That park they named a Coaster style after.....

Tivoli Gardens

I can't even.
Like... when you've wanted something so baldy and then suddenly its there?

Tivoli Gardens had been so insanely high on the list of parks I wanted to visit that it was almost surreal standing at the gates to it at park opening, but with still the fear that this park of pure amusement-lust could end up leading to an extreme case of anticipointment (much like some events that occurred in 2005) only on a more grandiose scale since this time I had flown around the world to be potentially letdown.

Thankfully, the park ended up being everything I wanted it to be... and more.

The downside of this being... now there's another park in my top 10 that's extremely far from where I live.

and as someone who is a fan of amusement/theme parks and as someone employed by the Walt Disney Company it was pretty neat visiting the park that was one of Walt's inspirations in building Disneyland.
Yup

So the day begins with us waking up bright and early... because who sleeps anyways.  flipping through the channels on the TV I ended up finding the amazingness that is...

One of the twelve Land Before Time movies
(or maybe even the TV show? I don't know.)

Hahaha....yeesss!

 Walking from our hotel to the park we passed this amazing caterpillar building. <3

 And also the Tycho Brahe Planetarium / IMAX theater.

 Before getting to Tivoli we stopped at Lagkagehuset, a Danish Bakery across the street from the park. (mmmmm)

Where I had to get numnums, two days in a row (:D)

Ooooooh man.

Tivoli Gardens
The third oldest amusement park in the world.

 Ugh, what is it with Danish parks and these awful all white "clowns"

 Who knew, Tivoli Gardens had like... gardens

 (yes, obviously, I knew beforehand...)

 Flowers... and stuff
Pretty

Nimb Hotel, the parks 5 star hotel built in the center of the park, in 1909

 One of the fantastic midways along the edge of the park lined with shops, cafes and restaurants.
Unlike anything I've seen in a amusement park really)

 Can't be a Danish park without some boobs, I guess.

 one of the garden shops inside the park.

 Garden lined paths... are there even rides here??

 Random shop stuffs.

Nimb Hotel again, and the bubble fountains
At night they change colors and stuff but because the sun wouldn't even go down until 11pm/12am we never got to enjoy it.

 More flowers... because well, were in a garden

 Roses

 More roses.... pretty pretty.

 Oh, and look.... more gardens!
So.... there's coasters here, right?

 No? Just more flowers?

 Hey look, that guy!

 neat hanging planters

stepping stones across a stream in the Japaneses Garden.
((never in America))

More garden type things for sale along the pathways.

 Oh man! DUCKS! Annddd baby ducks!!!

 Quack quack!

 The parks full sized pirate ship!
(Also a restaurant)

 The parks famous "Chinese Tower", built in 1900

 <3 <3 <3
:V :V

 One of the many, many restaurants around the park
(and lined with flowers)

 One of the cooler looking shops in the park... Oh hey look, and maybe even a ride sticking up in the background. Or maybe just a mountain.

 A peahen and her pea-chick making their rounds.
(Kinda like at Canobie!)

Another neat looking restaurant.

 Oh man... Andedammen!
Or.. uh... more ducks?!

 Although these guys look kinda..uh.. demonic?

 I don't know what Klatrebjørne is.. but if it has something to do with a bear, I like it!

I have absolutely no idea what this is... something along the lines of... insert money... and stick fingers into random open mouths? Also high-five the light up hands.

Cool little auto-trolleys that drive guests around the park, both parks we visited had them but we never ended up riding them here, or at Bakken.
As we strolled along the paths and headed to the back of the park (from where we had entered, the park has 3 or 4 entrance gates)

(So...were now 40 photos in and still no ride photos? This might just be an APS record!)

 OH MAN!.... RIDES! But its kinda strange, they have them.. a lot of them, for the parks size... but its really not what the park is 'about'.

Himmelskibet was out first ride, the parks giant Star Flyer. It was the tallest in the world when it opened although four have since surpassed it. The view from it was incredible. Not only can you see the whole park and all of Copenhagen, but you can even see across the sea to Sweden
(Outside of 2 or 3 parks other parks, I don't know many more where you can see a different country from within it)
I ended up riding it 5 times over the day.

 Built along side the load platform for Himmelskibet is Odinekspressen or Odinexpressen... depending on what sign you're looking at.... The parks Mack powered coaster that's built mostly over the midway and roof tops within the park.

It was pretty clear we wouldn't be getting to ride it today.
(Although I did check by the next day on my own, just in case)
But if we *had* to miss something, at least it wasn't the important coasters.

Underneath half of the loading platform for Himmelskibet is the parks Huss Breakdance, one of the first built, Snurretoppen. (The Top... or something)

 After that we made it over to Rutschebanen. The third oldest coaster in the world, the oldest in Europe!

 Bah, never in America.... But I can remember a time where even parks like Cedar Point were still like this... (does that make me old?) Yup... Just stand and wait for the train to roll up.

High-tech trains/lapbar

 It was pretty fun and worth a re-ride, or 5.
Oh, and did I mention there's a fun house and laser-shooter (boat) dark ride within its mountain?

 Woo, ollddd school wood coaster!
Oh yeah, and it was celebrating its 100th season this year!
Walking around the park and stopping for a snack along the way, we made our way into the Chinese themed area of the park.

The hustle and bustle of China (oh hey, and another coaster)

 Dæmonen! The coolest little B&M Floorless ever!
Its the fifth shortest B&M there is (third when built, and the two shorter were just Dive Machines)

 Short little train for a short little ride.

The ride is so small and the transitions are so snappy... I was worried it would be rough and beat me up. So getting on the ride I wasn't expecting much from it.

  but it rides surprisingly smooth and we rode it 3 or 4 times (including in the rain!) fun stuff.

 :)

 Det gyldne Tårn, the Golden Tower... the parks well run S&S tower. I think this ride is how I found out about the park (back in like... 1999 when Internet amusement famdom was far less common)

 A view of the park from 200 feet up!
Stunning?

 Københavns Rådhus, Copenhagen City Hall... located next to the park
After taking 2 rides on the tower we headed over to a flatride that I was extremely interested in...

 Vertigo.
A beast of a ride made by Technical Park sold as Flying Fury. I'd say its the second most 'extreme' ride I've been on... after the amazing Monorail Capriolo (I placed the Capriolo first because it feels less controlled) When the ride first opened the park let riders control the motion themselves via a built in joystick but overstress made the park have 4 set programs. (sounds like another ride I loved....) We went with "extreme / backwards" mode.... and it was amazing <3

The ride puts so much force onto the riders you get pinned to the seat and pretty much can't move.
5G's sustained!
Technical Park has sold a few, but I believe this is one of only two major park installment, sadly.
Here's a video from CoasterForce on Youtube so you can get an idea of what it does.
After wobbling off the ride we walked over the parks finale coaster.

 Karavanen, a Zierer Tivoli, Small (variant) coaster. Its surprisingly fun for its size and replaced a similar coaster that when built by Zierer back in 1974 was the first ever "Tivoli" coaster model
(So Zierer went and named the entire line of coasters after the park!)

 Across the midway is what remains of Dragon, a rare Huss Flic Flac ride that was in the process of being removed for a yet to be announced new attraction (rumored to be a coaster, but I doubt it) I was pretty bummed I couldn't ride it but I knew before going it would be closed, its just one of the few Huss rides I've yet to ride and since there aren't any in North America its unlikely I'll be riding one anytime soon.

 Everyone else sat out while I rode Monsunen, the parks inverted flying carpet
uh, that shoots water up under you as you rise and fall. I think Zierer's only sold two.
After walking around a little more and getting more snacks we headed over to the center lake to go ride the Dragon Boats.

Originally built in 1936, although these boats are form 2000.

 Dragebådene, woo.
(uh, first time piloting a boat in Denmark??)

Pretty pretty.

 Den flyvende Kuffert is one of the parks darkrides.
(Flying Trunk)
The ride takes you past over 30 scenes from different Hans Christian Andersen's stories.

 Including The Little Mermaid!

 Ugh... and The Snow Queen (IE: FROZEN)
The park being downtown, is pretty landlocked and to continue adding new rides over the years has built its last few on elevated platforms over pathways and even other rides

 Aquila, being the parks newest. A Zamp Air Race that opened in 2013

I'd ridden a traveling model at the Florida State Fair so I wasn't expecting much... but at least this one looks nice.

 Joey and I also rode Galejen. A ship themed Himalaya built in the late 1930's
With the off and on rain showers moving past the park, we got more snacks and found our way into the parks fun house, Skærsilden

 Built inside the mountain for Rutschebanen and while ascending the lifthill there are windows that look down into it.

 "never in America".. Yes yes, I get it... but I still had fun and managed to only sightly get hurt.
Once the rain stopped we headed over to the parks unique Ferris Wheel.

 Ballongyngen, built in the park during World War II, but kept in amazing condition.
Ha, and we saw this family try and get a free ride on it without having tickets or a ride pass.
After that we kinda just strolled around the gardens again and took our last few re-rides before heading back to the hotel and getting some dindin.

One of the last things we did before leaving was the parks Heege tower (guilty pleasure)
this one is named Tempeltårnet <3
And... that's it for Tivoli.

Walking back to our hotel from the park I was trying to spend some of these crazy Danish coins with holes in them at a local convenience store.
(mostly so I could look for candy... like Kinder Hippos while the others got real food)

 Although none were to be found :(
(I did find them again in England at the airport <3)

Oh, and I saw this... Uh... Swan.
Doing swan like things, like being a swan.

And... once again ending the night with a yummy pizza from Mix Pizza, yay Danish Pizza from an Indian restaurant. (and a steal for $30.... once compared to my disgusting salad I got at McDonald's the next day)
So that's it for the amusement park...stuff. The next day was just spent walking all across the lovely city of Copenhagen. Although I did check by Tivoli again, to see if the powered coaster had somehow reopened overnight. (it hadn't) But yeah, Tivoli Gardens is fantastic and truly world class and I can't wait to return someday.

Amazing duck related video on YouTube.
I believe this is my first International Duck Feeding.

Bonus stuff from Twitter -
Getting ready to walk to the park - Tweet
And bring a jerk - Tweet
Rides - Photo
Dæmonen (this photo is my current background on my phone!)- Photo
Dæmonen (via vine) - Video

Bonus stuff I stole from Joey -

This wooden spool thing I almost died on. Everyone was doing it, so I had to try... You pretty much jump up on-top of it and try and walk while it rolls around. Seemed like a good idea to me! (never in America)
annddd

Dillon, Joey, Kyle, and myself on Rutschebanen. <3

Woo