JamesB
Mega Poster
Moi! For those who don’t know me I’m James, I’ve been a member here a long time and trying to get into posting a bit more. I am currently based near Portsmouth, funnily enough the place where my love of roller coasters and all things related began. My dad often recalls the infamous tale of me getting of the roller coaster at Clarence Pier white as a sheet... and then declaring I wanted to do it again! The sign of a true adrenaline junkie.
I’ve recently returned from an amazing trip over to Finland, mainly in the pursuit of creds and a bit of culture on the side. In this post and the following I will cover my trips to Linnanmaki and Sarkanniemi and perhaps throw in some photos of Helsinki at the end!
July 15th: Linnanmaki
My original plan had to be to do Linnanmaki on my birthday, the 16th. However the weather forecast was looking rainy so I decided to head straight to the park after checking into my Airbnb. I had already spotted some of the creds on the train ride from the airport to the city centre. That always adds a good bit of anticipation!
The park was reasonably busy with Taiga having a queue up to an hour most the afternoon with other main rides around 30-45 minutes. Let’s have a look at the coasters first...
Kirnu
I wasn’t sure of what to expect of Kirnu given I’d heard mixed things about it. For me it was a big ‘meh’... it was intense but not necessarily in the right way. The flipping at the end of the ride is something you really have to prepare yourself for.
Ukko
Ukko is one of the most visible rides in the park being big and yellow. It looks pretty impressive off ride. On ride it offers yet again some incredible intensity as it races through the station and back again. I enjoyed it aside from the clunkiness of it, including the stop on the lift hill at the end.
Salama
Pretty much an ‘off the shelf’ spinner. The first drop offers some Gs and speed, after that it really just loses any momentum and trundles through the rest of the course.
Taiga
This is what I came for! After two rides Taiga has sailed to my #2 sitting comfortable below Helix. Taiga just dominates the skyline on that side of the park with its roar and tangled mess of track. The two launches are incredible and just the amount of rush to be enjoyable. The first half of the ride rode perfectly however after the top hat the ride became incredible rattly for me. I could feel the cars and headrest vibrating under the speed and turns of the track. This was my first Intamin Blitz so I’m unsure if the others ride like this?
That said, the park have done an amazing job of the build up to the ride. The queue under the ride where you can hear the launches and screams accompanied with the rides soundtrack playing really gets you pumped for the ride. The locals seem to be lapping this ride up. I should note here that one thing Linnanmaki really lacked was music around the park, I noticed none of the rides were playing any music or sounds in the queues aside from Taiga.
Pikajuna
A cute powered coaster located right next to Taiga giving great views in the queue and on ride. Not a lot else to say here!
Vuoristorata
Very similar to the Woodie at Tivoli, this is a brakeman operated Wooden Coaster. Off ride it looks a fun ride, it gains a good amount of speed but unfortunately the breaking cuts out just about any air time going over the hills.
Linnunrata eXtra
This is an indoor family coaster which has been given the VR makeover. This was my second coaster with VR and I actually really enjoyed it. The boarding for each ride was done quickly, the goggles were on the seat ready for you to put on and then choose which film you wished to experience. I found myself gripping the handlebars as I whizzed through a Haunted House.
Tulireki
This delightful coaster offered me a near spite. Earlier in the day I was stood in the line for 20 minutes when it decided to break down on the MCBR and the ride was shut down. Lucky for me the ride was reopened and I got to experience this delight of ride design. I really hoped you picked up the sarcasm there. What was Mack thinking building this monstrosity? Rip it down already. It rode like a wild mouse crossed with a Vekoma SLC. Enough said.
Aside from the credits I also had time to ride a few of the flat rides. I did the Monorail which allowed me some great views of Taiga and the rest of the park. Kingi the Moser drop tower provided views over the city before a terrifying drop. Magia is a Heavy Rotation ride from Technical Park. Starting with very intense spins as the ride platform raises in the air, this was a lot of fun as it started to rain! Last but not least there was the Haunted House which offered standard fare for these types of rides.
Final ride count:
Kirnu x 2
Ukko x 2
Salama
Taiga x 2
Pikajuna
Vuoristorata
Linnunrata eXtra
Tulireki
Monorail
Kingi
Magia
Haunted House
Thanks for reading - up next will be Sarkanniemi.
I’ve recently returned from an amazing trip over to Finland, mainly in the pursuit of creds and a bit of culture on the side. In this post and the following I will cover my trips to Linnanmaki and Sarkanniemi and perhaps throw in some photos of Helsinki at the end!
July 15th: Linnanmaki
My original plan had to be to do Linnanmaki on my birthday, the 16th. However the weather forecast was looking rainy so I decided to head straight to the park after checking into my Airbnb. I had already spotted some of the creds on the train ride from the airport to the city centre. That always adds a good bit of anticipation!
The park was reasonably busy with Taiga having a queue up to an hour most the afternoon with other main rides around 30-45 minutes. Let’s have a look at the coasters first...
Kirnu
I wasn’t sure of what to expect of Kirnu given I’d heard mixed things about it. For me it was a big ‘meh’... it was intense but not necessarily in the right way. The flipping at the end of the ride is something you really have to prepare yourself for.
Ukko
Ukko is one of the most visible rides in the park being big and yellow. It looks pretty impressive off ride. On ride it offers yet again some incredible intensity as it races through the station and back again. I enjoyed it aside from the clunkiness of it, including the stop on the lift hill at the end.
Salama
Pretty much an ‘off the shelf’ spinner. The first drop offers some Gs and speed, after that it really just loses any momentum and trundles through the rest of the course.
Taiga
This is what I came for! After two rides Taiga has sailed to my #2 sitting comfortable below Helix. Taiga just dominates the skyline on that side of the park with its roar and tangled mess of track. The two launches are incredible and just the amount of rush to be enjoyable. The first half of the ride rode perfectly however after the top hat the ride became incredible rattly for me. I could feel the cars and headrest vibrating under the speed and turns of the track. This was my first Intamin Blitz so I’m unsure if the others ride like this?
That said, the park have done an amazing job of the build up to the ride. The queue under the ride where you can hear the launches and screams accompanied with the rides soundtrack playing really gets you pumped for the ride. The locals seem to be lapping this ride up. I should note here that one thing Linnanmaki really lacked was music around the park, I noticed none of the rides were playing any music or sounds in the queues aside from Taiga.
Pikajuna
A cute powered coaster located right next to Taiga giving great views in the queue and on ride. Not a lot else to say here!
Vuoristorata
Very similar to the Woodie at Tivoli, this is a brakeman operated Wooden Coaster. Off ride it looks a fun ride, it gains a good amount of speed but unfortunately the breaking cuts out just about any air time going over the hills.
Linnunrata eXtra
This is an indoor family coaster which has been given the VR makeover. This was my second coaster with VR and I actually really enjoyed it. The boarding for each ride was done quickly, the goggles were on the seat ready for you to put on and then choose which film you wished to experience. I found myself gripping the handlebars as I whizzed through a Haunted House.
Tulireki
This delightful coaster offered me a near spite. Earlier in the day I was stood in the line for 20 minutes when it decided to break down on the MCBR and the ride was shut down. Lucky for me the ride was reopened and I got to experience this delight of ride design. I really hoped you picked up the sarcasm there. What was Mack thinking building this monstrosity? Rip it down already. It rode like a wild mouse crossed with a Vekoma SLC. Enough said.
Aside from the credits I also had time to ride a few of the flat rides. I did the Monorail which allowed me some great views of Taiga and the rest of the park. Kingi the Moser drop tower provided views over the city before a terrifying drop. Magia is a Heavy Rotation ride from Technical Park. Starting with very intense spins as the ride platform raises in the air, this was a lot of fun as it started to rain! Last but not least there was the Haunted House which offered standard fare for these types of rides.
Final ride count:
Kirnu x 2
Ukko x 2
Salama
Taiga x 2
Pikajuna
Vuoristorata
Linnunrata eXtra
Tulireki
Monorail
Kingi
Magia
Haunted House
Thanks for reading - up next will be Sarkanniemi.
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