Lynet is a Gerstlauer launch coaster at Farup
Sommerland. This Danish’s park’s newest coaster in Fonix has been getting a lot of attention,
but Lynet is a good ride on its own. This ride may be short, but it has some sneaky power during
the ride’s first half. Find out everything you need to know about this coaster in this review.
This ride opened in 2008 as Farup’s tallest and fastest coater. It also was Denmark’s first
launch coaster. The country still doesn’t have too many launch coasters, but they
certainly started off with a bang with this one. And it also stole the name of the park’s kiddie
coaster. From 2003 through 2007, the park’s powered coaster was known as Lynet, which
translates to lightning. The park thought that name was better suited for a thrill coaster, so in
2008, they gave the name to their new Gerstlauer and renamed the powered coaster Mini-Lynet.
Then after all that, the park removed Mini-Lynet after the 2008 season anyway and it now travels
the Dutch fair circuit as Goldmine Express. Lynet features green track to blend in
with the trees, but guests can still see the ride’s tallest elements from the parking lot,
which builds anticipation. Then the ride looks even better up close since the launch
track runs right alongside the midway. Lynet is technically not classified as a
Eurofighter, but it essentially feels like one. The ride features the compact elements
you’d typically find on a Eurofighter, so why the distinction? I think it was
because this was Gerstlauer’s first launch coaster and the ride had different trains.
However, both these features made their way over to the Eurofighter model just
a few years later, basically making the launch coaster model redundant.
This is one of the more popular rides at Farup Sommerland. Midday, it can have a wait approaching
the 30 minute mark, but the ride was a total walk-on for me towards the start and end of
the day. I began my visit at Farup Sommerland with a half dozen rides without getting off.
If you do get stuck in the queue line, you at least have a little to look at. It’s a fully
enclosed, dark queue line past some crates and barrels. You won’t find any theming during the
main layout, but that’s fine since the elements can stand on their own and much of the layout is
adjacent to trees to hide the upcoming elements. Lynet was running just 2 cars the day I visited,
each seating 6 riders. I believe the ride can operate with more cars because of all
the mid-course brake runs, but I’m not sure if it has or still does. The ride
doesn’t have the highest throughput, but the operations are fittingly lightning fast.
I didn’t see the crew stack the trains once. There was always one cycling through the course.
The single car trains consist of 3 rows of 2. The rows flare outwards as you move back in the car,
which helps everyone get at least a partly unobstructed view. If you’ve
ridden Anubis at Plopsaland de Panne or Huracan at Belantis, the cars are set up identically.
Lynet has over-the-shoulder harnesses. And fair warning, this isn’t the most accommodating ride
for people with larger stomachs or chests. Gerstlauers are a mixed bag when it comes
to smoothness. While I’d prefer the freedom of a lap bar, I’m pleased to say the restraints
didn’t cause too much of an issue here. There are just a few turns where you’ll tap your head.
As for which row you’ll want, I didn’t think it made much of a difference on this coaster
from a force perspective. I just took the first one that was available, but you can easily wait
an extra train for the front if you’d like. Huracan at Belantis runs the exact same trains
and that ride is notorious for getting rougher as you move back in the car. Fortunately you
don’t have the same issue with Lynet. The cars track quite smoothly on this one.
Once dispatched, you dip downwards, emerge outdoors, and accelerate to
50 mph or 80 kph in just 2 seconds. This is a rolling LSM launch similar to the
ones found on Anubis or TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe. Gerstlauer makes some
of the most powerful launches out there. This one is as punchy as you’d expect.
Make sure to keep your head back because the launch abruptly kicks
in and you’re yanked down the launch track. Flucht von Novgorod at Hansa Park gets a lot
of attention for its launch, but I don’t think Lynet’s is too far behind. Both pack a wallop.
This leads into the ride’s tallest point, a 66 foot or 20 meter tall top hat. You get some strong
and sustained laterals throughout the element. You’ll be pressed to the left side of the car.
You’ll also get some floater airtime over the top. It’s only weak to ok
in power, but it is moderately sustained. Next is a camelback chalk full of ejector airtime.
And it’s sustained ejector too. It reminded me of a smaller bunny hill on an Intamin hyper.
You do need a full train for the hill to reach its max potential. When I got a zen ride,
the airtime was still sustained, but it was more like weaker ejector.
You the sharply rise up into a mid-course brake run, getting a good burst of ejector airtime. This
moment reminds me of the entries into the brake runs on Universal Orlando’s Rip Ride Rockit.
The brakes do slow you down a tad, but I think that’s fine because the next
elements are better with less speed. You twist downwards and then navigate a zero-G roll.
You get some great hangtime here. After an ok turnaround that more-or-less
just changes your direction, you crawl through a corkscrew.
This is the ride’s second and final inversion, and it offers another excellent dose of hangtime.
Lynet then jumps into another mid-course brake run, getting a decent pop of airtime.
You then go into a downwards helix. I like how it wraps around a tree and it has a little power
to it too. You then twist upwards into the final brake run, getting a pinch of laterals on the way.
This ends the 1770 foot or 540 meter long coaster.
In terms of smoothness, Lynet is pretty good. The hills and inversions ride smoothly, but some of
the turns can tap your head. It may be a smart idea to lean forwards on any change-of-direction
if you’re sensitive to headbanging. As for pacing, Lynet does great for the first 2/3.
I love the launch, airtime hills, and inversions. And those elements occur one-after-another. The
ride doesn’t quite end with a bang on that final helix, but the ride never becomes bad or boring.
So what would I rate Lynet? I would give the original Gerstlauer launch coaster an 8 out of
10. I really like this ride. You have a forceful launch, wonderful laterals on the top hat,
some nice airtime on a few hills, and some glorious hangtime on the 2 inversions.
And it’s a reasonably smooth ride even with the over-the-shoulder restraints. Of course,
I wish it had lap bars and that a few of the turns were stronger, but this is a nice coaster. It has
the single best launch in Denmark- and one of the best launches in all of Europe for that matter-
and it’s a perfect second fiddle to Fonix. I ran into a lot of coaster enthusiasts while
at Farup Sommerland and one of the big questions was whether people preferred Lynet or Anubis.
Opinions seem split. I personally prefer Lynet. Both rides are surrounded by trees
and have excellent launches, but I think Lynet has a few more standout elements than Anubis.
Anubis does have far more theming during the queue line, but neither ride carries
that over to the main experience. So those are my thoughts on Lynet at
Farup Sommerland. What are your thoughts on this Gerstlauer? Do you like this ride? Let
me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave
this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot
more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!