simon8899 Posted June 19, 2012 Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Finland is a relaxed laid-back place like all Scandinavian countries and days were already very long early june with already no complete darkness at night. Linnanmaki lies a little outside the city center but is easily reached by the tram-loop 3B/3T in about 20 minutes from the central station. I keep mostly with the manufacturer's names of rides here a the finnish names are mostly hard to memorize for anyone not finnish - think of something mostly consisting of i,ä,ü,u,o's with a sprinkled l,k's here and there...(-; The park lies atop a hill so expect a lot of climbing stairs or steep walkways. The flat collection is very good with something for all tastes like a Huss Enterprise, Top-Spin and Booster, a (Anton) Schwarzkopf Monster and the standards like monorail, ferriswheel and drop-tower. Food-options are mostly midrange from typical fastfood to pizza. All self-service restaurants serve beer. The coasters: Maurer-Söhne SkyWheel - best coaster of the park, totally insane concept, long upside-down lapbar-hangtime Vouristorata - the brakeman-woodie, honestly quite lame compared to Tivoli's Rutschebanen, sometimes feared the brakeman would brake so much we'd go backwards down again Mack Powered Coaster - standard powered coaster at the side of the hill, nice location but lacking punch even for this kind of coaster Mack e-Motion coaster - nice layout but low capacity Maurer-Söhne Spinning Coaster - doubles with the e-Motion coaster but spins quite less compared to other installations Premier Liquid Coaster - short coaster section but this one really soakes you all wet, on the left side the water flows quite freely into the car so you'll have a wet ass Intamin ZacSpin small - the small variant of the ZacSpin not really my kind of ride, liking the big variant a little better Zierer Force enclosed coaster - totally harmless, coaster- and effect-wise Welcome to Finnland From the central-station you can already see Linnanmaki in the background Before heading to the park I went to the 17th century fortress island Soumenlinna. Guess I saw Snape or Malfoy down this walkways...(-; On my way to Linnanmaki dropped by renowned finnish chocolate manufacturer Fazer for a sweet lunch break Nice view upon entering the park with ZacSpin, Enterprise and ferriswheel. Entry is free, ridebands and tickets available at the booths under the Enterprise Shoot/Drop-tower with classic caroussel and Vouristorata in the back SkyWheel absolutely cool. Can I have one for my garden??? Vouristorata with its always braking brakeman TopSpin was running very good for an automated program - with a 4-5 spin, lots of inverted hangtime and another 2-3 spin Spinner, Powered Coaster and rapids ride down below. Next to the watercoaster this was the only water ride, Linnanmaki missing out the classic log-flume. Ferris-Wheel with a kiddie Musikexpress themed as dragon-ride. Wild Huss Booster from the monorail Harmless enclosed Zierer coaster Getting intimate with the Enterprise Monoraaaaaaaail!!! Such a great ride! Mack e-Motion coaster getting emotions out of its riders Dry... ...wet... ...soaked! Now you know it'll get wild: After Ranger, Dancer, Top-Spin we proudly present: Booster! IMO even wilder than a Mondial Shaker The gondolas invert sideways while the compartments and mainplate spin right/left at different speeds, highly intense ride aplying high Gs Hidden behind the woodie a classic Anton Schwarzkopf Monster - we'll see all evolutions of Monsters on this tour. Always a good fun. Good hair-day today Is it Winona Ryder running the monorail??? (-; Coming up next: Särkäniemi in Tampere, Finnland featuring one of the best inverted looping coasters... Edited July 1, 2012 by simon8899
beatle11 Posted June 19, 2012 Posted June 19, 2012 Mono.....DOH! Looking forward to more of this report.
chadster Posted June 19, 2012 Posted June 19, 2012 I'm guessing they actually run their Zacspin the way it should be ran? Nice park, can't wait for a TPR Scandi tour. Standing by for more!
Anac0nda Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 I'm guessing they actually run their Zacspin the way it should be ran? Like what? I worked at Kirnu for a summer and I'd like to know what you mean It has only three cars compared to it's big brother, with one being loaded, one unloaded and one coasting/waiting in the final brakes. It's nice to see foreigners take on my home parks and see what they think. I'm definitely following this!
simon8899 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Posted June 21, 2012 Tampere was and still is the leading industry city of finnland. Located between two huge lake-systems which are seperated by a granite barrier there're multiple water-driven powerplants connecting these two systems. While the industry moved out to industrial areas outside the city center as the water-plants were re-made into powerplants the old 19th century industry buildings were remade into cool areas consisting of museums, galleries, bars, restaurant and not to forget the good Plevna brewery. Särkäniemmi is located on a granite peninsula on one of the lakes. The park is a 15-minute walk from the city center and also reachable by public transit by bus 6 - or in summer by the "Funbus" from the central station. The park feels a little unplanned as with the entry fee you also get entry to an art museum, a dolphin show, an aquarium and the 120 meter observation tower which offers great views over the city and surrounding lakes. Offering a good and seldom found flats with a Huss Troika and Take-Off, Zierer Waveswinger and Flying Carpet, Mondial Supernova. Also a highlight are the two wonderfully landscaped waterrides with the logflume and the rapid river, the later going through a cave hewn out of the granite rock with a waterfall at the end which switches off only seconds before the raft goes through it. The coasters: Tornado - Intamin Inverted Looping Coaster: From now on my favorite invert, smooth ride but far more punch than the B&M inverts, a highlight the heartline roll that goes through a cave hewn from granite swooshing right over the coasters station Jet Star: What a feat to ride this Schwarzkopf goodie again after my last ride about 15 years ago on a carnival, pulling high Gs in the helices and making real classic coaster sounds, boy how it rattles and bangs MotoGee: Zamperla launched motocoaster, never thought I'd say this: the Vekoma variant is better Trysky: Zamperla flying coaster doing quite okay, overall I'm not a fan of flying coasters - may it be this or the B&Ms Welcome to Tampere - home of the "Wrong Noodle Bar" 2 am in the night - it wont get any darker here in june Zamperla rides from the other side of the harbor basin Tornado! Tornado station below with heartline roll above Sign of excellence - but of course the Jet Star was built by Anton... Wieland delivered a classic Krinoline Pirate ship and Mondial Supernova, a ride I still remember from german carnivals Hurricane was running on a good automated program, but lacking the near-inversions carnival ops got out of these under manual control Zamperla MotoCoaster - got there, have the credit - but no need for a re-ride they even have a classic VW Käfer on display...(-: This is what I would call the "carnival area", here a view with Volare, Flying Carpet and Troika And on the opposing side we've this great Schwarzkopf classic... Like multiple-ride photos The Huss Take-Off on the right is seldom-found in parks, however from carnival experience I can say that the passenger compartments can spin faster. On the current program at Särkäniemmi it only produces moderate Gs... Some Schwarzkopf goodness Some views from the observation tower, admission included in park entry Coming up next: Gröna Lund - with a quirky woodie and Schwarzkopf/Zierer classic that nearly flunked out on me...
_koppen Posted June 21, 2012 Posted June 21, 2012 Awsome pics! Been wanting to try out that invert forever! Can't wait for the Gröna Lund pics
cfc Posted June 21, 2012 Posted June 21, 2012 Tornado is a great ride, and Hurricane is truly bizarre. Too bad the ghost train isn't there, anymore--a strange mix of cute and gory.
simon8899 Posted June 24, 2012 Author Posted June 24, 2012 Stockholm, capital city of sweden, is a major tourist and especially cruise-ship destination. On my second day in the city there were 4 cruise -ships in town and most destinations were overcrowding with tourists. I opted for a book in one of the cities nice parks and was happy I visited the Vaasa Museet and Gröna Lund on my first day in town. All alcoholic beverages are very expensive in sweden. Even if beer is available everywhere half a liter costs about €6-8 or USD 8-10 in restaurants, €4-6 or USD 6-8 in supermarkets. Gröna Lund packs a lot on a very small space. This means no sore feet after a day in the park - but also that on a slower day it's already quite crowded compared to other parks. I'd not recommend visiting Gröna Lund in the high season after Midsommar. Another fact that the Break Dancer and Extreme were very crowded all day long - lines all day well over 30 minutes! I skipped those as I can ride those easily at a carnival in germany without lines. Next to those you'll also find a Waveswinger, a Flying Carpet, a Monster, a Coffeecup-Ride plus a good pack of kiddie- and family-rides. The coasters: Jetline: Classic Zierer/BHS/Schwarzkopf goodness which still packs a punch, after the wide loop around the park the second part of the coaster reminds me alot of the portable Alpina-Bahn starting with the signature near-vertical "Schwarzkopf"-Dive Twister: Best woodie on this trip, not very tall but sporting a quirky twisting layout with great pops of ejector-air Vilda Musen: Gerstelauer Bobsled coaster offering alot of fun, nice airtime-moments and some serious Gs for a family-coaster, capacity might get low on high-capacity days Kvasten: At Gröna Lund even the Vekoma Inverted is good fun Insane: The big ZacSpin version a little more to my liking, offering far more spins than the smaller version Welcome to sweden. Sunny day taking the ferry from Turku. Cavernous subway stations in Stockholm deep under the city. Beautiful harbour views...(-; Historical 17th-century battleship Vaasa, nicely restored and a good tip spending the morning before heading to Gröna Lund which is right next door. Another morning tip - only a few subway stations from the city center - is getting a birdseye view of Stockholm from Ericsson Globen. Mhhhmmm....Could this be credit? Indoor bumper cars, in sweden of course Volvo bumper cars...(-; Indoor Breakdancer - skipped this due to very long lines. But nice to watch and will get my Dancer rides on upcomming carnivals. Insane looming out onto the water, great location for this coaster. Speaking of great location... The second Monster on this tour...mounted on a swimming ponton this time This Monster made by Wieland in 2000. Classic and quirky ghosthouse. Extreme the other ride with insane lines all day - so this I also skipped for an upcomming carnival. Good Bobsled coaster Vilda Musen. Twister impressions - best woodie on this trip! Kvasten impressions - seldom found enjoyable Vekoma coaster Oh My! - Jetline station deserted! Jetline train marooned on the lift hill. Ride most likely closed for the whole day - What a let-down! At last they put up some pictures to cheer up all potential Jetline riders. Walking around the kiddie section of Gröna Lund... Family show. Entertainment! Dancing girls! No one believed it would happen but shortly after 8pm Jetline was running again. I saw the testrun from Twister and was onto the first train! Powerful Schwarzkopf dive! Last ride of the day was of course Jetline... Coming up next: Liseberg with more Schwarzkopf goodness and a brand-new Gerstelauer ride!
Philrad71 Posted June 24, 2012 Posted June 24, 2012 All self-service restaurants serve beer. Which is the way it should be in ALL American parks! Great report so far...I really would like to get to Scandinavia to hit up some of these awesome looking parks!
simon8899 Posted June 25, 2012 Author Posted June 25, 2012 Which is the way it should be in ALL American parks! At swedish park maps it was noted which restaurants had a B-license - B(eer) and Wine - or an A-license - A(ll) including the hard stuff.... The latter only at full-service restaurants.
_koppen Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 It's really strange that Jetline still has long breakdwons from the renovation. It's usually the one ride in the park you can actually always count on running!
cfc Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 Good to see that you were able to ride Jetline that evening--it's an excellent coaster. Did you check out the new version of their dark ride, as well?
simon8899 Posted June 27, 2012 Author Posted June 27, 2012 Part 4: Liseberg Liseberg is a nicely located park in the city of Gothenburg. Gothenburg itself is a mixture of european city styles sporting netherlands (the canals), german (the main treelined parade road) and scottish (harbour layout) - which is no wonder as this city was in part built by workers from this countries under invitation from the then swedish king. Gothenburg also sports a very good tram system. Disabled riders should beware that Gothenburg still runs their 30s and 50s trams on a regular basis and not all have been converted. That said Liseberg has its own tramstation on line 3 - but major station Korsvägen is only about 500 meters away from the main entry. Liseberg has two areas: The level area at the foot of Liseberg were most rides are and the hilly Liseberg area were the beautifully landscaped Lisebergbanen and logflume go through as well as some small footprint rides like the drop/shoot towers, the ferris wheels, Upswinget and a Schwarzkopf Walzerfahrt/Tilt-A-Whirl. New this year is a beautifully themed Monster by Gerstelauer replacing the old Schwarzkopf ride named Jukebox. The coasters: Lisebergbanen - one of the longest coasters in europe zooming through the wooded hilly terrain of Liseberg while also circling Upswinget, the old drop-tower and going over the logflume, said to be Anton Schwarzkopf's favorite coaster and I can understand why even if I like his looping-coasters more Kanonen - small Intamin accelerator but packing a punch into its small layout with top-hat, loop, and heartline roll, the latter offering good hangtime Balder - IMO a quite overrated coaster, not a bad one but Colossos at Heide-Park is bigger with more air and Twister at Gröna-Lund with the far more quirky layout Beware of the Angered Centralstation! Directions in Gotehnburg Classic trams at Gothenburg city-square Harbor Here you also find the Liseberg Guest Harbor. Now finally you can park your yacht while visiting the park. Brand new Gerstelauer Monster for this season. Pros: Good program and 50s/60s rock hits. Cons: seperated seats and individual lapbars, so no longer able to "work" the spinning up. Total Cons: Ride attendant in coma, carnival ride would be ready 3-4 times faster. Kanonen looping, quite short but very cool accelerator. Balder, overrated but okay woodie. This Afterburner had the longest line, so skipped it to ride it at an upcoming carnival. Evening lights on the mirror labyrinth. Magic Mountain should have these! Schwarzkopf' version of the Tilt-A-Whirl: The Walzerfahrt. The old Schwarzkopf ferris wheel. Skipped the new one as its enclosed by windows - not ideal for taking photos. Lenny Kravitz was performing at Liseberg! Nothing better than nighttime rides on Lisebergbanen! Evening view of the new ferris wheel and AtmosFear. Visited Liseberg 2 days in a row!!! Kanonen going very slow (!!!) over the tophat - even way slower than Xcelerator, but never saw or experienced a rollback. Lisebergbanen impressions. Upsvinget looks impressive but on a classic Pirate there're more airtime feelings, maybe because the lapbar is really tight on this one. Great operations on Liseberbanen with up to five trains. Second evening in the "old Harbor" area - good food options here. Coming up next: A showery day at Bakken!
Anac0nda Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Great photos! I guess the crowds weren't that bad? We're doing both Gröna Lund and Liseberg two weeks from now. Could you perhaps give some tips or advice? I have been to both of the parks a few years ago so I'm familiar with the park layouts, but do you think these new rides and their queues will full/move quickly?
simon8899 Posted June 27, 2012 Author Posted June 27, 2012 Gröna Lund: Can get packed very fast. Try Insane and Vilda Musen first as those have low capacity. Hit the other coasters in the evening, after 8pm Twister and Jetline were walk-ons. If you've a chance to hit a local carnival skip Dancer and Extreme as lines are veeeery long. Liseberg: Balder has the longest line so try this first, then Kanonen next door. Lisebergbanen runs up to 5 trains so mostly short waits. If you wanna do flats do them in the evening - veeery slow operations on Jukebox!
caffeine_demon Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 At last they put up some pictures to cheer up all potential Jetline riders. Aww - That picture got deleted, and I wanna know what the sign said...
simon8899 Posted June 27, 2012 Author Posted June 27, 2012 Put it onto my own web server: Live's great - At Gröna Lund! Americans can be sooooo prudent!
Totopez Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Put it onto my own web server: Live's great - At Gröna Lund! Americans can be sooooo prudent! The proper translation should be "Life is grey - Without The Green". Gröna Lund is among locals called Grönan, most closely translated to "The Green" or perhaps "Greeny". Congratulations on the boob credit!
simon8899 Posted June 29, 2012 Author Posted June 29, 2012 Bakken for the most part looks like a european carnival that at some point decided to stop moving and keep sitting in place. Most rides are portable carnival rides, including some classics which are nice to ride again. Bakken is located in Klampenborg, a suburb of Copenhagen and is reachable from the central station by local commuter train "S-Tög C". Be aware that this trains operate on weekends and public holidays only until 7pm. There're later long distance trains stopping at Klampenborg for Copenhagen, but at an additional price. The coasters: Rutschebanen - classic side-friction coaster now with new brakemen-less trains by KumBak running very well with good air in the last rows. The new brakesystem reminds a lot of the original Matterhorn Bobselds. Tornado - Very spinny spinning coaster by Intamin, short but worth multiple rides. Racing - Classic Zierer Flitzer in original 70s carnival layout and original cars, still big fun Mine Train Ulven - Family coaster by Intamin, nothing special and a good ride for smaller kids The wet way to Bakken. Technically this already is Bakken as the ride area is only a small part of the whole park. Classic Flitzer! Love the original cars with no re-straints whatsoever. Station of Mine Train Ulven. Brand new MACK Wild Mouse. Kiddie credit. Great spinner Tornado! Totally weird ride! Or as we in germany say: Kotzmühle! This was also weird but very funny. A little rain doesn't keep the scandinavian off a logflume. Always good to have a Anton´ Monster! Rutschebanen impressions. Coming up next: Evening visit of Tivoli Copenhagen!
Moose Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 So Rutschebanen is still decent even with the Kumbak trains? When I found out that they were using Kumbak I was worried since their trains killed Stampida.
simon8899 Posted June 29, 2012 Author Posted June 29, 2012 I don't have a before-after reference as this was my first spin on this coaster. To rate it among the classic coasters of this tour I'd say its better than Vouristorata at Linnanmäki but of course not as good as the Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens.
Noxegon Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 I don't have a before-after reference as this was my first spin on this coaster. I do. The ride feel hasn't changed in any big way, though for me the change is kind of like adding white headphones to the Mona Lisa...
Anac0nda Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 What am I seeing on the second to last photo...? What has happened to the lift?
simon8899 Posted June 30, 2012 Author Posted June 30, 2012 I quite enjoyed the ride on the Rutschebanen. Yes the lift hill isn't really straight up anymore - well as long as it works and the authorities say its safe, I'm game.
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