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I'd normally keep stuff like this to myself, but maybe it's fine to let this off my chest. Last year was a whirlwind of things that felt like an unseen force wanted me out of the coaster community. Technical issues kept me unable to log back in to this account most of last year (since April). Twitter became even more unpleasant (than it already was) to the point of not wanting to use it anymore. All of my favorite local events now sell out in mere minutes after opening (or uncapped ones overselling). To top it and other small things off, more looming debt payments restarting and rising cost of living forcing me to cut back. Forced to travel less, unable to come back to my usual spaces, I ended up spending much of my 2023 elsewhere both online and in real life. Not all a bad thing though. I have other hobbies, and even picked up new ones to replace the void in that time. It's a nice refresher doing different things now and then. But much of the changes in last year still left me feeling very detached from the community. Despite now drastically pulling back from irl and online theme-park related things, I'm at least glad to have this account back. No Facebook group or Discord server could ever really replace a proper web-searchable online forum, imo.

^ I had actually encountered him earlier as well! Unrelated to that, a bit of bookkeeping: To my chagrin, in going through photos for the next update, I've discovered the thing that I named update #14 after. Meaning that I named that update inappropriately by using that particular name far too soon. Therefore, I have gone back and renamed update 14, and will be using its previous name for the next update. I feel it's important to prepare everyone for this, since I am sure you are all paying so much attention, that to not inform you now would be quite jarring when the next update comes. You're welcome.

I mean. . you got the Blue Train toilet pic, so that's a win (I think??). . but how did you get none of the other . . um. . . . "apparent" anatomy that's all over that ride ? great pics! I missed the farmhouse walkthru, because yes, it DID close early! but Strangely? I ended up bumping into Sebastian!!! that was interesting enough.

The 2019 trip ended in Stockholm, allowing us to spend a couple of extra days in the city afterward, and I absolutely fell in love with the place. Not a ton of extra time to explore this time around, but at least we got to go back to my all-time second favorite park, Gröna Lund. 20: Blue Train The main entrance (I guess). This one takes you into the smaller, more kid-oriented section of the park. The other main entrance. Just over a bit. But we don't want to go in here! No, no, no. I don't think I rode Tuff-Tuff Tåget on the previous trip. Which I shouldn't have mentioned to Goldballs, because he then insisted that we ride it. So now I have that credit. Yay. I thought Tivoli Gardens was the first time I'd seen a carousel with a ladder up to an animal, but now I'm questioning everything. Note the sign in the back left for "Pettson Findus Varld." I missed this last time. (I think it opens late and closes early.) Sebastian here was quite happy to see me visiting his little corner of the park. I don't think they let him out much. It's a walk-through farmhouse from a series of Swedish children's books about Pettson the farmer and his cat, Findus. I imagine that a lot of the fun comes from finding things you recognize from the books, all of which was lost on me. But it was weird, so I still liked it (in sort of a minor way). This section of the park is very nice, but everything you actually care about is on the other side. So, yes, I've been wasting your time. The covered bridge over an access road that connects to the main area of the park. Why, hello! Who's your new friend? Was that creepy? I was going for creepy. Vilda Musen is an excellent "Wild Mouse." And the quotes are entirely called for, because it's only really a wild mouse in much the same way that bats are really birds. I can say whatever I want in these updates. No one really reads them or wants to argue anymore. I did not participate in the water cup challenge. Though I did participate in getting wet from other people participating in the water cup challenge. As I recall, Ryan did excellently well. At least until one second after I distracted him with this photo when he hit the station brakes and lost most of what was in his cup. Vilda Musen is probably my favorite coaster at Gröna Lund and also exits into a candy store, which is a weird coincidence. House of Nightmares is a Sally walk-through haunted house, which doesn't even seem like it would be a thing, but it is and it's fun. I think it's also an upcharge...? Honestly, and perhaps unwisely, money is the first thing I stop paying attention to on these trips, so who knows. God, I have to walk through this thing? With my feet?! How about you put in a little cart to carry me around? That would really save you some money on painted arrows. Inspired by the murder house, I requested something sharp. It's one of the more subtle cultural things, but they don't cut your pizza for you in Scandinavia. You have to do it yourself, like a peasant. Actually, come to think of it, they don't cut your pizza for you in the US either. They just make little lines on it as though they've cut it, and then don't give you anything sharp. This coaster is called, "Kvasten," which means "Broom." I assume as in, "Witch's Broom," but I kind of like the idea that it could just as easily have been called "Bucket" or something. Blå Tåget is amazing and basically the only thing Goldballs and I talk about no matter where we are or what we're doing. The name translates literally to "Blue Train," but is culturally more like "Crazy Train," because the blue line went to the insane asylum or something? We rode Blue Train multiple times, of course. But on one of our rides, right at the beginning, it broke down. Possibly because of us, and possibly because we're fat. But whatever. The maintenance guy came out, messed around with our lapbar, and then the ride started up again. Except the lights stayed on the whole ride. Which might've been bad if this had been our first or only ride. But was amazing as it was. So enjoy a couple of 'lights on' photos of Blå Tåget. Um, on second thought. One of the great things about Gröna Lund is how rides are built over and through one another. Twister, their weird little wooden coaster, was down for an extended refurb. But that's okay, we rode it last time. Unlike Smisty, I can take or leave spinning. But this is a Schwarzkopf, so I'm in. And also, it's adorable. Just look at it! Gröna Lund is also a seaside park, because why give other parks a chance? I'm not sure why this particular pathway is super Art Deco--but I like it, obviously. I also like Jetline quite a bit, which had been the park's signature coaster until Monster opened. This is my jam. This is not my jam. But Smisty and Goldballs seem to be "enjoying" it. No, wait, this is my jam. Gröna Lund has the best fun house I've ever been in. But maybe there's a better one somewhere. Quick, somebody tell me where it is so I can plan a trip there. Not so much a slide as a conveyor belt. And also weird stairs. A view of one of Monster's beefy supports from the fun house. Elissa, you know you can ask for your own boat, right? I mean, they gave Misty one. So they clearly have a "weird husband" exception, if nothing else. This husband is so weird they don't even require his wife to be in the same country. I was really trying to tie that in to the previous caption--and, you know, make a whole thing out of this Tunnel of Love attraction--but I can admit when it's just not working. Not that I'm going to change it, mind you. Insane, Monster. Monster, Insane. Sorry, ahem, "Insane!" Wait, how did we get in this coaster's maintenance bay? That's Insane! Apologies to everyone on this train who clearly didn't realize that I was taking a photo. Yes, it's Monster, emerging from its underground station. The very same underground station we toured the construction of back in 2019! And this thing is great. The station, I mean. But also the ride itself. It's all great. This park is great. 10. Gröna Lund is a 10. Wait, I'm not done yet. Sorry. I got excited. Ooh, the back alley challenge! Get your minds out of the gutter! More often than not, I tend not to be super into B&M inverts. In fact, there are really only, like, two that I think are actually properly good. Well, I guess three now. And this is one of them. (Not that anyone asked, but the other two are Afterburn and OzIris.) Can I live here? In the park, I mean. I'll be very quiet. You probably won't even notice me. If you'd like to see more photos of Blue Train with the lights on, just reply with any lyric from "I Am Not Your Broom" by They Might Be Giants. Next up: We say goodby to Sweden and hello to Finland!

I didn’t mean to come off as an “Official” representative, and I’m sorry if it came off that way. I work on the entertainment/event planning side of things, in no way, shape or form is this account associated with Six Flags St. Louis. This is my only account on here, I’ve been a silent viewer of this thread for awhile and I just wanted to be able to answer any questions and talk about the park! Sorry if that came along rude, but I’m not sure how creating an account isn’t a smart idea, I’m just passionate about the park and I happen to work for it

I used to work at the park as well. I don't think making an account trying to pass it off as an official representative for the park is a smart idea.

I think that qualifies as a 'scoop'. The date isn't in the app or on the website Some parks are opening a bit later than usual in 2024 so nice to see a pretty normal opening day.

Kolmården Wildlife Park is the second park on the trip that Misty and I had previously visited in 2019. It's quite large, very hilly, and mostly a zoo. But it does have a two big "worth the price of admission" attractions, at least one of which I really like. 19: Another Way to Stimulate Lions The park was considerably less busy than on our previous visit, but nonetheless opened up the back parking lot and gate for our group, so we could start and end near the good stuff. Safari is a 26-and-a-half minute sky ride over large naturalistic animal enclosures that crisscrosses itself several times. For me, this is the highlight of the park, and I rode it 4 or 5 times on this visit. This animal is called a "giraff" in Swedish, which is not as interesting as I thought it would be. How straight men sit together on a bench seat. Björn. Watusi Boskap Älg and bebis älg. Löpeld As the park was not at all busy, Wildfire only ran one train all day, making it quite tricky to get a decent photo of the ride with a train in it from Safari. I do wish the gondola in the lower left was less behind a tree, but at least you can also see what a pretty area Kolmården is. A backstage tour of where the gondolas sleep at night and recharge the batteries on their audio systems. (Onboard narration being available in Swedish, Finnish, and English.) Now on foot, we explore the other animal areas of the park. Where all the cool kids hang out. "Man, screw you guys." Saddest show ever. (But good on them for still doing it, I reckon.) Smisty learning that we cannot, in fact, leave the park to visit the aquarium on the other side of the main parking lot, because Kolmården Wildlife Park does not allow reentry, and you can't even buy tickets or enter within 2 hours of closing time. This was 3 hours before park close, but that would've only given us an hour to cross the parking lot on foot, visit the aquarium, and hoof it back--with failure to reenter Kolmården in time meaning we would have to walk around the park on winding mountain roads (without sidewalks) to get back to the rear parking lot and the bus. Hey guys, whatever your beef with the aquarium is, leave us out of it. The escalator of shame. The park covers 1.5 square kilometers, which is approximately 370 McDonald's parking lots in American. Discovered an area I hadn't seen on the previous trip. Not really sure what it was. Maybe like a summer camp? But this building was open--and having never seen a horror movie, I ventured in. At which point my skin started burning and I had to flee. I'll be safe here in Tiger World! Best photo ever? Two slices of cheese on a basic theme park burger?! Are we in Wisconsin? Well, a lot of Swedes are. Hmmm. Wildfire's cool but weirdly-orientated sign. Where the Wildfire trains sleep at night. Snapped this pic while no one was looking. Now I have the plans and can build my own! I gave it a courtesy ride during ERT. That's 2 rides total now. I guess I like it slightly more this time? Oh, is this a good time to mention that I'm an RMC hater? Hater is probably too strong. To me, they're basically just fast, forceless, family coasters that are hard to breath during due to the restraints. Lots of folks seemed super into it, though. And I'll admit that it's pretty. One more shot of Wildfire for you. For you. Not for me. Erik's Score: 5 Next up: The park Wildfire would be in if there was room for it there.