Anac0nda Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Happy greetings from what could have been the best trip ever! We were 8 Finns: 2 with a history of working at Linnanmäki and 6 of who still are. One of the perks working in Scandinavian theme parks is free entrys and wristbands in other Scandinavian parks On Monday we took a plane from Helsinki to Stockholm, booked our rooms at Hotel Oden (which was nice and prices were quite low) and rushed to Gröna Lund to spend the rest of the day. I also got to use my ClubTPR card. While at Gröna Lund, the strangest thing happened: we had encountered a little queue jumping during the day and started to get a little bored by it. Then another, a little girl, tries to push through the queue but I block her with my feet. Immediately, her mother starts shouting from outside the queue and when I asked her to speak English, the following conversation happened: - Could you please let her pass her sister is up ahead. - No. I think her sister should wait behind for her. - C'mon, be a gentleman. (a bit seriously) - No. I don't think this is what gentlemen are supposed to do, and neither are you. - I'm calling the security. (totally serious face and tone) Though I knew I was right, I didn't want to start quarrelling ruining the little girls, her mother and my day. Also, it would have taken precious time I could use riding the rides, so I let her pass. We all were stumbled by this. What do you think? Anyway, after closing we walked through nighty Stockholm to get a good night sleep. Next day we embarked on a train to Gothenburg, a sweet 5 hour trip by regional train (to save money). We had a complete compartment to ourselves, so it was pretty restless We arrived at Gothenburg and took a tram to our hotel Gothia Towers. Here's when the problems started: first we had wrong rooms due to booking.com failing to deliver our order properly, then our credit cards didn't work and we had to pay with cash. But that didn't go smoothly either. Both of the nearby ATMs could only give 2000kr (roughly 200€ and 200$) for one card. After a whole hour of troubles we finally got into our rooms, but one of them had a foul stench, window blocked by scaffolding and the floor was crooked causing nausea! Having eaten pretty much nothing after breakfast and it was already 6pm, we decided not to complain and proceed to have something to bite at the local Hard Rock Cafe. After dinner we strolled around Gothenburg, which was a nice-looking city. Next morning after breakfast we only had to cross the street to get to Lisebergs main gate! Then it was all about Liseberg for the next 12 hours! After the rough day we hit the beds. On the last day, Thursday, we took the train back to Stockholm, shopped for a few hours and then took a plane back to Finland. Awesome trip, awesome group of friends, a few awesome photos and a bucketful on awesome memories! If you have any comments or questions, I'll be happy to answers. Here's our plane to Stockholm, by Finnair Our hotel at Stockholm. Right next to the subway station at Odenplan. I can recommend this for those travelling with low budget. Nice and quiet. Breakfast maybe a bit modest. Gröna Lund is tiny and was pretty crowded. But has some creative layouts because of that. And I like it! How many rides can you spot? I like this view Insane lurking in the back. It delivered once again and has a specific spot in my heart! Totally recommended for those looking for insane rides! Fritt Fall and Tilt. Worth_every_minute_of_wait. But what's really cool is that the photos you buy can be downloaded a month after purchase. That's me on the far left and two of my buddies in the middle. The girl is a random, but a pretty, Swede. Photogenic Vilda Musen. Kvasten doing it's thing. Having ridden it before, I skipped it this time. And due to having only one train the queues were kinda bad. A fun ride though, just not intense. Renewed Blå Tåget got nice reviews from the rest of our group. I skipped, 'cause I don't like scares... Break Dance called Pop-Expressen. This is the way all flat rides should be: flashing lights, loud music and a ride program that's just pure fun! We all loved this and could have ridden it the whole day! Beautiful Stockholm at night. Stockholm Centralstation Here's our transport through Stockholm. Much classier than we thought. Our hotel at Gothenburg. Just across street from Liseberg. Gothia Towers is supposed to be completed in 2015 and have three towers by then. Now it only has one and a half, and you can see that from the prices. HRC Gothenburg A TAXI-HUMMER I woke up to see this. Not bad I say At Lisebergs main gate Rides looming everywhere behind the bushes, trees and terrain. Liseberg is one b-e-a-utiful park to look at! See what I mean? This park also has a river going through. It calms the area a bit and creates even nicer landscaping. Sadly, Kanonen was closed the whole day, so no launching today :/ But it's okay as long as this bad boy operates! Too bad the only bad ride-ops on this trip inhabited here. They barely even touched the restraints. However, that enabled me to ride with a loose one and have orgasmic airtime! The rapids was fun too! And with my waterproof camera it was even more fun! No huge waterfalls, but a ton of little sprouts. Some of us got direct hits! This is one long lift hill. Actually, the longest one I've ever had. But this was the king of the park and one of the main reasons we even started to plan this trip. My first gyro drop also. The rise took forever, causing other riders to curse, others to be silent. The drop was intense! First it started like every other drop tower I've been but halfway there was another thrust or acceleration or something like that, which was totally unexpected and beyond awesome! That's a massive car. Although there were exits during the queue, there was someone on almost every time to chicken out during loading. I think it says something about the nature of this beast. Lisebergbanan had a full queue, but it moved constantly, because of all five trains were operating. Queue time was 35min. Obligatory nerd shot. Long Schwarzkopf trains make pretty photos. I have no doubt that this one could have been Antons personal favourite. Uppswinget is all about knowing where to place rides. If you don't know what I'm talking about, start booking your trip to Liseberg. See? Swinging over the edge with nothing but a tiny lapbar is so far one of the few rides that make me want to hold on to something. I fought the feeling though, but ultimately had to quench my fists. Just awesome. Only sky is the limit. Swing my swingset, swing! This might be the highest Lisebergbanan gets of the ground, right at the top. New for this year is the massive Lisebergshjulet. Night POV. Hey, at least I tried. And heading back to Finland. Here's our plane. It's only an hour flight. And here's my newest favourite, AtmosFear. I really love free falls! Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Line-Skipping was terrible all day at Gröna-Lund - most teens ranged from rude to straight-out-agressive. Comparing it to last year I sadly have to say that for example US teens are far more polite. That said I still liked both parks - especially after I started to square my own shoulders.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Yes, most Nordic teens are spoiled and rude, sadly. Anac0nda, I hate to break it to you, but Atmosfear is not a gyro drop, it's a ring drop. Still awesome tough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anac0nda Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Atmosfear is not a gyro drop, it's a ring drop.Still awesome tough! Yeah, I figured, just didn't know the correct term. Is it because it doesn't spin? But it does kick major a$$! After this one incident with the girl we had no jumping, and none at Liseberg at all. Plus I forgot to mention all the employee were super friendly and nice and their smile put a smile on my face too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 That is correct. I actually prefer the non spinning ones, as you get 4 different experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loefet Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Really nice little report you posted here. Glad that you had a great time in the parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Sorry to hear about the prevalence of line jumping at Grona Lund and even the implication of rude Nordic teens. I guess we got lucky on our TPR Trips as I don't recall having issues with line cutters on either trip. Only Norwegian teens spitting a lot and having no regard for garbage cans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Finland on the other hand was very relaxed. But you cant be angry long if you've so many good coasters like at Gröna-Lund and Liseberg.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loefet Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I agree with both of you, the kids in Stockholm are much ruder than others here in Sweden. As long as you don't encounter the newest thing that is happening at Gröna Lund then you consider yourself lucky. Kids are stealing other kids wristbands. Wristbands for rides on the Gröna Lund has become a sought-after booty with children. Recently two girls who ripped wristbands of two 10-year-olds was arrested. Both the amusement park and the police have in the summer noticed an increase in the number of children who rob other children of wristbands. Gröna Lund takes the issue seriously. -We have taken vigorous action, have more security personnel and cooperate with the police, says Kicki Kollstedt, amusement park's marketing director, to the newspaper the "Mitten av Stockholm". SOURCE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Damn, I was not aware of that, that is horrible! It will probably end up with the rides being included in the admission fee, and that will be raised to around 400 SEK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Damn, I was not aware of that, that is horrible!It will probably end up with the rides being included in the admission fee, and that will be raised to around 400 SEK. From a logistics standpoint that can easily be fixed by using a handstamp along with the wristband. If you don't have both you can't can't on the ride. It wouldn't make sense to steal the wristband without having the handstamp. If far as stopping the kids from stealing, feed those caught to the sharks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 ^That is the sort of thinking I approve of. dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metrock Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Thanks for this awesome trip report. I'm heading to Sweden shortly ... and will be riding Balder in exactly two weeks (yay!). I'll be starting in Stockholm (as you did) and then trying to figure out how to get to Gothenburg. Still can't decide if I want to fly, drive or take a train. It seems like the price of flying is the same as a train. Or am I looking at the wrong trains? Any general tips for my travels in Sweden as well as while inside Liseberg and Grona Lund? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anac0nda Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Still can't decide if I want to fly, drive or take a train. It seems like the price of flying is the same as a train. Or am I looking at the wrong trains? We started to plan this very early this year and booked our flights, hotels and trains already on March. This way we saved a lot of money and since we're all studying, we saved where we could Anyway, ours was a regional train, which took nearly five hours. But the train was really nice and clean and had numered seats and goot toilets. We also figured the time it takes to travel between the cities and airports plus the waiting before flights comes close to the train trip. In Stockholm it was easy to navigate with the subway (Tunnelbana) from our hotel to the Centralstation and just like in Stockholm, the train station in Gothenburg is right in the middle of the city. Any general tips for my travels in Sweden as well as while inside Liseberg and Grona Lund? I've never been to States, so if you've never been to Scandinavia, I can't really point out the major differences. Fortunately Swedes are a very happy people and I bet they'll help you if you happen to get lost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I'd be hard-pressed to choose between Grona Lund and Liseberg--both are great parks with beautiful settings. Then again, Liseberg has Balder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Beautiful pics of two great parks, each having great rides in them. re: Lisbergbanen: Anton Schwarzkopf referred to this coaster as "His Masterpiece" and was always fond of the design itself. When He created the layout, He found that making use of the terrain surrounding made for a much better ride overall. The design was certainly different, fit the land perfectly, and gives an always splendid ride. Alton Towers took a look at what The Master had done, and had a design based upon Lisberbanen created. Sadly it was not built, as it would have been the longest Schwarzkopf coaster built. Instead, Lisberbanen holds this title, happily! R.D. Praise be to Anton, Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarnes84 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Great TR thanks for posting, Helsinki & Linnanmäki have a soft spot in my heart as I lived there for 6 months (my g/f is from Lappeenranta) and I've been back and forth many times. I really have to make it to Sweden next as both parks look fantastic, I just hope Balder can almost live up to El Toro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attack7 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Thanks for the TR - hope to get to those parks one day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 I'd be hard-pressed to choose between Grona Lund and Liseberg--both are great parks with beautiful settings. Then again, Liseberg has Balder. But Grona Lund has....Grona Lund! Why, it's the "Swedish Blackpool", heh heh. (Hey Chuck - It would be hard to choose one over the other, myself.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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