Anac0nda

This looks like something worth salivating over

Great photos so far! I especially like the POV's and water park shots as they aren't seen that often.

That second picture is just pure gold! I could actually pay to get a poster like that on my wall.

We started to plan this very early this year and booked our flights, hotels and trains already on March. This way we saved a lot of money and since we're all studying, we saved where we could Anyway, ours was a regional train, which took nearly five hours. But the train was really nice and clean and had numered seats and goot toilets. We also figured the time it takes to travel between the cities and airports plus the waiting before flights comes close to the train trip. In Stockholm it was easy to navigate with the subway (Tunnelbana) from our hotel to the Centralstation and just like in Stockholm, the train station in Gothenburg is right in the middle of the city. I've never been to States, so if you've never been to Scandinavia, I can't really point out the major differences. Fortunately Swedes are a very happy people and I bet they'll help you if you happen to get lost

Yeah, I figured, just didn't know the correct term. Is it because it doesn't spin? But it does kick major a$$! After this one incident with the girl we had no jumping, and none at Liseberg at all. Plus I forgot to mention all the employee were super friendly and nice and their smile put a smile on my face too!

Happy greetings from what could have been the best trip ever! We were 8 Finns: 2 with a history of working at Linnanmäki and 6 of who still are. One of the perks working in Scandinavian theme parks is free entrys and wristbands in other Scandinavian parks On Monday we took a plane from Helsinki to Stockholm, booked our rooms at Hotel Oden (which was nice and prices were quite low) and rushed to Gröna Lund to spend the rest of the day. I also got to use my ClubTPR card. While at Gröna Lund, the strangest thing happened: we had encountered a little queue jumping during the day and started to get a little bored by it. Then another, a little girl, tries to push through the queue but I block her with my feet. Immediately, her mother starts shouting from outside the queue and when I asked her to speak English, the following conversation happened: - Could you please let her pass her sister is up ahead. - No. I think her sister should wait behind for her. - C'mon, be a gentleman. (a bit seriously) - No. I don't think this is what gentlemen are supposed to do, and neither are you. - I'm calling the security. (totally serious face and tone) Though I knew I was right, I didn't want to start quarrelling ruining the little girls, her mother and my day. Also, it would have taken precious time I could use riding the rides, so I let her pass. We all were stumbled by this. What do you think? Anyway, after closing we walked through nighty Stockholm to get a good night sleep. Next day we embarked on a train to Gothenburg, a sweet 5 hour trip by regional train (to save money). We had a complete compartment to ourselves, so it was pretty restless We arrived at Gothenburg and took a tram to our hotel Gothia Towers. Here's when the problems started: first we had wrong rooms due to booking.com failing to deliver our order properly, then our credit cards didn't work and we had to pay with cash. But that didn't go smoothly either. Both of the nearby ATMs could only give 2000kr (roughly 200€ and 200$) for one card. After a whole hour of troubles we finally got into our rooms, but one of them had a foul stench, window blocked by scaffolding and the floor was crooked causing nausea! Having eaten pretty much nothing after breakfast and it was already 6pm, we decided not to complain and proceed to have something to bite at the local Hard Rock Cafe. After dinner we strolled around Gothenburg, which was a nice-looking city. Next morning after breakfast we only had to cross the street to get to Lisebergs main gate! Then it was all about Liseberg for the next 12 hours! After the rough day we hit the beds. On the last day, Thursday, we took the train back to Stockholm, shopped for a few hours and then took a plane back to Finland. Awesome trip, awesome group of friends, a few awesome photos and a bucketful on awesome memories! If you have any comments or questions, I'll be happy to answers. Here's our plane to Stockholm, by Finnair Our hotel at Stockholm. Right next to the subway station at Odenplan. I can recommend this for those travelling with low budget. Nice and quiet. Breakfast maybe a bit modest. Gröna Lund is tiny and was pretty crowded. But has some creative layouts because of that. And I like it! How many rides can you spot? I like this view Insane lurking in the back. It delivered once again and has a specific spot in my heart! Totally recommended for those looking for insane rides! Fritt Fall and Tilt. Worth_every_minute_of_wait. But what's really cool is that the photos you buy can be downloaded a month after purchase. That's me on the far left and two of my buddies in the middle. The girl is a random, but a pretty, Swede. Photogenic Vilda Musen. Kvasten doing it's thing. Having ridden it before, I skipped it this time. And due to having only one train the queues were kinda bad. A fun ride though, just not intense. Renewed Blå Tåget got nice reviews from the rest of our group. I skipped, 'cause I don't like scares... Break Dance called Pop-Expressen. This is the way all flat rides should be: flashing lights, loud music and a ride program that's just pure fun! We all loved this and could have ridden it the whole day! Beautiful Stockholm at night. Stockholm Centralstation Here's our transport through Stockholm. Much classier than we thought. Our hotel at Gothenburg. Just across street from Liseberg. Gothia Towers is supposed to be completed in 2015 and have three towers by then. Now it only has one and a half, and you can see that from the prices. HRC Gothenburg A TAXI-HUMMER I woke up to see this. Not bad I say At Lisebergs main gate Rides looming everywhere behind the bushes, trees and terrain. Liseberg is one b-e-a-utiful park to look at! See what I mean? This park also has a river going through. It calms the area a bit and creates even nicer landscaping. Sadly, Kanonen was closed the whole day, so no launching today :/ But it's okay as long as this bad boy operates! Too bad the only bad ride-ops on this trip inhabited here. They barely even touched the restraints. However, that enabled me to ride with a loose one and have orgasmic airtime! The rapids was fun too! And with my waterproof camera it was even more fun! No huge waterfalls, but a ton of little sprouts. Some of us got direct hits! This is one long lift hill. Actually, the longest one I've ever had. But this was the king of the park and one of the main reasons we even started to plan this trip. My first gyro drop also. The rise took forever, causing other riders to curse, others to be silent. The drop was intense! First it started like every other drop tower I've been but halfway there was another thrust or acceleration or something like that, which was totally unexpected and beyond awesome! That's a massive car. Although there were exits during the queue, there was someone on almost every time to chicken out during loading. I think it says something about the nature of this beast. Lisebergbanan had a full queue, but it moved constantly, because of all five trains were operating. Queue time was 35min. Obligatory nerd shot. Long Schwarzkopf trains make pretty photos. I have no doubt that this one could have been Antons personal favourite. Uppswinget is all about knowing where to place rides. If you don't know what I'm talking about, start booking your trip to Liseberg. See? Swinging over the edge with nothing but a tiny lapbar is so far one of the few rides that make me want to hold on to something. I fought the feeling though, but ultimately had to quench my fists. Just awesome. Only sky is the limit. Swing my swingset, swing! This might be the highest Lisebergbanan gets of the ground, right at the top. New for this year is the massive Lisebergshjulet. Night POV. Hey, at least I tried. And heading back to Finland. Here's our plane. It's only an hour flight. And here's my newest favourite, AtmosFear. I really love free falls! Thanks for reading.

I really like this thread! Even though I own RCT2 I tend to mess around with RCT3 more, but these are really nice to look at. They have a good flow and the final touches (queues, stations, trees etc.) you add make these come alive! Please keep up and don't ever stop

What am I seeing on the second to last photo...? What has happened to the lift?

Särkänniemi has a new rather hidden pathway from the bottom of Näsinneula (the tower) to the newest coaster MotoGee. It goes under the log flume. This path gives a nice advantage when the parks open to steal one or two walk-ons on MotoGee

Great photos! I guess the crowds weren't that bad? We're doing both Gröna Lund and Liseberg two weeks from now. Could you perhaps give some tips or advice? I have been to both of the parks a few years ago so I'm familiar with the park layouts, but do you think these new rides and their queues will full/move quickly?

Like what? I worked at Kirnu for a summer and I'd like to know what you mean It has only three cars compared to it's big brother, with one being loaded, one unloaded and one coasting/waiting in the final brakes. It's nice to see foreigners take on my home parks and see what they think. I'm definitely following this!

Bingo! (Guess that was a bit easy...) Your go imawesome1124

And here it is

Gravity Max - Discovery World (Taiwan)

I like it! Very photogenic and has a good flow to it. Hopefully it rides as good as it looks. As for the name. If you'd like an abstract name here's some random ones: spike roll, daredevil turn. But I'd still go with something more describing.

Intamin ZacSpins. Hands down

Alpenexpress - Europa Park?

Wow that zero-car looks sexy! And the rest of the train isn't bad, either. The speed also looks like to pick up, slowly, but it's getting better. Hopefully they get this one warmed up enough to provide great rides at the opening! (Not that I could go there, even in the next 5 years or so. But I still hope this one to live up to it's hype! )

Good to hear they are treating the Schwarzkopf goldie with care and respect. I wish queues were as short on July, too. We are going for a "coaster mini trip" visiting Gröna Lund and Liseberg with a group of friends, 8 in total. We all have worked at Linnamäki, so we will compare EVERYthing to Linnanmäki. It will be a weeklong hooray for Balder, AtmosFear, Uppswinget, Insane, Twister and FrittFall!

This one I'll seriously try to finish What started from a simple design, grew out of control and is now becoming a completed park. How many rides can you spot?

Linnanmäki 2009: Kiddie rides, plus MACK powered Pikajuna and Intamin rapids ride Hurjakuru. In the end I counted I worked a third of the days in Hurjakuru 2010: Kiddie rides, Pikajuna, Hurjakuru and the ZacSpin Kirnu, which was awesome! In the late summer I got the custom indoor Zierer Linnunrata, but my day count there was very little. Hopefully I'll get to work there again!

Elissa - You bet I'll go there! Probably not on the opening day, though, but at some time this summer for sure. When Särkänniemi opens, I bet someone here in the Finland will take photos that I can link here. gisco - It has just recently started to warm up and the snow to melt here in the "north", it was about +5 Celsius, but towards the afternoon I'd say about +12 Celsius. simon 8899 - The Octopus is over 20 years old and still kicking strong. However, to help it stay in good shape, the mechanics are quite strict about how to run it. Especially not to lift the center before it spins at full speed.

Yesterday Linnanmäki opened its gates yet again and of course, I was there to enjoy. No new rides came this year, but it allowed the cash flow to go to other directions. This year it was all about food. One restaurant was completely re-modelled and now houses six "mini-restaurants" offering a wide range of variety of foods. Sadly, I didn't get to try this new complex so no pics either... Also a performing stage made its come-back in a new location ever since Kirnu took its former place in 2007. The finnish weather sure is rough, though, as it puts the rides to their limits. But luckily it warmed towards the evening and some rides were able to open. So yeah, not quite a kick-start for the season, but most of the rides were running, though. Ukko totally made my day yet again and I left content An intimidating skyline viewed from the parking lot next to the main entrance. The two goliaths Ukko and Raketti "Main plaza" You can buy your tickets here, the entrance is free. Funhouse Vekkula. Very popular as always. A new park map. IMO not as good as the previous one. Also, why is it that park maps can't be accurate about rollercoaster layouts? Wait, do I see an empty train? "Due to cold weather, this ride won't operate for the rest of the season." NOOOOO! Kirnu is closed! (( (This sign originates to last autumn and seeing this now made me giggle a bit.) Well, onto the next coaster, Tulireki... but wait, what do I see? "Tulireki is also closed because of the dumb weather." Well, this isn't such a big loss. Don't know what the GP see in this ride, I find this one just purely painful. But at least we can still take pictures of it. Here's one for the control panel enthusiasts. And for those of you who like steep first drops. WHAT? Yet another ride closed? This time it's Vonkaputous, the liquid coaster. But I wasn't going to ride it anyway so no harm done. But now we see the e-stop "ski brakes" that normally hide underwater. I've heard they last about 5-10 brakings and then they have to be replaced. This trench normally has some nice whitewater. Looking from below, Tulireki is a compact mess of steel Tall rides. This little area reads "Angry birds" in the park map. Not too sure if it's done yet... A small new cafeteria themed to a building site or just something unfinished? You decide. Maurer delivers. This baby runs smooth. And the GP know that too. This little innocent button is where I have stood many many times during my career as a ride-op. (It's Hurjakuru the rapids ride) The classic coaster "Vuoristorata". One of the few to still have a brakeman. Also this is the one TPR completed the egg-challenge in. Here's the new performance stage. Among others, Michael Monroe performed that day while I was riding the Skyloop. This was something new: to see the tower lifted while it wasn't spinning. Kinda creepy... To Larry with LOVE The custom space-themed Zierer Linnunrata was also very popular, as always. It ranks second regarding popularity of all the rides. Kirnu finally opened! It just had to warm up a bit. They ran it empty for an hour and then opened. Top Spin looking sexy in fresh paint. But ultimately, this baby made my day! I know what you all are thinking. And yes, I was thinking the same thing when I took this photo. Oh yeah I almost forgot! Ukko got a set of those über-cool-looking wheels that have lights on them and lit up as the train goes faster! VERY NICE even in the sunlight. Can_not_wait for the Carnival of Lights -event in October!!! Masters of Linnanmäki. Ukko and Vuoristorata. This is a good photo to end this TR.

Tulireki - Linnanmäki

Indeed, the raptor made me laugh so hard!