07-04 Bakken - Oldest Amusement Park in the World

We left this morning at 11:00. We hopped on a bus to get out to Bakken, about a 30 minute bus ride to the north. We arrived at the bus/train station and walked a short distance to Bakken, the oldest amusement park in the world. Opened in 1583, Dyrehavsbakken is it's full name and it means The Animal Park's Hill.

They open at noon today and it's just before. We bought our wrist bands online a week ago to save money and to maybe avoid the ticket buying line. Alas, the wristband-getting line is just as long as the ticket-buying line.

Our first stop is lunch. We split a burger at a place just behind the ticket booth.

First ride of the day is Tornado, a 2009 Intamin spinning coaster. This coaster really whips you around the first turn. It's nicely themed as it spins through several cut outs in a house torn apart but a tornado.

Their oldest coaster is Rutschebanen and it is a  wooden coaster built by Valdemar Lebech in 1932. We rode it twice, once in the back seat and then in the front. They retrofitted this coaster and unfortunately it is not a classic coaster any more. It has ratcheting lap bars, a cable lift hill, lots of trim brakes on all the curves. The cable does get you to the top of the lift hill very fast. We rode once in the front and once in the back. No air time.

Next was Mine Train Ulven, another Intamin coaster built in 1997.  It was nice, but short. We rode it twice. In the queue of this ride they play loud nasty rap music. They sing in Danish, but the bad words are in English. So strange to hear. We rode the front seat and then the back. It's fairly fast, not too jerky, except the initial jerk out of the station.

Sky Roller is an airplane ride, high in the air, that you control by moving the wings up and down. You can make your plane spin upside down if you like going upside down. Some people spin a lot. Not Karen. Pat spun a few times and then said that was enough.

Wild Mouse was built in 2012 by Mack Rides. We rode it twice in the front seat. I still think I'm going to fall off the edge on this ride. It's still the same cool coaster I rode for my very first coaster ride for my seventh birthday at the Seattle Worlds Fair. Thanks Mack Rides for bring this classic coaster back.

Next Karen did some old fashion Skee Ball. That old music it plays when the balls drop drew her right in. Her scores were not great.  It's been a while since she played. 190 220 170.

The Double Shot Tower had two good air bounces at the top. Always a fun ride.

The Racer Coaster is a Zierer coaster built in the 80's that we rode twice. There was great race car themeing on this ride. It's a nice smooth fun ride. It is a single car similar to the original Matterhorn bobsled cars. One person sits between the legs of the other.

Spogelsesslottet is a very dark haunted house, kind of cheaply done with blood and scary guys popping up. You can't see much in here.

Dillen is what we call the "splash alligators". OK here's a unique ride. You stand on an alligator and you have a steering wheel you turn to make your alligator spin out and splash the sides. Kind of feels like a whip when you spin out. Then you steer back and forth while your going around and around and spinning out. Fun. We have seen nothing like it at any other amusement park.

5-D Cinema is a 3D movie theater that has added water and effects. It shows four different movies. The first movie was Canyon Coaster. We got to stay in our seats after the show and she came around and scanned our bands, then let in the next new people, then started the next movie. Red Star Films did the second movie, the Dinosaur Park movie with a Jurassic Park plot line. Fly me to the Moon was the third movie and Dracula 4D was the fourth movie. Nice to be able to see all four without getting up. And it was a nice break also being able to sit that long.

The Crazy Theater was right next door. It was crazy alright. You sit on a horse and shoot at the movie scenes. Half the guns didn't work and you don't know till the movie starts if yours works or not. We tried twice. The first time Karen was lucky and got a gun that worked and the second time Pat's gun worked.

Safari is a dark ride where you shoot at the jungle animals. The sounds of shooting really takes away from this cheaply themed jungle ride.

Next was the Swan Ride, an elevated ride that you pedal to make it go around. It's right over the log flume, so you get an elevated view of the logs splashing down.

Next we had dinner at Al Dente, an Italian place, while watching the Pjerrot show. Pjerrot is their mascot. He is a white-painted face magician. We, of course, couldn't understand it, but it's a magic show where he gets kids from the audience to help him. He was really good with them and sat down and greeted each one who stayed after the show and gave them each some card.

We sat at the huge open doors of the restaurant, so we were just inside, but looking out through the open doors. Karen had spaghetti with meatballs and Pat had pasta bolognese.

Then it was into the Fun House. It had a slide, lots of different kinds of moving floors, slanted floors, a bridge, the kind of things we don't have in America any more.

Last we did the Simulator. It was an old one, the kind we used to have at the malls. The kids behind us talked all the way through it.

Time to take a walk to the train station to get back home.