WOW What a trip! Liseberg for nearly 3 days, Skara Sommarland, Tusenfryd, Kolmarden and ending with Grona Lund!?! What an amazing adventure! This trip report will be long and in which I will leave detailed reviews for the parks visited and highly anticipated rides. Since there are about 250 pictures regarding this trip I will only include a few (still a lot lol) in this review while the rest will be left on a few imgur albums that will be mentioned periodically. Let's begin.
Firstly I'd love to say thank you to James for organizing this whole thing and everyone for coming, it was lovely meeting all of you and spending time with you. I hope to do this again sometime!
People involved:
Seth - TurboMatt - mkingyJames - JAMMYD778Dan - GouldyAlberto - afro85Herman - herman116Lindsey - LinnyJohannes - SkyWorksAlvin - Goldensnake1Tom - BurbsOskar - thisisrandomJack - bluesonichdKjell - dukelukeemRussell - bamber123Ashley - coasterfan312Holly
Ida
Kalle
Chloe
Now being the cheap guy I am the first day of the trip was a 30 hour adventure for me. I woke up and headed to work on Friday for about an hour. Gotta train the new guy right? Got to the airport with no hassle, through security and boarded my plane. This was the bag I packed for the week (travelling light is best travelling):
This French guy switched to an empty row so we both had more room which was cool, got about 2 hours of sleep on the 10 hour flight to Paris. Waited in the Paris airport for 13 hours then finally flew to Gothenburg, Sweden. Even just stepping out of the plane was a relief. Now as we boarded the Flygbussarna I messaged Herman and Alberto to meet us at the bus stop. Walking out we had a stunning view of the park at night. At this point the group was Myself, Chloe, Herman, and Alberto.
We walked to our hotel (about 20-25 min) and passed out promptly upon entering the room.
-
Liseberg-
Full image album:
http://imgur.com/a/OPjx6-
Let the madness begin! We woke up fairly quickly and met for breakfast downstairs in the hotel. After devouring the awesome non-airplane food we walked to the park. When we got there we promptly went to Customer Service to get our official CC Wristbands for the Prio event (a somewhat preview of the park for an hour and a half each morning before the park opens). To my nightmare we had to keep the wristbands on for all three days. I can still feel it a week after taking it off. {shivers}
Now that we were in the park we were able to ride a few rides that the park opens for this event. Key rides are Helix and Lisebergbanan. So we obviously headed up to Helix.
We took the escalator up to helix and man this thing was steep. It had to be a 35 degree angle up to helix. On the way up there were pictures of the parks history progressively until the top which had the latest "historical" pictures of the park. Really neat feature that they threw in.
Photo Credit goes to RussellNow cool thing about this Prio event was that there were virtually no lines whatsoever for Helix. AWESOME! We rode this thing over and over and over again until we physically needed a break. Helix was absolutely brilliant! Well placed into my second favorite roller coaster I've ever ridden out of the 200+ I've been lucky enough to ride (I will give my new top 5 at the end of this report). Every single part of helix was entertaining and there was not a single dull moment. The drop out of the station was insanely steep, deceptively so. Even the lesser forceful parts of the ride were intense. After the first launch you really felt speed pick up as you zig zagged down the mountain directly into the Norwegian Loop. As the ride progressed it got more and more powerful but I really didn't expect the first hill after the loop. My god this thing yanked me out of my seat and completely blindsided me. The ejector was REAL on this bad boy. The helix after the next roll was ballsy holding some serious G's all the way through. By the time you get to the second launch you need a half second breather. Now the launches weren't overly powerful but in my opinion this was a good thing.
Let's travel back in time for a second to when Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain was built. In an interview the designers said the reason they elected for the slow lift up was to build anticipation. I forget exactly where this was said but they wanted you to feel the hopelessness as you got nearer and nearer to the top. The same effect worked on Helix with it's launches.
Back to the second launch launch. As I said this ride got more and more powerful as you go. On the second launch you take a solid second to recover from these tight turns and hills. Once you come back to reality you realize that you are heading for this massive tophat and that the ride isn't over yet. Before you know it you're inverted over the mountain with a fantastic view of the city and park below.
Immediately wrapping around their S&S Power Swing you get into the second bit of ejector that REALLY holds for as long as possible into a steep dive into the next tight turn.
But the ride isn't over yet, it needs to throw you left and right a few times to make sure you're still alive. After a comfy right turn it throws you into a very comfortable roll that takes it's sweet time.
This ride was nuts. It really travels the mountain well and smoothly. After plenty of experimentation we found the best seat to be Row 9 on the left seat. Absurd air time, ejector, and everything to compliment it. If I were to recommend any seats that are an absolute must I'd say very front at night as well as back car at night and during day.
Oh I almost forgot night time. I have never in my life seen a ride that speeds up THAT much at night. Day time has nothing on this ride and if you get a chance a night time ride is an absolute must for any roller coaster enthusiast and those we drag along with us.
By the time the park opened at 11:00am we had 7 rides on helix under our belt and we rode Lisebergbanan twice (or Lisebergbanana for those who joined us at the park haha).
During our 2 hour waiting period for the rest of the group to get to the park we rode Kanonen and Balder. For the footprint Kanonen was a pretty awesome ride. A seriously fast launch, decent forces, insanely tiny transitions and a flat roll to push you every single time. Funny thing is we got to experience Intamin AG's infamous reliability as Kanonen broke a few times while we were there. Quick fixes but they were enough to make people wait.
Balder was cool.
Then we ate and met up with the rest of the group. Now at our full 19 we decided to storm Helix!
Now that the park was open the station and queue had lights and music going full blast. This really added to the atmosphere and made us excited to ride. The queues weren't bad at all during our stay here and was really helpful for a bunch of people running around the park haha. The first day really was us just having a great time experiencing all that Liseberg had to offer.
Later in the day we met up with a park official for a behind the scenes tour of the park which was spectacular! We got into Storage sheds and were given some history behind the rides sich as Helix, Lisebergbanana and Balder.
Photo Credit goes to RussellDuring the tour we also got to see Balder's hideout hut!
After learning a lot about Helix's Layout, Balder's design and sound issues, as well as Lisebergbanana's favortism by Anton Schwarzkopf we were all given pens and were allowed to sign Balder!
The last thing we did before ending the tour was getting a group photo! I will always love this shot!
After riding helix a bunch at night we all headed back to the hotel room and slept.
Day two was all fun and games! We took awesome onride photos and just relaxed a bit instead of running around trying to do it all. Most of the pics for Liseberg will be in the album specified under the Liseberg title. However there are a few more to share for the trip.
Let's start with the Helix onride photos!
Photo Credit goes to DanDan really needed his TP
Photo Credit goes to AlbertoLeft to right: Oskar, Me, Ida, James, and Alberto
Photo Credit goes to IdaLet's get Matt in there
Photo Credit goes to RussellLet's get some Russell and Jack action too!
Photo Credit goes to IdaLove this one!
Photo Credit goes to MattMatt and Holly really enjoying Helix!
A lot of the flats at Liseberg were amazing! Jukebox was awesome! Really powerful for what it was and prompted many re-rides from us. Mechanica made people sick but was really fun if you gave it a chance. Kallerado was a really fun rapids ride. If I were to rename it I would call it Random Rapids haha. It really was hard to determine where the rapids would be and how hard they would hit which made the ride that much more enjoyable.
During some downtime we decided to go play on the kids playhouse! We are totally functioning adults.
Oh and rode the calm river ride in the kids section too!
It should go without saying we earned all credits for the park. The kiddie coasters were some support slapping heaven!
Let's talk about Aerospin here for a minute. This thing was FUN in almost every way. I managed to get 34 spins going the wrong direction. I did it again going the right direction but had to stop because I was spinning too fast haha. Meanwhile Matt nearly broke the record getting a massive 67 spins! The all time record was 70 and we watched the person do it! Very nauseating after a while but entirely worth it.
Day two came to a close pretty fast and we were all eager for more. Day three was a bit short but again quite worth it. Some of the final rides we took were on kanonen and Balder.
Balder was an all around great ride! For me easily top 10 worthy but not quite top 5. This thing was an airtime machine and I loved every bit of it. One unique piece of information is that the red or blue train runs faster than the other on certain days of ride times averaging 1.5 seconds faster than the other! The first drop wasn't as intense as it appears but was fun every time. Where the ride really gets you is on the air hills. Floater max. Then there are the small hills at the bottom and the ones that enter tunnels which are really great ejector spots! Very good layout in a very small space not to mention extremely smooth. I loved every part about this coaster. Always a pleasure to ride.
After saying our goodbyes the group split up and I began the rest of the trip with a few others. We began our way over to Skara Sommarland!
Goodbye Liseberg
After a good ride through the beautiful countryside of Sweden we finally arrived!
-
Skara Sommarland-
Full image album:
http://imgur.com/a/Y30NM-
Skara Sommarland is this cute little park in the middle of Sweden worth a family trip. For us we only spent an hour and were satisfied but I could easily see a family day trip there with no problems. Just a short walk into the park and we began seeing coasters.
Tranan was really a cool concept but maybe not the best executed. The ride was actually quite bumpy but was still pretty fun. It is a great ride for smaller parks but for bigger ones there would never be an application for it. The suspension on the cars didn't seem to be overly effective however the ride still progressed as planned. It was definitely a weird feeling riding it and one I recommend if you do get the chance. It wasn't really worth too many rides but I certainly enjoyed it.
The spinner wasn't really worth mentioning to be honest. It was very much a copypasta ride.
After the spinner we headed a little deeper to go to the mine train ride. We traveled through the small town and finally rode it. The queue was extremely dark and could have used floor lights but we made it through without anyone falling!
As I said it was a very small park and not too much to do, but one worth visiting if you do happen to pass by.
We drove for another 3 hours to get up to Ski, Norway where we stayed overnight. Ski is a subsection of Norway that was pretty nice. We got into the hotel around 9pm and went to bed early. Ahhhh 9 hours of sleep was SO good after the first 3 days at Liseberg, the hour at Skara and 5 hours of driving.
-
TusenFryd-
Full image album:
http://imgur.com/a/fGTNY-
There's a lot to say about this park and I didn't expect that actually. This is a park that is pretty well known however they are definitely going all out. A lot of the park noticeably feels like a park made for families however their recent additions have been an attempt for them to show off. Let's start with Speed Monster!
This ride was MUCH less forceful than I had imagined (and helix probably didn't help either haha). The Norwegian loop was smooth and pretty tame, the giant turn around was also slow. The hill that threads the loop was more 0G than ejector. The twists were calm and so was the cork. I was a little surprised but honestly a very fun and smooth ride.
The ride held a queue pretty solid with only one train running which was pretty impressive, however later in the day they had 2 up. I really enjoyed this ride but it definitely looked a lot more daunting than it actually was. Very photogenic coaster
. In the area around Speed Monster you had a dark ride, a lot of games, a bakery and then you had Loopen up the hill a little.
As an early gen Vekoma looper I expected it to be decently rough which prepared me for the inevitable. It wasn't THAT bad but in certain spots it absolutely was. The train loading seemed slow but that wasn't really a problem as there weren't too many people in the park that day. After we got up the lift the drop was pretty smooth on the way down but kind of slammed you into the loop. Now Herman and I knew what to expect with this transition:
As we got closer we were yelling at each other "BRACE! BRACE!" as we hit the turn it slammed us to the side and caused the entire train to groan haha. It was fun but not a very forgiving ride.
As we walked up the hill I noticed probably the best camera in the world. And in a theme park of all places... Time to praise this monster!
I really didn't expect Thundercoaster to be so rough and with a very loud squeaky wheel. I mean yeah it was a fun layout but every single bit of the ride seemed poorly maintained and wasn't smooth in any way. The queue was pretty long for it but we got through quickly enough. We rode in the back and got slammed around quite a bit, unfortunate but was still a pretty ok coaster if you know it'll be rough.
After fumbling around for quite a bit we ended up in their Viking area which was showing to be a really cool addition to the park!
Once getting to the bottom of the hill we decided to wait on the water rides and take a right to go into Thor's Hammer! This ride was carved into a mountain and was very very well done for a park of this size.
The ride itself was a 5D ride that made a pretty good impression. It really showed the length that this park is going to improve itself one small step at a time and I really believe that Tusenfryd could be one of the best parks in the world if it continues putting that much effort into its rides and the whole experience.
It was still raining a bit so we headed back up the hill and rode Western-Expressen.
Another clone but a very fun one this ride had two trains! I really didn't expect that but I was happy with it as it really helped ride capacity. By the time we were done riding it we headed back down to do the water rides!
SuperSplash was a really fun ride with a slight variance to its other versions out there in the world. It still ran very well and didn't get you too wet which we appreciated as it was still a little wet outside.
Ragnarok was almost as well themed at Thor's Hammer and really shows how much this park is trying. It seemed about 70% complete but was still running and fun! It didn't get you that wet but was still very fun and easy for everyone to enjoy.
It was time to leave and the sun had just started coming out. I decided to snag two more pictures before departure.
TusenFryd was a 1 day park but ABSOLUTELY worth it for a great experience everyone could enjoy! Keep it up TusenFryd!
After about 5 hours in traffic driving to our next hotel we finally got there, let ourselves in and passed out. Before we could do so however we were greeted by the Derp Bird who watched us sleep.
A short drive later we have arrived at one of the most anticipated parks of the trip:
-
Kolmarden-
Full image album:
http://imgur.com/a/P9gD3-
You know this is probably the best Zoo I've been to. They treat their animals very well and it is very well layed out as far as a zoo goes. Lot's of exhibits and plenty to see. One of the first things you see walking up is a small kids amusement park with a roller coaster and a few small rides! I'd have to say the best part about this park was the fact that while yes there are amusement park rides here it doesn't take away from the animals that you want to see and that really goes a long way.
After walking through the park we saw a lot of animals but really were eager to get to the back of the park. Why?
Even through we still had a little ways left to go we saw some tigers chillin!
MeowFinally got here!
Needless to say we queued immediately. You know I think this is the first coaster I've ever RAN for the backseat first. I was not disappointed. Now full disclosure as I want to make something clear. I don't like RMC. I think a lot of their products are bland and lack creativity masking it by roller coasters with some wood on them doing some inversions. I think generally they are over-hyped and am not impressed by their work. So Wildfire jumping into my 4th favorite roller coaster spot really earns it.
The ride rolls forward and you expect a steep lift, but not THAT steep. It actually caught me by surprise and I was really happy with how quickly the ride sped up the lift.
Fun fact the ride E-Stopped here and I took a pic of the stopped train lolOnce the lift is behind you the turn provides a surprising amount of laterals. In the back seat all you can see is that the train is losing cars in front of you as they crest the hill. My god does that first drop pull you out of your seat, it is undeniably ruthless!
The bottom of the first drop is about 3 G's, wasn't too bad but I think that was because of the next element:
Looking at this thing from the ground point of view doesn't do it justice, it is SUPER drawn out and it really adds for an extremely unique experience for the ride. As it blasts you through the next outward banked hill all you can see is a little wooden building smoking in front of you. Gotta put out that fire!
Next we have a sequence of ejector hills that really climb the terrain quickly and prepare you for the next drop: A 0-G roll!
Every single part of this ride feels natural and well flowing, I love all of it! After a quick hill and a turn to the left you blow past the lift supports and begin another diving turn. One thing I find interesting is in the initial renders of Wildfire you could see the filled in gap on the lift structure with wooden supports and you can see the anchors they have on the structure if they ever wanted to add them. I hope it wasn't cost that cut that idea because I think it would have looked good.
Speaking of naturally flowing elements this opposite rolling inversion really felt smooth and purposeful, I was actually quite surprised by that haha.
Even the ending of the ride which slowed down noticeably from the earlier bits of track was well paced and came to a close quite well. I loved every bit of this ride and it really exceeded all expectations I had for it. Well done Kolmarden for acquiring a beast such as this!
Clone Riding!
After the rides were done we spent a good portion of the day looking at the zoo and animals
It really was a good zoo and we enjoyed our time there!
We saw some elephants and a show with them in it, but before the show started I found this guy trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the fence. It looked like he found the promised land haha:
Kolmarden was an awesome adventure and if you ever go to Stockholm DEFINITELY go, it is 100% worth the drive.
We had to say goodbye at some point, but I didn't expect it to actually be at the proper closing time haha. We spent the entire day there with no regrets. Off to Stockholm!
You know as beautiful a city as Stockholm is I think I was too tired to appreciate it fully haha. Before heading to bed we walked about 4.5km around Stockholm to get some drinks then took the metro back to the hotel. In the morning we headed for the boat bound for Grona Lund!
-
Grona Lund-
Full image album:
http://imgur.com/a/UMtoC-
Okay, have you guys ever imagined a 50's amusement park? One like at a boardwalk? That's EXACTLY how to describe Grona Lund! It really was an awesome feeling and a very welcoming park. The ride ops also earn an honorable mention as every single one was very good and seemed to be very happy helping their guests have the best possible experience. Unfortunately there isn't TOO much I can say about this park because it was so compact everything kinda blended together. That didn't stop us from having an awesome time though!
As it was a tiny park we only walked about 2 minutes to see this thing staring at us. Let me tell you it really was Insane!
I did try to unbalance our car but we didn't have the proper weight for the effect I was going for. Oh well. Insane puts its clone Green Lantern to shame being MUCH more forceful and less trimmed than the newer model which I did not expect haha. As it is a ZacSpin you did still get the feeling of being ragdolled around and I always love it though other people may not haha. We didn't get that many inversions but we did see other people get some tormenting ones haha:
Next batter up! Vilda Mussen!
Though compact and certainly a unique ride it was very smooth even in the hairpin turns! The banked turns felt natural and the ride played well with the surrounding supports, structures, and coasters! I wanted to ride it more but the queue was somewhere around 45 min to an hour long all day so we only got one ride on it.
After getting some drinks and using the nearby toilets we headed for Kvasten! The line was long but progressed pretty well.
I also love how it plays well with the surrounding trees and buildings! Adds a little more than just a simple small coaster would.
Next we headed for some flats, the tilting drop tower and a floating octopus style ride! Both were quite fun and we would do them again!
Twister was our next target and to be honest I had really high hopes for this ride. It fell short. It was cool for the tiny space it fit into and the turns were truly microscopic but it didn't live up to the expectations I had for it unfortunately.
The ride was fun and provided a good experience for a wide audience, but after this trip we just experienced I really don't think it makes the cut for top 10 rides on the trip.
Aesthetically is very pretty though
Didn't think I'd say this but Jetstream was easily the star of the park in my opinion.
Very smooth, nice twists, really fun dives and everything in between. After the initial outreach of track which gave you a smooth and fantastic view of Stockholm you're thrown into the spaghetti bowl of supports and track. Left and right, up and down you're constantly amazed that they could fit it all into that tiny space
(yes, it is) I wish we could have ridden it more but the queue's in the park were getting quite long so we headed out of the park for some dinner.
This trip was absolutely amazing and I want to personally thank everyone for coming! I feel lucky to have gone and happy to have met you all! I hope to come back to Sweden with at least some Swedish learned haha. I can't wait for the next trip!
As promised here are my top 5 coasters (out of 347 ridden):
1. Nemesis - Alton Towers2. Helix - Liseberg3. Big Bad Wolf (defunct) - Busch Gardens Williamsburg4. Wildfire - Kolmarden5. Boulder Dash - Lake CompounceIf anyone wants more details on any ride I was fortunate enough to experience please let me know here in this thread
I'd be happy to elaborate!