"Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports

[Pokemaniac]

Thank you for an amazing day at Liseberg, everybody! Nice to finally meet you, after so many years of text (and some photos. I have to admit, I recognised a few of you even before we were introduced)! I got back, alive and well, though I suspect I might catch a cold or two following the watery walk back to the train station.

Helix was amazing. At first, I thought it was a little sad to be stapled by the lap bar as badly as I was, until I remembered that the bar was the only thing keeping me in my seat, and that resisting that stapling would be an extremely stupid thing to do. Good thing I was stapled too, because in the back row, Helix did its best to throw me off. Ejector airtime if I ever knew it.

Also, as per request: Micro Trip Report: Lisebergbanan - Gothenburg Central Station:

Sadly, Lisebergbanan was closed due to the weather just as our part of the queue had got into the station, and we were all under dry roof. Sadly, the ride ops didn't have the patience to let us wait out the rain under said roof. Sadly for the ride ops, we were all too stubborn to obey them, and crowded together in the emergency exit. It was raining as intensely as a shower with all valves open, and sadly, I had a train to catch and had to leave.

The first part of the trip was good, albeit a little sad. A good handshake from (mostly) everybody, wishes of good luck with the weather and promises to meet again some time in the future. I packed my non-waterproof belongings in a plastic bag, stuffed it into my backpack, got my trusty raincoat on, and headed for Liseberg Train Station (a place I didn't even know existed until I visited it).

Approximately zero point zero three seconds after stepping into the rain, I noticed the biggest flaw in my thus-far-considered-perfect anti-weather protection plan: My raincoat covered me from the waist up only. I got approximately thirty metres down the road before I was drenched to the skin from the waist down. Though, the intense rain also kept the crowds away, so I could walk pretty much undisturbed. There were a few others trying their luck without raincoats at all, and they all looked either soaked, miserable or both. My T-shirt might have been wet as well (note to self: fix leaky zipper), but at least it wasn't see-through yet.

Outside the park, over a covered walkway and heading for Liseberg station, it was brought to my attention that my shoes weren't waterproof either. I noticed this when I stepped out to a pedestrian crossing, and realized it was submerged in a good five centimetres of water. Not that my socks were that dry any more at that point, but from then on they felt a bit wetter than the pond I'd stepped into.

To my astonishment, I found Liseberg Train Station without any problems at all. When I had left the station earlier in the morning, I had been too preoccupied sending a text to Ian to make note of where I had been going. I passed a partially-dismantled barrier that had once contained a set of turnstiles, and went all the way to the platform without finding a ticket machine. I tried to go back and see if I had missed it, but no, apart from the lights in the ceiling there appeared to be no infrastructure at all at Liseberg Station. No advertising posters, no signs, no garbage bins, no ticket office, no nothing apart from a single info screen announcing the departure time of the next train (and thankfully, a dry roof). The only sound to be heard was the loud and intense quacking of my footsteps echoing through the empty corridors (hooray for rubber soles...). It was as if the station itself had shut down years ago, but the trains kept stopping there out of old habit. Because luckily, a train arrived only minutes after I had got to the station.

Apparently, there was no way to buy tickets on the train itself either. You had to use an app or send an SMS, and I had neither a smartphone nor a Swedish phone provider. Fortunately, Statens Järnvagar didn't seem to be too hard on ticket controls. The only train attendant I saw sent me one look, then left the carriage before I could ask her about tickets. We arrived at Gothenburg Central Station before I could figure out tickets, just like I had arrived at Liseberg before I could figure out tickets earlier in the morning. Oh well, free rides for me, I guess.

I got in time to catch my train, got home without incident, and am slowly starting to dry up now. Thanks again for a wonderful day at Liseberg!

 

[andrus]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Just a heads up! Don't know if you've heard, but the thunderstorms over Stockholm today made Gröna Lund close all of the attractions and restaurants:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article19279014.ab

The forecast for tomorrow will be the same: nice weather in the morning, but storms and occasional thunder during the afternoon. Here's hoping that it'll not be as severe as today! But a good piece of advice would be to get all of the creds done in the morning Just to be on the safe side.


PS. I really had a great time! Loooking forward to seeing all of you guys again Cheers!

 

[peep]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Poke, great to meet you and nice trip report to the station.

Andrus it was great to meet you again. The weather sounds awful. We'll just have to see how it goes but thanks for the heads up.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Lovely to meet you at last Poke. Thanks for sharing your trip home in the rain, haha!
Hope you dried out in the end...

 

[nemesis_guy]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Well it was lovely to meet more CFers on my very first live, thanks to everyone for being friendly and cool. I was impressed with the hospitality we had from the parks and their management, really appreciate it and of course a big thanks to Ian for organising everything.

I really enjoyed gooning around and getting all the creds, still only got 39 so still a newbie. Also, Helix impressed me so much, especially after the night ride it has gone to number 1 for me.

Oh, and weird/funny story, I took a flight back to Heathrow last night and when I landed the captain made everyone remain seated until eventually two police officers came aboard the plane. One officer walked down the gangway with a piece of paper in his hand until he finally reached my isle and looked at me, he said "Shaun is it? Can you gather your belongings and come with me for a chat"... I was like WTF, all the crew and passengers were silently staring at me. So I gathered my crap and got escorted off the plane with this police officer whilst everyone was looking at me like I was some sort of murderer. Turns out there's some bloke from Northern Ireland with the same name and date of birth as me who is wanted for assaulting somebody in Merseyside. One of the reasons I got flagged up was because somehow my passport was issues in Northern Ireland, god knows how/why. So Shaun from Northern Ireland who is wanted for assault, if you read this then **** you for embarrassing me in front of 130+ people.

So yeah, pretty interesting trip!

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Ohhh my god that's absolutely terrifying!!! What a story to tell though. Glad you can laugh about it, I'd have been crapping myself.
Anyway, it was lovely to meet you. Hope the car journey didn't put you off CF forever haha

 

[nemesis_guy]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" | Sweden | 26-28/07/14

Ohhh my god that's absolutely terrifying!!! What a story to tell though. Glad you can laugh about it, I'd have been crapping myself.
Anyway, it was lovely to meet you. Hope the car journey didn't put you off CF forever haha

In hindsight I can laugh about it but I admit when the cop stopped at my isle and said my name I was pretty much crapping myself!

Don't worry, the car journey didn't put me off at all, it was entertaining! haha

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Fab Weekend it was...

Highlights were:

- Helix
- Richard's Arrival/Departure music (including Ride of the Valkyries and Sex Bomb)
- Trananananananan
- The Waterski thing
- The Liseberg Thunderstorm
- Conor's chocolate distribution in the Fairy Tale Castle queue
- Twister (and my landmark #400 handshake with Ian from Coasterforce)
- The Fun House
- The Tunnel of Love convoys
- Meeting lots of new people
- Ian's organisation of the trip
- Winning the Knoebel's Carousel Music Cassette Tape
- Sue parking her car in Stansted and returning to Gatwick

Cannot thank Ian enough really for an exceptionally well done trip I think, especially when Skara forgot about us when we arrived for ERT... Enjoy the iPad!

I'll do a proper TR in due course...

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports

I can’t remember the last time I settled myself down to write a proper trip report. I’d like to say that I’ve set aside some time to give proper respect to the wonderful time that was had, the beautiful Scandinavian parks that we visited and, as always, the epic organisation by Ian...but in reality I have a big project on at work, so I’m procrastinating big time.

My trip began on Wednesday night, returning from work and totally panicking (as usual) at my complete and total disorganisation. I realised I hadn’t yet booked the airport car park for the morning so did that in a rush (more on that later), shoved some stuff in a bag, found out that I wasn’t the only one on my flight, and then settled down to try for at least 3 hours sleep. The alarm sounded far too early and it was up and into London to pick up Neal and Ali, before driving up to Stanstead. We ate up the miles (especially when Neal realised I’d put the wrong Stanstead in the sat nav – that shaved off about half an hour). The walk through Stanstead’s building-work was vile (I almost gave up and went home ;p) but was made much more entertaining by the random CFers who kept appearing left, right and centre, mainly in the vicinity of the airport bars. Finally, we gathered about 13 of us for the flight and I had a bit of a sleep before we arrived at the world’s tiniest airport that had just an airplane-sized piece of tarmac, a field, and a gazebo for passport control! We faffed with hire cars (Richard was denied a Volvo and I got a free up-grade to an Insignia which had a handbrake button that I failed to understand for the entirety of the trip) before exiting into Gothenburg.

The official Live didn’t begin until the Saturday, but we had a day in the city and then a day-trip to Tusenfryd in Norway to look forward to first. I won’t write up the pre-fab here as it wasn’t part of the official Live, but I’ll just summarise with: Volvos were fun (although spinny chairs are funner), Gothenberg you are too hot, parktimes were had watching a Swedish television show being filmed, swings and slides were played on. Tussefryd was not as pretty as I expected (Swedish parks kick Norwegian park arse on that front) and they had pissed away in incredible amount of money on an amazingly-themed dark ride in a cave that turned out to be a ****, broken 4-D cinema. FML. Speed Monster was fun though and had changed my mind on Intamin accelerators from vile hatrid to just mild hatrid. By the time the Live began, we were all hot and tired and ready for some good coasters.

We joined up with the rest of the main Live outside the entrance to Liseberg for ERT. It was lovely to see Andrée as always (shame Katia couldn’t make it, please say hi) and meet some new people (hi to Shaun, you seem lovely, and great to finally meet Poke a bit later too).

Hello Liseberg...

We sashayed up the giant hill to Helix, from now on referred to as Swelix.

We were whisked quickly along the queueline with comparisons to an Esher painting, the Labyrinth, a car park and the Jubilee Line. I admired the subtle green lighting and loved the music and the brutilist feel to the building which both complimented the theme very well.

I also love the clever interaction of the queues, so you have no idea where you are going or how long you have left to wait.

We gooned out over the small, sexy goon-holes that let you see glimpses of cred.

Later on, when we queued for a long time, we discovered the brilliant Swelix app that lets you play along with others in the queue in real time, displaying high-scores on TV as you go round the queue. This was a brilliant idea – I can really see it taking off – and the goons all squealed as each round had names like ‘heartline roll’, ‘airtime’, ‘launch’ and ‘brake’. Finally we made it to the ride and I queued for front row.

I’d been really looking forward to trying a big Mack (lol) coaster as I’ve not yet made it to Europa Park. I’ve also been drooling over the POVs of this ride since they came out. I knew it wouldn’t be powerful, just fun, and in that respect it didn’t disappoint. The front was fun, although a little tame first thing in the morning. I love the view from the front of the train out over the hillside, and the rush of air with each launch. One ride down, we rushed round for another – I managed somehow to get two goes in the back. What a difference! The back was so much more enjoyable for me - loads of airtime (with a good mix of floater and mild ejector) especially on the hill just after the tophat, a better first drop and some great sideways action. Overall it was just fun, fun, fun. My only complaints were that it was a bit rattly – not too bad, but not what you’d expect for something so new (I had both back rides in the same train with the chip in the paintwork on the right hand seat if anyone cares), and that although the restraints were comfy, they felt a bit too enclosed with the high metal arms. By the end of the ERT I had enjoyed it, but it wasn’t top 10.

We all gathered in the very, very busy and sweaty indoor area of Swelix’s exit to wait for stuff to happen with park managers and the picking up of extra people from the front of the park. I think the heat was getting to me, and mixed in with the huge amount of disorganised faff that was going on, and being denied toilet time, I’m afraid to say I had a minor melt down. Tom tried to calm me down like a child, deservedly so as that’s how I was behaving, and I stomped off to find a loo. Sorry about that guys . Having cooled off with a Nogger ice cream, a less temperamental Sue re-joined the group in Balder’s queue. I remember loving Balder in 2010, but in the 4 intervening years I’ve ridden a lot more woodies, and Balder had slipped down my count somewhat. I was interested to see how I felt about the prefab now I’d had more experience as an enthusiast. As it turned out, I had a rather epic run somewhere near the back. The ride does lack from being somewhat soulless, with a feeling of artificialness or forcedness as the only way I can describe it - something I didn’t notice last time. However, there were buckets of short airtime pops which made it fun, fun, fun (I’m beginning to see a pattern with Liseberg’s coasters). I think Balder needs to be dragged back up my count a bit, although probably not in my top 10 wood, it’s still fab. Andrée tried to make me believe that Balder has theming, something about a football team, but I’m not sure I’m convinced.

Next it was the turn of Kananonanonanon. I remember this being vile but thought I’d brave it again for chat-based times in the queue. This meant a long time exposed to the sun on a soulless concrete roof – this coaster doesn’t fit in with the rest of the park at all and is as rough as a badger’s arse. It also has the Intamin restraints that carve into your neck. Kanonen, you undid all the good work of Speed Monster the previous day. I’ll try and find one good point about it, the broms, as in the ‘launch into broms’, didn’t seem to be quite as barbaric as I remembered them. Overall: just eurgh.

I didn't even bother to take a picture!

After this, the group split up. I think some headed for benches while the rest of us went to try the horror walk through. We got in for free with our wristbands – yay! It was even fabber (fABBA?) than I remember, even without AJ quoting Titanic this time. Although it’s not that scary, the epic levels of theming make this my favourite of all these types of attraction. We exited past the little harbour section and were greeted with this stonking view of the hill in front of us. Liseberg really has tried to make Helix fit in with all the existing rides. Most of it nestles down into the hillside so you’d never know it was there, while the high points are the same green as the trees and UpSwingit. It just looks so damn sexy

Then I think we headed off to mop up the kiddie creds. Rabalder happened first. Not learning from the Kanonen’s queue, I braved the concrete cattle pen in order to chat and experienced more sun-based times. We had fun spotting the Roomba-lawnmower (which Poke says he sells in his shop, but which the rest of us Brits had never seen before). We squeeed on the ride as we saw the Roomba-lawnmower’s little house. I identified the Tree of Silence as a London Plane tree because of its flaky bark.

By the time we got to the second kiddie cred, I really needed the loo again (we were drinking so much water because of the vile heat). The queue was burdenous though and by the time I got to the second kiddie cred, Stampbanan, most of the other CFers were on the ride. Some very kind souls waited for me (even though I told them not to bother) and watched me brave the shame of riding a kiddie cred alone. Lunch was attempted near to the harbour but the place was horrifically busy, to the point where I couldn’t even sit at the table properly. It was great to see the park so busy, but perhaps going on a school holiday Saturday in July, during one of the hottest summers on record and the launch of their largest coaster, had some draw-backs. Still the ride queues hadn’t been too bad at least – the park has made decent choices in terms of capacity. Anyway, I had battered cod and chips. It was disappointingly dry. I didn’t take a picture because I have better things to do with my life...

After lunch we split up the group again. Even looking at the drop tower was giving me the willies, so I opted for Swelix again with Poke (who had to leave early and had missed ERT) and others. The queue time was 1hr 10mins, but we got through in 50mins. The queue didn’t even feel that long though as, due to its huge length, we were constantly moving all the time. Somehow I was blessed with another back row and boy had it woken up. I was beginning to see the signs of a really, really good coaster and I now couldn’t wait for a night ride.

Lisebergbanen was called and we rushed into the queue to get the last cred of the day before the forecast thunderstorm. As we waited, seeing which ABBA tune best fitted with ‘Lesbian Banana’ (there’s a Schwarzkopf in the air tonight, it’s surprisingly not ****, Lesbian Banana) and pretending to be trees, the rain started to come down. By the time we were in the station it was really going for it and we heard the thunder. A few trains later and all hell broke loose. There was lightening and flooding and finally us goons were thrown out of the station down a fire escape into the rainstorm. It seemed the entire park was either taking shelter with us under the canopy of a games stall, or shrieking like girls and running to the exit through the rain, with ponchos trailing behind doing nothing to keep them dry. Poke left in the middle of all this to try and get a train (poor guy) and we passed the time pushing Ciall out into the rain, being very British and buying ice creams, watching the games show guys play football, watching the EPIC lightening and watching Richard play games with chairs. We also gambled for chocolate and Conor won a giant bar of Kex, which Jordan and Ben then used to shelter from the rain, haha.

Eventually it dried up enough to venture out and we headed for the dark ride to see out the rest of the storm. What a difference an hour made, from too hot to handle, to chilly, wet and goosebumps! Queueline entertainment was provided by Man and Broom Vs. Puddle. I thought **** it, I’m wet already and went for a paddle. Conor then shared out his giant Kex bar (full of lots of little Kexs) to CF and all the kids in the queue. After Conor’s Pied Piper Pre-show, the dark ride turned out to be a rip-off of Disney’s Peter Pan with music taken from Droomvlucht at Efteling.

One copyright infringement later we headed back to Lesbian Banana as the storm clouds gathered for round two. We got into the station for a second time and an announcement came over the tanoy. Everyone began to boo as we thought we’d all have to leave once again, but our boos turned to cheers as the mirror wall suddenly and mysteriously began to move backwards to reveal the train storage area and transfer track. CF goonily cheered the addition of a fifth train much to the bewilderment of everyone else in the station. Five trains! That’s a whole world of capacity! The couple who had somehow fitted a giant Kex bar into the front of the train (which was the exact width of the front of the train) also provided some entertainment. We finally got onboard and set off. I know this is a love/hate coaster, but for me I just love, love, love it. I’m a traditionalist who loves old Swartzies and this was just what Liseberg does best: fun, fun, fun. A good long, slow lift hill, swoosh round the hillside and roar through the tunnel. Just look out for the broms!!

Now it was time to re-ride some stuff. I seconded calls for Balder running in the wet and it was even fABBA than in the morning. On the way, we kept seeing people who had won giant bags of crisps. I don't know why but I thought these were such a lame prize and was giggling to myself for ages.

Balder was wet for us

As we were wet anyway, some of us opted to do the water rides and I became Peep for a while, filming the rapid (apologies it it’s unusable, Peep). The rapids were much fABBA than I remember and got us just the right amount of soaked. We also managed to do a double takeover of other boats FTW! Then we did the frog loom which was also excellent, with a double down. Dare I say my favourite log flume drop ever?!

A quick break for supper was called (because supper is better than dinner and high tea). I had a veggie burger which was ok, but overall I was a bit disappointed with the food at Liseberg that day. On the way some of us had a go at a games stall where you race rollercoasters. I beat the others to win a Balder badge – a very proud moment.

After supper we met up at the shot and drop towers. I chose the shot tower and got an enjoyable ride and view down the hill of all the interaction between Swelix, Lesbian Banana and the log flume. They had a fab-looking waltzer up that bit of the park too, but time was getting away from us and we headed towards the escalators for one last go on Swelix as the sun began to set...

We joined the queue en-masse and waited out our time for the last ride of the day. We reached the station about half 10 in the evening, just late enough for it to be properly dark and Swelix was streaming past the windows fully lit, burning up the stormy sky. So much fABBA than during daytime and much less-rattley too! I waited for the back because it had to be done and it was just a joy. Cold air, warm track, loads of airtime, whipping along with green light streaming out – I won’t forget that nightride in a long time. I came off with a big cheesey grin and a new coaster just slipping into my steel top 10. Not so much fun, fun, fun as awesome, awesome, awesome! All that was left to do now was to run out along the mid levels and witness the coaster porn that is Swelix mixing with Lesbian Banana up-close at night. Liseberg has always been a beautiful park and now it’s even more so. We grabbed some photos, let out a few sighs and then head off for the night, tired and coastered-out for the day.

Hopefully I can find time to do part two: Tranny Nanny and Ben’s magic shoes...

 

[Ben]

I'm back now, boo, but I just had such an amazing time - it's the first time in years I've got actual post-Live depression <//3

As if I can be arsed to do a proper report, lets do highlights;

- Meeting new people/hanging out more with people I've barely spoken to - shout-outs to Welsh Shaun, Fab Darren, Serena and Fabbi Dave in this respect.
- Liseberg was an awesome park, I absolutely loved it. The best park in Scandi by an absolute mile, and easily a top five European park. Like, Alton/PA/Europa sort of level for me.
- Balder being massively pre-FAB. Top three woodie for me, and defo my favourite pre-FAB, spites El Toro. Especially cause I didn't even think it would be any good, and the second ride <3
- Helix being...

- Also, AtmosFIERCE <3
- The fab walkthrough and fab Log Flume and fab Lesbian Banana.
- Just to reiterate, I adored Liseberg.
- Johan ERT <3
- Tranny Ann being totally WTF but cool.
- The water ski that was revolting and amazing all at once. So many FISH.
- Mincing down slides with actual fork lightning bolts coming down.
- The amazing "Irish" waitress... "WhyFuy"
- Gino, the most legendary taxi driver and only Swedish person to not speak a word of English.
- Amazing harmonizing to the Les Miserables soundtrack.
- The FAB Grouna Lund woman whose name I've forgotten.
- Twister being amazing during ERT, and riding like, 15 times.
- Insane being vile the first time and then amazing later.
- The AMAZING Ghost Train and fab Fun House.

I wasn't actually blown away that much by Grouna Lund. Ed I think it was said it's very much Brighton Pier with more rides. Don't get me wrong, for the space it's incredible, but, I would perhaps struggle to call it a full day park. Although, I'm not sure that's what they're even going for, so. Twister is brilliant though, absolutely loved it.

And then Ed and I had a fab two nights in Stockholm, the ABBA museum was absolutely everything I dreamed it would be.

So just a brilliant, brilliant trip. Thought the group was great, not too much drama but enough to be fab, and some really good creds and stuff. So, a big thank you to Ian and all the werk he put in, it really showed and was so much fabber than other coaster club trips I've done (spite TPR).

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Day 1 – The Pre-Live at TusenFryd

The hype for this jaunt to Sweden had built to unbelievable levels. A massive group of coaster goons, 3 Swedish parks, with Helix at the forefront of this trip, meant that the flight to Gothenburg went pretty quickly.

We start our report in Norway though, as a few of us turned up for the weekend trip early for cultural times (of which there are no photos, but Gothenburg is alright), and Norwegian creds.

First thing you do notice about TusenFryd is the location and surrounding area. Its hill-side forest setting gives the park overall a lovely bit of presentation, however in a fair few areas this doesn’t extend to the park internally, which is disappointing (Speed Monster’s area being a real bad example).

Up the entrance escalator and straight towards our first ride of the trip, Speed Monster, an Intamin Accelerator that created the Norwegian Loop. We took over the 12 seater train and we were off, with the launch feeling quite weak in comparison to other bigger variants on the Accelerator, the loop was quite decent though, but in typical Intamin fashion as soon as it did any form of tight transitional turns (2 in a row as well </3) the restraints ruin everything. A ride of two halves really, as the start until the first twisty hill is quite good and enjoyable. But then it all goes to pot. Shame really.

Minimal theming is, minimal

We then headed further into the park to find our next coaster, the world’s smallest one in fact, Den aller minste. Coaster enthusiasts generally have little shame in getting kid’s creds, and usually ones of this size generally frown upon adults riding without kids. Indeed, the man operating it took one look at our group and clearly knew why we were here; his exasperation wasn’t hidden in the slightest.

At least the seats were comfy and spacious, a rare thing amongst kids creds. There’s little else to say about a ride which is literally a flat oval.

Up next was Thundercoaster, the first wooden coaster of the trip, and it was to be a Vekoma. Yay? Actually I did like Loup-Garou back at Walibi so this one being slighty bigger and using the terrain slightly more intrigued me. The burdenously long queue that we walked through did not impress me though (i.e. no shortcuts </3).

It’s certainly a ride that when you come off you know you’ve been on one. Which might be a bad thing for some people; it was certainly flinging itself around the track in a wild manner. I found it neither awful nor amazing really, just a reasonably decent ride in the end of it all, with some good airtime about, with the irony that the recently retracked section was probably the roughest part of it all.

Cows on a cred!

There was a bit of faff as the area at the bottom of the giant hill where the Supersplash and Thor’s Hammer are located (think Legoland Windsor style) opened at 12. We eventually headed down the long walk which was awful due to the weather, and headed straight into the cave of Thor’s Hammer.

This was probably the second ride I was most excited about on this trip. A dark ride themed to Norse mythology using a cheap version of the Spiderman ride system set in an actual cave (no sheds here). The theming within the ride is gloriously beautiful, unfortunately not everything comes up to that same high standard they set themselves. It was really, a disappointment to me and others who were hyped for it, for the ride has a few small flaws that prevent it from being amazing. This are namely down to broken screens; a lack of urgency from the speed of the ride car; a lack of ‘extra’ effects (such as water sprays/heaters) and the odd bit of non-sensical positioning from the car (Why are we still falling on the screen before continuing? Why are we flying?). This was probably the biggest shame of the weekend.

Sue was excited because there were rocks

Next door to Bore’s Hammer was Supersplash, which I think was actually the first Mack Supersplash in the world, hence why it doesn’t have any turntables or funky lifts or stuff.
I also think it basically has the whole “if you’ve ridden one, you’ve ridden them all”, it’s still fun though, but not really reaching the spectactular.

We then broke for some lunch, before heading back towards the entrance to pick up another stray goon. I watched a Spongebob themed show at this point, which made zero sense to me, having neither watched the show in the first place and it also being in Norwegian.

We rode Speed Monster again which was still yay to meh in 10 seconds, before popping over to Loopen, an old Vekoma Tornado (I just looked it up, apparently 3 were built). It had a curved station, of which there need to be more of them because reasons, and the ride itself was mercifully short, though also one of the more smoother classic Vekomas in the world. One and done.

The heat of the day was getting to all of us, so the Toomerstupet was done. It was a singular drop Log Flume with mincy bit in the trees prior to the drop, and one boat got stuck in the dual loading station of random necessity. Was certainly required though.

We started the long walk up the main hill (more hills than Towers this park) and diverted at the SpinSpider, a MASSIVE Frisbee ride that has a Danish cousin at Bon-Bon Land. It was (like Bon-Bon’s) a brilliant ride, where the ridiculous height prevents a large level of intensity from being built up, and it just becomes completely enjoyable.

At the top of the hill, antics were had, as was a character photo!

We then continued to the Western themed area to hit up the last coaster, Western Expressen, which had been moved from Mirabilandia in Italy a few years back for some reason. It was meh and unexciting.

We headed BACK UP the hill and rode Space Shot, their S&S Launch Tower which was ok. Some people did SpinSpider again on the way back down the hill before we went through the Eventyrstien kids playground, which helped us get back to where we wanted to go in a much more enjoyable (and shaded) fashion.

We found ourselves back at Thor’s Hammer so a few of us re-rode it, where it still suffered from the same issues as earlier. We then went back to Thundercoaster, which was running a bit rougher than it was earlier in the morning, many of the group did not approve of this factor in the ride either, but it didn’t bother me too much.

MEATBALLS!

Some people wanted to ride Nightmare, which was an apparently better version of Vengeance with a long wait in a hot pre-show room. Some of us didn’t, and we discovered a brilliant way of cooling down in the weather.

Finally Speed Monster was done once more, and we headed back to our cars for the long drive back to Gothenburg.

Overall TusenFryd was a mixed bag of a park. It had an ok line-up of attractions, some awful ones, some mediocre areas in amongst the woodlands and LOTS of hills. I wouldn’t necessarily be running back desperately to the park it must be said, although that might be an opinion spoilt by other rides that were done later on the weekend. Good, but not great really, and some areas of the park need a LOT of work done on them.

 

[Dubaidave]

Re: "Bjorn This Way" Trip Reports

I'm still not home so will do a trip report soon.
Just wanted to say I had a fab time and managed to ride 37 coasters. Thanks to everyone who was there for putting up with me and or making this trip just stunning.

I'm on the last leg of a truly burdenous trip back which ha s involved my first train having to get the police to remove a fair dodger and my second train being replaced by a bus!

 

[Ian]

When I got home, I put my clothes in the washing machine and slept solidly for two hours. Then I went shopping and cleaned my flat. That's reality for you!

Whilst doing those chores, I was smiling to myself thinking about the great time I had and more importantly, the brilliant time I saw everybody else having. What a fantastic three days in Sweden, I'm missing you all already.

I'm enjoying the trip reports posted so far. It's always great to read what people thought or see what stuff I missed out on whilst amusing myself, so please keep them coming! I'll do mine at the weekend. I'm looking forward to writing my thoughts on Helix and comparing how the rides and experience felt this year compared to the same trip I did last year.

Thank you once again, CoasterForce, for an amazing three days. I tip my hat to the drivers. Yeah, I'm biased but I genuinely believe there is no better way to explore theme parks and ride thrill rides in different countries than with you. There's always something going on, always somebody telling a joke or doing something silly. The different opinions, the varied and valued contribution everybody makes to making CF-Lives what they are makes me feel warm inside.

So cheers to Ali, Andrus, Ben, Benin, Ciall, Conor, Dan, Ed, Fabbi Dave, Gavin, Goonfield, Jordan, Martin Porter, Mouse, Neal, peep, Peter, Poke, Rach, Serena, Shaun, Stone Old, Sue, Tom H, Tom S and Vadge. CoasterForce, you've done me proud once again

 

[Mysterious Sue]

I totally just sung 'Martin Porrrter' in my head as I read that.
Hilarious times indeed.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Day 2 – Liseberg

So this was what the trip was all about. Liseberg, and by extension, Helix. Having been driven past the park by our airport bus and seeing everything for the first time is amazing. The design of Helix damn near perfect with its location and pops away from the terrain, but more on that later.

As it was the first official day of the meet, we all arrived outside the main entrance to the park, said our hellos and introductions as we waited for the management to come pick us up for the ERT on Helix.

We were taken through the park away from the plebs towards the back entrance of the Helix/Atmosfear building, and left to our own devices until 11. The ERT was shared with other people (I think hotel guests, but never found out), but none the less with 3 trains running at a decent efficiency, there was no real queue to speak off aside from at the airgates themselves. The queue-line itself is reminiscent of Westminster’s Jubilee Line area, with Escher references and the odd Goon-Window for goons to pry into the mechanical workings of the ride.

Like Blue Fire and Alpina Blitz, the seats are incredibly comfortable; however the stapling from the ride ops is unfortunate to say the least. A considered warning for those planning to go in the future.

Long story short, the ride is fantastic. I adored it from the word go (many were rather meh towards it after the ERT), and it’s straight into the top 10. It does all the things it does well, including the airtime hills and inversions, it has good pacing, it has a lovely style. It is a coaster made by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. And Liseberg and Mack both deserve applause for it.

After 3 goes during the ERT, the park had opened and we received our wristbands for the day before heading off to our next destination, Balder. I’m not a fan of Colossos at Heide Park, I found the ride dull and lacking a soul 3 odd years ago, so I wasn’t particularly excited for Balder like many were around me.

However I found myself pleasantly surprised from the experience. Perhaps it was because I thought the layout was akin to an old style Scenic Railway, with airtime hills going in and out of tunnels, or just because it was full of airtime. The corners are dull as though, which to me is what prevents it from being a real top ride in itself, there were also others who were not enamoured with the ride at all, so it certainly seems to have a divide about it.

It also has a theme regarding the local football team, who play in red and blue, like all the best football teams in the world do. Bonus point there for random theme that needs to be explained but is randomly hilarious.

Right next door to Balder is Kanonen, the tiniest Intamin Accelerator you ever did see (unless you’ve been to Italy). It includes a launch into brakes/BROMS, a top hat it barely makes it over, painful Intamin style turns and the inspiration for Blue Fire’s finale inline. It seems a strange addition to the park, as it’s quite clearly been plonked into available space with no real rhyme nor reason, being located on top of a building over dull lifeless concrete.

It was rubbish. Slow, dull, painful turns. Stupid Intamin.

After Kanonenenenenenenen, there was call for the Rapids, but they were busy so some people went to the scare attraction. The rest who didn’t had drink/ice cream/dancing times in the pavilion. There were also photographic opportunities to be had to show how gorgeous Helix is.

After all had returned we headed into the kid’s area for the two coasters there. First up was Rabalder, which had an awesome Roomba thing that mowed the lawn for it, as well as the fabled “Tree of Silence” in the queueline. The ride itself was pretty plain and uninteresting, although the ride ops were pretty fab and interactive with everyone on the ride. There was also a bucket of water dripping over the station entrance which was more burdenous than praised.

Next door was Stampbanen, an even SMALLER kids coaster which did even less. It was however well themed and had comfy seats (indeed, most Swedish kids creds seem to have wider trains to accommodate two adults/goons, must be deliberate). We passed the time in the queue watching the nearby show and having character times.

Lunchtime was called, so after trudging through the heaving park trying to find somewhere we headed back up the hill to take Helix based photos.

Meeting back up with the group, some elected for more Helix times whilst others went on Atmosfear, the non-rotating Gyro Drop Tower. It was dull for me as I find the taller towers just lack much in the way of thrills after the initial drop, and I’m not scared of heights. The lack of rotation was also disappointing to me. Queue was themed quite nicely though and you could watch people’s reactions whilst queuing, which is ALWAYS entertaining.

After that we ventured back down the mountain towards Lisebergbanen. The queue moved quickly but alas, not quickly enough, as when we reached the station the heavens open and a fierce storm raged. This closed everything major and we were left to evacuate down a fire exit into a game stall. Conor managed to win a massive box of KEX chocolate which was then used as shelter from the rain.

We eventually moved out towards the Fairy Tale Castle attraction. It was a cheap European dark ride and included music from Efteling’s Droomvulcht. It made me want to be at Efteling, but we weren’t.

After the rains officially stopped we headed back to Lisebergbanen, and got to see some hot transfer track action. The Swedes were bemused by the cheers as the 5th train appeared slowly into circulation, causing the ride op to give a little bow as he finished. The ride itself is excellent fun, as it treks up and down the hill in giant swooping drops and turns. It features some faff before and after the triple helix action and has BROMS. Fab.

It was then called that we do Balder again because of the storm. It was done and it was certainly faster, but still had dull corners. Ah well, it was still good though, with wilder airtime than in the morning.

Some people opted to do the Rapids at this point, before food was called for and Sue and I played the Balder themed racing game. Sue won and was incredibly proud of this. Many people also did the Log Flume whilst I elected for tat times, though the selection was quite poor it must be said.

We started our venture back to Helix for night ride times but were distracted by the Space Shot of Halfway Up. It was silly because it didn’t use the entire tower, which is why they also have another S&S tower ride, because S&S are crap.

And so we were to finish our day where it began at Helix. We spent the queue investigating the Helix game app, which is incredibly fab and is incredibly goony. Free to download on Apple and Android devices now!

The ride itself was good in the morning, and at night it got even better. It was pushing around the course like tomorrow was not on the horizon, and the overbanked turn drop was fiendishly whippy. It shot Helix above Blue Fire in my top 10 as a result (which I think it might have done anyway, but the night ride confirmed it), and it was just utterly fantastic. The lights along the train provide an even better viewing experience for non-riders, especially given the relatively lack of brighter lights in the surrounding areas where the ride goes (as opposed to Swarm’s brightly lit plaza).

Honestly fantastic. If I could I would sit on it all day (and it’s a ride where that is actually doable as well).

After some more tat faff it was time to leave, Liseberg is a nice park I’d say; probably prefer Tivoli Gardens to it on a presentation point of view, but it’s still of a very good quality. Helix is an outstanding ride, whilst Balder and Lisebergbanen provide some suitable support to it, with a fantastic kid’s area to boot as well. It perhaps misses a big dark ride out of the mix, but for an inner city park to look as good as it does (the harbour themed area is top tier quality), it doesn’t matter too much.

Random night shots because pretty park is pretty.

We left the car park to Ride of the Valkyries booming, thoughts of Helix still fresh in our minds. We can only hope that a major company rides it and realises the potential of it further still.

 

[caffeine_demon]

Got back home at 5 o clock this morning and went straight for sleep. It was an exhausting, but brilliant 11 days

Before I go for shopping and unpacking, just a few comments from tusenfryd and the official live:

1 - Thanks again to Ian and the drivers.
2 - A 4 hour train delay is no fun.
3 - Spin spider is love!
4 - Helix really improves throughout the day
5 - Kanonen's new restraints improve the ride, but it's still GROSS!
6 - When it rains in Sweden, it rains!
7 - Tranaan is just weird!
8 - The maurer spinner at Skara is vile
9 - My 450 was gruvbanan
10- Twister was better than I remember (about a dozen rides during ERT ftw!!)
11- Vilda musen must have been having an off day - it was glorious when I rode it a couple of years ago!
12- Eclipse spite </3
13- Fritt fall is easily my fave drop tower, sit down side just feels better than stand up side! (and riding with arms and legs outwards FTW)
14- Bla Taget <3
15- Had a truly gross ride on insane - Hurled back and forward, muchus ball pain!
16- It should be illegal for a park to cram in so much awesome into such a small space!
17- Thanks again to Ian and the drivers.

 

[MouseAT]

I am attempting to sort through all the photos, but having taken over 900 of them it's going to take me a while to make a dent. Hopefully they'll start to appear online over the next few days.

In the meantime, I can safely say that giant frizbees, sky rollers and Helix are all awesome, Balder was massively disappointing, Djurs Sommerland has come on leaps and bounds in the last five years, and most importantly CF remain the greatest group of friends I've ever had the pleasure of holidaying with. Thank you to each and every one of you for making the last week so enjoyable and memorable.

 

[Ian]

Day 1 - Liseberg


We met up in drips and drabs outside Liseberg. Vadge and I dished out the wristbands and we wandered inside to meet the rides manager.

"Say Cheese-berg!"

Rides Manager Man was very professional, probably one of the more serious management staff I've met during my coasting career. I didn't think he was too amused with Conor running through and breaking the "police tape". Our first stop was Helix. Liseberg run a special morning ERT for hotel guests and, for today, CoasterForce.

The queue line for Helix is massive, it seems to go on forever and ever, up and down, around corners and through cattle pens. The reward at the end is a clinical station with a great soundtrack.

After my first ride (penultimate row) I was slightly disappointed. It's a good coaster but I expected a little more. I felt it lacked speed and that "wow" factor that I expected. It was difficult not to ride with an open mind because this was the reason I wanted to take CF to Sweden. During the ERT, I managed to ride it three times and with each ride it got better. I no longer had that feeling of anticipation so I could value it for what it is - A fun, multi-inverting, terrain hugging coaster with a couple of smashing airtime hills. The onride visuals are fantastic. In my opinion, the best coaster with flow is Outlaw Run and Helix matches it. I just wish it had a little more speed and franticness to it.

It didn't dislodge anything from my top 10 (or even top 20), but it's up there as one of the most reridable, joyous coasters I've been on. I've been on 632 coasters and it would easily make the top 30.

There was a lot of CF-Love for it.

After Ride Manager Man gave us our free wristbands, I met Poke and we gathered as a group at Balder. All except Sue. She stropped off somewhere.

We queued for about 15mins, which is the maximum I'd wait for it. I don't think Balder is very good. I know it's supposed to be formulaic, but it doesn't do anything for me. The airtime is too short lived and it doesn't get me excited. Most CFers loved it though.

I couldn't be arsed with Kanonenenenenenen. I didn't enjoy the two rides I had last year so I opted for a cigarette break instead. Most riders thought it was pants.

We planned to do the rapids but the queue was enormous so we walked towards the Horror Walkthrough. I sat out without 10 others and slid around on the dance floor thing. Our free wristbands gave was free entry to the walkthrough and after every who experienced it was singing it's praises, I felt silly for turning it down.

We walk to the kiddies area to tick off two more creds. As you walk from the horror area (which is beautifully themed by the way), you get a great view of the ride hillside. It's spectacular!
[tweet]http://twitter.com/CoasterForce/status/492985506821853184[/tweet]

Box ticking time... First up was Mark Rayboulder.

I had the cred so I spent my time admiring caffeine_demon's suncream application skills...

...and pulled silly faces behind his back. #childish

Congratulations to Andy who got a milestone figure on his count and the now-obligatory IfC handshake.

Jordan and I posed for a #lisebergselfie.

And before lunch, we shamelessly rode the other kiddie cred which I missed last year.
[twitter]http://twitter.com/CoasterForce/status/493005910261108736[/twitter]

Lunch was a huge bag of faff. Couldn't be arsed with Fish & Chips so I went to the horror pub. We took a seat as instructed and waited for ages and ages until a member of staff informed us we were sitting in the wrong place. FFS. In the end, I opted for Burger King because time was running out and at least I know how to get served there.

The group split after lunch to ride Helix (50min queue) or Atmosfierce. I love the queue. A one way mirror allows queueliners to watch the riders but the riders can't see inside. It's fab. The ride itself is great. It takes forever to climb to the top and the drop is immense. It's a staple of my Liseberg diet now, a ride well worth experiencing.

We queued for Lesbian Banana. Sue pretended to be a tree, presumably a Lesbian Banana Tree.

When we were in the station, it rain. And I mean it RAINED. Almost every ride was closed and we took shelter under a games stall.

A few CFers brought the "gay ponchos" as the rain died down, after which we headed to the back to Balder. 45min queue - no thanks. I went for a walk around the low-quality mirror maze and get a coffee. Those who re-rode Balder said the rain had made it slightly better but I got the impression that the general opinion of the ride had slipped since the ride first thing.

The group did the rapids afterwards as there was hardly a queue. I think we queued in a ride on Lesbian Banana here, too. It's good fun. It's repetitive but enjoyable.

After a supper break, we did the dark ride which is tucked away at the back. Sue went for a paddle.

Jordan, Conor and Ben used a large chocolate bar to stay dry. Conor won the bar during the storm.

Conor kindly distributed the bars inside the box to the CFers and the kids in the queue. Jordan had a slight hissy fit because she didn't get one at first. The rain was fully clearing and we were high on chocolate, so we all loved the dark ride. The highlight was the pregnant, naked queen.

The log flume followed. We kept with tradition and did a fat boat.
[twitter]http://twitter.com/CoasterForce/status/493110497584349184[/twitter]

We worked our way back through the park on the hillside stopping off at the Drop and Shot Towers.

We walked past Upswingit (I love that ride) but the queue was too long so it was universally agreed that we end the day on Helix. The queue (about 40mins) passed by quickly thanks to the game app that's free to download. It's then I noticed that Shaun is Raybould's back double. Whenever I saw Shaun, I saw Raybould!

Everybody was pleased with Helix after our ERT in the morning. The ride at the end of the day bumped it up a few nothces. The ride obviously needs time to warm up, or perhaps the added spectacle of lights and dark near misses improve it. I can't put my finger on it but that last ride on the front row with Serena was incredible. The second airtime hill was amazing. The little switchy bit got my heart racing. The loopy bit above the escalators was soared by. It works. The whole coaster was alive! After that ride, I would happily put Helix in my top 15.
[tweet]http://twitter.com/CoasterForce/status/493158961148080130[/tweet]

I got the feeling that everybody was satisfied with the first day of the trip. Aside from the storm, it went well and we managed to ride everything worthwhile. Liseberg is a strange park imo. There are two exceptional rides - Helix and Atmosphere - and the rest are acceptable. It's the general vibe of the park that makes it special. It's the mixture of good theming, ride variety, setting and the bustle from being in a city centre. I was happy that the first day went well, there were no dramas and the CFers were ride satisfied.

 

[Gavin]

I didn't take any pictures on this trip at all since so many other people were already. People have already basically said how the day went as well, so instead, I'll just stick a few opinions in for each day of the trip.

Liseberg

Helix - I loved it. I actually really liked it from the first ride, possibly to do with riding at the back, and started to question my opinion a bit when a lot of other people seemed to be getting off and falling on the "meh" side of the fence at first. The last ride at night, in the front row, was phenomenal.

Balder - I wasn't a fan when I rode this before, and was hoping that some rerides could swing my opinion a bit. Nope; I'm still not a fan. It's by no means a bad coaster, but it's the weakest of the PreFAB woodies and all a bit soulless.

Kanonen - Hated it before; hated it this time. Absolute piece of **** of a ride and the worst accelerator by far. Yes, I'm including Baco in that.

Liseberbanan - It's fun. It doesn't do a lot, but it's fun. No change in opinion from the last visit.

Kiddy Coasters - Already had the Rabalder thing, but the other one was a +1 at least.

Horror Walkthrough Thing - Brilliant. It's not particularly scary, but it's incredibly atmospheric thanks to the really detailed sets, and that's how I tend to prefer these. It's up there with the ones at Tibidabo, Hong Kong Disney and Fuji Q purely down to the quality theming/atmosphere that they all share.

Log Flume - Didn't do it last time. It was fantastic. Easily one of the best "traditional" flumes out there thanks to the speed and excellent drops.

Fairytale Dark Ride Thing - A bit crap and disappointing, though not as disappointing as the illiterate troglodytes of CF who had no idea what they were looking at. Clearly products of the "stick 'em in front of the telly with a Greg's sausage roll to shut the little **** er up" school of parenting.

 

[caffeine_demon]

...and pulled silly faces behind his back. #childish

If only I'd have farted then.... :lol: