Slamming Coastercore
Mega Poster
After starting my coaster enthusiasm somewhat officially about a 18 months ago (where I started actually going on dedicated theme park trips abroad) I decided that Sweden was just something I had to do. After getting on Icon (and loving it); the idea of a souped-up Mack Launcher in the form of Helix sounded wonderful and after all I have heard from everyone else, it was about time I experienced an RMC to see what all the fuss was about as well.
So I booked my tickets around November last year and began preparing for my 2nd solo coaster trip abroad.
Friday 10th May
To start things off I had a flight out of Gatwick Airport to Stockholm 9:20am which went nice and smoothly, resulting in my landing at Stockholm Arlanda airport at around 12:30 local time.
The plan was to drive straight to Grona Lund and to get there for ride opening at 15:00. Whilst I was successful in some respect (getting to the park on time) the journey there could have definitely been smoother.
When I exited the arrivals part of the airport I saw bus signs for car hire, however in my infinite wisdom (or lack thereof) I looked up the Hertz car hire location on my phone and decided to venture there by foot. After a 15 minute walk I realised that I had ended up at the Hertz drop off car park, rather than the actual place to collect the car. Following that I checked my phone for the actual pick up location which was not within walking distance… ffs. So after a 15 minute adventure back to the bus stop, I got a free bus over to the Hertz pick up centre.
When getting to the pick-up centre I explained my trip to the Hertz staff members whilst filling out forms, for which they were all very jealous of but also managed to give me some good tips for parking round Stockholm and also surprisingly where to sit on Insane at Grona Lund (Now that is some serious customer service). They were also nice enough to give me a free upgrade on the car, so what should have been a Toyota Yaris or similar ended up being the hulking Toyota CH-R a great big hybrid automatic thing. This scared me ****less as it was my first time driving on the other side of the car, my first time driving an automatic and most notably my first time driving a car that size (I own a very diddy Renault Clio). Fortunately a phone call to a good friend asking ‘how do I drive an automatic’ whilst sitting in the car resolved one of the issues and gave me enough confidence to set off on my adventure.
With all this extra faff of finding the car and getting over the vehicle I was driving, somehow a good 80 minutes had flown by, giving me only 70 minutes to get there before opening. Luckily, lovely Swedish pothole-free roads were on my side and I practically glided into Stockholm arriving about 40 minutes after leaving the airport. I parked at the recommend parking, which was a road called Narvavägen. It cost around 10 SEK (81p) an hour to park there, so as the park was open from 15:00 to 22:00 I loaded up 7 hours’ worth of parking (just in case) and headed off to Grona Lund. The park was a highly scenic 10 minute walk from where I was parked and I loved every minute of it. Bar seeing a really crazy coaster filled skyline like SFMM, this was easily my favourite approach to a park I’ve ever done (picture doesn't really do it justice).
Right, I’m sure you’ve had enough of travel bits, onto the first park.
Grona Lund
What a wonderful little place this is. Great ride selection, super-friendly staff and some fantastic theming for such a small location.
Picking up my ticket was very painless. If you go down the outside of the park and stand as if you were facing Insane from the side with the water on your right, then do a full 180 degree spin you will be at the ticket booths. I printed out the ticket that I purchased online and then exchanged that for a paper card ticket there. Directly opposite is the side entrance to Grona Lund. After strolling through and having the about 5 coasters in my eye line at once (which makes for a very happy Alex) I decided to go for the closest and most anticipated option first.
Insane
Now typically anything with the Intamin name attached to it strikes excitement in me to my very core and up to this point they’re easily my favourite manufacturer; this… didn’t fully warrant the hype. After jumping on the car facing the water (as recommended by the Hertz man) we ascended up the 118ft lift hill and crawled slowly along the first piece of track rocking back and forth. This bit was lovely, giving fantastic views of Stockholm, then the first drop… blegh that wasn’t nice. I was thrown back after going down the first drop, so that I was lying at about a 45 degree angle with my feet in the air going backwards at speed (much unpleasantness). The next drop fortunately flipped me back into an upright position and I actually quite enjoyed this one, it felt much more in the realm of a normal coaster feeling. Following that then slammed into the MCBR (if you can call it that) giving a nice little chest punch on the restraints. After that it all goes a bit mental, lots of flipping over down the next two drops till you end up hanging upside down for a disgustingly long time on the break run. Glad that was over to be honest, no desire to re-ride at all. 3/10
Twister
After a pretty disappointing experience on Insane I decided to give my 2nd most anticipated ride at the park at try. This was the Gravity Group Woodie, Twister. I had heard good things about this from other people, but my god was this better than I expected. The height & speed to punch-that-is-packed ratio is completely off the charts here compared to any other coaster that I have ridden. Okay yes the airtime wasn’t as strong as its hulking Woodie neighbour 2 hours down the road (more on that later). But it was seriously strong for what it was. Lots of lovely lovely ejector. Rapid fire transitions and that last airtime hill on the back row absolutely gives you a kicking in the best of ways (as demonstrated by my pony tail in the picture below).
All-in-all a cracking ride and by a long way my favourite coaster at the park. 8/10
After 2 back-to-back rides on this I actually got chatting to a group of Australians on tour round Europe who also happened to be riding Twister. They were all strangers to each other before embarking on the trip and were nice and forthcoming accepting me as one of their own, so with no obligations elsewhere I decided to join them on their day at the park.
Now this did change the route round the park I had mapped out in my head, but everything was running, opps were good and the queues were no existent (lovely) so this really didn’t bother me too much. This also meant another thing… I could get the kiddie creds out the way without the shame of riding on my own. The Australian tour guide that they had seemed pretty determined to do everything as well, so considering they had only done the Wild Mouse, Twister and Insane; this was the perfect time for me to join in.
So after that we headed off to our next coaster for plenty of positive G’s.
Jetline
Loved the American diner style station on this classic Schwarzkopf, but sadly that is where the excitement begins and ends for me. Sure the drops and turns are pretty forceful, but the repetitive bumpy nature of this ride just bored me a little. Reminded me a little bit of Munich Looping; just without the loops and with a drawn out section before actually getting into the meat of the ride. As a result, I don’t really have much else to say about it. Worth the cred, but I wouldn’t be doing any re-rides. 5/10
Ikaros
Drop towers don’t really phase me too much, however the Australian’s in my group were absolutely petrified. Half the group didn’t ride and the half that did were practically dragged on by their tour guide. I mean there is no denying it’s a big ****er and definitely wins the award for ‘Most intimidating ride in the park’. When you’re watching it from off-ride, looking up at it and the seats face the floor it does look pretty ****ing nuts. So riding it and even in the queue it was great fun to stand in the queue with the Aussies that did ride, as they were all collectively ****ting themselves.
The anticipation on this ride and any nerves that I experienced were all whilst going up, once the seats tilted to face the floor they ****ed off double quick. “This just looks like the edge of some weird dive machine/drop tower hybrid” is the thought that went through my head; and you know what, that is exactly what it felt like. Seeing the track in front of you as you fall does not feel like a traditional drop tower at all and much more like you’re just going along rollercoaster track vertically. Still, it’s an absolute blast and I would love to see more parks get these beautiful contraptions. 8/10
After everyone realised it was actually just really good fun and not that scary, those of us that rode it went round again two more times and after that we were fully thrilled out for a little bit, so decided to venture onto the Starflyer, Eclipse.
Eclipse
Now whilst Twister might have been my favourite coaster, this was my favourite ride. The views that you get of Stockholm are simply stunning. Being the tallest ride in the park you also go up past Ikaros and the other drop tower, getting great close ups of watching people plummet to the ground below. Even if you don’t like rollercoasters (obviously doesn’t apply to anyone here haha) I would recommend going to Grona Lund just to do this ride and get those views. Couldn’t stop smiling from start to finish. 10/10
Lustiga huset
Still not fully recovered from Ikaros, the group decided to venture onto another non-thrill ride. The fantastic Mad House at Grona Lund, Lustiga huset. Now this is one that you absolutely have to experience and is definitely the best one that I’ve had the pleasure of doing. As usual, health and safety would be all over this in the UK, but in Sweden they we happy to leave you to awkwardly traverse. I won’t go into too much detail as it is one of those that you do have to experience for yourself, but one thing I would note is that the moving ladders/stairs at the entrance will give your legs a damn good stretch if you don’t time it right. There were quite a few moments where had it not been for the handrails I’d have been sent tumbling back down crushing everyone behind me. One of the shorter Aussies made the unfortunate decision of wearing skin-tight jeans and to much hilarity, these steps made short work of them, leaving a nice gaping hole haha. 8/10
Bumbling though Eclipse and Lustiga huset killed a good 45 minutes so it was time to jump back on some coasters. Time for the next one.
Kvasten
Nice, smooth and pretty quick for a junior coaster; this was still pretty relaxing but a cred nevertheless. Nice theming around it as well going through the roof of the station at one point. Pleasant little ride, but only cred worthy really. 5/10
After this we headed to the back of the park and picked up the junior +1’s which were nothing more than just that really. Not much theming and just done for the sake of getting done. Other than that there really wasn’t a lot of motivation to be in this part of the park.
Nyckelpigan
+1 (round a nice little garden)
Tuff-Tuff Tåget
+1 (with many switchbacks, no garden)
By this point the Aussies were nearing the end of their day at the park, they wanted to have a go on the last drop tower and the new for 2019, Snake; but that was it. Before doing these we decided to go for a beer at the bar next to Kvasten and chatted about their travels for a bit. One of them was even nice enough to buy me a can of some rather good 3.5% IPA which sadly I can’t remember the name of now; but it is definitely something I’ll look for again if I ever go back.
After finishing that nice little beer we headed over to the other drop tower.
Fritt Fall Tilt
Now this felt like a proper drop tower, none of that facing the ground stuff. This one was older and didn’t feel nearly as polished, but it was brutally (or beautifully depending on your definition) forceful. I enjoyed this one just as much as Ikaros, because it was just so fast. It leaves your stomach 300ft or so in the air for longer than any other ride I’ve done and that is absolutely a good thing. Much more intense that Hurakan Condor as well, which left me a bit underwhelmed back in December; so this made up for it big time. Went on the standing side which was the usual borderline castration affair. Was great fun, but didn’t feel overly motivated to run my balls through that gauntlet again. 8/10
Onto the last ride of the day with the Aussies.
Snake
(cranes for the new B&M obscuring the view)
The only thing at the park that actually had a queue. It was pretty standard really, nothing ground-breaking here. Just a nice big flat ride that flips you upside down a few times, felt like a slightly more thrilling Fabbri booster. Worth the 20 minute queue that I sat in, but was not overly eager to re-ride or spend any more time with this one. Good addition as a filler this year whilst we wait for the B&M Invert. It still blows my mind that they’re going to find enough room for one of those (let’s just hope it doesn’t have vest restraints). 6/10
So I waved goodbye to my new found Aussie friends and decided it was time to cross the Wild Mouse off the list and get a few re-rides in.
Vilda musen
Yeah this was a fun wild mouse. Probably the biggest one I’ve done and it interacted really nicely with Jetline. Was a bit weird to see banked corners on a wild mouse, but it was fun and something different. Like Jetline and Kvasten though, it wasn’t going to make me want to go for re-rides, despite being amusing. 5/10
At this point for me the park was pretty much done. The park was open till 11, but I was mindful of the two hour drive that needed to be done after my day at the park and I also still needed food so I didn’t want to stay till the end. Had I been on my own I probably could have had a go on everything within 3 hours, but as I tagged along with the Aussie’s it took a bit longer and by this time it was around 8pm so I decided to get in some re-rides on Twister, then polish off the day with a lovely sunset ride on Eclipse. Seeing Stockholm from that height with a lovely orange sunset tinge to it is just breath-taking to say the least. With that done I headed to the car, very happy to have such a successful first day.
So in conclusion I absolutely loved Grona Lund and would happily go back again. The park has a great atmosphere and all the attractions are solid. Whenever I end up venturing to Sweden again, I will be sure to take some time to visit.
For the evening I would be staying in Jursla, about a 15-20 minute drive from Kolmården. I arrived at the AirBnB I would be staying at around 11:30pm, which was pretty much just a cabin in the garden with a double sofa bed and your basic amenities. It was super cheap, but clean and private which was nice. I would fully recommend to anyone looking just for a place to rest their head for the night, it can sleep two, but it might be a little cramped. Please feel free to DM me for a link.
Stay tuned for Kolmarden report tomorrow!
So I booked my tickets around November last year and began preparing for my 2nd solo coaster trip abroad.
Friday 10th May
To start things off I had a flight out of Gatwick Airport to Stockholm 9:20am which went nice and smoothly, resulting in my landing at Stockholm Arlanda airport at around 12:30 local time.
The plan was to drive straight to Grona Lund and to get there for ride opening at 15:00. Whilst I was successful in some respect (getting to the park on time) the journey there could have definitely been smoother.
When I exited the arrivals part of the airport I saw bus signs for car hire, however in my infinite wisdom (or lack thereof) I looked up the Hertz car hire location on my phone and decided to venture there by foot. After a 15 minute walk I realised that I had ended up at the Hertz drop off car park, rather than the actual place to collect the car. Following that I checked my phone for the actual pick up location which was not within walking distance… ffs. So after a 15 minute adventure back to the bus stop, I got a free bus over to the Hertz pick up centre.
When getting to the pick-up centre I explained my trip to the Hertz staff members whilst filling out forms, for which they were all very jealous of but also managed to give me some good tips for parking round Stockholm and also surprisingly where to sit on Insane at Grona Lund (Now that is some serious customer service). They were also nice enough to give me a free upgrade on the car, so what should have been a Toyota Yaris or similar ended up being the hulking Toyota CH-R a great big hybrid automatic thing. This scared me ****less as it was my first time driving on the other side of the car, my first time driving an automatic and most notably my first time driving a car that size (I own a very diddy Renault Clio). Fortunately a phone call to a good friend asking ‘how do I drive an automatic’ whilst sitting in the car resolved one of the issues and gave me enough confidence to set off on my adventure.
With all this extra faff of finding the car and getting over the vehicle I was driving, somehow a good 80 minutes had flown by, giving me only 70 minutes to get there before opening. Luckily, lovely Swedish pothole-free roads were on my side and I practically glided into Stockholm arriving about 40 minutes after leaving the airport. I parked at the recommend parking, which was a road called Narvavägen. It cost around 10 SEK (81p) an hour to park there, so as the park was open from 15:00 to 22:00 I loaded up 7 hours’ worth of parking (just in case) and headed off to Grona Lund. The park was a highly scenic 10 minute walk from where I was parked and I loved every minute of it. Bar seeing a really crazy coaster filled skyline like SFMM, this was easily my favourite approach to a park I’ve ever done (picture doesn't really do it justice).
Right, I’m sure you’ve had enough of travel bits, onto the first park.
Grona Lund
What a wonderful little place this is. Great ride selection, super-friendly staff and some fantastic theming for such a small location.
Picking up my ticket was very painless. If you go down the outside of the park and stand as if you were facing Insane from the side with the water on your right, then do a full 180 degree spin you will be at the ticket booths. I printed out the ticket that I purchased online and then exchanged that for a paper card ticket there. Directly opposite is the side entrance to Grona Lund. After strolling through and having the about 5 coasters in my eye line at once (which makes for a very happy Alex) I decided to go for the closest and most anticipated option first.
Insane
Now typically anything with the Intamin name attached to it strikes excitement in me to my very core and up to this point they’re easily my favourite manufacturer; this… didn’t fully warrant the hype. After jumping on the car facing the water (as recommended by the Hertz man) we ascended up the 118ft lift hill and crawled slowly along the first piece of track rocking back and forth. This bit was lovely, giving fantastic views of Stockholm, then the first drop… blegh that wasn’t nice. I was thrown back after going down the first drop, so that I was lying at about a 45 degree angle with my feet in the air going backwards at speed (much unpleasantness). The next drop fortunately flipped me back into an upright position and I actually quite enjoyed this one, it felt much more in the realm of a normal coaster feeling. Following that then slammed into the MCBR (if you can call it that) giving a nice little chest punch on the restraints. After that it all goes a bit mental, lots of flipping over down the next two drops till you end up hanging upside down for a disgustingly long time on the break run. Glad that was over to be honest, no desire to re-ride at all. 3/10
Twister
After a pretty disappointing experience on Insane I decided to give my 2nd most anticipated ride at the park at try. This was the Gravity Group Woodie, Twister. I had heard good things about this from other people, but my god was this better than I expected. The height & speed to punch-that-is-packed ratio is completely off the charts here compared to any other coaster that I have ridden. Okay yes the airtime wasn’t as strong as its hulking Woodie neighbour 2 hours down the road (more on that later). But it was seriously strong for what it was. Lots of lovely lovely ejector. Rapid fire transitions and that last airtime hill on the back row absolutely gives you a kicking in the best of ways (as demonstrated by my pony tail in the picture below).
All-in-all a cracking ride and by a long way my favourite coaster at the park. 8/10
After 2 back-to-back rides on this I actually got chatting to a group of Australians on tour round Europe who also happened to be riding Twister. They were all strangers to each other before embarking on the trip and were nice and forthcoming accepting me as one of their own, so with no obligations elsewhere I decided to join them on their day at the park.
Now this did change the route round the park I had mapped out in my head, but everything was running, opps were good and the queues were no existent (lovely) so this really didn’t bother me too much. This also meant another thing… I could get the kiddie creds out the way without the shame of riding on my own. The Australian tour guide that they had seemed pretty determined to do everything as well, so considering they had only done the Wild Mouse, Twister and Insane; this was the perfect time for me to join in.
So after that we headed off to our next coaster for plenty of positive G’s.
Jetline
Loved the American diner style station on this classic Schwarzkopf, but sadly that is where the excitement begins and ends for me. Sure the drops and turns are pretty forceful, but the repetitive bumpy nature of this ride just bored me a little. Reminded me a little bit of Munich Looping; just without the loops and with a drawn out section before actually getting into the meat of the ride. As a result, I don’t really have much else to say about it. Worth the cred, but I wouldn’t be doing any re-rides. 5/10
Ikaros
Drop towers don’t really phase me too much, however the Australian’s in my group were absolutely petrified. Half the group didn’t ride and the half that did were practically dragged on by their tour guide. I mean there is no denying it’s a big ****er and definitely wins the award for ‘Most intimidating ride in the park’. When you’re watching it from off-ride, looking up at it and the seats face the floor it does look pretty ****ing nuts. So riding it and even in the queue it was great fun to stand in the queue with the Aussies that did ride, as they were all collectively ****ting themselves.
The anticipation on this ride and any nerves that I experienced were all whilst going up, once the seats tilted to face the floor they ****ed off double quick. “This just looks like the edge of some weird dive machine/drop tower hybrid” is the thought that went through my head; and you know what, that is exactly what it felt like. Seeing the track in front of you as you fall does not feel like a traditional drop tower at all and much more like you’re just going along rollercoaster track vertically. Still, it’s an absolute blast and I would love to see more parks get these beautiful contraptions. 8/10
After everyone realised it was actually just really good fun and not that scary, those of us that rode it went round again two more times and after that we were fully thrilled out for a little bit, so decided to venture onto the Starflyer, Eclipse.
Eclipse
Now whilst Twister might have been my favourite coaster, this was my favourite ride. The views that you get of Stockholm are simply stunning. Being the tallest ride in the park you also go up past Ikaros and the other drop tower, getting great close ups of watching people plummet to the ground below. Even if you don’t like rollercoasters (obviously doesn’t apply to anyone here haha) I would recommend going to Grona Lund just to do this ride and get those views. Couldn’t stop smiling from start to finish. 10/10
Lustiga huset
Still not fully recovered from Ikaros, the group decided to venture onto another non-thrill ride. The fantastic Mad House at Grona Lund, Lustiga huset. Now this is one that you absolutely have to experience and is definitely the best one that I’ve had the pleasure of doing. As usual, health and safety would be all over this in the UK, but in Sweden they we happy to leave you to awkwardly traverse. I won’t go into too much detail as it is one of those that you do have to experience for yourself, but one thing I would note is that the moving ladders/stairs at the entrance will give your legs a damn good stretch if you don’t time it right. There were quite a few moments where had it not been for the handrails I’d have been sent tumbling back down crushing everyone behind me. One of the shorter Aussies made the unfortunate decision of wearing skin-tight jeans and to much hilarity, these steps made short work of them, leaving a nice gaping hole haha. 8/10
Bumbling though Eclipse and Lustiga huset killed a good 45 minutes so it was time to jump back on some coasters. Time for the next one.
Kvasten
Nice, smooth and pretty quick for a junior coaster; this was still pretty relaxing but a cred nevertheless. Nice theming around it as well going through the roof of the station at one point. Pleasant little ride, but only cred worthy really. 5/10
After this we headed to the back of the park and picked up the junior +1’s which were nothing more than just that really. Not much theming and just done for the sake of getting done. Other than that there really wasn’t a lot of motivation to be in this part of the park.
Nyckelpigan
+1 (round a nice little garden)
Tuff-Tuff Tåget
+1 (with many switchbacks, no garden)
By this point the Aussies were nearing the end of their day at the park, they wanted to have a go on the last drop tower and the new for 2019, Snake; but that was it. Before doing these we decided to go for a beer at the bar next to Kvasten and chatted about their travels for a bit. One of them was even nice enough to buy me a can of some rather good 3.5% IPA which sadly I can’t remember the name of now; but it is definitely something I’ll look for again if I ever go back.
After finishing that nice little beer we headed over to the other drop tower.
Fritt Fall Tilt
Now this felt like a proper drop tower, none of that facing the ground stuff. This one was older and didn’t feel nearly as polished, but it was brutally (or beautifully depending on your definition) forceful. I enjoyed this one just as much as Ikaros, because it was just so fast. It leaves your stomach 300ft or so in the air for longer than any other ride I’ve done and that is absolutely a good thing. Much more intense that Hurakan Condor as well, which left me a bit underwhelmed back in December; so this made up for it big time. Went on the standing side which was the usual borderline castration affair. Was great fun, but didn’t feel overly motivated to run my balls through that gauntlet again. 8/10
Onto the last ride of the day with the Aussies.
Snake
(cranes for the new B&M obscuring the view)
The only thing at the park that actually had a queue. It was pretty standard really, nothing ground-breaking here. Just a nice big flat ride that flips you upside down a few times, felt like a slightly more thrilling Fabbri booster. Worth the 20 minute queue that I sat in, but was not overly eager to re-ride or spend any more time with this one. Good addition as a filler this year whilst we wait for the B&M Invert. It still blows my mind that they’re going to find enough room for one of those (let’s just hope it doesn’t have vest restraints). 6/10
So I waved goodbye to my new found Aussie friends and decided it was time to cross the Wild Mouse off the list and get a few re-rides in.
Vilda musen
Yeah this was a fun wild mouse. Probably the biggest one I’ve done and it interacted really nicely with Jetline. Was a bit weird to see banked corners on a wild mouse, but it was fun and something different. Like Jetline and Kvasten though, it wasn’t going to make me want to go for re-rides, despite being amusing. 5/10
At this point for me the park was pretty much done. The park was open till 11, but I was mindful of the two hour drive that needed to be done after my day at the park and I also still needed food so I didn’t want to stay till the end. Had I been on my own I probably could have had a go on everything within 3 hours, but as I tagged along with the Aussie’s it took a bit longer and by this time it was around 8pm so I decided to get in some re-rides on Twister, then polish off the day with a lovely sunset ride on Eclipse. Seeing Stockholm from that height with a lovely orange sunset tinge to it is just breath-taking to say the least. With that done I headed to the car, very happy to have such a successful first day.
So in conclusion I absolutely loved Grona Lund and would happily go back again. The park has a great atmosphere and all the attractions are solid. Whenever I end up venturing to Sweden again, I will be sure to take some time to visit.
For the evening I would be staying in Jursla, about a 15-20 minute drive from Kolmården. I arrived at the AirBnB I would be staying at around 11:30pm, which was pretty much just a cabin in the garden with a double sofa bed and your basic amenities. It was super cheap, but clean and private which was nice. I would fully recommend to anyone looking just for a place to rest their head for the night, it can sleep two, but it might be a little cramped. Please feel free to DM me for a link.
Stay tuned for Kolmarden report tomorrow!
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