"Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports
- Thread starter Pokemaniac
- Start date
caffeine_demon
Strata Poster
And of course - it wouldn't have been a particularly good display of gratitude..
ThomVD
Giga Poster
Glad to see everybody enjoyed Liseberg. I absolutely loved the park.
Helix was already my #1 in the morning, but the night rides I got on it were out of this world, both the back and the front. The last airtime hill is wonderful. I was a bit luckier with both the weather and the queues it seems
. Everything in the park was a walk on all the time, except Helix, which was a walk on most of the times and didn't get longer than 20 minutes.
Don't really get the Kanonen hate though. Rode it a couple of times, didn't find it very special, but certainly not bad. Don't get why people call it rough? It was running pretty smooth. It did have slightly snappy transitions, but not painful whatsoever. The only thing that was a bit uncomfortable was the heartline roll at the end, because I'm not a big fan of hangtime.
Nice that you guys had a great time!
Helix was already my #1 in the morning, but the night rides I got on it were out of this world, both the back and the front. The last airtime hill is wonderful. I was a bit luckier with both the weather and the queues it seems
. Everything in the park was a walk on all the time, except Helix, which was a walk on most of the times and didn't get longer than 20 minutes.Don't really get the Kanonen hate though. Rode it a couple of times, didn't find it very special, but certainly not bad. Don't get why people call it rough? It was running pretty smooth. It did have slightly snappy transitions, but not painful whatsoever. The only thing that was a bit uncomfortable was the heartline roll at the end, because I'm not a big fan of hangtime.
Nice that you guys had a great time!
Nemesis Inferno
Strata Poster
Day 3 – Skara Sommarland
A long drive to the next park from the outskirts of Gothenburg lay ahead (2 hours), but it passed by reasonably quickly, and before long we arrived at our next destination ready for more ERT. The song of choice on arrival was the James Bond theme, which definitely confused the Swedes who were already waiting for the park to open.
We were eventually let in and strolled towards Tranan, the world’s only S&S Free Fly coaster. The majority of the group who hadn’t ridden it were all pretty intrigued about the ride, the unique idea and design of it would certainly be an interesting pull and provide a slightly different family based ride experience.
We found that the ride is incredibly fun and enjoyable. Whilst the layout is dreadfully short, the ride as a concept/idea is actually quite good. The rotating motion of the seats work well in tandem with the ride layout, and I think it’s a shame that the ride hasn’t had bigger cousins built overall. Must be a cost thing, but I’d like to imagine what a full inline would do for the ride. Just good fun really (the right side was better though).
After 4 goes the ERT came to an end and we popped next door to the imaginatively named Spinner, a Maurer Sohne Spinning Coaster. It was a strange Wild Mouse style layout, and really, really crap. I don’t really understand the point of it to be honest, as the park could have gone for something a bit more expansive due to the tonnes of space they have, or just gone for a normal Wild Mouse instead.
Massive faff ensued from this point, as many wanted to go on the Go-Karts, so the group split and the remainder sat on some benches and chatted away and had ice cream. A few of us went to watch the race unfold as well, but the drivers weren’t particularly impressed by the course in the end.
Upon their return the Faffle happened. Some fantastic tat was on offer, and I was very pleased to win the Knoebels Carousel Music Volume 6 cassette tape.
Faffle complete, the call of the 3rd cred of the park was strong, so we began walking towards it, being distracted by fountains and fish in the lake along the way. Eventually we arrived at Gruvbanen, a Mack Powered with hot shed action. It was pretty dull and the shed was just made of whyyyyyyyyyyy.
Scanning for fish!
On the way out we passed some Dodgems which were fab because of the large group that rode them. Then Nelson, the Aquatic Mammal themed log flume was next, which was a slightly more entertaining singular drop flume than the one at TusenFryd. A handful of us also did the Moser Drop Tower Fyren and the Rodeo Breakdance, both of which were pretty average flat rides.
Lunch was called at this point and I had a burger that made Merlin’s recent offerings look like a 5 Michelin star piece of work, before we all met back up and headed towards the attraction of the day.
Vattenskidjon is one of the most stranger attractions you’ll see in a theme park. The idea? Get on some skis, hold on to a rope which then connects to a powered overhead system and try not to fall in. As a spectator sport I don’t think nothing else can beat it. You cheer those who succeed and laugh at those who end up face first into the lake with the fish. 4 brave people from our group took on the challenge and all failed in varying degrees, but well done to all that did attempt it. Probably fill it under “Would never happen in the UK” though, which is a shame, and if it did occur in the UK, it certainly wouldn’t be free with entry.
During this time another storm was encroaching, as we all split up again as some wanted to do the Water Park. Due to the weather I decided against this and joined the many who had taken residence in the bar instead for chatter and banter. After some time those who were in the water park returned, and the weather really took a turn for the worse as we all got into our cars and ran off to the next destination.
Skara is a barren place it must be said. It’s nice but can’t imagine I would spend an entire day there under normal circumstances. It does have a lot of space though from what I could tell and I just wonder what the park could do with that space. It is owned by the same people who own Grona Lund and Kolmarden (who are getting Wildfire), so maybe some fab expansion plans are on the horizon. I hope so, because the park could do with a real fab landmark/icon coaster (and a few more other rides to boot).
A long drive to the next park from the outskirts of Gothenburg lay ahead (2 hours), but it passed by reasonably quickly, and before long we arrived at our next destination ready for more ERT. The song of choice on arrival was the James Bond theme, which definitely confused the Swedes who were already waiting for the park to open.
We were eventually let in and strolled towards Tranan, the world’s only S&S Free Fly coaster. The majority of the group who hadn’t ridden it were all pretty intrigued about the ride, the unique idea and design of it would certainly be an interesting pull and provide a slightly different family based ride experience.
We found that the ride is incredibly fun and enjoyable. Whilst the layout is dreadfully short, the ride as a concept/idea is actually quite good. The rotating motion of the seats work well in tandem with the ride layout, and I think it’s a shame that the ride hasn’t had bigger cousins built overall. Must be a cost thing, but I’d like to imagine what a full inline would do for the ride. Just good fun really (the right side was better though).
After 4 goes the ERT came to an end and we popped next door to the imaginatively named Spinner, a Maurer Sohne Spinning Coaster. It was a strange Wild Mouse style layout, and really, really crap. I don’t really understand the point of it to be honest, as the park could have gone for something a bit more expansive due to the tonnes of space they have, or just gone for a normal Wild Mouse instead.
Massive faff ensued from this point, as many wanted to go on the Go-Karts, so the group split and the remainder sat on some benches and chatted away and had ice cream. A few of us went to watch the race unfold as well, but the drivers weren’t particularly impressed by the course in the end.
Upon their return the Faffle happened. Some fantastic tat was on offer, and I was very pleased to win the Knoebels Carousel Music Volume 6 cassette tape.
Faffle complete, the call of the 3rd cred of the park was strong, so we began walking towards it, being distracted by fountains and fish in the lake along the way. Eventually we arrived at Gruvbanen, a Mack Powered with hot shed action. It was pretty dull and the shed was just made of whyyyyyyyyyyy.
Scanning for fish!
On the way out we passed some Dodgems which were fab because of the large group that rode them. Then Nelson, the Aquatic Mammal themed log flume was next, which was a slightly more entertaining singular drop flume than the one at TusenFryd. A handful of us also did the Moser Drop Tower Fyren and the Rodeo Breakdance, both of which were pretty average flat rides.
Lunch was called at this point and I had a burger that made Merlin’s recent offerings look like a 5 Michelin star piece of work, before we all met back up and headed towards the attraction of the day.
Vattenskidjon is one of the most stranger attractions you’ll see in a theme park. The idea? Get on some skis, hold on to a rope which then connects to a powered overhead system and try not to fall in. As a spectator sport I don’t think nothing else can beat it. You cheer those who succeed and laugh at those who end up face first into the lake with the fish. 4 brave people from our group took on the challenge and all failed in varying degrees, but well done to all that did attempt it. Probably fill it under “Would never happen in the UK” though, which is a shame, and if it did occur in the UK, it certainly wouldn’t be free with entry.
During this time another storm was encroaching, as we all split up again as some wanted to do the Water Park. Due to the weather I decided against this and joined the many who had taken residence in the bar instead for chatter and banter. After some time those who were in the water park returned, and the weather really took a turn for the worse as we all got into our cars and ran off to the next destination.
Skara is a barren place it must be said. It’s nice but can’t imagine I would spend an entire day there under normal circumstances. It does have a lot of space though from what I could tell and I just wonder what the park could do with that space. It is owned by the same people who own Grona Lund and Kolmarden (who are getting Wildfire), so maybe some fab expansion plans are on the horizon. I hope so, because the park could do with a real fab landmark/icon coaster (and a few more other rides to boot).
ciallkennett
Strata Poster
When I got home from Heathrow, I slept for about an hour and then begun to head to Stansted to catch my next flight.
As the trip reports so far are beyond brilliant and a thoroughly great read (and I'm pushed for time), I'll do a summary instead:
Many thanks to all who came and made the live so fun and enjoyable! Particular thanks goes out to Ian for getting everything together and managing to get the cost of the trip stupendously cheap! Thanks must also go to the parks for their impeccable hospitality which enabled the trip to be so cheap. Huge thanks to the drivers too who - even after a tiring day on park - would happily drive the distances between parks and hotels with smiles on their faces and cheese on their iPods.
Helix was fun at first and then grew to be absolutely fab. Just breaks into my top 10 based on the grin I always came off with and the fantastic layout and elements which it navigates perfectly. Everything at Liseberg was just so "fun" (except Kanononenenenenen with it's square transitions and general awfulness). Balder was a bit dull. My second ride on it just after the rain in the back was abysmal. I hear great things about the other Intamin's that followed though, so looking forward to riding another in the future. The storm was AMAZING. One fork of lightening struck literally meters from where we were (within 25-30m I would guess) - biggest adrenaline rush of the live!
Skara had a rather bland selection of rides but was very CF friendly and a welcome break sandwiched between the two more hectic live days. The water park was brilliant, it was such a shame we only got around 30 minutes to enjoy it before it was closed for safety reasons due to the incoming storm. I wish the day wasn't cut so short as there were so many fun playgrounds and bouncy things we didn't get to enjoy as a group.
Grona Lund was a weird park. I likened it to Blackpool but with more character and a better paint job. Twister ERT was wonderful and despite the FAB park management lady telling us how she "Personally... perfers it in the rear" (*giggles*), it was almost universally agreed that the front was bliss. I managed 15 goes which was more than enough in the hour we had. Insane was the worst ride I have ever had on a coaster to date. Appalling. Never been thrown around so forcefully and uncomfortably in my life. Although I had ridden another Zac Spin last year, I can easily see how somebody could die being ejected from one of these, even low to the ground. Vile. But overall the park was much enjoyed, although it felt to me more like ticking off coasters as opposed to finding any excessively enjoyable - nothing stood out as amazing.
I then continued on to Denmark for the extension, however, I shan't go into too much detail here! Many thanks all once again. I'm looking forward to reading more TRs in the coming days!
As the trip reports so far are beyond brilliant and a thoroughly great read (and I'm pushed for time), I'll do a summary instead:
Many thanks to all who came and made the live so fun and enjoyable! Particular thanks goes out to Ian for getting everything together and managing to get the cost of the trip stupendously cheap! Thanks must also go to the parks for their impeccable hospitality which enabled the trip to be so cheap. Huge thanks to the drivers too who - even after a tiring day on park - would happily drive the distances between parks and hotels with smiles on their faces and cheese on their iPods.
Helix was fun at first and then grew to be absolutely fab. Just breaks into my top 10 based on the grin I always came off with and the fantastic layout and elements which it navigates perfectly. Everything at Liseberg was just so "fun" (except Kanononenenenenen with it's square transitions and general awfulness). Balder was a bit dull. My second ride on it just after the rain in the back was abysmal. I hear great things about the other Intamin's that followed though, so looking forward to riding another in the future. The storm was AMAZING. One fork of lightening struck literally meters from where we were (within 25-30m I would guess) - biggest adrenaline rush of the live!
Skara had a rather bland selection of rides but was very CF friendly and a welcome break sandwiched between the two more hectic live days. The water park was brilliant, it was such a shame we only got around 30 minutes to enjoy it before it was closed for safety reasons due to the incoming storm. I wish the day wasn't cut so short as there were so many fun playgrounds and bouncy things we didn't get to enjoy as a group.
Grona Lund was a weird park. I likened it to Blackpool but with more character and a better paint job. Twister ERT was wonderful and despite the FAB park management lady telling us how she "Personally... perfers it in the rear" (*giggles*), it was almost universally agreed that the front was bliss. I managed 15 goes which was more than enough in the hour we had. Insane was the worst ride I have ever had on a coaster to date. Appalling. Never been thrown around so forcefully and uncomfortably in my life. Although I had ridden another Zac Spin last year, I can easily see how somebody could die being ejected from one of these, even low to the ground. Vile. But overall the park was much enjoyed, although it felt to me more like ticking off coasters as opposed to finding any excessively enjoyable - nothing stood out as amazing.
I then continued on to Denmark for the extension, however, I shan't go into too much detail here! Many thanks all once again. I'm looking forward to reading more TRs in the coming days!
I had an amazing time on this Live, as always. CF are such a great bunch of people, I love all the funny / goony / silly antics we share together - every trip leaves me with a massive smile on my face. Thanks to all the drivers, and to Ian for organising a fab trip and arranging so many perks for us at the parks - you're the best. <3
Chapter One: Frog Life
Met Darren, Ian and Delpiero Tom at Gothenburg airport, their flight was delayed - so I spent the time making a sign reading 'GOONS' to hold up as they walked out of the arrivals bit.
Fab lady picked us up from the airport and took us to our cabin in the woods. She was lovely and very hospitable, the accomodation was as far from a souless industrial estate you could get!
We sat out on the decking and enjoyed the goony-aptness of Tom's 'Black Mamba' flavoured e-cigarette. When a big fluffy wild cat appeared from the trees to say hello to us, I honestly didn't think my night could get any better.
Then, eerily just like the horror film Cabin In The Woods, all my biggest fears decended upon us: firstly, a giant moth. Then, a giant frog.
Here's photographic evidence of his humoungous size in proportion to our cabin:
Eventually I summoned up the courage to dash past it to go to the toilet...only to be greeted by more frogs by the toilet door! Aaah!
Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night; but the amazing breakfast fab lady served us - featuring home baked bread and fishy paste, set me up for the day at Liseberg nevertheless.
Chapter Two: Swelix
Got my exercise for the month dashing through Helix's mega-long queue line during ERT in the morning.
First ride with Tomatron, in the 3rd row, and I was pretty disappointed. Some of the inversions felt labored, and the launches were more like 'speed ups' than launches. There were some great moments (airtime hill and switchback before second launch) but overall the coaster didn't feel fast enough.
The next two rides in the back row were better, and I started getting used to what the ride is (subtle), as opposed to what I thought it would be (relentless). The launches are not it's selling point. The inversions are not it's selling point. It's uniqueness, flow and fun-factor is.
The first drop out of the station is surprizingly steep and was one of my fave elements in the back row. I started appreciating how it's location on top of the hill gives dynamic to the height points of its elements - when it soars over an airtime hill off the hillside, you suddenly feel very high off the ground, despite the actual coaster not being very tall. It's so cleverly designed.
The station music is pretty fab too. I started singing 'Heeelix' along to it, and soon many CFers were joining in
The hills have some fantastic prolonged airtime, and the zero-G's are nice and floaty too. After a couple more rides, I was warming towards Helix and it's lovely deep green coloured track <3
Chapter 3: Pre-Fab
We rode Balder next, which sure puts the 'fab' into Pre-Fabricated track in my opinion. A solid, fun coaster with decent airtime.
People went off to ride Kanonenenenen but I already have that dreadful cred, thank you very much.
Next up was the horror walk through, which is supposed to be an up-charge attraction but was free to us - yay! It had a Titanic room! It had beautifully themed sets and some cool trick elements with heat / lighting. It didn't have a lot of actors roaming inside, but there were still a few jumpy moments where I screamed into Sue's ear (sorry -again- Sue!)
Kiddie creds, lunch and humorous attempts at drinking from the water fountain followed.
Then the group split - most went to ride the massive, grammatically-incorrect drop tower Atmosfear; whilst the rest of us re-rode Helix with Pokemaniac who had missed the ERT.
During the hour long queue, jeg imponerte Pokemaniac med min dårlige norsk snakker! We rode in the back, and I could already tell Helix was warming up and running faster. I've never had a coaster grow on me before (usually it's either instant love or meh) , but Helix certainly was doing so over the course of the day.
Chapter 4: Lightningberg
The skies clouded over as we went to ride Lesbian Banana, and then they closed the ride before we could get on because of a massive storm that had arrived.
Here's a graph (in Liseberg's gross poncho colours) demonstrating the storm's thunderous impact on the park:
As the rain began to ease off, we rode the BROMtastic Lesbian Banana, the Asda Smart Price version Droomvlucht, Balder in the rain <3 (with fab station playlist!) the rapids which were pretty good, and then - one of my surprise rides of the trip - the flog lume.
It goes all the way up the hill, offers some wonderful views, then has two big drops in really quick succession. It certainly got me wet!
Then I properly cried with laughter at the ORP, where Conor had no neck and I had the longest, most weird giraffe-like neck ever. It looked something like this:
Three groups then formed re: Lisebergs many other drop towers - Shot, Drop and Not. I was obviously part of the latter and chose not to ride - drop towers are too scary!
Chapter 5: Return To The Mack
Darkness fell as we queued once more for Helix. It was still about an hours wait but time past quickly, appreciating the sexy smooth polished concrete pillars with Ian.
Sat in the front row this time, and it was awesome. One of the best rides I've had on a coaster. Much faster, the trains all lit up, flying over all the lights of the park...I was grinning from ear to ear when we hit the BROMS.
There's not many park's where I could easily spend a 12 hour day, but Liseberg was one of them. It has a satisfying line up of coasters and rides, a wonderful unique setting on the hillside and a really lovely atmosphere. A great way to kick off the live!
Chapter One: Frog Life
Met Darren, Ian and Delpiero Tom at Gothenburg airport, their flight was delayed - so I spent the time making a sign reading 'GOONS' to hold up as they walked out of the arrivals bit.
Fab lady picked us up from the airport and took us to our cabin in the woods. She was lovely and very hospitable, the accomodation was as far from a souless industrial estate you could get!
We sat out on the decking and enjoyed the goony-aptness of Tom's 'Black Mamba' flavoured e-cigarette. When a big fluffy wild cat appeared from the trees to say hello to us, I honestly didn't think my night could get any better.
Then, eerily just like the horror film Cabin In The Woods, all my biggest fears decended upon us: firstly, a giant moth. Then, a giant frog.
Here's photographic evidence of his humoungous size in proportion to our cabin:
Eventually I summoned up the courage to dash past it to go to the toilet...only to be greeted by more frogs by the toilet door! Aaah!
Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night; but the amazing breakfast fab lady served us - featuring home baked bread and fishy paste, set me up for the day at Liseberg nevertheless.
Chapter Two: Swelix
Got my exercise for the month dashing through Helix's mega-long queue line during ERT in the morning.
First ride with Tomatron, in the 3rd row, and I was pretty disappointed. Some of the inversions felt labored, and the launches were more like 'speed ups' than launches. There were some great moments (airtime hill and switchback before second launch) but overall the coaster didn't feel fast enough.
The next two rides in the back row were better, and I started getting used to what the ride is (subtle), as opposed to what I thought it would be (relentless). The launches are not it's selling point. The inversions are not it's selling point. It's uniqueness, flow and fun-factor is.
The first drop out of the station is surprizingly steep and was one of my fave elements in the back row. I started appreciating how it's location on top of the hill gives dynamic to the height points of its elements - when it soars over an airtime hill off the hillside, you suddenly feel very high off the ground, despite the actual coaster not being very tall. It's so cleverly designed.
The station music is pretty fab too. I started singing 'Heeelix' along to it, and soon many CFers were joining in
The hills have some fantastic prolonged airtime, and the zero-G's are nice and floaty too. After a couple more rides, I was warming towards Helix and it's lovely deep green coloured track <3
Chapter 3: Pre-Fab
We rode Balder next, which sure puts the 'fab' into Pre-Fabricated track in my opinion. A solid, fun coaster with decent airtime.
People went off to ride Kanonenenenen but I already have that dreadful cred, thank you very much.
Next up was the horror walk through, which is supposed to be an up-charge attraction but was free to us - yay! It had a Titanic room! It had beautifully themed sets and some cool trick elements with heat / lighting. It didn't have a lot of actors roaming inside, but there were still a few jumpy moments where I screamed into Sue's ear (sorry -again- Sue!
)Kiddie creds, lunch and humorous attempts at drinking from the water fountain followed.
Then the group split - most went to ride the massive, grammatically-incorrect drop tower Atmosfear; whilst the rest of us re-rode Helix with Pokemaniac who had missed the ERT.
During the hour long queue, jeg imponerte Pokemaniac med min dårlige norsk snakker! We rode in the back, and I could already tell Helix was warming up and running faster. I've never had a coaster grow on me before (usually it's either instant love or meh) , but Helix certainly was doing so over the course of the day.
Chapter 4: Lightningberg
The skies clouded over as we went to ride Lesbian Banana, and then they closed the ride before we could get on because of a massive storm that had arrived.
Here's a graph (in Liseberg's gross poncho colours) demonstrating the storm's thunderous impact on the park:
As the rain began to ease off, we rode the BROMtastic Lesbian Banana, the Asda Smart Price version Droomvlucht, Balder in the rain <3 (with fab station playlist!) the rapids which were pretty good, and then - one of my surprise rides of the trip - the flog lume.
It goes all the way up the hill, offers some wonderful views, then has two big drops in really quick succession. It certainly got me wet!
Then I properly cried with laughter at the ORP, where Conor had no neck and I had the longest, most weird giraffe-like neck ever. It looked something like this:
Three groups then formed re: Lisebergs many other drop towers - Shot, Drop and Not. I was obviously part of the latter and chose not to ride - drop towers are too scary!
Chapter 5: Return To The Mack
Darkness fell as we queued once more for Helix. It was still about an hours wait but time past quickly, appreciating the sexy smooth polished concrete pillars with Ian.
Sat in the front row this time, and it was awesome. One of the best rides I've had on a coaster. Much faster, the trains all lit up, flying over all the lights of the park...I was grinning from ear to ear when we hit the BROMS.
There's not many park's where I could easily spend a 12 hour day, but Liseberg was one of them. It has a satisfying line up of coasters and rides, a wonderful unique setting on the hillside and a really lovely atmosphere. A great way to kick off the live!
I'm not going to do a full trip report as people have covered that really well up to now! So a little bit on each day and a tonne of photos! As I'm sure that's what you all want to see!
Before I start though a few thank yous! A massive thanks needs to go to Ian for the organisation of what was once again a phenomenal trip! Also to all the parks for the amazing hospitality given to us all. And then to the drivers for carting us all over the country and to ever body that was there for making it a memorable trip!
So then....
Liseberg
I've been to Liseberg twice before, once in 2010 where it was my first trip abroad and then again on a very wet and miserable day in 2011! With Helix, I was itching to get back to see what they had done!
I've always loved the park, such a great mix of rides and lots to keep you entertained!
So Helix then. I was looking forward to it, but had not over hyped it in my head to be this amazing incredible coaster which I'm glad about. When I got off the first of the 3 ERT rides I managed near the front, I came off thinking it was a good coaster in which it does everything well, but nothing exceptional. Then I rode again and again and sadly in the same rattly train, my opinion didn't really improve apart from those airtime hills are exceptional.
I'm really glad we rode again at night as that ride showed what it can do! It was brilliant, fantastic speed, awesome inversions and those airtime hills are incredible. It really is a phenomenal ride and really is a coaster designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts! One of the only negatives about it is that incredible soundtrack that IMAScore created for it needs to be built into the train and have onboard audio! That would make for a even better ride than what it gives!
Balder I used to love when I first went back in 2010. But with a coaster count of around 120 at the time, it was then an easy contender to be top. Now, with 600 coasters in the old count, it's a fun ride, but there's certainly a lot better out there now!
Kanonenenen I found meh as always and with its new big sister on site, I think it's going to stay that way!
Lisebergbanana I have found to be pretty overhyped. I had incredible rides on it when I went in 2011 (I thank the weather), but it's still just Schwarzkopf with some typical turns.
I had the Rabalder cred and didn't fancy another long queue in the heat so skipped on that. Done Stampbanan which was a typical +1!
Atmosphere was incredible! Love a good Intamin drop tower. Just a shame that it doesn't rotate, but that height is fantastic!
Once again Liseberg didn't fail to impress me. I really have a soft spot for the park and it has some really quirky good attractions. I sadly didn't ride the Log Flume as that is awesome and we didn't get a chance to do Upswinget. Really fun day and a brilliant park with CF.
Now have some photos! Full set here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 697469cf32
Before I start though a few thank yous! A massive thanks needs to go to Ian for the organisation of what was once again a phenomenal trip! Also to all the parks for the amazing hospitality given to us all. And then to the drivers for carting us all over the country and to ever body that was there for making it a memorable trip!
So then....
Liseberg
I've been to Liseberg twice before, once in 2010 where it was my first trip abroad and then again on a very wet and miserable day in 2011! With Helix, I was itching to get back to see what they had done!
I've always loved the park, such a great mix of rides and lots to keep you entertained!
So Helix then. I was looking forward to it, but had not over hyped it in my head to be this amazing incredible coaster which I'm glad about. When I got off the first of the 3 ERT rides I managed near the front, I came off thinking it was a good coaster in which it does everything well, but nothing exceptional. Then I rode again and again and sadly in the same rattly train, my opinion didn't really improve apart from those airtime hills are exceptional.
I'm really glad we rode again at night as that ride showed what it can do! It was brilliant, fantastic speed, awesome inversions and those airtime hills are incredible. It really is a phenomenal ride and really is a coaster designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts! One of the only negatives about it is that incredible soundtrack that IMAScore created for it needs to be built into the train and have onboard audio! That would make for a even better ride than what it gives!
Balder I used to love when I first went back in 2010. But with a coaster count of around 120 at the time, it was then an easy contender to be top. Now, with 600 coasters in the old count, it's a fun ride, but there's certainly a lot better out there now!
Kanonenenen I found meh as always and with its new big sister on site, I think it's going to stay that way!
Lisebergbanana I have found to be pretty overhyped. I had incredible rides on it when I went in 2011 (I thank the weather), but it's still just Schwarzkopf with some typical turns.
I had the Rabalder cred and didn't fancy another long queue in the heat so skipped on that. Done Stampbanan which was a typical +1!
Atmosphere was incredible! Love a good Intamin drop tower. Just a shame that it doesn't rotate, but that height is fantastic!
Once again Liseberg didn't fail to impress me. I really have a soft spot for the park and it has some really quirky good attractions. I sadly didn't ride the Log Flume as that is awesome and we didn't get a chance to do Upswinget. Really fun day and a brilliant park with CF.
Now have some photos! Full set here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 697469cf32
Nemesis Inferno
Strata Poster
Day 4 – Grona Lund
The final day began with a long journey to Stockholm from our hotel. There were many weary souls staggering out of the hotel that morning, but we all eventually made it to the final park.
We met the rather fab Annika who told us how the night before the park had closed due to the storm, with Eclipse (the 400ft StarFlyer) being struck around 3 times, which meant it was playing the spite game.
We were then taken to Twister, the Gravity Group woodie for an hour long ERT. Before we entered the park it had been explained to me as “like Blackpool with class”, which in the long run means that many of the rides intertwine with each other and there’s not much space for huge rides. Twister is perhaps the epitome of this factor in the park’s design process, as it crosses over not only itself (26 times apparently), but also over and under other coasters that come within the vicinity, and the gaps certainly aren’t big enough.
It also has the Timberliner trains, which are equally weird and fab with their Maurer Sohne esque lapbar system that comes over, only without ANY of the pinning that those suffer from. Absolute result.
The ride itself is pretty much a blur still, even after 10 goes. Tonnes of airtime about though, especially when on one-click bar operations from the staff where I spent most of my time standing up throughout the course. Some highlights do include the teaser airtime hills, which lull you into expecting tonnes of airtime, but don’t provide one, before promptly giving you another change of direction and an airtime hill to make you feel better.
It was at the end of the hour, a rather suited 400th coaster for me, and I want to see more parks pick up these little bundles of joy as they are getting quite highly rated.
ERT over, we headed back into the rest of the park, starting with Vilda Musen, which is actually a Gerstlauer Bobsled. I usually find these good fun rides, but there was just something about this one which I couldn’t put my finger on. A strange thing, given the interaction available with Jetline on numerous occasions, but perhaps Twister had taken all the love I had to give that day.
Jetline was then next with some classic Schwarzkopf action. It was alright; quite rattly it must be said as well though, and it is vastly improved by the interaction with the other rides nearby. I find myself struggling to remember most of it if I’m quite honest here too. A bad sign if ever there were one.
Continuing the quest for creds led us all over towards Kvasten, one of the newer Vekoma Junior Inverts. The station building is beautifully themed it must be said, inside and out. It stands rather weirdly amongst the mess of the rest of the park, this rather majestic wooden house, but it’s so damn good to look at. The ride itself was fun if lacking anything remotely forceful, because family coaster. We need the trains on Vampire though, because they are the comfiest Vekoma trains going.
Opposite Kvasten was the highly rated Ghost Train, Bla Taget. And it’s utterly fab, which is pretty high praise from someone who doesn’t usually do such rides. It has LOTS of effects, ranging from fab to UTTERLY FAB, makes absolutely zero sense (in the same way that the original Towers Haunted House didn’t), has a decent pace and is just generally a good attraction. This certainly puts the goal high when other parks refurb old dark rides.
After that it was time for Insane, potential death cred ahoy! This was to be my first Intamin Zac Spin, and after watching this go around a few times I had my doubts as to whether I would enjoy it or not. Luckily I was able to get into a balanced car due to the odd number of us who had entered the queue, and I am very glad for that fact.
Me and Intamin restraints don’t have a great history, usually with my neck. Insane decided to punish my stomach for a nice change of pace, with some of the spins/drops throwing me into the restraint quite hard; it’s not too difficult to see how someone could fall out. I did not find it enjoyable, and I now have another Intamin creation to glare at in anger.
It was time for the kiddie creds, which consisted of a Zierer Tivoli Small in Ladybird, and a Zamperla Mini Mouse in Tuff Tuff Taget. Both were, as predicted, nothing worthy to write home about.
Lunch was called, and I managed to watch a Pirate themed show as well as some roaming dancing gorillas right by the next meeting point.
The meeting point was set outside the Lustig Haus, which is perhaps one of the best park based fun-houses ever. It had pretty much everything token in a fun house and more besides, with the particular stand-out being the conveyor belt slide, which when 20 odd people ride it there’s some bad times ahead, but in a fab way. It all ends with a massive slide back down to the bottom as well. Fantastic.
We popped next door to the Tunnel of Love attraction. Which was a random dark ride in a boat thing, the scenes looked nicely done, but we were far too interested in creating a convoy of boats to care (we got 6).
After that faff the group split up as it was nearly time to say farewell. We found time to shop for tat, enter one of those crappy corridor of mirrors things and even have ice cream.
And that was that, we all bid farewell to each other and the park. Grona Lund is pretty nice really, with some decent rides in there. Unfortunately Eclipse was being spiteful due to being struck by lightning numerous times the night before but that’s the only ride that actually seriously spited us over the course of the trip, which can only be seen as a positive. Sweden is lovely and the people are as well, so I must advertise the fact that it’s so easy to get to two of the parks there, why aren’t people going? Gothenburg is 2 hours away! That means Helix is arguably closer to London than Towers is! Why aren’t you visiting?
I met some fantastic new people and had a brilliant amount of fun with the group, even though I was feeling pretty crappy during most of the holiday due to the rather over the top heat we all endured. Top shout out to everyone who came along and to Ian who organised everything to the tee so well, enjoy that iPad, you earned it.
The final day began with a long journey to Stockholm from our hotel. There were many weary souls staggering out of the hotel that morning, but we all eventually made it to the final park.
We met the rather fab Annika who told us how the night before the park had closed due to the storm, with Eclipse (the 400ft StarFlyer) being struck around 3 times, which meant it was playing the spite game.
We were then taken to Twister, the Gravity Group woodie for an hour long ERT. Before we entered the park it had been explained to me as “like Blackpool with class”, which in the long run means that many of the rides intertwine with each other and there’s not much space for huge rides. Twister is perhaps the epitome of this factor in the park’s design process, as it crosses over not only itself (26 times apparently), but also over and under other coasters that come within the vicinity, and the gaps certainly aren’t big enough.
It also has the Timberliner trains, which are equally weird and fab with their Maurer Sohne esque lapbar system that comes over, only without ANY of the pinning that those suffer from. Absolute result.
The ride itself is pretty much a blur still, even after 10 goes. Tonnes of airtime about though, especially when on one-click bar operations from the staff where I spent most of my time standing up throughout the course. Some highlights do include the teaser airtime hills, which lull you into expecting tonnes of airtime, but don’t provide one, before promptly giving you another change of direction and an airtime hill to make you feel better.
It was at the end of the hour, a rather suited 400th coaster for me, and I want to see more parks pick up these little bundles of joy as they are getting quite highly rated.
ERT over, we headed back into the rest of the park, starting with Vilda Musen, which is actually a Gerstlauer Bobsled. I usually find these good fun rides, but there was just something about this one which I couldn’t put my finger on. A strange thing, given the interaction available with Jetline on numerous occasions, but perhaps Twister had taken all the love I had to give that day.
Jetline was then next with some classic Schwarzkopf action. It was alright; quite rattly it must be said as well though, and it is vastly improved by the interaction with the other rides nearby. I find myself struggling to remember most of it if I’m quite honest here too. A bad sign if ever there were one.
Continuing the quest for creds led us all over towards Kvasten, one of the newer Vekoma Junior Inverts. The station building is beautifully themed it must be said, inside and out. It stands rather weirdly amongst the mess of the rest of the park, this rather majestic wooden house, but it’s so damn good to look at. The ride itself was fun if lacking anything remotely forceful, because family coaster. We need the trains on Vampire though, because they are the comfiest Vekoma trains going.
Opposite Kvasten was the highly rated Ghost Train, Bla Taget. And it’s utterly fab, which is pretty high praise from someone who doesn’t usually do such rides. It has LOTS of effects, ranging from fab to UTTERLY FAB, makes absolutely zero sense (in the same way that the original Towers Haunted House didn’t), has a decent pace and is just generally a good attraction. This certainly puts the goal high when other parks refurb old dark rides.
After that it was time for Insane, potential death cred ahoy! This was to be my first Intamin Zac Spin, and after watching this go around a few times I had my doubts as to whether I would enjoy it or not. Luckily I was able to get into a balanced car due to the odd number of us who had entered the queue, and I am very glad for that fact.
Me and Intamin restraints don’t have a great history, usually with my neck. Insane decided to punish my stomach for a nice change of pace, with some of the spins/drops throwing me into the restraint quite hard; it’s not too difficult to see how someone could fall out. I did not find it enjoyable, and I now have another Intamin creation to glare at in anger.
It was time for the kiddie creds, which consisted of a Zierer Tivoli Small in Ladybird, and a Zamperla Mini Mouse in Tuff Tuff Taget. Both were, as predicted, nothing worthy to write home about.
Lunch was called, and I managed to watch a Pirate themed show as well as some roaming dancing gorillas right by the next meeting point.
The meeting point was set outside the Lustig Haus, which is perhaps one of the best park based fun-houses ever. It had pretty much everything token in a fun house and more besides, with the particular stand-out being the conveyor belt slide, which when 20 odd people ride it there’s some bad times ahead, but in a fab way. It all ends with a massive slide back down to the bottom as well. Fantastic.
We popped next door to the Tunnel of Love attraction. Which was a random dark ride in a boat thing, the scenes looked nicely done, but we were far too interested in creating a convoy of boats to care (we got 6).
After that faff the group split up as it was nearly time to say farewell. We found time to shop for tat, enter one of those crappy corridor of mirrors things and even have ice cream.
And that was that, we all bid farewell to each other and the park. Grona Lund is pretty nice really, with some decent rides in there. Unfortunately Eclipse was being spiteful due to being struck by lightning numerous times the night before but that’s the only ride that actually seriously spited us over the course of the trip, which can only be seen as a positive. Sweden is lovely and the people are as well, so I must advertise the fact that it’s so easy to get to two of the parks there, why aren’t people going? Gothenburg is 2 hours away! That means Helix is arguably closer to London than Towers is! Why aren’t you visiting?
I met some fantastic new people and had a brilliant amount of fun with the group, even though I was feeling pretty crappy during most of the holiday due to the rather over the top heat we all endured. Top shout out to everyone who came along and to Ian who organised everything to the tee so well, enjoy that iPad, you earned it.
Re: "Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports
Skara
Tranan - First ride was cool thanks to it being a totally different ride type and feeling a bit weird. Subsequent rides revealed it to actually be a bit ****.
Spinner - Awful. This is the exact model that the Cheval D'or spinners are ripped off from, and they ride exactly the same, so at least now more people know the crap I have to put myself through in the name of creds.
Powered thing - actually not bad for its type, which maybe isn't saying much, but still.
Water Ski thing - Great fun as a spectator, everyone laughing at the people trying it while safe in the knowledge that if they ever attempted it, they'd get it right first time.
Park as a whole - Actually quite nice really, and probably a great day out for families with young kids. It was nice to try a new place and to have a "chill" day between the two major parks.
Skara
Tranan - First ride was cool thanks to it being a totally different ride type and feeling a bit weird. Subsequent rides revealed it to actually be a bit ****.
Spinner - Awful. This is the exact model that the Cheval D'or spinners are ripped off from, and they ride exactly the same, so at least now more people know the crap I have to put myself through in the name of creds.
Powered thing - actually not bad for its type, which maybe isn't saying much, but still.
Water Ski thing - Great fun as a spectator, everyone laughing at the people trying it while safe in the knowledge that if they ever attempted it, they'd get it right first time.
Park as a whole - Actually quite nice really, and probably a great day out for families with young kids. It was nice to try a new place and to have a "chill" day between the two major parks.
Darren B
Giga Poster
Like others, I won't bother doing a proper trip report as I didn't take any photos. I'll summarise the highs and lows.
Liseberg
Helix - I really wasn't that exited for Helix as most others were, and didn't really expect it to do anything special. Well **** me sideways! How wrong was I. This coaster is special, like, really special. Everything about this coasters is pretty much perfect; the pacing, the inversions and the spectacular EGF style airtime. It flew straight into my top 10 steel after morning ERT and then blasted into my top 5 by the time the night ride was done; probably one of the best rides I've ever had on a coaster, it was a great way to finish day 1. Joint best coaster at the park.
Balder - I love Colossos and find El Toro to be massively overrated so I was a little skeptical as to which way Balder would go. The first ride, at the back, was really good, top 10 wood good. Ride number 2 was AMAZING! Front row, after the rain had just finished helped Balder into my top 5 wood (there's a pattern forming at Liseberg). The ejector as you crest the hill was spectacular, followed up with glorious floater on the way down, and it didn't let up throughout. It's not quite as good as Colossos, but it's a great deal better than El Toro. Joint best coaster at the park.
Kanonen - I don't get the hate for Kanonen, I found it to be quite a fab little launch coaster. I knew in advance that it may attempt to cut off my neck so I held the tops of the restraints away from my neck and got a really comfy, fun ride. 3rd best coaster at the park.
The coaster that interacts with Helix on the hill, which is built by the same guy who also produces average quality hair products - #BORING #DULL #WASTEOF5MINUTES #COULDHAVESMOKEDACIGARETTEINSTEAD. Ok, I'm overreacting a little bit, but, I heard this coaster was supposed to be really good and I ended up really disappointed. The highlight of the ride was actually the queue; we ended up waiting in line behind this;
Spectacularly taken by one CFer who doesn't want to be named. Great camera work! I won't name him, but I'll at least give those reading a small hint as to his identity;
The rest of the coasters were no more than +1's. Bonus points for the water rides too, the log flume was pretty **** good, and wet. The rapids were better than average.
To summarise the day; a perfect start to the Live. It was nice to finally meet Benin, a really friendly and pleasant chap. It was also the first time spending time with Ben at a theme park although I'd met him previously before. HE'S FAB. SO FIERCE.
Great people, great coasters; thanks to Ian for putting it all together.
Liseberg
Helix - I really wasn't that exited for Helix as most others were, and didn't really expect it to do anything special. Well **** me sideways! How wrong was I. This coaster is special, like, really special. Everything about this coasters is pretty much perfect; the pacing, the inversions and the spectacular EGF style airtime. It flew straight into my top 10 steel after morning ERT and then blasted into my top 5 by the time the night ride was done; probably one of the best rides I've ever had on a coaster, it was a great way to finish day 1. Joint best coaster at the park.
Balder - I love Colossos and find El Toro to be massively overrated so I was a little skeptical as to which way Balder would go. The first ride, at the back, was really good, top 10 wood good. Ride number 2 was AMAZING! Front row, after the rain had just finished helped Balder into my top 5 wood (there's a pattern forming at Liseberg). The ejector as you crest the hill was spectacular, followed up with glorious floater on the way down, and it didn't let up throughout. It's not quite as good as Colossos, but it's a great deal better than El Toro. Joint best coaster at the park.
Kanonen - I don't get the hate for Kanonen, I found it to be quite a fab little launch coaster. I knew in advance that it may attempt to cut off my neck so I held the tops of the restraints away from my neck and got a really comfy, fun ride. 3rd best coaster at the park.
The coaster that interacts with Helix on the hill, which is built by the same guy who also produces average quality hair products - #BORING #DULL #WASTEOF5MINUTES #COULDHAVESMOKEDACIGARETTEINSTEAD. Ok, I'm overreacting a little bit, but, I heard this coaster was supposed to be really good and I ended up really disappointed. The highlight of the ride was actually the queue; we ended up waiting in line behind this;
Spectacularly taken by one CFer who doesn't want to be named. Great camera work! I won't name him, but I'll at least give those reading a small hint as to his identity;
The rest of the coasters were no more than +1's. Bonus points for the water rides too, the log flume was pretty **** good, and wet. The rapids were better than average.
To summarise the day; a perfect start to the Live. It was nice to finally meet Benin, a really friendly and pleasant chap. It was also the first time spending time with Ben at a theme park although I'd met him previously before. HE'S FAB. SO FIERCE.
Great people, great coasters; thanks to Ian for putting it all together.
CookieCoasters
Giga Poster
FINALLY, someone else who thinks banan and Schwarzkopf in general are a bit crap.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
Re: "Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports
Clearly, you and Darren deserve to be shot for this view, not for the t-shirts you wear.
Seriously, I love a good Schwarzkopf. They are just so wholesome, so fun, so...exactly what they say on the tin. I'd rather ride a good, solid enjoyable one than a flimsy, lacklustre, one trick pony of a Gerstlauer any day (exempting Anubis obv.) And they are very rarely painful, even after all this time.
But them I'm a traditionalist who believes in cds, real books and only owns cars over 10 years of age...
Clearly, you and Darren deserve to be shot for this view, not for the t-shirts you wear.
Seriously, I love a good Schwarzkopf. They are just so wholesome, so fun, so...exactly what they say on the tin. I'd rather ride a good, solid enjoyable one than a flimsy, lacklustre, one trick pony of a Gerstlauer any day (exempting Anubis obv.) And they are very rarely painful, even after all this time.
But them I'm a traditionalist who believes in cds, real books and only owns cars over 10 years of age...
Darren B
Giga Poster
^You see, I didn't start riding coasters until 5 years ago so I wasn't brought up with Schwarzkopt and don't particularly have any sentimental affection towards them. They're are extremely smooth for there age, yes, but they're also INCREDIBLY boring. The only one I've thought was actually half decent was the one at LWV, although, I thought that still more meh that yeah.
CookieCoasters
Giga Poster
I've been going to theme parks pretty much since I could walk, but only been into enthusiast stuff in the last 4 or so years which have also been the years I've ridden the bulk of my count, so schwarzkopf never been a nostalgic thing for me either.
One I did think was pretty good was Jetline at Grona Lund and Olympia Looping wasn't bad, but the little OTSR's annoyed me.
Every other one was very average
One I did think was pretty good was Jetline at Grona Lund and Olympia Looping wasn't bad, but the little OTSR's annoyed me.
Every other one was very average
caffeine_demon
Strata Poster
I forgot to include stampbanan, so my 450 was actually spinner - Crappiest milestone evah - YAY!!caffeine_demon said:
I've been saying for a while now how poor Schwarzkopf really are. Lesbianbanana is probably the best one out there. It's undeniable that Schwarzkopf was a great visionary who did change the industry, but so many better coasters have popped up in the last 20 years, his creations have not really stood the test of time. The term "rose tinted spectacles" springs to mind whenever he's mentioned.CookieCoasters said:
Anyway, here's part two of my report. (I'm going to cheat and use some photos from the CF park guide.)
Skara Sommarland
The day didn't start off too well. The person I was liaising with forgot about us and was in bed. Thankfully there were pine cones around to entertain some of the CFers. Eventually I got the attention of the staff behind the gates and a lovely lady appeared. Vadge and I both put our fist in our mouth and crossed our legs. She was gorgous.
Eventually they let us in and a handsome young chap escorted us to Tranan. Ok, so we didn't get a full 30mins but we didn't need it. Three or four rides each was enough.
I still like it, it's cheesy fun but it's never going to break into anybody's top 10. Unless you've only been on 10 coasters.
We knocked off the spinning coaster,a spinner if you'd rather, called Spinner. It spins, hence it's name, Spinner.
I didn't ride because I rode it last year. Once is enough. I think the CFers felt the same, too! Nobody rushed back around for a reride.
Faff occurred. About a third of the group went to the Go_karts, the rest of us sat around filling Ciall's bag with pine cones and putting his swim shorts on a high branch. At Liseberg the day before, I bought some plastic medals which I engraved with a Biro. The lucky top three winners of the Grand Prix - Peter, Mouse and Andree - each received one. I hope they treasure them forever.
I did a faffle afterwards giving away some of the most wonderful tat I have accumulated.
We then minced over to the other coaster. Storms were forecast so to prevent Cred Anxiety, we had to tick them off.
We stopped on the way to take a group photo in a fountain.
We walked past loads of childish play things. I was quite disappointed that they weren't [strike]ab[/strike]used by some of the CFers. When I visited last year, I had visions of people going crazy for that sort of ****. I guess we've either grown up (nahhh) or we were knackered from the long day at Liseberg and early start. Sue got involved with some fish action.
The final coaster at Skara is a mine train with an unpronounceable name - Grovebanana or something.
The inside section has trolls from an old Swedish fairytale. Again, I don't think the majority of CFers were impressed. One and done.
Skara is quite scatty. There are rides dotted around the place but there's one section that's really well themed and tightly packed with family-friendly rides.
The Dodge Thems were done. Sue rode in a rock themed dodgeme because she's likes rocks as much as I like mazes. There was no maze themed dodgem so I sat out. They got a long go!
We did the fabulously Whale themed log flume. There was the obligitory Fat Boat. ©CoasterForce.
Before the splash...
IMPACT!
Brief rest bite...
And then the secondary wave!
Soaked through!
We entertained ourselves with some of the other rides, such as the Rodeo...
... the fab Moser drop tower. I love these things...
Before our kebab lunch break, Darren bummed a frog.
We met up after lunch near the Waterski ride ready to watch the brave four who took it on.
Waterski Ride is probably THE best ride to watch. I am not ashamed to say that I bloused out. I'm simply not brave enough and would struggle to see without my glasses, so I tip my Leviathan cap to the four CFers who took it on whilst the rest of us laughed. They pulled straws to decide which order they went in.
(I can't seem to embed the Vines, so click the links)
Here's Andrus' attempt...
http://vine.co/v/M0IQtrBdggj
http://vine.co/v/M0I2ILOj9KF
Darren B...
http://vine.co/v/M0I09QMIKXT
Ben...
http://vine.co/v/M0I9PQt7uwB
As an impartial judge, I'd pick Darren B as the winner because he went the furthest. Although for taking it on, all four of you are winners!
The storm clouds were gathering so the group split. Some went to the water park, others took shelter in the pub.
After about an hour, we (well, I) decided to call it a day. Everything was closed and if we left earlier than planned, we could have a nice meal that evening, an early night and feel refreshed for Grona Lund the following day. Nobody objected. We said our goodbyes to Andrus and made a quick dash to the cars.
Skara Sommarland delivered what I thought it would do. It was a relaxed pace with a dash of faff and enough ok stuff to keep us amused.
Keep the reports coming...
Darren B
Giga Poster
I'll start the report of Skara with a 'Wat ya Thinkin'
Thanks to Ian for the ammunition.
I've got no photos so I'll just give a brief report.
Tranan
It was ****. The first ride was worth it for the +1 and the slight smile it put on my face. The following rides were just ****. It's obvious to see why this is the only S&S freefly in existence. Peter Osbeck may me a genius in most cases, but he dropped the ball with Tranan.
Spinner
This thing was awful. I generally quite like Maurer spinners but the travelling model I despise. Still the best coaster in the park though.
Powered Mine Train
I'm insistent that these things are the most boring coasters in existence. +1.
After the worst 3 coasters I've probably done in a row it was time to do something that wasn't box ticking; I captained the fat boat in Richards absence and led Shaun & Dan to a watery end, great stuff. After the log flume the moser tower was done; best ride in the park.
The waterski around the lake was good fun even if the water was hot, dirty and full of fish.
The waterpark was the best portion of the park though; Only a few of us actually bothered with the waterpark, it was raining at the time and most didn't want to get wet :roll:
The rapids were a good craic, as was the zip wire over the big boys pool (painful when you're thrown off and land on your back mind). We spent the rest of time at the waterpark **** around on the slides and admiring Caffeine_Demon who was splashing around in the toddlers pool, the Swedish parents were horrified. Dan, you legend!
After an hour the pool was evacuated due to nearby lightning. We met up with the others and left the park, the rain was really coming down at this point so calling it a day was the best idea.
In the evening we went out to have a nice cultured meal in Sweden. The result, we ate in an Irish bar. The food was really good, as was the beer. Our table spend the best part of 2 hours talking about sex; the only thing we had in common apart from Rollercoasters. The highlight of the night was Ciall telling us about his first time getting tossed off by bloke.
It was then off to bed to get a few hours sleep in readiness for Grona Lund which everyone was pretty excited about.
Thanks to Ian for the ammunition.
I've got no photos so I'll just give a brief report.
Tranan
It was ****. The first ride was worth it for the +1 and the slight smile it put on my face. The following rides were just ****. It's obvious to see why this is the only S&S freefly in existence. Peter Osbeck may me a genius in most cases, but he dropped the ball with Tranan.
Spinner
This thing was awful. I generally quite like Maurer spinners but the travelling model I despise. Still the best coaster in the park though.
Powered Mine Train
I'm insistent that these things are the most boring coasters in existence. +1.
After the worst 3 coasters I've probably done in a row it was time to do something that wasn't box ticking; I captained the fat boat in Richards absence and led Shaun & Dan to a watery end, great stuff. After the log flume the moser tower was done; best ride in the park.
The waterski around the lake was good fun even if the water was hot, dirty and full of fish.
The waterpark was the best portion of the park though; Only a few of us actually bothered with the waterpark, it was raining at the time and most didn't want to get wet :roll:
The rapids were a good craic, as was the zip wire over the big boys pool (painful when you're thrown off and land on your back mind). We spent the rest of time at the waterpark **** around on the slides and admiring Caffeine_Demon who was splashing around in the toddlers pool, the Swedish parents were horrified. Dan, you legend!
After an hour the pool was evacuated due to nearby lightning. We met up with the others and left the park, the rain was really coming down at this point so calling it a day was the best idea.
In the evening we went out to have a nice cultured meal in Sweden. The result, we ate in an Irish bar. The food was really good, as was the beer. Our table spend the best part of 2 hours talking about sex; the only thing we had in common apart from Rollercoasters. The highlight of the night was Ciall telling us about his first time getting tossed off by bloke.
It was then off to bed to get a few hours sleep in readiness for Grona Lund which everyone was pretty excited about.
Darren B
Giga Poster
Grona Lund
Ian really talked up this park so my excitement was pretty high for it. After the day had ended I'd come to the conclusion that the park was actually pretty ****, by far the worst park of the trip. I know most of the group really enjoyed the park so I'll explain why it didn't do it for me.
Firstly, as much as I appreciate the effort they've put it to cram in as much as possible, they've crammed in nothing but crap. The Gerstlauer bobsled which was built using the supports from Jetline was really dull, as was Jetline itself. I've said before that Schwarzkopt doesn't do it for me and Jetline summarised up my reasons perfectly; yes, it's smooth, yes, it looks impressive entwined amongst other coasters but my god was it boring! It does nothing whatsoever. Serena, who rode next to me was of the same opinion.
Kvasten (Vekoma junior Invert) looked good also, especially the lovely touch of the ride 'smashing' through the station. But, once again, the ride was dull.
And then it was onto Insane the Intamin Zacspin. WORST.RIDE.ON.A.COASTER.EVER. Another coaster wonderfully shoehorned into a tight space but it was **** awful.
The only saviour of the day was the fantastic company and of course, Twister. Twister was magnificently crammed into a location that defy the law of physics. However, unlike the rest of the coasters it was good, like, really good. Top 10 wood good. This is why Peter Osbeck is a genius; I've now forgiven him for the rest of his Skara/Grona Lund sins. And of course he's building my soon to be new number 1 coaster (Wildfire).
Also, Grona Lund, where's your water rides at? Every self respecting theme park has a water ride. Another reason why GL didn't hit the spot for me.
So yeah, not a fan of Grona Lund whatsoever. However, the day was still an excellent one due to the brilliant company! Thank you all for another amazing Live, thanks to Conor, Tom, Tom, Sue and Richard for driving and last but not least, thanks to Ian for arranging everything, you've certainly earned your iPad.
(For those not on the Live and not understanding the iPad references; We were due a refund from Ian as we were given free entry to Skara unexpectedly. Everyone on the trip unanimously voted not to claim their refund from Ian, instead allowing him to use the money to buy an iPad he was really keen on purchasing to enhance his ability to run CF without having to start up his laptop everytime. Taking into account that Ian takes no money for arranging these trips I think this was truly deserved)
To save starting a new topic for Denmark I'll add a few lines about the trip in this topic when I can be arsed.
Ian really talked up this park so my excitement was pretty high for it. After the day had ended I'd come to the conclusion that the park was actually pretty ****, by far the worst park of the trip. I know most of the group really enjoyed the park so I'll explain why it didn't do it for me.
Firstly, as much as I appreciate the effort they've put it to cram in as much as possible, they've crammed in nothing but crap. The Gerstlauer bobsled which was built using the supports from Jetline was really dull, as was Jetline itself. I've said before that Schwarzkopt doesn't do it for me and Jetline summarised up my reasons perfectly; yes, it's smooth, yes, it looks impressive entwined amongst other coasters but my god was it boring! It does nothing whatsoever. Serena, who rode next to me was of the same opinion.
Kvasten (Vekoma junior Invert) looked good also, especially the lovely touch of the ride 'smashing' through the station. But, once again, the ride was dull.
And then it was onto Insane the Intamin Zacspin. WORST.RIDE.ON.A.COASTER.EVER. Another coaster wonderfully shoehorned into a tight space but it was **** awful.
The only saviour of the day was the fantastic company and of course, Twister. Twister was magnificently crammed into a location that defy the law of physics. However, unlike the rest of the coasters it was good, like, really good. Top 10 wood good. This is why Peter Osbeck is a genius; I've now forgiven him for the rest of his Skara/Grona Lund sins. And of course he's building my soon to be new number 1 coaster (Wildfire).
Also, Grona Lund, where's your water rides at? Every self respecting theme park has a water ride. Another reason why GL didn't hit the spot for me.
So yeah, not a fan of Grona Lund whatsoever. However, the day was still an excellent one due to the brilliant company! Thank you all for another amazing Live, thanks to Conor, Tom, Tom, Sue and Richard for driving and last but not least, thanks to Ian for arranging everything, you've certainly earned your iPad.
(For those not on the Live and not understanding the iPad references; We were due a refund from Ian as we were given free entry to Skara unexpectedly. Everyone on the trip unanimously voted not to claim their refund from Ian, instead allowing him to use the money to buy an iPad he was really keen on purchasing to enhance his ability to run CF without having to start up his laptop everytime. Taking into account that Ian takes no money for arranging these trips I think this was truly deserved)
To save starting a new topic for Denmark I'll add a few lines about the trip in this topic when I can be arsed.
caffeine_demon
Strata Poster
Shame about vilda musen - it was awesome when I rode it 2 years ago!
MouseAT
Hyper Poster
Great reports so far!
I'm afraid I've suffered a major hardware failure on my main machine, so some of the photo uploads are currently on hold whilst I get my photo library migrated over to my other machine. Luckily I do have backups. I've not been online much in the last couple of weeks, partially due to that and partially due to being busy with work, but I'll try to get the remaining photos online at some point and share my thoughts on the Live beyond "it was awesome!" when I get some time to do so.
I'm afraid I've suffered a major hardware failure on my main machine, so some of the photo uploads are currently on hold whilst I get my photo library migrated over to my other machine. Luckily I do have backups. I've not been online much in the last couple of weeks, partially due to that and partially due to being busy with work, but I'll try to get the remaining photos online at some point and share my thoughts on the Live beyond "it was awesome!" when I get some time to do so.