Bert gets his Viking on with the TPR 2023 Scandi Tour (no Pillaging, but some Humping occured)

[bert425]

Day 10: Mon, June 12th part 3 : Legoland Billund concluded. .

Headed over to the Pirates dark ride. .and how neat, the sharks circle the old man on the island.

he looks emaciated tho. . why doesn't he eat a parrot?  or a Turtle?  

not as fully immersive as "similar" versions of a Pirate ride, but this one is starting out rather fun.

 

Dead Men Tell No Tales!

a bar b queue?   looks tasty!

and you can certainly tell who's in charge here. . . whadda ya want lady?   you seem to be leaning in!!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Turtle's life for me.

Oh my!   this is getting PG-13

yeah.. .we're ALL thinking the same thing. . . .

since we're already a LITTLE moist from the waterfall in the Pirate ride. . let's head over to the flume ride.

themed to Canoes.

this really seems to be the only picture I have of it!  

I guess it was an ok flume.. not a big one by any means, but pleasant enough.

but was able to get some good shots of the Flying Eagle from the flume queue

and for some reason, took a pic of the Lego goats in the station.,

le sigh. . . too tiny for adults to ride (which I knew as soon as I saw it. . so wasn't TOO disappointed), and was happy to see it had people on it at least.

 

the park does have a rapids ride too. .. which if I didn't have this pic of us on?  would totally have forgotten about.   I guess it didn't soak us!

 

time to head to the very back of the park, for the NinjaGo section!

pretty cool statue. . . tho this is a really large area, and it was really pretty empty.   Seems like maybe the line isn't as popular as once was?

this was tough!     It's an interactive ride where you use "ninja moves" by waving your hands/arms over the sensors to fight Ninja/bad guys on screens during the ride.

think Midway Mayhem, but instead of having pull toy guns. . you have nothing.. just your hands to figure out what motions might get a reaction and shoot/throw something

I can't really say it was "enjoyable" because too much of the ride was trying to figure out how the system works, so you could "play".    

but it was an indoor seated ride, so there's that.

and THIS is right next door in the same building!!

we had managed to bump into another group of TPR folks in the Ninja ride, and all headed to the maze together.

in all honestly?  this was quite a lot of fun.

you had to go down the hallway, avoiding the lasers and you could compete for best time.

there were two side by side tunnels, so didn't get pics of everyone, only those that came thru this side.

I believe this blur is David.

Jason

Jon

hands down, my favorite. . .Caroline just walked thru them and hit the buzzer. 

Bwaaa-haaa-haaa. . she had the fastest time, but the tunnel was very upset with her, turning bright red!

Colllin

of course, Daniel was great at it

Barry

this is listed as an "attraction" in the Legoland guide. . it's a musical fountain, that performs every 15 minutes or so.

to be honest?  I quite enjoyed it!

 

another look at the Driving school as passing by on the way to the overhead Monorail station.

 

and now the view of the park from the Monorail. . which goes around basically the same area the train does. . . but hey, we're up in the sky now!

you can see the Blue "sister" train (we're on red) across the way next to the trees on the right.

and there's Yellow.   It's a long enough course, they can run 3 trains at once..it was a pleasant ride around the center of the park. . mainly over Duplo Land (kiddie rides) and the Miniatures area.

realizing we'd missed the Aquarium. . . cutting thru MiniTown to head over to it.

a little (working) street carnival!   I swear, this whole area was so neat.  and SO much to look at.

here's the included aquarium. . which started out with a really odd pre-show room, that had a film that mentioned "if you feel ill raise your hand"

so I've got to wonder if at one point, the first room was actually a motion simulator, that took you "undersea".. because it certainly looked like it was set up to admit groups of perhaps 25-30 at a time (what you would expect in a motion simulator) and when the room doors opened, we were in the underwater aquarium.

if they removed that at some point, it's a shame, as it would have made the seemingly pointless pre-show room make sense, and added a little fun.

tho I loved the theming (even if not made out of Lego)

leaving the Pre-show room and into the underwater kingdom of Atlantis.

 

it really is a pretty cool walk thru Aquarium. .just rather small.

they do have lots of buttons to push, that make some of the Lego figures in the tank move, or blow bubbles.

I shit you not. . .this guy, when you push the button, farts in his suit.   He then reacts thru the speakers (lots of "ewwwwww") and then bubbles seep out of his suit.

Klassy with a K. . . . but yeah, I stayed and pushed the button a few times   I'm sure the Kiddos find it hysterical.

Lion Fish photobombed by Big Mike

how YOU doin?

 

Jason wonders about the meaning of life. .

and yeah, i'm not missing THIS photo op.. tho I was trying to look scared and I have failed

all the "major" stuff checked off my list, I broke off to wander about Minitown to check out all the stuff I hadn't seen yet, while the rest went back to ride, Polar X-plorer, I think.

some of these are SO damn impressive.

so many moving parts. . .the trucks , the boats, the bridges.   

as I keep saying, so. freaking. impressive.

Elissa pointed this out to me, so I had to get a pic too!   "DO NOT HUMP"

the firetruck pulls out and rescues a kitten from the tree!

NEVER in America. . look how close to the tracks those people are standing.  . .

bumped into Andy also checking out the Miniland Airport

it was getting close to the time to leave, but I popped in to check out the "hands on building" area, where there are plenty of bricks for folks to let their imaginations run wild and build whatever they can dream of.

the really good stuff gets kept and displayed, while the workers undo the bricks to get them ready for the next day for all the others.

what's interesting to me is they have cases surrounding the build area, filled with specialty/custom builds and unique builds that have been done for the park/company that they want to display.

some are truly incredible.

 

an example out on the work counter of the kind of stuff Guests can build with the available yellow bricks.

Ferrari also had a full Lego Ferrari on display!   it was incredible!

(and amazingly, most paid attention to the little sign and did not climb on it)!

I'm not sure what this big plantation/farm display was near the front of the park, but it too had a lot of moving parts. . . or should I say Moo-ving (cows, get it?  wink wink)

if you went around to the farm side, there were buttons to push and the animals would come out of their stalls and performed a song.

headed back to the bus, and passed this guy and this beautiful dog.

asked his permission and he said sure. . love how the dog is looking RIGHT at me.

what a pretty doggo, and the perfect way to end a great day at LegoLand !

hope you enjoyed following along.

bert

[bert425]

On 11/2/2023 at 5:21 PM, bert425 said:

Swag from Fårup Sommerland

Magnet:

 

 

and two T-shirts:

 

I'm wearing it in some pics. . but I can't believe I forgot to show my crown among my Farup swag:

 

[bert425]

and here is the swag from Legoland (minus a few gifts I had bought for people, which I gave out before I took pics)

Magnet:

 

T-shirt:

 

and. . . Bananaman!!!

[bert425]

quickie follow up before we went to bed. . as in the morning we'd be leaving Denmark, on our way to Norway via ferry.

.. but when we got back from Legoland, it was still fairly early (I think perhaps 7:30 or so). . . .and some of the folks were hungry.

although I'd had a big lunch, I'm always up for hanging out, so I joined Jon & Jason for a walk around the neighborhood to see what was avail.    

we ended up finding a mostly deserted (I guess 8pm was late on a Monday) Sushi Place that was still open.  

The proprietor spoke no English at all - and seemingly no Danish either.  Luckily, I knew a small bit of Japanese . . .  oh let's be honest, we were successful because the place had pictures of all the Sushi on the wall for a menu, and one only had to point at what one wanted.     I'd assume that's how they got around the language barrier for any customer        

it was SO good.

 

 

after eating we headed back to the Zleep Hotel for our last night in Aarhus, and I spotted a "Pride" bench.    

a Photo op?   yes please:

 

I made Daniel proud, and I even did "the Method" on the bench:

 

 

and then it was back to the hotel, where I believe we joined in the lobby  to share some wine with folks saying goodbye to Caroline - who was heading home in the morning.   and then off to bed.

big travel day tomorrow!

[bert425]

Day 11: Tues, June 13th : Travel day!    From Aarhus, Denmark, all the way to Oslo, Norway!

here's the route we'd be taking. . . crossing the Skagerrak (a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. (thanks Wikipedia)) via ferry during the trip.
 

a few pics from the bus, as we headed North in Denmark towards the ferry

still very pretty, an reminds me of portions of the USA.

and coming up on the Ferry terminal, there's a huge Truck Stop. . . so not just in America

Color Line is the high speed ferry we would be on. . tho if I'm recalling correctly, the crossing still took ~4 1/2 hours

there's our ferry terminal!

and there's our ship.

the way the Ferry works, is that passengers have to all unload from their vehicles, and go into the Terminal (which works very much like a bus or airport terminal) while the driver of the vehicle (mainly busses or large trucks) pull the vehicle into the bottom level of the ship.

a big rock, with an image of a ferry carved into it.

no idea, as I didn't bother to get a pic of the plaque that was with it explaining what it is. . . .LOL

Into the terminal!

where they have a model of their Ferry (ferries, as there are more than 1) on display.

we waited in the lobby area until they called our gate.

noted!

another Ferry.. similar to ours, but not ours.

WOW. . this was not what I was expecting.

It's a miniature cruise ship!! 

with artwork

a central atrium

and lots of places to relax, and some things to do. . . including several gift shops, a duty free area, a large quick serve restaurant, a huge buffet/dining room area, and even a casino.

Elissa had reserved us all seats in the dining room, which meant we had access to the buffet for the whole crossing. . . was really good food and I ate way too much.   but what a nice experience.

from one of our reserved tables in the dining room

my seat for the crossing

and we're off!

getting up to walk around the ship (after eating something of course), this is the back end of the ship - they have deck areas for folks to sit out on - not everyone reserves a seat and so they can sit in any "non-exclusive" area during the journey.

and you can see the line of trucks on the decks below us.

to the right here, was a Casino that connected via spiral staircase to the bar that's right below me inside.   I did play for a little bit, but was so wary about playing with $$ that I wasn't sure exactly what it translated to in American, that I only played slots until I won back slightly over what I had put in, then cashed out and walked away.

 

this area on the top level (close to the casino) are the Voyager Class reserved seating

yeah. . basically 1st class.    tho it didn't appear very full on this sailing.

tho the dining room tables were pretty full - so those are the reserved seats to get. . . of course, with food.

a sister ship, heading the opposite direction.

checking out the Duty Free store.

no, I was not even tempted to try Duck Confit in a can.

but I was amused enough to want a pic with it

I regret not buying this tho. . .I really should have.

tho THIS?  I did buy.  

it's a magnet that has all 4 Scandi countries we were going to. . so figured it's a perfect "overall" souvenir . . even tho I bought plenty of Country specific magnets too.



when I asked her, the lady in the shop explained to me what "the ugly screaming baby" was - as that image was on a lot of magnets/postcards/mugs.  and she told me it's a famous Sculpture called "the Angry Baby" in a Sculpture Garden in Oslo, and wrote down the address for me (which was great as we'd have some sightseeing time in Oslo tonight).

she *didn't* mention to me how Sexual the sculptures in that garden were.. which is funny, as that would have been MORE of a selling point for me to want to go see em.
 

back to the dining room for some more food. . . and a pic of the Lego Ship models they had on display on top of the buffet.

this translates as "your Dad". .and was so odd -  he's elbowing the woman in the face to hold up the kid! - I just had to snap a pic.

what's that in the distance?   is that Norway?   (actually, I believe that's Sweden. . we're gonna make a hard right to get to Norway)

there it is!

getting closer, they announce that it's time to re-board your vehicles, and everyone starts streaming down the stairwells to the lower levels.

 

umm. . a bit snug. . .

glad I'm not TOO claustrophobic.

huh. . Norway looks a lot like Denmark. . go figure

Coming into Oslo, proper now. . . the Capital of Norway.

the streets are pretty snug, and parking is at premium.. so our driver parked the bus a few blocks and we walked thru the center of Oslo to get to our Hotel. . . which was right in the middle of everything (great planning by Elissa!), including being attached to the main train station depot.

hard to get lost, when one just has to follow Shellie Mae !

that's where we're headed:  the Comfort Hotel

with several statues surrounding it. . such as this one:  Thor's Hammer

it wasn't even 7pm yet, and plenty of time to do some sightseeing once we were checked in, since the sun wasnt' going to set until well after 11pm.

looking across the plaza from in front of the hotel . .that' the famous Oslo Opera House.

 

inside the lobby of this amazing Hotel. . .as mentioned, it's built around the Central Train Station in Olso, so it's attached to a huge mall.

and has long corridors and many steps to get to the rooms. . which are very "industrial" and unique.

i loved the artwork in the Hotel Lobby.

and the minimalist/industrial fixtures in the lobby area

room keys handed out, we headed up to our rooms. . . here's the door to our room.

and one of the long hallways to get to it.

see those windows on the left? 

they look out into the central train station !

pretty impressive, huh?

we were only here for 1 night, but I really liked this funky hotel.

bags dropped, it was time to go exploring. . .

next update hopefully soon!

 

[teacherkim]

Ha! I have that exact same back scratcher, my husband got tired of me waking him up to scratch my back; bought it in Canada at Niagara Falls.

[bert425]

Day 11: Tues, June 13th, evening.    Sightseeing in Oslo!   (PG-13 rated)

a slight warning (for those that may be looking at this on a work computer) - a large part of this update was a stop at Frogner Park, the largest Park in Oslo.
the central area of this park, contains a very large installation by Gustav Vigeland (a Norwegian sculptor likely best known worldwide for his design of the Nobel Peace Prize).

the installation is called "the Circle of Life" and includes over 212 Bronze & Granite figures - all of them nude.
if you'd like to find out way more about this park/sculptures. . check out Wikipedia's entry for "Frogner Park"

ok. . . onwards to pics

after settling into the room, many of us headed right back down into the lobby where some folks stayed in a group to do stuff, and some of us broke off on our own. . as noted above, I was very curious - and interested - in going to the Vigeland sculpture installation, and Jon & Jason were gonna join with.  But before we grabbed a taxi (could have figured out more public transportation to get there, but we only had so much time this evening after a full day of Travel, and I was willing to pay just to get there direct via taxi).

in the square, just outside the hotel, were Pride flags.  (we were there during Pride Month)

a better look at Thor's Hammer

 

yes, not only was our hotel attached to the Grand Central train station, but the Mall of Oslo was right next door too.

what's that big sculpture tho?

ahhhhh.   Glad there's a sign!  

(and hey, I know how to say "Tiger" in Norwegian now !

 

interesting clocktower in the plaza. . . so looks like it's about 7:30 pm

a better view of our hotel from the plaza out front.  (and yep, per the clock in the center, it was ~7:30)

 

a large fountain out on the size plaza, and I was confused why the guy had a flame on his head.

but moving closer?  it was a Pigeon.   HA.. . those birds crap on statues world wide.

crossing over towards the bay, you get a fantastic view of the Oslo opera house.

and this thing - one of many.   What, exactly, is it?
 

ahhhh. . . a Sauna.

and there were lots of options available.

never did get the name of this piece of artwork, but it did light up at night, and looked lovely.

 

because we were connected to the train station, all it took was a short walk up some stairs for the Taxi station, and we were on our way for a shortish ride to Frogner Park.

he didn't drop us off at the main gates, but just to the left, near the Vigeland Museum. 

as you can see from this map, it's a very large park, with the whole "central" area (numbers 1-4 & 9/10 being the Vigeland installation)
 

but there are bronze casts of some of his sculptures all thruout the park - although not part of the main installation, still in similar theme.

as could tell from the map. . very large park.    We made our way towards the front gates.

coming up the side, and near the entrance to the area of the installation called "the Bridge"

one of the coffehouses dotting the park.

standing with my back to "the Bridge" and the whole Vingland installation, and looking towards the main gate to the park.

looking towards the installation over the Bridge (the sun was in this direction and wasn't my friend, but tried to get around it)

in this pic beyond the statues on the Bridge, you can see "the Fountain",  & "the Monolith"
("the sundial" and "the wheel of Life" - where the installation "circle of life" is supposed to start - are back behind the monolith and can't be seen in this pic)

 

Starting at the main exit sculptures for the installation . . one of the rare, few, clothed figures.

I walked the bridge and took pics of most of the sculptures.    which seem to follow the "storyline" of a family and the generations within.

(honestly, the images don't really carry the "weight" of seeing them live..they are stunning).

here's the famous "Angry Child". . . pretty much center of the bridge.

hmmmm. . . . if I post this on Facebook will I get thrown back in jail under promoting pornography again?

looking ahead pas the main axis, in this pic you can just make out the sundial behind the monolith.

the whole area is just so beautiful

going back down the other side of the bridge to snap pics of the sculptures on that side.

 

moving on from the bridge, and into the Fountain area. .

 

but not before looking back, as from this side, the sun is lighting it up beautifully.
 

Jon and I enjoying the park, in the Fountain area. . . not sure where Jason ran off to.   (think he was still taking pics on the bridge)

damn. . even the Fountain is covered with intricate sculptures. . 

stunning.

I didn't realize there would be STAIRS involved. .  oy. . . but I wanted to go to the Monolith and beyond. . so deep breath.

(spoiler, I'm so glad I did, as at the Monolith is where the sculptures mostly go from bronze to Granite, and they are just incredible up close)

a couple more pics of the Fountain area, showing off the lovely inlaid pattern in the bricks.

and .. up the stairs we go.

these cast iron gates were just amazing (the gate with women is on the opposite side of the plaza as you exit to the Sundial)

 

from up at the base of the Monolith. . just an incredible view.  

and turning around. . managed to get a pretty people free pic of the actual piece.

hard to do, as this area is where many of the Oslo jogging clubs meet up, and there were a lot of sweaty folks finishing up runs here - along with a handful of tourists.

that main pillar?  is sculpted from one massive piece of granite!

amazing.   Absolutely worth the effort to go see in person if ever in the area.

I mean. . . what's not to appreciate???

 

the "Women's gate" entrance to the Monolith area

looking forward, that's "the Sundial" mid picture, and on top of the hill is "the Wheel of Life"

using my "finger magic" to hide a runner in a neon orange sweatsuit. . who sat on the stairs, and even tho saw I was waiting to take a pic, just chose not to move.

so I "fingered" him out of my picture

some of these at the base of the Monolith are just breathtaking.

while others are a bit more "what/huh?"

Jon checking his phone, while I get an amazing pic of Oslo and the park/installation.

I mean. . . .I HAD to. . .right?

 

headed up to "the Sundial". . the Astrological symbols are etched in the base.

I'm a Taurus, so grabbed a pic

'

headed to the Wheel of Life, and looking back at where we've come from

the Wheel of Life (from the sunny side)

and attempting to get the whole installation into one pic.. (but you can't see the fountain due to the elevations)

LOVE this pic.

and yeah. .I do believe he was peeing.. . didn't notice that until AFTER I took the pic.

(and then discovered they charge to use the toilets in the park - i paid, but I guess that's why he's not the only person we saw peeing in a bush)

headed back towards where we were dropped off - hoping to get a coffee, but the cafe in the park was closed.

so instead took some more pics as we headed back to call our cab drive (who had given me his card and told us to call when we wanted to head back)

this trail here, at the end of the bridge, leads down to an area called "the Children's Playground". . so of course we had to check it out.

looking up at the bridge from the path down

there are 8 more bronze statues down in this area. . most of them looking more fetal than children able to play. . .but interesting area.

and the animals in the lake came right over to see if we had any food to give them.

back at the parking lot where we were dropped off, I called the driver and then wandered across the street to check out the sculptures in front of the Vigeland museum (which was closed for the day)

 

our driver showed up, and he took us the "scenic" way back. . which I didn't mind, as got to see more of Oslo.

he also brought us by a Gay Bar that he said had recently been firebombed - and then finished off the ride on a nice offensive tirade about gay people and "why do they have to flaunt it". . while we sat quiet and Jason & Jon glanced at me uncomfortably, wondering if I was going to say anything.

I actually did NOT..stayed quiet, let him rant, and took pictures while he drove.

back at the hotel, I had to run up to the room as my phone was at less than 2% (it had been a long day and had drained it and the backup battery) so I needed to charge it and would do that while we decided where to grab something to eat as late as it was (I believe close to 10)

Pic of the terminal station mostly shut down this late, as I headed to the room.

Plugged in my phone, invited AJ to join us - and bumped into David on way back out and he joined us, and we found a great Mediterranean restaurant closeby the hotel.

the food was really good, and there was a lot of is, and we appreciated that the owner stayed open for us to eat and didn't really rush us out.

oh, we also saw a bunch of police cars and police tape, and an ambulance (heard someone whispering about a murder).. . first actual police I'd seen the whole trip.    

no pics of the food (or the police action) because my phone was in the room.

 

but Jason did take the following pic for me, as I decided I REALLY needed a pic of me tickling her armpits

 

 

 

and that's my day in Oslo!

tomorrow?  up early, and out, as our park is Tusenfryd . . to check out the newest coaster, Storm-the Dragon Legend, and the famous Speed Monster!

[bert425]

Day 12: Wednesday, June 14th part 1: a full day starting off at TusenFryd in Norway, and ending in Sweden (checking into the FABULOUS Grand Curiousa Hotel at Liseberg)

pulling up into the parking lot (which oddly seems to be just off the freeway. . like in the center of the freeway), you can spot the main entrance. .and the long escalators to get up into the park.
 

carefully crossing the road, and seeing parts of Speed Monster peeking out thru the trees/grass/hills

halfway up to the main gates, looking back at the parking lot and the freeway/roads we just came from.

 

still more uphill to get to the main gate, but peeking thru the trees ahead is "Thundercoaster" - a Vekoma woodie (yeah)

at the main gates now, and looking up at the just incredible entrance - yes, the escalators take you up, under & thru Speed Monster - the park's Intamin Launched coaster.

while waiting for our park guides to meet us, I wandered a little and took some pics of the entrance gates

this little guy is the park's mascot.   I asked and he's supposed to be a Centipede. . .but I never did get a clear answer why in this ticket booth chachki s/he looks like a beaver with bear paws. . .LOL. . .is it the Centipede wearing a bear costume for Halloween?

 

TPR group pic before going thru the main gates and starting off our day at the park.

and here we go. . . . I kinda felt like Porky Pig walking into the Looney Tunes logo. . . . in other words, I LOVED this.  (and I'll bet it's amazing at night)

looking down as we're going up. .with Speed Monster track above us.

as Robb says:  "TWISTYYYYYY"

and top of the entrance Escalators?   a Double Decker Carousel (as it should be).

this coaster is fairly new (2022) and is called "HuriHuri" - a Zamperla spinning coaster.

a pic of the park map - click to embiggen - showing off the new section "Dragonville", and the new Roller Coaster they were excited to show off for us:  Storm: the Dragon Legend.

what the park does NOT show, are the elevation changes - which are pretty extreme within the park, as you'll see in the pics.

 

a better look at ThunderCoaster as we head up to DragonVille

and HuriHuri's track

''

thruout the park are little playgrounds / rest areas.

it's a strange park - you can tell it was just a plopped down collection of rides at some point, but they seem to be making an effort to create themed areas, and become a more Theme Park rather than an amusement park.

even if some of the theming doesn't really make sense (example:  this area was close to HuriHuri - which is themed to Polynesian Islands. . .but right next to it - you can see in the background - is "SpinSpider" a giant Pendulum. . themed to. . . a spider?    ok.

but, I mean, they seem to be moving towards a more immersive "theme park" experience. 

and the setting of the park is absolutely gorgeous - even if the hills will wear you out!

more views of ThunderCoaster

weird little gnome/troll guy (on the right. . that's me on the left ) at the head of a fun little walk thru area.

and as we come around the corner to the very top section of the park?  peeking out are some of the tracks for Storm.   The brand new coaster that had just officially opened just weeks before our visit.

just a little bit further up was the top section of the park - the new area "Dragonville"  . . . .as Storm is a brand new coaster, they were having a bit of issue getting the kinks worked out for us (as explained the coaster typically does two full cycles, but for us they were going to adjust it to run 3 cycles). . so they weren't quite ready for us and asked us to hang about for a little bit.

no problem, plenty of stuff to look at while waiting.

like this drop tower - which seemed much higher than it was, due to it's placement in a higher section of the park.

and this Adorbs little seal fountain.

speaking of adorbs - this area appeared to be fairly new as well, and I have to think that it's to give the kiddos something to do while the Adults are in the DragonVille section on the thrill rides.

it's a section featuring the Park's mascot (whos name I never did get, or at least can't recall). . with some kiddie rides there as well.

we had some time, so I decided to check the area out!

not creepy at all!

I still wanted to hug him

oh.. maybe his name is "FRYD". . . as the sign does say, Welcome to Fryd's house.

so that's it. . his name was Fryd!

and this is how he lives.

honestly, this is pretty amazing for a kids section.  We didn't really see any littler children at the park today (mainly High School groups), but I could see the kids just being in awe of this.

we got the "good to go" signal from our park guides and the group headed up to the newly opened Dragonville section of the park.

Storm just towers over this area. .and it looks pretty impressive.

there's also an interactive (very Disney-like) Sword in the Stone attraction / photo-op.

so I mean. . of course!
 

let's get some shots of Storm: the Dragon Legend testing.

It's a launched Gerstlauer suspended coaster with 3 inversions (meaning on a regular cycle, you invert 6 times, as it goes twice)

the design on the train is lovely. . . really liked it.

one maintenance cycle for clearance, and we were good to go!

Look at these smiles!   I have to guess this was the 1st ride, and we hadn't experienced it yet.

my take?   well. . I liked it, but it was rough.  as in "thank goodness it doesn't have over the shoulder restraints" or it would be a major headbanger.

it was really shaky. . . almost like it had been operating for years and hadn't been maintained, and nothing like a brand new coaster that I was expecting to be rather smooth.

to be fair, the park seemed to be having issues with it for months after we rode, and it probably just took them a while to work out/ adjust the kinks, as I've heard it's been running much much better.        But for us, after this morning ERT, I didn't ride it again this day.

but it IS a good fit for the park to give them another thrill coaster, and seemed to be drawing the teens to this section once the park officially opened today.

I believe I have Elissa to thank for this pic.

and I'm glad I rode it a few times. 

^big smile. . it actually WAS smoother in the front.

 

if I recall, the group was going to head over to Thundercoaster next, but since the park had opened up while we were riding Storm, instead we all split up and made plans to ride ThunderCoaster a bit later in the day.

I had heard from chatting with one of our guides, that the park's most popular ride was SpinSpider - the giant pendulum, and we should head there.
 

so we did.

and yup..it really did seem that almost everyone who had come into the park went right over to that line.

so some of us hopped in the line to get a ride.

not Big Mike tho - he doesn't like "spinny rides". . . . so I can thank him for this picture

(that's my "I just rode Storm 3 times" face.. . LOL)

we then backtracked past Dragonville into the Western Section (every park must have one!)   

mainly just Stores and bathrooms over here in this smaller area. . but some photo ops

yee-haw!!!

 

and one of the best settings for a Vekoma Jr coaster that I've personally seen.

this is "Western-Expressen" a powered coaster. . .and yes, if it looks like it's on the side of a mountain?  well, because it kinda is.
 

 

Since I hadn't been allowed on the Legoland Carousel (and since no one yelled not to) I hopped on this for a quick pic.

a better look at Western-Expressen. . . it appears to be a portable version that maybe was for Carnivals?   tho it's pretty set in place here at TusenFryd

Pic courtesy of the ride operator. . . it's a mini-TPR takeover!

and at the bottom of the hill were Western-Expressen is located?   (where also is the entrance to the parks small waterpark section - not open today) is one of the things that enthusiasts MUST do if they come to this park:

Den aller minste   AKA:  Teeny-Weeny

the smallest roller-coaster in the world (at least it bills itself that way)

Adults ARE allowed to ride, tho only two per train.

but I mean. . you HAVE to, right?

whee!!!

that path behind in this pic?  leads back up to where the Western Express coaster was.. don't look that steep does it?  not until you're walking it!  LOL

From Teeny-Weeny there's this path, that goes WAY down to the Norse section (I'm guessing that's what it's called) where there are 3 rides.

it's very kind of the park to put times on the sign, so one doesn't make the trek only to find things closed!

about that trek.

yeah.

oh. . dont' get me wrong.. it's SO worth it.

I'd say this was easily my favorite section of the whole park, and all three rides down here are great.   

but wow.. what a walk back up . .so we stayed down here for a bit and rode things multiple times.

Thor's Hammer is the park's dark ride. .and tho the sign at the top of the path said it opened at Noon, a sign down here said it opened at 11 with the rest of the area.   
mechanical issues were going on tho, so we couldn't ride it just yet.

the turnaround from the super-splash has a sea-monster in it.

and the 3rd ride down here is called Ragnarok. . . a whitewater rapids.

I absolutely LOVED that they had a "layout map" of the ride to help you get into the theming of it.

oh, and they are *not* messing around. . . this ride rivaled RiverQuest at Phantasialand as the wettest rapids ride I've ever been on

ready to get wet!

and so are they!

and so we did. . . and once we were wet?  we got right back inline and rode it again.  Yes, it was that good!

I think this pic is thanks to Brad or maybe Chuck?

Jason got some cold water down the back of his pants, I would guess from his expression here

already wet?  why not, let's hit the SuperSplash

Absolutely no idea. . . I blame it on Nordic water from Ragnarok made us nuts.

a boat full of confused Nordic boys, wondering why I'm taking their picture  (was to get the Nessie on the front of the boat). . .
 

checking back in on Thor's Hammer. . it was now operating so we got in line.

a dark ride with a minimum age suggested???

YES PLEASE!!

they would not allow any photography on the ride, tho I had permission to snap a few pics in the queue.
 

So at least can see the ride vehicles.

and based on Jon's headgear, I'm guessing this was in 3D, tho I don't recall that.

I do remember I liked it and think we rode a few times while down here.

for some reason, when you exit thru the giftshop from Thor's Hammer. . there's a giant Sword.

so maybe the hammer head fell off, and now it's a sword?  I dunno.

my souvenir I bought at the Thor's Hammer Gift Shop. .. nope, ALSO not a hammer.    but a fan.

and not a TusenFryd branded fan. . just a fan.

but it kept me cool, so was worth it (and thanks to seeing sMisty with a fan, I had the idea to get one too).

 

. . . to be continued. . .

[bert425]

Day 12: Wednesday, June 14th part 2: more from our day at TusenFryd in Norway

 

seems my recollection was correct in that the group met over by Thundercoaster next, to let us get some rides in.

based on our faces?  I'd say I took this pic at the entrance sign AFTER we rode.

yup. .this is a Vekoma woodie, with Timberliner trains. 

and if you think that *sounds* like it would be a jackhammering not comfortable ride?  yup, you'd win that prize.

^ here's a look at the trains

and here's a look at one of the games that was set up across from the entrance to the coaster - where several of us after riding 2-3 times, went out to take pics or just wait for the Masochists in the group to finish riding during the ERT the park gave us.

and no, I never really did understand what the point of this was, or why the "mazes" are set up in ways that look like they are numbers.  (and I asked the operator and she had no idea eitehr. . she said you just shoot the ball with water to make it move).   
 

as noted, it really is just a lovely park.   tho very hilly.

the coaster LOOKS great. . as shame it's so rough.

check out those gritted teeth on this turn!

in particular Hawk (2nd from left on bottom)

after our time on Thundercoaster, we only had a few hours left, so we split up again, and a bunch of us headed over to the park's flume ride.

it uses the terrain pretty well, and has lots of neat little WTF? touches.

^WTF?

^adorable. . but WTF?

and then it was time for lunch.

I think most of our group - along with most of the other folks in the park today (mainly High Schoolers it seemed) went to the sit down Italian place for lunch.

i actually remembered to take a pic of my meal - Lasagna - and I recall it being pretty decent.    

As I mentioned in responding to Erik's stop at this park tho, they seemed a bit overwhelmed by having so many folks in at the same time, and the ordering system was just an absolute cluster.  

from what I could tell:  in theory you chose a numbered table, then went up to the "food court" area, and chose what you wanted, gave the cashier your table number, paid and then they bring it to your table.    

in reality, they had people ordering form every open register, not really in order, and when the food came up no one brought it out, and you had to go up and ask if something was sitting for a certain table (which the chefs didn't know) so you just had to ask what things were, and assuming you remembered what you ordered then you could say "oh that's mine, and take it"   

I'm sure myself as a dumb American made it even more confusing for them. . but I will say Kudos to the staff here, and the park, who tried their best to serve everyone correctly, and again the food was decent

and out front of the restaurant?  a lifesize FRYD I could hug.

 

then it was onward to hit the sections of the park we had not been in yet, and the remaining 3 coasters.

HuriHuri apparently means "SpinAround" in Maori. . . and it's a Zamperla Spinner.

the lady running this was absolutely adorable, and gave us the spiel as if we were little children riding our first roller coaster (and I'm not being sarcastic. .it was awesome and she was fantastic)

she even sent us around a 2nd time when the kids riding in another car asked if we could go again.

 

and then it was downhill on the other side of the park.. where there used to be a section that seemed to be themed (or was in the middle of getting themed) to Americana/Route 66.

that's Loopen, a Vekoma Tornado in the background

Bumper cars

 

what appeared to be a "driving school" attraction for the little ones. . but didn't seem to have any operators, or vehicles.  and the building in the back USED to be the main store for the park, but was now closed and being converted into something (but can't recall what)

 

Looking out towards the Highway/front of Park from Loopen's queue, nice view of Speed Monster

again from the Loopen queue.  

Nice overview of the section, and the queue line for Speed Monster is over there next to the white fence. . it wraps around the outside of the flying carousel/wave swinger

not very busy over here.. . the whole park was pretty empty, tho we were here on a Weekday.

the two exceptions were really SpinSpider, and Speed Monster - which had short lines most of the day.

since not much queue, Johnathan and I waited for back row.

and then headed over to the park's main attraction - at least for me - Speed Monster; an Intamin launched coaster with 3 inversions.

I adored this, and for my $$ best coaster in the park, and 2nd best ride (only beaten by how much I loved Ragnarok rapids ride)

Flying Carousel, from the Speed Monster line.

so smooth, and super-re-rideable.

Big Mike and Jason in front row!

Jon & Ryan in front row!

Bert & Jason in back row!

 

and Bert & Jonathan in front row!

(yeah, we rode a few times while here, as line was moving really fast.  even tho we had some end of day ERT on it in a couple of hours)
 

going back towards the main entrance - I wanted to get a park map, which I hadn't seen in any shops, so it was suggested I go back down to the front gate to pick one up - we stopped for a Carousel ride, on the parks nice two level carousel.

and I guess I'm rubbing off on folks, as several who I'd been hanging out with today were game to ride with me.

 

as usual. . in my happy place

Jason looking down on me tho. . .

due to it's placement, one can get some just lovely views from the Carousel

^ the front Escalators heading down

 

Big Mike loves his horsie too

headed down to the front gate to find a park map souvenier

it's really cool how Speed Monster goes overhead when you're on the Escalator

Map in hand, we wandered and enjoyed the last hour in the park and rerode things we wanted to.

SUPER DIG!!!

but soon enough, it was getting time for park close, and we all headed back up to Dragonville for end of day ERT on Storm (followed by some ERT on Speed Monster)

having ridden Storm this morning - and not really caring for it - I chose to take pics, and shop in the gift store while the rest of the group rode.

why yes, I'll have a "nude exotic" please.

I also finally found something with the park branding. . this adorable (and soft) bear that's wearing a TusenFryd shirt.

 

still no luck getting the sword from the stone.

Mr Bear failed at it too.

there IS another attraction in Dragonville - this Haunted walkthru, called "the Dungeon". . but it wasn't open today.  Only staffed on weekends apparently.

no worries tho.. . the group having had their fill of Storm, Robb led us down to Speed Monster for our final ERT at the park.

look at these happy faces!

these pics are either from Robb, Elissa, Brad, AJ, or Andy. . . I know they aren't mine, because I rode every single train during ERT on this.   as noted, I loved this coaster.

and then we said our goodbyes to the park staff, and we headed down the Escalator and back to the bus. .

where we proceeded to continue heading to Sweden for the hotel for the evening - the brand new: the Grand Curiousa!

while someone helpfully "fixed" pictures and shared with us all. . I loved this one so snagged it. . wish I could recall who did this. . LOL. . . probably Robb.

 

 

 

playing on Facebook during the evening drive, it was noticed that TusenFryd had posted about the stop by TPR to the park.

rather cool. . .   I'm part of a gang

[bert425]

Day 12: Wednesday, June 14th Evening - arriving in Gothenburg Sweden (checking into the FABULOUS Grand Curiousa Hotel at Liseberg)

crossing over into Sweden.. huh.. looks a lot like Norway

with more cows!

ah. . we're coming into a more modern city area. . .  (Gothenburg)

this is the stadium, nearby to the park, where Metallica would be performing on our 2nd night here.    They were so loud, and it was so close, we could hear songs clearly from our hotel rooms.   it was pretty damn cool, and some in our group even scored day of tix and went to the show.

other side of the arena

and coming into view, the front gates of Liseberg, with the iconic drop tower, and the ferris wheel.

a Dinosaur?  what the heck?

turns out this building (and the one in the next pic with the geometric wooden shape) are part of an incredible interactive science museum called the Universeum - that Big Mike and I would visit in two days, as it opened up a couple of hours before the park opened, so we had time for a visit).

you can see under the "T" shaped building - a new addition to the Universeum it turned out - the tracks for the Funicular, which sadly only has the tracks left, as they removed it when the built the new building.  so elevators now get you up to that wooden shaped area (which is being converted to a Planetarium)

but they left the tracks as they thought they were cool looking feature on the outside of the building (I asked and was told)
 

I spot a coaster. . that would be Valkyria, the park's dive coaster.

 

and across the tracks on the other side of the street, there is the brand new Hotel "Grand Curiousa" - where we would be staying for 3 nights.  

it's not only an amazing hotel, but it's basically attached to the park.

 

unfortunately there was a LOT of construction going on near the Hotel (some of it the Liseberg indoor waterpark which is right next door to the hotel), and some of it a car accident. . . which caused our bus to get stuck in traffic and have to do a bit of a detour.

it added some extra time on the bus, but gave us some wonderful "backstage" views of the park that probably aren't often seen. . so enjoy these pics taken from the bus:

 

train is actually on the track in this one - going into the final brake run.
 

Looking up from underneath Balder

and Balder cresting the lift hill.

eventually we made our way to the front of the hotel, and were ready to check in.

even the sign is interesting. . couldn't wait to see inside the hotel, with it's themed / old-timey but very modern floors, and playful rooms.

I said the hotel was basically in the park, right?   Here was the view from AJ and my room:   Valkryia & Balder views

and Thor's Hammer pendulum swinging into view occasionally too.

let's check out the room!  

Cheeky coathanger hands and fingers, along with regular pegs.

a large bathroom with a HUGE shower.

a separate area (that could be closed off with heavy drapes) that included two bunk beds - AJ claimed this space which gave him lots of privacy and some quiet from my snoring - to work on his pictures.  he took/takes some damn nice photos!

and I got the main "bed" in the room with the window.   putting the bathroom and a long hallway between my snoring and my roomie, so hopefully he got some good sleep here

 

out in the hallway - I think all of us on the TPR trip were on Floor 4, where the rooms seemed to have a Vintage Amusement Park theme. 

but the hallways on the floors were wonderfully quirky, and if you didn't particularly want to stay in your room?  there were tons of places to sit, and things to explore.

amazing chandelier of "vintage junk" suspended all the way down the main atrium.

deciding to take the steps down from 4th floor (mainly because there's a really cool slide from the 2nd floor).

some of the decor around the 3rd floor. . .still very "vintage quirky"

a "Birdcage" loveseat between the 2nd floor and the main lobby.

the side entrance - that will be facing the indoor waterpark.. with a lovely Chandelier.

some decor in the lobby. . .

including a full size Carousel in the buffet/restaurant area!

sadly was for children, and ONLY children.. so not able to ride, even if I had a child volunteer to go with me.  

it was ok tho, as I enjoyed myself immensely just taking way too many pictures of it (only gonna share a couple here tho, you're welcome)

 

back into the lobby/main bar. . you can see the "quirky" decorating continues thruout the lobby area

around this time, some of us were starting to get munchies, so while some ate in the restaurant in the hotel, some of us headed out to find food, and we managed to find a place that served Greek/Mediterranean Poboys.   but we enjoyed the walk and I loved the area around the park.

when we got back, we sat in the bar - which sadly shut down right when we got there (think it might have been 11pm when it closed?).. but the staff didnt' mind if we hung out in there (tho I think Jason and Jonathan went up to the rooftop bar, but I felt underdressed for that so stayed in the lobby and got to see these freaky robot busboys.

they were SO freaky, and polite, and spoke if you got in front of them, and asked you to move out of the way. . LOL

the hotel also has, attached to the front desk, a 24 hour gift shop.  Which sold all kinds of snacks, and souvenirs from the park.

note:  if the front desk clerk tells you "SURE!! go ahead and ring the bell". . . dont' believe them.   that bell is so loud, it reverberated thru the whole lobby for a good 45 seconds,  and remember it was after 11pm.    I was a bit horrified, but the Desk Clerk was very amused.

 

an example of what you can get in the giftshop.

 

oh. . we HAVE to go up the steps now. . because it's late enough, there aren't a lot of kiddos around. .and we can get access to . . .

the SLIDE !!!

 

yup.. my fat ass is gonna try it!

graceful!

but wheeeeeee!!!

even talked Jason into giving it a go

one last wander around the lobby area, as it's quiet so can get decent pics. . .

 

back up to the room to crash. . . the view from the room was so nice at night!

and with that, it was off to bed. . .as tomorrow was our first of two full days at the amazing Liseberg !

oh, a bonus pic, taken by, I think, Jason.    while we were waiting for the counter guy to make our sandwiches - this little tattooed Swede started flirting HARD with me.   
we talked about his duck (laying on the seat behind him) that he had won, and was a little embarrassed about, and he told me he was waiting for his bus to head home.

but made it VERY clear he was ok to stay if I wanted to invite him to hang out. . . . LOL.. . it was very nice getting flirted with, as I liked his tatts.   so it was a perfect capper to a perfect day!   

(and no, I didn't' know a pic had been taken until it got sent to me later that evening at the hotel).  

[bert425]

Not a lot of Swag from TusenFryd. . they just don't have a lot of branded material avail. for sale.

but I did pick up these:

my non-branded fan from Thor's Hammer Gift Shop

 

my super soft "Storm" t-shirt wearing park bear (with a park logo tag)

 

and a photo magnet from Speed Monster (which is how I had permission to snap the pic of the photo screen in my update above, as I bought a magnet version of the pic)

 

[bert425]

Day 13: Thursday, June 15th part 1 - 1st of two full days at Liseberg

1st full day at this bucket-list park for me, and I was super excited.    We had gotten to sleep in, as the park didn't open until  noon (if I'm recalling correctly), although we were meeting our park guide at the gates at 10:30 for some ERT and other fun stuff this morning.

 

while waiting to meet up with others I was gonna share breakfast with, I went outside and a few steps over to the Hotel Entrance gates of the park.

I LOVE peeking into an empty park. . it's so cool.  In this pic you can see the Disk-o (themed to Asian stuff. . I didn't ride), the top of Atmosfear, the top of of the "rolling planes" ride, the log flume (straight ahead), and Valkryia on the right (the park's dive coaster)

even tho it was still well before park open, the Disk-O had started testing.

a peek back at the hotel from the front gate - up those steps was the Carousel (I wasn't allowed to ride) and the breakfast buffet/restaurant.

and out towards the street was this great sign, which I had somehow missed the prior night, even tho we clearly walked right by it going to and from the place we got the sandwiches.

 

this MUST be the Brunch buffet options. . as I have this pic of food mixed in, and that's the meal I had this morning.   looks good, doesn't it?

and then it was time to meet our guide at the gate, Pontus - whom many in the group knew from prior visits.

he was a genuinely nice guy and seemed to be thrilled to show the group around, and hang out with Robb

the uniquely named "Flume Ride". . . tho actually, it's pretty unique on how it uses the terrain of the park, with multiple lifts and the finale being a drop, followed by a drop, and then another drop.   

it was really good.

we'd come back to this area in a little bit. . but Luna Park is the new section they have re-done to place as the centerpiece a Vekoma family boomerang.

this is the "stairs" entrance to climb up to that area. .

looking overhead at the parks dive coaster, Valkyria as we headed towards our 1st ride in the park. . .

so much twisted track. . . this is where we were headed:   Helix! a 7 inversion, launched Mack coaster.
 

but how to get to it??  the track is all over the side of the hilled area, interacting with multiple other rides. . .

so we kept walking. . . loved this Bumper Car sign. .

absolutely gorgeous park. . you'd really never know that it's in the middle of a city.    it truly is pretty immersive once you enter the gates (tho with so many tall rides, you frequently are high enough to see the boarders of the park)

on the left is the station for the park's classic Schwarzkopf - and what he considered one of his best designs, Lisebergbanan

going towards the bottom of the biggest hill in the park, and behind me is Helix, and that tower is Atmos-Fear - the parks drop tower.

and the entrance to the kid's area (and it's a very large kids area, with some fun family rides too).  the park's mascots are bunnies (green bunnies). .and there are a LOT of them.   I really couldn't keep track of them, and in the dark ride where they are all present?  was totally confused as who is who. 

but - the kids seemed to know exactly who did what, and who the bad guy was. . so maybe I'm just too old to retain that info?   LOL. . regardless. . lots of mascots!

ah. .the entrance!  

wait.. for both rides?

 

actually it's an escalator..that gets you up to the level of several rides.

and it's a long escalator...

and at the top?

 

wait. .this isn't the top. . this is a MID level. . which if you exit and go to the right there are tons of paths and walkways, and if you go to the left, is the newish Luna Park area as well as a terrifyingly placed Screamin Swing (which runs a very short program, but it's on the edge of the hill. . so you are REALLY high up)

looking towards the Screamin Swing, and Luna Park area. .

but we kept going forward into ANOTHER set of Escalators to get to the top. .

I really enjoyed that the park put tons of historic pictures, so one can see the history of the park, and older attractions, as taking the long ride up the hill.

and you exit out the top right at Atmos Fear.

(apparently there was a shooting ride, Desperados, here as well.. but I never even saw it, and so missed it despite two days in the park!. . .).

but we went to the right for the Helix line

 

 

which , by the way, is INSANE. . . the main line wraps in and out, and around itself. . proudly looking like an MC Escher drawing.

tho I did walk the queue once, just to experience it?  luckily we had this parks version of flash pass, so we were able to use the quick entrance on many rides

 

how about some pics from our 1st ERT session at Liseberg?
think these are mostly courtesy of Elissa

 

Pontus and Robb (and me not realizing a pic was being taken. . LOL)

Myself & sMisty in front, and Doug & Hawk behind

Jason & Big Mike. . and behind, is Chris, Steve, and Barry

Chuck & Jere in front, Jason & Big Mike in back.

myself chatting with Pontus during a quick break - this ride is INTENSE, and tho I loved it.. I didn't ride every cycle, taking a 1 train break after every couple of rides.

he really is quite nice and I enjoyed talking to him.

taking another break. .

Jon getting a Zen ride, all alone on the train

Daniel and Andy in front row. . . (and Sarah behind them)

'

after a good while on Helix, Pontus walked us down the side path over towards Luna Park. . . where they have a Nebulaz

but we were here for this. . the park's newest coaster - Luna

that white track is part of Luna. . and again, love how hilly this park is, and the attention to detail , with the playground to the right of the queue, made to look like Victorian birdcages.

looking at some of Luna's layout.. tho I think SOME of that white track might also be Lisebergbanan - as I mentioned, many of the rides here interact with each other.

the Luna Station is beautiful.

and the trains are retro-awesome-ness!

whee!!!

 

Kristen doesn't look too thrilled with her ride (Neither does Brad, or sMisty), but Jason and AJ liked it.

my thoughts?  it's a nice family coaster. . . it certainly wasn't may favorite new Vekoma I have ridden on a TPR tour, but it was nice.
(I never went back to ride it again, only riding it during this stop in two days at the park. . so that just tells you there were other things I liked better. . . but it's a nice fit, and a good family ride)

 

the Luna Park area also has a two - tiered Carousel. . .would I be allowed to ride this one??

and this "flying cycle/side car" ride I had seen at several parks last year in Europe

and also "EroSpin". . a "flipping plane" type ride, that didn't seem to get a lot of speed and made it difficult to flip.  BUT it gives fantastic views of the park from 1/2 way up the hill.

some really nice theming in this new area. .

but time to go back down to head over to our next stop. . as the park was about to open.

someone certainly cheered up now

that giant pendulum is called Loke  (as in Loki, Thor's brother)

you get up close to many of the rides here. . . and it's just lovely. . this is part of Valkrie. .

but we were headed straight ahead. . .to Balder

the gates had been opened, and some park goers were hovering around waiting for the rides to open. . .

we headed thru the main entrance to Blader, but then Pontus unlocked a gate on the left, and brought us inside the coaster!

he handed out markers, and invited us to sign the coaster, which is apparently a tradition.  But as it was my 1st time ever at the park, I just thought it was rather cool.

I was thinking about how much my late Spouse loved wooden coasters, so of course, I namechecked him in my addition)

 

here was Robb's addition. . .

what's that noise??   aha. . coaster is open to the public!

we were cut loose to enjoy the park, and told when to meet back for evening ERT (which would be on Balder and Valkyria). .and the group split up to go explore.

I can't recall if any of us went to Valkyria. . but I DO know many of us went right up the stairs to Balder. . .

I'd heard for so long how this is a top ranked coaster in the world, and boy did the reports undersell it.

yes, it meanders a bit (repeating some of it's "tricks"). .but it is PACKED full of floater air.  and I love floater air.

this knocked Wodan out of my top spot, and dropped it down to 3 (Mystic Timbers is still #2 for woodies for me).   I loved this coaster.

the TPR gang I was hanging with for most of the day:  clockwise from back Left: Big Mike, Jonathan, Jason, Jon, Ryan, David.

and was still there, when the next train came back with Sara and Robb, so got a nice pic of them too.

close to Balder was Loke. . . it's no Thor's Hammer . . it's Loke. . and it had an Axe in the queue.  But the Thor's Hammer we rode the prior day at Tusenfryd had a Sword in the queue. . so why not an Axe?   hmmmmm?

gets quite a bit of height, and I recall liking this, tho SpinSpider the prior day was a bit more intense.

 

but Loke has "gentleman tickler" seats. . . so I guess it gets/loses points for that - depending on your preference.
 

next door to Loke is the park's whitewater rapids ride. 

It didnt' get me too wet, but it did do things that I've only seen in overseas parks - namely push out multiple rafts one after the other, so there's a "bumper car" effect when lots of rafts end up in a wider section of the ride.

it's a fairly long ride, I recall. . and there was a lot of it "hidden" from the pathways.

thanks Big Mike for the pic. .

let's go check out other areas of the park we haven't been to yet. . .  again, it's easy to forget you're in a theme park in some places here.

what's this??   we stumbled across a Hall of Mirrors!

Now you see Ryan. . . .

now you don't

hey. . it makes me look like i feel sometimes

but many of us still got quite the amusement out of this attraction. .

Oompa-Oompa-Oompa-De-Do. . . .

crossing back underneath Valkyria's drop/1st inversion. .

ooo. .an Octopus themed to Americana Jukebox?  sure...

it ran pretty intense program. . . I enjoyed it and think I ended up riding it a few times the next day too.

I am NOT a Bumper Car person - I'm always concerned it will cause issues with my bad back.   So I avoid them.
 

but I had no issue taking pictures while the other TPR folks I was with bashed the hell out of each other (and kids!) during the long cycle.

just look at the glee on Jonathan's face as he targets someone. . .

getting aggression out, there was this calming view. ..that's our hotel back there, and Valkyria's train going up the lift hill.

we had heard a new dark ride had opened in the kid section, so we headed over there and searched for it.   It was kind of hidden. . way back in the corner, next to a couple of carnival games.    but we eventually found it.

very well themed pre-show - involving an elevator where you head underground. . .

I think this might have been a pic from the 2nd or 3rd time I rode this. . . I LOVED this stupid thing. .and not just because it made no sense to me.

something about a bad (*but not evil, just bad) magician who wants to do . . . SOMETHING. . to the bunnies that are the mascots?  but not sure what or why.

oh, and there's pooping.

a LOT of pooping. . . . outhouses with pooping bunnies, and a pooping magician, all thruout the ride. 

why?   I dunno. . but it made me giggle.

is it a coaster?  it's got a track.  and a lift hill?

and lots of animatronics.

why was he licking the pipe?  and why does he have a frog tongue if he's a bunny?

that's ok. .because there's giant ice cream cones...  for some reason.

take the tunnel!

no!!! you turned the wrong way. . .

Trick Track. . ok, I'm gonna count this as a coaster!

said evil magician guy. .

and some of the pooping!!  look at all them outhouses!

More pooping!!!

well. . if they're eating THAT much cake?  maybe that's why they are pooping?

who is the white rabbit?  I dunno. the mascots all SEEMED to be green.

and one of them got the magic!

speaking of magic??  

of COURSE I got to meet one of the mascots

this is one of the two smaller coasters in the kiddie area.   I think this was the true "kiddie" one tho.

I had no interest in riding it.

but some I was with had no shame. . so I documented it for them:

 

Other than Valkyria, there was only one other "coaster" left to hit - and that was the Schwarzkopf - Lisebergbanan

so we headed there. . . lovely art deco station here too

'

tho I still am not quite sure why the trains are themed to "trains". . . but regardless. . it's a great ride, really smooth and tho no inversions?  it "loops" around the hillside in big, sweeping loops, that makes it quite a fun ride.

 

day 1 to be continued. . .

 

 

[bert425]

Day 13: Thursday, June 15th part 2 - 1st of two full days at Liseberg

 

after our rides on the Schwarzkopf we headed over to a back/quiet area of the park, another one we had not been to yet. 

back here were several restaurants, a bandstand (with a large area for dancing), and the park's haunt.  which apparently used to be an upcharge but now is included.

we skipped the line and went to the quick pass entrance, which requires one to go up this spiral staircase (oddly, this was also noted as the handicapped entrance, tho I didn't see any obvious elevator, so maybe it's a test?  to do the haunt you must be able to navigate these stairs?   I mean the haunt is very large, and well done, with lots of uneven areas)

it was themed very "creepy" and the ghouls at the gate kept yelling "no cameras!!!"  "keep your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you"  - mainly yelling at the folks in the general line, across the entrance from us

she was lovely and posed for a picture with me tho.

nice view from up here of the dancehall I mentioned, and across the way is the Ferris Wheel near the main entrance to the park.

the ghouls that were working the general admission side of the line, were also happy to pose for a picture with me (before I put the phone away)

since no pictures allowed in the house (you wouldn't have a free hand to take them anyways, as they make you "conga line" in groups of 8-10 people), I don't have any from inside.

but a REALLY well done haunt, with some stunning set-pieces - my favorite being the flooded ballroom that's sinking into the swamp beneath.

I enjoyed it so much, that we went thru it again later - this time via the general line, since there was no wait anyways and I wanted to see it - when we came back for our dinner reservation in the "Haunted Restaurant" that the park had added on beneath the Haunt.

leaving this area, you can really see the amount of rides just crammed up on that hillside. . and seeing the top of the Screamin Swing reminded us we hadn't ridden it yet.

so headed that way.

the swing over the pathway is nice, as you come so close to Helix and the other coaster  . but that swing over the hillside is terrifying!

and while you're in the queue for the Screamin Swing, just look how close you are to the Helix and Lisebergbanan coasters

whee!

y'all. . Helix is SO good. . .

the view from the Screamin Swing QUEUE!

ah. .we forgot to ride the flume, as we hadn't been back towards the hotel today, really. . .but we crossed right over it, leaving the Luna Park area.

Speaking of Luna. . .  but we didn't' ride it again, instead we went and hopped in the line for the flume.

LOL.. they sell ponchos in the line - but the machine was broken.

it was pretty popular. .and this is probably the longest line we waited in all day (If I recall there was some miscommunication and our reserved time had been cancelled as the ride went down, but when it came back up there were no times left for the day. . so we just got in line).   wasn't' too bad a wait tho, maybe 20 minutes?

whee!  (I bought this as a magnet. .again, why I was able to get a pic of the screen)

 

we were gonna meet back up in a little bit for dinner at the Haunted restaurant. . so the smaller group of guys I was with split off to go ride coasters (Helix again, I think), and Big Mike and I went to try to ride the Carousel.

 

this is my happy face when the operator told us we could ride!

LOOK how happy I am..

I don't ,know WHY I love Carousels so much. . I just know that I do.

admiring the Nebulaz from my horse. . but my attention was pulled by the operator who came by to tell me I wasn't allowed.

what???  he had told us we were allowed to ride.

ride, yes.   but not on a horse.   Horses were for kids ONLY         we could ride in the carriage or on the bench if we wanted to.

yes, I was sad..but I really wasn't too upset as had already gotten my pics ON the horse anyways. . so I tucked my tail and climbed into the carriage with Big Mike.

it didn't even rock. . . boo.. . but at least it had nekkid cherubs on it.

see?   I can smile thru the mild disappointment.   and at the end of the day, I DID get to ride a carousel here.  so it counts as a win.

Helix doing it's thing. .

oh.. a big concert going on tonight.. .it drew a lot of folks to the park, but not really to the rides.

we walked all the way up to the main front entrance (I was trying to get my hands on a park map, and had success in getting a few)

the front is very nice, and they have a big music hall up here too, but seems they only use it for very special events.

park map listing the themed areas, and the attractions within them.

click to embiggen.

 

a very nice sculpture garden around the fancy music hall.. as well as those paths up the side of the hill to explore.

here was the advertisement for the bands they were hosting over the Summer.  

I recognized a couple of the names.

tho the band tonight - that drew that large crowd - was one I wasn't familiar with:  Bolaget

apparently they charge a separate ticket to get into this area, hence it being walled off with queues to go in.

 

as it seemed most folks on this side of the park were at the concert, we took advantage to go back into the kiddie section and ride a few things that earlier had fairly long lines.

such as the teacup boat ride. .

I think one of the mascots is a baker, possibly Berg?  so as far as I could tell, this functioned as the mascot's themed ride, until the dark ride went in.

I mean. .the mascots DO seem to be represented on this ride. . . even if just in Scarecrow form.

ohhh. . . there's an overhead ride I hadn't noticed before?    and it's running basically EMPTY???

I know where we're going next.

slow moving overhead ride, that let's one get some nice pictures for the win!!

and this pic was able to capture the junior coaster, Rabalder in the pic.

this funky ferris wheel was so unique.. I was a bit bummed it was down during our visit.

really a great overview of the whole Kids area.

and a nice, relaxing ride.

LOL. . no, I did NOT ride this.

but the one that was more like a coaster - the last park on the trip?  yeah, that one I did ride (spoiler)

it's hard to take a bad picture of this park. . in particular the hillside rides.

wow.. got Atmos Fear actually running!   (and Helix there too)

yeah. .about the only level of spin I was wanting to do at the moment.  

just a photo op cup.

it was time for our dinner reservation. .so we met up with the others and headed into the Haunted pub.

the outside menu wasn't in English, but they had translations inside. 

it was pretty busy too, so I took that as a good sign that the food was good.

hey.. another table of TPR folks!   Chris, Hawk, Doug, Shane, and Eric

and the group I was with was just one table over

the English menu.

I ended up having the pork belly loaded fries.

the atmosphere in here is just great!  the lights flickered, there were creaking noises.. etc. .

 

jon got a fru-fru drink (so did I). .but they were really pretty good.

my pork belly loaded fries.  

it was so much food, I don't think I was able to finish it.  but I remember it was very tasty.

leaving the restaurant. .that deserted dance hall from earlier?  yeah, it was busy.   and got MORE packed the later it got.

letting the food digest a bit, I just wandered around and took some pics. .. like Valkyria on it's drop. .

and the wave swinger.

there were TONS of games like this, where one could win a giant box filled with candy.

but I was more intrigued by the ride behind it - called Mechanica.

it frightened me, but i was determined to ride it- tho not so soon after eating, so would save it till tomorrow.

but, I mean. . look at what this thing does!

it was getting close to our ERT time, so I headed over to near Valkyria and Balder, and checked out some of the games over here.

loved this "norse mythology" themed shooting gallery (with crossbows!)

and this "Fascination" type game, where you won a dragon by moving your roller-coaster.

no.. really.

the park was shutting down, and more TPR folks were showing up for our ERT meetup (hi Erik and Brad)

but we were starting on Valkyria. . and I used that as an excuse to take this pic - tho really I was just delighted by this man , who was covered in tattoos, and was schlepping around a giant box of Toblerone, while wearing a Peter Pan hat.   So I wanted to get a picture, because I really loved he had no shits to give.
 

had to lock up everything, but before I did, snapped a couple of quick pics of Valkyria's station. . *very* "Nordic"

and then after a few rides, we were over to Balder for final ERT of the night.

I loved this ride so much, that I rode every train dispatched for our ERT.   that's a rarity for me, but this ride was SO rerideable, I didn't take any breaks at all. .and just kept riding until they told us they had to close for the night.

I loved this one pretty much anywhere, tho the middle/front seemed to give the best floater air.

end of night pic, to thank the Crew, the park, and Robb/Elissa for the fantastic day!

and we headed back to the hotel thru the now empty park.  .

one final pic from Robb's rider cam on Balder that got sent to the group.

 

And with that. . I took a shower and crashed hard.   (tho I think some of the folks ended up going out to see Metallica this night, or go bar hopping)

it had been a really full day, with a TON of walking.  

and tomorrow was another full day at this fantastic park. . so time for bed for me.  (tho we could hear Metallica thru the windows)

[Nrthwnd]

Damn, I miss this park!!! Great first day there, Bert!

Yeah, I remember a lot of walking around, but it was worth it.

[bert425]

31 minutes ago, Nrthwnd said:

Damn, I miss this park!!! Great first day there, Bert!

Yeah, I remember a lot of walking around, but it was worth it.

 

 

thanks! 

 

LOL. .y'all like to comment while I'm adding commentary  

so now you have to go back and read!

[Electerik]

Bert, Bert, Bert...were you not paying attention during Underlandet at all?! It's all perfectly simple:

Måns Tråk is not a magician, he just a Grinch-type who hates amusement parks. Which is why he constantly tries to interfere with the work of the Green Bunnies (Kanina, Kanne, Lisen, Berg, Fixa, and Julius) as they (semi-secretly) run the park above (growing vegetables, making ice cream, filling balloons, powering the rides, and, um, pooping).

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Well, then, what's the deal with Kanne doing magic at the end there?" Oh, you silly boy! Kanne is a magician, and was the whole time!

And as for Julius, he's white because he's the Green Bunnies' cousin from the North Pole.

Duh.

 

[bert425]

out of curiosity, I looked up Bolaget (the band that was playing to that huge crowd at Liseberg). . .it's typical "club" music to me

 

but the guys DO seem to have a sense of humor.

a couple of the videos I found:
 

 

this one too is like a mini-movie (the music doesn't start until ~the 3 minute mark)
 

 

 

[bert425]

Day 14: Friday, June 16th part 1 (of 3) - Morning at Universeum before Liseberg park open

so after breakfast, we had several hours until the park opened for the day at Noon.

we also had the opportunity, for those who wanted to do it - to take a tour of the under-construction next door Indoor waterpark that Liseberg was building.

there was enough interest to split the TPR gang into two groups, and I was in group 2 at 11:30 am.  

as noted on the way into the area two nights prior, there were several museum-type options right along the side of the park.  And as it was only 9:30 or so, I was very interested in checking out an exhibit I had seen advertised regarding video-game Avatars.

I asked if anyone else was interested, and Big Mike was up for it. . so we headed down the street to go kill some time at a museum.
 

I believe this was the museum that had the Video Games Avatar exhibit. .

 

and they had a several pieces of Dia De Las Muertos "Mexi-Arte" on exhibit outside. . .

but unfortunately, the museum did not open until 11, and that was putting me too close to the WaterPark Tour. . so after a pic or two, we decided to just continue on and see what was int he next building.
 

the next building was a big complex called the "Universium". . . I had no idea what that was, but thru the windows facing the street, I saw the giftshop was open.   So we went in to browse the gift shop for a little bit.

it really looked like a Museum gift shop, so I started talking to the lady at the counter, and she filled me in on what the Universium is:   basically a Science Museum, but it's crossed with a zoo with live animals, and some interactive exhibits.  and it was opening just then at 10am.

this was the place that had the large dinosaur in the outdoor garden area we had passed two days ago when arriving at the hotel.

it sounded very interesting, but I mentioned we only had about an hour and 20 minutes and she frowned and told me. . "hang on a sec".

she came back and walked us over to one of the ladies at the front desk, and introduced us.

she repeated to her what I had told her, and the front desk lady said that really wasn't enough time to do the entire experience (it would take 3-4 hours she said), but since we were visiting from another Country, she would love to give us a look at what they have to offer.

and offered us tickets that were something like 70% off!   Mike and I looked at each other for just a moment, then immediately said yes, and I thanked her profusely and said we'd try to do as much as we could in the time we had avail. for our visit.
 

Bert & Big Mike - people persons. . who just by our sheer enthusiasm got offered a great deal to visit the Universeium!
 

the interesting architecture/stairwell they had added for the new building / new areas they had just completed - expanding the space by 50% she told me.

the very kind lady at the front desk had recommended that with limited time, we should not miss the Aquarium area, the Rain-forest Section, or the new walkway between buildings with an anime art exhibit.

so we headed to the Aquarium area first.      There were a TON of school groups here - which makes sense, it's a hands on science museum.  So I was very happy to see so many kids . . tho I didn't want to be in the sections they were in.   LOL

So we waited to see which way the big School Group went, and then we went the opposite direction

really large aquariums for inside a building that looked kinda like an office building from the outside.

I was very impressed.

including some large "walk thru" tanks.

 

heading into the Rain-forest area, there was a photo op. . . no really.

so of COURSE I did

 

and then we stepped thru the doors, and into the area for instant pit stains.   Oh my. . very humid and rain-foresty in here.

and met right away with a tank of Piranha . . .they are not kidding around!

I tried to get it in pictures, but the rain-forest area is really large. . it's indoors..but goes up from -1 floor to 4th floor (where the aquarium connects). . with lots of bridges, and paths, and animal displays

looking across into the main building on the left - it looked to me like they enclosed the outside of the building to create the rain-forest area.   very cool design here.

with a glass roof. . which kept all the animals in here. . but also made it quite humid, as the sun comes in and gets "trapped" like a sunroom.

More Piranha. . .

gobble gobble . . .

there were several sloths up high in the trees - but was hard to get a decent picture of them. . so I REALLY appreciated they had a stone one, that you could pose with

great photo op, I thought.

and one sloth in an area next to the photo so you could see one up close - tho s/he was a sleepy thing during our visit.

lots of birds in here. . . some very colorful.

on the lower levels there are some open-top freshwater tanks.

no piranha in these, thank goodness

a peek down showing how far down the rainforest area extends. .

Mike tried to get me to stick my hand in this hole, but I ruined his prank by refusing to do it.   (benefit of him trying to prank me is that I got it on video).

but he didn't realize he was with a PROFESSIONAL -  someone who *knows* never to stick ANYTHING thru a dark hole without first checking to see what's on the other side.

bwaaaa-haaaa-haaaaa. . . .

and yeah. .this is what was in there.

and yes, it was moving. . . so either a really good puppet, or a real scorpion.  

no thank you.

baby gator!

and a huge tarantula that was molting.

it's mate was just hanging out on the light. . .

some GIANT freshwater fish on the bottom level here.. .

the school groups had started coming into the rain-forest area, so we moved back to the Aquarium. . . only saw a few smaller groups left here now.

 

the reptile section seemed very popular. . and I would say most of the folks at Universium this morning, were probably in this section.

not an issue tho, as it's very well laid out, and never felt cramped in there.

oh..this was fun. . you put your hand down and the virtual cobra strikes at you, and you have to try to pull your hand out of the way before he "bites" you (with a burst of air)

there was a short line for this, but I tried it.

I died.

(I think Big Mike did too tho)

don't know what you are. . but I've seen things like you in MANY horror movies! 

gahhhh!!!

 

 

leaving the main building, you head up to more "swamp" / grasslands tanks. . on what looked like perhaps it used to be the roof area, before they enclosed it and added on.

Nice Murals on the wall here. .

and some theming in the tanks. . .   a shipwreck . .

and a toilet.

(tho I think this tank was making a point about garbage being dumped into the Earth's oceans/waterways)

in the upper level tanks, workers in SCUBA were clearing algae from the front of the tanks.

and were happy to pose for a picture

and overview of the tanks in this area. . . you can see what I mean about how it looks like it used to be the roof, and they enclosed it.

another happy Algae cleaner. . .

crossing over into the "new" section, you pass by the remaining track from what used to be the Funicular that used to bring folks up to the rooftop level.

as I mentioned the other day, I'm sad it's gone, but I do like that they kept the tracks there as a design element of the building.   (I'm basically standing at the big glass window where the unload station used to be)

looking up - you can see they are still working on this section. . . above us is that big wooden "sphere" that you are right under while on Helix's brake run.

and looking down the hallway at the top of the "T" in that new building addition.   They were celebrating the grand opening. . hence the balloons.

a building Map. . including the sections inside that we hadn't had time to visit. . tho Big Mike and I were able to do pretty much everything on the left hand side of the map.

one of the displays in the new area. .   Anime. . I guess to excite the kids into coming to the new section (since the Planetarium is not open yet)

Myself and Mike posting in front of the big balloon display for the opening.

we thanked the guard for taking the pictures and began to head down to the front desk, as our time was running short. .

I thanked the lady at the front desk again for the discounted ticket (and I wanted to show her that we were, indeed, leaving and were not taking advantage of her kindness) and she said. . oh wait!  did you see them feed the big fish?  

we had no idea and she insisted we go back in and down the main steps, along the windows that look into the rainforest area. . as at 11 they start feeding the big fish, and she thought we'd really enjoy taking a peek at it.

I always trust he locals, and we just would have to walk fast to get back if we spent another 5-10 minutes here. . so we went back in and downstairs.

she was NOT kidding.. . big fish.

 

and he was feeding them smaller fish (which were still a good size!) on a pole, that was causing a feeding frenzy in the tank.

it really was pretty incredible to watch from so close!

 

kept the other hands in the shot, just to give some perspective on how huge these carnivorous fish were!

a quick pic of the area around us. . this bottom floor of the Universeum is the smaller kids playground area.

(so why NOT put the window where you can watch big fish devoured by bigger fish right here?  )

very pretty area tho.

and then we headed back up. . I again thanked the lady at the front desk for the admission and the suggestion to watch the feeding, and we hoofed it back to Hotel Grand Curiousa

if I get to go back to this park someday. . gonna make time to check out the dinosaur outdoor area, and the Space section!

the outside of the long area we had been in (taking the pic with the balloons), and the giant wood dome that will be the Planetarium.

 

we got back to Hotel Grand Curiousa with about 5 minutes to spare before the tour of the Waterpark under construction started.

pics from that, coming up next!

 

 

[bert425]

Day 14: Friday, June 16th part 2 (of 3) - Late Morning at  Liseberg Oceana (Waterpark that was under construction) before Liseberg park open

 

won't be a lot of commentary on these pics. . but TPR was offered a tour of the then-under-construction new indoor/outdoor waterpark, that's going to help make Liseberg a more year-round destination.

it was very cool to see this thing coming together, and having seen pics now of the completed areas, I feel very special that I got to take a construction tour and learn about how they put this together and connected it to the Park  (it's right on the other side of Hotel Grand Curiousa)

Pontus all ready to guide us thru the construction

everyone must wear a vest, and a hard-hat

and glasses of some type

NOTED!

 

low ceiling!  

just like in the park proper. . the slides / rides really do interact with each other, and come very close!

myself and Sarah. . she was taking the group pic for our group, so wanted to be sure she's in a pic too!

 

[Electerik]

23 hours ago, bert425 said:

the next building was a big complex called the "Universium". . . I had no idea what that was

Ah, but you would've known exactly what it was if you'd read my 2019 trip report!

Also, that plastic was workmanlike, at best.

 

[bert425]

8 hours ago, Electerik said:

Ah, but you would've known exactly what it was if you'd read my 2019 trip report!

 

I actually DID. . . but the thing is, hadn't planned on Universeum. . . wanted to see the Anime Avatar thing at the museum next door.   when it wasn't open yet, we just walked a bit further and found the gift shop for Universeum and went in

[teacherkim]

Great report Bert! We were actually at Liseberg when Joel was only 9, I have a great pic of him and Steve on the wave swinger; as you know Steve isn't with us that often at theme parks. We did love the flume and rapids (my husband very kindly shot me right in the back with a water cannon as he "watched" us ) and loved Balder and Lisebergbanen. This was way before Helix, the dive coaster or Luna. Kanonen was there but Joel wasn't tall enough for it or the screaming swing, I know hard to believe when you see him now. And we were on a bit of a short time schedule that day because it was during a cruise ship stop. It's funny now that Kanonen is in Waterloo IA at Lost Island as Matugani and he finally got it last summer.

But I remember those escalators, I think there was a theater show at the top then, and how gorgeous the park and it's landscaping and flowers were!

Funny story about that Disk-O. Joel rode it, we didn't, and right away put his hands up. Well several other riders saw him and very tentatively put their hands up too. Until the ride op came on the speaker in a barrage of Swedish and everyone immediately dropped their hands looking horrified, except Joel of course who didn't understand Swedish nor read the room that he was clearly yelling at everyone for doing it. Nope. He just kept his up the whole time blissfully unaware that he was the only one, while we waited to see if we were going to get kicked out, lol. 

[bert425]

Day 14: Friday, June 16th part 3 (of 3) - 2nd full day at Liseberg !

before heading back into the park, I stopped by the room for a quick refresh, and then headed to the gates to meet the guys

 

did I exit thru the restaurant so I could get more pics of the Carousel?

 

of course I did.

 

even tho it was after Noon. . the park had just opened.   so some stands weren't open to the public yet.

this one was no great loss tho - it's win Licorice. . ewww

we were headed straight to Helix and Atmos Fear tho. .

from the Restrooms at the top of the escalators, there are full wall windows..that allow you to get a great pic of Lisebergbanan cresting the lift hill.

and also of Helix coming back from it's course

but we were here to ride Helix. . not take pics. . .wheee!

and Atmos Fear had just opened up too. . and in a neat little trick, the park has windows from the Helix level station looking down onto Atmosphere's loading.    So you can watch the people drop right past the windows. 

a rather cool set up.
 

not sure whom I have to thank for this pic of us on Atmos Fear. . I would guess either AJ or Andy. .but either way, it's a great pic!
 

and then we headed over to Kiddie land for another ride on the new dark ride. . . and on the way bumped into more mascots (or maybe the same one from yesterday?  there were so many I couldn't' keep track. . so just kept stopping to pose with them).

at least one or two of these were new!

and they had a "Farting" sofa that we sat on for a photo op!

tho Big Mike had to lay in front. . and the Rabbits were VERY concerned that he was on the floor.  

a quick pop into the gift shop, and I suddenly had a key as to who was how. . . so there are 5 total rabbits, and the "bad" guy.

Lisen, Kanina, Julius (the white one), Kanne, and Berg (who IS a baker). . and the bad guy is Mans Trak.

 

this was so dirty, I immediately knew I had to buy it.     Words and pics can't really describe. . assume if Stretch Armstrong were a carrot.
(and hysterically, I got flagged on my flight back and TSA made me open my bag to show them what this was -  I think they THOUGHT it was a "toy")

luckily, Jason thought it was kinda kinky too, and filmed me with it

 

I believe this awesome shot is from AJ. . who waited to get pics like this.    I mean, it could be one of mine, but I'd put $$ on that it's AJs and I snagged it from the Group chat as it's such a great pic.

we headed over to Balder for a couple of rides, and came across this "strength" game. . . this was fun to watch.    basically the strong man "ring the bell" stuff you'd see at old carnivals.

not much of a line today. . but the park hadn't really been open that long, and it would get busier as the day went on.

a couple train wait for front row.   worth it!

then headed over to the "general" queue for the haunt, Hotel Gasten. . as we wanted another walk thru.

what I found very nice is that the queue goes right along the rapids ride, allowing for some nice pics.

such as this area. . which as I said the other day, would NEVER be allowed in the USA. . . this is the "bumper boat" section. . 4 rafts ramming off each other

was starting to get hungry, but remembered that I had wanted to ride that spin and puke thing. . so we headed over there before stopping for lunch.

I was tempted. . but having just ridden something similar, I passed at Liseberg, and never rode the cars/trucks.  

maybe next time.

at lest caught both Helix, and the planes up at the top of the tower in this pic.

but here is where we were headed:  Mechanica

I will say that it LOOKED way more intense than it actually rode.     I was surprised it was so "non- flippy". . .

but I think that's just the program they were running - the arms of seating seemed to move with the arc of the spin, so you never really went upside-down.

at Power Park in a few days, I'd ride one of these that ran an INSANE program.  

but I did enjoy Mechanica here. . it's just not as intense as it looks.

 

If recalling correctly, I won this rainbow unicorn playing Skeeball.

and for lunch, I used my coupons to try this. . and no, I have no idea what it was.  

it was a local dish, that had a creamy sauce with cheese and onions on a potato (I think) based tostada.     It also had a slight fish taste, so perhaps there were sardines in the creamy sauce?  

I got two of them because the $$ I had on the coupon came out about perfect for two of these and a drink.
 

this is a pic of the restrooms that are next to the mirror maze.

I made SURE that no one was using it before snagging a pic. . as this is possibly THE most bizzare "privacy" set up I've ever seen in a urinal situation.

yes, the way the partitions are set up give each person standing next to each other privacy. . . but as I immediately noticed when I walked in and there were several folks in there - it's anonymous peen staring at ya!     It was kind of like the first round of "Naked Attraction"

LOL

just very, very odd. .

even this guy was shocked.    I did read the sign, but I don't recall who he was, or why he had a statue in the park

some pics of Helix doing it's thing, over the station for Lisebergbanan

 

we had enjoyed the flume the day before. . so some of us decided to take another ride on it.

I believe this pic is courtesy of Big Mike - who didn't want to get wet.

the characters weren't out. . but Jon, Jason, and Ryan relaxed a bit on another farting couch!   (controlled by the lever Jon has his hand on)

I really wanted to ride the ferris wheel - it was the last thing in the park on my "wish list" that I had not yet ridden - tho I am sad I missed the Desperados shooting ride. . I didn't know it was there )   

others had already been on the Ferris Wheel and wanted to do other things again, so I split off an made my way up the hill to the wheel.

]

they had no issue with me riding alone. . . which was perfect for pics, as i could move from side to side for pictures.

looking down inteho the "dino area" of Universeum.

so many cranes. .and construction going on around here. .

beautiful city.

looking inwards towards the park. .that's our hotel on the right.

last night, this whole area was full for that concert.  .. . . it's a big space!

SUCH a good coaster

finishing up with my ride on the Ferris Wheel, I decided to walk some of the trails here on the hillside, and enjoy some of the Liseberg gardens.

some just lovely art-deco pieces here.

and then I found myself back in kiddieland. . .

told you. . I LOVED this stupid, rabbits pooping, dark ride.

I must have ridden this at least a 1/2 dozen times.   

and the park was NOT dead - I think people just don't realize this is a ride over here tucked in the corner.

Kiddie bumper cars!

operator for scale

I was so drooling over this.   I mean, I'm sure it's rather dull, but I was still sad that it wasn't working and would have loved to try it out.

very photogenic.

 

I don't recall if I rode this again, as i think I got distracted by the game next to it. . .

Milkshaken!!!   You have to move your cup to catch the fluid running from the tap that drips based on the lights in the pipes. . and if you fill it up, you can win a stuffed dog/bear/something?????  I dunno. . but it wasn't a rabbit.

anyways, I sucked at it, tho I tried a few times.

I was starting to wear out, and the park was still open for a bit.   So I figured I'd head back towards the hotel, and check out the small arcade, and then go pack up.

after all, we had to get up in the morning and head out to Skara Summerland - before checking into our next hotel across from Gronalund.    So I was ready to go relax a little bit, having done everything I wanted to in Liseberg.
 

I would have LOVED to have one of these. . but I talked myself out of even trying. . figuring I can get one online when I got home. . but that Tigger & Piglet. . .WANT  (Eeyore was a little too "grey". .I mean, on brand, but didn't want him)
 

well..I was certainly mistaken.   What I thought was a small arcade, was actually much bigger than I expected, spanning 3 full floors, with lots and lots of games.

Including a bunch of Pinball Machines (spaced out on different floors).

so yeah, I ended up spending a good 50 minutes here playing pinball.

 

this AC/DC machine kicks major ass. . and they had the sound turned way up, so the music was blasting while playing.

 

and then it was back to the hotel. .where I snapped this pic - the building right in front is the back of the arcade!  (from the park it looks like a small thing, but from this side you can see it's 3 stories of games).

then I put together my bag for the morning, and I think was asleep before AJ got back to the room.
 

all in all?  I LOVED this park, and would eagerly go back again in the future.

[bert425]

Liseberg Swag:

Magnet:

I bought Berg. . tho I probably should have gotten all of em.  

But Berg is close to Bert. . so restricted myself to just one.

 

Shirts:

'

I do like how "minimalist" this shirt is. . . unless you notice the tag on the side?  you'd not know this was a theme park shirt.

tho the Green bunny balloon is a symbol of the park.

'

and I just HAD to, as much as I loved this coaster.

I wish it wasn't a "stick on". . and was woven, or printed. . but still. . I just had to get this shirt.

EARS:

 

I mean. . of course!   you don't' go to Disney for the 1st time and not get Mickey Ears, do you?

 

 

Carrot. . .  .

yeah

[Electerik]

Got to ride Högspänningen in 2019 and thought it was pretty cool! I believe Toverland also has one of these, but it might've been closed the day we were there? Just as it was closed both days at Liseberg this time.

So, yeah, fun ride, but based purely on my experience, maybe not terribly reliable.

It would seem that the manufacturer is a German company called Metallbau Emmeln, and there are maybe 9 or 10 of these "Flying Wheels" out there.