Viking Tour Part One

After a couple days as a tourist in Amsterdam, the ACE Viking Tour began on my birthday! I haven't done an organized international coaster tour since way back in 2015, so I was exited to meet up with fellow enthusiasts and visit 10 parks that were new to me. I caught a train from my hotel to the airport, which was the starting point of the trip. The first day was the bus travel day - a long drive from Schiphol airport all the way to Billund, Denmark. Driving past Hamburg I could see the Elbphilharmonie, which was cool. We also made a stop right near the German/Danish border at ScandiPark, which was essentially like a large truck stop mixed with a fake CostCo. We reach the Lodge Hotel in the early evening, and socialized in the courtyard over a beer. I took an evening walk on the path that went right past the hotel connecting into downtown. It was a nice path through greenery lined with sculptures. Considering Billund only has a population of 7,000 the small downtown was surprisingly nice and well-developed. There are little nods to Lego everywhere, since that's what the town is famous for. I walked back to my hotel after 10:30, and it was still light out.

Leaving Amsterdam we passed modern business parks.

Our ride for the week!

Of course they had giant Toblerones at ScandiPark.

Passing the port of Hamburg.

My room at the Lodge.

Sunset vibes on the path.

Weird little sculpture guy.

The sewer covers have Legos!

The Lego building in downtown.

Downtown Billund late in the evening.

The next morning our group walked over to Legoland, the first park of the trip. While there are now multiple Legolands worldwide, including in the UK, Japan, Malaysia, and USA, this is the original, opened in 1968. It's a great family park, and we enjoyed our half day there including exclusive ride time on the Polar X-press roller coaster and plenty of time exploring the Lego miniature land. In the afternoon we hopped back on the bus to drive northeast to Tivoli Friheden. This small park on the south side of Aarhus was quite nice, and we spent a few hours there. The highlight was when we overloaded the Bisværmen ("bee swarm") family coaster and it kept stopping about a foot too far forward in the station. The operator had to call maintenance to manually release us. 🤣

After checking in to the Hotel Atlantic in downtown Aarhus, several of us walked over for dinner at Aarhus Street Food. I had boller i karry, a traditional Danish dish of pork meatballs, curry, and rice. After dinner I walked with Kyle around Aarhus. Although it's the second largest city in Denmark, I didn't really know much about it. There was a nice old center, as well as a new port area. Very pleasant to walk around and enjoy the late-evening sunlight. We also saw a number of teenagers with sailor hats walking around and riding in party buses; we later learned these were high school graduation celebrations.

Welcome to Legoland!

Cute little Lego dragon.

A Lego snake and a roller coaster.

Group photo on the water ride!

A miniature Lego version of Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

Miniland was super cool, with working trains and boats!

Ready to head in to Tivoli Friheden.

It was a small but nice park.

View from the ferris wheel.

My room at Hotel Atlantic.

View from my balcony!

This cool building was across the street from our hotel.

Outdoor seating at Aarhus Street Food.

Dinner and a local beer.

On the canal in downtown Aarhus; still sunny at almost 10PM.

Nice architecture downtown!

Cool little gargoyle guy.

The cathedral, which was completed in 1500.

New modern architecture in the port area.

More views of the port area.

And more cool old buildings!

11PM sunset across the water.

The next morning we all boarded the bus to our next park, Djurs Sommerland. This was a delightful family park with some really well-themed areas. We got all of the coaster credits in by 11:30AM (including my 850th coaster!), and then met up for lunch at the "Western Buffet." A big storm rolled in during lunch, and we waited out the worst of it inside the buffet. The highlight of the park was Piraten, an excellent coaster which we had evening exclusive ride time on to close out the day at the park.

Good morning, Djurs Sommerland!

Group photo with a park employee selfie. This would be a tradition for the trip.

Of course we rode the kiddie coaster. :)

ACErs in the front seat of DrageKongen.

SPLASH! Nice theming on this ride.

Headed into Mexicoland...

Ummmm...

UP UP UP, UP UP UP

Milestone credit for me on Juvelen.

Lots of great scenery on the coasters.

Dinosaur jeep ride!

Inside the Western Buffet.

Afternoon thunderstorm rolled in.

I got a poncho, and we rode the train.

Got in a round of mini-golf once the rain cleared up.

Group picture, with staff selfie, at the end of the day.

Leaving the park, we continued on to Zleep Hotel in Aalborg. I walked around with Kyle again, getting a take away dinner at Istanbul Kabob and eating in the church square. Aalborg was a cute little city!

My room at Zleep Hotel.

Nice buildings in downtown Aalborg.

The 14th century Budolfi Church.

Iskender kebob for dinner.

With two days of the Viking tour under our belts, I went back to the hotel for some sleep before our journey would continue the next day with more of Denmark and crossing over to Sweden.