_koppen Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) I still don't have a new camera yet, so I have to apologize for the quality of the photos. My day was awesome, evern though it could have been better. I haven’t been sleeping well the last few days, with only 3 hours of sleep the night before Liseberg (I was excited!) so I had a huge headache all day. Thanks to lisebergs guestservice for giving me 3 pills during the day, so it was kept in controll, but it made me a bit sick sometimes, and I didn’t ride as many rides as I would have liked to. No biggie really, but since I have sold my car a visit by train to Liseberg now cost us around 300 dollars, so obviously not the way you want to be feeling. I got 3 rides on Helix. We ran when the park opened and got front row, a few hours later we quend 1.5h for the back row, and we saved the express pass to right before we were leaving to get an all warmed up ride in the front. At that point the ride had a 2h queen. Now onto the photos! Today were in one of Sweden's nicest town, Göteborg! When walking from the central train station, this is the first view you get, and it's a pretty nice one Entrance! What a lovely sight! Here it is with an even nicer background Both of these rides are lovely Main street Again X usually marks the idiot, don't see how this is an exception.. The stage area was dead all day Everybody is welcomed at Liseberg! Gothia Towers is getting a third building Nice, don't you think? Can you spot it? The entrance to two of the parks best rides Atmosfear really is a great drop tower, even if it breaks a bit early But let's look at some other things before we look at the mountain rides This is a nice ride for the kids, the bridge is a small copy of the big one over the river that runs through Göteborg And the boats are copy's of the bigger ones that goes to Denmark from Göteborg Uppskjutet was the first Space Shot installed in Europe in 1996. It was a "gift" (more like compensation) from Vekoma for the one year delayed opening of Hang Over, the worlds first Invertigo ride, so that Liseberg would still have a new for 96 ride. Hanghai is a great family ride, I don't know why people hate so much on the Disco rides. Wheee Elephants are nice for the small ones Here's Sagoslottet, the parks fairytale ride for families Everywhere you look the park is nice Or what do you think? The park was REALLY packed this Saturday Never seen it so busy this time of year earlier, but the weather was also really nice Chairswing People Tyrolen HELIX Take the top hat! Jukebox is a really lame ride built by Gerstlauer that replaced the original ride in 2012 people Top hat! Kanonen is a great little ride, even though is could see it leave for something new Loop de loop! It's easy to think that Balder have fallen into the shadows with Helix entrance but it's still one of the best rides in northern Europe! Can you see the Discovery? This is a really nice touch View to the other way Kanonen through the trees Compactness Airtime! Balder through the trees The Discovery swinging high Rapids ride It dosen't look like you are in the middle of the city, does it? Spökhotell Gasten is a really awesome haunted walk through It cost 5 dollars, but it's worth it if you are visiting Liseberg harbor Be careful of these restaurants in the harbor area if you are visiting, they look nice and a have a good reputation, but the food is overpriced crap, and the service leaves a lot to be desired. The park is nice and green all over Dance floor! View toward the mountain from the harbor area River area looking good This area looks so much better now compared to before 2012 River These Zierer towers are awesomely evil Everybody loves them! The car ride is also such an improvement from the earlier one It runs through a mechanics shop Looks great Of course it's Volvo! Helix and the Screamin Swing are awesome together. We had a magical ride on the swing where we could look down on a train running on Lisebergsbanan, and then swung to the other side and looked up on a train on Helix passing through the hat and then the airtime hill Nice looking area I see you Helix and Uppswinget! One of the bridges over the river The classic carousel Balder ejecting some riders, who luckily have restraints on their legs Let's look at Kaninlandet The spinning cups This whole new area is such a great improvement to the park, and it looks much better than last tear now that the foliage is starting to grow in The rabbit's playground Magic Bikes from Zamperla More playground Looks good, don't you think? Same here Awesome little Zamperla ride for the smallest The little credit is actually very decent It looks great as well The train is awesome looking! This ride is also great! Mini bumper cars Did I say it was crowded today? This ride is ugly, but seems to deliver an awesome ride for the kids Another angle of the area And one more These are great rides for the entire family This weird ride also looks really good The vehicles for this ride is just so awesome Rabalder looking good Great family coaster, as most Zierer's are The family boat ride is lurking in the trees Let's Finish part one with a photo of Helix, I have just as many photos for part two, as well as my review of Helix! Edited May 27, 2014 by _koppen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) Time for part 2! I love the support structure for Helix's pretzel loop! Looking down the midway, Lisebergbanan's station is saying "hi, come ride me!" Looking toward the entrance, nice and green as always in this park How about some Helix photos? How about a pretzel through the trees? This corkscrew is AWESOME, and the drop out of the station is even more AWESOME, it's such a great way to start the ride! Helix contains some VERY strong airtime on the two straight hills, they are on pair with Expedition Geforce's first two hills. Beautiful Immelmann through the trees Dive dive dive! It's something very impressive about standing under the lift of Lisebergbanan when it climbs up, it's hard to explain A masterpiece of engineering, not a single wheel not spinning or spinning freely, it's very impressive for such an old coaster. But on the other hand we also know that Anton was a genius (and massive thumbs up to Zierer for making this one happen!) It's such a great ride, and one of my all time favorites! It really deserves a new paint job as well as magnetic brakes within the next few years Suddenly Helix got jealous that we moved focus over to Lisebergbanan, "Oh look, I can do an Immelmann again, it's no biggie for me, I can do them in my sleep" Standing beneath this AWESOME hill who delivers great ejector air, but what impressed me the most was for how long it sustained it Here's one of the worlds coolest Screamin Swing. The location is pure gold The zero-g-roll was great, not a stand out element, but not a disappointing one as well. It's very nice considering it's Mack's first attempt at a true zero-g-roll. A guy who have ridden both said it is very simliar to the one on Hydra The top hat was pure awesome. It have a great pace through it, and it delivers upside down floater air And I LOVE these supports for the top hat, it's hard for me to explain why though Some posers! Getting launched, the launches is not very strong on Helix (you have probably already read that) but they are still really nice To be honest the only thing I don't like the look of is the extra supports for a possibly future noise screen on the top hat, everything else is very aesthetically pleasing on Helix Take the near collision! Liseberg is one of very few parks who have two ferris wheels, but they both look great so it's cool Balder says "hi, remember me?" S&S Turbo Drop in the sunlight And here's the Space Shot again The Tilt-A-Whirl Here's the flume lurking in the trees As I said both ferris wheels look really great Did you know that some trees are special, and have the ability to grow an S&S ride? You should start looking for one ASAP! Unfortunately the ice cream stand up on the mountain was closed today, I have this tradition of always getting an ice cream here on my visits The flume going up the second lift Diving Immelmanning Ejecting This photo turned out great, Helix, Atmosfear and Uppswinget all in action Did I mention earlier that the top hat is great? Well now I've done it again! Here's the big awesome evil airtime hill again Standing under the corkscrew after the first launch, this is a very great element as well This twisty bit was very fun, but nothing mind blowing Crokscrewing Launching Ejecting This dive into the pretzel loop was pure magic, it's so awesome to follow the ground so closely, I would say it's very similar to Speed Monster's turn around after the loop, only a bit tighter radius Some top hatting And some ejecting I remember you as well, you are such an awesome ride, even though I wish you were Falcon's Fury.. How about a Helix and Atmosfear photo? It didn't turn out so great, but I didn't want to wait for them to time again, so here you are Here's the zero-g-roll from below the mountain I really like this photo, I have one from 2 seconds earlier with the other swing, and also the train, but it turned out a bit blurry The dive into the helix, and the helix as well are some of my favorite elements, I actually had a bit of a grey out in the bottom of it on one ride, it was obviously time to eat and drink something Some thing that surprised me is how good it all fits together with the landscaping and foliage. I thought it was going to look massively out of place, and like a building zone. They have done an amazing job here, and in most places it seems like Helix have been here all along. It's only the area around the second corkscrew on the mountain top that need more work. I would like to see them investing heavy in 5 really big trees they could plant in that area for next season. Kanonen through the chairswing The park also have a roundabout, it lives next to Lisebergbanan's awesome final helix Here's the final drop for the log flume, there is so much foliage that it's hard to get a good photo of it, which is awesome! SKLOOOSH What a nice sight How about a train on top of it as well? Kanonen have new restraints (same as on Insane, or I305 if you live in the states), they really make the ride so much better. i really wish all the Intamin rides who have the Storm Runner restrains would get this treatment. Balder is still one of the star attractions in the park. It, along with Uppswinget, Atmosfear, Helix, Lisebergbanan, Flume Ride & Kållerado, are my personal favorites in the park. Not a single wheel not touching the track. great job from the maintenance crew and the park! Also Kanonen seem to rattle less this season, only in a few selected places I could feel it. Going over the top Getting awesome ejector air! I prefer Balder in the front seat, but the back is also great. Ride in the first or in the last car if you are visiting, the ride is not se great in the middle seats compared to the last or the first seats. Here's the discovery again How strong are you? The river is always looking great This photo turned out great It all fits together so well How about Helix through the trees? Or some S&S rides? Awesome ride! It have the best restraints on any drop tower I've experienced. Would love to try out the ones on Lex Luthor, they look even better! The only downpart with these S&S rides is how much noise they make, at least if you have tinnitus. But it's wort it in the end, it's such awesome rides! Atmosfear and the dive loop Awesome airtime hill! The Immelmann again How about some arial shots from the big wheel? I can blame a lot on my bad camera, but here the photo quality is actually bad because of the dirty glass on the gondolas. Atmosfear coming up from it's cave. Love the steam effects, but they seemed weaker this visit. Atmosfear and Helix doing their things The barrel roll, this photo however can be blamed on the camera. but it's the only good one I got of the train and the barrel roll because for some reason the wheel kept rotating.. Overview with focus on Helix only Love this one! Don't think I forgot about the barrel roll! It's a great element, but also the only thing that *slightly* (very slightly!) disappointed me. I excepted a bit more of a "whip" around it, like on Blue Fire. It's still a very great element, but I would have liked to see it a bit faster. Some reviews I have read compares it to the one on Kanonen, but I don't think that is correct at all. The first half ot the roll actually have a similar "whip" to the one on BF (a little bit weaker) but but then the second half it not as quick and gives some great hang time, but it is definitely not as slow as on Kanonen IMO. Barrel roll through the trees! As I said in the first part, there was people everywhere Time to leave, the park closes at 23, but unfortunately I don't have my beloved Saab anymore, so the last train home leaves at 20:40 (and it cost us about 150 dollars for train tickets, so in this case I REALLY miss my car!) I'm not one for selfies but in this case I make an exception, I really love Helix! It was actually not as easy as it might look to get up there. Oh, I also ripped the sleeve on my shirt all open later on, taking picture above the fence at the pretzel loop, so there would be no squares in the photo. It's no biggie, I just wish I had worn a shirt I didn't like so much.. And one last shot to finish up the report, hope you enjoyed it! So my overall review of Helix is that it’s the best ride to open in Europe in quite a few years. I have ever since it was annouced excpected it to be Blue Fire 2.0, in other words a not so intense ride, and this have even been more implemented in my thoughts when the park have said during the last two years that the ride would appeal to everybody. Therefore I don’t feel the slightest dissapointment about this ride, as some other reviews I have read. I am truly blown away by Helix. It is everything an amazing coaster should be. The ride is a bit forceless in some areas like the launches, the corkscreews and the zero-groll. These elements are still very great however, as the first corkscrew have awesome hangtime, the second corkscrew have some great floater and the zero-g-roll is still a good element. The launches we always knew they were going to be weak, but they are still great. It is nothing like a modern B&M! In some other areas hovever the ride is very intense. The dive into the helix is AWESOME and the helix itself pull some really high G’s, and the same thing can be said about the bottom of the Pretzl loop. The pretzel loop is also very awesome, the pacing through is great, it dosent slow down or ”drag” anything. The transitions dosen’t have the same ”snap” as the Intamin version, but it really dosen’t need them, it’s such a great element. The dive into the loop is awesome as well, following the groud and being burrid within the folliage makes it an awesome part of the ride. The dive out of the station is a very good elemtent, and especially awesome if your in the back of the train. It surprised me how fast the ride travelled between the first corkscrew until the first launch, great start to the ride! The 3 airimte hills are awesome, the two later ones have great ejector air sustained for very long (as I wrote earlier, I can compare the airtime to the first two hills on Expedition Gefore). The first airtime hill, after the second corkscrew, is also very good. Not as strong airtime (I’d rather call it weak ejector than strong floater) but it also have the twisty part, so it’s still a great and very fun element. The turn after the helix into the second launch is also very great becuse of the near misses with the flume and the Schwarzkopf. The top hat is very awesome, as I said earlier, as it delievers a great pace through, combined with some great upside down floater. When you have passed the awesome airtime hill after the top hat comes the pullout of it, which gives some very strong G’s, and it just awesome. The trick-track rail up until the barrel roll is very fun, but nothing spectacular, and the roll is as I described it earlier, a very fun ending to the ride. There is only some slight rattle in a few selected places, nothing to mention really, the only reasone I’m doing so is that I didn’t find it on Blue Fire. But also Mack have never built anything of Helix’s size before, they are probably going to experiment a bit more with the wheels after it’s trimmed in, so I excpect it to be glass smoth all over for next year. My favorite elements would be the drop out of the station along with the corkscrew, the pretzel loop, the dive into, and the helix as well as the top hat. We all know how awesome the Mack restrains and train are, so I don't think I have to write anything about them. The station is very cool, and the quene is exceptionally well done, even though it lacks any themeing. Everybody who love Cristopher Nolan’s Batman movies will LOVE the soundtrack! From what I have written I will give Helix 10 out of 10 possible points, it really blew my mind with what excpectations I had, and I would rather ride it tan Expedition Geforce. I place it second on my coaster rankings for now, only Piraten is higher, BUT I leave it open for Helix to take the number one spot away from the megalite, I just need to ride it more. No, its not a joke, you read it correctly, I’m thinking of taking away the megalite from my no.1 spot!! I do have a feeling that next year, when I have ridden I305, Skyrush, Maverick and El Toro, Helix will go down a few positions in my ranking. Piraten is much more intense, and the elements comes quicker, but this is just so overall well done, and the ride is spectacular. I also can not resist comparing it to the other double launcher in Scandinavia, Juvelen. I would say Helix is a better ride, but I will also say that Juvelen is not a worse ride. They are both really great rides, and I could never chose between them. They are also so very different. I predict that many enthusiasts will make HELIX their No.1 coaster. The operations on Helix, and the other rides as well, leaves a bit for improvement. Hopefully they will get it going for when summer hits for real. And with that I leave you. For you who are going on the SCANDI trip, you should really long for HELIX (but keep in mind what I wrote about my personal expectations for the ride, it is not Skyrush combined with Maverick!) Edited May 27, 2014 by _koppen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 What a really good look at everything else that Liseberg has to offer, besides the new (and older) coasters, there. Very funny, the guy and his kid in the photo tea cup, eating lunch LOL. And where is a good place to eat in the park, itself? Other than the fast food places? I am curious if you have a favourite. Thanks for a great all-over look at the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Very funny, the guy and his kid in the photo tea cup, eating lunch LOL. Lol, didn't notice that before, how funny! And where is a good place to eat in the park, itself? Other than the fast food places? I am curious if you have a favourite. I'm not visiting Liseberg so often, so I don't really have a favorite dinner time place. Nowadays I usually eat something like Burger King, so I know what I get. I have eaten two times in the harbor, and been disappointed both times. Perhaps Loefet can chip in here? For lunch I absolutely recommend to eat at Plättlagat. It's smaller pancakes, and they are awesome with jam and whipped cream along with milk to drink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Nice pictures and, once more, great to hear about how awesome helix is! I bet this is the only park where you could get a shot like this, with 3 towers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thanks for this great TR! Wets my appetite for my visit in now less than two weeks - in between some Smiler and other English fun... If weather permits I will visit Liseberg two days as its really worth in this great park. and massive thumbs up to Zierer for making this one happen! And seeing new Zierer coasters like Verbolten one can still see Anton's heritage in them. Same is true for the Gerstlauer family coasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyChris Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Nice pictures and, once more, great to hear about how awesome helix is!I bet this is the only park where you could get a shot like this, with 3 towers. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 ^Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I meant three drop/launch towers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 ^Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I meant three drop/launch towers. That's a good point, I don't think there is any other park with 3 big drop rides. Add the two small Zierer drop towers to that and you probably have a world record! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linearinduction Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Great PTR _Koppen, as Expected! Great Photos as Well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 AWESOME trip report with lots of AWESOME photos of AWESOME rides The park is beautiful, thanks for showcasing that and not just sticking to the rides. I haven't seen Balder in quite a while, glad it got some attention! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPDave Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I miss this park so much! Loved the TR, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesman Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I didn't know that about the space shot. It was really interesting. Was that one built by S&S because i know the first space shot was at action park also in 1996. Seems weird that Vekoma would use another manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnz Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Great TR. I didn't realise how pretty Liseberg is. What I wouldn't give to have this as my home park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I love this park so much and can't wait to get back one day to try out Helix and (maybe) Atmosfear. Helix really looks fantastic on the hillside. Thanks for sharing Jakob! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I haven't seen Balder in quite a while, glad it got some attention! I kinda felt the same way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCTom Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Great trip report. I can't wait to visit this park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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