Gröna Lund Discussion Thread

[Tobbizz]

Walked past the park entrance this Tuesday and saw they have started on some halloween decoartions. Looks good so far

[alejon]

Visited Gröna Lund yesterday for my first ever visit to a Halloween event at a theme park. I managed to snap som pictures with my phone, and due to the darkness and the fact that the place was absolutely packed the pics turned out less than stellar. Hopefully they will give an idea to how great the atmosphere was.

 

So this was the first ever Halloween event for Gröna Lund. With the exception of Fritt fall and Flygande Mattan, which was closed for planned service, and Radiobilarna which had been turned into a scare attraction, all the rides were operating. The coasters would close if the temperature was to go below 4 degrees Celsius (39F), and the operating towers at high wind. Yesterday was quite mild at 8 degrees Celsius (46F) and very low winds, perfect!

 

They had four scare attractions (might contain some spoilers):

 

Motel Hell/o in place of Radiobilarna, themed around a haunted motel was pretty good. I especially enjoyed the interaction you got with the receptionist and portier. The decor was very good, especially for something that's only supposed to be used for 9 days and built on the bumper cars.

 

House of even worse nightmares is the classical House of nightmares, but enhanced with more live actors. You basically got your own "guide", who was stuck inside the house forever. She would suddenly disappear just to pop up somewhere else along the way. This was the best scare, the story was great.

 

Zombie zone, outside scare on one of the restaurant platforms in the sea. The premises was a zombie attack an the military had been sent in, only to turn into zombies themselves. Not much decor, but the make up and acting was very good. Unfortunately the group ahead of us pretty much ruined our experience by holding everyone up and running backwards screaming, for some reason they were carrying two 8-9 year olds as well....

 

Olustiga huset, a remake of Lustiga huset. Unfortunately we missed this one as it was getting late and the queue had grown to 75+ minuets. But after looking around on the internet it seems to be a dimmed and smokey Lustiga huset with live actor clowns.

 

In addition to this Blå Tåget also had live actors inside and there was a child-friendly house with friendly ghosts in the kiddie area.

 

Worth noticing among the other rides was that Jetline ran great, seemed a bit faster than during the summer. The damp weather probably helped speeding it up. Pop-Expressen (Huss Breakdance) ran a longer and more intense program, felt really forceful!

 

I really feel Gröna Lund did a good job with this event, and as far as I've heard the park has been more or less packed all the days it been open so it's been a hit with the public as well. Would be very surprised if it didn't return in the future.

 

Onto the pics!

Welcome to Gröna Lund and Halloween! (Ok, I cheated and took this pic when we left..)

The small area had loads of pumpkins and fun activities for the whole family.

Flying elephants transformed into mummy elephants

Moving over to the big area, the path was dark and surrounded by cornfields.

This area was themed to "Dia de los muertos", with cooperation of the embassy of Mexico.

As you can see the place was pretty packed!

Olustiga huset, the huge crowd in front is the queue..

Scary things happening

Gröna Lund was lit!

Love the atmosphere after dark

A bit blurry, but it's a tank! A real tank, used by the Swedish army from the late 30s/early 40s.

The queue into the zombie zone

Where you could find loads of rubbish!

Gröna Lund still has one of the most amazing settings.

[alejon]

Sorry for double post, but I found this photo on the Swedish public broadcasters (SVT) news page, yesterday the northern lights could be seen in Stockholm, and over Gröna Lund!

 

 

In other news: The Halloween event was a success with 85 000 visitors on the 9-day event. Gröna Lund states they already have started planning for next years event, which will be bigger.

 

On Tuesday (November 14th) the proposal for the zoning plan for the expansion will be presented for public consultation, so expect a bit more information then. Gröna Lund have stated that the expansion is an investment of at least (probably a bit more) one billion SEK (120 million USD).

 

According to an interview in a paper the investment for the B&M and the redevelopment of that part of the park is about 400 million SEK (47.5 million USD)

[Canobie Coaster]

That's an awesome shot! Thanks for sharing.

 

Glad to see Grona Lund expanding.

[viking86]

Have to agree, that is a cracking shot! And it reminds me that I haven't been to Gröna Lund since 2011 and it's probably time to make another trip.

[alejon]

Parks & Resort have published a press release where they talk about the expansion plans. They have been working together with the city of Stockholm for two years to come up with the proposal for zoning. Compared to the last effort the actual park expansion seems to be smaller this time (8.000 sqm compared to 11.000 sqm, Gröna Lund of today is 38.000 sqm.). They also make a point in that attendance at Gröna Lund has been up 50% in the last 10 years, an impressive feat!

 

Towards the streets "Allmänna Gränd" and "Falkenbergsgatan" there will be 2-3 storey buildings inspired by old buildings in the surrounding area. The buildings will have cafés and restaurants on the bottom floors towards the streets and will thus be open to the public. On the backside by the tram stable (farthest away from today's Gröna Lund) there will be a public square. And along the water there will be a public promenade, meaning there will be access to the water without having to pay entrance to Gröna Lund. The new area will be connected to the current park by a bridge. The new area will have rides, restaurants, games etc, no plans regarding the exact utilization are finalized.

 

The new area has been used as an amusement park before, between 1924 and 1957 competing "Nöjesfältet" existed here. Both parks were family owned and the competition was really fierce, including putting a dead horse in front of the opposing park. In the end the daughter of the Gröna Lund owners and the son of Nöjesfältets owners fell in love and got married. This story is in the process of being turned into a movie, which will premier on Christmas day 2018. The cast is several famous Swedish actors so it has the potential of being a fun watch!

 

Link to the full press release (Swedish): www.mynewsdesk.com/se/parks-and-resorts/pressreleases/groena-lunds-utbyggnadsplaner-skickas-ut-paa-samraad-2266726

Concept art showing the future of "Allmänna Gränd", current Gröna Lund to the left, the expansion to the right and the water straight ahead.

Nöjesfältet in 1931, with a totally unknown coaster. Gröna Lund can be seen to the right.

[cal1br3tto]

The new area has been used as an amusement park before, between 1924 and 1957 competing "Nöjesfältet" existed here. Both parks were family owned and the competition was really fierce, including putting a dead horse in front of the opposing park. In the end the daughter of the Gröna Lund owners and the son of Nöjesfältets owners fell in love and got married. This story is in the process of being turned into a movie, which will premier on Christmas day 2018. The cast is several famous Swedish actors so it has the potential of being a fun watch!

Interesting story, and the photo is neat, too.

 

including putting a dead horse in front of the opposing park

Erm.

[alejon]

The proposal for the zoning plan is now on public consolation. The consultation will go on for 2½ months, until the end of January 2018, thereafter it will be on audit from Q3 2018. The zoning plan is expected to be adopted in Q2 2019, and Gröna Lund except to start construction in 2021. So everything is still very far out, but in the meantime we have a B&M and reconstruction of a big part of the current park to look forward to!

 

For obvious reasons the plans presented doesn't include any rides, they haven't been decided on yet but Gröna Lund has said that they plan on building world class attractions on the spot. The area is actually pretty small, but seeing this is Gröna Lund they'll probably fill it with awesomeness. The new area will also have a basement, where they are planning to have workshops, environmental station, logistics and dressing rooms.

 

It also seems that I misunderstood some of the information posted earlier, the planned square is actually by the ferry jetty. The boardwalk will be inside the park, but there will also be a public pier outside the park. Below is an overview map over the new area and its surroundings. You can clearly see the public pier and the boardwalk on the Gröna Lund area.

 

 

And this is the view that will meet you when arriving by boat.

 

 

A bridge will connect the current area with the new, there will also be a new entrance that directly takes you to the new area.

 

 

The view on "Falkenbergsgatan" will drastically change, from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

Having quickly read the plans it all seems good. The plan allows for rides of all sorts, but the number of high points are limited to only a few so don't expect numerous really tall rides. But I still think a coaster of some sort is to be expected, a mostly low to the ground Intamin launch please?

[Nrthwnd]

^ Another dark ride would be cool to go in there, somewhere. But whatever they're putting in, it looks very nice from the outside.

[viking86]

Want to have all of Gröna Lund to yourself? As a part of a charity event, the park is auctioning off two "Magic hours" where the winner gets the whole park for two hours. According to Mattias Banker in Parks & Resort, two hours with a fully staffed park is worth about 1,3 million SEK (about $150,000), but the park is hoping to get at least three times that amount to donate to charity to prevent child trafficking.

 

Source (in Swedish): https://www.di.se/nyheter/grona-lund-auktionerar-ut-sig-sjalvt-kom-inte-med-skambud/

 

Mattias is urging the country's business leaders to bid "until it hurts the budget".

[alejon]

The B&M invert is now listed for a 2021 opening (was 2020), source: Gröna Lund. No reason for the delay is given.

[Rill'o'beily]

Vilda Musens track has been painted gold for this year, and a portion of the support structure has been repainted as well in the light blue with some added gold stripes and the grid support for Vilda Musen above the walkway has been painted black/brown for some reason

[RollerManic]

Just now seeing the stuff about the expansion, although I do now recall mumblings before. Anyway, I think it will be really cool to see how they squeezethe new B&M in there when itwill be so near/ontop of the new enterance. Hopefully that bridge will provide unique views of the ride.

[Rill'o'beily]

I need help from any locals or frequent visitors to the park, I'm planning on going to Sweden so that I'll be in Gröna Lund for about 5 hours on the 14th of August (about 11:00 to 16:00), can anyone tell me if it would be terribly busy or could I do all the big rides (coasters, towers, funhouse, blå tåget, maybe like one flat) in that time?

 

I've gone there two times, the other time I could easily do everything I wanted in that time (june) but last time I went in september even though the website said there might be less people the place was packed and most rides had waits of up to 40 minutes (except strangely jetline)

[cookiex]

I need help from any locals or frequent visitors to the park, I'm planning on going to Sweden so that I'll be in Gröna Lund for about 5 hours on the 14th of August (about 11:00 to 16:00), can anyone tell me if it would be terribly busy or could I do all the big rides (coasters, towers, funhouse, blå tåget, maybe like one flat) in that time?

 

I've gone there two times, the other time I could easily do everything I wanted in that time (june) but last time I went in september even though the website said there might be less people the place was packed and most rides had waits of up to 40 minutes (except strangely jetline)

Jetline’s line is rarely that long (I was at Grönan on a weekday in early July and while everything else was 30+ Jetline rarely went above 20) and when it is it moves fast thanks to a high throughput.

 

Mid-August is just before school starts in most of Sweden so expect there to be crowds.

[Rill'o'beily]

Mid-August is just before school starts in most of Sweden so expect there to be crowds.

Hm that's really unfortunate cause after school starts then the park opens only at 15:00 so I couldn't go, unless I went on a weekend and well crowds would be present nevertheless. I should try seeing if I could go on a gloomier day if those are on the horizon, thanks!

[alejon]

Gröna Lund is teasing a new addition for next year on Facebook.

 

[fbvideonew]

[/fbvideonew]

 

They will release what it is tomorrow, and ask what people wish for "speed, height or spin?"

 

Through a newsletter they also confirmed that the bumper cars will close September 3rd. That's for the reconstruction of that part of the park and the B&M invert for 2021.

[A.J.]

Speed, height, flipping and a snake theme make me think of this, a Funtime Chaos Pendle:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlVAP9Aga8

 

This one is a single-carriage model at the Wurstelprater in Austria, recently a newer double-carriage model with Gerstlauer seats has been romping around the fair circuit. Perhaps they're catching on as interesting alternatives to Boosters.

[larrygator]

Speed, height, flipping and a snake theme make me think of this, a Funtime Chaos Pendle:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlVAP9Aga8

 

This one is a single-carriage model at the Wurstelprater in Austria, recently a newer double-carriage model with Gerstlauer seats has been romping around the fair circuit. Perhaps they're catching on as interesting alternatives to Boosters.

 

Even a double carriage is too low capacity for Grona Lund

[apanbl92]

New updated layout for the 2021(!) B&M Inverted Coaster, the project name is "Blue Harvest":

 

 

Source: http://parksandresorts.com/grona-lund-satsar-pa-jatteberg-och-dalbana/

Edited August 28, 2018 by apanbl92

[Rill'o'beily]

^^ They did also make a three carriage version, if that was possible again with the 8 seat gondolas the capacity would be still bad but at least better

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Not sure where they'd shove a ride like this but Gröna more than anyone would probably find a way to put a HUSS Jump2 somewhere if they wanted to

 

EDIT: ^ I don't spot any changes to the layout itself but mainly to the support structure

[A.J.]

Some of those turns and clearances look really tight. If I may speculate, are we going to see B&M do an inverted looping coaster with TWO-across seating for the first time? Some of those revised support structures look like they've learned some lessons from their inverted family coasters.

[thrillseeker4552]

It looks like the updated layout got rid of the final inversion (inline twist). Very interesting, but still super cool they are cramming this ride in an already crammed park.

 

^I think you may be on to something regarding the two-across seating. It's difficult to really tell now but I'm sure it's possible and given all the tight clearances, I wouldn't be surprised.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

New updated layout for the 2021(!) B&M Inverted Coaster, the project name is "Blue Harvest"

 

Here is the old and new, so its easier to see whats actually changed.

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by COASTER FREAK 11

[Totopez]

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.