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Part 10 At Last, with a Clear Head: Liseberg What was the best thing about TPR’s 2023 visit to Liseberg? For me, it was finally visiting the park with a clear head. I’ve been to this classic Swedish park with TPR on three other occasions, and each time, I caught some sort of Euro crud that left me with a hacking cough, a runny nose, and a head that felt like it was stuffed with cotton. But, even so, a nice ride on Balder, the park’s Intamin wooden coaster, made me feel ten times better. And even with an annoying virus fighting for my attention, I liked Liseberg--a lot. And this year I liked what they were doing with the place. For years, Liseberg has been an urban regional park along the lines of Tivoli Gardens, only on a bigger scale. But its appeal is much larger than that, with much larger rides, such as Balder and Helix, than its Danish cousin. Liseberg is now branding itself as more of a “destination” park. The first stage of this rebranding is done. Liseberg now boasts its very own resort hotel--the Grand Curiosa. This hotel, which just opened last spring, is very good, with fairly large rooms, whimsical theming (such as a carousel and and two-story slide curling down to the lobby), a good family-style buffet, and a rooftop bar and restaurant with beautiful views of the park and city. Liseberg is also building an indoor water park named Oceana, which should give the resort more year-round appeal. You’ll see some photos of it later from our hard-hat tour. This year’s visit was everything you’d expect from a TPR trip--ERT on Helix and Balder (along with the traditional signing of this classic wooden coaster) and an early ride on Luna (their new Vekoma Family Boomerang). The park’s excellent haunt, Hotel Gasten, is no longer an upcharge, and it now has its own “haunted” pub--a fun place to grab a beer or cocktail and a snack with good, creepy atmosphere. Shall we go in? I hope you have good walking shoes, as the park is very hilly (with escalators, thankfully). It’s a lot of exercise to get around Liseberg. In the past, TPR has stayed at a more modest (but nice) hotel a few blocks away. But it wasn’t as grand or as curious at this one. The carousel was for kids only. But did Bert find a way to ride it? Too lazy to walk but not lazy enough to take the elevator? Just slide down to the lobby. “Hmm--we need some more whimsy here. Add a blimp and a Ferris wheel. Those are pretty whimsical. Maybe a big ship’s wheel, too, just to be sure.” The group meets with Pontus, who will be taking us around the park and the still under-construction water park. Time for the traditional signing of Balder. Deep into the Belly of Balder we went--like true Vikings! I stole this from General MacArthur, but I’m sure he won’t mind--being dead and all. Balder has always been great, and it recently had some retracking done. I also believe that it eases a head cold (at least it did during my previous three visits). They need to sell a line of Balder cough drops or decongestants. Luna was a nice family ride. I liked the Jules Verne-like observatory in the station. Are they moving backward or forward? Liseberg does Farup one better by putting their Vekoma Faily Boomerang on top of a large hill. I enjoyed Helix more this visit. I think my head cold kept me from enjoying this ride completely a few years ago. Helix is much more enjoyable without a virus trying to kill you cell by cell. One minor knock against Liseberg used to be its lack of a memorable dark ride. Well, it’s got a good one now--about bunnies in a bunny-themed land of their own. You learn more about the life and times of the park’s mascot, a green and pink bunny rabbit, then you ever expected. He leads a “steampunkish” existence laden with existential dread--and carrots. Nice cottage, though, His arch nemesis is, apparently, an evil magician (or maybe not--hard to say) with a tall silk hat. In truth, he’s more an annoyance that a nemesis. He and Elmer Fudd would not like this bunny-themed world that Liseberg built. I can picture Elmer wandering around, holding his head, and muttering “wabbits, wabbits, wabbits!” Hi, Valkyria. You know you’re much better than Valravn. Just thought I’d mention that. Who needs a drink . . . a really scary drink? Terrifying tables with real, creepy candles! Can you heart stand a beastly beer . . . . . . with some frightening fiends, er, friends? Be careful when you order a “Bloody Mary.” The park’s flume ride is shutting down for (I think) an extensive rehab after this season. Or is it being removed? I forget. At any rate, it was fairly wet. (Photo by Jere.) But the rapids just gave us a good spritzing. (Photo by Jere.) Speaking of the future possibility of getting wet, put on your vest and hard hat, folks. We’re visiting Oceana. No worries about getting doused with water--yet. They’re installing one of these crazy water coasters. You know, there just might be a bit of airtime on this ride. Nice chance for some ride interaction here. Low bridge! (Photo by Robb.) Meanwhile, back at the park, let’s not forget to pay homage to Lisebergbanan--aka, “Banana Coaster.” I think this is Schwarzkopf’s best creation. It interacts with other rides quite a bit (especially Helix). But not Balder, who just stopped in to say “hi.” I see some familiar faces on AtmosFear. (Finally got to ride this thing. It was broken the last time I was here with TPR.) “Catch you later. I gotta go harass some people. By harass I mean ‘poop on them.’” If it weren’t for the Balder and Valkyria being in the shot, you’d swear this was just a quaint European village. Any ERT session on Balder . . . . . . is a great ERT session! (Photos by Elissa and Robb.) Good night, Liseberg. Like General MacArthur, "I shall return"--someday.

I thought this was the Worlds of Fun thread for a minute.

My impression was that the flume was being removed or replaced, but I might be mistaken. Oh, yes, I remember the bunny that got the swirly in the dark ride.

Power Surge is gone, apparently, and the Rock-O-Plane is going in. Power Surge was one of my favorite flats, and it's not one I've seen many other places, but even after all the money and time the park's spent trying to get it working properly, it seems like it's down more than it's up, so this isn't really much of a surprise. Kinda thought the Bayern Kurve would be in before the Rock-O-Plane, but cool to see either way! Power Surge apparently is sitting in the parking lot no, so no official word on its final fate yet, but I don't expect much but the scrapheap with how rarely it's run lately...