Finland & Denmark - Day 5: Särkänniemi

[Hutch]

It seems like quite a few folks have been hitting up Finland lately, so hopefully some of this won’t be too redundant. But I’ve got another country/few more parks and set aside some time for sightseeing, plus this is a good way for me to personally archive this trip.

Taiga was the obvious draw for this trip, so a visit to Finland for the three parks (among other stuff) started brewing together. Denmark also became a natural add-on given the frequent flight options and my eagerness to return after spending less than 48 hours in the country a few years ago.

Boston would've needed a layover on the way to Helsinki (Denmark being an obvious option), but we actually flew direct from Chicago. We spent a weekend in the city anyway for a cousin's wedding, so we flew out directly after that.

Day 1 - Helsinki

I’m used to overnight transatlantic flights arriving much earlier in the morning, but thanks to starting out further west and flying out late, we landed in Helsinki at a little after 2 PM. Immigration was a bit of a pain, between the lack of gate agents, dozens of travelers having to cut in line in order to make tight connections, and gate agents generally taking more time with each individual, the whole thing took an hour to get through. By the time we got into the city, checked into our hotel, and had a quick regroup, it was already close to 5, but still had a solid amount of time to explore Helsinki.

We stuck close by in the downtown neighborhoods, making our way towards the main square which has the Helsinki Cathedral and a few other important government buildings.

And nearby was the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, which is on its own little island neighborhood near the market square.

We didn’t do or see a ton much else (Old Market Hall had closed by now, so had to save that for another day), but we were out for a couple hours just wandering and popping into some shops.

We grabbed dinner at this Lappish restaurant near the hotel. The interior was heavily themed, including traditional outfits for the staff, but the food was genuinely really great.

Short day to kick it off, but we’ll get to some parks soon.

 

[Hixee]

Finland trip report? So basic.

Looking forward to reading your report on these parks, will be interested to see your take on them.

 

[Hutch]

Day 2 - Linnanmäki

After a horrible sleep, it was time to do more stuff. The weather was miserable out, so we started with staying indoors at the Kiasma, one of the contemporary art museums nearby. I don’t think I have any photos of the stuff inside, but some of the exhibits were weirdly disturbing or just plain odd. Decent way to kill a couple hours though. And a nice glimpse of today's park:

Next up was the Temppeliakio Church, or “Rock Church,” which, as one might guess, was a Lutheran Church embedded into this big surface rock. It was 8 euros to get in, which I’d say is a little pricey considering that, once you get over the fact that you're inside a rock, it is “just another church” with not much to see. It was nice though, and honestly it was another good way to have shelter from the rain.

We found a nearby cafe for lunch, with the intention that we’d continue north to Sibelius Park, which had some outdoor sculpture thing, but we were getting sick of the weather at this point, so we just went back to the hotel for a bit. It was supposed to clear up in a couple hours, so we spent some time in the hotel spa for a cold plunge and sauna, which felt AMAZING and was a good turning point for the day.

The rain had finally broken away, so we took the easy tram up to Linnanmäki, arriving at around 4 PM. There’s a stop further up the hill by the park’s main entrance, but we got off earlier at the “back entrance” that faces south.

Grabbed our wristbands and queued up for the nearest ride we saw, which “happened” to be this:

Taiga was obviously a big draw for this trip, and given the effort to make it out here, we HAD to make sure we got on it.

It’s obviously a remarkable layout, but as per usual with hyped up rides, you need a few of goes to really get a feel for it. It was only on one train, but got on in ten minutes (no need for multi-train ops given the weather/lack of crowds). So we put that in the back of our minds and moved on with the cred run.

I wasn’t quite ready for Kirnu to ruin my day, but the queue was empty (well, one side had a couple train’s worth, but no-one paid attention to the other side), so I got it out of the way.

Honestly I had the best ride anyone could’ve hoped for. There’s always a risk of disgusting skull-crushing on these free spinners, but I just had one relatively harmless flip and landed safely on my ass while hitting the brakes.

The woodie Vuoristorata was such a delight to get on. This was my first experience with a brakemanned coaster (with another coming up later in the trip), and it’s just so funny to see these things roll. Clearly the park loves it, so much that they highlight the staff that run it in the queue. Two train ops were cool to see as well.

Ride was pretty fun too, and I was surprised by the very quick cable lift. Most of the layout isn’t too wild, bar a couple of good airtime pops on the double downs.

But the real highlight, and honestly might be the highlight of the trip, was when the train ahead of us stalled on one of the turnarounds.

I’m not sure if it was a truly balanced stall, or the young brakeman felt it starting to roll back, but clearly he must’ve trimmed it too much on the previous turnaround. It seemed like he was in training, as we saw a senior operator ride in the seat in front of him for a couple goes while waiting in line. This was hilarious to witness, and great to have a clear view from our train in the station.

So once the train stalled, the brakeman pulled an obnoxiously loud horn from the train to signal help. Some of the staff on the platform seemed annoyed, but they took no time to walk up there (easy access from the platform). Jokingly, I said “Oh they gotta give him a push.”

…”oh no way they’re actually going to!”

In a never-in-America moment, the staff on the platform and a couple of nearby workers hiked up the hill, grabbed ahold of the train, and slowly sent the damn thing through the rest of the layout!

And once that train got going, the emergency staff just casually walked back down the track, all while an active vehicle is running the course (obviously downstream of them).

This was just hilarious, but also brilliant to have a clear view to witness this, considering the rare model, the chance of it stalling, and the odds of us seeing it from the train behind. Such a fun memory.

Anyway, how do we top that moment?

Not another one of these. Ukko was disgusting. At least the Madrid one had a pretty good layout after it, but this was just the gross stock model. Even the back and forthness of this, which Abismo doesn’t do, wasn’t fun.

Think next up was their observation tower, Panoraama. Nice views, but pictures don’t come out great with the rainy windows.

Next we found the indoor coaster Linnunrata eXtra, which I actually really enjoyed, mostly because I knew nothing about it. I knew the park had some sort of indoor cred, but didn’t realize it was in the old water tower. I honestly enjoyed the layout too, as it had some tight turns and laterals.

Apparently there was a VR option? I never noticed it and didn’t realize it was a thing until after we left the park.

I think the Mack E-motion coaster was next? I can see why they didn’t make any more of these. Other than some jankiness, Tulireki wasn’t all that bad… it just didn’t really do much and had such a short layout. It did have a decent drop midway through, but it’s all really just a poor version of the Gerst bobsleds.

The mine train Pikajuna was also one of the weaker ones I’ve done, thanks time some jankiness and a basic/short layout (with three cycles trying to make up for that as opposed to two). The cliffside setting was very nice though, and the most interesting aspect was this thing right above you:

The spinner had a bit of a queue, so it was back for more Taiga to let the Mauer quiet down a bit.

And it's getting better now… still needed that last +1, but "one more ride first" kept occurring.

It got good enough to the point where it's earned a ranking. I convinced myself to rate it favorably to similar era Intamins (Kondaa, Taron, Pantheon), as Taiga’s layout is filled with consistently great elements, and not many dead spots. But I still prefer the likes of Maverick and Piraten, the slightly older and grittier Intamins that have a bit more bite to them.

What’s here is really excellent though. My favorite moments were the sharp airtime moments, including the bunny hill before the Immelmann. That one has surprise ejector; unlike the RMC ones you find after the first drop (e.g. Steel Vengeance) which are much gentler. There’re a few twisted airtime hills as well which are also fantastic, especially in the front. The zero g winder was also better in the front, with the shaping kicking you out of your seat.

The top hat is weak on airtime, but it’s way better in the back. The downtown view was great though, and was especially cool when rain clouds started to roll in.

The terrain design is also awesome to see. There’s clear inspiration from Helix, the other Scandinavian terrain multi-launch coaster, but Taiga is the clear winner.

Finally grabbed the spinner, Salama, which was pretty good.

And obviously had to get a spin on the Ferris wheel Rinkeli for some familiar shots.

Couple more rides on Taiga before the rain rolled in again, which closed the park a couple hours early (which the park had kindly announced an hour in advance).

So that was a nice way to kick off the cred portion of the trip. Obviously Taiga is the draw, but Linnanmäki turned out to be a charming little park. I love the location up on the hillside, as it offers great views looking down to the city and great views looking up from downtown. And it’s just cool to have a legit park, with eight coasters, all within the city (still not used to city parks, being from the US and all).

It was a fun cred run too. Only Ukko was genuinely bad, and Kirnu behaved itself, but the rest were decent to run through, with the woodie and Taiga of course being the highlights.

Another dinner at a nice restaurant near the hotel, and a quick "nighttime" stroll before calling it a day.

 

[Boodangy]

Next we found the indoor coaster Linnunrata eXtra, which I actually really enjoyed, mostly because I knew nothing about it. I knew the park had some sort of indoor cred, but didn’t realize it was in the old water tower. I honestly enjoyed the layout too, as it had some tight turns and laterals.

Apparently there was a VR option? I never noticed it and didn’t realize it was a thing until after we left the park.

They weren't running VR that day (if they were there would be a ton of VR headsets hanging on those hooks on the wall and they'd offer you one when you sit down) which is why you didn't notice it. There's three VR movie options for it, but I prefer riding without cause VR makes me nauseous and I like the old fashion space scenery, but yeah, for whatever reason they often don't run VR if it's a cold and rainy day, I have no idea why. Maybe because people's jacket hoods would be wet and they don't want that on the headsets? I don't know.

Couple more rides on Taiga before the rain rolled in again, which closed the park a couple hours early (which the park had kindly announced an hour in advance).

I've gone there who knows how many times in my life including 45+ times just last year (usually at the end of the day too), and I had no idea they did that?! That's so strange. Last year there were a couple days in the Autumn where there were tree breaking winds and unrelenting torrential downpour and yet they were running all the rides that don't get closed by rain. But for somewhat normal rain they'd close the park early? Huh. I had no idea they even could close the park early without an emergency.

 

[Hutch]

I've gone there who knows how many times in my life including 45+ times just last year (usually at the end of the day too), and I had no idea they did that?! That's so strange. Last year there were a couple days in the Autumn where there were tree breaking winds and unrelenting torrential downpour and yet they were running all the rides that don't get closed by rain. But for somewhat normal rain they'd close the park early? Huh. I had no idea they even could close the park early without an emergency.

Since it was gross all morning and in the middle of the day, barely anyone made it into the park to begin with for the afternoon break from the weather. If the evening rain is going to clear out what little people you have in the park anyway, why bother staying open? Save on operating costs, send your staff home early, and give everyone a heads up. Makes sense to me.

I heard the same thing happened to a friend who was there a couple weeks before I was.

 

[Hutch]

Day 3 - Suomenlinna & Tampere

No creds today. Today was spent doing a bit more sightseeing in Helsinki before taking a train up to Tampere, where we’d spend the next couple nights.

First up was Suomenlinna, an old Sedwish-turned-Russian-turned-Finnish sea fortress. It’s a short ferry ride from the marketplace of Helsinki, with frequent departures throughout the day. It was a good way to walk around for an hour and a half or so. Most of the fortress grounds are now waking trails, but some of the island is now a small neighborhood with a couple of cafes, museum, and an old church.

Back on the mainland, we got lunch at the Old Market Hall.

We somehow forgot about the National Library of Finland the other day, which is directly next to the Cathedral, so we poked our heads in there for a bit.

By then it was time to catch one of the trains to Tampere, so we grabbed our luggage from the hotel and wandered on over to the station (not too far from where we were staying).

Helsinki was nice, and perhaps one of the better capital cities I’ve been too. It doesn’t have the most exciting stuff when it comes to sightseeing, but it’s just a nice, clean city to be in. Relatively, there wasn’t a ton of tourism either (though there was a decent amount of tour buses and day trippers from cruise ships this day) so nothing was overwhelming or swamped.

In the early stages of planning this trip I had gone back and forth on whether it was worth doing all three Finnish parks or just Linnanmaki and remain in the Helsinki area. Well, Tampere and Sarkaniemmi would’ve been an easy day trip from Helsinki, but Powerpark always seemed like such a trek up north. And for what, some Gerstlauers?

Even if we were to rent a car, it’s still a 3.5 hour drive from Tampere, a bit much for a day trip from me. There’s a direct train line from Helsinki for a similar travel time, but that’d still be a grueling day trip.

Not having “country completion” (barring the couple random +1’s further north) would’ve been annoying though. Ok, so how long is the train ride from Tampere? Oh it’s only 1.5 hours? Guess we’ll stay in Tampere for a couple nights then.

Upon a bit more research, I was pleased to see that Tampere is well regarded by locals. Not too overwhelming and not much international tourism, so it was nice to have some time in another decently major city (well, it is the second biggest in Finland) as opposed to passing through for the creds.

Anyway, we arrived at Tampere early in the evening, checked into our hotel (conveniently close to the train station) and had a wander into town for some dinner. We decided to eat dinner sooner and spend time walking around afterward, taking advantage of the late sundowns. With so much daylight left into the evening, it seems like a waste to not take advantage of it (despite having packed and exhausting days so far).

Preview of what’s to come in the next couple of days:

It was also very windy out, with the lake and some of the canals looking quite treacherous.

Having that evening stroll was good to “get out of the way” as we had saved that time for later in the week, thus opening up some time for other things.

 

[Flash Shift]

Man there's so much of Helsinki I missed because I was kind of not well when I went, I'd planned to do the fortress and everything and it looks amazing! I kind of just wandered around the city and down to the coast and a big park down there as that was all I could manage in a very limited amount of time anyway.

Tampere looks nicer than I expected - perhaps if I ever go back to Finland I'll do the other parks as opposed to just Linnanmaki. Looks like a great trip!

 

[Boodangy]

Glad you enjoyed the views! Funnily enough I've never really seen those parts of Tampere, even though I've been there plenty of times. I've just somehow been there for completely other reasons or wandered around different parts, even though I've missed a lot of the prettiest bits. I personally would probably not recommend Särkänniemi to ppl in it's current state otherwise, but it is sort of on the way to Powerpark like you said, so might as well.

Also also; if you asked me and probably most Finns, Tampere is the second largest city in Finland like you said but officially it's Espoo with a population of ~322k people to Tampere's ~260k. However for all intents and purposes most of Espoo is simply a collection of suburbs for the purposes of commuting to Helsinki and tax tomfoolery that I don't understand. There's no single "centre" of Espoo, there officially is one but it's one of the smallest population centres in Espoo actually lol.

 

[Hutch]

Day 4 - Powerpark

As I previously mentioned, day-tripping Powerpark from Tampere is way easier than from Helsinki (which would’ve required half your day on the train) and is a good excuse to stay up in Tampere for a couple of nights. Had a 10 AM departure and very pleasant and scenic ride for about an hour and a half. Powerpark has a free shuttle bus synching up with train arrivals/departures traveling in both directions. The shuttle was already on standby at the train station (very convenient and easy to spot), and shuttle departure times from the park clearly stated at the park’s bus stop.

It’s close to noon by the time the shuttle arrives to the park, and pretty much the only train option back south is at 6:50, giving you about six hours at the park. That seemed like a lot of time for a Thursday and with the park seeming relatively quiet. We thought we’d be twiddling our thumbs for a bit, even after rerides, but it actually worked out pretty well.

First up was the newer, but considered lesser, of the two Gerstlauer infinities. From previous reports, all the major coasters seemed to guarantee one-train operations, even on weekends, but I was pleased to see that both Gerstaluers were running two, allowing for minimal wait times.

So Pitt’s Special is a weird choice isn’t it? I was expecting a bit of trash, but it actually has some pretty good moments, including a great first drop (way better than the beyond vertical ones), and some mildly entertaining airtime moments on a few of the hills. Nice long layout.

Yes, it doesn’t run great, especially on that huge figure-eight thing, but there are far rougher Gerstlauers out there.

But it has a bit of an identity crisis doesn’t it? You’ve got that daunting vertical lift and drop (tallest in the country mind you) but it’s relatively tame for the rest of the layout. No inversions, no other extreme moments after the drop. Lots of drawn-out hills and turns.

I kinda think they should’ve gone a bit further and make this a proper mega coaster. Give it the four-row trains, sharpen out the elements, and bam—you’ve got something akin to Kärnan. But now you’ve got a Chunt situation where most of the layout is family-friendly, but it can’t truly be considered that because of the one extreme hill.

Another positive—and this goes the same to Junker—Pitt’s Special LOOKS great. The big hill and ridiculous figure-eight are great to watch, and the sprawling layout over the field and go-kart track fit in very nicely. It makes for a great approach from the parking lot drive.

Conversely, I’m happy to report that Junker is one of the best Gerstlauers. That’s mainly down to them actually crafting a smooth ride (bar one or two transitions), but the layout is actually really good throughout. I thought it’d be kind of uninteresting after the midcourse, but there’s still some good airtime and forces in the second half.

The first half is still the highlight for me, with the punchy launch, a top hat filled with airtime and laterals, and a really great Finnish loop offering some of the best hangtime one could ask for.

I think I still prefer Kärnan, mainly for that whole opening sequence, but Junker honestly might be better as it’s a more consistent ride.

Thunderbird, annoyingly, wasn’t running the multi-train ops as the Gerstlauers, so that was a 40 minute wait to get through. I knew about the slow brake run, but the staff could’ve done a better job getting trains out. A back row ride was pretty good though. Funny enough, I’ve yet to hit up Six Flags St. Louis, so it was nice to try out this American Thunder layout.

Most impressive thing about it was how great shape it was in. I was expecting a GCI of this age to be a bit run-down by now, and I don’t know if it’s had any retracking, but it was pretty smooth in the back row. Perhaps the limited park calendar and one-train ops prolong the wear and tear.

It’s middle of the pack as far as GCIs go. Runs great and has solid airtime and laterals, but it just doesn’t kick ass like some of the other ones do. At the end of the day, it is pretty cool to have a GCI in this part of the world.

Having checked off the big three, it was time for lunch. There’s a decent bistro at the rest stop just outside the park, past the parking lot, so we strolled out there for a leisurely meal. Good opportunity to get better views of the Special.

Really like the location of the Gerst along the river as well.

Back inside the park, the cred run continued. Mercifully, the spinner Neo's Twister died down to an easy wait, with them doing a decent job getting multiple cars out on the layout. It wasn’t good, but it was nice to have a break from another Reverchon, and the flat turn between the lifts is amusing.

Didn't do this, but I enjoy the little slit through the roof.

Joyride up next. I think I did a clone of this at Playland Park in Maine? It’s alright.

Popped into the woods (quite nice) to see what else was here.

I’m inconsistent when it comes to shameful kiddie coasters these days. I’m at the point with my coaster count that I really don’t need more of these things, but I’ll obviously ride if others are willing. Sometimes, if it’s not shameful enough, or if there aren’t many families around, I’ll grab it. Wasn’t feeling it this time.

Let’s try out their shooter though… Devil's Mine Hotel. One of the worst ones I’ve done unfortunately. Poor targeting and dated sets.

Cobra. Ugh, not another one. The "different" trains didn't do much to alleviate the ride.

Did the Giant Wheel, which had quite a long cycle. They were using most of the carriages, so it ended up being close to a 15-minute ride.

I would've loved to ride this booster, but their low capacity and slow dispatches mean they always have obnoxiously slow waits.

This kiddie bouncy castle seemed pretty silly. The whole thing bops around with some minor rotation. I just thought it was hilarious seeing a bunch of toddlers get shoved in here and tossed around.

It's been about a decade since I had done an Enterprise, but I decided to grab a ride while I could since they're a dying breed.

I've come to appreciate these things though. I just think it's awesome to be swung upside-down several times in a cage without any sort of seatbelt or safety harness.

Time for some rerides. Thunderbird had luckily shortened up for much more reasonable 15 minute queue, so grabbed a front row.

Then prioritized a couple more rides on Junker.

Our shuttle bus was coming up soon (HAD to make sure we made it so we wouldn’t get f—king stuck up here lol), but we had enough time for a second ride on the Special, which was practically a walk-on by this point.

Had a little bit of time to spare at the bus stop, so we checked out the go karts in action.

Yeah, so Powerpark. It’s not the best, but it’s definitely worth the effort to get up here if you’re in Finland. Junker is genuinely a great Gerstlauer (i.e. a rarity), Thunderbird is a pretty good GCI that (at this time) is still in great shape, and Pitt’s Special is a decent ride (and admittedly better than expected). Plus you got some other creds to collect.

The park itself is alright. A lot of the rides near the front are plonked on asphalt, giving a bit of an unfortunate fairground vibe. But the woodland area is very dense, there’s a nice pond beneath Junker, some decent attempts of theming near Thunderbird/Boomerang, and the Pitt’s Special plot looks great. The surrounding area is lovely too, and it’s a nice train ride up.

We got very lucky with the crowds and multi-train ops though, so I’d say a weekday visit should be prioritized if possible. The day trip from Tampere is also definitely the move.

So, decent park for a one-time visit, but I’ve got no desire to return (unless they add something crazy good). I mean, it’s not like I’ll be back in Finland anytime soon anyway.

Since we got back kind of late (close to 9PM by this point) we settled for a regretful dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel. Knew it was going to be a mistake, but we were pretty tired/hungry and just wanted something to eat. The food wasn’t bad, but the service was very poor.

To improve our mood, we made the effort to do another evening walk. This was the latest we were out the entire trip, and obviously, being so far north, it was still daylight out.

Part of me wanted to try to stay up for the “sunset,” especially in Tampere, but responsible bedtimes prevailed. Even right before I went to sleep, a little after midnight, I peeked outside our curtains, and it was still bright out… honestly at that point, don’t even bother trying to stay up lol.

One more day in Tampere with another park to close out the Finland portion...

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Can't believe there was a time we believed Pitt's Special was just an extension to Junker's layout.

Glad you liked them both anyway. Long live the Infinity, stop making Eurofighters.

 

[Hutch]

Day 5 - Särkänniemi

This evening we had a hotel by Helsinki airport for an early flight out the next morning, but we still had all morning and a bit of the afternoon in Tampere to explore and gather the remaining creds before taking an afternoon train back south.

Because we already did a pretty good job seeing the city, especially on our first evening, we took some time this morning to do some much-needed laundry. We found a laundromat at a mall nearby, and while that was spinning, we perused the mall and wandered along the nearby canal and neighborhood.

Once we got all that taken care of and packed back up in the hotel, we pretty much just focused on Särkäniemmi. From our hotel (which is right near the main train station), it’s about a half hour walk.

I’m at the point where I have a lot of the heavy hitters in Europe, which means I need to start visiting some of the less desirable parks. While Särkäniemmi has some redeeming qualities, this was not a long visit.

Ended up settling for the unlimited wristband option… similar price to the other parks despite not quite being on the same level. Although when you factor in the inclusion of the observation tower, a couple other add-ons outside the park, and the fact that it’s still way cheaper than a wristband at a typical boardwalk park in America, it makes sense.

First up was the concrete-filled Tornado, one of the first rides you encounter after the park entrance.

This is never going to top anyone’s list, but it was great to get on this rare model, especially after getting spited by its Spanish sibling. This layout looked better anyway, so good redemption arc here.

Got a couple quick rides in the front and back—without having to leave the station—and it’s about as good as one could expect from a 20+ year old Intamin. It’s really intense, but man is it a workout to endure. There’s a bit of a rattle, and some of the inversions may try to beat you up a bit. Needed a break after those first two rides.

It’s actually more intense in the front, especially in the loop, but the back is a bit smoother. I probably should’ve tried out a middle seat to see if there was any middle ground.

The infamous rolls are also a visual highlight. Little whippy, but worth bracing for. Nice to experience these after never getting the chance with Volcano: The Blast Coaster.

Even some of the turns/helices have good forces too.

So it’s a really good ride if you can get past the state of it. I’d put it on par with the lower-tier B&M inverts, but I was really impressed with how intense it was. I’d honestly love to see Intamin take a modern stab at these (if they can find a park that doesn’t have a major inverted or suspended coaster). And I don’t see Tornado having many years left, but they’ve gone all in on that underground station and the idea of demolishing the ride must be tough.

Since the wristband wasn’t cheap, I felt obligated to do some of the other rides including Boom, this shot tower. I always associate shot towers with S&S, so it was interesting to see (after a quick lookup) Zamperla have their own take. This one is a bit tamer, but it’s nice as it doesn’t feel as intimidating. It’s a nice long cycle too.

I had my eye on the inverting frisbee ride at Powerpark, but didn’t try it. Turns out this park had one as well so I gave it a shot. It started out really well. The first three full rotations ran at the perfect speed for good hangtime that didn’t feel uncomfortable… but then it got slower… and then it got REAL slow, thus ruining the ride for me when suspended upside down for ten seconds.

It was a visual marvel too, at least before I was hating life. Seeing the vast lake at the top of your vision was wild.

Alright, let’s knock out Hype, the SRII. The more I ride these, the less I like them (regardless of whether they have shoulder straps or not). This one’s actually okay, and probably the best one I’ve done. It ran smooth, the tight transitions weren’t too offensive, and there was good airtime coming up top. And this is the right park for this model.

MotoGee was, believe it or not, a new model for me. Well, I do have the pony coaster at Knott’s, but it was cool to get on the stock Zamperla motocoaster to see what all the fuss was about.

Well, I can understand why nobody really likes these. The launch is very punchy (like the one at Knott’s), but the whole ride was just a rattly mess, throwing your body around in awkward transitions. But more of a “so bad it’s good” kinda way. Let’s see how long it takes before I encounter more of these.

That closed out the cred collection for me (again, wasn't feeling the kiddie cred... too shameful).

They had this cool log flume, but it seemed to be the only ride with a consistent line, and I wasn't eager to get wet.

Did their chairswing next (always a pleasure) before finishing off with a couple more Tornado spins.

Obviously had to check out Näsinneula, the town’s space needle observation tower, and tallest structure in Finland.

We’re at strata coaster height here, and the views are easily the highlight of the park.

Since it was included in the wristband, we spent some time breezing through their aquarium. Nothing too impressive, but a nice distraction.

Closer to the main entrance was this drifting ride (I think it's new), a modern take on the classic whip ride. Didn't bother, but it seemed fun.

And from there it was a walk back into town, taking the boardwalk along the lakeside this time.

Särkänniemi, as expected, was one of the lesser parks of the trip, but it certainly wasn’t bad. Compared to something like Grona Lund, it’s obviously poor, but what helped me was comparing it to U.S. seaside parks, which I'm generally not a fan of.

The park itself is quite bland and unattractive, but you can’t ask for a better location with the city and the beautiful lake. The rides are take it or leave it, but I do think Tornado is quite good, and the observation tower works as its own thing (and it does have its own separate admission option). It’s also nice to see them working on another new coaster (hopefully something not TOO good so I’m not annoyed with missing out on it).

That was basically it for our time in Tampere, and in Finland as well. We picked up our luggage at the hotel and took a train south to Helsinki airport for an early meal and bedtime.

We really enjoyed out time visiting another new country. In terms of sightseeing and parks, it's not the best, but combine that with staying in some nice, clean cities, with some great food, it ends up being a satisfying week. That said, I am glad we had another country to look forward to.

 

[Boodangy]

Glad you enjoyed Särkänniemi, I'm not a huge fan of the place, but hopefully the new big waterfront Vekoma will be the best coaster there (it wouldn't be hard, tbh) especially since it'll properly use the park's location unlike a lot of the rides actually. Also yes, the modern take on a whip is new for this year, I believe it's the debut of the new Zierer 'Drifter' model. Funnily enough it's sponsored by an insurance company called Turva and they announce "Exciting moments are secured by Insurance company Turva" (rough translation). Cause you know. Cars.

Obviously had to check out Näsinneula, the town’s space needle observation tower, and tallest structure in Finland.

Time for me to "Um ackshuly" cause I can't let small things go... again... Näsinneula was the tallest building (building vs structure is that a building can be inhabited in some way, there are well over double Näsinneula height comms towers across Finland) buuut semi recently it got dethroned by a new 185m tall factory (to Näsinneula's 135m or 168m if we count the antenna) with office space at the top and factory space throughout the height. I didn't know it existed until I was driving through the southern coast's countryside and saw it being built the other year. It makes undersea cables which apparently are so thick they can't be vulcanized horizontally without squishing, so they have to be vulcanized vertically and that's why the factory has to be ridiculously tall.