Anac0nda

That animation may be short, but it sure is beautiful!

I prefer re-ridability over everything. Gimmicks, short layouts and uncomfortable seats/restraints quickly lose their initial charm and popularity after first couple of years, which is the opposite that parks should aim for. If a ride has an expected operating life of 25 years, it should remain popular throughout that whole time. This is why re-ridability is key. So having a layout that is thoroughly fun and interesting instead of some gimmick, is something I value. Naturally also if a ride is painful, it's not something guests want to experience again and again, so comfort is a major factor. Re-ridability also connects to theming and storyline elements, since they need to be designed in a way that doesn't get boring even if you know what happens. For example, Raptor at Gardaland has the theme of 'something goes wrong', which turned me off already on the third ride of the day, let alone how it would feel after several years. About how to develope coasters as industry, I like how newer coasters are showing to increase in intensity during the layout rather than just having two big elements in the beginning and crawling towards the end.

I mean it's much better than Zamperla Land, isn't it? (Looking at you, Särkänniemi and OWA) I certainly don't mind more Intamin, but if/when Djurs announces a Sky Jump (and finally gets building permission for a tower ride), I'm immediately booking my flight tickets! Although I don't really need another reason to re-visit Djurs. It was one of my favourite park experiences thus far! The park is just epic with all the bouncies

A very minor update: most of the soil has been removed to reveal the rock beneath, and some formwork has been erected:

Here's a couple of shots from Taiga construction, taken today at season start:

A new teaser including POV shots was published!

Due to the ride's nature, the structure is subject to severe fatigue - way more than other rides or coasters (well, maybe pendulum rides are high too). All rides have their expectant lifetimes but I suspect Top Spins lifecycles are among shortest. It's just not worth the risk prolonging the inevitable risk of fatigue failure, but rather replace the ride. Top Spins can also be kinda considered "old style" rides, and newer shinier things may attract more guests. I've heard newer Top Spins don't devour electricity as much as old ones, but that could also be a reason why most old ones are dismantled. Talocan is new and represents probably an improved design. I don't see it leaving Phanta anytime soon (and I certainly hope it doesn't)!

Can I just say how excited I am that something this amazing is coming to my homepark!

From the Instagram of the brakemen of Linnanmäki:

Total length is 1104m (3622 ft)! Original FB source Picture hints at inversion(s)?

Thanks for nice behind the scenes photos! Djurs is definitely a park I need to re-visit, as often as possible! I fell in love with not only their kick-ass Intamin rides (Piraten and Juvelen at the time of my visit), but the whole park aesthetics and awesome personnel as well.

"We are making room for something new. The old shall yield for the ferocious!"* Original Facebook post *Not official translation but you get the point

Linnanmäki has published a teaser! Original Facebook post "Why was Vonkaputous dismantled? BIG news are coming! #linnanmäki #ilmassaontaigaa2019"

Wow that track is going up faster than I thought, thanks for the pictures! I wasn't sure if this would open in time for the season but with that kind of speed I'll take back my words. Here's to hoping they can make up for any delays they've had so far. (Or what do you think?)

Liseberg makes following the construction easy and fun! I lol'd at the dropped bun (we have those in Finland as well, they are delicious)

The CEO of Linnanmäki confirmed on a newspaper article yesterday that Vonkaputous is indeed being distmantled. She says "It's always challenging to let go of a ride because every ride has it's fanbase, but with a limited space it's necessary to remove something to allow room for updates. After all, guests also ask for constant improvement." She also reminds of technical difficulties and spare part accessibility for Vonkaputous. However, no news yet about the replacement. "We will tell about them later in spring." Link to original finnish article I went to see myself. This is how it looked. RIP Premied Rides liquid coaster lineup

I visited both Mirabilandia and Gardaland in Italy, and had a pleasant stay in both. I stayed two days in each park but while Gardaland was extremely busy due to public holidays and I needed to buy fastpasses for some rides, Mirabilandia was almost dead with everything having just one train operations but still next to no queues. In mid-April I wouldn't expect that much attendance though, so just one day could be enough (depengind on how many re-rides you'd like to ensure). Both parks do have fastpass-options just in case. My highligts for Mirabilandia were iSpeed, Katun and an amazing stunt car show. For Gardaland they were Raptor, Oblivion: The Black Hole and i Corsari (dark ride). Both parks have also great interactive dark rides as well so don't miss them (Reset and Ramses)! Gardaland is more easily accessible by public transport, and even though I had planned to visit Mirabilandia by bus, I still had to take a taxi... So I would recommend renting a car. It's much easier. Here's my TR from last year: link

Linnanmäki Särkänniemi (maybe) Power Park (also maybe) Tykkimäki Liseberg UK trip: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Alton Towers Thorpe Park Can I get a "whoop-whoop" for all of us students?

Sounds good! I'd like to visit around August/September to enjoy the magnificent lights. Let's keep in touch!

I really must visit Liseberg this year as well! I skipped last year so not only Valkyria, but Loke is also waiting for me Riding Krake as my first Dive Machine was a somewhat letdown. It was fun, but nothing to write home about (and especially not worth queueing over 60 min). However, riding Oblivion: The Black Hole last summer raised my hopes a lot for Valkyria. Having even longer layout and more elements than Oblivion:TBH, Valkyria has potential to be a really solid coaster. But this is only my nitpicking, I'm sure the GP will love it (which let's face it, is the point of byuing a coaster - especially a DM). And with the theming capabilities Liseberg has proven many times recently, I may be waiting for the station building and theming even more than the actual ride!

*iSpeed - Mirabilandia Junker - Power Park Taron - Phantasialand *Raptor - Gardaland *Oblivion The Black Hole - Gardaland *Winjas (both but I prefer Force) - Phantasialand Black Mamba front row - Phantasialand *Cobra - Conny-Land Thunderbird - Power Park Salama - Linnanmäki [*new] I had an awesome year with many new parks and rides, but it seems not that many got into my all-time Top-10 (which is starting to look pretty decent IMO. The competition gets tougher! ).

Hey everyone! A trip to the UK has been on my bucket list ever since I started coasters as a hobby, and now it’s finally time for me to start actually planning for it! The idea is to fly from Helsinki to Manchester, visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park and take a flight back from Heathrow to Helsinki. I’m planning this trip for next summer as a graduation gift to myself (hoping that I will actually graduate ), and I’ll probably have a friend joining me. No dates or timetables are set yet, though. Knowing some of you are well experienced regarding UK parks, I have some questions I hope you can give advice for: Which of these parks would be worth to spend two days in? At the moment I’m leaning towards spending two days in each park just to see everything and secure enough rides on the legendary rides as well as the new coasters (Icon and SW8) Let me know what you would suggest! Accommodation: I know Alton and Thorpe have their own resorts, and with the bonuses they have (ERT most importantly) I’m probably choosing them. But for Blackpool I guess there are more choices to choose from, so if you have any good/bad experiences, I’m all ears! Travelling from park to park: On my previous trips in mainland Europe I’ve used public transports, but for this I haven’t started searching for timetables yet. How easy/difficult it is to get into all these parks or would you suggest renting a car? I’ve never visited a country with left-side traffic before, but if it would save a lot of time/money/effort, I’ll certainly consider it! Also if you have any tips for each parks about what to ride first and where to eat… that would also be cool (but no spoilers, please)! I’ll definitely utilize Q-bot in Blackpool and probably also fastpasses in Alton and Thorpe. I’ve been very lucky in my previous visits to other parks, but for this trip I’m ready to spend a little bit more just for those front/back row rides! I’m so excited I’ll finally have a chance to ride both Nemesises, GalacticAir, Swarm, Big One, Stealth, Colossus, Smiler, Th13teen, Valhalla, Wild Mouse… there are so many legendary-tier rides for me!

Liseberg - Helix, Balder and Lisebergbanan (and soon Valkyria). All top-notch rides! Phantasialand - Taron, Winjas and Black Mamba. Excellent rides with awesome theming! Djurs Sommerland - Piraten, Juvelen and Thor's Hammer (most probably Drage Kongen as well). Prime examples of family thrill rides showing that size doesn't matter. Heide Park - Flug der Dämonen, Krake, Colossos and Desert Race. Great variety and all fun rides.

Here's a couple of pictures I took (the day before Hype opened): First things first: here's something for Larry. They have now three emojis in each ride sign to represent what the ride experience will be like. It's cute The entrance area (called Hype square) is actually pretty nice. (Yes, those are wacky waving inflatable tube men in the background) And I must say, the ride is quite photogenic even without the trains Especially with clear blue skies Here's the front of the station (shot through fence) Here's the part where the car shoots up And here's the part where the car drops down. There's a small artificial lake beneath, which makes this area feel less barren than it actually is. Standing mighty tall. I am pleasantly surprised how well Hype fits in Särkänniemi Here's the entrance of the queue (again shot behind fence) And the exit. The dust is a giveaway that it wasn't open In the Hype square they also got these crates for "theming" I suppose, which hold some arcade games as well as a midway game They were also building something else, but I'm not sure what it will be. Maybe a new stage or a restaurant? I will post a proper trip report later this summer when I get to ride this. It's almost ironic that when I visited Holiday Park in 2015 Sky Scream was closed, and now I visited Särkänniemi and Hype was closed. Let's hope a day will come when I get to ride Hype. Speaking of which, how reliable are the Sky Rocket II's? Anyone know of frequent issues or anything?

I was at the park yesterday, hoping for a soft opening but unfortunately it didn't happen. Aand today they release information that it's now officially open. Here's an onride provided by the park: