Smithy
Strata Poster
Statty bit out the way first.
Park was open 3pm-10pm on both days we visited (Weds/Thurs), on the second day the park was heaving as they had Wycleaf Jean performing.
We were on park 3pm-8.30pm Weds and 4pm-6.30pm Thurs as we had to catch our flight.
Ride count;
Balder x 8
Helix x 8
Lisebergbanan x 2
Kanonen x 2
Rabalder
Stampbanan
All the rides in the kids area
Liseberg wheel
Hanghai
After a day killing time in Gothenburg we got to the park for opening and got our 2 day passes and express tickets sorted. The whole entrance area is beautifully kept, creates a brilliant first impression that they care about the details of the park.
Side entrance rather than main entrance but still
Figured the only way to start the day would be with a go on Helix. After a short while just standing and admiring the ride, up we went and within 10 minutes we were in the middle of the train and, I'm not ashamed to say, both feeling nervous given how freely you can move within the restraints. I'll sum up my thoughts on it at the end of this report as they changed a few times, but after my first go I was extremely impressed, in fact I'm still humming it's soundtrack to myself typing this.
Such an aesthetically pleasing ride/park in general
Got on Lisebergbanan immediately after, didn't have a clue what to expect and as such was taken by surprise as to how forceful it was in places. Speed sensation was very good although the extremely sharp brakes towards the end caused a painful head bang that soured it somewhat.
Then on to Kanonen. I'm no fan of launch coasters, and had heard mostly negative reviews of this, but I was pleasantly surprised. I liked that it was built over the river/stream running through the middle of the park, which also helped to break the park up into different areas and also made it clear where to go for each ride.
Balder next. Having had high hopes for Megafobia to be the first 'good' woodie I'd ridden back at the Oakwood live only to be left disappointed, I half expected similar to happen here. Wrong. I'll explain more later, but I was blown away.
Took a rest to get some food, had a plethora of choices including 4 Burger Kings to choose from but settled on a bratwurst with some sort of spicy sauce;
While waiting for dinner to settle we took a go on the wheel to get a decent view over both the park and the city, where we also managed to see them transferring a third train onto Helix even though the queue wasn't ever above 15 minutes.
Bright sun and dirty windows spoiled most of our pictures from up there and as we were only on for two rotations we headed up to the top of the park to get some more pictures and just enjoy looking down over the place.
Such a photogenic ride, such a photogenic park really. Headed back down to get second goes on Kanonen and Balder using our express passes, which involved a lot of faff as the entrances weren't clearly signposted nor were the express passes even really necessary given the queues weren't that long.
Speaking of the queues, they were weird in that they were letting three to four trains worth of people through the turnstiles to go and wait behind the airgates, meaning the stations became quite crowded and you often had a four to five train wait right by the turnstiles whereas if you walked through that initial crowd you could often get on the next train.
Also had a slight issue with queue jumpers on Helix, obviously it's annoying when the ride is close to walk on that you have to walk the entire queue but that's still no excuse for the number of people jumping over barriers to skip bits. I did report it to a ride op as the two lads in front not only had done it right in front of me but had been spitting and generally been unpleasant little ****, but he didn't do anything about it.
Left the park well before close having been up since 2am and facing a long walk back. Next day the weather was woeful and given that the bottom half of the park didn't open the rides up until 4pm, we stuck around in the Universeum next door. Weather cleared up too in that time from heavy rain to a light drizzle, but we got on Helix and Balder whilst both were still running wet. Decided to get several rides in on Balder whilst it was running like a beast, and then up to Helix to get a few more goes in as between us we genuinely couldn't decide which we preferred.
Several re-rides on Helix later and we went about going on the odd ride here and there we'd missed, the disc-o and a few others from memory. The park was heaving in comparison to the day before but the queues never rose above 15 minutes on any ride. Anyway, enough waffle.
Balder
New number 1. After the first day where I had 4 rides on it spread out across the day, I was undecided as to whether it was better than Shambhala or Helix. I **** loved it right from the first ride and it only got better as the day went on, sitting towards the front where you get kicked up the arse rom the rest of the train, the middle where you get the best of both or the rear where you get dragged round, it's just utterly superb. No roughness, it flies round, the double hill into one big downhill into the dark is absolutely brilliant and it just doesn't let up. After the first day of not being able to split it, 4 goes on the second when it had rained settled it for me. A ride on the very front row, a ride near the very back and two middle row rides and the think was just beastly, it flew around the track and was just a constant stream of forces and airtime. I left the park knowing it was my number 1, Katie went from preferring Helix to being unable to split the two.
Helix
Well. It was Katie's number 1 until about our 6th go on Balder and now she's still sat trying to split them. First go on it was amazing, I loved the openness of the restraints, I loved the two launches, the airtime hills were outrageously good and the swoop down turn into the sharp corner to the second launch just shouldn't work, it's so tight and yet there's little roughness there at all. On our 3rd ride on it in the evening (when it had warmed up) we got a front row ride. Wow. Wow. Wow. Was sat on the brake run and both agreed it was the best ride on a coaster we'd ever had. Then we went round for another go. Middle of the train, but something wasn't right. There was a very strong smell of burning, the ride was bouncing from side to side and it was bordering on becoming uncomfortable. We went back round to get one last ride on it for the night and as we got back up to the station they were taking the train we'd just been off out of use. No idea if it was a co-incidence, or if it had burned up a wheel or something but our last go on it was much better than previously. We had 4 more goes on our second day in the park, but it felt a bit rattly which was probably down to the rain and cold weather. It's a tough one, it gave me my best ever ride on a coaster, surpassing front row Balder and only just passing front row Shambhala at sunset. But I think Balder just about edges it out because I didn't have a bad ride on it and I did on Helix. I've got it behind Shambhala for that same reason, but as time goes on I'll probably look back on that front row ride more fondly and lift it up a place or possibly two.
Lisebergbanan
Very good, long coaster that has a good mix of forces, great sensation of speed and if the brakes weren't horribly sharp then it'd be pushing for a top ten spot.
Kanonen
Not a fan of launch coasters but this packed more of a punch than I expected given the size and speed of it. Felt it hit top speed instantly and as already slowing before the end of it, but the layout in being tight and compact meant it was forceful and I quite enjoyed it.
Liseberg
Beautiful park. Best way I found to describe it to people who haven't heard of it since coming back is that it's basically Blackpool Pleasure Beach with better rides. The two top coasters are worth visiting for alone, the other two big coasters are great fillers, and there's loads and loads of flat rides (Mechanika, Atmosfear, two more towers, rapids, flume) that we missed out as we didn't fancy but would keep people entertained for a full day and probably more. The park was beautiful, the staff were mostly brilliant (though their effectiveness differed massively, Balder went from running no queues to having a 10 minute queue just from a change of team) and there's just so many things to do that everybody of any age will be occupied. Loved the place.
Anyway, you've made it this far so have some ORP's (which surprisingly are only on Helix, Balder and then I think the Flume?);
Park was open 3pm-10pm on both days we visited (Weds/Thurs), on the second day the park was heaving as they had Wycleaf Jean performing.
We were on park 3pm-8.30pm Weds and 4pm-6.30pm Thurs as we had to catch our flight.
Ride count;
Balder x 8
Helix x 8
Lisebergbanan x 2
Kanonen x 2
Rabalder
Stampbanan
All the rides in the kids area
Liseberg wheel
Hanghai
After a day killing time in Gothenburg we got to the park for opening and got our 2 day passes and express tickets sorted. The whole entrance area is beautifully kept, creates a brilliant first impression that they care about the details of the park.
Side entrance rather than main entrance but still
Figured the only way to start the day would be with a go on Helix. After a short while just standing and admiring the ride, up we went and within 10 minutes we were in the middle of the train and, I'm not ashamed to say, both feeling nervous given how freely you can move within the restraints. I'll sum up my thoughts on it at the end of this report as they changed a few times, but after my first go I was extremely impressed, in fact I'm still humming it's soundtrack to myself typing this.
Such an aesthetically pleasing ride/park in general
Got on Lisebergbanan immediately after, didn't have a clue what to expect and as such was taken by surprise as to how forceful it was in places. Speed sensation was very good although the extremely sharp brakes towards the end caused a painful head bang that soured it somewhat.
Then on to Kanonen. I'm no fan of launch coasters, and had heard mostly negative reviews of this, but I was pleasantly surprised. I liked that it was built over the river/stream running through the middle of the park, which also helped to break the park up into different areas and also made it clear where to go for each ride.
Balder next. Having had high hopes for Megafobia to be the first 'good' woodie I'd ridden back at the Oakwood live only to be left disappointed, I half expected similar to happen here. Wrong. I'll explain more later, but I was blown away.
Took a rest to get some food, had a plethora of choices including 4 Burger Kings to choose from but settled on a bratwurst with some sort of spicy sauce;
While waiting for dinner to settle we took a go on the wheel to get a decent view over both the park and the city, where we also managed to see them transferring a third train onto Helix even though the queue wasn't ever above 15 minutes.
Bright sun and dirty windows spoiled most of our pictures from up there and as we were only on for two rotations we headed up to the top of the park to get some more pictures and just enjoy looking down over the place.
Such a photogenic ride, such a photogenic park really. Headed back down to get second goes on Kanonen and Balder using our express passes, which involved a lot of faff as the entrances weren't clearly signposted nor were the express passes even really necessary given the queues weren't that long.
Speaking of the queues, they were weird in that they were letting three to four trains worth of people through the turnstiles to go and wait behind the airgates, meaning the stations became quite crowded and you often had a four to five train wait right by the turnstiles whereas if you walked through that initial crowd you could often get on the next train.
Also had a slight issue with queue jumpers on Helix, obviously it's annoying when the ride is close to walk on that you have to walk the entire queue but that's still no excuse for the number of people jumping over barriers to skip bits. I did report it to a ride op as the two lads in front not only had done it right in front of me but had been spitting and generally been unpleasant little ****, but he didn't do anything about it.
Left the park well before close having been up since 2am and facing a long walk back. Next day the weather was woeful and given that the bottom half of the park didn't open the rides up until 4pm, we stuck around in the Universeum next door. Weather cleared up too in that time from heavy rain to a light drizzle, but we got on Helix and Balder whilst both were still running wet. Decided to get several rides in on Balder whilst it was running like a beast, and then up to Helix to get a few more goes in as between us we genuinely couldn't decide which we preferred.
Several re-rides on Helix later and we went about going on the odd ride here and there we'd missed, the disc-o and a few others from memory. The park was heaving in comparison to the day before but the queues never rose above 15 minutes on any ride. Anyway, enough waffle.
Balder
New number 1. After the first day where I had 4 rides on it spread out across the day, I was undecided as to whether it was better than Shambhala or Helix. I **** loved it right from the first ride and it only got better as the day went on, sitting towards the front where you get kicked up the arse rom the rest of the train, the middle where you get the best of both or the rear where you get dragged round, it's just utterly superb. No roughness, it flies round, the double hill into one big downhill into the dark is absolutely brilliant and it just doesn't let up. After the first day of not being able to split it, 4 goes on the second when it had rained settled it for me. A ride on the very front row, a ride near the very back and two middle row rides and the think was just beastly, it flew around the track and was just a constant stream of forces and airtime. I left the park knowing it was my number 1, Katie went from preferring Helix to being unable to split the two.
Helix
Well. It was Katie's number 1 until about our 6th go on Balder and now she's still sat trying to split them. First go on it was amazing, I loved the openness of the restraints, I loved the two launches, the airtime hills were outrageously good and the swoop down turn into the sharp corner to the second launch just shouldn't work, it's so tight and yet there's little roughness there at all. On our 3rd ride on it in the evening (when it had warmed up) we got a front row ride. Wow. Wow. Wow. Was sat on the brake run and both agreed it was the best ride on a coaster we'd ever had. Then we went round for another go. Middle of the train, but something wasn't right. There was a very strong smell of burning, the ride was bouncing from side to side and it was bordering on becoming uncomfortable. We went back round to get one last ride on it for the night and as we got back up to the station they were taking the train we'd just been off out of use. No idea if it was a co-incidence, or if it had burned up a wheel or something but our last go on it was much better than previously. We had 4 more goes on our second day in the park, but it felt a bit rattly which was probably down to the rain and cold weather. It's a tough one, it gave me my best ever ride on a coaster, surpassing front row Balder and only just passing front row Shambhala at sunset. But I think Balder just about edges it out because I didn't have a bad ride on it and I did on Helix. I've got it behind Shambhala for that same reason, but as time goes on I'll probably look back on that front row ride more fondly and lift it up a place or possibly two.
Lisebergbanan
Very good, long coaster that has a good mix of forces, great sensation of speed and if the brakes weren't horribly sharp then it'd be pushing for a top ten spot.
Kanonen
Not a fan of launch coasters but this packed more of a punch than I expected given the size and speed of it. Felt it hit top speed instantly and as already slowing before the end of it, but the layout in being tight and compact meant it was forceful and I quite enjoyed it.
Liseberg
Beautiful park. Best way I found to describe it to people who haven't heard of it since coming back is that it's basically Blackpool Pleasure Beach with better rides. The two top coasters are worth visiting for alone, the other two big coasters are great fillers, and there's loads and loads of flat rides (Mechanika, Atmosfear, two more towers, rapids, flume) that we missed out as we didn't fancy but would keep people entertained for a full day and probably more. The park was beautiful, the staff were mostly brilliant (though their effectiveness differed massively, Balder went from running no queues to having a 10 minute queue just from a change of team) and there's just so many things to do that everybody of any age will be occupied. Loved the place.
Anyway, you've made it this far so have some ORP's (which surprisingly are only on Helix, Balder and then I think the Flume?);
