Juvelen is an exciting motorbike coaster at Djurs Sommerland. This is surprisingly
Denmark’s longest roller coaster and it’s a real crowd-pleaser. I remember seeing this
ride in the top 50 of the final Mitch Hawker poll and was a bit confused why what appeared
to be a family coaster placed that highly. I now get it. Find out why in this review.
Juvelen opened in 2013 and was placed in the park’s Mexicoland section.
The ride’s station and queue is housed in this giant temple and it looks great.
You have some nice rockwork on the outside. Then the inside has some ruins and jewels, and that
makes sense since Juvelen literally translates to jewel. The ride itself is somewhat elusive. Most
of ride stays low-to-the-ground and it’s blocked by the station, trees, and rocks. You can really
only see the first launch that’s smartly placed next to the queue and midway to build anticipation
and one or two of the ride’s few large hills. But the parts you can see look solid with the
green track and the red trains that really pop. The latter are the secret sauce for the
experience. These trains are themed to look like ATVs and allow guests to ride in the motorbike
position. Guests can lean forwards and hold onto the handle bars. It’s a simple thing, but this is
a different riding position than we’re used to on a coaster and it accentuates the sense of speed.
Riders are secured by a u-shaped lap bar that rests really low on your thighs. Just beware
if you’re wider. I’m pretty thin at 165 pounds. And I’m the type of person who only brings what
they can fit into their cargo shorts when I go to an amusement park. I had issues getting the
restraint down if I had my digital camera and tube of sunscreen in my pocket. They bulged outwards
too far and interfered. I had no trouble if I put these items off to the side, but I’ve never
had to do that on any other coaster. There are two trains, each consisting
of 9 rows of 2, so each train seats up to 18 riders. On the summer weekend day I visited,
Juvelen often had the park’s longest line. Midday, it was hovering around the 40-60 minute mark.
Trains were being steadily dispatched. The ride is just a crowd-pleaser.
Mexico isn’t one of the first lands so not too many people will be riding it during that time.
Lines looked quite short on the app until noon and then I was able to walk onto this coaster
for back-to-back rides at the end of the night. As for which seat you want, I highly recommend
the front. That’s the row that surprised me. You get the best sense of speed by
far. It’s the best sense of speed I’ve felt on any motorbike coaster.
Once dispatched, you hear a hear a tribal beat roll into a dark ride scene.
You see these large, glowing rock statues. The music intensifies and the colors change.
It gets you hyped for your ride. You then roll outside into launch 1.
Juvelen has tire-propelled launches. This isn’t the flashiest acceleration method,
but it has some nice kick to it. You really feel like you’re yanked down the launch track.
You then zip around the first of many low turns, getting a decent blast of positive forces.
That leads into a large camelback, one of the few high points on the ride. If there’s one flaw with
Juvelen, it’s the lack of airtime. You have a handful of hills that look like they should give
airtime, but they’re too gradual to do so. You then navigate a gentle overbank, a low
s-bend with some mild positives, and a tight turn into launch 2. This concludes the first half.
In many ways, this feels like a warm-up. Outside of the initial launch and turn, this part isn’t
too wild. But it has the benefit of allowing you to appreciate the ride’s surroundings.
The ride is in pretty close proximity to an abundance of trees. And then
a few turns pass by and through ruins. Now the second half is what makes Juvelen
special. Launch 2 accelerates you to your max speed of 53 mph or 85 kph.
The launch starts slow, but it really kicks in halfway down the launch track. You really
get yanked through the end of the launch. I was stunned how fast the coaster felt at this point.
The next few turns hug the ground and occur in rapid-fire succession. It feels like you’re going
10 mph too fast, but as a thrill-seeker, I love it. The ride feels out-of-control.
The first low turn has some really good force. After being pulled through that,
you charge through an s-bend. The actually passes by some rocks and a waterfall. The
close call certainly enhances the speed, but you’re going so fast you can barely process
what you just passed while on-ride. This sequence reminds me of the final
section on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure between how fast
you’re going and the whippy elements. Except Juvelen still has quite a bit more ride left.
Juvelen then turns into a low s-hill. You have great speed over the element,
but it only gives very weak weightlessness. That’s followed by another punchy turn and
elongated bunny hill. Again no airtime, but you’re still carrying a considerable amount of speed.
Juvelen then turns into the homestretch, which kicks things off with an elongated bunny hill
and a larger camelback. I’m surprised the second half’s largest element occurs so late in the ride,
but I’ve never heard of this ride valleying. Juvelen then has one last and moderately forceful
low turn before hopping into the brakes, giving a very weak pop of airtime. This ends the 3281 foot
or 1000 meter long coaster. And all of that is very smooth. This is a super reridable coaster.
So what would I rate Juvelen? I would give this multi-launch coaster an 8 out of 10. This is a
really fun coaster. This ride is made by the motorbike style seating. It really allows the
coaster to go all-in on the sense of speed and the layout is brilliantly designed to lean into
that. The launches have good kick and then you have a series of decently forceful low
turns as you whiz past trees and ruins. And you have that standout sequence at the start
of the second half that takes my breath away every time. I still can’t believe
how much speed you take those elements with. This is the second best ride at Djurs after
Piraten and I think it’s the best motorbike coaster I’ve done outside of Hagrid’s. It’s not
too surprising this layout was cloned for Yukon Quad at Le Pal in France since it does a lot well.
The minimal height appeals to families, but that speed can appease even the
most critical of thrill-seekers. So those are my thoughts on Juvelen
at Djurs Sommerland. What are your thoughts on this motorbike coaster? Were you blown away by the
start of the second half like me? 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!