viking86

Wildfire @ Kolmården. Amazing ride!!!

So ever since Kolmården announced that they were building Wildfire I knew I had to make the trip over to Sweden during the opening season to check it out. Having never ridden an RMC before, I was very excited to finally have one “only” 570 miles away. I would not be disappointed... This was the lovely weather I left behind (which had pretty much been our weather for most of the summer...) I had ordered a small Totota Aygo for the 2 hours drive from Arlanda down to Norrköping, but the rental car company gave me a Skoda Octavia estate instead. No complaints from me, great car! Fast forward one day and I made it to Kolmården. This was my first view of Wildfire! Look at that drop! I’m usually calm when riding a new coaster, but for this one I actually felt a bit nervous (but in a good way!) I love the structure! I know there are plans to fill it with wood, but I hope they keep it like this. So how was my first rides on Wildfire? Well, I rode it first in the front seat and then in the back. The first half was really good, the drop was amazing, but it was kinda crawling towards the end. But this was on a cold morning with a near empty train, so I decided to withold my final judgement and let the ride warm up a little. Thanks to Kolmården employee and fellow TPR-member Niclas who came out to ride with me in the morning! Always great to meet a fellow enthusiast, even if it's just for a short time! A near full train screaming down the first drop! They started the day with one-train operation, but added the second train later in the day. The train zooming through the barrel roll. Niclas reccomended that I went on the Safari ride early before the crowds arrived, so I decided to follow his advice. The first view you get from the gondola is a great view of the turn leading into the second inversion on Wildfire. I give this view thumbs up! You also get a good view of the airtime hill which you cannot see much of from inside the park. The outward banked hill. Look at that view!!! Okay, let’s focus on the actual gondola ride and the animals. I loved the concept of this ride. It zig-zags back and forth over the various animal enclosures. The ride is quiet so it doesn’t disrupt the animals, and it gives you some great views as it goes fairly close to the ground in many places. Here’s a look at the savannah. Who’s up for a game of “spot the zebra”? Male lions doing what big cats do best... Here are the mommy-lions with the kids. Heading back to the platform. Again, look at that amazing view!! The ride has some pretty cool theming in the queue line. Moving on through the park, here’s one of the monkey enclosures. The savannah. Kolmården has all sorts of animals. Here’s an elephant... ...and here’s a camel that couldn’t care less about people watching it. Kolmården has a huge-ass playground where the kids can injure themselves in all the ways you can imagine! In 2015 Kolmården opened “Bamses Värld”, a kids area based on the cartoon character Bamse. The new area looked really good! For the kids (and the credit whores) there is a Zierer family coaster. I didn’t ride, but the kids seemed to enjoy it! They also have a small amphitheatre. Overall I thought the whole area looked really good. There is a good selection of rides for the kids, and I was surprised by how large it was. Moving on to more animals... they also have your typical farm animals. A look at the Safari Restaurant. I didn’t eat there as it was full inside (and too cold to sit outside). The view from the outside tables. I was really looking forward to see the “TPR members locked in a cage” exhibition. Unfortauntely there were no animals to be seen... “Did anyone mention TPR members??” There are a-holes in this world, and then there are d-holes... This guy was being a proper d-hole.... Okay, time for some more Wildfire. Love the theming around the station building. Here’s a look at the station building itself. Looks great! It also had some great theming inside, but I didn’t get any pictures of that. The first drop is just amazing! Going over the top... WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! The train dissappearing into the structure! This hill may look innocent. It isn’t.... A couple of hours after opening the ride was running a hell of a lot faster than it did in the morning. WOW! And during the day it started to rain. This just made the ride even more insane! This is what riding Wildfire in the rain does to your face! I don’t even want to think about what it did to my pants! FIRE!!!! Every time a train came to a stop on the brakerun it was followed by the wiping of tears and hysterical laughter! The park also has a Vekoma family coaster and a swinging ship, both rides being completely overshadowed by Wildfire. So that’ it! What did I think after riding my first RMC?? It’s an absolutely amazing ride! The first half up until the second inversion is absolutely crazy! When Robb described this ride as being "f*cking insane" he wasn't lying or exaggerating in any way. It tells you something about a ride when the second inversion is the first point where you’re able to catch your breath properly! There were also far less people riding with their arms up than on your average coaster, something which I also believe can be credited to the insane intensity of this ride! (and maybe a little to the fact that the park maybe doesn't attract your average thrill-seeker clientele) The people on the Swedish east coast are very lucky to receive this ride, it truly is a masterpiece! I also enjoyed the rest of the park, lots of animals and the exhibitions seemed fairly well done! Overall a great day at Kolmården! Thanks for reading!

The first rain measuring station in our city opened in 1861. It is now officially the wettest summer since it opened!

I'm surprised we never saw any clones of Balder being built, considering the small footprint combined with a good ride experience.

Thank you for sharing your miserable ezperience with us, that was one of the most entertaining trip reports I've read so far.

After renting for a long time, I will for the first time in my life own an apartment after winning the bidding yesterday. So starting from November (takeover) I will be in about 240k USD in debt.

First experience with a RMC did not dissappoint! Wildfire is an amazing ride!

Awesome to hear that! So excited to ride it tomorrow!!!

^That's one more than me! Until Wednesday that is...

Fingers crossed they'll have it up and running again quickly, both for you, and also for me on Wednesday.

A AN ANN ANNO ANNOY ANNOYI ANNOYIN ANNOYING ANNOYIN ANNOYI ANNOY ANNO ANN AN A

Well, looking in the bright side at least they can (most likely) drink legally when they come home!

Katun - Mirabilandia (picture taken during the 2005 ECC Coaster Rhapsody trip)

A lot of the newer Vekoma styles have a square lift hill then spined track with outside rails similar to premier. Good call! At first I thought it was a new track style, but it looks similar to what is found on the current family suspended coasters. Example: http://rcdb.com/11880.htm#p=60319 Edit: Damn A.J. was faster than me!

Summer? What's summer?

*sigh* What the hell is wrong with people??

I swear that batwing was trying to take my face off!!

Great to have other people posting in this thread again, after a triple post I was starting to feel like the biggest alcoholic on TPR !! So after a brief encounter with some American stuff, I'm back to all the lovely Norwegian craft beer. Yesterday I had a "Lyderhorn" Saison Noir from 7 Fjell Brewery, my favorite brewery (and located only a couple of miles away from where I live). Again wonderful stuff, after 17 different beers from 7 Fjell I have yet to have one I didn't like. And tonight I just finished a glass of Trans Pacific IPA from Nøgne Ø brewery, also a pretty good beer.

1. Maelstrom (EPCOT) . . . Nah, just kidding of couse! As with rollercoasters I don't do rankings, but here are 10 non-coasters rides that I really like (in no particular order): Splash Mountain - WDW SpinSpider - Tusenfryd Test Track - EPCOT TRANSFORMERS: The Ride–3D - Universal Orlando FlumeRide - Liseberg Fritt Fall - Gröna Lund Pirates of the Carribean - WDW Tower of Terror - WDW Star Tours - WDW Mechanica - Liseberg

Hulk testing video! Not sure about the roar, seems it could be annoying after some time, but great to see that the lights on the outside of the launch tunnel are syncronized with the launch. The rest of the light package looks great as well!

With the recent announcement from Disneyland, I decided to watch Guardians of the Galaxy. I thought it was a very enjoyable movie, really liked it. Good mix of action, humor and overall likeable characters.

^ LOL good one Chuck! And great trip report, thanks for sharing! A trip to Germany next year is starting to look like a must-do...

Vekoma posted a new offride video with the MK1101 trains added into NL2. Looks like a fantastic ride, love the pacing! LINK [fbvideonew]https://www.facebook.com/vekoma.rides.manufacturing/videos/1801753743444205/[/fbvideonew]

It will probably be full of Pokemons for the riders to catch.

Good luck!