The magic of Tivoli

Right in the middle of the city of Copenhagen is one of the world's oldest amusement parks, Tivoli Gardens. Built in 1843, Tivoli is a beautiful (albeit pricey) place that is full of magic and life.


Now, unfortunately, when I say pricey I do mean it. The entrance fee, which does not include rides, is about $16. You can buy a pass for all the rides, but since I only wanted to ride a couple of rides, I bought the individual ride tickets. Overall, I spent about another $16 to ride two rides. I also spent $30 on a pasta dinner there. Personally, however, it was completely worth it.





I should preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Disney and am utterly enchanted by the magic of Disney World. Tivoli has the same magical feeling. In fact, Walt Disney himself visited Tivoli, and you can definitely see that it inspired him.













The first thing I saw upon walking in was this gorgeous stage. I later watched an adorable pantomime show here, and they do ballet at this stage as well.







I also watched a nice jazz band play at this stage on the right.








Of course the place had plenty of rides. In fact, I was surprised by how many there were. It was very densely packed, but I never felt crowded. The rides all had either very cute or very beautiful touches.

I thought this ride on the right was neat. The kids had to pull a rope to get their seat up the tower, and then it would bounce back down. It seemed to be on a hydraulics system because none of them appeared to struggle with it, and all the kids seemed to be having the time of their lives.






This is the first ride that I went on myself. It is simply called The Roller Coaster, and it's one of the oldest in the world, built in 1914. I's a pretty tame ride, although quite rocky, and each train has a person manning the brakes while sitting on the actual train!

I also rode The Flying Trunk, which is a cute little ride that takes you through the fairytales of H.C. Anderson, because you can't come to Denmark without a bit of H.C. Anderson.

A whale-shaped restaurant

The park has a number of cute details, like these.

Pirate-themed restaurant

Along with a number of gorgeous ones.

With over 40 restaurants, there are countless delicious food options to choose from. I enjoyed a very good Oreo shake.













There's also a strong Japanese influence, including a restaurant.























Also, they have very social geese! This guy came right up to me begging for food! In my book, anywhere that can make such a mean animal as a goose behave like this has a very special kind of magic to it.











The best part, however (and unfortunately the hardest to photograph) is the thousands of lights that begin to come on in the evening. The entire park is lit up with color and happiness. It's one of the most romantic sights that I've ever beheld.

Even if no other part of this incredible city drew me back, Tivoli would certainly bring me back to Copenhagen in the future.