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Future expansion plans for Gröna Lund

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Anonymous

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Olov said:
Gröna Lund are sending in the expansion plans for building permission today and if granted will be the biggest expansion in the park's long history (just celebrated 125 years).
The park has been looking at the parking lot just opposite the entrance for some time. Now they're finally sending in the plans featuring what looks to be a 35m tall B&M inverter, a 100m tall star flyer and aiming for a classic tivoli theme. The parking lot is just 8.000 square meters, Gröna Lund's size would then with 43.00sqm be about half the size of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen but Gröna Lund are pretty good at packing in a lot of stuff in a tight space.
The price tag is about $65 millions.
If permission granted and everything going as planned it will open on 2012-2013 season.
Let's hope for the best...
Source DN (Swedish)
Source Aftonbladet (Swedish)

teckning2.gif


I have to say that it looks pretty great, now I just wonder what Liseberg have to counter this with their future expansion...
 
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Anonymous

Guest
^ There's a few more images if you look at the first source, they don't really show of the whole layout, but it looks to be pretty close to Black Mamba.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
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Doesn't Gröna Lund already have an Invert? Kvasten, if I'm correct? Though, a Vekoma Inverted Junior isn't what I'd call a highlight of any park that is the main park in the capitol of a country. However, a Giant Intamin ZacSpin could easily get marketed as such. And that tower... lovely.

Anyway, the more, the merrier. As long as they've got some quality in it, it should be fantastic. The fact that Stockholm is half a day's train ride away doesn't put a dampener on the situation either.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
^ Well they already have an awesome drop-tower to keep me occupied instead of that one.

Pokemaniac said:
Doesn't Gröna Lund already have an Invert? Kvasten, if I'm correct? Though, a Vekoma Inverted Junior isn't what I'd call a highlight of any park that is the main park in the capitol of a country.
Yes, Gröna Lund already has an invert but it is aimed to a whole other group of people. It's like saying Tusenfryd shouldn't have built Speed Monster since they already have Teeny Weeny, since they are both sit-downs. And I have to say that Kvasten actually is way better then any other standard kiddy/family coaster I have been on.

Pokemaniac said:
Anyway, the more, the merrier. As long as they've got some quality in it, it should be fantastic. The fact that Stockholm is half a day's train ride away doesn't put a dampener on the situation either.
Why go by train, Norwegian have some cheap flights so you can do a nice day-trip :)
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Someone have found a couple of more images of the planned expansion...

tivoli2_130.jpg


tivoli_449.jpg
 

andrus

Giga Poster
Sounds interesting. Then sweden maybe at last will get it's first "real" coaster in this new 35 m b&m invert! :--D I hope liseberg respond to the competition and build something equally thrilling in their new expansion as well! This could be really great news for us swedish coaster nerds!!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
^^ The source of those two images is: http://planer.sbk.stockholm.se/SBKPlanT ... _2929.aspx

^ What do you mean "first real coaster" I'm pretty certain that both Balder and Lisebergbanan are both world class coasters, and also Tranan, Insane, Jetline and others are not far behind, heck Skara Sommarland opened the second ever Intamin Stand up in the past (in the last "coaster war" here in Sweden), that have to be counted for something...
And I really hope that Liseberg is going to respond to this "threat" in a suitable manner, but they have also an expansion in the making :) And then there is a lot(!!) of space at Skara Sommarland and not to forget the park in the making at Botkyrka south of Stockholm.

BTW! I'm probably going to burst everyone's bubble, by saying that it's way more likely that this is going to be a Vekoma, if anything. Especially if the new Vekoma's at Universal Singapore is a success.

Anyway, they have today received the all clear from Stockholm so they can now go ahead with the final planning and construction of the area. At the moment the new area includes a 90 meter tall Star Flyer, a 37 (ish) meter tall coaster and other attractions/buildings :)

The time frame for all this is that it should be ready for a grand opening in 5 years time and will increase the total area by about 33%...

Sources:
DN.se [Translated from Swedish]
Aftonbladet.se [Swedish]

PS. andrus where about in Sweden do you live??
 

andrus

Giga Poster
With 'first "real" coaster' I mean first really thrilling coaster! ^^ I'm aware that we have some world class coasters here in sweden. Lisebergsbanan is quite good but more of a family ride, so is Jetline. Balder sure is great, but not that thrilling.. Kanonen has a weak launch and way to short layout. I haven't been on Insane, looks very cool actually, but also to short..

I'm jealous of the rest of europe with rides like Katun, Dragon khan, Nemesis, Expedition Geforce, Black Mamba, Goliath, Superman la attracione and the list continous.. Even Norway and Denmark got great rides in Speed Monster and Piraten! Sweden lack a thrilling coaster in my opinion! I guess that Hang Over, the removed Vekoma inverted boomerang that used to be at Liseberg, is the closest thing we have got to a thrill monster!

That is why I'm really looking forward to this coaster! If Gröna Lund builds a 37 meter tall looping inverter, Liseberg has to counter with an equally thrilling ride! Meaning Sweden most certainly will get two great and thrilling coasters in the upcoming years! :--D

I don't care if it's going to be a B&M or a Vekoma, in fact I will be glad if it turns out to be one of the new Vekoma inverts! The Battle Star Galactica ride built in Singapore looks awesome and hence all B&M inverts have the same layout I wouldn't mind if Gröna Lund goes with something new and interesting! The new Vekomas with individually suspended wheels on the outside of the track will hopefully be smooth as well. :)

I do btw live in Lund at the moment, I guess you're situated in Gothenburg? ;)
 
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Anonymous

Guest
^ Well Insane and Tranan actually gives a lot more thrilling ride then Hang over ever did, but then again I actually prefer more fun rides then "thrilling" ones, and airtime over inversions...

Piraten pawns most of the coasters you named, and Balder is a wooden version of Piraten :)

Gröna Lund have been working in the past to get a Xcelerator clone type coaster, so they have been at it for years to expand their park. But if there is somewhere that you would expect a really large coaster in Sweden then Skara Sommarland is the place to look out for, they have loads of space and no real neighbours that all the other parks in Sweden have to take into consideration when building new rides.

Liseberg have a lot easier to build a coaster on a similar scale to the one being planned at Gröna Lund, since they already have a permit of buildings up to 35 meters on the southern parking lot, that is the next part to be added to the park...

Yeah, well pretty close to Gothenburg at least, going to Liseberg tomorrow :)
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
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Thing is, does Skara have the money? Or the customers? Public transport? Few neighbours does also mean fewer people go there for day trips.
*looks at Google Earth*

Hmm... it does look like it's in the middle of nowhere, actually. No major cities for more than a hundred kilometres in every direction (from what I know about Swedish geography, that is). But then again, it's about equally far to both Stockholm and Gothenburg, and add a bit to the radi, then you reach Oslo and Malmö as well. So if it got some good reputation, then it would cover all of Sweden. Give them a good woodie, and let's see.

As for Gröna Lund, roll on a good coaster, and it would haul in guests. Stockholm is a large city, which means lots of potential customers. I suspect that the place is very well known too, being in the middle of the city, so if they got a good ride, the "awesome!"-word would spread among its customer base very quickly. With the right marketing, it could be iconc in Stockholm within weeks.

P.S.: Is it established that an Invert would be the choice if the park was to expand? Or is it just used as an example? I mean, a good Blitzcoaster would also be good, as I see it lacks a looper, but already has a decent Invert.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Well Skara Sommarland is a part of the group that runs Gröna Lund, Kolmården and a few other places as well (Parks & Resorts Scandinavia), so it have the financial backing.
It also houses the largest/most visited camping site in the whole of Sweden, so it's more of a resort than the other parks in Sweden.
Most of the marketing for the place is in the western part of Sweden (it's twice as far from Stockholm then from Gothenburg) it's surrounded by 1.5 million residents, which is a bit less then the Stockholm area, but there is a lot of people that goes there from even further away.
Going there by public transport is a bit tricky, but there are a lot of buses going there from the nearby town of Skövde which is a major rail connection right on the Stockholm-Gothenburg rail line.

Well as you said, a good woodie, something like a nice GCI would fit the place perfectly, and I'm pretty sure that they are thinking in that direction (I got that sense while talking to the managing people I met earlier this year). I still think that Skara have more potential than Tysenfryd...

We just have to wait and see...
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
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I know, TusenFryd will never be able to compete with the Swedish parks. It has no competitors in Norway, for several reasons really.
- Another park in the Oslo area simply isn't viable. TusenFryd is so firmly established that it would out-compete the new park without problems.
- There is no space for a park near Bergen. It's already too mountainous to have room for they who live there, and you can't find room large enough for a park. Even the residental areas are small and scattered.
- Trondheim doesn't have the climate to get a park. Even TusenFryd's water attractions are designed not to get people wet, as a complete drench would be dangerously cold. Trondheim is a good 600 km further north.
- The Stavanger/Sandnes area already houses Kongeparken, and there simply aren't enough customers to try to compete with it. Guests would only go to one park each year, and a halving of the customer base would ruin one of the parks.
We have a couple of good family parks too, so that niche is taken. If people want to go to a park in Norway, they'd go to TusenFryd and Kongeparken for a day's thrill. If they want more thrills, then Sweden or Denmark is the destination.

So if Skara gets a big ride, as in, very big, then it would easily pop up in every Norwegian guidebook. Just a day trip away, more thrilling and cheaper than TusenFryd. Still, TusenFryd has a grip on the locals, so it won't feel any pressure to get something better or lower prices.
Guess it's a trip to Skara for me as soon as I'll be able to go without being dependant of persuading my family to go there.
 

andrus

Giga Poster
loefet said:
^ Well Insane and Tranan actually gives a lot more thrilling ride then Hang over ever did, but then again I actually prefer more fun rides then "thrilling" ones, and airtime over inversions...
Both Insane and Tranan seem to be very disorientating. But none of the rides seem to pull of any g:s, neither one are very fast and both of them do seem to lack airtime hills! ^^ In fact Tranan got 2/5 in "daredevilry" at skara's own homepage, doesn't sound to thrilling to me.. I'm sure they're both good rides, but not what I would call a big and impressive ride.


loefet said:
Gröna Lund have been working in the past to get a Xcelerator clone type coaster, so they have been at it for years to expand their park.
An Xcelerator type of ride would be awesome as well! I'm not sure they have the space to fit it in though, unless they get permission for the coaster to do the sweeping turns over the water.


loefet said:
But if there is somewhere that you would expect a really large coaster in Sweden then Skara Sommarland is the place to look out for, they have loads of space and no real neighbours that all the other parks in Sweden have to take into consideration when building new rides.
But Skara Sommarland is more of a kiddie park. They have no real thrill rides and their main visitors are families with children at fairly low ages. I personally think it's most unlikely that they build something big and thrilling unless they transform the park thorp-wise..


loefet said:
Liseberg have a lot easier to build a coaster on a similar scale to the one being planned at Gröna Lund, since they already have a permit of buildings up to 35 meters on the southern parking lot, that is the next part to be added to the park...
I totally agree (I think I wrote that before as well).


loefet said:
Yeah, well pretty close to Gothenburg at least, going to Liseberg tomorrow :)
Good for you! Did you have a good time? I haven't been there for ages, mainly because I think they're lacking something thrilling. But I think I'll go this upcoming spring!


Pokemaniac said:
P.S.: Is it established that an Invert would be the choice if the park was to expand? Or is it just used as an example? I mean, a good Blitzcoaster would also be good, as I see it lacks a looper, but already has a decent Invert.
I don't know.. I thought so because loefet did seem very convincing. ^^ Do you know for sure loefet?

Btw what is a blitzcoaster? Is it a maverick style of ride? If it is, that would be cool too. I don't know how much space they demand though..
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
P.S.: Is it established that an Invert would be the choice if the park was to expand? Or is it just used as an example? I mean, a good Blitzcoaster would also be good, as I see it lacks a looper, but already has a decent Invert.
Well I haven't seen any other indications on any other type of ride, But an Invert would (in my view) fit Gröna Lund perfectly.
And no I don't think that a Blitz Coaster would be ideal for the place, just too much hassle, and "another" sit-down coaster for the park would be one to many...

^ It sounds like you have been caught in the American trend that bigger, faster, more powerful is better, but that don't have to be the case really...

Insane is one of the most thrilling ride I have experienced, sure it doesn't look fast or anything, but the ride itself is purely "insane", you get thrown in several directions, spins like crazy, and it pulls more force than is comfortable in some cases (like head first into the brakes). It's way more thrilling then any of the big B&M invert's (or similar) I have been on...

Tranan on the other hand is as you say, slow with a dull layout. But the experience while riding it is completely different to anything in the world, I have to say that Tranan was the first coaster in a while that scared me a bit. I ride anything (without Ferris Wheels) without any hesitations, but Tranan was different...

The Xcelerator clone was shelved some time ago, when they failed to get the permission for it, which is why they have gone for a "smaller" ride...

I think that Skara Sommarland are trying to get out of their "kids park" categorization that many people have about the place, and a GCI woodie would do great things for the park to draw a more "adult" crowd, and with more adults, they will get more kids :)

Liseberg was awesome by the way, a really nice evening...

Yeah, Maverick is a Blitz Coaster...
 

andrus

Giga Poster
I guess that I'm "americanized" then! ;) I like speed and hieght, everything that looks impressing :--D not saying that small coasters can't be good, but I really wanna se one of these monster coasters in close by (not having to travel half the world to ride them)!
 
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