simon8899

Any fixed opening day so far?

Taking Liseberg's two-day deal I came back for a second day of fun and started by walking right to the back for Balder and Kanonen. As the crowds mostly went toward Helix both were walk-on during the first hour and got six rides on both. Later on did four spins on Helix and cannot overstate how great this coaster is. Also multiple spins on Uppswinget, Lisebergabenen and Atmosfear. And the second was topped by the win of the 2 kilogram Marabou chocolate bar. Good rafting with wet water jets On to do some spins on Balder Holy airtime, Batman! Getting closer Finally there Good way to start day Double pleasure! Helix - Lights on More airtime twistyness Medium wet but best terrain logflume ever Disk'O was quite popular both days Lisebergbanen and Uppswinget Triple the fun! Wanna take a spin on the chocolate wheel-of-fortune? Yes - we have a winner Next up: Crowded Tivoli Gardens on a Saturday evening

I must have been at Linnanmaki at a bad day for the wooden coaster as all rides were so slow I feared the coaster would go backwards and would be stuck any minute - and with no airtime at all. Maybe next time gets better but so far this coaster from experience was even more boring than Hochschaubahn at Vienna Prater - and that is a scenic railway with some small dips. But loved the the SkyWheel, Booster and that insane water coaster...

^one of the few occasions the words "proud member" and "fat man" go together...

After checking their website to see what they have to offer I think an inversion ride would not fit into the park. If they have the space and financial resources they can up their ride package in addition to their existing rides and widening their audience. But thats a long term and IMO quite expensive affair - German park Tripsdrill did it but took them 10+ years to add a Gerstlauer Bobsled, major log flume, wooden coaster and finally a Gerstlauer Infinity.

Finally re-visiting one of my TOP 5 parks: Liseberg. The first day was mostly for Helix which I did six times on the first day plus many rides on the also great Lisebergbanen. Helix at the moment has right entered my TOP 3. The airtime is amazing, the layout and inversions twisty. As in complaining on a high level: The S-curves at the end of the ride are quite tame compared to those on Cheetah Hunt but the last inversion with negative Gs makes up for it. Also nice interactions with Lisebergbanen and Uppswinget. Most recommendet are the rear seats in the last two cars - if just for crazy airtime out of the station, its not really floater or ejector - it just makes a ton of fun. Overall a great coaster not to be missed. Lines were topping at 50 minutes with all three trains running and were down to 5-10 minutes in the later evening. In the queue Liseberg offers quality high-speed WLAN. Lisebergbanen ran also well again with waits no longer than 10 minutes during the day and walk-on in the evening. I did Balder and Kanonen on my second day intense in the morning and got in 6 rides on both. Fun as always waits were for both coasters were around 15-20 minutes later in the day. Not to forget my win of a 2 kilo Marabou chocolate bar on one of the many sideway games - all offering different kind of sweets big packs. Liseberg's Gerstlauer Monster Kanonen doing its slow hangtime inversions YAY: On the way to ride Helix Also some love for Anton's great Lisebergbanen One of the many hairtime inversions Swinging high up with two coasters zipping around you Atmosfear was mostly a walk-on both days Helix is just plain fun! Do I really want to wait two years before riding Helix again? Most perfect ride name evar! OMG - finally there! Crazy twisty airtime inversions Final inversion just wants to eject you - similar to Blue Fire As you are up on the hill - why not taking another fall on Atmosfear between Helix rides Some recreation time on Liseberg's big wheel Helix and its small brother First drop out of the station can only be fully enjoyed in the rear cars Good hair day! Balder on the loose OMG! Helix!!! Some nice historic pics on the escalator from/to Helix. Up next: More Liseberg and Helix just because its so great!

By the picture of it looking like it will be a Mack spinner which is not a bad thing...

A short flight later I found myself in Oslo and after a day of city sightseeing I took the bus from Oslo Busterminal to TusenFryd. At first I thought it will become a busy day with many school classes waiting at the entrance but luckily later in the day they were content mostly with tanning and drinking. TusenFryd is a good midsize park offering all coaster basics. While they have the cool escalator through SpeedMonster's pretzel loop I found the way down to SuperSplash quite tiresome - hope they add an escalator or tram to that area soon. The major flat is a Giant Frisbee which was down at first but returned to service midday. The other flats look like either quite old and/or bought used. Loopen: A standard Vekoma Loop-Corkscrew coaster still having its original Arrow rolling stock. IMO one of the better Vekoma loopers with only slight headbanging inside the corkscrew. 3x ThunderCoaster: Cannot believe this is a Vekoma wooden coaster as its fun and re-rideable front and back. Yes it has roughness but ultra-padded seats so you will have no bruises. Some new track has been laid before the photo and that part rode the best. 6x Western-Expressen: Vekoma Rollerskater, nothing special. 1x SuperSplash: Mack SuperSplash watercoaster without the signature turntables. Like the flume not very wet - to get a descent amount of wetness sit in the front rows on the sides or place yourself into the splashzone. 2x SpeedMonster: TusenFryd's main coaster with the prototype Norwegian Pretzel Loop. Forceful launch, nice layout on the shorter side. Very re-rideable. 10x Escalator to coaster heaven? Zierer Waveswinger a classic themepark must-have Loopen, not toally bad and like the Arrow train Loopen looking good The Waveswinger was bought used from a German showmen and still has all German carnival signage Happy SpeedMonster riders Not very wet logflume Surprisingly good Vekoma wooden coaster Most of the SLKOOSH not wetting the riders - but splashzone well populated YAY for the splashzone - guess at 27 degrees celsius it was one of the warmest days in south Norway Quite harmless Rollerskater Smaller Metallbau Emmeln (?) ship swing This old Bakker Polyp is quite lame compared to the Schwarzkopf/Gerstlauer Monster SkyCoaster in action Giant Frisbee still undergoing repairs Time for another run on Thunder Coaster Giant Frisbee finally running again Ending a great day with some spins on SpeedMonster Coming up next: Two days of Liseberg for Helix, Helix and more Helix!

Have seen that at Gröna Lund and Linnanmaki as well as experienced an upside down return at Gröna Lund. You need no maintenance crew to fix this - just two ride attendants who grab and turn the car manually...

The next day I went off to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on a very nice and sunny day. Even while the park has a local train station nearby I recommend going to Blackpool North - the long range train station - walk from there to the beach and take the tram to Pleasure Beach. Blackpool itself is a marvelous historic tourist trap with everything you come to expect like Madame Tussauds or Ripley's Believe It Or Not all blinking with lots of lights and some looking a little shabby in the daylight. The beach promenade looks freshly restored - restoration is also on the way for the Blackpool Tower, a historic iron observation tower built in kudos to the Eiffel Tower with a Plexiglass floor as a nice twist. Pleasure Beach is mostly for historic wooden coasters of which the park offers five, the steel coasters are not top of the line with Avalanche - a Mack Bobsled - being by far the best steel coaster. Revolution was down on my day of visit as the only ride in the park. Next to the coasters the Flying Rockets and the Derby Racer are also notable. What I found really weird that upon entering Pleasure Beach they screen you like on an airport. Complete with metal detectors and guards armed and with bulletproof vests. This is even beyond the security in US parks. Maybe some UK member can make a judgement here if Blackpool really is such a dangerous place to be. Grand National: One of three remaining historic Möbius loop wooden coasters. Having a good amount of roughness due to its age but much fun in the front cars. 6x Big Dipper: Also rough but still fun in the front which a huge impressive station. 6x Blue Flyer: Small kiddie woodie I guess quite unique in the world with its size and audience. 1x Nickelodeon Streak: IMO the most enjoyable of the wooden coasters, the smoothest in the park offering some floater in the back. 8x Wild Mouse: This wooden gem is totally insane which is far, FAR more forceful than modern steel mouse coasters. Only a seatbelt holds you as ejector air catapults you out of your seat, whacks you from side to side. I guess no TÜV would allow this today anymore so ride this one while it lasts. "They do not built them like this anymore!!!" 6x Avalanche: This Mack Bobsled coaster is by far the best steel coaster in the park. Unlike many other installations this one comes without trimming brake and zips down the turns at increasing speeds giving good laterals in the back car. 4x InFusion: Coming to a park were you think that a Vekoma SLC is not the worst steel coaster says it all. 1x The Big One: Boy this is a bad one. Its way rougher than Grand National and Big Dipper together - and in a bad way. At first they had the last car closed off with sandbag weights, later in the day the last two. 2x Grand National is hard to photograph as the track is mostly outside the park perimeter. Good old woodie! Happy Grand National riders coming back to the station with trains having reversed sides... View into Nickelodeon Land. The flume has a tiny layout YAY for Avalanche - BOO for Revolution being down Blue Flyer is hard to photograph as riders enjoy this small kiddie woodie Nickelodeon Streak the most enjoyable woodie in the park Big Dipper - great historic woodies everywhere Now this one is mean - in a bad way... More Avalanche as its the only really enjoyable steel coaster here Riders having made the right choice out of the coasters pictured There are worse SLCs in the worlds, but this one hurts nevertheless Guy in the first row seems to be one of us... You can even have a Coasters meal here [no comment] Is that fun or pain showing??? Wallace and Gromit - quite basic darkride. But if you like the films like me... Sadly the monorail looks long dismantled and only the station remains Grand National station in classic Art Deco "upwards thrusting" style Big Dipper station looking good from afar but needs an exterior paint job Crazy wooden Wild Mouse Words cannot explain how insanely good this coaster is. Worth the travel just riding it! Any others of these around beside the one at Disney California Adventure? Nickelodeon Disk'O No pain no gain??? Feeling like at home! Loved how the historic mechanical organ mostly played Beatles songs The Big One in all its monstrosity Big Dipper station must be one of the most beautiful stations around Next: Zip to Oslo for TusenFryd

According to German Wikipedia Colossos cost €21 million at the time. Which would be about $28.5 million today.

Nice TR! Were they really waiting for Kennywood's Racer trains to fill completely? I was at Blackpool were they also have a wooden Möbius loop roller coaster and they send them around nearly empty. Amazed they still have an old Weber Carpet at Knoebels. Most likely spare parts are coming from HUSS today as Weber as a company is long gone. Loved their Traumboot most. I have heard that some rides at Kennywood and Knoebels refuse single riders. Have any current information on this?

One year to go until visiting CP, KI and Dorneys... The "attractions" around Niagra Falls look about the same touristy like UKs Blackpool

My first travel this year was to England namely Stoke-On-Trent. Nearby Alton Towers is easily reachable from Stoke and Hanley by bus - which to my surprise took quite a while to reach the park. The bus drivers gladly used some little known roads to avoid the traffic jams to and from the park. Quite surprised a park quite far from any freeway got that big. The park itself is huge, nicely landscaped and has tons of greens. The ride areas are quite seperated and in reaching them the Skyway is a must, which not only looks nice like in most other parks but spares you hours of walking during the day. Sadly on my day visiting the park the Skyway was down until midday which reduced my ridecount. The day started out quite slow but around noon the park started to get packed and major rides topped with waits at around 20-30 minutes with Smiler topping at 120 minutes. Mine Train - nice Mack Powered Coaster, liked the interaction with the rafting inside a cave. Nemesis - my new fav Invert. Great pacing and forces and tons of fun. Got in 4 rides in the morning when this was still a walk-on. Air - well done Flyer, not having any real inversions as in head over heels, but following the terrain nicely and having some unique elements mostly not found on taller Flyers. 2x when it was a walk-on Thriteen - cool family coaster with a freefall element. Some light air in the back on the camelback. 2x Rita - Intamin accelerator quite similar to Desert Race at Heide-Park, fun ride but nothing special. 1x Sonic Spinball - Fun Maurer spinner, in the middle of this coaster type size range. 2x walk-on as single rider. Oblivion - Diver prototype with nice cave to dive in. Tame compared to newer and taller Divers. The Smiler - Huge thing with lost of twisty inversions, second half a little bumpy at times. Waits all day were crazy. Got in 2 rides - once as single rider with a 40 mins wait and once with a GBP 10 fastpass. Clearly a unique experience but rate this coaster nevertheless only in my TOP 20. Finally arrived. This how I like a Arrow/Vekoma looper! Having my e-Ticket at least here no waits Entering you would not at once recognize Alton Towers as a theme park - more like a private garden Rafting - fitting for the English weather - not overly wet, but nicely done Mack powered coaster with a not very twisty but quite spacious layout Doing its track twice with nice interaction with the rafting Nemesis, new favorite Invert with Phantasialand's Black Mamba coming in second More happy Nemesis riders Best coaster in the park Ripsaw was down running empty - but the program was boring anyhow: no multi-spins. Unique Flyer with elements seldom found on similar coasters No park is complete without a HUSS Pirate Finally Skyride was up and running and I could reach the other coasters The Towers - sadly had no time to explore the ruins Rita - fun and well paced but nothing special today Happy Rita-Riders Hello Smiler!!! Obligatory multi train shot 1 Obligatory multi train shot 2 Not much airtime but lots of twisty inversions The weird video messages, the wacky music and the water spray jets make you all fuzzy on and off the ride - cool overall experience. Oblivion running good but this coaster literally only consists of the first drop - which is cool Final spins on the Maurer Spinner which spins well Next up: Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Love the Wheel Of Fortune games - and mostly the things you can win. Who cares for some huge stuffed thingies if you can win a huge amount of sweets and/or chocolate!

Liseberg is one of my Top 5 parks - always do two days visiting Gothenburg. And while Balder is great - still like Colossos at Heide-Park more - I would have split from your group to make Helix my last ride.

I found out when filling out my coastercount spreadsheet that the woodie is made by Vekoma - and could not believe it...

Looking marvelous

^Lets see how Klinsmann (USA) vs. Löw (Germany) will turn out...

Well with the main travels done for this year depending on weather some short breaks: Gentlemen Tour - last week in Sept I always do with old friends from school - either to Nuremberg/Oktoberfest or London/Thorpe/Chessington - daytrip to Serengeti-Park Hodenhagen - Safari Park with some rides and two family coasters - Holiday-Park for its new coaster - Denmark/Jütland for Skara and Faarup Sommerlands

SCHLAAAAAAAND

Just reading up after my vacation and think its outrageous it took so long for the water main to be fixed. I remember some water main burst in my homecity of Hamburg - which can happen - but Hamburg Water always had them fixed an running again after at most half a day. I hope CP sues whoever is running that line for all its lost profits . Needing days to fix a water main speaks of sheer incompetence of the operator and its ability to solve a crisis. But lucky for me as this has happened now I guess its rather unlikely it will happen next year when I plan to stay at Hotel Breakers.

The new brakemen "station" building looks great. Maybe it took them also so long to decide to restore it as the whole ride is now themed to a Bavarian rail station complete with German signage - and Germany was not overly popular after WWII. But loved how they also kept the Danish touch as the station is all in Red-White...

Looks like you had a great time. Cannot wait for next year to vacation again in the US - only minus what in the US is called "breakfast"...

Tivoli is great - was there just a day before you. The new small area with the Air Race looks fab. And of course always there to see the historic Peacock Curtain in action at the Pantomime Theatre. Yes Vertigo is looking cool but I think will never do it as the lines for that thing are insane due to its low capacity - and I totally hate insane lines. But this weekend was the first time I saw both planes operating at the same time. Sadly I also noted that the HUSS MegaDance Dragen is gone - but lets see what Tivoli will put there next year...