Djurs Sommerland: the biggest crowds I have ever seen

Djurs Sommerland is a theme park that is located in Nimtofte, Denmark. This was one of the most anticipated parks of the trip and it met our expectations. It has a strong top-tier coaster with Piraten. The rest of the coaster collection, which is quite large with eight coasters, is great but nothing out of the ordinary.

Getting to the park

The park is located in the middle of nowhere. But luckily it is located quite close to Aarhus which has a tram/train line that runs to a small town near the park. Here you can take a direct bus to the park. When you arrive, there is still quite a large hike to the entrance but when you are walking you will get some great views of the park itself.

When we arrived at the park after a bus ride that took 20 minutes instead of 10 because of the amount of traffic we noticed that there were a lot of people. We were surprised by the amount of people that were queuing to get into the park actually. But luckily we eventually didn’t have to wait that long to get into the park.

We still had to get our disability tickets which meant that we had to go to the information stand. This saved us from queuing this long. When you visit Djurs Sommerland with a person who has a disability and you have a disability card, the assistant gets a free ticket and you get access to their fast track system for people with a disability.

Insane crowds

The park was packed when we visited. This was something we were fearing as we had heard some horror stories about the crowds in the park here. We were lucky with all the previous parks where there weren’t any crowds but our luck had run out.

From the moment that we boarded the bus we noticed it was going to be busy. Our bus that goes directly to the park was stuck in a traffic jam that consisted of cars that were going to the park. When we tried to enter the park we were stuck in a massive crowd that was walking towards the park.

From the moment that we set a foot in the park the crowds died down a little because they started to spread. But these crowds were going somewhere… and the place that they were going were the lines. Luckily we had a fast track system because most lines were over 60 minutes, and most were even more.

So this is something that you should keep in mind when you are visiting the park because it can impact your day pretty badly.

The rides

Djurs Sommerland is known for their world class ride collection and sure it has a great one. Although I could argue that it isn’t really world class it sure is a great collection of rides and coasters.

We started our day on Dragekongen. This is an Intamin Inverted coaster built in 2017. This coaster is targeted towards families and it definitely is a fun coaster when you keep this in mind. The forces aren’t anything special but it delivers on the positives. The theming is amazing though and the coaster makes good use of it. It goes under, above and near the station building which is amazingly themed.

The next coaster that we rode was the little family coaster next to Dragekongen named Jungle Rally. This coaster isn’t anything special but like most kiddie coasters it is pure fun to ride them. This kiddie coaster was built by Zierer.

Afterward, we rode Piraten. Piraten is an Intamin Mega Lite. It is one of 5 built around the world, and it is the only one in Europe. This coaster is amazing and it offers some outstanding forces. These range from very good positive forces on the first turn after the drop to great airtime moments throughout the ride. The ride itself is really smooth and the restraints give a free feeling and are very enjoyable. This is definitely the best ride in the park and a must do when you are a coaster enthusiast.

After Piraten we went to the next ride. This was one of their many flat rides. Their flat ride collection is great and filled with rides that are enjoyable for all ages.

After we did some flat rides, we went on Skatteøen. This is their water coaster. This is the same ride model as Poseidon in Europa Park but it is way smoother. It is a fun ride for the whole family and it has some fun moments. You don’t get too wet which is also great if you just want to ride the ride for a little sprinkle.

After their water coaster we did their Intamin launch coaster named Juvelen. This ride takes you on a quad style train and traverses through a series of s-bends and airtime hills. The station is themed very nicely and the launches are great. This is where the greatness ends in my opinion. The ride itself is okay but it hasn’t much to it. The trains themselves aren’t comfortable and the ride tries to break your neck on the transitions. Nonetheless it is sure worth a try.

After Juvelen we went to Thor's Hammer, which is a Gertslauer Bobsled coaster. This was really a great and fun coaster. The transitions are snappy and the ride provides some great forces in general. Like most rides in the park the ride has some light theming to it and this ride is no expectation. Although it is nothing to write home about. The worst thing about this ride was the smell in the exit shop. It smelled like puke over there and it was really a bad smell. I really sympathize with the person that had to work there.

After Thor’s Hammer we rested a little and went on their newest coaster, T-Rex Family coaster. This powered coaster was built by Mack Rides and opened in 2022. This was the first of two next gen powered coasters that we rode. It definitely was fun but the first round of the two didn’t pull any forces. The second lap however was quite forcefull. This ride is nothing special, but it is fun to do once.

The last coaster that we rode was their Zierer family coaster Vilde Hønsejagt. This is a standard family coaster, but I think that these are always loads of fun. The front car of this coaster is one of the funniest front cars I have ever seen and the ride itself is also nicely themed to a cute farm.

After we did all the coasters we did some more flat rides and we also did some re-rides on their biggest coaster.

The food

The park has a great collection of food offerings that has a lot of variety. We ate fries with cheese and bacon and they were delicious. To drink we bought a free-style bucket which we used an awful lot during the day. There was a limit on the amount of refills you could do as you had to wait an amount of minutes after you filled your bottle. One of the greatest food options we ever saw at an amusement park ever were the fruit stands here. This was the first time ever that I saw fruit being sold at a theme park. More theme parks should really do this!

Conclusion

Djurs Sommerland is a great park with a great atmosphere. Although most rides here aren’t outstanding they have a solid coaster, Piraten, which is worth the visit itself. The park tickets are kind of expensive and the crowds are crazy but that shouldn’t keep you from visiting this amazing park.