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As previously mentioned, but just forget about that so it doesn't seem like I'm repeating myself, no one in our group had ever been to Furuvik. Not even Robb or Elissa, who've both been to Antarctica, Mars, and Narnia. But now we all have. Meh. 18: Science Gun Where Skara Sommerland is mostly a waterpark with a rides area, Furuvik is mostly a zoo with a ride section. Which sounds way better to me and it is. The park is most famous for killing chimpanzees. And, before that, for having a chimpanzee that wanted to harm humans. It's actually a pretty sad story. The first one I mentioned, that is. The second one is hilarious. The Chain Flyer, which I'm pretty sure is my new favorite name for a ride of this type. Ferris wheel could be a bit bigger, though. Lightning is the park's newest and biggest coaster. And it's fun and smooth and family and new Vekoma. But the park lacks a true thrill coaster. Which is probably the main reason none of our group had ever been here before. It kind of felt like it should be weaving in and out of a big man-made mountain or something. Smisty decided to go on their Mondial Top Scan with a bunch of other TPR folks, who all hopped right off at the end of the ride and abandoned her. I would've helped but I was otherwise engaged. Ladies and gentlemen, Spökjakten--Sweden's only shooting dark ride. Science guy animatronic in the queue. This was actually quite good. But I daresay I like dark rides better than roller coasters. At least in the sense that some roller coasters are good and some are bad, but even a bad dark ride is still good. The park's other family Vekoma, Fireball. Fireball is a family boomerang. Spökjakten is by Sally. And God is H Julet. Circus-themed fast food restaurant. It was...okay-ish. I don't know what's going on here. Bees with butt-faces? Smisty living her best life. A lot of the park looks like this. And while they don't have a lot of your fancy-pants A-list animals (lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, bears, etc.), they do have...um...chimps. I mean, not as many as they use to, obviously. But still. They do have a reptile house, though. So that's good. Danger noodle! Across the bay, you can allegedly see Finland. I'm not exactly sure what the cross is about. But let's just assume that the Swedes are defending against Finnish vampires. Low bridge. A couple of people in our group mentioned this cracked-out boat ride, but we couldn't even find it on the map! I was starting to think we were being pranked. A wild Goldballs appears, to make this even more of a bad idea! Joking aside, this kind of thing is the reason I travel to Europe (or anywhere) to visit theme parks. It certainly isn't to ride SLC's. Camel backs. Jason basking in the shame of having just participated in whatever was happening here. Furuvik Final Score: 4 Apparently there was a whole weird cold war era military base section that I missed entirely. The bus needed to stop on the way back to Stockholm. Apparently, this was once some sort of Swedish-Chinese cultural center slash tourist attraction. Now it's a gas station. And a final stop at Hammarbybacken for quick ride on their single-rail alpine coaster. Do people who count coasters count these? Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!! And then I died. The end.

Day 14: Friday, June 16th part 2 (of 3) - Late Morning at Liseberg Oceana (Waterpark that was under construction) before Liseberg park open won't be a lot of commentary on these pics. . but TPR was offered a tour of the then-under-construction new indoor/outdoor waterpark, that's going to help make Liseberg a more year-round destination. it was very cool to see this thing coming together, and having seen pics now of the completed areas, I feel very special that I got to take a construction tour and learn about how they put this together and connected it to the Park (it's right on the other side of Hotel Grand Curiousa) Pontus all ready to guide us thru the construction everyone must wear a vest, and a hard-hat and glasses of some type NOTED! low ceiling! just like in the park proper. . the slides / rides really do interact with each other, and come very close! myself and Sarah. . she was taking the group pic for our group, so wanted to be sure she's in a pic too!

Yep--exactly! That weird boat ride could be an effective "haunt," too. It was pretty creepy.

Day 14: Friday, June 16th part 1 (of 3) - Morning at Universeum before Liseberg park open so after breakfast, we had several hours until the park opened for the day at Noon. we also had the opportunity, for those who wanted to do it - to take a tour of the under-construction next door Indoor waterpark that Liseberg was building. there was enough interest to split the TPR gang into two groups, and I was in group 2 at 11:30 am. as noted on the way into the area two nights prior, there were several museum-type options right along the side of the park. And as it was only 9:30 or so, I was very interested in checking out an exhibit I had seen advertised regarding video-game Avatars. I asked if anyone else was interested, and Big Mike was up for it. . so we headed down the street to go kill some time at a museum. I believe this was the museum that had the Video Games Avatar exhibit. . and they had a several pieces of Dia De Las Muertos "Mexi-Arte" on exhibit outside. . . but unfortunately, the museum did not open until 11, and that was putting me too close to the WaterPark Tour. . so after a pic or two, we decided to just continue on and see what was int he next building. the next building was a big complex called the "Universium". . . I had no idea what that was, but thru the windows facing the street, I saw the giftshop was open. So we went in to browse the gift shop for a little bit. it really looked like a Museum gift shop, so I started talking to the lady at the counter, and she filled me in on what the Universium is: basically a Science Museum, but it's crossed with a zoo with live animals, and some interactive exhibits. and it was opening just then at 10am. this was the place that had the large dinosaur in the outdoor garden area we had passed two days ago when arriving at the hotel. it sounded very interesting, but I mentioned we only had about an hour and 20 minutes and she frowned and told me. . "hang on a sec". she came back and walked us over to one of the ladies at the front desk, and introduced us. she repeated to her what I had told her, and the front desk lady said that really wasn't enough time to do the entire experience (it would take 3-4 hours she said), but since we were visiting from another Country, she would love to give us a look at what they have to offer. and offered us tickets that were something like 70% off! Mike and I looked at each other for just a moment, then immediately said yes, and I thanked her profusely and said we'd try to do as much as we could in the time we had avail. for our visit. Bert & Big Mike - people persons. . who just by our sheer enthusiasm got offered a great deal to visit the Universeium! the interesting architecture/stairwell they had added for the new building / new areas they had just completed - expanding the space by 50% she told me. the very kind lady at the front desk had recommended that with limited time, we should not miss the Aquarium area, the Rain-forest Section, or the new walkway between buildings with an anime art exhibit. so we headed to the Aquarium area first. There were a TON of school groups here - which makes sense, it's a hands on science museum. So I was very happy to see so many kids . . tho I didn't want to be in the sections they were in. LOL So we waited to see which way the big School Group went, and then we went the opposite direction really large aquariums for inside a building that looked kinda like an office building from the outside. I was very impressed. including some large "walk thru" tanks. heading into the Rain-forest area, there was a photo op. . . no really. so of COURSE I did and then we stepped thru the doors, and into the area for instant pit stains. Oh my. . very humid and rain-foresty in here. and met right away with a tank of Piranha . . .they are not kidding around! I tried to get it in pictures, but the rain-forest area is really large. . it's indoors..but goes up from -1 floor to 4th floor (where the aquarium connects). . with lots of bridges, and paths, and animal displays looking across into the main building on the left - it looked to me like they enclosed the outside of the building to create the rain-forest area. very cool design here. with a glass roof. . which kept all the animals in here. . but also made it quite humid, as the sun comes in and gets "trapped" like a sunroom. More Piranha. . . gobble gobble . . . there were several sloths up high in the trees - but was hard to get a decent picture of them. . so I REALLY appreciated they had a stone one, that you could pose with great photo op, I thought. and one sloth in an area next to the photo so you could see one up close - tho s/he was a sleepy thing during our visit. lots of birds in here. . . some very colorful. on the lower levels there are some open-top freshwater tanks. no piranha in these, thank goodness a peek down showing how far down the rainforest area extends. . XKLX7813.MOV Mike tried to get me to stick my hand in this hole, but I ruined his prank by refusing to do it. (benefit of him trying to prank me is that I got it on video). but he didn't realize he was with a PROFESSIONAL - someone who *knows* never to stick ANYTHING thru a dark hole without first checking to see what's on the other side. bwaaaa-haaaa-haaaaa. . . . and yeah. .this is what was in there. and yes, it was moving. . . so either a really good puppet, or a real scorpion. no thank you. baby gator! and a huge tarantula that was molting. it's mate was just hanging out on the light. . . some GIANT freshwater fish on the bottom level here.. . the school groups had started coming into the rain-forest area, so we moved back to the Aquarium. . . only saw a few smaller groups left here now. the reptile section seemed very popular. . and I would say most of the folks at Universium this morning, were probably in this section. not an issue tho, as it's very well laid out, and never felt cramped in there. oh..this was fun. . you put your hand down and the virtual cobra strikes at you, and you have to try to pull your hand out of the way before he "bites" you (with a burst of air) there was a short line for this, but I tried it. I died. (I think Big Mike did too tho) don't know what you are. . but I've seen things like you in MANY horror movies! gahhhh!!! leaving the main building, you head up to more "swamp" / grasslands tanks. . on what looked like perhaps it used to be the roof area, before they enclosed it and added on. Nice Murals on the wall here. . and some theming in the tanks. . . a shipwreck . . and a toilet. (tho I think this tank was making a point about garbage being dumped into the Earth's oceans/waterways) in the upper level tanks, workers in SCUBA were clearing algae from the front of the tanks. and were happy to pose for a picture and overview of the tanks in this area. . . you can see what I mean about how it looks like it used to be the roof, and they enclosed it. another happy Algae cleaner. . . crossing over into the "new" section, you pass by the remaining track from what used to be the Funicular that used to bring folks up to the rooftop level. as I mentioned the other day, I'm sad it's gone, but I do like that they kept the tracks there as a design element of the building. (I'm basically standing at the big glass window where the unload station used to be) looking up - you can see they are still working on this section. . . above us is that big wooden "sphere" that you are right under while on Helix's brake run. and looking down the hallway at the top of the "T" in that new building addition. They were celebrating the grand opening. . hence the balloons. a building Map. . including the sections inside that we hadn't had time to visit. . tho Big Mike and I were able to do pretty much everything on the left hand side of the map. one of the displays in the new area. . Anime. . I guess to excite the kids into coming to the new section (since the Planetarium is not open yet) Myself and Mike posting in front of the big balloon display for the opening. we thanked the guard for taking the pictures and began to head down to the front desk, as our time was running short. . I thanked the lady at the front desk again for the discounted ticket (and I wanted to show her that we were, indeed, leaving and were not taking advantage of her kindness) and she said. . oh wait! did you see them feed the big fish? we had no idea and she insisted we go back in and down the main steps, along the windows that look into the rainforest area. . as at 11 they start feeding the big fish, and she thought we'd really enjoy taking a peek at it. I always trust he locals, and we just would have to walk fast to get back if we spent another 5-10 minutes here. . so we went back in and downstairs. she was NOT kidding.. . big fish. and he was feeding them smaller fish (which were still a good size!) on a pole, that was causing a feeding frenzy in the tank. it really was pretty incredible to watch from so close! kept the other hands in the shot, just to give some perspective on how huge these carnivorous fish were! a quick pic of the area around us. . this bottom floor of the Universeum is the smaller kids playground area. (so why NOT put the window where you can watch big fish devoured by bigger fish right here? ) very pretty area tho. and then we headed back up. . I again thanked the lady at the front desk for the admission and the suggestion to watch the feeding, and we hoofed it back to Hotel Grand Curiousa if I get to go back to this park someday. . gonna make time to check out the dinosaur outdoor area, and the Space section! the outside of the long area we had been in (taking the pic with the balloons), and the giant wood dome that will be the Planetarium. we got back to Hotel Grand Curiousa with about 5 minutes to spare before the tour of the Waterpark under construction started. pics from that, coming up next!

Part 17 Our Revels Now Are (Almost) Ended: Linnanmaki We have reached the most melancholy part of any trip report--the last park. Fortunately, it’s a good one: Linnanmaki in Helsinki. Although it’s not on the scale of Liseberg, Linnanmaki is a solid urban park, with a good assortment of attractions and some very aggressive seagulls (kind of like Liseberg). It’s also the home of my personal favorite “new-to-me” coaster of the trip: Taiga, a multi-launch Intamin creation. Taiga features not only forceful launches, but also a crazy, disorienting layout with equally crazy airtime. I was wondering if any ride could top Farup’s Fønix, but Taiga pulled it off; Taiga is even “Phoenix themed,” too. ERT on this ride was great! But there’s more to Linnanmaki than Taiga. They also have a classic wooden coaster with brake men and brake women; two dark rides--a “haunted hotel” for witches and a goofy circus ride with clowns and elephant feces; an “outer space” indoor coaster; Tulireki, a weird Mack coaster than makes no sense at all; and a ball of fire! Here’s a look at the finale of TPR’s 2023 Scandanavia Trip. My thanks to Robb and Elissa for making it all happen. This fountain is either adorable or frightening. Up to you. I’m having Tivoli Gardens/Bakken flashbacks here. So many serious faces! I guess being in the middle of a classic woodie is serious business. Are you "Oikopolu" or "Taigapolu"? Not to worry. We won't judge you. I'm Taigopolu and I'm proud! Intamin has done it again. With this, VelociCoaster, and Pantheon, I'm a happy man. You don’t know whether you’re coming or going in this layout. "What is happening to us? Save us, Jeebus!" Er, how does this work, exactly? Talk about “twisty.” If Taiga is too much for you, you can always play the Linnanmaki home game. Or perhaps you would rather challenge the Dark Forces? ”Yes, come a play a little game with us, dearie.” ”Roll the dice to see which demon you will invoke!” “You have summoned Tulireki! The most messed up demon of them all!” ”He has the power to cloud your mind and convince you that this is a good ride!” If Grona Lund’s Insane was a bit much for you, try Kirnu. ”Kirnu” is Finnish for “chum.” This ride just wants to be your Kirnu (not to throw you to the sharks). But maybe you’d rather have Ukko, the Finnish God of Thunder, as your Kirnu. Vuoristorata (“roller coaster”) might be a good Kirnu for you. it’s just not the same with computer-operated magnetic brakes. Linnanmaki and Tivoli Gardens are doing it right by sticking with brake men and brake women. Oh, lord--this ride still exists! It’s scarier and smellier than the hotel-for-witches ride! If they break into “Dancin’ Queen,” I’m outta here. When at Linnanmaki, take this sign seriously! Er, heads up, Jere! It’s Linnan-anarchy with these freakin’ birds! What out for your goodies there, guys! The gulls are hungry! Just about time to go. Here’s one last look at a classic from the past . . . . . . and Taiga, the classic of today. I leave you now with an old classic and a ball of fire! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this look back at Scandinavia 2023. Once again, my thanks to Robb and Elissa for another great TPR trip!