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Day 13: Thursday, June 15th part 1 - 1st of two full days at Liseberg 1st full day at this bucket-list park for me, and I was super excited. We had gotten to sleep in, as the park didn't open until noon (if I'm recalling correctly), although we were meeting our park guide at the gates at 10:30 for some ERT and other fun stuff this morning. while waiting to meet up with others I was gonna share breakfast with, I went outside and a few steps over to the Hotel Entrance gates of the park. I LOVE peeking into an empty park. . it's so cool. In this pic you can see the Disk-o (themed to Asian stuff. . I didn't ride), the top of Atmosfear, the top of of the "rolling planes" ride, the log flume (straight ahead), and Valkryia on the right (the park's dive coaster) even tho it was still well before park open, the Disk-O had started testing. a peek back at the hotel from the front gate - up those steps was the Carousel (I wasn't allowed to ride) and the breakfast buffet/restaurant. and out towards the street was this great sign, which I had somehow missed the prior night, even tho we clearly walked right by it going to and from the place we got the sandwiches. this MUST be the Brunch buffet options. . as I have this pic of food mixed in, and that's the meal I had this morning. looks good, doesn't it? and then it was time to meet our guide at the gate, Pontus - whom many in the group knew from prior visits. he was a genuinely nice guy and seemed to be thrilled to show the group around, and hang out with Robb the uniquely named "Flume Ride". . . tho actually, it's pretty unique on how it uses the terrain of the park, with multiple lifts and the finale being a drop, followed by a drop, and then another drop. it was really good. we'd come back to this area in a little bit. . but Luna Park is the new section they have re-done to place as the centerpiece a Vekoma family boomerang. this is the "stairs" entrance to climb up to that area. . looking overhead at the parks dive coaster, Valkyria as we headed towards our 1st ride in the park. . . so much twisted track. . . this is where we were headed: Helix! a 7 inversion, launched Mack coaster. but how to get to it?? the track is all over the side of the hilled area, interacting with multiple other rides. . . so we kept walking. . . loved this Bumper Car sign. . absolutely gorgeous park. . you'd really never know that it's in the middle of a city. it truly is pretty immersive once you enter the gates (tho with so many tall rides, you frequently are high enough to see the boarders of the park) on the left is the station for the park's classic Schwarzkopf - and what he considered one of his best designs, Lisebergbanan going towards the bottom of the biggest hill in the park, and behind me is Helix, and that tower is Atmos-Fear - the parks drop tower. and the entrance to the kid's area (and it's a very large kids area, with some fun family rides too). the park's mascots are bunnies (green bunnies). .and there are a LOT of them. I really couldn't keep track of them, and in the dark ride where they are all present? was totally confused as who is who. but - the kids seemed to know exactly who did what, and who the bad guy was. . so maybe I'm just too old to retain that info? LOL. . regardless. . lots of mascots! ah. .the entrance! wait.. for both rides? actually it's an escalator..that gets you up to the level of several rides. and it's a long escalator... and at the top? wait. .this isn't the top. . this is a MID level. . which if you exit and go to the right there are tons of paths and walkways, and if you go to the left, is the newish Luna Park area as well as a terrifyingly placed Screamin Swing (which runs a very short program, but it's on the edge of the hill. . so you are REALLY high up) looking towards the Screamin Swing, and Luna Park area. . but we kept going forward into ANOTHER set of Escalators to get to the top. . I really enjoyed that the park put tons of historic pictures, so one can see the history of the park, and older attractions, as taking the long ride up the hill. and you exit out the top right at Atmos Fear. (apparently there was a shooting ride, Desperados, here as well.. but I never even saw it, and so missed it despite two days in the park!. . .). but we went to the right for the Helix line which , by the way, is INSANE. . . the main line wraps in and out, and around itself. . proudly looking like an MC Escher drawing. tho I did walk the queue once, just to experience it? luckily we had this parks version of flash pass, so we were able to use the quick entrance on many rides how about some pics from our 1st ERT session at Liseberg? think these are mostly courtesy of Elissa Pontus and Robb (and me not realizing a pic was being taken. . LOL) Myself & sMisty in front, and Doug & Hawk behind Jason & Big Mike. . and behind, is Chris, Steve, and Barry Chuck & Jere in front, Jason & Big Mike in back. myself chatting with Pontus during a quick break - this ride is INTENSE, and tho I loved it.. I didn't ride every cycle, taking a 1 train break after every couple of rides. he really is quite nice and I enjoyed talking to him. taking another break. . Jon getting a Zen ride, all alone on the train Daniel and Andy in front row. . . (and Sarah behind them) ' after a good while on Helix, Pontus walked us down the side path over towards Luna Park. . . where they have a Nebulaz but we were here for this. . the park's newest coaster - Luna that white track is part of Luna. . and again, love how hilly this park is, and the attention to detail , with the playground to the right of the queue, made to look like Victorian birdcages. looking at some of Luna's layout.. tho I think SOME of that white track might also be Lisebergbanan - as I mentioned, many of the rides here interact with each other. the Luna Station is beautiful. and the trains are retro-awesome-ness! whee!!! Kristen doesn't look too thrilled with her ride (Neither does Brad, or sMisty), but Jason and AJ liked it. my thoughts? it's a nice family coaster. . . it certainly wasn't may favorite new Vekoma I have ridden on a TPR tour, but it was nice. (I never went back to ride it again, only riding it during this stop in two days at the park. . so that just tells you there were other things I liked better. . . but it's a nice fit, and a good family ride) the Luna Park area also has a two - tiered Carousel. . .would I be allowed to ride this one?? and this "flying cycle/side car" ride I had seen at several parks last year in Europe and also "EroSpin". . a "flipping plane" type ride, that didn't seem to get a lot of speed and made it difficult to flip. BUT it gives fantastic views of the park from 1/2 way up the hill. some really nice theming in this new area. . but time to go back down to head over to our next stop. . as the park was about to open. someone certainly cheered up now that giant pendulum is called Loke (as in Loki, Thor's brother) you get up close to many of the rides here. . . and it's just lovely. . this is part of Valkrie. . but we were headed straight ahead. . .to Balder the gates had been opened, and some park goers were hovering around waiting for the rides to open. . . we headed thru the main entrance to Blader, but then Pontus unlocked a gate on the left, and brought us inside the coaster! he handed out markers, and invited us to sign the coaster, which is apparently a tradition. But as it was my 1st time ever at the park, I just thought it was rather cool. I was thinking about how much my late Spouse loved wooden coasters, so of course, I namechecked him in my addition) here was Robb's addition. . . what's that noise?? aha. . coaster is open to the public! we were cut loose to enjoy the park, and told when to meet back for evening ERT (which would be on Balder and Valkyria). .and the group split up to go explore. I can't recall if any of us went to Valkyria. . but I DO know many of us went right up the stairs to Balder. . . I'd heard for so long how this is a top ranked coaster in the world, and boy did the reports undersell it. yes, it meanders a bit (repeating some of it's "tricks"). .but it is PACKED full of floater air. and I love floater air. this knocked Wodan out of my top spot, and dropped it down to 3 (Mystic Timbers is still #2 for woodies for me). I loved this coaster. the TPR gang I was hanging with for most of the day: clockwise from back Left: Big Mike, Jonathan, Jason, Jon, Ryan, David. and was still there, when the next train came back with Sara and Robb, so got a nice pic of them too. close to Balder was Loke. . . it's no Thor's Hammer . . it's Loke. . and it had an Axe in the queue. But the Thor's Hammer we rode the prior day at Tusenfryd had a Sword in the queue. . so why not an Axe? hmmmmm? gets quite a bit of height, and I recall liking this, tho SpinSpider the prior day was a bit more intense. but Loke has "gentleman tickler" seats. . . so I guess it gets/loses points for that - depending on your preference. next door to Loke is the park's whitewater rapids ride. It didnt' get me too wet, but it did do things that I've only seen in overseas parks - namely push out multiple rafts one after the other, so there's a "bumper car" effect when lots of rafts end up in a wider section of the ride. it's a fairly long ride, I recall. . and there was a lot of it "hidden" from the pathways. thanks Big Mike for the pic. . let's go check out other areas of the park we haven't been to yet. . . again, it's easy to forget you're in a theme park in some places here. what's this?? we stumbled across a Hall of Mirrors! Now you see Ryan. . . . now you don't hey. . it makes me look like i feel sometimes but many of us still got quite the amusement out of this attraction. . Oompa-Oompa-Oompa-De-Do. . . . crossing back underneath Valkyria's drop/1st inversion. . ooo. .an Octopus themed to Americana Jukebox? sure... it ran pretty intense program. . . I enjoyed it and think I ended up riding it a few times the next day too. I am NOT a Bumper Car person - I'm always concerned it will cause issues with my bad back. So I avoid them. but I had no issue taking pictures while the other TPR folks I was with bashed the hell out of each other (and kids!) during the long cycle. just look at the glee on Jonathan's face as he targets someone. . . getting aggression out, there was this calming view. ..that's our hotel back there, and Valkyria's train going up the lift hill. we had heard a new dark ride had opened in the kid section, so we headed over there and searched for it. It was kind of hidden. . way back in the corner, next to a couple of carnival games. but we eventually found it. very well themed pre-show - involving an elevator where you head underground. . . I think this might have been a pic from the 2nd or 3rd time I rode this. . . I LOVED this stupid thing. .and not just because it made no sense to me. something about a bad (*but not evil, just bad) magician who wants to do . . . SOMETHING. . to the bunnies that are the mascots? but not sure what or why. oh, and there's pooping. a LOT of pooping. . . . outhouses with pooping bunnies, and a pooping magician, all thruout the ride. why? I dunno. . but it made me giggle. is it a coaster? it's got a track. and a lift hill? and lots of animatronics. why was he licking the pipe? and why does he have a frog tongue if he's a bunny? that's ok. .because there's giant ice cream cones... for some reason. take the tunnel! no!!! you turned the wrong way. . . Trick Track. . ok, I'm gonna count this as a coaster! said evil magician guy. . and some of the pooping!! look at all them outhouses! More pooping!!! well. . if they're eating THAT much cake? maybe that's why they are pooping? who is the white rabbit? I dunno. the mascots all SEEMED to be green. and one of them got the magic! speaking of magic?? of COURSE I got to meet one of the mascots this is one of the two smaller coasters in the kiddie area. I think this was the true "kiddie" one tho. I had no interest in riding it. but some I was with had no shame. . so I documented it for them: Other than Valkyria, there was only one other "coaster" left to hit - and that was the Schwarzkopf - Lisebergbanan so we headed there. . . lovely art deco station here too ' tho I still am not quite sure why the trains are themed to "trains". . . but regardless. . it's a great ride, really smooth and tho no inversions? it "loops" around the hillside in big, sweeping loops, that makes it quite a fun ride. day 1 to be continued. . .

I'll just keep saying what I've been saying this whole time. This ride is perfect, don't screw it up.

So, I happened to drive by the park last Friday. Had to go west on the outer road and up Allenton right past the employee entrance. There is a new sign directing people to the right for guest entry and the left for various things like employee parking, human resources, etc. I think there was new signage going toward the tollbooths too, probably directing people to the proper lanes for pre-paid versus not parking as they switch over to automated parking entry. I also think I saw something new in the parking lot up in/near the preferred parking that MIGHT have been some new EV chargers, but to be fair I only got a quick glance before the berm hid it and I was driving so couldn't get a good look. Also, while I certainly don't haunt FB, I have noticed that there have been some regular posts trying to get engage people. Things like list your favorite ride or where was your favorite place to eat or who remembers what was in Batman's location before it was Batman; that sort of thing. I do wish they would post some things about what they do during the off season so the GP understands a little better how much maintenance must be done, but at least its not just crickets or 50 posts about passes. Small things but at least something is happening that is new.

Looks like Sheikra may have had an unplanned closure. It is listed on the closed rides page now and wasn't there as of last week as an upcoming closure. Planned closures usually also have a re-opening date like Journey To Atlantis at SWO that is listed as closed until February 26th.