Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

CrazyChris

Members
  • Posts

    24
  • Joined

  • Last visited

CrazyChris's Achievements

Apprentice

Apprentice (3/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later
  • One Year In

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. That's a classic. I came back from Japan just two days ago, and while in Japan, I almost went to take pictures of that thing. Almost. As it is located on a rooftop, it's nearly impossible to get any good pictures of it, so I never bothered to try... While we're on this SBNO topic, I actually managed to get the Thunder Dolphin credit this time. Only took four years and three trips to Japan to actually find it running. I rarely buy onride photos, but I just had to buy one from Thunder Dolphin, as it's a kind of semi-rare credit thanks to long SBNO periods...
  2. As cruiseferries are a hobby of mine, I just have to comment here, even if it's a bit off-topic... The promenade concept was developed by Wärtsilä shipyards together with (the 80's) owners of Silja Line. Silja Serenade was the first ship in the world to have this innovation followed by its sister, Silja Symphony. There are some "prototype issues" with the design, which were modified in the later cruise ships and cruiseferries that used the same idea. Those glass windows is one such thing, which was by later maritime standards banned. It's a rather hypothetical risk really, as these ships have been sailing for a quarter of a century without any accidents. But for those who are into ships and ship design, these two are the original ones and for many (ship-nerdy) people worth a visit only because of that. Newer ship designs are not any more boring, if you pick a right ship to visit. Viking Line's Viking Grace is the world's first passenger ship (and by far the biggest ship) to use LNG fuel, which makes it interesting for those who care about such things. Even if that doesn't matter, it has a cool nightclub with enormous LED screen on stage and panorama windows showing the sea (and LNG tanks) in the aft, and a buffet covered with panorama windows (all of which are seriously absent from every Silja Line ship...). It should also be mentioned that the new Grande Buffet (just renovated this spring) on Silja Serenade had much of its interior design copied from Viking Grace. It is seen by many as only a poor copy of the original design. Also, it seems that TPR liked the Silja buffet. Good for them. Personally, I never even think about Silja buffet, as it's just not worth of money. Viking buffet, on the other hand, is definitely worth the money, much more quality and much more choises. OK, sorry about that. The ship geek got the better of me. Let's get back to coasters now.
  3. Actually two parks, both relatively close to Liseberg, have three towers each, Gröna Lund and Linnanmäki. Of course in both cases, you can't really get a picture of them inside the park, you need to go to a nearby area outside the park to get a picture. Pictures with those towers will look something like this (both taken during winter months, so both parks look a bit dead...) Gröna Lund Linnanmäki
  4. Both are useful. I prefer reading forum updates more, but park index is maybe more convenient for trip planning. Coincidentally I'll be going to Japan just next month, and have been reading those weird parks reports to get some ideas about possible places to visit.
  5. I believe it's pretty much reliable now. They used to have issues, I've heard that they had it running and not running randomly during a single day. But now I think it's running most of the time, and if it's closed it's only for few minutes for test rides. The ride was closed for a longer time soon after its opening, when a man was injured. Something failed with the brakes, the car didn't turn right way and the man's leg was somehow pushed against the loading platform. Last summer a car got stuck upside down, but that was an operator error, at least so I have heard. The rideop pushed stop (e-stop?) too soon for some reason. Otherwise there haven't been any major issues, or at least I don't know anything about them. Those were the only two issues that I found with Google.
  6. 1900's-1950's Those things look good, sound good and even smell good. Plus no modern coaster can match the thrilling sensation of wondering whether that stack of wood will hold together after all those years, and the joyful sensation after riding it to be somehow still alive.
  7. For the record, mixing Finns and Swedes is the second most insulting thing you can say in front of a Finn... Like others have said, they are not competing, because you need to take an overnight ferry to get from Stockholm to Helsinki or vice versa. Not a same market at all. But, again for the record, Linnanmäki has said that they were planning to build a bigger coaster (presumably something like Gröna Lund), but they didn't get permission from the City officials, so they had built Kirnu as it is now.
  8. Only the first one. Tried with the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13 Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Opera 9.25
  9. Yes, Rainbow is the best. Just the sound it makes... Don't know about this or other parks, but at least at Linnanmäki it has been closed since July. It was briefly listed in open rides for the upcoming light carnival in October, but they changed the list and so it appears that it will remain closed for this year. Hopefully HUSS will find a way to fix them, seeing that ride standing useless with lights out is a very sad sight. Or then they should come out and say that the design is fundamentally flawed and close all these rides for good. It would be sad, but better than wondering if and when they are going to open again...
  10. Since it was impossible for me to backtrack the coasters I've been on (can't remember the parks, or even in which country they were located...), I decided to reset my count. Or, to be more precise, to start actually counting, rather than just going by memory "yeah, I've been on that one... I guess..." I decided to start the count on the Linnanmäki closing day (see PTR in other thread) to get the fireworks and all the niceties with it. So, at the moment my coaster count is... 5!!! #1 Vuoristorata #2 Vonkaputous #3 Tulireki #4 Linnunrata #5 Salama That's a short list, but luckily it is pretty well composed, as there is a scenic railway and a classic wooden coaster (#1), a water coaster (#2), an indoor coaster (#4) and a spinning coaster (#5). At least that's better than the three coaster guy in the previous message...
  11. DISCLAIMER: This Photo Trip Report (PTR) is a piece of writing, which is to be regarded as a subjective recalling of events mentioned. The Author (CrazyChris) is not responsible for possible factual errors. The Reader (a.k.a. YOU) will accept any and all responsibility for reading the PTR and any effects, including but not limited to the mental state of the Reader (YOU), which may be caused and affected by this PTR. Intellectual property featured in the PTR (i.e. trademarks and other items falling under copyright laws) is property of its legal owner(s) and being randomly abused and violated by the Author (CrazyChris). Any and all comments the Reader (YOU) will provide about the PTR may and will be used against you in the court of law, if applicable. The PTR is meant for recreational purposes only. Parental guidance suggested. OK, as (kinda) promised, CrazyChris is back!!! And delivering a PTR from Linnanmäki summer season closing day, 09/07/08. Apologies to thecoasterkid for the excessive use of 3rd person, but CrazyChris' therapist strongly adviced against abandoning the 3rd person, as whatever sanity remaining is hanging on to that... Be that as it may, CrazyChris was at Linnanmäki and here are some recollections. Entering the park was quite pleasant experience this time, as there were no guards grabbing the backpack in search of alcohol. Then again, the backpack stayed at home this time, so that my have had something to do with it... or not. We'll never know. The strategic time of entry was around 5:40pm, as the evening prices started from 6:00pm. The difference? If you buy the wristband before the evening hours, the cost is 33 €. What a rip-off!!! During the evening hours it's only 24 €, which while being expensive, is affordable. Ordinarily that goes for the last three hours, but on this last day of the season the evening prices were for the last four hours. While on the subject of "the closing day", the park will actually reopen in October! Valokarnevaali (the light carnival) takes place then, with some additional lights installed in the park. Of course the park is then open only for a week or so, and some rides (like water rides) won't be running then. Anyways, CrazyChris hit the park with 20 minutes to go before the better prices, so there was time to ride the two free rides of the park: Panoraama observation tower and Toilet - The Ride. Then it was time to buy the wristband and go do some riding. Of course the most important thing to ride was Vuoristorata. CrazyChris did that twice, both times coincidentally in the red train. The experience was totally different though... Probably the brakeman changed from a fool to a madman. The first one (fool) had the train leaving the station very fast and going through the track with very little breaking, which made it feel like the train would fly off the track in the end. Omg. OK, so it couldn't get any worse? Right? Wrong. The second brakeman (madman) had a completely different breaking strategy. The train moved veeerrry s-l-o-w-l-y indeed, even when from the station to the lift hill. But... every time there was a drop the brakeman let the riders have it. Really. Honestly, at one point CrazyChris had 2 seconds of airtime being held in the car only by the restraint bar. While that may not seem like a whole lot, keep in mind that we are talking about 57 year old thing WITH NO UPSTOPS! Of course, the odds of survival are statistically good. In the 57 years only 2 people have died on the thing. But that was definately a near death experience. There were lines for two rides only, unfortunately Vuoristorata was the other one, so no third riding time to compare with. Among other coasters that CrazyChris did, were Tulireki, not much to write about that one. Lines were short, if there were any. Vonkaputous had no lines at all, nobody probably wanted to get wet at the splash. CrazyChris did it twice, both time ending up in the center of the car, where most water is sprayed. Thanks a lot rideops, thanks a lot!!! You sure look like cuties, but not allowing single riders anywhere else than in the middle next to the broken seat was not very nice... The rideops seemed to give the guests extra (bad) treatment, as was once again proved by the Kieppi rideop. Just before CrazyChris did the ride, the op changed from a cute girl to a random guy. Nothing wrong with that... but the girl ran the ride normally, while the guy was a lunatic! This being the first time of this HUSS death machine for CrazyChris, it was not a very nice experience to have the ride op going: - I wanna hear you screaming! - I can't hear you scream... well, I'm gonna MAKE you scream!!! (and the lunatic turns the ride up to eleven, or something...) Well, CrazyChris made it out of that alive, having cheated death twice already. Our heroic hero did some other rides too, like the river rafting were some idiot teenage girl (who probably was about 14, but wearing way too much makeup to look like 16) held up the line (of eight people only!) for five minutes. She got all wet and spent like five minutes crying to ride op. Gee, a small wonder all that water was actually WET!? The park had put up the sign of riders getting wet just for the heck of it? Salama was the other ride with a line, actually the longest line. Only one time for CrazyChris, but it was pretty good. Something to do again some time. Of course most people were there for the free concert of the band Suurlähettiläät ("the ambassadors") and the fireworks. The band was OK, but a bit weird choice, as it's not really a teenager favorite, yet the park management has said that the teenagers are the main focus of the park. Fireworks lasted for 10 minutes, and were otherwise good, but since they were launched from the Ratalaakso area (track valley), it was a bit lame to have the launch site lower than the crowd area. Because of this, some fireworks never rose above the rides/buildings blocking the view. Of course, there are laws and stuff which make anything done at Linnanmäki (right next to residential area) very difficult to accomplish... After the fireworks the three trains of Vuoristorata ran on the track with blowing horns, as they traditionally do. Then all the lights were turned out and the park closed. And that's about all there is to it. But feel free to comment how great & inspiring this report was... This update was brought to you by CrazyChris Productions. Thank you for reading. So the whole thing ended with fireworks, as can be seen here. The best fireworks were not caught on camera, but this gives you the general idea. For roller coaster people, that black thing partially blocking the view is the track of Kirnu. OK, so here we have Suurlähettiläät doing their gig. Time for a pronounciation contest! The chorus goes: "Kun tänään lähden otan mukaan mitä tarvitsen, taivaalta tähden valitsen ja sitä seurailen. Kun tänään lähden en taakse aio vilkaistakaan, taivaalta tähden valitsen vaikken sitä kiinni saa." The winner of the contest won't get anything, but the pathetic losers will be laughed at. The HUSS death machine. Please make it stop. OMG!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!! If the cops had been patrolling the monorail traffic that night, the chick driving the monorail would have been in big trouble for the broken head light. Still, this is for some weird reason a very beautiful picture. So this is what Vuoristorata looked like in the end of the day... er... night. When they finally turned all the lights out, you couldn't see much of anything of it. Kirnu was the one coaster CrazyChris didn't do. Hey, having cheated death twice on the same night, there's no point in trying for a third time!!! Ooooohhhh... is this pretty or what? This is the same dark ride as in the previous picture, but this time in the dark and sans finger. When your mommy told you not to stick your fingers where they don't belong, this is exactly what she meant! Some random jack showing a finger from the other monorail cabin. Look, pal, that's not even THE finger, it's just A finger, you moron... This artsy shot was taken from the monorail station before it got dark.
  12. PowerPark location is wrong, in fact there are two different locations for one single park... The park index page has it listed as: PowerPark, Alaharma, Vaasa, Finland Alahärmä is correct, Vaasa is wrong. There actually is an amusement park in Vaasa, but that park is not PowerPark, it's Wasalandia.
  13. The final, round 3 of the photos. The updates were brought to you by CrazyChris Productions. Thank you for reading. And with this last picture of the water fall, CrazyChris thanks you for reading. One more picture of the new track. The cars are spinning randomly based on the weight distribution. If nothing else, it is at least spraying a lot of water on the people down on the rafts... Salama loading station and theming. The fire/water thingy is supposed to be the Sampo from the Kalevala mythology. The Salama lifthill, and people waiting for the water ride (it really was a HOT day). The track was built above a water ride, so it's a bit crowded & cramped here. Salama. The new Maurer Söhne roller coaster for the 2008 season. And the thing running behind is not Salama, but a powered coaster Pikajuna. Back in the track valley when crossing the Misty bridge, you come right next to... Kirnu lifthill and a kiddie wheel right next to it. That's the track layout. Now for something weirder. This one's called Kirnu and it was the first of its kind to open. According to ACE, this one's a classic. Who are we to argue with that? On the other side of the park is the wooden Vuoristorata from 1951. At this point, people on the ride and people reading this got all wet, although for very different reasons and in very different ways. ...and down it comes. SPLASH!!!! Up it goes... Now this thing is called Vonkaputous and it's a water coaster. Well, no fire, so we were lied to. None of the park staff had their pants on fire either, so go figure... OK, there's the sled, but where's the fire? OK, so this one is called Tulireki (Fire sled). While being on the subject of roller coasters, here is the "track valley" area of the park. It used to be a kiddie area "fairytale valley". Nowadays those who miss the old times don't like it, and those who prefer coasters think the coasters are for kiddies... Respecting the tradition, this update starts with a random kiddie ride as well. But this photo is also featuring a roller coaster, inside the old water reservoir. Being an indoor coaster, this is the best photo you can get without actually riding it.
  14. The round 2 of the photos. Of course every true amusement park must have the swings ride. After so much spinning, it's good to do something nice and quiet. Like looking at the dancing waters. OMG!!! Yep, the thing seems to be spinning. HUSS Booster. One of the worst, if not THE worst spinning ride in the world. So the talk goes... If there was a massive earthquake, the Ferris wheel and the concrete foundation would collapse on these drivers. But still, you are not allowed to bump into other cars. OK, we hear and we obey. The bumper cars are located under the Ferris wheel, but bumping is not allowed with these bumper cars. A closer look of the dark ride entrance with some completely random, but good-looking chicks waiting for the ride. Kummitusjuna (ghost train) dark ride. Vekkula from another angle. Vekkula fun house. Among the best fun houses in the world, if some people are to be believed. This ride actually got press time a while back when it got stuck for 10 minutes with people hanging upside down. Luckily for the park, it was caused by the thunder storm cutting the power and not the ride itself. A Top Spin, which based on the sound it makes, needs some maintenance ASAP. A carousel that was made back in 1896. Must be one of the oldest operating rides in the world. The late 19th century must have been liberal, considering the lesbian theming on the top. Taikasirkus means Magical Circus. Reportedly, inside there is no circus to be found nor any trace of magic. If you came all the way to Finland to see magical circus, boy, you sure got ripped off. They don't make these as they used to. In fact, they don't make these at all... finding an operating Schwarzkopf ride is always a good thing. OK, that's a classic Schwarzkopf flat ride. The best this ride type has to offer. Another random kiddie ride. Isn't life exciting? Yes, they INDEED do have a swinging ship with viking theming at Linnanmäki. Let's move on already. BTW, that small white erecting thing at lower left is the Olympic stadium tower mentioned earlier. Yes, they have a swinging ship with viking theming at Linnanmäki. WTF?! The French Fries dude is standing on the rooftop and giving CrazyChris a finger! Well, listen pal, CrazyChris is giving YOU a finger too, albeit a slightly different one. A word-by-word translation of this sign: "Dear visitors. Due to the recommendation of the manufacturer, Rainbow is not in use for the time being." But the real message this sign is conveying is: "the stupid Swedes spoiled the fun for all of us." So this is the classic HUSS Rainbow, currently being rethemed, and it will (not...) open again as SBNObow. Yep, the sun was really shining HOT that day!!! What would be a better way to start round 2 of the photos than a random kiddie ride? OK, CrazyChris can think of a few ways, but this kiddie ride it will be no matter what.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/