Bø Sommarland, Norway photo report

[_koppen]

Now I'm gonna show you a park that most of you have not heard of. Norway only has two big quality parks, and this is the second of them, also owned by Parques Reunidos. It's called a sommarland, but it's pretty much only a water park, except for some super-sized playgrounds and some kids rides.

 

Bø Sommarland claims to have Scandinavia's biggest water park, a claim that also Skara Sommarland makes, but the truth is that Bø is a lot bigger, and no doubt the selection is superior to Skaras water park. Skara hovever has the Tivoli part that Bø don't.

 

The two has one thing in common, and that is that in recent years, despite having visitors coming, none of them have showed a profit.

One main problem with Bø Sommarland is that they only get a new slide every 3-4 years, which might be a little to long between additions if you ask me.

 

The park has a new CEO this year, that suppose to turn around the finances. Hopefully he will succeed with this, and also realize that the park need a new addition every year.

 

The only thing I think this park really lack is a good family slide as well as an play structure.

 

It's placed out in the middle of the forrest, about 2 hours away from Oslo, and it's well worth a visit even though it lacks credits.

 

Anyway, onto the photos.

Welcome to Bø Sommarland!

The park has one of the world's first surf simulators. It's the first FlowBarrel in the world, and Wave Loch installed it in 1993.

The flow rider also powers the park's river. If you fall, you will be flushed out into it.

The river has an insanely strong current. It will bring you forward about 10 feet/second. As awesome as it sounds, the park has one problem, the tubes you see in the picture is all they have available, so you never get one.

The river is really wide. Once every hour they send a 3 feet high wave through the river, using the flow rider to power it. You could say that this is one of the original extreme rivers in the water park industry.

This is Trippel Trakta (tripple funnel). It's new for 2013, and made by Swiss Klarer.

The first of these "cone slides" from Klarer opened up this fall in Zürich, and I rode it in September. I was extremely disappointed with that slide, because it lacked speed and had water breaks at all funnels, making you come to a complete stop.

Needles to say, I was very disappointed when they announced this slide would be added in 2013.

The footers are directly into the rock.

Same for the road leading up to it.

To my big surprise, everything that was wrong with the prototype in Zürich was fixed with this one. It had plenty of speed, no breaks and was just really really awesome.

I would even say that this one is better than the original Topsy Turvy from Proslide, and that says a lot! Well done Klarer.

Here is Vassføyka, the parks highest quality slide, but more on that one later.

Here is the parks family pool.

Lot's of fun for the whole family.

Adventure course.

And one from the other side.

So here is Vassføyka, the best mat racer there is IMO, and I have done a lot of them, from all the company's.

It's a tall one, 55 feet of Whitewater West heaven. The reason that it is so good is that it has a big fall for the octopus ring's which gets you some high G's on the walls, and then it has a big drop, as opposed as several small ones. A lot of Whitewater's other racers also has one big drop only, but this one has a small dip before, right after the tubes end, which get you some really awesome airtime. If that makes sense.

Here's the run out.

It's the only RTM manufactured slide in the park. To this date Whitewater is the only company that deliver a really nice shiny edge on their mat racers.

Not even Polin, who prides themselves so much in their RTM manufacturing, delivers this kind of quality on their mat racer's edges.

Also, unlike Polin, Whitewater is aware of the world prices on steel, which makes them using only the necessary supports for their rides. This also make them very ascetically pleasing.

Nerd shot!

I knew that Whitewater outsourced some of their manufacturing, but I didn't know that they did it to the Philippines.

Another thing that makes Whitewater racers superior to the other companies is that the starting position is waist high, and not lying on the floor.

Have you seen enough mat racer photos now?

Not? Okay, here's one more. Just look at that gorgeous shiny finnish.

Here's an overview of the Flow Rider an the river.

And here's an overview of the family pool.

Let's walk down into the valley, and the park's second area. Here's the park's two biggest attractions.

And here's the view from the other side. The terrain of the park is very similar to Tusenfryd. The first batch of pictures I posted was from the other area, higher up in the park.

Here's the only Proslide in the park, a body bowl. Unfortunately it's an old one, so it's pretty painful.

Here's a much, much better one. It's called Jettegryte, which means giant pot.

Here's the park's half pipe.

It's better than most other half pipe's, because it doesn't just end after the actual half pipe, it does a helix and then a drop.

From the other side.

Some happy, screaming girls.

Water flow, at the bottom.

And here's the big tube bowl again.

It's one of the best tube bowls I've done, as it has a great water flow in it, keeping you from getting stuck just before the exit.

Both these slides look more impressive than they are (but there both really great!) thanks to their location on the top of the valley.

Painful old homemade slides, that I tried on previous visits, and were smart enough to stay away from this time!

Same here.

Here's Magasuget, the park's most thrilling slide, that has been here from opening day. It was for a long time the tallest slide in Europe, with almost 90 feet tall, cleverly using the terrain.

It's not as steep as it feels.

 

It's no doubt the most painful slide there is, and it should be replaced ASAP, like Skara Sommarland did for this year with their old speed slide. Seriously, the slide down to the shut down lane is very hurtful, thanks to the vertical sidewalls, and the shut down lane itself is insane!

Using the existing tower they could get one of the world's tallest aqua loop if they wanted, something I would greatly approve of!

But the park's main, and most popular, attraction is still Mot i Brostet. It's one of the worlds first blaster slides, built in 1997.

It has two blaster sections, and it is the biggest (and only that I'm aware of) water coaster in Europe.

The first blaster section is long.

The second one is pretty small.

And a bored ride attendant.

This is something that annoys me. Going over the first blaster hill, they have covered the slide in a plastic wall, instead of just net. This means that all the water that gets blasted over the top will splash down on you at the bottom, as you see in the picture.

 

Usually I'm a fan of this, but this slide has it's own water loop, that it's unheated and REALLY cold. Not like the rest of the park's slides and pool who are at 25 degree celsius or 77 fahrenheit.

After the two blaster sections the slide has a long black hole pipeline section, before splash down. The green slide in the picture is a smaller family friendly pipeline.

The first drop is big!

And here's one of the most pointless slides ever. You go down the slide, and then it ends on a mat instead of a pool. Good for the people not swimming maybe, but otherwise not.

And the lower area's kids zone. Complete with a sea monster.

The rest of it.

Toddler slide 1.

Toddler slide 2.

And one last overview shot of the river.

 

This year I have a season pass for Tusenfryd, which gets me free entrance here, so this year I might actually come more than once.

Hope you enjoyed reading it, and please leave a comment.

[StealthFan]

That does look like a pretty nice water park but I deffinetly see what you mean about the park lacking a play structure. Hopefully the new CEO will try and get one installed in the not to distant future. Also I love the shine on the mat racers!

 

-Craig

[BigBomer]

Nice report, seems like you had fun. The park looks like the Schlitterbahn of Europe.

[Midgetman82]

I love it when slides have a shiny finish on them, it makes them look so slick! I usually prefer ProSlide's mat racers because they have very good speed going around the helix, but I guess WhiteWater can do it too when they feel like it. And I absolutely hate it when master blasters launch water over the hill and all of it lands above you, especially when the bottom of the drop has a smaller radius and it feels like you hit it!

 

Anyways, great report! Looks like a really nice water park.

[Norwegian coasterfan]

Here are some POV`s

[gisco]

I like how the park is nestled in the trees. Much better then the concrete jungles I see a lot at a water park.

 

Do they heat the water at all?

[Hilltopper39]

That's a great looking little water park, I love how the half pipe slide end into a slide section. I wonder if riders ever enter that section backwards?

[Norwegian coasterfan]

I like how the park is nestled in the trees. Much better then the concrete jungles I see a lot at a water park.

 

Do they heat the water at all?

 

Yes, the water is 25ºC or 77ºF

[_koppen]

That's a great looking little water park, I love how the half pipe slide end into a slide section. I wonder if riders ever enter that section backwards?

 

 

Almost everybody does, it's way more fun!

[jedimaster1227]

Looks like a nice park! Thanks for sharing these great photos with us!

[_koppen]

Looks like a nice park! Thanks for sharing these great photos with us!

 

You're welcome

 

I'm gonna do a photo report for Djurs Sommerland and Fårup Sommerland in a few days, if there's any interest.

[jedimaster1227]

^Most definitely! Can't wait to see those trip reports!

[yay101]

That was a great report. I found the Sea Monster slide in the kid's area clever in particular. And please do Djurs Sommerland and Fårup Sommerland reports please!

[_koppen]

Okay, more photo reports coming in a few days!

[PalmTree55]

I love waterparks, and this one looks pretty good! That surf simulator/river combo looks awesome!