Swedish Speedrun

[James F]

It's that time of year again when I am running out of annual leave. So with a remaining few days left I made a fairly last minute booking to Stockholm. A quick 2 and 1/2 day operation of an afternoon at Grona Lund,
a day outing at Kolmarden and finally some city sightseeing the following day.

I have been to Sweden before, but only Gothenburg so there was quite a few new credits to gain.

* Apologies for the aspect ratio on some of the images, turns out I didn't take many photos so I have had to use screenshots from my off-ride footage. I will try to crop and re-upload them.

Day One: Grona Lund
After a 50 minute walk from my hotel/hostel (it was a boat with a private cabin) I arrived at Grona Lund for 4:30pm. The park offers a cheaper half day ticket, which is well worth taking advantage of considering the park's size.
What's worth noting is that Grona lund offers you a free fast pass for 2 rides with admission, which is great if you want to swoop up all the credits in an afternoon.

I didn't need much use for it though, the park was quiet for a Saturday, not empty by any means. Nothing exceeding a 10 minute wait, not sure if it's because it's the first weekend of September, or if it's because of recent events;
one can only speculate.



The first ride of the day was Kvasteen which I had fastpass or as the park calls it "jetpass" for. While I think it's brilliant of the park to offer this for free, my only gripe is that it requires you to use the internet in a park which has little wi-fi.
This meant that I had to use my data-roaming to access it, which is a bit of a pain, but at least I got straight on.

As for the ride itself, I was sat in the back row and I thought it was decent, not Vekoma's best work of this model, but considering it was built back during their transitional phase in the late 00's I'll give it a pass. It's a bit rattlely,
but not uncomfortable. I like the way it dives under Twister and swoops above the pathways, certainly makes it more interesting than if it was plonked in a field.


The next ride was Vilda Musen. It's the only ride I had to wait for due to it's low capacity, but the ride crew were doing a fantastic job at getting the cars out.
This Guestlauer bobsled took me by surprise, the only other one I had ridden is Tiki Waka and that felt a lot milder that this. This mouse has some bite. Surprising pops of airtime, strong laterals and just a fun time all round.
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Next up was Insane. This was my first Intamin Zac Spin and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to it. I not the kind of guy to hate on things I haven't experienced, but knowing how I feel on rides that rock the body back and forth,
I knew it was going to be a challenging experience at best.

As expected I didn't enjoy it. The rocking back and forth wasn't too bad, but the way the cars span and inverted on the valleys made me feel sick, some guy sat next to me was loving it and seemed to have a great time marathoning it,
as for me it was a one and done. I will give it some credit, it's not "awful" by any means and I know it could of been a lot worse.


The two drop towers were to follow. I soon discovered that Grona Lund has the best collection of tower rides anywhere.

Ikaros is one of only two Intamin Skyjump rides. The other is Falcon's Fury like which I have also ridden. Ikaros is the better of the two in my opinion for A) The views & B) Minimal noise.
Falcon's Fury is obnoxiously loud, but they seemed to have fixed that on Ikaros as it barley makes a noise. The views of Stockholm are also stunning. It's a forceful drop and the tilt still provides a rare bit of fear for me,
the best ride in the park for sure and one of my favourite drop towers.

The S&S tower next to it was also solid, it was running the combo mode which already put it leagues above most S&S towers, not only that it's one of the more forceful ones. Worth doing.


Sadly Twister was closed all day, which I expected to be fair as it's been closed for some time due to maintenance. It's a shame because I have still yet to ride a Gravity Group. I have ridden Tonnerre 2 Zeus, but I am not sure I would count that.
It's looks fun with it's mess of wooden track and I bet it would of made a good night ride, ah well, one for next time hopefully.


The third a final drop tower was Fritt Fall. I only did the sit down as I was wearing slim jeans, The drop was one of the more forceful of the bunch, about the same as Apocalypse, They just don't make them like the used to (at least not normal drop towers)

After completing the trilogy, It got me thinking if a park installing three drop towers was overkill and my answer is no. I don't care if there all similar I would happily take 10 drop towers over any other flat ride.



The main event of this park is Monster and I'll tell you what it's a cracking little Invert. Not much in terms of "leg-numbing" force, but it smooth, floaty and has plenty of near miss moments. I just love how the ride is so tightly interwoven between buildings, pathways and other rides.
The first drop is the highlight for me . Because you are facing the sea, you feel at lot higher and way it suddenly curves at the last second provides an excellent moment of whip that always made me grin. It's basically a much better executed version of the Big One's drop.
The rest of the ride feels like modern B&M, very graceful and floaty which I am cool with as it makes it a very re-ridable coaster that I think the park really needed. In terms of Inverts it would mark around the mid-range for me,
but considering the space Grona Lund had to work with it's an incredible accomplishment. After lapping a few night rides I was ready to call it a night.



I love the charm these Scandinavian amusement parks have, there is a lot going on, but it never feels overwhelming and even at a place as packed as Grona Lund, there are place to get away from the noise and chill.


After leaving the park at 9:30pm I went to McDonalds for some night carbicide as I hadn't eaten much and made it back to my little cabin. The photo quality is crappy, but Stockholm is a beautiful city which I wish I had more time in,
but I would not see much of it as the next day was Kolmarden, for the anticipated Wildfire!

 

[James F]

Day Two: Kolmarden

It was an early start as the train leaving Stockholm was at 7:46am, which meant I had to leave the hotel by 6:45. The train didn't take too long, properly about an hour and a 20 minutes. I got the train to Kolmarden station which is a 20 minute bus journey away from the Zoo. As everybody knows this park is in a fairly secluded location, but to be honest getting here was a breeze, not nearly the headache it could of been.


I got to the park just before 10. Park hours were 10 - 7pm which seemed quick long for a Semptember Sunday. I can't say the park was that busy either so it's a win-win.

Anybody who knows Kolmarden is aware of the trek it is to get around the park, as I first timer I didn't find it too bad at first and really enjoyed the walking, but I will admit by the end of the day my feet were killing, My phone recorded me walking almost 9 miles, granted this is also taking in the walk to the train station and back to the hotel. Considering a lap around this zoo is about 2 miles, I must of done almost 7 miles here alone. Not complaining though because it's an amazing setting and after all the crap I have eaten on this trip I could do with getting my steps in.


I will admit I had a bit of cred-anxiety were I saw the closed sign. I knew that it was probably because it just hit 10am and they weren't ready to open it yet, but there was the nagging sense of doubt.

Fortunately after some test runs they had opened the ride to the one weirdo stood at the entrance.




I got straight on and experienced two back to back zen rides on the front row. I don't mind a zen ride, but I will admit I felt a bit awkward with just me sat in the train, especially when it pulled into the station and there was 5 people just staring at me

How was it?

Good, really good actually.

As expected the first few rides were slower, but even they were still giving the RMC experience I have started to become familiar with. The First Drop is the best of the RMC's I have done. Due to the 83 degree decent and the bit of speed going into it every row gets a bit of airtime, with the back row producing some fantastic ejector. The Zero G Stall is awesome as expected and 2nd only to Zadra. The third element, the "twist and shout" might be my favourite, from the lateral whip, the sideways ejector and the stunning views; it always left me giddy.

The next few elements are great, including the bunny hill and hangtime inducing barrel roll/down drop, but it mostly that first half that makes Wildfire so good. I will admit that the final drop is a dead duck, which is why it doesn't make my top 5, but the rest of the layout is killer and the woodland setting on top of that just makes it that much better.

In terms of roughness, there really wasn't any. There were one or two moments with a mild rattle, but Wildfire is one of the smoothest wooden coasters I have done.

Overall Wildfire was slightly better than I thought it would be and I had high expectations after Zadra and Untamed. While she's not quite as crazy as those rides this topper track is my favourite wooden coaster and snuggly fits into my top 10 pushing out Ride to Happiness.

Oh yeah, I also rode the Dolphin Express (Vekoma Family Coaster 335m) next door, it was okay, quite rattley for being built in 2009.


One of the other major rides here and properly the most popular is Safaribanan. This cable car takes you on an aerial view of the safari section of the zoo, basically a skyride version of Kilimanjaro Safaris. In all honesty I preferred this. I was given a cabin to myself so it was really peaceful. You don't see many animals at first but that doesn't matter because you have an awesome view of Wildfire and the river/sea to the side. Once the cable car lowers you get a good view of the animals. To me this felt like more of an adventure than getting in a ride car with 30 other people. You get your money/time's worth on this one as it's a 30 minute ride. I would recommending doing this one early as it can get quite a queue. Unfortunately it was down in the morning so my the time it opened there was already a full queue, however the queue does move quickly. A full queue is only 30 minutes.


The last credit to get was Godiståget or "Wild Train". The queue was quite big at first so I came back to it later. Not much to note other than it was well presented and it was a +1.


After getting the credits, I took in the Zoo. Spent most of my time at the Tiger exhibit as I am a cat person. Plus there was a balcony where you could sit and chill so I spent a bit of time resting.


Before it was time to leave, the moment had come to marathon Wildfire. I ended up getting 14 rides during my day, with most of them being back row rides. It had warmed up well. Surprisingly by shins weren't too bad, but maybe the pain in my feet was distracting my mind from that. After feeling more that satisfied I left the park at 5:30pm as I was shattered.

Day Three: Stockholm

As my flight wasn't until 6pm, I thought it would be best to take in some of the sights before I left. I originally planned to visit SkiStar to ride the Mountain Coaster, but the park was closed on weekdays. To be honest this worked out for the best because I found something that I found ... dare I say it ... more interesting than a roller coaster.

As I don't know much about Stockholm, I am just going to list the locations below.



Not far from my hotel is this view looking out to Riddarholmen Church and Storkyrkan.



A closer look at Riddarholmen Church. This church is the resting place for most Swedish Monarchs.


This is the Nordiska Museum which is based on the cultural history of Sweden.




What I was here for though was the Vasa Museum. I knew the basic's of the Vasa, but not enough to tell you the history.

While I do enjoy the occasional museum there never something I actively seek out and usually after 20 minutes I have had enough before I don't understand the significance of anything.

I expected to only be here for about an hour, but I ended up staying for over 3. I just found the whole thing fascinating and I was completely captivated by it. The fact that this ship has been at the at the bottom of the sea for over 300 years and is still in good condition is remarkable and if you didn't gather from the pictures, it's a HUGE ship.

The story is a fascinating one, funny but tragic.

I am sure if any Swedish people can correct me on the history please do, but from what I understand:

Back in the 1620s The King of Sweden was Gustavus Adolphus who was very much a military leader had commissioned a ship with more firepower than than anything that had come before it. It was designed to carry over 60 guns - which while they were not the most at the time, the firepower she possessed was the deadliest to her would be enemies.

The problem was that because of the added weight, the ship became top heavy. There were concerns made of the ship's seaworthiness, but the king was adamant that it would be fine and nobody wanted to argue with the king.

After several years of construction the ship made it maiden voyage on the 10 August 1628. The ship only made it a few minutes before sinking to the bottom of the harbour after a gentle breeze tipped the boat over.

After a long and expensive enquiry, with the king blaming everyone but himself it was ultimately decided that the fate of the Vasa was an "act of god"

Because of the cold temperatures of the Baltic sea, the ship was left almost completely intact for over 300 years, in part due to shipworms being unable to survive due to the cold and organic martials such as wood fairing well in the cold.

In the 1950's the ship location was once again discovered and by 1961 the ship was salvaged.

It's a brilliant museum as doesn't waste time in showing you the ship, but the way the exhibits are designed around it fills all the details and add layers and subtext to what you are seeing. Could not recommend it any higher! Definitely a must do if your a history buff or like bloody big ships!

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After spending way more time than planned, it was time for my flight home.

To summarise, it was an exciting two and a half days and Stockholm is defiantly a city I want to return to. Grona Lund had an awesome atmosphere with the drop towers being the highlight, Wildfire was awesome as expected and Kolmarden as a whole is one of the most beautiful places I have been to, but if you haven't already guessed the real highlight was the Vasa museum, which I really wasn't expecting to be so enthralled by.

 

[karenkresgs]

Amazing place, I've been meaning to go there for a long time!!