Trip report: Finland + Gröna Lund

Today I came back from a weeks vacation. Along with some good friends from Norway and Sweden, we headed east to Finland to ride rollercoasters. Oh, and we stopped by Gröna Lund on the way home. Im not going to write a very long trip report, but I'll write a few words about every ride (and a few more about those which deserves it)

 

Park #1

Linnanmäki: A very nice park right in the middle of Helsinki. The park is built on a hill, so it has several "hidden" areas. Overall a very beatiful park.

 

Kirnu: The worlds first Intamin 4th dimension coaster, and it was surprisingly good. The G-forces on the last hill were sick! The coaster has almost no supports so it was interesting to see the entire ride shake as the cars went through the course. I wouldnt be surprised to see more supports added to the ride later like Wicked Twister and Xcelerator.

 

Intamin problem #1:

Ride: Kirnu

Time: Mid-day

Problem: Lift hill

Result: Closed for the rest of the day!

 

Vuoristorata: This is a side-friction coaster from 1951 with a brakeman onboard. The ride was quite shake, but very fun. The double-downs were quite brutal.

 

Tulireki: The worlds first Mack e-Motion Coaster. It looked quite rough from the ground, but it wasnt too bad. Its on a hillside, so the first mouse-style turns were insane with the slight tilting. The rest of the ride was okay.

 

Linnunrata: Indoor Zierer coaster with some cheesy spacetheming/effects. Pretty fun ride though!

 

Pikajuna: Mack powered coaster. A bit rough, but easily the best powered coaster I have been on!

Vonkaputous: Premier water coaster. The coaster part was very good, but the splashdown was a bit wet for my taste!

 

Overall we had a very good day at Linnanmäki, but I would really have liked some more rides on Kirnu.

 

 

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Park #2

Särkänniemi: This was also a very nice park! The park opens at 11 am, but most of the rides doesnt open until 12 am.

 

Intamin problem #2:

Ride: Half Pipe

Time: Arrival

Problem: Unknown, the station area was dead.

Result: Closed all day (also 2 days later)

 

Intamin problem #3:

Ride: Tornado

Time: Early in the day, waiting in line for our first ride.

Problem: Train stopped on the way to the lift hill.

Result: After rolling the train back several times, they managed to fix the problem.

 

Tornado: Wow this was great! The first drop isnt the greatest, but the rest of the ride is really good. Powerfull loop, fun cobra roll and the heartline rolls are excellent. MUCH better than those on the regular sitdown coasters. The roll through the station is probably my favorite inversion EVER!

 

Intamin problem #4:

Ride: Tornado

Time: Late afternoon.

Problem: Yellow train making horrible rattling sounds in the rolls.

Result: One train operation and a very long line for the rest of the day.

 

Trombi: Zamperla Volare coaster. Having experienced the one in Prater Park, I wasnt looking much forward to this. Trombi was much better though. The only really rough parts were the rolls, which were the only smooth parts on the one in Prater. One ride was enough though.

 

Jet Star: My first Schwarzkopf Jet Star, and I really liked this ride. It was fairly smooth, and the first drop/turn were really powerfull.

 

Korkkiruuvi: Vekoma Whirlwind coaster which was surprisingly smooth. We only rode in the middle of the train though. The lift hill makes a very funny WRRRRRR WRRRRR WRRRRRR CERCHUNK sound as the train goes over the top of the lift hill. Vekoma quality!

 

Overall another good day, but it was really a shame to miss Half Pipe. I would also have loved some more rides on Tornado, but the line was just too long with one train.

 

 

 

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Park #3

PowerLand: A small park, but it was very nice. A few areas which looks a bit random and fair-like, but most of the park is very nice and they were still working on the theming.

 

Thunderbird: HOLY CRAP! I was a bit worried if my expectations were too high due to what some people say about GCI coasters, but I was NOT dissappointed. The first ride was great, and it just kept going faster and faster throughout the day. And it never slows down during the ride. Once it leaves the lift hill you dont get a single moment to catch your breath. The airtime isnt the most extreme, but theres lots of it. And the lateral G-forces through some of the turns were SICK!!! It was really on the edge of whats comfortable. This ride was so good that it made it to the top of my wooden coaster list, above Balder and Thundercoaster. The only negative thing about this ride is that the lapbars comes down a bit too easy. I had a few rides where my lapbar came down during the ride and it wasnt very comfortable.

 

The station was also very beatiful, themed to a western railway station. It was a shame that the trains has such ugly paint job, and no theming. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention how beatiful the entire rides looks from the outside...

 

Cobra: Vekome Boomerang with new trains. It was only my second boomerang, but I think this must be one of the best. The trains were fairly comfortable, and there was only a slight jerk at the two highest points in the cobra roll. And the backwards loop is just one of the weirdest coaster experiences ever. This also has a beatiful station.

 

Joyride: Compact family coaster made by L&T Systems. I thought this was a pretty good ride. Its smooth, fast and has some nice forces. If I were a kid I would have loved it!

 

Mine Train: Small Zamperla family coaster in the woods. Not the most comfortable coaster I have ridden.

 

Mega Drop: Not a coaster, but it deserves to be mentioned. Standing 35 meters tall, this Fabbri drop tower doesnt look like much. But when it holds you for 40 (!!!!) seconds at the top of the swaying tower, your not excactly feeling relaxed. And it shoots you down so the airtime is REALLY extreme! I found it impossible to ride this without screaming. Its far scarier than Intamin towers twice as tall!

 

 

 

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Park #4

Gröna Lund: When I was there last year, it was really hot and the park was very crowded. There were quite alot of people here this time aswell, but it was raining. But all the rides were running...... well, almost!

 

Intamin problem #5:

Ride: Fritt Fall Tilt

Time: All week!

Problem: Standup, floorless, tilting car was closed with the cables removed. I cant tell if its related to the accident in Kentucky Kingdom.

Result: Only regular freefall cars operating.

 

Kvasten: This is a custom Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster with the new Vekoma trains with lapbars only. The station is beatiful, and the entire ride really fits well in the already crowded park. The ride felt a bit shaky, but its still one of the best family coasters I have ridden. The last helix had some nice G-forces. It was awesome to see all the kids running off the ride and around to ride again.

 

Fritt Fall: 260 ft tall Intamin drop tower. Not as extreme or scary as the smaller Mega Drop, but its still probably my favorite drop ride because it last really long. When you think your going to hit the brakes, it falls a bit more. Definately the best ride in the park!

 

Vilda Musen: I thought this ride was far better this year than last year. It has a couple of bumps and the hairpin turns are a bit brutal, but nothing serious. It also had a bit of floater airtime in the rain. Its a quite wild ride, so the name fits the ride very well.

 

Nyckelpigan: Small Zierer kiddie coaster. Not very comfortable!

 

Jetline: This ride felt smoother last year. It was quite shaky, and after the first drops its really just a bunch of helixes. I know there are many Schwarzkopf fans out there (I am one myself) so please dont shoot me when I say that I think Vilda Musen may be a better coaster. Atleast the fun-factor is much better.

 

 

Phew, that was (for me) a long trip report! I didnt take any pictures, but I brought a videocamera so Im hoping to share some videos with you soon. Dont expect very high quality stuff though as I am a newbie with that kind of stuff.

 

Overall it was a fantastic trip, with some great people and some amazing rides.

 

Atleast we didnt get hit by the Intamin curse....

great trip report did u ride Powerpark's new flatride/towerride Fiesta Mexicana ? and how was this? did u also ride Kieppi at linnanmäki? and if you rode it, what was your thoughts ?

Nice TR! Funny by the way: around the first week of june I experienced the same problems with the rides you mention... Just one difference: the halfpipe worked all morning! But the rest of the day it was broke.

^^I didnt ride Kieppi, but I did ride the tower ride in Powerpark. It was pretty fun, but I was mostly focused on filming. It wasnt as good as the one in Prater Park, which is more than twice as tall...

 

Thanks for your nice comments!

nice TR, good format I was able to read it all.

 

Go Intamin! every intamin there broke down at least once . Grona (SP?) lands new coaster looks like a blast, and the themeing looks very nice too.

Nice TR, should be a good video to look forward too. Interested to hear about Kirnu as there is not much on RCDB.

 

Intamin aint looking too good but.

Today I finished editing the first video from Linnanmäki. Its my first coastervideo so its not perfect, but Im fairly pleased with the result. I put up two versions of the video:

 

(low-quality)

 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9B2O6DGH (high-quality, 100MB)

 

Feel free to comment!

Nice TR and video.

I must ever get to Scandinavia for the themeparks.

Strange that nearly every Intamin ride in the parks you were visiting had problems,it`s like a curse that every Intamin ride shall have problems when you arrives!

I havent started editing the music video from Särkänniemi yet, but I uploaded a videoclip of Tornado making a horrible rattling sound through the rolls. This was the last ride with passengers for the yellow train before they took it off.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYj5dmKgUG8

Särkänniemi video is up on Youtube!

 

 

Feel free to comment!

PowerPark video is finished:

 

 

As you can see, the speed through the final turns on Thunderbird was sick, producing some insane lateral G-forces! In my opinion the best wooden coaster in the north (Norway, Sweden, Finland)....

 

All comments are appriciated!

Final video from Gröna Lund has been posted. I hope people have enjoyed watching my videos, even though there are very few comments on them.

 

 

I've finally sorted through my pics from this trip, and I bring too you a shining new Photo TR from Linnanmäki in Finland The park was very nice, and Kirnu was a big surprise. Very short, but great ride!

 

I've tried to sort out the best pics. I took more than 500 pics in Linnanmäki alone, so its been quite a job sorting them

We had a lot of problems finding the park, even though we had printed driving directions. After about 20minutes driving randomly around in Helsinki, we finally saw this sign:)

Kirnu, our main reason for coming here!

The last pic from Linnanmäki! Thanks for reading and look back for my pics from Sarkanniemi! Hope you enjoyed it!

It's time to say goodbye to the blod-thirsty birds. So long suckers!

I really liked this ride. Not like the best I've ever tried, but its a very fun family coaster and scary enough for everyone!

I'll end this way to long Photo TR with some pics of Tulireki!

Our first encounter with the Intamin curse on the trip. It broke down around 3pm and never reopened:(

The place for the 2008 Maurer Sohne spinner, which is going to be constructed above this river rapids, during the harsh Finnish winter! Quite an undertaking!

The Huss death machine I talked about earlier!

This boy really loves his fish!

Aarrrgh. They are following us!

There it is. Yeah you got pretty wet on this ride! Not the best thing in Finland, where it might become rather cold

I was sure there was a coaster train here some place

I really like this pic!

Going down

They really love adding prototypes (kirnu and the e-motion coaster)or rides you don't see many other places.

Another member of Linnanmäkis family of rare and weird rides, a Premier water coaster. The only other coaster of this type is the now defunct Bussaw Falls.

More Kirnu love for you!

This might seem like a harmless picture of the mine train, but look closer in the upper left corner. Thats right! A bird! They are spying on us, waiting for the best time to strike.

Signature shot. 10$ to whoever can pronounce the name of the ride!

The double down

That is more like it

You call that hair time?

The figure8 lay out

They weren't to strict on the two people per row rule

One of the two double downs on the ride. You can get some nice airtime here, depending on the brake man/woman

There is one major difference though. The lift here is actually straight, unlike the one at Bakken (proof: http://tinyurl.com/3dxbb8)

This ride is a clone of Bakkens Scenic railway. They didn't want to pay for a designer, so they just borrowed the blueprints;)

Linnanmäki also got a scenic railway, built in 1951

Crashing jumping fountains!

Ohh. Jumping fountains! Reminds me of RCT

Two in our group decided to try this HUSS death machine. I had enough just watching it;)

A rather unsmooth and painfully looking coaster. Luckily it was better than it looks, and I actually liked this ride!

After the mcbr the car was locked in position, and the last part was more like a traditional coaster

A car going up the lift hill. You can clearly see how high the ride is built!

What is an E-motion coaster you say? If you look closely it the car banks outwards in the turns! Pretty scary and a great effect, especially when it is placed on top of a high cliff:)

The second best coaster in the park imo, Tulireki. It is the world's only Mack E-motion coaster!

Among the parks six coasters we find a Mack powered mine train. Not my favorite type of ride, but the location was nice!

It's like a scene from Hitchcocks The Birds! Very scary. The worst part was trying to eat while this things where attacking you.

Linnanmäki had some really aggressive birds!

kirnu and the space shot.

Yeah!

Fancy lift hill!

More Kirnu action

It definitively does!

The spike of death. My biggest question beforehand was if it goes up side down.

nice pics. You can post youtube videos directly on here by using this code

 

[youtube]insert addresshere[/youtube]

Excellent pictures! Looking forward to see more from our trip.

 

Oh, and I love the bird pics...

Nice TR and nice video's! But I have to disappoint you about the e-motion coaster: there is also one in Amsterdam (Amsterdam Dungeon).

Great pictures and awesome videos.

 

I just have to go to Finland to try out all the cool coasters - especially Kirnu

Do they have a "ugly-train-fetish" up there? The trains at the E-motion and the Boomerang coaster are REALLY ugly!!

 

Btw. That bird thing scared me a bit

Thanks for the comments! Yeah Kirnu is a good reason to go to Finland. But I know two even better reasons to go Finland. More about them in the TR's from Särkäniemi and Power Park

 

Menghini: I wasn't aware that Reaper was a Mack E-motion coaster too. Thanks for the info! The banking effect is probably very cool on an indoor coaster!

I'm very good a posting regular updates aint' I It's only 4 months since the trip. Anyways, finally I bring you my photos from Särkänniemi. The park was very good, with Tornado being the obvious highlight. The weather wasn't quite as good as the day before. And we had another encounter with the Intamin curse. (two encounters actually). On to the pics:

Welcome to Särkänniemi. In this pic you can see our reason for coming here..

Thanks for reading, and sorry for bringing you through this. Comment are welcome!

We ended the evening with a round of dart:P

I'll end the pics from Särkänniemi with a Tornado loop shot!

Up side down!

Not exactly camouflage!

Vertical loop action!

Orange train, in loop, from far away

This boys expressions says the most!

no restrains or seat belts at all!

This was a great ride, and the best part was

Heartline roll!

One of the birds followed us from Linnanmäki!

Yeah we only took one ride!

This pic speaks for itself!

My apologies for the length of this TP, but I enjoy taking pictures

The unloading mechanism

I don't know who is the brain behind thees devilish inventions, but they certainly could need some therapy!

The orange train trying to hide!

It is so photogenic!

Twisted goodness!

Here comes a small series of Tornado pictures

The orange train seen from above!

The lay-out of Tornado. The Intamin inverteds are often forgotten because of B&M, but I thought Tornado was a lot better than for instance Silver Bullet and nemesis Inferno

This roll is offen forgotten due too the general awesomeness of the first one!

The station roll. Words can't describe how cool this element was!

Tornado's cobra roll from the tower

Jet Star from the tower

Trombi from the observation tower

closed

This days first encounter with the Intamin curse. Half Pipe was closed all day, and from the looks of it it had been for quite some time.

Yes it got a heartline roll through the station. Most awesome element ever! The effect is great, both on board and in the station.

this!

Cobra roll shot. The first three elements of Tornado was great. But the thing that makes this ride awesome is

Loop silhouette

The orange train trying to hide in the dark. It doesn't work!

Not much to say. It is a Vekoma, built in 1987, 64 feet high, 2 inversions and a top speed of 37 mph.

They also got an old Vekoma corkscrew coaster.

This was supposed to be a pic of the car, but a ride op stepped in front right when I took the pic

I thought it was great fun. Loads of speed an turns.

This sure is a twisted track.

According to RCDB this is one of only 6 rides of this type still existing. And only two exist in their original location.

The park also got a Schwarzkopf Jet Star

Even though it tries to hide behind the trees, it can't!

It got the most orange coaster train ever!

Tornado is the Intamin inverted coaster that isn't located in Madrid!

Yeah I was kiding! It is of course Tornado that is the real highlight here!

Trombi, the Zamperla flying coaster!

Great photo TR! I really like the pictures, especially the ones on the Tornado! Too bad the park also has a Zamperla...

 

Did you also see the barrel-organ at Särkänniemi? Made in the Netherlands!

 

I really like the Scandinavian parks, also the atmosphere is great. But I must add that we also had extremely good weather at that time.

Awesome trip report! Both of the parks look awesome. I hope we see more Kirnu-like rides here in the U.S!

Great photos I love Sweden and Finland when it comes to themeparks..

 

But those aggressive birds still freaks me out a bit.

Darts!

 

That is so cool. And this was at the park?

 

Man, this puts it right up there with Mitsui Greenland (is that the right park, Japan TPR tourers?) who had bows and arrows for the guests enjoyment. I didn't get to do it, but it looked great.

 

I can't wait to travel to these parks in the not-too-distant future!

 

Thanks for sharing your trip report. It's great!

 

Darts!

 

That is so cool. And this was at the park?

 

The darts were not in the park, but outside the place where we spent the night. It was a beatiful place located in a small forest near Powerpark. The only bad thing about it was the mosquitos. They were freakin huge and very aggressive. I could actually feel when they landed on my skin. My legs were itching like hell the next few days....