Tivoli Gardens

After our very busy morning and a short afternoon nap, we walked to the ever so magical Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, also in Denmark.

With 4.733 million visitors in 2015, Tivoli is the second-most popular seasonal theme park in the world, the most-visited theme park in Scandinavia and the fourth most-visited in Europe, only behind Disneyland Paris, Europa-Park Rust and the Efteling.

Their marketing team is totally winning at advertising, 

just look at how gorgeous their posters are!

Before exploring the park and riding all the rides, we got dinner at the charming Paafuglen Bistro. If you want to enjoy an authentic Danish lunch or dinner, you should eat at Paafuglen. The beautiful, light rooms also feature the original mirror paintings of the beloved characters from Pantomimeteatret (the Pantomime Theatre).

Our dinner was absolutely delicious and we couldn't have asked for a prettier ambiance, it was the perfect combination of elegant and whimsical (my kind of style, I like to think that is the style of interior decorating I have done in my home)

Then we were off to discover all the park has to offer! Below is a map of all the attractions (again, way to go marketing team, you are nailing it!) we only had about two hours to cover as many rides as possible, which, obviously, wasn't anywhere near enough time to see all we wanted to see. However, I was proud of all that we were able to fit in during our short visit.

Forget the attractions, it was worth coming to see the all the gorgeous gardens! We only saw the gardens while we were running from ride to ride, I would like to go back some day and really experience all the different gardens have to offer.

The park is divided up into sections, and each section is decorated in a different style which I found so fun and fascinating. It reminded me a lot of Busch Gardens which I visited last September with Karin's family, to see photos from that fun adventure, CLICK HERE.

We began in the Moroccan section of the park. I thought all of the decor and architecture so magical, this is another one of my favorite styles. 

Then it was off to the Oriental section of the park to ride The Daemon (The Demon) which is one of the largest and fastest coasters in the park! 

It was quite the rush and so much fun, we rode it a couple of times!

Our next stop was the giant swing tower. Andrew and I had ridden a ride almost exactly like this when we were in Vienna visiting the Prater. CLICK HERE to see those pictures. This time around, more members of the family got to try it out, which I was excited about because this ride is so much fun!

Next up was the European section of the park. Some of us took a ride on the Matterhorn's little brother

I sat behind this worker who seemed to be controlling the speed our alpine train. I thought it was super interesting, maybe this is one of the older rides they haven't updated...?

Then we happened upon a few other members of the fam getting in line for this little mine ride, so we decided to jump on in with them. It was... interesting.... 

This ride is very similar to Splash Mountain where you float along and see scenes telling a story, except these scenes weren't nearly as cute and adorable as the scene from Briar Rabbit, they were almost a little on the creepy side ....

The big thrill isn't going down a huge hill, it's going under a huge waterfall! Our family had no idea they took pictures on this ride, and we had no idea we were going to get wet! I had my big expensive camera with me so I scrambled to zip up my coat, throw on my hood and duck and cover to try and protect my camera! Karin, Andrew and Nora and bracing themselves and Ben is just excited about getting drenched.

However, we did not get drenched, we didn't even get the slightest bit wet, it's a complete set up, and every single one of us fell for it. They somehow block all the water so no one gets wet at all. (As you can see from the below photo, I was curled up in a ball in the corner so I didn't really see what happened) Way to go Tivoli, *slow clap* you got us good!

When we got out of the mine adventure ride, all of the lights had been turned on!

It was better than Christmas!

It was definitely a fun and very magical evening. We were all pretty exhausted and all fell asleep the instant our heads hit our pillows! We had to sleep hard and fast since we had another, very full and exciting day in Copenhagen planned!