What do you like about Gröna Lund?

Hey everyone!

So, I'm working on an independent study at school this semester in preparation for my thesis project that goes on all of next school year. Basically, I'm doing some research about why people go to theme parks, why they keep coming back to the same theme park, among other things.

I chose to make this a separate thread so I can easily refer back to it later, as it will consist of discussions about multiple parks.

Tivoli Gardens (starting here)

Gröna Lund (page 2)

First off, I'm checking out Tivoli Gardens in Denmark for its historical and cultural significance, as well as the fact that it's so much more than a theme park - with the lighted flower displays, great dining, concert halls and theaters, among other things.

My question is - for those of you who have been there - whether it was on a TPR tour, your own visit or if you're a local visitor - What makes Tivoli Gardens so awesome? What are the reasons that you keep going back there? Is it the attractions? The dining? The culture?

I really want you to be personal when you answer - saying "I just like Dæmonen because it's a unique B&M floorless" is totally okay!

Thanks so much!

Many factors make Tivoli special, but the main reason is its undeniable beauty and "storybook" charm. It's not surprising that Walt Disney cited Tivoli as one of the inspirations for Disneyland.

Even if you never rode a single coaster or flat, it's just a great place to visit--a great example of an "urban amusement park."

Tivoli is greatest and more magical after dark. With all the lights on its just unique. The food options are also premium - try the Paulaner Beer Garden or Tivoli's own Lake Brewery - not to mention the danish soft-ice and hot-dogs which are IMHO superior to its american/canadian counterparts. And even the rides offer a great variety having a StarFlyer, BreakDancer, AirRace, Inverted Flying Carpet, MegaDance and those crazy inverting planes - plus the classic Rutschebanen and one of the most intense B&Ms Demonen. They pack a lot into the small space available.

What have I forgotten? The great shows on the main stage, the classic Pantomime show in its marvelous theatre with the mechanical peacock courtain and the lately added moving and changing intense LED beams on central plaza - a big fun for kids. And also not forget Tivoli's own marching band Tivoli-Garde -a sought after musical training for local teens/twens.

Cannot wait what they add next. This year I will visit it twice for the 100 year celebration of the restored Rutschebanen...

EDIT: And this June I will stay for the first time at the new Tivoli Hotel.

The food options were great. I'm not talking about the typical amusement park fast food stands and kiosks. If you wander from the rides area there are sit down restaurants that offer fresh seafood and higher quality food.

The clientele and rides ops were friendly.

I really liked the variety of rides. Dark rides, coasters, intense flat rides, fun house, good bumper cars.

It was just a very happy place to be.

Well, it's my homepark, so I visit it a lot.

The main thing about the park is the charm. There is no park in the world who can compare to it. Parks like Gröna Lund, Bakken & Pleasure Beach have the same type of charm, but in a different way. It's the kind of charm you can't build, you can only get it by time.

They tried to recreate the feeling at This Japaneese park, but it didn't work out.

There is no park that is as beautiful to go to when the dark sets in (speaking of regular parks, and not parks like Disney Sea, they are different) as Tivoli, and this is extra highlighted at Christmas. If you have the chance to go there at that time of year, do it!

Tivoli is a place for everybody, and the majority of the 4-4.5 million visitors annually don't go there for the rides. For an example on my last visit I did not do any of the rides, despite they all being open, I just walked around the place at night and enjoyed the scenery. I would say that it's a nice place to go for just a dinner, but the good restaurants is a bit to expensive compared to what you get IMO.

When speaking about the rides in the park they have done a really great job at keeping the old iconic rides, as well as building new thrill rides. Also they are not afraid of new concepts like when they installed the Star Flyer or Flying Fury ride (which is also the best flat ride in the world). The are also very good at catering to people of all ages with their rides and attraction.

It's a little bit a shame now though, as there isn't as much more they can do ride-wise, without starting to affect the atmosphere and charm of the place. Something the park is lacking though is a big iconic ferris wheel.

Please bear with me, I'm going to pick your brains a bit. "I don't know" is totally acceptable.

Tivoli is greatest and more magical after dark. With all the lights on its just unique.

There is no park that is as beautiful to go to when the dark sets in (speaking of regular parks, and not parks like Disney Sea, they are different) as Tivoli, and this is extra highlighted at Christmas. If you have the chance to go there at that time of year, do it!

So, you're saying that when the lights go on at night, it's like an attraction in itself? Are there people (for example: couples or families) that come to the park at the end of the day just to see the lights go on? To my understanding, the park is very accessible for people to come and go as they please, being an urban park.

Tivoli is greatest and more magical after dark. With all the lights on its just unique. The food options are also premium - try the Paulaner Beer Garden or Tivoli's own Lake Brewery - not to mention the danish soft-ice and hot-dogs which are IMHO superior to its american/canadian counterparts.

I would say that it's a nice place to go for just a dinner, but the good restaurants is a bit to expensive compared to what you get IMO.

How much emphasis is there on food from the Copenhagen area? Are the majority of the restaurants and stands run by local families who set up shop way back when, or do chain restaurants have a place there as well?

What have I forgotten? The great shows on the main stage, the classic Pantomime show in its marvelous theatre with the mechanical peacock courtain and the lately added moving and changing intense LED beams on central plaza - a big fun for kids. And also not forget Tivoli's own marching band Tivoli-Garde -a sought after musical training for local teens/twens.

Are the shows and concerts mainly put on by local groups, or do famous touring productions perform there as well? (example: Les Miserables performing at a performing arts center in the US)

As park entry and rides are paid seperatly were the park entry is quite a bargain many locals come late in the day if weather is fine.

On restaurants you will find local fast and sit-down venues - do not miss danish hot-dogs, smoerebroed and fish, they also offer European offerings like the mentioned beer garden offering Bavarian/German food, the major chain restaurant found is Hard Rock Cafe. Some of the restaurants are accesisble from outside the park - you can dine and have views of the park without having to pay the entry fee. And do not miss the food and self brewed beer at Tivoli Lake Brewery. The prices at most sit-down venues are upscale - but you pay for the location here.

Shows are as far as I have seen local and/or scandinavian productions/bands/stars. The pantomime, cabaret, comedy, brass bands and walkway amusements like clowns, fire-eaters, jugglers, etc are all employed by Tivoli Gardens.

They also tend to their animals like horses and live white and colored peacocks. They also have an ultra-cute group of white ducks walking the walkways. All supervised by Tivoli personel.

^^AJ - some of the info you need may already be on the Tivoli website. Regarding the chain restaurants. If I recall currently Wagamama and Hard Rock are not inside the park but along the periphery accessible to both patrons of the parks and those in the neighborhood. Chain restaurants are not inside the park.

Not sure if the following is entirely true, but I felt like the food stands and kiosks were amusement park concessions while the finer sit down restaurants, further from the rides area, were run by families and independent of the amusement park.

This was one of the European parks (Efteling was another, I believe) I knew of for years and years, that Walt Disney had visited, before he built and opened Disneyland in 1955. So I was especially looking forward to seeing this park for myself. And Tivoli did not disappoint. The majority of the rides were at the 'back' of the park. And the majority of shops and restaurants, theatres and group get-together areas were in front. Landscaping was everywhere, especially around a lovely small lake that was also used for the park's own Nighttime Water/Light Show. And the night lighting was really something. So beautiful to walk through, without even going on anything, at night.

This ^ was my posted opinion of Tivoli, late 2011, two years after the first TPR Tour to Scandinavia.

Not sure if any of this helps you or not, but I am so looking forward to the re-visit in June!

Tivoli is The Danish Blackpool!

Looking in back here, you'd never know there were a bunch of coasters and rides, further on. Hi guys! (2009)

Quote: "In the Arcade, the right side area which is actually IN the lower part

of the wooden coaster building! The walk-thru (Major Workout!) FunHouse

was in that building too! Great use of space, Tivoli!"

^^AJ - some of the info you need may already be on the Tivoli website.

Amazing things happen when you find the "English" button!

On restaurants you will find local fast and sit-down venues - do not miss danish hot-dogs, smoerebroed and fish, they also offer European offerings like the mentioned beer garden offering Bavarian/German food, the major chain restaurant found is Hard Rock Cafe.

Not sure if the following is entirely true, but I felt like the food stands and kiosks were amusement park concessions while the finer sit down restaurants, further from the rides area, were run by families and independent of the amusement park.

That's pretty cool actually. I guess it shows how important the park is to those families and the city itself. I wonder if some of the restaurants go back several generations?

The majority of the rides were at the 'back' of the park. And the majority of shops and restaurants, theatres and group get-together areas were in front. Landscaping was everywhere, especially around a lovely small lake that was also used for the park's own Nighttime Water/Light Show. And the night lighting was really something. So beautiful to walk through, without even going on anything, at night.

Thanks for reposting that, Bill! I really like how the park is set up. Sure, there are "smaller" entrances in the back near the rides, but the park's main entrances drop you into what really looks like the best part of the park.

I really appreciate reading why people like this park. In some cases, the personal experiences help me more than the hard facts! I've always been interested in Tivoli Gardens myself, and I too want to go there, soon. When my instructor and I got talking about my research work, he brought up Tivoli Gardens because of how much Walt Disney liked it and suggested that I start there.

Later down the line, I'm going to be taking a look at historical parks like Bakken and Prater, good old-fashioned parks like Lake Compounce and Knoebels, and the big self-contained theme parks like Europa Park.

^ Don't forget Efteling Park!

I am so sure that this is one of the other parks Walt Disney visited,

before he put Disneyland together. I mean, all that landscaping.

^^Europa-Park while one of the biggest European Parks/Resorts is not really that old and quite unique as it is - in most part until today - a showcase for Mack Rides.

The history of Efteling and Phantasialand started far earlier mostly as enchanted fairy tale forests and they evovled into full blown theme parks. Sadly here in Germany the city center parks in Berlin and Hamburg were destroyed in WWI and WWII. Only street names remain like "Luna-Park-St" or "Achterbahn-St". To look positive at things we developed a very strong carnival culture. In many US movies from the 60s and 70s were theme parks were shown they were dubbed carnivals as theme parks were not widely known here at that time.

Tivoli Gardens has magnificent theming by mother nature for starters. I love that it is this walled-in oasis in the middle of Copenhagen - it's like stepping completely out of the city.

The rides aren't bad and the place still seems so peaceful even with the coasters. Rusty, the old wood coaster is the stand out. For me, just a nicely balanced and authentic mix of old and new world. Nice food as well. As long you can avoid evil little blonde Dutch girls who like to rear end you on the bumper cars and give you whiplash.

There is no park that is as beautiful to go to when the dark sets in (speaking of regular parks, and not parks like Disney Sea, they are different) as Tivoli, and this is extra highlighted at Christmas. If you have the chance to go there at that time of year, do it!

So, you're saying that when the lights go on at night, it's like an attraction in itself? Are there people (for example: couples or families) that come to the park at the end of the day just to see the lights go on? To my understanding, the park is very accessible for people to come and go as they please, being an urban park.

Take christmas at Tivoli for an example, people go to Tivoli then for the christmas market, not the lights, but if the lights were not there then nobody would be going. It's the same for the rest of they year, the lights and the whole night atmosphere play a really big part in the whole experience in the park. You could say that they are an attraction in itself. The park is usually quite calm during the day, and then people are starting to flock in at the afternoon and then it's full for the rest of the evening.

There is a year entrance card available quite cheap, that only gives you access to the park, and not the rides, and it is quite popular.

I see that the food questions have already been answered, so I won't cover it, but as I said, I usually don't do any extraordinary dining at the park.

The whole story about Walt Disney and the inspiration to Disneyland is pretty cool, but I much more like the story of how Michael Jackson offered to buy the whole park after his first visit, a deal he was denied though.

So, after doing some extensive research on my own about Tivoli Gardens, I've started to gain an interest in parks that continue to develop new attractions and ideas while still keeping their historic charm intact.

One of these parks I'll be looking at is Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden, and if you were to look at posts regarding my favorite roller coaster you'll probably be able to figure out what one of the others is.

So, this leads me to my next question - again, for those who have been there, what do you like about Gröna Lund? Is it the sheer amount of attractions crammed into the small space? Is it the (apparently) awesome and (definitely) historic fun house?

I'm very interested in hearing about this park because, like Tivoli Gardens, I really want to go there someday. It's one of my favorite parks that I've never visited.

EDIT: Also, the Park Index helps a lot too! Thanks for always keeping it updated, Larry!

Gröna Lund is part of the Stockholm soul I would say, the location of the park is essential to its success. Many visitors doesn’t really care that much for all the rides, but are more interested in concerts. A peek at Gröna Lunds facebook-page confirms this. Over the years artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, ABBA, Lady Gaga, Kiss and Alice Cooper have performed there. In the recent years they have invested greatly to accommodate concerts many times per week during the summer. They have also invested more in restaurants and brought back partner dancing (is this the correct term in English?), which used to be a very big thing in Sweden.

For people most interested in the above they have the Gröna Kortet (The green card) which will give you free entrance to the park every open day, but you will have to pay for the rides. This card costs only 240 SEK, or about $37. In comparison Guldkortet (The golden card) which also gives you free rides costs 1499 SEK, about $233. Both Tivoli and Liseberg have similar options.

But I like Gröna Lund mostly because the atmosphere with old buildings and rides everywhere. The best way to spend a day at Gröna Lund is to do it with a couple of friends. Get there around opening to get the most out of your wristband, then as the evening sets in have dinner at one of the restaurants and have a few beers. Then you could have a few more rides or just enjoy the view of Stockholm.

Oh, the funhouse is fantastic!

Gröna Lund offers a great variety of rides at one of the best locations. Nearly every ride has a great view over the city. Funily the lines for flats were far longer than for the coasters - so I skipped them as I will not wait 30+ minutes for a Break Dancer or (then) TopScan which I can ride without lines at a carnival.

The coaster highlights for me were of course Jetline and in my opinion best Scandinavian woodie Twister - for me Balder at Liseberg is overrated compared to for example Colossos at Heide-Park.

What I found unnerving were a good amounts of kids making a sport of skipping lines and the staff was doing nothing about it. Some line skipping you see more or less at most parks - but Gröna Lund is the worst experience for me in this respect.

Overall while still a great place I would prefer going first to Liseberg and secondly to Tivoli Gardens if visiting Scandinavia.