size, has an interesting custom layout, and makes good use of theming throughout. It's a long shot, but there's scope for creating something worthwhile here, and Djurs is the sort of park that just might try to push the boat out a little here.

Although I didn't experience Jungle Safari, I am sure they've got something special up their sleeves. In the past 10 years, the park has become almost unrecognisable, so although it may not be the 0 - 100 MPH triple launched roller coaster we were hoping for, I am sure they know what they're doing... hopefully!
 
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