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Proof that you don't read my trip reports! (Or, you just have a bad memory.) Short version: There's a famous statue in downtown Helsinki of three naked workers with tools. (I think it's kind of a socialist thing.) So the park has a homage/parody of that where the guys are taking a break and having some ice cream. Anyway, I really enjoyed Linnanmäki. In fact, it might just be a top 10 park for me. I thought I'd seen it quite well during our day there, but you had quite a few photos of things I'd missed entirely! Great day. Fun hang. Thanks, Bert. -
Linnanmaki swag - not much (it was end of trip, and my bag was pretty full!). but a pin, and a magnet -
Linnanmäki ! Part 2 after the nutso Sirkus dark ride, it was time for the Haunt right next door. I had been correct in my guess that it was a walk thru - but I didn't realize it's in 3D. the glasses really DID enhance in some places, but as you can see from the pics, it works really well regardless. And it was fairly lengthy. this hall of mirrors section was truly spectacular. and with the 3D glasses on, it was so easy to walk into a mirror. but some of them have surprises inside if you do touch them! most of the games over here weren't open today - probably because it was a slow Sunday. But here's a good view of the entrance to the Haunt walkthru, and the Sirkus dark ride next door. I don't think I mentioned, but similar to Groan Lund, they go all out here at Linnanmäki in terms of theming for the Restrooms. no two are alike, and they don't seem to be tied into whatever area they are in. (for example, this one was by the Funhouse, Sirkus, Haunt). But they are heavily themed. wanna go in for a "pit stop" - literally? 😛 (and yes, racing sounds were played in the toilets via hidden speakers) looking towards the park's front gate, you can see the parks other drop tower (square vs round) some dark clouds were starting to move in, but it didn't rain until a bit later in the day (and then only for about 20 minutes) Loved the little areas that were just . . . there in the middle of things. such as this small wooden labyrinth just in the middle - that's also a water feature, with some occasional shooting jets of water. (I did do it, but managed to avoid the water ) would get to the Carousel soon, but I had wanted to come over here to ride Vuoristorata - the wooden coaster with a brake person. if you believe Roller Coaster Database, it's the same design as the one at Bakken (which no longer has the brake man), but it's slightly longer and taller. I love that they are so proud of their Brakemasters, that they have their pics up on a board in the queue. and tells you a bit of how they are trained. very cool. from the queue line, you can see the station (next door) for the Monorail. . . . would be doing that shortly! not a very crowded train. . all just TPR folks. sMisty and I went for the back, near our BrakePerson. . who happened to be the lady! twas quite cool. the ride was just OK, tho I did ride a few times. I think after starting the trip at Tivoli Gardens, with their incredibly fun Bakeman driven coaster, anything else would naturally come in 2nd. It was enjoyable, tho think of it as a scenic railway rather than a woodie, since there's no real pops of air (understandable, as there's someone standing on the back of the coaster ) we went down the exit ramp, and right up next door onto the Monorail, which offers some amazing views of the park. in particular the park's coaster collection Taiga on the left Vuoristorata & Ukko Kirnu Salama (the Maurer Spinner) the frying pan ride. . which no, I did NOT want to get on a spin and puke ride. (tho Robb did film this, and I believe he's posted the video on the TPR Youtube channel). earlier in the trip? I might have gone for it, but I was wanting "calmer" rides today. and this one was looking a bit "intense" wait. . . they have a "pony" ride? how had I not seen this on the map. DEFINITELY something to track down sooner rather than later. better view of the funhouse on Astroturf from above. not only some great sculptures around the park, but also some lovely flower work. pausing to buy some souveniers to bring home to my best friend. and then over to the Witch Hotel! sadly, no pictures allowed in the ride, so best I could do was queue line. maybe it would ruin the "storyline" wizard vs witch . . or something? LOL time for a coaster I hadn't been on yet, Tulireki - billed as a one of a kind. this is a Mack "e-Motion" coaster, where the trains "tilt" in certain areas to make you feel as if you're falling off the tracks. honestly? the effect isn't really noticable - the turns felt just as if we were on a wild mouse. So i guess it just doesn't work as a concept. . but it was a fun coaster. and yes, it IS painted the same color as Salama (the Maurer spinner) and Taiga (the Intamin LIM launch) that are right next to it - so it make a massive area of blue track. Speaking of Taiga - you can see how close it is, as it zooms by while you're in the queue for Tulireki Pine Cone creatures sculptures just wandering among the coaster supports. still from the Tulireki queue. Taiga zooming by, and Salama's lift hill as noted, the ride was enjoyable enough, but not anything really special (it certainly didn't live up to the "e-motion" promise. so moved on to another coaster I'd yet to go on: Pikajuna - a custom built Mack powered coaster themed to a mine train (it's a really long train too. . so very high capacity) the rides here all are built next to each other, but the fun part is the queues are all interacting with the rides next door (like the Vuoristorata queue showing off the monorail) and this one here, that wraps around the Rapids ride. a good view of the trains for Tulireki - the bob sled style train is cool. . just wish the "tilt" had been more pronounced long train! (this coaster's track is the grey on the left) I chose to ride in the back. . . not that it makes much difference for a powered coaster. still, a fun ride. exiting Pikajuna, you have a wonderful view of the rapids ride. and this turn around not only has water, but fire features. Kewl! and no, the water does NOT turn off..they want you wet. another we'd yet to go on, Salama, the Maurer Spinner. a look at the train (4 per, back to back). This one was on the transfer track - wasn't busy enough to have all trains running I suppose. the monorail track, and where I wanted to head to next - the giant Ferris Wheel. Andrew, Erik & sMisty had the same idea, and were getting off, as we got in line so many things in this park give you wonderful opportunities for great pics. Overlooking Helsinki a mass of tracks and rides. . .LOL. .tho the only train on any of these tracks in this pic is Salama (one lone spinning car) there we go! a little further left, and got a train from both Tulireki and Taiga in the shot howdy Big Mike, and Jon (who again, is not a fan of Ferris Wheels, but came on this with us) sadly the rainbow Enterprise was not working today. . but thought it was a rather amazing location for it (it's on the roof of a restaurant) a couple more shots of the BrakeMan on the Scenic Railway. I was still iffy on riding Kirnu, but was leaning towards giving it a shot. but first, we were gonna take a ride on Linnunrata eXtra, the indoor Zierer coaster. the little train was circling the building, so snapped a pic as we headed up the stairs. it's a very "Space" coaster type queue, which makes sense, as the name translates to "Milky Way" and like very other "Space" coaster I've ever been on? the queue felt like it was *miles* long. finally go to the loading station. A pic thru the glass at the train loading. I can't really recall anything about this ride. no, really. . I can't even recall if I did the VR or rode it without. but I DO know I rode it - how's that for a sparkling review? I wonder if these lips indicate this is a tunnel of love, or a kissing tunnel. and I wonder if these two guys noticed that? again. . just a lovely park. that concrete slab apparently used to be a Top Spin, and it's going to be the park's new for 2023/24 ride. If recalling, it's a star flyer? another themed bathroom. . this one was apparently "Steampunk Harry Potter" some of the gears in here moved, and there was a "moaning Myrtle" type sound piped in. it was almost time to meet up for the goodbye dinner. . so we hung around the front of the park area - near where the restaurant we were meeting up at was. decided to check out the SeaLife Aquarium, but decided against it, as it wasn't included here (and seemed smaller than the others I'd seen, so decided to save the money). . but for some reason - which I never understood, and no one could explain - out front? is a statue of three naked men eating Ice Cream. I don't understand it, but yeah, it's worth a few pics while we were relaxing and killing time until dinner, Robb shared the below pic of Taiga from the observation tower. (it's a great pic, isn't' it?) I took one look at it, and decided I needed to ride that and get some pics too, so we headed over that way. seated (ahhhhh) in the air conditioned gondola, we started our ascent - and I got a wave from a monorail driver oh! we're right next to the pony ride!! I had forgotten about that, we need to do that next - since we had gained time before dinner by not doing the aquarium. got a pic of all three "blue" coasters this one is from, I believe Robb as well (based on the sharper quality of the pic, and the rounded horizon). tho it could be Andy or Brad. . but I'm thinking Robb. it always is rather neat to see the Brakeman standing on the back of a moving coaster. a better view of that ride pad where the Top Spin was, and where the new ride is going (again, based on the "swing" text on the walls, I believe it's a Star Flyer) getting off the observation tower, immediately tracked down the entrance to the pony ride. Yay! but I waited and let some go ahead of me, as I wanted to ride the Zebra no seatbelt, and it really does go right along the edge of a steep drop. never in America, but I guess the Finnish folks don't do as many stupid things, so they can be trusted with this kind of exposure. whee! it's a fairly long course, crammed into a smallish space. you DID IT, Jon whee! High Five from Big Mike (or is that "Low Five?") look at that face. . . shenanigans! it was just about now that the sky opened up and it started to pour for about 20 minutes. We hung out and played pinball in one of the arcades, and once the rain stopped, we made our way back towards the restaurant at the front of the park. but found these really impressive wire sculptures. the aforementioned arcade and absolutely no idea. reminds me of a Japanese Anime Character (the teacher from "Assassination Classroom") we did manage to stumble across some costumed characters out and about. she was Princess Pink, and Cotton Candy Girl (and no, not sure why Princess Pink was all in Orange. . . . unless she's "Cotton Candy Girl". .but that didn't make any sense either) back to the Witch Hotel. this time managed to get a pic of the ride vehicles. Thought they were rather neat. there were wire sculptures, so why not some Wicker sculptures? it was really well done. as you can see, once the rain passed? everything immediately opened back up. I believe I took another spin on the Monorail (this seems to be from that queue. . this time looking over at the coaster, instead of the other way around) and I had been convinced to give Kirnu a try - I believe the deciding chat was with Chuck (CFC) who told me he liked it. so I did end up riding it, after getting off the monorail. pics got out of order, but here's Jon and I riding it. They put two tiny little girls (employees) on the opposite side of us, which had us off balance the whole ride and we got a number of flips. but we were all laughing the whole time. i do believe these are courtesy of Brad. back on the monorail pics - got the whole train for Pikajuna as we passed by. but no trains on the tracks for Salama or Tulireki (tho there MIGHT be a Salama car on there behind the tree. . I see some pink) and got the angle correct this time to see both the round drop tower (in back) and Observation tower. shudder. . . . ride a painted pony, let the monorail turn. . . .. . or something like that. Ukko doing it's thing from the Monorail. post monorail ride, time for Carousel, and then bathroom break. we ended up back at the one themed to Pit Stop. . and I noticed that they do have a little sign up top giving away the themes. looks like the Women's restroom had the Princess Character I had seen walking around. but since no ladies with us at the moment (Erik and sMisty had gone to the Aquarium I think), I just have to imagine what it looked like in the ladies room. empty ride pad where the Top Spin used to be. heading to the restaurant for the farewell dinner, I noticed just now that the Kirnu sign moves back and forth, so snapped a pic of it) the farewell dinner was an all you can eat Indian feast. . and it was really good! not just as far as "theme park food" is concerned. . it was actually quite tasty! it was the last night together for most of us, so I made sure to thank Robb & Elissa for inviting me along on their trip and got some pics. Robb and I being excited, with a bonus Shane photobomb Elissa and I being happy, and bonus Barry butt. after dinner, we still had an hour or so in the park, and I had ridden pretty much everything I wanted to (and had firmly decided I was not going to ride "Ukko" - I just don't like Skyloops). . . so headed back to the observation tower for another cycle. and, of COURSE back to the Witch Hotel (think I also did Sirkus again) ha! hadn't noticed these guys earlier. They were animatronic and were just chatting away (in Finnish, so no idea what they were saying) but were interacting with each other, and - i assume - talking about the people beneath them in the queue. and then it was time to go. . it had been a really great day. these pics of Ukko are from the front entrance, as we were walking down to the bus to take us back to the hotel. and with that, we climbed back on the bus, and headed back to our final hotel in the heart of Helsinki. it had been a fantastic trip - and tho I didn't want it to be over? it was almost time to go home.
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By SoCalJasonland · Posted
Per FUN - Cedar Fair income statement it begins to make sense. I get these CFRA reports free from Fidelity. Cedar Fair had the second-highest revenue in 2023 since 2016 and the third-lowest net income during the same time period. This is largely caused by the increases in long-term debt and refinancing debt at current interest rates. Six Flags might be equally in trouble, as their revenue has recovered but their long-term debt is over two billion with declining corporate profits caused by increasing interest expenses. Their net income at 39 million is the second lowest in 10 years even though they are back to the third-highest revenue level. The parks will need to control expenses better to increase income as they can't increase prices too much right now as consumers are strestched. The full stock reports are attached below: fun stock report.pdf six stock report.pdf -
Delayed due to so much going on in real life, but I've finally gotten up to the last park of the trip - in Helsinki, Finland, Linnanmäki ! Part 1 This was an absolutely charming park, and it won me over almost immediately. Even tho there are a lot of "smaller" rides mixed in, for the most part, adults were allowed to ride anything they could fit on. I took well over 400 pics, so this will be more than one part (but don't worry, wont' share ALL of em) 😛 we arrived early in the morning - before the park opened. walking up the hill, to the main gates, the charm of the park is evident. Looming over the main gate is Ukko, a Maurer Skyloop (I did NOT ride this at all today, but many in the group did. and I'll admit it's very picturesque. just not really for me). speaking of the main gate. . . as I noted, just charming! cute little statues and scenes everywhere. So much theming, even if a lot of it was very oddball. these are the front gates - apparently there is at least 2 other gates, but those were not open this early, and they seemed to be there just to allow folks to enter from the back and side, as the park IS on top of a hill. I'll have a park map pic coming up shortly. the main entry way was adorable (and yes, charming) and at the very end before you curve left into the park, is a SeaLife Aquarium here in this park as well. Group shot, courtesy of Robb. and some pics of the (still closed as it was before park open) storefronts on the main street I honestly cannot recall if we did rides on Vuoristorata, the park's scenic railway, wooden coaster - that also includes a Breakman (or should I say Brakeperson, as there were two women filling that role along with the men). But our way into the park this morning was the back way, and thru the coaster, which made for some very cool picture opportunities. I loved they had this "history of Vuoristorata" billboard up. . tho oddly it was in the center of the coaster. when I rode again later in the day, you can see the billboard from the queue, but you don't really get close enough to read it. Still, it was cool they have it. Group shots in the bowels of Vuoristorata, courtesy of Robb! Good Morning. (Mr Muscle on the left there was our guide this am - can you tell we were in Finland? 😛 ) one more, with FEELING! as noted, I don't think we rode it this am, but it was a cool behind the scenes tour of the coaster, and soon we were in the park, and headed towards the coaster we were going to have some ERT on this am. but it's not like I'll pass a Carousel and NOT take a picture of it. for a park that seems very small on paper, it's got a lot of sections. and TONS of awesome details and adorable things theming everywhere. this is Kirnu, the park's Intamin Zac Spin. I did not intend to ride it - having memories of Insane at Grona Lund - but so many folks told me this was a much smoother ride, that I did end up riding it, and liked it. I can't recall if this is the park's drop tower, or Observation tower. . I think it's the drop tower tho. here's what we were headed to tho. Taiga - the park's newest coaster, an Intamin LIM Launch coaster. I heard it described by many on the trip as being similar-ish to Velocicoaster, but having no ridden that one, I can't make the comparison myself. I can say tho, it's quite intense. even the height checking bars here are adorable. I did like this coaster a lot, but being honest? it was a little bit too intense for me. I think I rode 3 times (and once again later in the day), but after my few rides, I stepped out via the gift shop, and snapped pics of it. It's really awesome looking. This pic is thru the window in the gift shop! next door to Taiga is one of the park's multiple Dark Rides. as near as I can figure? this is a Witch Hotel, that an evil wizard decides to stay in, and they do battle. or something. It didn't make a lot of sense, but I loved the scenes in it, and the animatronics and scares were fun. I ended up riding this a lot today once the park opened. That's a witch in the window upstairs that peeks out at you from behind the curtain ok, back to pics of Taiga: the shorter blue track here, actually isn't Taiga - it's Salama - a Maurer spinning coaster. yup, similar to Power Park, Linnanmäki painted coasters next to each other the same color, resulting in a mass of track. Looks kinda cool, I admit. the trains are wonderfully quirky as is the theming in the station. (this pic is from when I went back to ride once more later in the day, hence general public in the station) turned loose after our ERT, the group spread out among the park. We still had a little time before the park actually opened to the public as we made our way towards the back section of the park (start there - and there was another dark ride back over there - and then work our way forwards), I snapped pics of sculptures as we passed by there's a mini-circus train that goes around the outside of this round building - hence the theming. The building is an old water tower, that the park has hollowed out, and put a coaster inside. So yeah, this is actually a picture of Linnunrata eXtra (the Milky Way) a Zierer "Force" model coaster. "eXtra" because you could put on Virtual reality goggles if so chose. so many rides, mainly carnival type, scattered all over this park. And again, adults able to ride almost all of them. Nice placement for a SeaLife Aquarium ad - on the turnaround for the park's rapids ride as noted, the park is on a hill. . so there were all these "never in the USA" play areas to allow ways to traverse the levels of the park. sure, there are stairs, but why do that when you can break your leg in this?? Nightmare fuel ! Ok, so THIS is the observation tower, and hiding behind it (I angled the picture badly) is the drop tower. this park *does* have a very weird fixation with clowns. . . creepy clowns! here's that mini train I mentioned, that goes around the outside of the Linnunrata eXtra building. it was adorable, but no way would my fat ass fit in there. So instead I rode the Monorail to get some overall pics later in the day. still headed towards the back of the park, but the park had now officially opened, and the Drop Tower was running as we passed it. and it's themed to Medieval Royal . . . Lions ? I guess ? all I know, is that it had a throne out front, and I love me a throne picture more cute areas. . and I really loved how they incorporated the cut down tree into the restaurant seating area. this seemed to be a haunted walk thru, but we'd hit it on the way back by. GAHHHH. . more clowns - in "Sirkus" - a suspended Dark Ride. again, we'd hit it on the way back by, as we had to come back thru this section after starting at the back. there was also a walk thru Fun House - tho strangely, it seemed to be a traveling carnival type. Perhaps not so strange, since many of the flat rides, seemed to be of the traveling carnival variety. It was just weird that it was plopped down in the middle on Astroturf with not a lot of theming, when the park has so much theming. ok, heading down ito the back section, I believe this might be one of the other gates, but it was not open at this time. here's that park map. you can see from the "you are here" that we are now at the back of the park headed into the section that's kind of off by itself at the lower left. A SeaLife Aquarium photo op? dont' mind if I do.. tho it looks like a whale hugging an octopus. adorable creatures in the fountains over here. and completely dead still, as it was so early. this was a weird one - it was like a mini trabant, themed to a space chipmonk? I dont' remember if I rode it. . but I think maybe I tried, and there was no way that lap bar was gonna close on my gut. but Andrew and sMisty fit on it. the steam punk octopus ride was very deceiving. it looked so peaceful, but that thing just HAULED. Once I saw it cycle, I decided to ride too. this one really caught my eye, and I LOVED the look of it. is it a coaster? it's got a lift hill, and it's powered. So I'd call it a coaster, but it looked like a Kiddie ride. So I asked the operator, and she said "sure! you folks can ride". . so we all lined up to ride the planes "Pilotti" I mean. . . just LOOK how stupidly thrilled I am, that I got to ride this. whee! even Erik was having fun! all the rides in the back section knocked out. . we headed back to Sirkus - not knowing what to expect. OMG. .it's a side-moving suspended dark ride about CLOWNS! YAYYYYYYY! Sleepy lion. . . (and a blurry Giraffe - sorry) and clowns. oh my. . SO. MANY. CLOWNS. moving, and spinning, and laughing. as you hover in your little "cage" among them. BOOM! why yes, that IS a clown sweeping up all the Elephant poop. so bizarre. . . loved it. I didn't ride it as much as I did the Witch Hotel, but really loved this one too. to be continued. . . .
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Great report and photos! Thanks for sharing -
By thepoint4life23 · Posted
That is what i am trying to figure out if i should drive to Louisville stay the night drive to Holiday world. Then next morning do KK and head back home the 3 hours after half a day at KK. Good to know about signal ridder for the big slides. -
By vekoma_fan · Posted
And now its closed forever. Will be taken down as soon as its possible. Going to be strange to see Vilda Musen without Jetline -
Wow. So the contractor didn't build to spec (and QC didn't verify) or the spec was wrong? -
Today delivered the "Statens Haverikommission" the final repport of their investigation about the Jet Line accident: https://shk.se/sok-utredningar/ovriga-handelser/2023-06-27-mycket-allvarlig-olycka-med-akattraktionen-jetline-pa-grona-lund-i-stockholm (in Swedish) Conclusion: "The fracture of the support arm occurred as a result of too low strength due to defects in welding joints and that an essential part inside the pipe construction was missing. The support arm was one of five that were ordered and manufactured in 2019. The investigation shows that when the support arms were ordered, there were insufficient demands on how they were to be manufactured and on the manufacturing process. Nor were sufficient checks made on the design during manufacture and before the support arms were put into use. The safety work carried out at Gröna Lund did not provide a reassuring safety against accidents on the roller coaster" /// Marcus -
She’d have a point if there was some sort of evidence that the construction is being rushed and corners cut to get it done faster. Alas this is going up the same way the others have. The only question is if the same crew that did Sky Striker is also installing ours. If so they don’t often get to do two back to back so maybe they’re slightly more efficient on ours? -
By teacherkim · Posted
Video played just fine for me. Someone's getting a chewing out and/or potentially fired after that. That's all they would have needed was for someone else to get injured at the park. Plus is one of the camels had gotten hurt PETA would be all up their ass. -
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By andrew.mora · Posted
Happy Hump Day. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/happy-hump-day-camels-escape-petting-zoo-at-cedar-point -
By teacherkim · Posted
No line skip program but like Mikey said lines will be manageable once the water park opens. Even if your kids can't do the bigger slides, the water park is very good and the bigger slides have a single rider queue so if your kids are old enough to wait for you at the exit it will be fairly quick. I would suggest doing KK first and just staying in Louisville and making HW a day trip from in there. KK is eastern time zone and HW is central time zone and about an hours drive. So you will basically arrive at the same time that you leave and then it's not so bad just driving back to crash in a hotel in or near Louisville. There is truly nothing else to do around HW unless you want to rent one of the cabins and look at the small lake. I mean there really aren't even any restaurants. A subway and maybe a pizza place. There is a very good restaurant about halfway between Louisville and HW called the The Overlook Restaurant (theoverlook.com) with good food and fabulous views of the OH river. If the timing works out its a great place to stop. Fyi, it is eastern time so it will be an hour later than the park.
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