Totopez

Really interesting development. Saudi Arabia doesn't have any major parks today, but just as with the other oil producing countries in the area, they know that the oil supply one day will drain, and of course they have been eying Dubai and the other emirates. Today, most of the tourism is related to the Hajj to Mekka, but the country has recently opened up for more leasure tourism as well. The question is, do they mainly target guests from other muslim countries, or are they targeting westerners as well? Then the alcohol ban could be a problem. Unlike many neighbouring countries where you can drink in hotels and resorts, Saudi Arabia is a completely dry country when it comes to alcohol. You are not even allowed to be intoxicated while arriving to the country... Will we survive such a trip?

That is correct. Snake will be there in 2019, but then relocate. Funny thing: The headline in the paper reads "Gröna Lunds new attraction: a rotating "vomit machine""...

According to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, and Magnus (the CEO), the Bumper cars will relocate to Furuvik, and Snake will occupy its spot during 2019, while the new Coaster is built. After that, it will relocate to another park within Parks and Resorts. The area where the bumper cars and Biergarten are will have a complete overhaul, most buildings will be demolished and replaced, and the park will build a boardwalk along the water from Snake all the way to Bläckfisken.

Great news in Sweden today. Gröna Lund has filed plans to build a 700meter long inverted B&M for the season 2020. The coaster is said to be inspired by Dragon challenge at Universal Orlando. It will be built near the water, close to where the bumper cars are. It will go all the way over to Jetline. Construction will behov in 2018. Other news: in 2019, there will be a temporary ride, just for that season. No more clues, but the Mirror hall (or what to call it, Skrattkammaren in Swedish) and some games will go away, st least for a while. Construction of Ikaros is continuing forward, even though the building permit is still not 100% approved. I will see if the news comes online today and post later. See you in Stockholm! Edit: Full story (in Swedish) here: http://www.dn.se/arkiv/stockholm/gronans-nya-akattraktion-en-hisnande-upplevelse/ Facts according to the article: 111,5 feet high (34 meters), 2297 feet long (700 meters), ride time 2 minutes, top speed 62 mph (100 km/h)

YOLO recently changed from previously being a Platinum FlashPass reservation only to being just plain available if you have a Flash Pass. Based on past patterns, Twisted Colossus is likely to take the place formerly occupied by YOLO and be a reservation only ($15 per reservation probably, maybe $10) with Platinum required. No official announcement has been made yet though. I chatted with a guy on Facebook who claims he works with the Flash Passes at SFMM. According to him, TC will indeed be a $15 upcharge per reservation, only available to Platinum FPs.

In the first two years of operation, Gröna Lund had a balancing policy (except when certain Coaster Clubs visited...). They always loaded the cars 2+2. They didn't move people around, so two big guys could sit behind two tiny girls. If we where lucky... Since then, they have loosened up this policy, it is now ok to ride 2+1 (but not 2+0), and there are no objections if you try to un-balance the cars. We will see soon how it will be done this year, the park will open soon. With the new House of Nightmares...

1. Do you have your videos set to auto-play on your: a. desktop computer and/or b. mobile device? (or if you don't know, just tell us if the videos auto-play or not in your newsfeed.) They do auto-play on both kinds of devices, but without audio. 2. Do you regularly "share" content from Facebook "page" (like the TPR page) to your own personal Facebook page? And have you shared something from the TPR page? I do share content when I know the original poster, and can verify the truth of the content. 3. What kind of content are you most likely to share? (Videos, Photos, News Stories, etc?) News stories or photos. And cats. Lots of cats. 4. How long on average do you watch a video posted to Facebook for? Do you watch the entire video? First 30 seconds? Until you get bored? Until I get bored. But if I see from the beginning that the video is more than five minutes or so, I turn it off directly. 5. How important are "video thumbnails" to you? (the image you see with the > Play icon before you click to watch a video) Don't actually care. 6. What do you like/dislike about Facebook? What features do you use the most and which ones annoy you? Biggest dislikes are the very strange adds telling that russian women wants to meet me. And game invites. I DON'T WANT TO PLAY FARMVILLE!!! Biggest like is probably hidden/secret groups, that can be used as forums, without having to leave facebook. 7. Is there anything that TPR does or doesn't do on Facebook that you think we should be doing more/less of? More donkeys?

That still sounds like an upcharge if I have to buy a Platinum pass. Also, does that mean that Superman is no longer available on the regular Flash Pass? Well, at least it's not an upcharge on top of the Platinum pass. But if you want to skip the line on those, you must get the platinum pass, correct. Personally, would prefer Six Flags to make a Diamond pass, where all rides are included, unlimited times. But thats because I don't live in the US, I visit one Six Flags park every two years or so, and when I do my single day there, I want to do all rides and preferrably re-rides.

That was expected though. It's standard procedure that the newest ride will be a FP upcharge for the first year or two due to popularity. When YOLO was added as a Platinum upcharge, X2 was downgraded to Gold and Lex Luthor was downgraded to standard. Perhaps now they will either put X2 on regular flash pass or downgrade YOLO to Gold. My guess would be the latter. According to the website, YOLO is no longer an upcharge. On a platinum pass, you get one ride each on YOLO and Superman. X2 is still upcharge. https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/store/flash-pass

And thank God for the Internet! What would we do, if we couldn't find meeting places like TPR or ECC? We would have been scattered all over the world, like young mutants before Professor Xavier came to us to explain why we were different. The chance of meeting other people just like us, be able to go on trips together and share all the knowledge and geekyness available has really improved my quality of life, and most likely yours as well. In the early nineties when I developed my passion for coasters and parks, I suspected there might be others, but didn't know how to find them. My wife just shakes her head, but allows me to plan theme park visits on all vacations, as long as there is pool/beach life, nice food and shopping to be done. Luckily for me, we have discovered that Orlando holds all this... But my trips wouldn't have been half as good without the help provided here. Thank you all!

I don't know if the ticket price has been discussed, but how much would you be willing to pay for a ride? Personally, I could pay $40-50 if it included FOTL. Or $80-100 for a combination of the coaster, the starflyer and the Eye. If I would have to wait in line, $20 for the coaster seems fair. I would see this as a once in a lifetime experience, and be willing to pay for it.

It would be possible to either expand the haunted house or build a new attraction next to it. The building to the right of Spökhuset used to be "the games house", filled with amusement machines, pinball machines etc. My god, I spent sooooo much money in there when I was a kid... Sinne that closed down, I think it has been used as locker rooms for park staff, but I guess you would like to use such a central spot in your park for something public. However, I would find it strange to build a second scare attraction (or third, if you count the Ghost Train Blå Tåget). So my guess is a complete make over and expansion for the Haunted House (Spökhuset).

It's up on the website now, Mechanica is a Star Shape from Zierer. http://liseberg.com/en/home/Amusement-Park/Rides--Attractions/Mechanica-2015/

Looks awesome! I am so happy I have already convinced my wife to do a West Coast vacation next year...

Please do.

This feels so great. Up until just ten years ago (ok, 11 years), Sweden was very far behind when it came to coasters. Both Liseberg and Gröna Lund have always been nice parks, but lacking the little extra, justifying a trip of it own. But nowadays, with Balder still being in my top ten list of woodies, Lisebergsbanan still going strong and Helix opening this year, and with all the things Gröna Lund has managed to cram into the very limited space they have, Sweden should at least be worth a detour on your European trip, if you only do it once in your lifetime. Tomorrow, with Wildfire, I guess there is a reason for every coaster enthusiast in the world to come here. See you in 2016!

First of all, I really love when the park owners gets involved in a discussion here, it really proves they are enthusiasts. Second, I am of course excited that a park in Sweden is buillding something big/cool/innovative/anything you can ride. Face it, we only have two full scale thme parks here, and then some smaller parks, mostly catering to families. So any news from our parks is great. I don't think we will see any record braking coasters here, but given the quality of rides we see in the other parks owned by the same guys, I am sure it will be worth more than one visit. So April already feels like a great month. Opening of Helix at Liseberg and the reveal of Wildfire. And hopefully spring...

Liseberg posted on Facebook that the blue train on Kanonen is currently being fitted with the new soft restraints from Intamin, to be completed by the weekend. Next week, they will change the restraints on the red train. I really look forward to riding Kanonen again!

It seems official now that the new Transformers ride will premiere on June 20. The big ad on Fairwinds Credit Union tower in Orlando says so, according to OrlandoInformer.

According to an Orlando theme park site, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit now offers Express pass access. That means Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey now is the only major ride without express pass, if I'm not mistaking. Great for me staying onsite in June, less good for those waiting in line...

Well, as Gröna Lund is in Stockholm, it would be hard to be the tallest structure in Gothenburg... But it will be the second tallest in Stockholm, only beaten by The Kaknäs Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaknästornet)

We are going to Orlando next year, first time for family of four. The plan is to stay onsite at Universal one or two nights and do those parks, one visit to SeaWorld and two of us will go to BGT for one day. We will be in Orlando for four or five nights, then spend a week on Anna Maria Island and then back to Orlando for another four nights. We have been to Disneyland, Disneyland Paris (all of us) and Tokyo Disney Sea (just me), so we skip WDW this time. Waterparks are welcome as a bonus, but we don't pay a lot of extra money for them. What kind of tickets should we get? Orlando Flexiticket Plus? Other suggestions? We are not AAA-members (or any other american organization), Swedish residents and citizens.

But something might be going on. I wrote on Gröna Lunds facebook and asked for a comment on the rumors, and they replied "No comments. ". And No comments with a smilie means?

My first inversion was LisebergsLoopen at Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Must have been in the summer of 1982, I was 10 years old and got hooked for life. And I wish there were more Looping Stars to ride!

I just hope it will be up an running in time for my planned visit in late June. Has anyone heard of a more specific date than "Summer"?