Photo + Video TR: Liseberg (August 2015)

I wanted to write this earlier but oh man last semester at uni was a tough one! Anyway, last summer we visited my favourite park Liseberg with a group of four ride-operator friends from Linnanmäki. We stayed at Scandic Hotel Rubinen and spent the weekend enjoying the last hot days of summer, the dark evenings that bring out the rides' lights and also ran into a couple of other TPR members as well.

Liseberg was as great as ever: service and operations were friendly, and excluding SpinRock and Mechanica all rides were operating on full drive. SpinRock was closed, Mechanica had had some issues during the whole week and continued having them during our stay: two of the six arms were out of order which lead into major increase in waiting times (up to 120min!). Thus I only got to ride it twice during two days.

So how was Mechanica?

I liked it! It seemed to move in all directions all at once. It provided enough spinning and height to make me giddy. Restraints and seat weren't uncomfortable and the cycle was fun. Because the arms spin free the experience varies every time, which encourages re-riding. My only complains are the constant laterals, and I noticed I was continuously banging my head against the headrest. Not restraints, headrest (weird I know), but it was so softly padded that I didn't even notice it until way into the rice cycle.

Queues other than Mechanica weren't that bad, Helix, Balder and FlumeRide at 60min, AtmosFear and Kanonen at 30min and of course the mother of all people-eaters Lisebergbanan with full queue extended and filled with people but queue time only 15 minutes!

I was a bit concerned about whether Helix could still hold up its place at my #1 after Expedition GeForce, but it did! The only thing Helix lacks is a great first drop, other than that it covers about everything else! Balder is still kick-ass, especially in the evening when it's warmed up! The difference is ridiculous . AtmosFear is tall af and Gasten still awesome! Kanonen's launch felt like a literal cannon but thanks to padded restraints, rest of the layout felt smooth and I didn't feel any headbanging whatsoever. Another memorable forceful moment was Uppskjutet's launch which made me almost bite my tongue off

Liseberg is my favourite park not only due to rides, but to the scenery as well! It's hillside landscape and amount of trees are beautiful, but their trump card is played when the sun goes down. The park has so many lights you don't know where to look! With Helix and Mechanica LED's were introduced to really show the world how lighting should be done on rides! So beautiful! If you don't believe me, just watch the video.

Before we hop on to the pictures, here's a video of our trip. I haven't yet shot nor edited video that much, but I'm learning more every time. This video is stabilized using YouTube's own stabilizer. It does improve most of the shots, but it also creates a nice "acid-tripping" effect Please try to ignore that...

.....Also yes, we did sing Log Flume song

Yay it's travelling time!

Our merry group (I'm on the right)

I had hyped my friends quite a bit about Helix. They said it delivered!

They also liked Kanonen!

Nerd shot from Lisebergbanan.

The park is so green and beautifully integrated in every way

And the ride interaction is carefully planned instead of just plotting catalogue models down on flat ground!

Liseberg truly has a unique setting

Although it started to get chilly, FlumeRide stayed busy throughout the night

FlumeRide's panel for those of us who are into these things

Green is beautiful

What other park has a launch coaster next to a log flume?

I'm glad we rode this

Mechanica. Beast.

TPR meetup! with viking86 and lond

"We're on a log flume!"

Having second thoughts

Guess it wasn't that good of an idea to ride a water ride 9 pm with temperature dropping

LED's are beautiful

LED's are still beautiful

I think LED's are most beautiful

VIP bracelet power, unite!

On to the second day with champion's breakfast! Honestly this was 90% of the reasons we stayed at Scandic Rubinen (and I made the receptionist chuckle when I asked whether they still serve these )

More awesome Helix!

More awesome water rides!

Happy place

And another night falls, bringing the park to life in another way

I really like Helix's headlights

Goodbye Liseberg! See you again soon!

Great tour through the park with you and your friends.

And that last shot - wow, it looks perfect. Thanks for sharing your trip.

Great report and some really nice pictures! I had a lot of fun meeting up with you and your group that evening. And yes, you are definitely correct about Liseberg at night, it's an amazing place. Easily one of my favorite parks!

...and I noticed I was continuously banging my head against the headrest. Not restraints, headrest (weird I know), but it was so softly padded that I didn't even notice it until way into the rice cycle.

I had the same feeling, but around halfway through the ride I found that if I pushed my head against the soft headrest it was a lot more comfortable. Although that did cause the restraints to block some of the views.

Such a great park! I've really enjoyed my two visits to Liseberg. Thanks for sharing the photos and video.

Great report, thanks a lot, what was queue times? I am not sure, if you have been to Europa Park, Can you compare smoothness of Helix and BlueFire (Krake?), I am going soon to Liseberg, still delayed, this is last serious park I am missing in my collection from mid/west europe.

Oh my gosh, Liseberg is awesome! I love this park and its rides. However although Mechanica is great, there is a travelling version which I rode at winter wonderland and it was exactly the same, just without any queue. I queued for 50 minutes at Liseberg, but I had the ride to myself at winter wonderland, and got a longer ride. Saying that Mechanica is worth the wait, but to all you enthusiasts out there if you know you can ride the travelling version, hold out!

Also, does anyone else prefer Hodjskraken (sorry for the spelling) compared to Atmosfear, I just feel the drop is more heart-attack-inducing. Finally I also want to ask, am I the only person who prefers Balder at the front (It may be because I rode the back at the end of the day after 10 hours of riding and it felt at if Balder was trying to shove my insides out of me!)

I think I went on the same day as you.

Best skyline at night!

Thanks for the trip report, Liseberg is one of my favourite parks. Balder, Helix, Hotel Gasten, Flumeride, Lisebergbanan - plenty of great attractions in one place!